Hi Brother:
Nice to see you active and in good shape.
Very welcome to contest activity!!!!
73
Oms PY5EG
-----Original Message-----
From: 3830-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:3830-bounces@contesting.com]
On Behalf Of webform@b4h.net
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 4:48 AM
To: 3830@contesting.com
Subject: [3830] CQWW CW P40W(W2GD) SOAB HP
CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: P40W
Operator(s): W2GD
Station: P40W
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Aruba
Operating Time (hrs): 40
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 485 17 60
80: 729 24 93
40: 1315 29 94
20: 1660 31 84
15: 1230 29 79
10: 25 7 14
------------------------------
Total: 5444 137 424 Total Score = 9,020,000
Club: Frankford Radio Club
Comments:
Station: IC756ProIII, ACOM 2000 - 1 KW, 1970's FRC Keyer
Software: Win-Test 3.18
Antennas:
160M: 55' high Vertical Dipole, Inv. V @ 70'
80M: 3 ele wire yagi (EU) @ 55', Inv. V @ 70'
40M: 4 ele wire yagi (EU) @ 55', 2 ele wire beam (US/JA)@ 60'
20M: 4 ele F12 @ 70', F12 C4 @ 60'
15M: 4 ele Cushcraft @ 79', F12 C4 @ 60'
10M: 5 ele F12 @ 75', C4 @ 60'
Beverages: 800' NE, 450' N/S, 450' NW, 500' E/W
I strongly concur with many of the comments posted by my Aruba shipmate
Scott,
K0DQ/P40Q. This was one fun contest.
It had been a full year since last visiting P40W. The local environment
is
relentless and terribly cruel....and without regular maintenance, things
electronic exposed to the elements go downhill very quickly. My worst
fears
were realized when I arrived.
Landed on Aruba on Monday afternoon. The weather was rainy....a
continuation
of the WX pattern of the prior 10 days. The plus side to the rain, the
power
lines are squeeky clean of salt, so no noise. The downside, its very
tough
working on antennas and climbing towers under these conditions. And
vegetation
seems to grown leaps and bounds literally overnight.
By early Monday evening I'd put together the following inventory of
antenna
problems:
Broken 80/160 Inverted V @ 70'- broken 160m half element
Missing 1/2 of the DE element on 40M 2el wire beam (NW) - element wire
never
found.
Broken support rope, upper side of 160M vertical dipole (and the
remaining rope
now buried deep inside an extremely thorny brush)
Broken balun connection to the same 160M vertical dipole
Erratic SWR readings on the same 160M Vertical Dipole after balun
replacement
C4 40M rotatable dipole no longer resonant in 40M CW band.
15M 4el yagi sounds "very dead" and has a flat SWR
Broken/missing portions of 800' NE beverage
Broken/missing sections of 450' NW beverage
Broken/missing sections of 500' N/S beverage
Broken/missing sections of 500' E/W beverage
Both rotators (HamIIIs) will not rotate - suspect cabling problems
TenTec Titan Amplifier Power Supply will not turn on.
So you thought you had station problems? I was at my first decision
point late
Monday....work my butt off to try to have sufficient functioning
antennas for a
semi-serious SOAB entry, or settle on doing my first ever Single-Band
effort.
And if the decision ened up to go S/B, try to find an amplifier.
I had just 2 days to make repairs since I'd booked a trip to PJ4 on
Wednesday
and Thursday to repair the F12 240N 40M beam at PJ4G aka PJ4A in this
contest.
To say I was somewhat discouraged by the situation Monday night is an
understatement.
Awoke Tuesday morning to more rain showers...which would persist with
varying
intensity most of the morning and early afternoon. But whenever the
rain would
lighten up I ventured out to make antenna repairs. By mid-afternoon I'd
recovered the 160M vertical dipole support ropes and had it strung out,
repaired the NE beverage, repaired the 160 inverted V, repaired the 160M
vertical dipole problems, and replaced the missing 40M 1/2 element on
the 2el
wire beam. Then the skies really opened up at 3 p.m.- a 3+ inch cloud
burst in
less than 30 minutes. My accommodations are very spartan, located under
a house
porch. During the storm the rain water backed up onto the porch floor
above me,
and down it came into my room! Instant flooding, onto my bed, a 20A
switching
Power Supply which fortunately wasn't plugged in at the time, and of
course
parts of the floor. It was extremely fortunate I was there....and
quickly
deployed some plastic to protect equipment and the bed from additional
damage.
After the rain subsided, I went to the airport to pick up Pete, NO2R.
The short
trip was complicated by 'lakes' at most every intersection, and gulleys
on
unimproved roads that just 4 hours earlier had been totally intact.
They had
even held Peter's AA flight on the tarmac for 15 minutes before
proceding to
the gate, until the intensity of the storm subsided. Fortunately, it was
the
final episode of the really bad rain for the day.
Peter (also aka VU7ACY) was enroute to Bonaire, and would provide me
with the
needed help for the 40M beam repair, as well as stay on to operate with
the
PJ4A M/S team. With Pete's assistance, my 3 el 80M and 4 el 40M wire
beams,
that are suspended from a catenary rope between towers @ 60 feet were
erected
in about 2 hours.... we worked up until last light. Then, after getting
cleaned up, we enjoyed a most delightful dinner with Scott K0DQ/P40Q.
Making
any decisions regarding entry class would now have to wait until Friday.
We
picked up W4OC at the airport at midnight. His flight to Bonaire was
cancelled
earlier in the day but he made it to P40 from Miami. Pete, Don and I
would fly
together over to PJ4 in the morning.
I hadn't been to Bonaire since 1988 when I was a PJ1B team member in the
CQWW
CW M/M at PJ9EE's place. The growth of the island's population struck
me
immediately, and then seeing the QE2 at berth was a total surprise (no
cruise
ships stopping at Bonaire in the ole days). Spent the next two days
refurbishing the PJ4G F12 240N and other antennas. So far the PJ4A
score is
high claimed. Had Thanksgiving dinner with K4BAI, KU8E, W4OC and NO2R
before
heading to the airport. Unfortunately my flight ended up being
significantly
delayed....and I eventually landed on Aruba at 1:20 a.m., just 19 hours
before
the start of CQWW. Spent an hour doing some station setup and worked
3X5A on
160M low power....then to bed.
Friday dawned sunny....thankfully! On the list of problems the priority
items
were repair the 160M and 15M antennas, complete repair of the remaining
beverages, and finally, get at least one rotator turning and indicating.
P49Y
stopped by to lend a hand Friday morning, thanks Andy!
Managed to implement solutions to each of the problems over the course
of the
day and early evening, but it meant working right up to the contest bell
with
no opportunity for the all important nap before the start.
Earlier in the day, Jacky, P43P, offered his Acom 2000 for the weekend,
and I
gladly accepted, giving me some options in the event I didn't manage
getting
the antennas adequately repaired.
It was probably about 2330Z, after testing each of the antennas with the
amp,
that I decided to go SOAB HP, knowing I wouldn't be at my competitive
best
lacking adequate rest....but CQWW is the BIG ONE, and figured it would
be more
fun HP than LP or QRP or S/B.
I wasn't ready to start competing until 0010Z....but still had a
respectable
first hour on 40M. Quickly moved to 80...which was quiet and rocking!
But the
best part of the 1st night and probably the entire contest was the 3.5
hours of
straight running on 160 the first night. The band was wide open,
signals from
EU were super strong, and the QRN level was low. Nearly fell out of my
chair
when my friend Willie UA9BA called in over the EU pile....TNX OM....it
had been
many years since I'd logged a z17 on 160M in the WW CW. And as it
turned out,
160M was terrible the second night. The rest of the first evening
bounced
between 40/80/160 with nice rate. But by 09z I could no longer keep my
eyes
open and took a 2 hour nap. Awoke later than I'd have liked but found
40M
still wide open to the States and JA and stayed there probably a bit too
long
before transitioning to 20M.
Checked 10M every 15 to 30 minutes, and it was tough finding anyone to
work.
Never heard z5, z4, or z3. Never heard 3X5A, but worked D3C in z35, go
figure.
Conditions remained terrible on ten from beginning to end.
15M was marginally better, but the runs to EU were quite brief.
Plentiful W/K
runs made spending time on 15 worthwhile however. The only JA worked
was a
chance long path contact Sunday morning....would never have expected
that one.
20M was the money band for QSOs but I'm still puzzled by my low country
multiplier. The 257 QSO clock hour between 19-20z the first day was a
total
rush....too bad it didn't last for a few more hours.
40M seemed productive whenever I went there, but missing sunrise the
second day
hurt my multiplier total. I slept 4 hours the second night. Having
some nice
LP contacts (VU, XW, VK) taught me a few new things about early evening
propagation on this band.
80M was better the first night than the second, but my 93C total was an
all
time high at P40W.
Have you noticed how when a packet pileup hits, everyone seems to be on
EXACTLY
the same frequency? Well, they actually are on the same frequency.
Guys, if
you want to get through, remember to off set your TX frequencey just a
little
before calling, you'll get a response much more quickly. Also observed
the
'two letter' calling technique had almost disappeared this
weekend....now thats
refreshing!
Congrats to all the skilled operators who competed in SOAB HP catagory
this
year. Hats off to Andy N2NT and Tom W2SC for their outstanding z8
scores, and
of course Jose CT1BOH/CT3NT, who so far has set the standard of
excellenct.
I'm sure the results will be close in any event.
The traditional get together dinner after the contest is always a great
way to
decompress and get a better feel for what actually happened over the
prior 2
days. It was great to see PJ3JB, P49Y/AI6V and their wifes, my neighbor
on
Aruba Andy, P49Y/AE6Y, my friend Scott P40Q/K0DQ his XYL Donna, and
Jackie P43P
and his YL. The social aspect of these trips is too often
overlooked....I think
we have it right on Aruba.
Did I make the right decision going SOABHP instead of LP, QRP, or maybe
SB 80?
In retrospect, I think so, since I wasn't really prepared to do a serous
S/B
effort, I was dead tired, and running HP let me more readily feed my
rate
addiction.
As always special thanks to Humphrey and Corrie, my hosts, for opened
their
home to me once again.
See everyone next year.
73,
John W2GD a.k.a. P40W
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at:
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