[3830] ARRLDX SSB P40W(W2GD) SOAB(A) HP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, SSB

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

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

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:  331    50
   80:  667    59
   40:  871    59
   20: 1580    60
   15: 1558    58
   10:  305    42
-------------------
Total: 5312   328  Total Score = 5,227,000

Club: Frankford Radio Club

Comments:

Station:  IC756ProII, TenTec Titan 425, 1KW
Antennas: 160M Vertical Dipole, 160/80M Inverted V @ 70', 2 ele 40M wire beam @
65', 4 ele 20M F12 yagi @ 72', 5 ele 10M F12 yagi @ 76', 5 ele 15M F12 yagi
@82', F12 C4 @ 60'   Beverage RX antennas NW, N/S, NE, E/W.

The ARRLDX Phone was the last of 3 contest weekends back to back for me during
my mid-winter stay on Aruba.  During the 2 weeks prior to the contest TenTec
Titan R/T relay had come back to life and worked flawlessly again (it failed in
the xmit position during ARRL DX CW and the worked perfectly during CQ 160 PH). 
Band condx seemed 'normal' for this part of the cycle, there were stateside
signals on 10M every other day or so, and the general noise level on 160 and 80
had come down since the prior weekend.  This is the windy season on Aruba, when
the trade winds come out of east at 25 to 30 mph with gusts near 40. The week
before the contest I got pretty close and personal with the wind, having painted
5 towers in the 50 to 70 foot range.  After awhile you get your sea legs up
there....but just hate when a gust blows your hat off!

The day before the contest everything was checked.  As fate would have it the
150 lb test nylon string holding up the top end of the 160M vertical dipole and
broken the previous day (abrasion damage from rubbing against a tall barrel
cactus for 2 weeks in the wind) which required an hour to restring (getting
around and over the cactus and spiney bushes that grow here is such a joy). 
Also shortened the 80M inverted V elements for SSB service.  Otherwise,
everything else seemed to be working as expected, walking the beverages didn't
produce any surprises.  Made my customary final pre-weekend trip to the local
food store to stock up on contest snacks (have switched to non-fat yogurts,
tapioca pudding, bananas, trail mix bars, and a small stock of cream filled
dutch cookies as special treats), picked up a bag of ice for the in-shack
cooler, and then took a 3 hour afternoon nap.  Awoke feeling reasonably
refreshed.  Listening it sounded like 10M had a little late afternoon life in it
to the states, as did 15M.  Began to think there might be hope for an hour of
20M running fun before having to duke it out on 40/80/160 the rest of the first
night.   

As luck would have it, 20M remained open for the first 50 minutes.  Not a great
rate but put 160 Qs and 40 mults in the log.  The 2nd hour on 40M was
better...200 Qs...I settled in just below 7040...where I would return to most of
the weekend with good results.  But  finding clear RX frequencies was very
difficult.

Went to 160M for the first time at 0200 and tried to be there at the top of the
hour throughout the night.  The rate was terrific at over 200/hour and put 109
Qs and 40 mults into the log in just 32 minutes.  WOW, now thats a rush.  The
remainder of the hour on 75 and 40 were not nearly as good.

During the 0300 hour concentrated on 40M and moved to 75M toward the end. 
Nothing spectacular but a 192 hour isn't bad on the low bands.  The remainder of
the night shifted between 160/80/40....with fairly normal 120 +/- rates.  Took a
1.1 hour nap at 0900, wanting to be rested for what I hoped would be great runs
on Saturday.  Awoke just before dawn, but didnt add any new mults as I moved
from 160 to 75 to 40.  Disappointed.

Stuck with 20M for the next 3 hours with reasonable success.  15M sounded like
the EUs owned the band....so stuck with 20M figuring less competition for them. 
Finally went to 15M at 14Z as EU faded out some.  The next 8 hours provided
progressively good rate (147/150/175/205/226/155/144/175). Kept my ear on
10M....knowing any opening would probably be weak and brief.  

At 2030 heard P40A on 10M CQing.  Asked John how he was doing on 10....said he
had 17 mults from CQing.  At this point I had ZERO.  Figured if he can CQ and
get responses at 100W, so could I at a KW.  Spent the next 80 minutes trolling
for ten meter qsos on 28480, figuring this might be the ONLY 10M openning of the
weekend.  Slow 80/hr rate but the effort produced 28 mults....it seemed there
was TX and then the rest of the country.  Many signals were at the ESP
level....occasional packet spots became very noticable.  By about 2140 it seemed
I'd worked out the band, and went to 20M where the conditions were perfect, had
a 248 QSO hour, the best of the entire weekend.  But this was still a far cry
from the 300 plus hours that were common place just a few years ago during the
sunspot peak.  Sigh.

On a whim, went back to 10M for 13 minutes during the 2300 hour....and my CQs
wererewarded with 3 more mults, in the far western US.  Then finished out the
first 24 hours on 20M with average rate.  After day one the totals were 3471
QSOs, 301 mults, avg. of 153/hour.  Pretty much what I had hoped for, but still
far below the peak sunspot years.  Sigh.

During the 0000 hour took a 15 minute 'comfort' break....then back to 20M until
it closed.  The next 5 hours were the normal 40/75/160 shuffle.  Picked up 2 or
3 more mults each hour but the rates were nothing spectatular.  By 0530 I was
ready for a nap.  Figured I'd sleep 3 hours, be up at 0830 and hit the low bands
hard one last time before sunrise, hoping for some more missing mults, esp. on
160.  Ended up sleeping through the alarm(s)....slept about 5 hours.  Then just
like ARRL CW weekend, when I went to transmit the vacuum T/R relay in the Titan
amp failed again.....in the closed/xmit position.  Had the option of limping
along the rest of the day using just beverages for rx, or swapping out the amp. 
Decided on the later (thanks P49Y/P40L), and 30 minutes later I'm on 160M, then
75M, then 40M looking for addl. mults but no joy.  All the bands seem punk after
sunrise, and the rates remained way below par for the next 6 or 7 hours. 
Perhaps I stuck with 20M far to long when I should have been on 15M.  Things
were so slow, even considered going for an hour of beach time.  

But stuck with it.  Kept checking 10M.  Had a educated hunch it would open about
2000Z and just as predicted, it did!  This time the openning was somewhat more
robust, starting from the East Coast and working west.  TX stns were still
predominate, but had a very nice NE run, then midwest, etc.  But somehow NC and
SC would remain elusive.  Stuck with 10M for about 90 minutes, added 174 qsos
and 11 more mults.  Something is better than nothing.

Back to 20M to take advantage of favorable condx.  The 2200 hour produced 189
more QSOs....it was looking like the contest would end with a nice flourish. 
Stuck with 20M until 2330, then I had several skeds set up on 40M.  There was
W0ZTL right on queue for the ND mult and VO1MP surprised me by calling in for
mults 58 and 59 on 40M.  This raised my spirits greatly...thanks guys!  Spent
the last 5 minutes  on 1808 hoping my CQs would be answered with a few more far
west mults but there was no propagation.  

Congrats to everyone who did their best, particularly W5AJ at TI1C and OH2BH
from V31BH, and the guys in the northern Carrib like N2TK/WP2Z, W6PH/VP9,
NH7A/TO and


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