CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: V47T
Operator(s): N2NT
Station: V47T
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: ST KITTS
Operating Time (hrs): 48
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 173 13 37
80: 806 20 82
40: 1670 29 98
20: 1950 34 104
15: 1645 36 111
10: 1706 31 100
------------------------------
Total: 7950 163 532 Total Score = 14,510,905
Club: Frankford Radio Club
Comments:
After returning to V4 last year, and having all sorts of problems I had my hands
full with things to fix. I came down a few days earlier than usual, and brought
my wife so she could see how crazy I am. We stayed at the beautiful V47JA
villa, but I had to show her where I was really going. On the way up the hill
to the station, the Jeep lost the 4 wheel drive, and we hit the side of the
hill. I am waiting for the bill for that incident :)
With the help of V44KAI, we fixed everything that broke since last year. 2
yagis, one rotator, 2 beverages, one 160 vertical, one 80mtr delta loop,2
amplifiers, one front door, one water barrel. I brought just enough parts to
get the amps going, along with what KAI had (he has everything). We thought we
would need more parts, and my buddy NP4Z sent some parts with Dave WJ2O who was
in Puerto Rico and coming to V4 for the contest. In the end we didn't need them,
but what a great group of contester friends we have that can come through like
that on short notice.
After a week of intense work to set up the station from nothing (all equipment
was in storage, even the electric wiring) I got it all working Friday morning.
But I forgot some CW interfacing necessary, and managed to blow up the CW
interface on one radio. Luckily I had enough parts to build another one. Also
decided that I'd better put up a 40m dipole because the 2el 40 had an
intermittent. This cut into my usual relaxing before the contest.
Last year I had numerous equipment failures, and power failures. This year I
had absolutely nothing go wrong with the hardware. Everything worked perfectly
and the power stayed on.
The one thing I did wrong was setting up WinTest messages. It was fine for the
first day when I was not so tired, but Sunday was a disaster. Callsigns would
appear where the zone should be. N6TV will have me put on probation for this.
I should have fixed it on the fly, but I wasn't sure what was causing it and I
was deep into Sunday hallucinations.
At one point on Sunday, I was so tired that my eyes could barely see the
keyboard. My mind was telling me the keys were growing tall grass, and I
couldn't find the letters through the jungle. This was a new one for me :)
The result was I was editing every 10th qso or so. Sometimes worse. I had lots
of logging problems and I hope it doesn't affect my score too badly.
After 24 hours I had my mental calculator going full tilt to get me to 8000
qsos. I think I might have made it, had the software not given me a hassle.
In the end I was quite pleased, but more exhausted than ever after 48 hours.
Everything had to go back into storage on Monday, travel Tuesday, back to work
on Wednesday and managed to get my self sick. But I wouldn't have it any other
way. The CQWW CW is my favorite contest by far. I hope to keep doing it as long
as possible from V4. There is no internet up on the hill, so multi oping and
assisted operations are tough. I suppose money can fix that too like anything.
Thanks to V44KAI and and V44KBP for their invaluable support.
73, Andy N2NT
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