[3830] WP3X ARRL DX SSB M/M 1998

[Ramirez, Kenneth EXCH]

      The Cabo Rojo Contest Club (WP3X (ex KP4XS) ) strikes again! 
       After 3 years of playing around in the CQ WPX SSB contest the 
operators at WP3X decided to try our luck in the ARRL DX test. This 
was, without a doubt, the smoothest trip to date! We have the setup 
and teardown of the complete station (6 rigs, 6 amps, 6 antennas and 6 
networked computers.) down to a science and wound up with tons of 
extra time to enjoy the culinary delights and the gorgeous weather of 
Western Puerto Rico. I have finally found a dedicated and extremely 
qualified group of operators who want to return year after year making 
the M/M efforts easier each time.
           Conditions were very good to excellent on the first night 
and day except for the extremely high noise levels on 75 and 160 
meters. Lingering thunderstorms on the island made life on 160m 
miserable but W0GJ (160m op.) persevered and managed to put quite a 
few stations in the log. The 350 foot beverage helped out enormously 
and basically eliminated any qrm on the band from the other Caribbean 
stations to our East who tried to relieve us of our run frequency by 
setting up shop within a kc either side of us. The 75m qrn was just as 
bad but oddly enough 40m was extremely quiet. I found 40m to be very 
long and logged hundreds of W6/W7 stations the first night while the 
w1/w2/w3/w4 stations were few and weak. 10 and 15 meters proved to be 
real money makers on Saturday. W4OC cranked out a 276 hour on 10 
meters sometime in the afternoon! Yes Ladies and Gentlemen, 10 meters 
is alive and well! K3MM continues to be the man to beat on 15 meters 
at WP3X belting out 3500+ qsos. The band that seemed to be hurt most 
by 10 meters' new found popularity was 20 meters with W8MJ and K8CC 
both mentioning lessened pileups and difficulty in maintaining rates.
          Saturday night was quite the opposite of Friday night. I 
found the 40m qrn to be extremely harmful. I was having lots of 
difficulty picking out calls in the muck and mire of the static 
crashes and broadcast qrm. The worst part of it all was the incessant 
changing of listening frequencies. I can't even count how many times I 
purposely asked for a repeat of a clearly copied state exchange just 
to make sure the guy at the other end was really talking to me and not 
another DX station. What a pain in the ass that band is! The strange 
thing about Saturday night was that AA4S on 75 meters said it was the 
quietest he had heard it on that band in awhile and the 160m op 
thought it was quieter than the previous night.
          Sunday turned out to be a usual Sunday contest day with more 
and more qsos making it into our log but at lesser rates than on 
Saturday.. The last two hours of the contest were fantastic! The CTRL 
F9 rate graph showed the rates almost as high as the first two hours 
of the contest. Signals on 40 meters were outstanding! I was called by 
W3LPL with still two and a half hours to go for my Sunday sunset and 
asked by Frank, " Hey, what are you doing on here? It's broad 
daylight!". His signal was 40 over S9! Compare this to Friday and 
Saturday evening where USA signals weren't heard loudly until after 
sunset in Puerto Rico. Too bad the contest had to end at 0000!
           I want to thank  the International relief effort from 
Goran, S55OO. This was Goran's second trip to the qth in 3 years. He 
is adept on all bands and all the different rigs brought to the 
station and also makes a great partying partner!
We were both hung over well into the afternoon on Saturday the weekend 
before the contest. Advice- Putting up antennas in the hot sun after a 
binge night is not recommended! I'm really looking forward to WRTC 
2000! Hide your vodka! Ken is on the way!
      Our breakdown and Score-
  Band   qsos  mults
160m-    397-   58
  80m-  1199-   59
  40m-  1641-   59
  20m-  2783-   61
  15m-  3554-   60
  10m-  2247-   59
--------------------------
Totals 11,821-  356     Score= 12,624,828


Equipment-
10m- 5el yagi @ 20 feet, SB220, IC765
15m- 3el yagi @ 25 feet, SB220, FT1000MP
20m- 3el yagi @ 30 feet, Alpha 91b, TS850
40m- wire beam at 35 feet, SB220, IC740
75m- wire beam at 60 feet, SB220, IC765
160m vertical +bev          Alpha 91b, TS850


   73 and thanks a million to all of you who worked us and most 
especially to those of you who went the extra mile to work us on 4 
bands or more. Your qso points are MUCH appreciated.  Look for us in 
next year's contest.
73 Ken N4UK and the WP3X Multi-Multi team.





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