[3830] CQWW CW AC6DD SOSB/80 HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: AC6DD
Operator(s): AC6DD
Station: AC6DD

Class: SOSB/80 HP
QTH: 
Operating Time (hrs): 18

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:                    
   80:  260    24       51
   40:                    
   20:                    
   15:                    
   10:                    
------------------------------
Total:  260    24       51  Total Score = 47,850

Club: Southern California Contest Club

Comments:

I setup the portable station and  built an inverted L phased array  from scratch
starting at 10:00 Friday morning. ( Well, not exactly from scratch. I had all
the coax phasing lines for 80m and four 34' verticals that I used during the
last WPX on 40m). Everything else including layout was done on the spot.   Don't
even think about trying this at home in this time frame, this is Crazy and
dangerous for your mental and physical well being!  By the time the Comtek box
arrived (no I didn't have the phasing box yet)UPS red at 15:00(or 23:00z),  I
had the four square laid out and the inverted L's up, but not exactly tuned.
Unfortunately, I wasted more than an hour of precious dayligh picking up the
Comtek box at home, and getting some food (and drinks).    
The pier platform is barely big enough for the antenna layout, and there are
metal objects and buildings everywhere.   Two of the antennas were a breeze,
worked straight from the drawing board, but I could not get the other two to
tune correctly.  One ended up way too close to a boat shed and in the end I
moved it a few feet away.  The wind was bending the verticals pretty bad, so I
had to use some guying. (I use True tape for just about everything now)  Taking
down the whole antenna each time to tune it, is not a smart way to go. I was
dumping about 400 W into the dummy load all of the time, and also had high SWR
into the NE direction. Drove me nuts, but it was dark and cold and windy and
tried to find the problem, but I finally half frozen gave up.  I still worked
plenty of Europe, and by the time Asia opened it was like being on 20 meters. I
only missed a few stations when the amp would shut down due to a sudden high
SWR, mostly late in the night.  Other than that,I worked everything that I could
hear. Working through East coast pileups, was something to be experienced on
this band. This was also the first time for me to work the morning long path
into Europe.  
The next day it took me about 30 minutes to retune the antennas, and find and
fix the problem.   The difference daylight makes.  A screw was loose and was
making a poor connection from the vertical aluminum to the horizontal copper
wire on one vertical.  Now the antennas worked like they were supposed to.  What
a feeling.  Unfortunately, the conditions were much worse Saturday evening, with
no Europe heard.  I was so exausted, that I fell asleep around 23:00, missed
everything after that. Sixty hour workweeks and sleepless nights with a new baby
took a toll on me.   Hopefully I will be back next year with a better plan.

But, Wait! I had no plan.

Niko -AC6DD

Any comments or reports are welcome - ac6dd at yahoo.com


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