CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: PJ2T
Operator(s): W1FJ K1YR NA2U K2PLF N5OT N7IR KB7Q W8WTS W0CG W0TT
Station: PJ2T
Class: M/M HP
QTH: Curacao
Operating Time (hrs): 48
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
-------------------------------
160: 900 23 86
80: 1754 29 107
40: 3419 35 139
20: 3163 34 128
15: 2608 33 129
10: 463 19 39
-------------------------------
Total: 12307 173 628 Total Score = 28,934,523
Club: CCC
Comments:
We were honored to have Al Rousseau, W1FJ on our PJ2T team for CQWW CW. Exactly
fifty years ago this weekend he was one of six ops on the PJ3CC team that won
CQWW CW M/M in November, 1967. That was the first contest operation from
Curacao’s Coral Cliff neighborhood, and since then there have been 50 years
of very intense RF emissions from this place. When we looked at the contest
numbers Monday morning we were thrilled to see that Al ran our best rate hour
(196), and that he also made the most total QSOs of any of our 10 ops.
Obviously he’s as sharp now as in 1967. Additionally, Al worked like a twenty
year old madman in intense heat and among the sticker bushes and cactus as we
set up some extra receiving antennas before the contest. He was there at every
turn when something needed to be done.
Thus the Curacao Half-Century CQWW CW Celebration was a success. Our goal was
to honor the memory of the five PJ3CC operators who are now Silent Keys. W4KFC,
Vic Clark, former President of ARRL and legendary contest operator. W1BIH, John
Thompson, who loved Curacao so much that he had a house built here for
contesting in 1971, became PJ9JT, and then passed the house on to us in 2000 so
we could continue his tradition. W4GF, Bill Grenfell, famous contester and FCC
official. Len Cheretok, W3GRF, a Signal Corps professional who became known for
superb contest outcomes and for clearing trees from his acreage by himself over
a period of years to build his superstation. Finally we remember Roy Fosberg,
W1TX, for his FOC affiliation and his fine homemade dandelion wine.
Al blew me away when after the contest he handed me a donation check for $600,
saying that it’s a gift of 100 bucks from “each of the six of us” from
1967. What a great memorial to the silent keys. That’s as classy as it gets,
and we’re very grateful for that gesture. It’ll help us replace some of the
equipment we lost this year.
In the early 1960s I was privileged as a young teen (WN8KUW) to go to the West
Virginia ARRL Convention at Jackson’s Mill. W8IYD kindly took me along with
his family year after year. That’s where I met W4KFC and W4GF, pretty much
unable to speak with excitement at seeing these famous giants of our hobby. I
was lucky enough to win the CW contest most years at the convention, and my
knees practically buckled when Vic sought me out in the crowd with a handshake
of congratulation. I also vividly remember being dizzily impressed seeing Vic
and Bill arrive in a private plane, park it on the tiny ramp at Jackson’s
Mill, and walk up the hill to the convention, luggage in hand. Years later I
was able to do the same thing after becoming a flight instructor.
Based on claimed scores, it appears that we have a win in the M/M category. If
this holds up, it would be historic that PJ3CC, with W1FJJ on the team in ’67
and then PJ2T, with W1FJ on the team in ’17 have both won the world in the M/M
category. We couldn’t be happier for Al, and there’s no better commemoration
than this for silent keys W4KFC, W1BIH, W3GRF, W4GF, and W1TX. Also, selfishly,
I’ve been trying hard since 1994 to be part of a CQWW CW winning team, but
we’ve never been quite good enough. This is the only major contest that PJ2T
has never won, and if it holds as a win I’m excited and gratified more than
you’ll ever know. Congratulations to our super team of W1FJ, K1YR, NA2U,
K2PLF, N5OT, N7IR, KB7Q, W8WTS, W0CG, and W0TT.
We were privileged to have 13 members of VERONA, the Curacao amateur radio
club, visit the PJ2T shack during the weekend’s competition. They came to
help us celebrate 50 years of contesting here and to meet our VIP Guest of
Honor, W1FJ. We were also thrilled to have a visit Saturday during the contest
from Mr. Glennert Reidel, a senior official from Curacao’s Bureau
Telecommunicatie, also here to honor PJ2T and the 50th anniversary celebration.
We will QSL the contest 100% via the bureaus with a special commemorative
foldout QSL containing photos and short bios of the six 1967 PJ3CC operators.
Direct QSLs will of course be answered in kind, thanks to world’s best
manager W3HNK. Len, Vic, and Bill were very active PVRC members and club
leaders, and we thank PVRC for a substantial contribution to support QSL card
printing for this contest, and K4LT who also made a large donation toward
printing.
I thank Gene Shea, KB7Q, who was happy to accept my request that he lead the
on-air contest effort. Gene did a superb job of operator scheduling and
coaching and cheerleading, and we’re all in his debt. I also thank Gene for
having taken over the responsibilities of supporting the computers at the
station, much of which he cleverly does remotely using Teamviewer. Thanks also
go to Gary, N7IR who has taken on the job of PJ2T’s Station Equipment Lead.
He’s jumped in headfirst and is doing a wonderful job of keeping our gear
working, managing repairs, salvaging or retiring old equipment, and managing
the complexities of inventory and location tracking for the many pieces that
make up a multi/multi station. Huge thanks to Jim, W8WTS, our club President,
for handling all aspects of the CW skimmer system. I could go on thanking
people, but the idea is that PJ2T is becoming a true group effort as I begin to
withdraw gradually and try to figure out how to live a more normal life in
Idaho. I made the mistake of taking a quick count of E-mails this morning to
find that to date I’ve done about 610 E-mails just in connection with setting
up this one operation and this team, and coordinating all of the logistics and
finances. Phew, see? I need to get a life!
We had a wonderful gang of guys and gals this week. KB7Q was our on-air leader
and 40 meter power operator. Fred, NA2U handled the other half of 40, a super
lover of CW whose E-mail address is cwman@.... That says it all. Mark, N5OT was
organizer of the ops for 80, 15, and 10. He did a magnificent job on 15 and 80
with fantastic support from W1FJ (our highest hour operator), N7IR, and me on
80. Mark also wrung a ton of contacts out of a nearly dead 10 meters, and it
appears that only LW8DQ (SBHP 10) made more Qs on 10 than we. Jim, W8WTS did
100% of 160 both nights, 12 hours in the chair each night, pulling 900 QSOs and
86 countries out of the muck. Jim also pitched in here and then in the daylight
hours, a major adaptation for a nocturnal creature like him. 20 was masterfully
handled by K2PLF and K1YR with N7IR also in that chair. Marty is doing a
brilliant job as a high rate contest operator, and we were thrilled to have Lou
here for what we hope will be the first of many visits to PJ2T. Eric, W0TT
responded to our invitation for spectators and guest ops, and he quickly
adapted to our environment and was a positive addition to our team. Everyone on
the team moved from chair to chair as needed throughout the 48 hours to keep all
stations fully manned.
Monster thanks to Kathy Stewart, N5OT’s XYL, who was kind enough to feed this
huge crew all week. The peak dining experience here was a full-featured U.S.
Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday afternoon, joined by guest PA3EYC. I also thank
my YL, Dorothy Dahlgren, for all of her help with the meals as well as
maintenance work here. Her skills with tools are as superb as her skills in the
kitchen, and there’s no job too dirty or too difficult that she won’t
tackle. We also appreciate help from Ronni, W0TT’s XYL and from Ruth,
W1FJ’s partner. It was a true team effort.
Murphy stayed away! The past two CQWW CWs have been disasters at PJ2T with
horrible flooding rainstorms and long power and DSL outages during the
contests. This year we had magnificent weather, no equipment problems during
the contest, solid commercial power, and quieter than normal band noise.
Murphy’s grandson Seamus did drop by the week before the contest and took out
an AL-1200 and three PCs, and created some feedline problems, but we handled all
of that easily before Friday’s contest start.
I’m also honored to thank all of our 20 members of the PJ2T group for your
support, tangible and intangible, that keeps us on the air. This is our 18th
year of contesting from Curacao’s Coral Cliff and our Signal Point clubhouse,
and we’ve made well over a million total contest and casual QSOs from here in
that time. A great group effort is the only way we could have pulled this off.
We’re doubling down hard to try to find the resources to keep this station on
the air and successful in the years to come, as we seek to replace a bad 100
foot tower and stock the station with more and better equipment as things fail
in the salt air.
Apologies to the contest community for the delayed 3830 posting, particularly
to M6T. We understand completely that this is considered to be unsportsmanlike
by some, but we have lost out on several World #1 M/M plaques by category
swappers who have changed into the M/M category within an hour or so of log
closing. Doing so is not a technical violation of the rules, but it’s darned
unsportsmanlike. We kept our score under wraps this year to try to prevent
this. We congratulate and salute all of the other high-scoring M/M, M/2, and
M/S stations around the globe. Nobody but these other big stations will fully
appreciate the resources and toil that go into putting on a big operation. A
special salute to Simon and the 10 Slovenian ops at TK0C who out-did us on QSO
count with a modest Field Day style operation that turned in a magnificent
result through hard work and clever design.
As all of us in this game age, the friendships and mutual respect and courtesy
and fellowship become ever more important than big aluminum and snappy rates.
Maybe that means we’re maturing, or maybe that means we’re just plain
getting old. Either way, the gang at PJ2T, past and present, say thanks for
being friends, thanks for the contacts, happy holidays, and see you soon again
on the bands.
BRAVO AL ROUSSEAU, W1FJ, FROM 1967 PJ3CC, STILL GOING STRONG!!
73 for the 2017 WW CW team and all of PJ2T,
- Geoff, W0CG, PJ2DX
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|