[3830] CQWW CW P40W(W2GD) SOAB(A) HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: P40W
Operator(s): W2GD
Station: P40W

Class: SOAB(A) HP
QTH: Aruba
Operating Time (hrs): 40

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  333    15       51
   80:  404    24       71
   40:  969    34      105
   20: 1019    38      109
   15: 1391    33      117
   10: 1014    28       90
------------------------------
Total: 5130   172      543  Total Score = 10,810,085

Club: Frankford Radio Club

Comments:

Station:  SO1R - IC756ProII, TenTec Titan, 1KW

Antennas (two towers): 
160M Vertical Dipole - K2KQ design (55' vertical)
160/80 Inverted V @ 70'
3 ele 80M wire beam toward EU @ 60'
2 ele 40M wire beam (DE + Director) toward US/JA @ 65'
4 ele 40M wire beam toward EU @ 60'
Force 12 4 ele 20M yagi @ 72'
Force 12 5 ele 10M yagi @ 77'
Force 12 5 ele 15M yagi @ 82'
Force 12 C4 @ 62'

800' beverage toward EU
450' beverage toward US/JA

2M Packet courtesy of P43L-8 running DX Spider 


A Short Story:

Arrived on Aruba the Sunday afternoon before CQWW CW.  With a full week
available I was all ready to do some major repair work on the 2 ele F12 40M
yagi, replace the upper guys on the 60' tower, and paint both towers. 
Unfortunately Murphy was there waiting for me once again.  This fall Aruba has
had more rain than anyone there can remember - truely record amounts.  In just
three weeks, I could see how things had changed noticably....new vegetation had
sprouted everywhere.  Out in the field between the towers, this new plant growth
was masking the location of the cactus...making any antenna work very
difficult...and dangerous, unless of course you are in need of accupuncture
treatments.  It rained on and off every day all week, and not much sunshine in
between storms either. If I were a regular tourist I'd have been upset with
these circumstances.  But as a station owner I was more concerned about not
having enough slots of rain free time to get the planned work done.  

Complicating matters I discovered Tuesday the 10M beam was broken.  A year
earlier there had been some coax damage due to a freewheeling rotor.  Apparently
the temporary repair made at the time had failed, or maybe I just didn't notice
how bad it was during the PH weekend since the SWR curve was 'acceptable' in the
phone band.  The fix was replacement of the choke/coax jumper.  Unfortunately
this required releasing the beam from the mast and tilting the boom to reach the
feedpoint.  To make a long story short, it took three tower climbs over a 5 hour
span to get this job done due to sudden heavy rain squalls...220 feet of
climbing for a relatively simple repair...not to mention the discomfort of wet
shoes all day long.

Got lucky on Thursday.  We had a relatively long 5 hour window of no rain from 1
to 6 p.m. - managed to hussle and paint both towers.  Not exactly perfect
conditions for painting, it even sprinkled rain at one point, but you can't
always choose the ideal times to do things when the time budget is so limited. 
At least I left Aruba with two towers that had no visible rust.  The trick now
will be to do the needed touch-up painting on every future trip.  Once the
cancer (rust) starts, it spreads quickly in this harsh environment.  Salt and
wind are relentlessly distructive here.

With the constant rain, I quickly gave up any hope of having sufficient time to
replace the guy wires...or repair of the 40M beam.  Maybe in Feb/March during a
trip for ARRL DX.

Its the social opportunities on these trips to P40 that make them so enjoyable.
On Monday and Tuesday evenings I had dinner with Bob, WX4G/P40J.  We've known
each other a long time, but hadn't been on the island together for 2 years. 
Then on Wednesday John, W6LD/P40L, arrived.  We'd never met and decided to get
acquainted over dinner that evening, and discuss station preparations, M/S
strategy, propagation, etc.  His other two operators would be arriving Thursday
and Friday.....just in time for what ended up being a very successful M/S
operation.   Thanksgiving dinner was also shared with W6LD and new arrival
KX7M....a meal of baby back ribs and steak at Tony Roma's.  Not exactly your
traditional Thanksgiving menu, but it seemed to fit the surroundings quite
nicely.  A pina collata or two were perfect too!

Friday afternoon before the contest went to town with P40J to have lunch and do
some souvineer shopping.  We searched for the best t-shirt buys...and went home
happy.  

How do other operators manage to sleep soundly before a contest like this?  I'm
so excited it seems impossible to fall asleep.  I think out of three hours lying
on the bed, I might have doozed off for less than 2 of those hours.  

Started the contest on 20M.  That lasted just 30 minutes.  Although conditions
seemed OK, there was no real volume. Did manage to log some nice SA, AF and PAC
mults before moving down to 40M.  The rate on 40 was up over 200/hour ....mostly
EU and US but some AF/SA. 

The turning point of the contest for me was 0240Z when I went to 160M.  I made a
conscious transition from contester to DXer.  No doubt this eliminated any real
chance to be competitive in my entry class, but I was having such a great time
working DX on Top Band. Conditions were exceptional, the QRN level was elevated
by tolerable with narrow filter settings.   Over the next 1.5 hours I ran 227
stations in 10 zones and 30 countries.  It was a very special thrill to work
good friend Willie, UA9BA/UA9AYA...for my first Zone 17 contact ever on 160
during a contest from P40 over the last 18 years.  Later in the evening added
3D2XA to the growing list of 'firsts' on 160.  

>From that point on I didn't feel the need to push real hard, decided to just
have fun, run when the opportunities presented themselves, and work as many
mults as I could muster.  Other firsts were breaking the 30 zone and 100 country
marks on 40M, and exceeding 20 zones and 70 countries on 80M.  The packet system
worked almost flawlessly.  A filter was installed to only receive spots from
Zones 4 thru 13.  Got caught by the CT glitch which impeded prevented
identification of new mults in the Announce window - fortunately I realized
there was a problem early, but it still cost me some easy ones.

The best run of the weekend was another personal record and a real adrenalin
rush.  On 15M, between 2006 and 2105 UTC, 278 stations were put in the log in 60
minutes.  It was the perfect setup.  I hadn't worked many W's on 15M up to this
point in the contest, signals were very loud, and it was relatively easy to get
at least one complete call on every over.  The run was almost exclusively
W's.... it was like working the rosters of the FRC, YCCC, PVRC, SMC, and NCCC
combined.  The Last 10 rate meter on CT was above 300 almost continually.  And I
sent the entire run by hand on my 40 year old vibroplex single lever paddle
using a 35+ year old FRC keyer.  For me, this was one of those great moments in
contesting - to be remembered for many years to come.  

Things seemed to fall apart somewhat the second day.  Overslept through sunrise,
and conditions were not as good on any of the higher bands.  10M was noticably
down, and the EU opening was shorter than the first day.  So I spent more time
than I should have chasing new mults instead of running.  The highlight of the
day was working A61AJ on 80M a full 2.5 hours before local sunset.  

After the contest we had our traditional post-contest dinner.  Its always great
to swap stories and results.  Attending were P40J/WX4G, P40L (W6LD, N6XI, KX7M),
P40Q/K0DQ + XYL, and P43P + XYL.  I think it might be true to say more points
were generated from Aruba per square mile than any other country in the world.  


Congratulations to Ben, DL6FBL for his record setting effort from 9Y4ZC.  WELL
DONE OM!

Monday was teardown day.  Its like taking apart a 4A FD station single-handed,
rolling up over 2500 feet of cables, wire and rope.  Nearly missed the plane
home.  

Special thanks to NO2R, W2NO and W2RQ for their assistance getting my xcvr,
amplifier and other station equipment repaired and ready for CQWW CW.

73,

John W2GD


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