CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW
Call: PJ2T
Operator(s): K8ND W8WTS
Station: PJ2T
Class: Multi-Op HP
QTH: Curaçao
Operating Time (hrs): 27:15
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 960 State/Prov = 56 Countries = 55 Total Score = 1,053,612
Club:
Comments:
Jeff, K8ND, and Jim, W8WTS, operated the Signal Point PJ2T station of The
Caribbean Contesting Consortium multi-op. This was our sixth multi-op in CQWW
160 CW from PJ2T. It is difficult to say anything negative about operating a
DX contest from South America in the middle of winter, but top band conditions
from 12 degrees north latitude put our good humor to the test this year after
three years of placing #1 in the World in the three major categories.
Before the contest, we took care of the usual to-do list antenna building and
repair projects. We lengthened our US/JA Beverage antenna from 630 to 880 ft
and deployed our DX Engineering (DXE) receive four square, which we first used
in 2006. It was quickly apparent that the DXE receive four square was not
operating correctly. All of the basic troubleshooting checked out, but the
antenna was providing neither a decent F/B nor the expected noise performance.
This key receive antenna remained out of service for the entire contest.
In Curaçao, the 2200Z contest start is in broad daylight, 6 p.m. local time.
The start strategy is to work as much US as possible while the Europeans have a
feeding frenzy on each other. The EU frenzy happened on schedule, but signals
were weak and watery at PJ2T. We were unable to get responses from the
European stations called. The signal quality did not improve as day 1 wore on,
compounded by extremely high, steady, roaring noise in the US/JA direction.
Only one to two of five calls yielded complete call signs. The rest of the
QSOs on day 1 were call sign mining; one letter at a time, one pair at a time,
then the number, etc. The rate was low and it was excruciatingly difficult to
maintain logging accuracy. At the end of day 1, we logged only 569 QSOs, no
Pacific, and only a handful of Europeans. This was the lowest scoring day 1 in
CQWW 160 CW ever logged by PJ2T.
Conditions at the start of D2 were better than D1, but still very poor by any
standard. The screaming atmospheric noise that pelted us from US/JA abated
somewhat on D2, but the scoring damage had been done. We worked more Europeans
on D2 and achieved some bursts of acceptable rate. One and only one JA was
logged. No VK. No ZL.
Curaçao is 4100 miles from Europe and 1200 miles from the closest part of USA,
therefore every 160 m QSO was a challenge. We experienced unusually high signal
attenuation this year, noted in both the US/JA signal path to the NW and the
Europe signal path to the NE. We are usually able to work a few US or
Caribbean stations on Sunday between 2000Z and 2200Z to end the contest. Not
this year. No stations were logged at all after sun rise on Sunday morning.
Top band is a fickle friend, and PJ2T felt her wrath in this contest. We ended
the test with the lowest CQWW 160 CW score ever recorded from PJ2T. We
appreciated everyone’s patience with the seemingly never-ending fills and
unanswered calls. PJ2T and The Caribbean Contesting Consortium congratulates
the winners of CQWW 160 CW 2015. They certainly earned their stripes this
year.
If perfect Caribbean weather and never-ending pile-ups sound fun, PJ2T could be
your station away from home. Sound interesting? PJ2T is available for rental
many weeks of the year, so that you can try some radio from paradise at your
own pace. See www.pj2t.org for info, or contact Geoff, W0CG, ghoward@kent.edu,
or Jim, W8WTS, jim@w8wts.com, for details.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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