IARU HF World Championship
Call: PJ4C
Operator(s): N5WR
Station: PJ4C
Class: SO CW HP
QTH: Bonaire
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Zones HQ Mults
-------------------------------------
160: 4 3 1
80: 17 6 6
40: 681 23 29
20: 1327 40 33
15: 805 28 34
10: 51 12 15
-------------------------------------
Total: 2885 0 112 118 Total Score = 3,163,650
Club: Tennessee Contest Group
Comments:
This contest was the first time that I have operated from outside of the US. It
was a special week for me, the first time that my father and I have gone on a
DXpedition together. We spent the week at the well-known PJ4G contest QTH. It
is a really great station in a wonderful location. There were intense pileups
all week long, no doubt helped by the recent new DXCC status of PJ4.
Bonaire is a beautiful place. The population is small, most of the island is
undeveloped and quite rough, the rocky soil covered with cactus and dense
desert-like undergrowth. Wild donkeys and goats roam the island, and large
iguanas could be seen just outside the station door. The turquoise sea is
crystal clear and popular with divers. The evening before the contest, I
prepared by going to the beach and having a swim while the sun set over the
Caribbean.
It was clear to me from operating throughout the week that success in the
contest would depend on a 10 meter opening. Both 80 and 160 are difficult this
time of year, so I knew I would need good openings on the high bands. Every day
during the week, one of us would call CQ on 10 meters around 4:30pm local time
and there were openings almost every day. Just 2 days before the contest, there
was about a 90 minute opening during which I worked 200+ EU stations. I was
hopeful for similar conditions during the contest.
I started the contest on 20 meters. The band was open to both EU and JA,
conditions were ok but not great, signals were workable but weak. I went to 15
in the second hour, the band was open to EU and the rate meter went up. Things
slowed down some around 15Z so starting using the 2nd radio to work mults on
20. I am still learning SO2R, and it was much more challenging for me to
operate SO2R with a pileup. I did not even try when the pileups were really
intense. But I did become somewhat more comfortable with it as the contest went
on, and was able to listen for band openings and multipliers.
Rates on 15 slowed mid-afternoon, dropping in the low 90s for a couple of hours
so I went back to 20 at 18Z and had a decent run, picking up a few mults on 15
on the 2nd radio, then back to 15 an hour later. The band was better in the
late afternoon. I kept listening for an opening on 10 while running on 15. I
worked a handful of big EU stations, but not many. I occasionally fired off a
dueling CQ on 10, but no response. Finally at 2020Z, 4:20pm local time, 10
meters opened very briefly. I had a run of only about 30 stations, mostly EU
but a handful of NA. It lasted about 20 minutes. The band did not open again.
I spent about another hour running on 15, then went to 20 in early evening. I
had my best 2 hours from 23-00Z around local sunset, with 170+ both hours. Had
some DX mults call during this time as well, including VU, ZL, 9V, YB, E21, and
some of the rarer UA zones.
At 02Z I moved to 40 meters, thinking as I went that this would be my final big
run on Bonaire. I called CQ and had a huge EU pileup within minutes. It was one
of the bigger pileups Iâ??ve had all week. I left the wider CW filter on and
tried to use my ears to pull out calls. I noticed as the week passed that I
became better at pulling calls out of the pile. Running a pileup is like any
other technical skill â?" flying a plane, surgery, playing a musical instrument
â?" it requires practice and experience. The best operators have been working at
it for years. I enjoyed the pileup and had my 2nd best run of the contest with a
160+ hour.
The pileup eventually thinned and I stayed on 40 until well after EU sunrise. I
was not able to get anything going on 80 or 160. I called CQ several times and
had no luck. I worked only a few HQ stations on 80. Went back to 20 at about
4am local time and stayed until the contest ended. The band was very quiet and
I continued to work EU and later JA. It was a pleasure to work the JA stations
this week. We tried every day throughout the week to work the opening into East
Asia in the early morning on 20 and 40. At times it was difficult copy with
flutter on the path and signals just above the noise floor and I had to ask for
repeats several times to confirm the callsign. I thank those operators for their
patience.
I did not really know what to expect going into the contest having never
operated as the DX before. In looking through previous scores from the
Caribbean it seemed that 2500 QSOs was a reasonable goal. But after
experiencing the great propagation and pileups all week, I thought that 3000
was a real possibility. I came close to this and I think with a better 10 meter
opening it is achievable. I missed many HQ multipliers due to summertime
conditions on 80 and 160, but I canâ??t do anything about that.
So now it is back to real life again after our ham holiday, with work and
family and mowing the lawn and all the normal things we do, but that is ok â?"
I will be having my 2nd child soon. I wish to thank Noah K2NG for allowing my
dad and I to use his fabulous station. I would also like to thank Hans PJ4LS
for all of the help he gave us in Bonaire. Finally, thanks to John K4BAI for
all the advice and assistance with the planning of my operation. You can see a
few photos of the station and our operation here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64255095@N07/
Thanks to everyone who worked us this week and for the QSOs with me in the
contest. It was a great experience. I will do it again.
73, Erik PJ4C / N5WR
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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