[3830] CQWW CW IH9P M/2 HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: IH9P
Operator(s): I2IFT, IK2ANI, IK2CIO, IK2HKT, IK7JWY, IN3QGY, IV3SKB, IT9BLB, IT9VDQ, IT9ZGY
Station: IH9P

Class: M/2 HP
QTH: Pantelleria Is.
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
 Band  QSOs   Zones  Countries
-------------------------------
  160:   679    20       79
   80:  1729    29      111
   40:  3013    35      138
   20:  2680    37      137
   15:  1877    37      145
   10:   251    20       53
-------------------------------
Total: 10229   178      663  Total Score = 25,589,948

Club: Tikirriki Contest Club

Comments:

Our first time in the CW leg!
Because extremely variable weather, we decided to ship all the hardware some
days before operators' arrivals on the island. I planned to have the van ready
to be shipped 8 days before the scheduled arrivals' date. On Saturday (November
12), during the last "jump" from Palermo to IT9ZGY's home (to take last items),
the fore-left brake of the van blocked without any warning and I had to wait for
next Monday to have the van repaired: 2 days lost! 
Because very bad sea conditions, both daily ferries didn't sail until Sunday
night (November 20th) and the group had already arrived on the island on
Saturday 19..... I made a lot of attempts during the week long, by phone (to the
ferry companies) or driving directly to Trapani with the full charged van: NO
FERRY ! 
At last, on Monday 21 morning, I was able to join the group in IH9 and the setup
started in a big hurry. 
We had a full week with low temperatures, very strong winds, rain, tunderstorms,
etc. For the first time, we tried a really hard and difficult setup. We also had
to decide about the opportunity to setup some antennas, considering the bad
experience we had on the final of the 2004 effort when, in just 15 windy
minutes, we lost both 80 and 160m verticals.
We decided to short the Titanex to a full-size quarter wave for 80m and to use
the original 80m aluminium vertical as the vertical part for an inverted "L" for
160m : it was an excellent, safe and winning solution!!
We also decided to not use the 40m 4-Square, because limited time (2 light hours
less than in October!), limited people (it was a real pity!) and a couple of big
Caterpillar just working on the area where the 4-Square had been setup in the
past years.... enough!
After a couple of days of really big help to the group, one of the newcomer
friends, Ezio IK2AHB, during radials installation at 160m, put a foot on a
unstable rock and broke one leg..... hospital, x-rays, first aids and a very sad
back home on the day after: we lost a fantastic guy, a very skilled CW operator,
a perfect team mate and we remained with a man less :-((
Anyway, we won against Mr.Murphy: we finished the setup in time, not rested as
hoped and as the hard contest needed, but we arrived to start the race! 
With some operators less than in our plans and a really crazy propagation, we
had to manage times and bands, all the contest long, always in a new way. Worst
band was 10m..... we were sure to have a small traffic to do there but not just
a single 1 hour opening into the full contest! 15 and 20 worked around, or just
under, our planned targets. 
40, 80 and 160 had been FANTASTIC! EWE + beverages worked really UFB and all the
3 transmitting verticals made the rest. 
Last trill was weather condition on Monday...... the "dismantling day" for our
field day setup, after a big thunderstorm with heavy hail on Saturday evening.
We have been lucky: on Monday we finally had a full sunny day and, just after
the sunset, everything was into the van; a real satisfaction to everybody. 

See you next year from IH9P!


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