[3830] CQWW CW CR5X M/S HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: CR5X
Operator(s): CT1BWW, HA1AG, DF4SA
Station: CR5X

Class: M/S HP
QTH: nr Lisbon
Operating Time (hrs): 44

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  348    15       64
   80:  798    24       99
   40: 1829    34      116
   20: 1462    36      117
   15: 1173    34      110
   10:   17     9       13
------------------------------
Total: 5627   152      519  Total Score = 7,426,628

Club: Bavarian Contest Club

Comments:

Our small M/S team consisting of CT1BWW, HA1AG and DF4SA had a great time
putting CR5X on the air. The fun started on Thursday morning with the ambitious
exercise of assembling all antennas and rigs from scratch. We most likely lost a
few kilos during this marathon of running up and down the stairs, climbing the
roof etc. but surprisingly got it all done in time. On Friday evening two
Spiderbeam Yagis for 40-10, two verticals for 80 and 160m and two complete
stations (K3 + Alpha91b, IC-735 + SB1000, filters, network etc.) were up &
running and the contest began with a nice rate on 40m. Half an hour later
Murphy visited for the first time and killed the antenna relay in the SB1000
beyond repair, so most of the contest we ran the mult station barefoot.
Saturday the QSOs were flying by quickly, especially enjoyable were some 200+
hours running EU on 15m. At 18:22z we passed the 3000 QSO mark and were hungry
for more. The only downside was the missing propagation on 10m. During the
night 40m surprised again with good propagation, and even 80m produced nice
runs towards the West, with the highlight being called by two KH6 stations in a
row. Sunday morning Murphy decided to visit again. During the night a strong
wind had started to blow, which eventually developed into a storm with
torrential rainfalls and damaged our yagi shortly after sunrise. This would not
have been too big a problem as we were able to take it down and repair pretty
quickly. However after pushing it back to its full height, we checked the SWR
and found it bad. Oh well... storm or not, it had to come down again,
everything was thoroughly checked, a few parts exchanged, but after raising it
to full height - there was still no change! Only then we finally realized that
the antenna had been good all the time, but a sleepy DF4SA had simply measured
the SWR on the wrong coax cable... Due to the strong wind, the whole adventure
had cost us 4 hours and we were all soaked to the pants, but after a good laugh
CR5X was back on the air and kept running well until the end. HA1AG even managed
to get CT1BWWs SB-200 amp working, adding a few dBs to the mult station, and the
lost internet connection forced us to find mults ourselves, adding the benefit
of working them in the absence of packet pile-ups. On Monday we dismantled and
boxed everything again, and finished the day exhausted but happy with a
delicious fish dinner in our favourite local restaurant. In total CR5X 2009
turned out to be a very enjoyable mix of good teamplay, pile-ups and sports
activities, flavoured with the odd surprise challenge here and there. Special
thanks go to CT1BWW for his never ending support, and DH8VV/DL9USA/ON4IA for
their help preparing the equipment at home before the trip. As usual there is
always room for improvement, so we thank you for the calls and hope to see you
again next time!

73 Con DF4SA


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