[3830] ARRLDX SSB P40W(W2GD) SOAB HP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, SSB

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

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Aruba
Operating Time (hrs): 42

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:  200    47
   80:  438    57
   40:  817    58
   20: 1948    60
   15: 2050    59
   10: 1263    57
-------------------
Total: 6716   338  Total Score = 6,810,024

Club: Frankford Radio Club

Comments:

Station:  IC756ProII, TenTec Titan 425 Linear 1KW, CTWin

Antennas:  160M vertical dipole (50' vertical), 80M Inverted V @ 70', 40M 2 ele
wire beam at 65', 4 el F12 20M yagi @ 72', 5 ele. F12 10M yagi @ 77', 5 ele. F12
15M yagi @ 83', F12 C4 @ 60', 400' beverages North and Northwest

Comments:

Wow....lets call last weekend a 'different' experience.  Seems we tend to forget
how bad conditions can be at the low point of sunspot cycles.  I thought it was
worse in 1985/86.  But its natural of course ... humans tend to forget 'painful'
events.  

Ran around Friday fixing last minute problems with wire antennas.  After the
sunrise JA run on 40M, I discovered  3 of the 4 nylon strings holding up the 40M
wire beam elements had been burned off and the wire elements were hanging toward
the ground.  Guess the antenna is working...but next time I'll remember to  put
insulators in the lines.  2 trips up the tower, 1.5 hours to fix.  Then later in
the day I'm checking 75 meters and hear the 2nd harmonic from a local BC station
40 over S9.  Thought that very odd.  Climbed the tower a 3rd time and discovered
the braid on coax feeding the 80M inverted V had corroded through. A fourth
climb was required to install a new feedline.  Another hour+ of repairs.   I
slept well Friday afternoon after all the exercise.

Turned the radio on 15 minutes before the bell.  Found 15M open and decided that
was probably the place to start.  Stayed for 30 minutes....150 Qs...not too bad.
 Slid down to 20M to round out the hour with 175 more and a healthy 325 hour in
the log.  Second hour added another 275...... 600 after 2 hours....for me thats
smoking.  

At about 0320 everything literally went dark.  A power failure had plunged the
neighborhood into darkness.  Kept telling myself not to panic, this has happend
before, etc.  But you just never know about these things.  Fortunately the
problem was resolved in 55 minutes.  In the end this cost me breaking 7K
contacts.

I was lucky to spend sufficient time on 160 and 80 the first night since the
second night was very noisy.  On normal evenings two sources of local power line
noise make me somewhat deaf at times on the low bands.  Forget using the TX
antennas for rx, the S meter hovers at S9+10....so without rx antennas nothing
much happens here.   

Spent much of day on Saturday working 15M since there was no 10M propagation to
the US from here.  During the week preceeding the contest I'd observed 10M condx
steadily declined....and on Friday only the LU and ZS beacons were audible most
of the day.  It was a great relief to finally hear 10M open very late Sat.
afternoon.  And then it was off to the races.....580 qsos in 2 hours.  No meters
like 10M.  What a rush!

Spent most of Sat. evening on 20M which also had heavy QRN but the signals were
strong.....postponing having to deal with the low band noise.  Fortunately 20M
provided very good rate until nearly 0400z.  Found 40M pretty good when I
finally QSYed from 20M...and had some success moving mults to 80 and 160. 
Finally took a 3 hour nap before sunrise when I felt tired.  

Only overslept 30 minutes (the 2nd alarm clock saved the day). Hit 80 and 40
before moving to 20M.  Things sounded strange, no loud EUs on 20.  Someone told
me the K was 5!  I knew then and there that 20M would be an absolute zoo all
day.....and I'd probably be better off on 15M away from the angry masses. 
Seemded to work.  Rates on 15m were good, but not great. and a lot less
stressful than dealing with wall to wall signals.  Then 10M cooperated and
opened earlier Sunday, it was again off to the races...another quick 500 qsos in
2 hours.  Closed out the contest on 20M....with 200 and 170 hours.  Overall the
contest was a good time and fun....had some great runs, and experienced no
equipment failures.  The power failure early on during prime time probably cost
me but thats part of the game.

Thanks to all of you who were willing to QSYto other bands for me. 

Some observations:

Fewer stations giving two letters instead of full calls...but it is still
happening and just as annoying.

Worked a few dozen stations manned by what sounded like some very young
operators....maybe there is hope and a new generation getting ready to take
over.

Are all the retirees moving to VA, NC, SC and FL?   There seemed to be a never
ending supply of stns. to work from these states.

Had some extended chats during the contest with several friends.  Thanks
guys....these mini-breaks seemed to help me decompress and then refocus.

During the entire contest I probably only heard a dozen other DX stations.  Its
like being in a tunnel.....with all antennas pointed toward North America,
everyone else just seems to disappear.  

CU next October in CQWW PH if not before.

73,

John W2GD/P40W


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