ARRL DX Contest, CW - 2023
Call: K1LZ
Operator(s): K1ZM K1XM W1UE K3JO K1LZ UT5UDX N5TO KQ2M NA1NA W1ADI N5DX W2ID
KE1J KI6RRN KL2A AC1NU
Station: K1LZ
Class: M/M HP
QTH: me
Operating Time (hrs): 48
Remote Operation
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 271 56
80: 808 79
40: 1874 114
20: 2187 123
15: 2376 127
10: 2414 124
-------------------
Total: 9930 623 Total Score = 18,495,624
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
The K1LZ ARRL DX CW Multi-Multi Story by K1LZ and K1ZM (LONG)
The story of our MM entry in ARRL DX CW actually goes back to the CQWW Phone
contest last October when K1LZ told me we were going to enter in the MM class.
I said “You got to be joking…K3LR is going to clean our clock.” Krassy
said, “Yes but we will learn and get better…” At the time I thought we
both had been smoking way too much “Tijuana GOLD!!!”.
As everyone knows, K3LR has come a long way from his WA3WIK days (I think that
was his original callsign – my apologies to Tim if it was not.) He has
crafted his station to get every DB out of it and has assembled a crew of the
most talented ops around for years and they are a well-oiled team. They NEVER
give up and being on the same playing field as their operation is a PIPE DREAM
for most of us.
That being said…..we did have a dream and a plan.
THE PLANNING BEGINS
Krassy suggested we try again in ARRL CW and he asked me and W1VE to start
looking around to assemble a team of ops. As was expected, many ops had already
made their plans for ARRL CW by November and Gerry and I did our best to utilize
our relationships and network of friends to see who was available and willing to
join us at LZ.
Gerry knew KL2A/KI6RRN/N5DX and KE1J. I also knew Kevin, John W2ID and both of
us knew W1UE and K1XM who are both veteran ops from YCCC with great experience
in remote operations and at YCCC multi’s over the years. N5OT was a late
addition to the team and Mark had stayed at my rental home in 2009 on Cape Cod.
Kevin had initially planned a SOAB entry at N2QV but a last minute noise problem
at Tariq’s place made Kevin available at the 11th hour. Boy were we lucky
when he asked if he could still come to work with us…..Krassy was ecstatic (as
was I) to learn he was now on the team! I mean…. “Is the Pope Catholic?”
- Does a bear poop in the woods?
Axel KI6RRN is a superb young operator whom Gerry knew but Krassy and I had no
specific knowledge of him – but Gerry did and told us we were nuts if we did
not ask him to join us. Boy we were glad we did! He was smoking right out of
the box on 10m and his rates at SR on Saturday were awesome. The kid never
missed a beat! Welcome Axel… we were so glad to have you!
Krassy and I both knew KQ2M and Bob (who was a top 10 finisher at WRTC twice) is
one of the most knowledgeable 20m ops around and is well known for his contest
achievements over the years – so that one was a great addition – except that
Bob had never done remote until about 10 days ago – so he had to manage a
STEEP learning curve and managed to do so with help along the way from K3JO,
Krassy and Manu LU9ESD/AC1NU. We all stumbled a bit during the contest but MANU
and VELIMIR kept us on the air even when things went south. We lost ANYDESK on
Saturday morning and K1XM and MANU managed to get all 9 remotes back and running
in record time – PHEW!
Krassy has kept up friendships over the years with Mladen YT6W/NA1NA and Adi
S55M/W1ADI and both are highly proficient in remote operations at K1LZ. Another
“diamond in the rough” was Sergey UT5UDX who joined us operating remotely
from DUBAI where he organizes the local SOCCER/FOOTBALL club. Sergey was
eligible under CEPT subpoint rules given the on-site oversight by K1LZ as
control operator of the station – (Yes we checked into that and Ukraine is an
eligible subpart country under CEPT regulations).
SO WHAT WAS THE FINALTEAM?
160M K1ZM
80M K1XM/W1UE (K3JO/LU9ESD)
40M K1LZ/UT5UDX/N5OT (K3JO/LU9ESD)
20M KQ2M/NA1NA (W1ADI/K3JO/K1LZ)
15M N5DX/W2ID (KE1J/K3JO/LU9ESD/K1LZ)
10M KI6RRN/KL2A (W1UE/K1LZ/K3JO/K1ZM/K1LZ)
16 Total Operators – (7) On-Site in the SNOW spread out over 60 acres in 3
different buildings
(9) Remote operators spread out over 3 different continents all coming in over a
1000MB fiber high speed internet line initially using ANYDESK and YAESU Lan
linkages
Radios were 5 ICOM 7800’s/6 Yaesu FTdx101MP’s/1 Ft1000D on 160m for K1ZM who
does not understand modern radios!
We had 13 amplifiers – 9 Acom 2000A/3 Burst 1000D/1 in reserve and 1 RF KIT
On 42 acres Krassy has 6 towers for the RUN stations and 800 feet away there
are 3 more towers for the in-band stations. (The IN BAND antennas over on the
second lot rival the stacks of the RUN antennas utilized at many MM stations.)
There are a total of 36 yagis/4 different 4 square arrays/Verticals for any band
and 6 beverages.
On 80m there is a 5el Wire Yagi at 200 feet fixed on Europe (remotely
auto-tunable to any QRG on 80m) and a 3 el switchable Wire yagi for the inband
operator to use along with a classic 4 square array for the RUN/INBAND station.
All operating positions can switch to any band within SECONDS and all antennas
and beverages and directional controls are “point and shoot” on side by side
monitor screens. There are no manual switches. A master server & antenna
combiner with over 1200 relays AND 530 IO's controls the whole station and was
custom designed by K3JO and K1LZ.
All of this is pure MAGIC when it works but it is fragile and VELIMIR is the
“go to guy” for all of this during the contest. He rarely gets any sleep
and seems to enjoy what he does – and is one of the hardest working guys along
with 2nd mate MANU LU9ESD. Those guys were EVERYWHERE during the contest and
put out many fires along the way.
SO WHAT WAS THE UNDERLYING APPROACH THAT WORKED FOR US?
First Krassy likes to say that this was his version of the K0DQ BATTLESHIP New
Hampshire which was finally ready after 3 years of hard work.
To be effective in the MM category you need at least a number of things to go
really well:
1) A great TEAM
2) Good Organization and a Plan
3) A coach who will take on the responsibility and pressure to select and
lead
the team
4) Strong competition to motivate and challenge the team during the contest
5) An absence of AURORA in Northern MAINE (which was very evident on Friday
night in Jonesboro.)
On a final note, a number of old friends have written us emails saying it was
more fun to STOP operating in the contest and to tune into LIVE SCORES instead
to watch the numbers and lead go back and forth on Saturday and all Sunday
afternoon long. It was amazing to watch how close the scores were on 20/15/10
on Sunday afternoon which at times were separated by only 8-15 qso’s between
K1LZ and K3LR. It was kind of like watching your own MM Super Bowl taking place
right before your eyes with a sixpack of beer and popcorn!
Congrats to Team K3LR – as well. Those guys NEVER give up and thanks for the
motivation to keep us all going! And thanks to the K1LZ team members who were
willing to take a chance to join with us for this one – your efforts were much
appreciated. Krassy and I are very grateful. Thank you!
73 Krassy K1LZ and Jeff K1ZM (on behalf of Team K1LZ)
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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