ARRL DX SSB - VP9DX

[JJ]

                 ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX CONTEST -- 1996


      Call: VP9DX                    Country:  
      Mode: SSB                      Category: Multi Single

      BAND     QSO    QSO PTS    STATES/PROV


      160      426     1278          51
       80     1374     4122          59
       40      489     1467          49
       20     2226     6678          58
       15      414     1242          41
       10        2        6           2
     -----------------------------------

     Totals   4931    14793         260  =   3,846,180


All reports sent were 59 KiloWatt, unless otherwise noted.

Operator List:  VP9ID, N2MZH/VP9, VE7GAS/VP9

Equipment Description:

TS850S/AT
ALPHA 76A
20-10		Mosley CL-33 @ 60ft
40		1/4 Wave sloper (first night) & Force12 EF140S (second night)
80/160		1/4 Wave sloper (ALPHA DELTA DX-A) @ 60ft


Band by band story:

160 - Best showing from this station on 160m yet.  We decided to start the contest
here due to some TVI issues - log shows we were here for about 4 hours and made the
bulk of the 160m q's during the first night.  lots of loud signals - It was
wonderfull watching the propogation swing out long over the time on this band.  The
goal was to beat last year 160m q/mult totat and we did it by almost 100q's and 10
mults. 

80 - this was the money band for us this year - the sloper was working really good. 
we should have tried some split activity, but seemed like we never had a problem
getting something going on this band.  almost 400 more q's and 2 more mults over
last yea r.  We finished the contest on this band as 20m closed down early on us... 
worked many ZL's on this band sunday am and to the one big gun station (u know who u
are), you are welcome! 

40 - down almost 100 q's and 3 mults - This band has not treated us very good from
vp9.  We were ready this year with a new antenna, but took until the second night to
have this ready.  Must have hit the bands when most folks were down on 80/160 or
asleep !  The force12 dipole works great...  good solid reports from all who were
asked and at least 3 S units better on receive with less static/hash, so better
signal to noise ratio!  around 0700 the second night, 40 was wide open all over the
states from vp9 and the band quiet.  where were all the stations to work??  1 1/2
hours of slow rate 30-40 hr was all I could take :-( Back on 40m (1300z - knew I had
to try!!) and folks started waking up...  another 20minutes and 5 q's - We were here
trying hard, but good bye 40m!  We actually came back @ 2315Z in the last hour of
the contest, but could only drum up one qso with KE2C - thanks!  Perhaps next year,
40m will be better... 

Sample spot:
7040.8 VP9DX 3-Mar-1996 1232Z qsx 7.253 <WA2MZX>

20 - always a good band from vp9 - very crowded conditions, and lots of fun.  one
time, w3lpl was working EU down low (156 or so) and we were working stateside @ 150+
hr on the same freq - could barely hear them, so figured they could barely hear us.
gotta love those large monoband yagi's!!  total q count down about 200 and 1 mult
from last year, most likely due to our dismal attempts at finding some activity on
15/10m!!  Oh ya, we finished last year on 20m, but the band closed with a little
more than an hour to go... 

15 - what happened here?  last year we did tremendously here on 15m.  Very weak
W1/2/3 opening on Saturday and otherwise the texas pipeline with a lots of 6/7/0 - A
couple of W4's were to be had on Sunday - We had to call in to them for FL and NC. 
No other W4's in the log this year.  down over 800 q's and 15 mults.  The running
joke was when hitting 20m hard on Sunday, I kept saying gotta go to 15 - So, they
let me try 15m an d when they came back after about 20minutes, I was running on 20m
again.  So from then on, they kept flashing a paper reading:  Time for 15m!!  I will
not live this down too soon :-)

10 - again, propogation was not to be found.  I want to thank K2MR for pointing out
a new propogation mode for me: Meteor Scatter.  I was on 160m in the wee hours and
doing some business, but K2WR says:  Wanna try something fun?  Well, K2WR and N2NT
are the only two VP9 10m qso's and the only two 6 band qso for us this year!  K2WR
was S4 direct path on meteor scatter, great fun!  - N2NT had good sigs too!  I hung
around my required 10 minutes with no other takers - curious if anyone else tried us
up there?  down 630 q's and 38 mults!  Did anyone else get any other VP9's on 10m??


28444.0 VP9DX 3-Mar-1996 0551Z TRYING METEOR SCATTER <K2TR>

The rate simply were not there for us this year - we met the simple goal of better
than 100q/hour over the 48hours, just barely!  Know I know why the big M/M efforts
of yesteryear will not be resurected @ VP9 until some sun spot return!! 
    
      0420:          6 per minute     (360/hr)
      1417:         46 per 10 minutes (276/hr)
      2049:        233 per hour

Total Qs:       5076  Average        105 per hour

So, in closing, if you have made it to here, you are a die hard contester and we
appreicate all the q's!  The station was active for the full 48 hours with only some
distortion problems on 40m (later [read: after the contest] found to be a corroded
elbow on the switch box).  Alpha power is cool and reliable.  Special thanks to
VP9ID and VP9JG for their hospitality and to VE7GAS/VP9 who I talked into helping
out - he had a great time and was a fantastic addition to the small multi team. 

QSL is again via WB2YQH and will be 100% via buro or Direct/SASE to Bob's call book
address. 

73 for now,

	-jeff, n2mzh/vp9