[3830] ARRLDX CW HH7/N3BNA SOAB LP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: HH7/N3BNA
Operator(s): N3BNA
Station: HH7/N3BNA

Class: SOAB LP
QTH: HAITI
Operating Time (hrs): 

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:    0      
   80:  253      
   40:  219      
   20:  434      
   15:  259      
   10:           
-------------------
Total: 1165   543  Total Score = 633,138

Club: Frankford Radio Club

Comments:

I thought I had prepared for everything, because I have often gone on
dxpeditions to remote spots on the globe. But first of all, I was traveling
with a work group and we did not get back until after dark every night and
there was no way to erect antennas. Finally I had a few daylight hours, and
nothing went right…Trees were in wrong places, Ropes tore, insulators caught
in other trees, antenna too long, and very frustrating, finally after dark I
threw an old 40m dipole over a low palm tree and finally I was on….or so I
thought. 

After working a few, I found that my radio kept sticking in transmit…Just
would not work…Next day I took it apart and resoldered the T/R relay to see
if I could free it up.  No change! I had all the gear for a decent operation in
a rare location and my radio didn’t work !

After sharing with my local host. He suggested a missionary friend who might
have a radio…Later (when the workteam was in transit) we went to visit him,
but found only his wife...We went back the next day, the last day before the
contest, and John, HH2VA had an old TS50.  I was thankful for anything but it
was not a contest rig and I had only Icom accessories….BUT I HAD TO TRY.

All this time, I had been wanting to operate from the village, but our project
leader was suggesting I stay in the mission compound and operate from the Radio
station, which houses a FM station…I had ordered a small generator to come
from Port-au-Prince, but our leader suggested it would be inconvenient and I
should call the guy and tell him not do bring it…I didn’t like that idea,
as it was my backup plan, and fortunately, we didn’t contact him…I began
the contest in the radio station, with a half-square wave antenna for 40 that
worked acceptable well on 15m… But when evening arrived I found 10 over 9
local noise.  I discovered that there was local line noise that made it very
difficult to hear anyone, and my hearing is not very good.

Finally, late Saturday morning, I got good news. The generator had arrived and
there was a way to the village. I jumped at the chance, and took my multiband
RadioWorks antenna (previously used by N2EA) and in the hour before dusk, I
made a perfect cast over a huge mango tree, and a local climber climbed an
enormous breadfruit tree, and I had a perfectly erected antenna by nightfall.

But my operating position was very difficult…I was seated outside a building
on a low cement step, leaning low over a chair which held my radio, with my
only hearing ear cocked toward the speaker… My Heil headphones had a ¼ inch
plug and would not fit the TS50, which was dirty and rusty.  In addition, my
glasses had broken, so I tried to keep them on like monocles, or switch to my
shades, which didnt work at night.…All night, I held a flashlight in order to
see to enter the callsigns…I was using a very small generator that was a bit
testy to run my PS and the old laptop….Unfortunately there were power
problems, and a local guy tried to wire the PS and battery in parallel and
there was a bang, and that was the end of my PS…. For the rest of the
contest, I was dependent on the battery, which I had purchased for the work
project, knowing that I might need it myself.  And there were the mosquitos.

There were some amateurs who made comments about my signal and my CW
sending...I readily agree that both were poor. My power situation was very
poor, and my operating position was awful, and I could not use the
computer-generated code because of rig failure...There are folks who are better
on the paddles than I, but none of them were in Haiti.  And you might want to
try to send my callsign 3000 times or so. But I was ashamed of both my sending
and my signal quality, especially when working some of the more distinguished
DXers and contesters.

 I got to the village with 200 odd contacts and finished the contest with 1176
QSOs… At times I could run, but most of the time it was a slow process
grinding out the QSOs. Since so few contesters actually listen for DX because
it is easier to chase the callouts, a low power station is dependent on those
callouts.  I  suffered for hours with few callers. It is too bad that people do
not listen any more.

I made a big effort to work Europe after the contest. Monday it was back to
work, and I made an effort to be on in the evenings…Again when I tried from
town the noise level was high.. So I decided to overnight in the village…The
first night was good, but wanted to try 160…Got some good advice from AA1K
and WT3Q on the rare lunchbreaks when the shared computer was open. I had asked
the local guys to buy me some stuff including 50m of wire, but it was Mardi Gras
all week and everything was closed in the town. So I didnt have enough wire to
make a 160m dipole.

So I patched a few pieces of wire together and put up an 80m dipole on the
north face of the 240 foot tower…Fortunately I had taken a whole roll of
military green rope and about 250 feet of RG8X..I needed it all.  That night
was my biggest success of the trip…I had to carry all the equipment and the
generator about ¼ mile out in the middle of a field of manioc and sweet
potatoes, and lots of goats…I was under the huge tower, UNDER THE STARS,
surrounded by fields of vegetables, with my sloping dipole starting at 220
feet…well away from the tower.  With less than 100 watts, I was LOUD !!!  I
ran to my hearts delight and made a special effort for EU and West Coast
stations. Was great fun while it lasted…About 2 AM we got a rain squall…did
I mention that we were ¼ mile in the middle of a field?  Everything got
drenched including the laptop and radio…We ran back to the village and I
overnighted in someone else's bed, in a very simple house with no electricity
or plumbing. But I could not sleep….and the roosters crowed all night.

Next morning was our last day.  Was up early and ready for work…During lunch
I returned the TS50 and a broken FT847 that the kind missionary had lent it to
me, because I would be leaving at 4:30 AM….Against everyones advice I wanted
to go one more night to the village and be LOUD on 160…Had to take down
antenna at the station and do all packing and return loaned radios at
lunchtime.  I decided (sadly) to scavenge my 40m half square to make the 160m
dipole…After work, I quickly worked to cut the wire and make several solder
joints…Had help from some young boys who enjoyed helping…Got the antenna up
 on the 240- foot tower at nightfall and ready for a great night…Turned on the
radio, and at 1811 I heard a SSB signal…then I heard SSB all over the band…I
tried calling on CW, but noone could hear me over the ruckus.  What a terrible
coincidence, my only day on 160 was the first night of the SSB contest.
Horrors.  Finally I gave up and tried SSB.  I worked W4PV, N4PN when he
announced he was listening south, and NJ2F who called me along with HI3C on the
same island. I could get no run going and could not break the USA din…W3BGN
and W4MYA were running stateside…BGN was running fast, and MYA was saying
hello to friends…But couldn’t break the pileups…worked a few other
Carribeans and that was that…Then my radio stuck in transmit again…I tried
and tried and could not find a way to make it work…I decided to wait a while,
but that did not help…The radio started to go blank screen on
transmit…Finally I had to give up, with only a handful of QSOs…But I tried
and tried and tried some more…Did I mention that there were mosquitos?  Yes
there were mosquitos…And then there was the 35 minute riding shotgun on a
decrepit motorcycle with bad transmission and almost no brakes (not to mention
suspension) over incredible rutted and bumpy dirt roads at 4:00 AM hanging on
to my ham radio gear…I lost all feeling in my one arm from the bag I was
carrying on my shoulder, but just gritted my teeth and finally we got
there….There was no time for a shower, but I had taken a “bucket bath” in
the village…A real experience for those of you who have never done it…I am
not as limber as I used to be when I did that in Africa years ago.

Finally we made a mad dash for the airport and waited 30 minutes for the guard
to open the gate…I felt very sad leaving Haiti.  It had been difficult but I
met some wonderful people and I saw that Haiti is a beautiful place, despite
the problems that it is having.  I left behind lots of equipment and tools for
the radio station and local technician…and I left a 160m dipole sloping down
from 240 feet on the big tower…If only I could have stayed longer…

The one thing I learned is that it is incredibly difficult when everything is
uncertain…You cannot depend on what will happen next and everything seems to
fail…But I know I did my best, and I know I was a new one for some guys.  And
made a couple points for the my club. And most of all, I thank God for that our
work project was a success. We repaired the base of a 240 foot tower, by
jacking up the tower. It was a lot of work with only hand tools, and rather
dangerous project, But it was wonderful to experience success in such an
‘impossible” project.  I will remember Haiti always, and already I am
anxious to go back.

73

dale


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