[3830] CQ160 CW VP9I(WA4PGM) Single Op LP

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                    CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW

Call: VP9I
Operator(s): WA4PGM
Station: VP9GE

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Bermuda
Operating Time (hrs): 11

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 539  State/Prov = 51  Countries = 16  Total Score = 185,389

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

Thursday 25th – Arriving Bermuda 1PM local time the weather was rain and winds
gusting 30+ knots. Short taxi ride to Ed’s (VP9GE) and the FT-920 were
awaiting my arrival. The weather didn’t permit installing the K9AY RX antenna
so I started hooking up the station and making sure everything worked. With a
short trip to the Market Place I was well stocked with groceries and ready for
the contest hoping the antenna would stay up.

Friday 26th – Weather hasn’t improved gales now gusting to 35 knots and
forecast to increase to hurricane force by evening. Luckily the strongest winds
recorded at Ed’s were around 47 knots which by no means is ideal or safe for
antenna projects. Ed called and asked if I wanted to go into Hamilton so I took
him up. After making several stops, one of which was for a birthday celebration
of Ed’s youngest son Ken at day care. Upon arrival back at the apartment I
quickly noticed that the Inverted L had fallen to the ground and no commercial
power. Oh no! It’s only a few hours before the contest and with bad weather
forecast there wasn’t a chance of getting it back up. Luckily there was a
Monster G5RV up about 25 feet I could use. Not the best antenna but I could at
least get on the air; however the 920’s tuner took a long time to tune. At
contest time I would soon find out that the G5RV had its own problems on
topband. After making a few contacts the SWR would jump to infinity so I’d
had to retune taking valuable time away from the contest. Again after several
contact SWR problems, this went on for about an hour and I knew I had better
stop before damaging the rig. With 88 contacts the first hour and I had to call
it a night and good to bed with dreams the weather would improve so we could fix
the inverted L or G5RV.

Saturday 27th – Awake to find that weather isn’t good but was able to
repair the broke wire and feed line on the G5RV. It had gotten tangled in a
tree that was pulling on the balun as the winds gusts. Second night I made
around 400 contacts before taking a short nap before the sunrise in Europe.
Nice signals from CN2R, UR4LRG +++,  RK6........K6FD/KH6 :)  After the sunrise
I called CQ for 20 minutes with no takers so I went to bed.

Sunday 28th – Wow what a difference a day makes weather is sunny with winds
calming down. Ed and I install a make shift Inverted L made out of telephone
wire. The wire from the original L had several bad spots and broke while trying
to retrieve it from the trees and bushes. The smaller wire wasn’t the best but
signal were 2-3 S units better than the G5RV. But by now the contest was over
with many stations already posting their scores on 3830. I put another 60 or so
contacts in the log before the end with a final score of 539 QSOs 51 Sections 16
Countries. Not the winning score I had last year but I provided a multiplier for
many stations so all in all I’d do it again and the trip wasn’t a total
lost. With about 11 hours of operating I felt I had done my best due to the
problems. Thanks to K7BG for my 50th state of Montana on Topband as VP9I.

Monday 29th – Typing this at 38,000 feet headed back to the USA at about
600mph. The battery is getting low so I’ll make this one short and say THANKS
to everyone that participated in the 2007 CQ160 you make it one of the best!.
Finally thanks to my host and friend VP9GE I always look forward to the visit,
until next time best wishes everyone!
73,
Kyle

PS: See from PJ2T for ARRL DX CW.


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