CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: PJ4D
Operator(s): N0VD W4PA
Station: PJ4D
Class: M/S HP
QTH: Bonaire
Operating Time (hrs): 37
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 0 0 0
80: 583 15 72
40: 1300 29 103
20: 1185 33 106
15: 1623 33 106
10: 833 26 87
------------------------------
Total: 5524 136 474 Total Score = 9,992,410
Club:
Comments:
It had been over two years since Scott (W4PA) and I had been to Bonaire, the
last time being for the 10.10.10 new DXCC event. As this is our favorite
Caribbean island, we thought a return visit was long overdue.
Planning (or at least discussion) began in late winter or early spring this
year. We had a lot of gear still in storage from both dragging it down over
the years and shipping it for the 10.10.10 event, so we knew we didn't have to
lug a bunch of stuff onto a plane. We also agreed that this would not be a
serious-all-out-to-win effort - trying to do so Field Day style would just make
us both grumpy.
This was also primarily a vacation/holiday trip to the island with a little
radio tossed in for fun. My YL (W0CFF) fell in love with Bonaire when she was
here for 10.10.10 and had been wanting to return ever since â?" she's been to
PJ2T several times since. Since PJ2T is always my "serious" contest, this one
was just to run some piles and have some fun.
My YL and I arrived on Bonaire via Curacao on Sunday. We did a few errands and
retrieved the gear. After loading it all up, I came to the realization that
over the years, I've accumulated a bunch of stuff here! The back of the pickup
truck was completely full of Pelican cases. We dropped the gear off at the
house and decided to run out for a "quick" lunch â?" note to self, there is no
"quick" in the islands. Something I have to reacquaint myself with each time I
come down.
After lunch we made it back to the house and I began unpacking some of the gear
and assembling the Butternut vertical. The house we stayed at this year was a
change from years past, so I had to find a location for the antenna. I managed
to get it assembled and attached to a metal fence post shortly after dark.
However, the 259 kept telling me the antenna was not happy, so I figured I'd
just work on the inside stuff and deal with the antenna in the morning since
the mosquitoes were starting to make their appearance.
I began setting up the inside gear that evening in an effort to maybe make a
few contacts before going to bed. What I was not prepared for was that I had
loaned some of the gear to another contest team in the past who inadvertently
didn't get the case sealed when they packed it up. This let the moist salt air
seep into the case and coat some of it with nice white powder. Unfortunately
the one with the most damage was the Pelican holding my ALS-600 amp. After
cleaning it up and putting it online, there was no receive and no output power.
This isn't good â?" so un-amused I called it a day and went to bed.
W4PA arrived late Monday afternoon. I had relocated the Butternut to a flower
pot in the middle of the garden and with the help of Peter (PJ4NX) we got the
kinks worked out of it. I also assembled the little F12 C3SS which had been
shipped for 10.10.10 but was never used for that event. So by the time I
picked up Scott, we were "antenna ready"
Tuesday was spent primarily sticking the F12 on our "tower" â?" a mast of about
18' â?" and trouble shooting the ALS-600. We found several issues that were
likely related to salt corrosion. However, we still had one issue that was
giving us trouble â?" no output. We suspected that the finals might have been
blown and a tech call to Ameritron seemed confirm that. However, we noticed at
one point that if we left the key down long enough, the amp would start to show
life. It seemed that once something got hot, it would put some fire in the
wire. We deduced that the big 35 ohm resistor across the input might have
changed value but would drift closer to the actual value when it got hot, but I
was not comfortable jumpering around it. Needless to say, the ALS-600 will be
coming home with me.
We managed to get the rest of the gear running on Wednesday and also put up our
80M diploe. Things were coming together despite a smattering of other gear that
was broken and will be making a return trip to the States to get repaired.
In the end we decided to run M/S with the FT1000MP Field with an AL-811
spitting out about 400 watts. Our "mult" station was a barefoot FT900.
Antennas consisted of a F12 C3SS, Butternut HF6V and dipole for 80M. We got
plenty of sleep both nights (Scott about 4 hours each night â?" I got even
more!) and we were off the air for 3+ hours on Sunday afternoon due to an
island wide power outage.
The majority of the Qs were run by W4PA, I spent most of my time plugging away
at mults â?" although left a lot on the table since we only had 100W to break
some of the massive piles. We had five 200+ hours and an additional two 190+
hours. Likely the best mults were working VU2TTT on 40 and 7Z1SJ on 40 in the
last 5 minutes of the contest. If nothing else, the Butternut honks on 40!
It was a lot of fun and we still have the rest of the week to work a few
pileups, drink beer, look at fish, drink beer, look at fish, drink beer and
generally goof off â?" oh, did I mention drink beer?
Thanks for the Qs and I hope to see everybody again from PJ4D.
Kelly, N0VD / Scott, W4PA
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