[3830] P40W WPX CW QRP

[John Crovelli]

Hi everyone.

This was truely an exciting contest.  Who would have expected such outstanding 
conditions on the high bands.  Running QRP, it was the ideal situation since it 
allowed me to successfully call CQ most of the time.   The first 10 hours it was 
hard to choose between 40 and 20 meters.  Twenty was wide open and rates were 
exceptional.  But my game plan was to make as many contacts as possible on 40 
and 80 so opted to suffer through most of  my first night on the lower bands.  
This proved to the right decision and yielded nearly 300 six point contacts.  

Saturday morning (local time) 20 and 15 seemed flat.  Took a second off time 
around noon.  When I returned 15M was showing signs of life and I found a clear 
spot on 21.035.  I  was able to hold this frequency for nearly 6 hours without 
challenge (no small feat for QRP) running Eur and US at rates between 100 and 
130 contacts/hour.  WOW!  I still don’t believe how good conditions were to 
Europe well into their night.  A brief sprint on 10M even  yielded a few 
European contacts.

After about 17 hours of operating time the score was already equal to the old 
QRP record.   Based on the exceptional 20M conditions, a strategy change was 
made and I concentrated on the high bands for the remainder of the contest, 
forgoing the effort required to make 6 pointers on 40 and 80 (one can take not 
being heard on the first call just so much).  Rates of 80/hour were achieved on 
20M until early morning (0600Z) when my body told me to sleep.  

In contrast, the bands were never as good the last 12 hours of the contest.  
Twenty was  crowded and it seemed impossible to find a clear frequency to call 
CQ, even above 14070.   15M never seemed to really open on Sunday, with only the 
big Eur. stations being heard consistently.  A lot of search and pounce was 
yielding plenty of  mults but not many contacts.   A few hours of snooze time on 
the beach were a welcome alternative.

Finished out the contest on 20M and managed to push the score above 4 meg. on a 
strong  run to US/EUR during the last hour.  I still get a thrill out of what 
can be worked with just a few  watts and this contest provided lots of enjoyment 
when CQs were answered by 7X, JY, JA, UA9, VK, VU, ZS, 4X, all so far away.

Special thanks to my Aruban hosts Humphrey and Corry and to Bob, WX4G/P40J, 
whose help lowering, repairing, and raising the 20/40 yagi in 35+ mph winds was 
invaluable.  

Plan to return for CQWW Phone in October.

73, John  W2GD/P40W
jcrovell at gbsmail.bcs.lucent.com   or   W2GD at hotmail.com


  
      Call: P40W                                     Country:  Aruba
      Mode: WPX CW                       Category: SOAB/QRP

      BAND     QSO   QSO PTS  PTS/Q PREFIXES

      160        0     0   0.0         0
       80      47       270   5.7       15
       40      243     1436   5.9      153
       20      746     2229   3.0      244
       15      802     2352   2.9      202
       10      57       147   2.6       19
     --------------------------------------

     Totals   1895     6434   3.4      633  =   4,072,722

Op Time:  32 hours

Equipment Description:  	TS930S  5 watts
			5el Force 12 10M Yagi at 78’
			5el Force 12 15M Yagi at 85’
			4el Force 12 20M Yagi at 72’
			2el Force 12 40M Yagi at 72’
			80M inverted V at 70’
			650’ beverage to Eur
			450’ beverage to USA


Club Affiliation: FRANKFORD RADIO CLUB

               JOHN CROVELLI  W2GD/P40W
               1271 WASHINGTON VALLEY ROAD
               BRIDGEWATER, NJ 08807



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