[3830] CQ160 SSB VP6DX(N5IA) Single Op HP
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Tue Mar 11 01:20:02 EDT 2008
CQ 160-Meter Contest, SSB
Call: VP6DX
Operator(s): N5IA
Station: VP6DX
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Ducie Island
Operating Time (hrs): 21.5
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 1163 State/Prov = 54 Countries = 40 Total Score = 1,069,250
Club: Radio Expeditions LLC
Comments:
BEWARE. THIS IS LOOOOOONG !!!!!
Well, it took while to get this one here. I didn't get back home until last
Wednesday night and the Euro guys until Thursday night. Then the contest Q's
had to be extracted from the general VP6DX log.
I want to thank Tonno, ES5TV, and Dietmar, DL3DXX, for the time and effort in
extracting my contest Q's, for creating the Cabrillo log for entry, and the
statistics pages.
What a ride!!!!! I also want to thank the VP6DX team for allowing me to
indulge myself a bit and operate the contest single op. It was the opportunity
of a lifetime.
First of all, the timing of the contest in the southern hemisphere is
equivalent to the last weekend in August here in the northern hemisphere. That
is why all the Topband ops in the southern hemisphere are called static
fighters. And I can vouch that is the case south of the Equator; just like our
summer times in the northern hemisphere. Of course the equatorial zone has the
T-storm activity year around.
Together with the static is the fact that the dark hours contesting time at the
latitude of Ducie is about 22 hours for the two nights. Daytime sleeping on a
cot under a small tree in mid-90 degree F heat and mid-90 percent humidity is
also not conducive to the best contesting environment. The tents were way over
100 degrees inside, so no chance for rest there. Oh, also, the constant rumble
of the three gensets at the main East camp was always present.
Now that I have painted the slightly negative side of things, let's concentrate
on the positive which provided the stage for an astounding contest experience
for me.
Thanks to Dietmar, Robin, Les, Carsten, Tonno, and Andre (you can get their
calls on the VP6DX website) for the FB installation of the 80 foot tall Titanex
with 40, 1/4 WL radials. I was busy getting the gensets (5 total) and the
electrical distribution system installed at both camps and did not participate
in the TX antenna install.
BUT, Robin, WA6CDR and I spent the better part of 4 days getting the four,
2-wire Beverage antennas installed half way between the two operating camps
(separated by ~ 1 kM). It really wasn't jungle but the little trees (only
plant/vegetation on Ducie) were very thick with deadwood underneath. We had to
break a path the full length across the island in the azimuth of each Beverage.
There was not a breath of air among the trees and it was like working in a sauna
bath under a heat lamp.
Robin and I installed (WL for 160 Meters; 75/80 Meters is double) two, ~one WL
antennas; one each for 15/205, & 125/305 degrees. We installed a ~two WL
antenna for 85/265 degrees and two, ~one WL antennas, phased with 1/2 WL
spacing, for the most important 45/225 degree azimuths.
Fortunately our job was made somewhat easier than we had planned because we
were able to use the forks of the limbs of the small trees to support the
Saxton 300 Ohm ladder line we used for elements. Not a single support was
installed. That was a BIG plus.
All terminations were DX Engineering. We used 4 foot copperweld ground rods.
There was very little soil and in most cases just broken coral fragments (more
of an insulator than ground) into which we pounded the rods.
Single rods were used on the far ends of the antennas but at the feed points
two rods were used on two feed points and four rods on three feed points. The
reason for the four rods was that we hit bedrock (solid coral) at about 30
inches and the rods would not go in any farther.
To make sure we had some semblance of a ground, we watered the rods each day
with an average of 2 gallons per rod of sea water. You do what you have to do
to make it work. This was done late in the day near sunset so that the wetness
would last through the night time operations. The sea water disappeared quickly
as there was no holding it with the coral pieces.
The signals from each of the eight Beverages were split three ways; 75 Meter
phone, 80 Meter CW and 160 Meters. Special pass/notch filters for the 75 and
80 meter splits allowed attenuation of signals from the opposite in-band
station before being fed to the preamps for each system.
The DX Engineering preamps had the operating DC voltage to them interrupted
during transmit of its own transmitter to prevent overload and possible
destruction of the preamps. Antenna selection was done by 8-way Ameritron
switches. Each system required approximately 550 Meters of Ethernet control
cable and an equal amount of flooded RG-6 cable from the Beverage signal
collection/switching point back to the operating locations.
At the operating positions there were special boxes for the injection of the
voltage for the preamps (and the interruption of that voltage during transmit
keying) and the separation of the RF signals.
How well did the Beverage antennas work? You whom we answered can give one
side of the answer. Dietmar, DL3DXX, who made the majority of the 160 CW Q's,
said more than one morning; "No Beverages, no contacts"!!
A number of the European operators expressed that they didn't know Beverages
worked SO WELL!!!!! They were the key to all the long path and antipodal
contacts VP6DX made on 160/80/75 Meters as well as perhaps 30-40% of the total
Q count on those bands.
The balance of the station for the CQ 160 contest: The new Elecraft K-3
transceiver and an Acom 2000 Amplifier. The logging program used was WinTest
and the laptop was a Durabook (I think that is correct; all new, identical ones
for the DXped). The generators were new Hondas; the 6.5 kW inverter type
models.
At Ducie the contest is already 2.5 hours old when there is a slight chance of
getting someone's attention from the South Pacific. Both nights I was hearing
loud signals from the states AND EU nearly two hours before sunset. The band
was full of signals. Both nights HG8DX was nearly 5x9 30 minutes before
sunset, but I never could get his attention.
So, this is how I started. I knew I had to call a big gun with good ears to
get the 1st log entry. I selected Jerry, WB9Z. He responded on my 2nd try.
Thanks, Jerry!!! I then called and worked 4 more stations before calling and
working Dave, AA0RS, in Colorado. I told Dave I was having a difficult time
finding a clear spot to call CQ and get going with the horde of stations I knew
were waiting for a chance at VP6DX on 160 SSB.
Dave said, "Stay here. Take this one". THANKS DAVE!!!! Because in a nutshell
the rest is history.
I was able to stay on 1.852 for 9.5 hours. After 14 Q's the crowd has gathered
and I had to go split. I apologize to the balance of the contestants, but it
was the ONLY way that I had to satisfy as many stations as possible during the
two nights of operation.
I thank the 99% of the operators who adhered to my instructions and allowed me
to make contacts when all I could get is one or two letters from the initial
calls.
I never did break the 100 Q per hour rate, but did get to 90 in the 0400 hour
the first night and 66 in the 0500 hour the 2nd night. I think that is
astounding where the nearest station I contacted off island was about 3,000
miles away. The low was 12 Q in the 0900 hour the 2nd night.
Here are the rates for the complete contest.
VP6DX
160 Meter SSB
QSOs (with dupes) - By time
! Hr ! 160 ! Total !
! ! ! !
----------------------------
! 00 ! ! !
! 01 ! ! !
! 02 ! 6 ! 6 !
! 03 ! 81 ! 81 !
! 04 ! 90 ! 90 !
! 05 ! 84 ! 84 !
! 06 ! 57 ! 57 !
! 07 ! 53 ! 53 !
! 08 ! 71 ! 71 !
! 09 ! 61 ! 61 !
! 10 ! 59 ! 59 !
! 11 ! 44 ! 44 !
! 12 ! 71 ! 71 !
! 13 ! 60 ! 60 !
! 14 ! 1 ! 1 !
! 15 ! ! !
! 02 ! ! !
! 03 ! 59 ! 59 !
! 04 ! 65 ! 65 !
! 05 ! 66 ! 66 !
! 06 ! 32 ! 32 !
! 07 ! 48 ! 48 !
! 08 ! 40 ! 40 !
! 09 ! 12 ! 12 !
! 10 ! 37 ! 37 !
! 11 ! 52 ! 52 !
! 12 ! 34 ! 34 !
! 13 ! 37 ! 37 !
! 14 ! ! !
----------------------------
! ! 1220 ! 1220 !
I wound up with 57 dupes, a 4.6% rate. Again, thanks to all the ops for being
there and for not calling in twice. One W9 did call 7 times!!!!!!! A few
stations who I did have a "good" callsign exchange with did not/would not give
me a state exchange so they were removed from the log. Sorry guys. I was in
the contest and needed the exchange for a good Q.
I missed only WY, RI and DC for a WAS. VE participation was excellent also,
with only 4 Provinces missed. DX was about as good as it gets in a contest
environment from a postage stamp in the middle of nowhere. Here is my DX list
with the Q count for each one.
--------------------------------------------------------------
VP6DX - Continents
160 Meters - SSB
QSOs (with dupes)
! Band ! EU ! NA ! SA ! AF ! AS ! OC !
--------------------------------------------------------------
! 160 ! 4.0% ! 86.2% ! 3.3% ! 1.4% ! 0.8% ! 4.3% !
--------------------------------------------------------------
Worked DXCC
DXCC | CT | 160
==================
9A | EU | 1
C6 | NA | 2
CN | AF | 1
CT | EU | 7
CT3 | AF | 8
CX | SA | 1
DL | EU | 6
EA | EU | 2
EA8 | AF | 8
EI | EU | 2
FK | OC | 1
FM | NA | 1
G | EU | 7
GI | EU | 2
GM | EU | 4
GW | EU | 1
HI | NA | 1
HK | SA | 2
HP | NA | 1
HR | NA | 1
I | EU | 1
KH2 | OC | 2
KH6 | OC | 4
KL | NA | 9
KP2 | NA | 2
KP4 | NA | 3
LU | SA | 21
ON | EU | 4
OZ | EU | 3
PA | EU | 3
PY | SA | 14
S5 | EU | 4
SP | EU | 2
TI | NA | 2
UA9 | AS | 10
VK | OC | 15
VP6D | OC | 1
XE | NA | 21
ZL | OC | 29
ZP | SA | 2
==================
| | 211
That folks is ONE - 2 point contact (DXped leader had a VP6 callsign)
51 - 5 point contacts
1,111 - 10 point contacts
What more can I say. It was the opportunity of a lifetime. It turned out to
be the experience of a lifetime in my meager contesting career. EVERYTHING
cooperated to the highest extent possible. Some QRN the 1st night but that was
all. Just multitudes and multitudes of signals spread across 10 kHz. I
apologize for not being able to put everyone in the log.
The 2nd night had quite a bit of QRN and band QSB periods when all but the
strongest signals would fade down 20-30 dB for 5-15 minutes. Also, all the big
gun CQers who worked me the 1st night now had no reason to NOT jump on my QRG.
But it all worked out and at dawn the 2nd night I was totally exhausted.
I did fight the flying birdies eminating from the Astron switching supplies
which we were never able to totally mitigate. That cost me some Q's for a
minute or two at times.
It was GREAT to work all the southern hemispere stations; the quantities of PY,
LU, VK and ZL stations. Thanks fellows/blokes/compadres for fighting the QRN to
give me a contact.
Watch the Topband reflector. In a few days I will announce a webpage where you
will be able to go and see some of the photos of the low band antennas. Also
there will be a composite of the Google Earth image of the island with the
operating site locations and low band TX and Beverage antenna positions shown
on it. Stay tuned!!!!
73 de Milt, N5IA
ex op of VP6DX
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