[3830] CQWW CW P40W(W2GD) SOAB LP
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Thu Dec 3 11:43:19 PST 2009
CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: P40W
Operator(s): W2GD
Station: P40W
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: Aruba
Operating Time (hrs): 38
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 154 14 32
80: 401 15 60
40: 897 21 80
20: 1435 28 80
15: 1000 25 69
10: 100 11 18
------------------------------
Total: 3987 114 339 Total Score = 5,323,656
Club: Frankford Radio Club
Comments:
Transceiver: IC-765ProII, 95W output
Software: Win-Test V 3.27 (Simply the BEST)
Towers/Antennas:
Tower #1 - (Refurbished) 60 foot Rohn 25G – Phillystran guysets
160/80 Inverted V @ 55 ft
F12 C31XR @ 61' (recycled from the original P40V/P49V stn ocation)
Cushcraft 40M Rotatable Dipole @ 68 ft
Tower #2 – 60 foot Rohn 25G, located 150' NE of Tower #1
160M Vertical Dipole
3 ele 80M inverted V wire beam (EU) @ 55' on catenary
4 ele 40M inverted V wire beam (EU) @ 55' on catenary
F12 C4 Tribander (40M element currently broken)
Ham III rotators on both towers
800' beverage EU/NE, 500' beverage USA/NW
Another LONG CQWW CW Contest Station Story.......by W2GD/P40W
This trip was a planned rebuild of the primary station tower and antennas at
P40W. The relentless Aruban environment had rendered the main 70 foot Rohn 25G
tower unsafe to climb. A significant number of pinholes in the legs had
developed over the past 2 years and the upper guy wires last replaced in 2003
were almost gone (only 2 strands of 7 remained on 1/4 inch EHS steel). It was
either do major renovation now or find other places to enjoy the CQWW in the
years ahead. Weighting my options I decided the effort necessary to enjoy a
few more years competing from 3 point territory was without a doubt the right
choice.
During the weeks before arrival, my Aruban neighbor Jean-Pierre, P43A (we’re
literally 200 meters apart), discussed several options on how to safely remove
the antennas and the top half of the tower safely. The only workable solution
was either a crane or manlift truck. JP investigated local sources and found
an available manlift at a high but affordable price. The Friday morning before
the contest JP removed the 20, 15 and 10 meter monbanders, cut off the top of
the mast, and then cut and folded over the old tower just above the first guy
set at 35 feet. Carl, P49V/AI6V, was also on-hand to assist and kindly brought
along the gin pole needed I’d need for reconstruction work the following week.
Removal of the beams and tower top was completed safely without any injuries -
thank you so much guys!
With all the materials needed to refurbish the tower and antennas I had planned
to bring three 70 lbs. checked suitcases containing replacement the phillystran
guy cable, several runs of RG213 and 8X, 200' of rotor control cable, rotor
shelf, thrust bearing, thimbles, shackles, replacement antenna hardware, and of
course a transceiver, headphones, and a few changes of clothes. Checked with
Continental Airlines two days before departure to be sure I could check 3 bags,
was told no problem. The next day I go to check in on-line and they won't let
me add the third suitcase. Immediately call the airline again, and learn I had
been given wrong information the previous day, that there is a third bag
'embargo' in effect until mid-January, 2010. You can imagine the issues this
now presented, what to take, what to leave behind. Spent Sunday afternoon
repacking, and ultimately had to leave home several runs of coax and other nice
to have odds and ends. The XCVR was packed in my carry-on bag - which
significantly exceeded the allowed weight limit. Note: 2 days later
Continental sent me a $50 travel certificate...to ease my pain. Thanks so
much.
Arrived on Aruba Monday afternoon and assessed the situation. The lower guy set
needed to be moved down 5 feet, the remaining 5 feet of the severed tower
section needed to be removed, and the three replacement tower sections
(recycled items from the P49Y/P40L rebuild last year) required plenty of
scraping and painting before installation. My original plan/estimate was one
day to reconstruct the tower, one day to build and install the replacement yagi
antennas, and one day to install the wire antennas (beverages and wire beams),
which hopefully would leave time to rest on Friday. As the work progressed
during the week, the schedule would ultimately be pushed out one critical day.
Spent the remainder of Monday afternoon taking inventory of materials, made a
run to the hardware and food stores for supplies, and then scraping and primer
painting the replacement tower sections. Fortunately the replacement sections
were in much better condition than those removed, no pinholes, plenty of solid
steel. The sun promptly sets at 6:15 p.m. local time on Aruba, and by 6:35
p.m. its too dark to work safely outdoors.
Later made another trip to the food store, had at Subway sandwich dinner, and
returned to set up the radio equipment, antenna switching, and software. In
retrospect, it was very fortunate I set the station up on Monday
evening......there would not have been time on Friday. Little did I know
then…..what was to happen.
Tuesday it was full speed ahead moving the lower guy set down five feet (after
installing temporary guys – safety first of course), adjusting the length of
the lower guys (a rather slow tedious process when done alone, many trips up
and down the tower), removed the remains of the severed 5' tower section,
removed needed guy bracket hardware from the old tower, and continued to paint
and repaint the replacement tower sections. Discovered the TB3 thrust bearing
I'd brought with me was defective, found ball bearings missing. Fortunately in
the depths of the P40W junk pile, a 20+ year old substitute bearing was
discovered (it’s amazing what you forget you have "in stock"). Progress is
painfully slow. I'm working alone, it’s sunny, hot, and humid. But by late
Tuesday afternoon the three replacement tower sections are nearly ready to
install. I'm roughly 1/2 day behind schedule at this point. Treat myself to a
great dinner at Tony Roma's restaurant later that evening.
Wednesday: up bright and early again at 6:45 a.m. Discover I can't extract
the TB3 bearing from the rotor plate it's mounted on, regardless of the amount
of pounding I inflict on the mounting bolts. Decided it was time to seek out
professional help. Walk across the street to the auto body shop/junk yard and
the owner Chago kindly uses his compressed air impact tools to remove the
rusted, not to be removed by hand, mounting bolts in short order.
I've never actually built a tower alone before so some of what happens next was
trial and error - and a valuable learning experience. I just wish it were
occurring under different circumstances....the clock is ticking!
Hoisted up a new 15' galvanized steel mast and got it inserted into the tower
on the 2nd try. Then the first replacement section was raised with the gin
pole. Through trial and error (and several tower climbs) I managed to position
the tower section at just the right height where I could lift it 6 inches and
drop it down on the legs of the section below unassisted. Fortunately the
tower legs were in fairly close alignment. By 1 p.m. had managed to get the
first two replacement sections on the tower, and installed a set of temporary
guys, before raising the top section. Took a short break, then raised the top
section topping off the tower. Proceed then to Install the upper guy bracket,
and then one by one, install new phillystran guys. Each guy cable takes a climb
up and down the tower, to attach and adjust. MORE very slow, tedious work, but
by about 4:30 p.m. the tower is up, guyed, and ready for antennas. P49Y
unexpectedly stops by shortly thereafter at an opportune time to help lift the
mast up through the top section. Later that evening Andy and I have dinner at
a close-by restaurant and discuss the upcoming contest....he's very excited
about his first planned SOAB HP effort.
Thursday (Thanksgiving Day): Up again at 6:45 a.m. Today’s goal is to
construct, refurbish, and raise the used C31XR (this is a relatively big and
heavy antenna in the islands), and to install at the top of the mast a
Cushcraft 40M rotatable dipole that has been sitting fully built but never
installed on-site for 4 years. The site layout precludes any possibility of
tramming the antenna into place, so it's built suspended from the tower at
about 15 feet, and the plan is to raise the C31 up to each guy set location,
install a temporary guy under the antenna, loosen and remove a guy wire, thread
the antenna over the other two guys, lift, reinstall the removed guy, and
continue raising the antenna to the top guy station, and repeat the process.
Fortunately the ~13 year old F12 C31XR was in very good condition. Working
alone I assembled the C31 in about 4 hours. Replaced all of the element to
boom mounting hardware, built a replacement truss assembly and a new DE to DE
connection wire set. More tedious time-consuming work steps, but by 2:30 p.m.
the beam is ready to go in the air. I then pulled the 40M rotatable dipole up
to the top of the tower and secured it to the mast, along with a balun and
feedline. Raise the mast with a comealong winch, install the rotator, and
presto, everything is ready to add the C31XR.
I'd made arrangements with P49Y to return and help with raising the C31XR later
on Thursday afternoon. And fortunately my host family's son Whitney was also
available to help pull the gin pole rope. With three of us the work went as
planned and smoothly, and about an hour later, we had the C31XR bolted to the
mast. SUCCESS!
Spent the remainder of Thanksgiving Day afternoon repairing and reinstalling
the 160M vertical dipole, and restringing the rope catenary between the two
towers upon which the 80 and 40 meter wire beam elements would be attached on
Friday.
Got cleaned up and made myself presentable for the prearranged Thanksgiving
buffet dinner at the Radisson Hotel. In attendance were P43A, P43E, P43L,
P43P, P49MR, P49V, AI6YL, P49Y, and several wives. The buffet was just like
back home in the states, salad, several types of potatoes, green beans, yams,
turkey, ham, assorted deserts, etc. The pina colada wasn't bad either! It was
a great way to end a long day with friends.
Friday: The tasks at hand were to repair the NE and NW beverages, and install
the 40 and 80M wire beams. I hoped things would go smoothly for once, so I'd
be done by 1 p.m. local time and have the chance to go food shopping, and then
have an all important afternoon siesta. I must have been dreaming - things
would ever go that smoothly.
Beverage antennas are an absolute NECESSITY if you expect to be anything but an
'alligator' on 160M and 80M from this part of the world. The typical RX noise
floor on the transmit antennas is S9 or higher and with all the t-storm
activity to the south in YV-land during the 'rainy season' it’s often far
worse.
The 800' NE beverage is the most critical and was attacked first. Right off
the mark I discover the 75 foot segment of the antenna closest to the feedpoint
end is totally missing (wires simply disappear down here). The really bad part,
much of the 75 feet is through thorny trees, thick undergrowth and cactus. The
wire can only be strung by throwing a string over the vegetation and then hack
out a path through the cactus to retrieve the string to pull the wire up and
over. Spent over an hour using a branch cutter and machete to hack my way
through and replace just this short portion of the beverage.
Moving further to the NE, two more splices are required where the wire passes
through a large open area much traveled by packs of roving goats. Nearly three
hours later the NE beverage is connected and seems to be working well. But
I’m already about 1.5 hours over the time budget for the day.
Work on the NW beverage next. It’s 500' long and also runs through some very
thick cactus areas. Find some breaks in easy to access places and get it
connected. But no signals! I cut and check the wire near the feedpoint end.
Its reddish brown.....a sure sign of contamination/corrosion. Decide to
replace a 100 foot portion that runs through the thick cactus. Another string
throw, another hacking out of a path to retrieve the string, pulling the wire
up and over, etc., and 2.5 hours later the NW beverage is fully restrung. But
still hear no signals, another problem? Feedline, beverage xformer, what?.
It’s now noon. I retest the NE beverage...its gone DEAD now too! Check
feedline connections, substitute transformers, both beverages still DEAD.
Decide it has to be the feedlines.....but we're talking about 500' of cable
needed to replace what's laying on the ground out there. And what are the odds
that two feedlines, that have worked perfectly for years, would go bad on the
same day! Mega-Murphy is at play here today. And I still have the wire beams
to put up....normally a full 3 hour job. I already know the possibility of any
meaningful rest before the contest is not going to be possible. And the clock
continues to go tick tick tick.
Start scrounging for replacement feedline material. Fortunately I have a junk
pile of used cable much hasn't been touched very much in ten years or more.
Quickly find several longer coax cable pieces to rewire one beverage. Get the
NW beverage working. Decide to proceed with raising the wire beams....and
return to the NE beverage feedline problem later.
Having erected the 80 and 40 wire beams at least 9 times, the process is well
known. This time I made a change to save time, shortening the distance of the
element anchor points from the catenary center line. Maybe it saved 20 or 30
precious minutes.
Also made a last minute decision to roll out the 300’ of coax from the C3
tribander on the far tower. The rotator wasn’t working but figured it would
be good to have a backup and some additional flexibility on the high bands.
The beam is fixed north. The C3 did come in handy during the contest.
Finally return to the NE beverage feedline problem. Found a 20 year old run of
RG213, one of 8X, and a third of RG59. Fortunately they did the trick. As the
sun dipped behind the horizon, everything that could be done had been done.
Its now just 1.5 hours before the bell. I haven’t eaten in 10 hours,
haven’t purchased any ‘contest food’, and most importantly, hadn’t had
any sleep.
Rush to take a shower and head to town to buy food, and grab something for
dinner (it ended up being a Subway sandwich, Micky D’s was mobbed with
families and small kids on a Friday night). Get home 8 minutes before the
contest starts. Fill the cooler with ice and drinks and head to the shack.
Open up on 40M….immediately notice the CW being sent by the computer is
clipped, it sounds like the weighting is all wrong. After a few minutes of
unanswered CQs decide the keying problem had to be fixed immediately, so I stop
operating, run a disk cleaner program and do a full computer reboot, to clear
the temporary files of garbage. This solves the issue. Later I notice
Win-Test is not inserting the correct Zone when working W’s. Loaded a more
recent version of the AD1C country file….another problem resolved.
But 25 minutes have already clicked off by the time the process completes.
I’m now thinking of the 80+ QSOs that were already lost. Finally start CQing
again on 40M high in the band. Just can’t get a consistent run going. Resort
to some S&P of loud EU stations. 25% of the time I’m asked for callsign
repeats, and worse at least 10% of the time stations CQ in my face. Start to
think, am I that weak? I know running LP isn’t like HP, BUT, should there be
this big a difference? Start to think maybe the 95W output indicated on the
ProIII is somehow wrong, maybe I have a cabling problem between the XCVR and
the antenna switches. Pull out a watt meter and insert it in the line which
confirms the rig output is getting where it belongs. Are conditions that poor?
My fatigue masked my thinking I suppose, failing to recognize conditions were
fairly poor the first few hours. I QSY to 80M, the same result, more requests
for callsign repeats, more CQ’ing in my face, etc. The ultimate, I QSY to
160M. I hear many EU and EY8MM. Can’t make a contact with anyone outside
NA/SA, despite aggressive calling. Again, I fail to make a connection between
poor band conditions, running LP, etc. My spirits sank, and admittedly I’m
more than a little psyched out.
After the first 4 hours the QSO total is less than half expectations, mult
totals are way down from normal, and I feel extremely tired, but decide to
stick with it until EU sunrise. The 05 and 06 hours are finally approaching
something near normal rates, but I badly need to close my eyes.
Set four alarm clocks and manage to hear one of them at 1035Z, local sunrise
(note to KU1CW/V31CW, sometimes it takes 5 alarm clocks). Starting on 160,
catch two Carib mults, move to 80 for a short run of W’s, then on to 40M, for
an hour or so of W’s and JA’s at ~150/hr. The new 40M rotatable dipole @
68’ seems to be working very well. Make a quick final S&P sweep for mults
and then move to 20M.
The band is packed, can’t find a clear frequency low in the band and finally
start CQing way up on 14074. The rate is nothing to write home about, about
110/hr, but this is pretty typical from P4, the real action is between W and
EU, we South Americans are ignored most mornings.
At 1300 try CQing on 15M but it seems a little too early for a meaningful run.
Return to 20 and find my run frequency gone. Go up to 14110 and CQ. It
doesn’t work, find a hole at 14028 and start again. Rate is a little better
but not great. Go back to 15M at 1345 and do an S&P mult sweep top to bottom
before an hour run on 21008. Rates are not fantastic, but in hindsight, this
was the right place to be, since the band would fold to EU early both days.
Back to 20M at 1500Z for one hour. Rate never gets much better than 120 an
hour. Back to 15M at 1600Z. The rate picks up but it’s almost all NA. This
worries me, EU had dried up far too early. I didn’t even have a Z16 yet on
15.
The next two hours flip back and forth between 15 and 20, while checking 10M
every 15 minutes for signals. At 1720Z hear and work W2FU on 10M, and then a
45 minute run of W’s and SA stations follow. Lousy rate but no way of
knowing if this would be it for 10M all weekend.
Back to 15M after what few 10M signals there were petered out. The peak rates
all weekend were to follow the next two hours. The 19 and 20Z hours on 20M was
a perfect setup, my Q total on the band is still low, the W’s are loud, 15M
has essentially closed, it’s the ‘perfect storm’. Ripped off back to
back 204 and 241 hours. Being a confirmed rate ‘junkie’ this had the
adrenalin flowing.
Followed up the following hour with a 158, but I’m physically slowing down
now. The next several hours I go back into ‘DXer’ mode, doing S&P, picking
up mults on 15 and 20. Should have been CQing instead, I know. My lapses into
DXer mode cost me the contest.
Head to 40M at 00Z, rate isn’t great. Over the next 6 hours made constant
moves between 40/80/160. Never really get a good rate going, the fatigue
factor is getting worse. Kept trying to make something happen on 160M but
there seems to be this electronic curtain between P4 and EU. But much to my
surprise, at 0530Z the band finally opens to EU. Ten EU mults answer my CQs,
and KH6AT calls in too for a double. But just as quickly as it opened, the
door was slammed shut again, my subsequent calls to EU stations are met with
CQs in the face.
Hang on till 0730 and go to sleep for four hours (slept through all the alarms
this time which were set for sunrise at 1030z) . Opened on 40M and had a
pretty good 145ish hour mainly USA/JA but no new AS mults.
>From 13 to 16z things are very slow on 20 and 15. Did manage to finally work
a few Z16 stations on 15M, and a number of the common EU mults missed the first
morning, but it was a repeat performance, the band essentially closed to EU by
1500z. Went back into DXer mode, did a lot of tuning, mult hunting, and
observing. Unlike prior CQWW contest, made little or no attempt to move mults
band to band. The overall low mult totals reflect this less than aggressive
approach over the entire weekend.
During the 1700 hour 15M is very good to the US, signals are loud. W9RE
stopped by and alerted me 10M was open. Sure enough at 1830z found 10M open
coast to coast, but it was like someone threw a party and nobody came, there
was no volume. Ran off 40 qsos and returned to 15M. Returned to 10M once more
at 1900z for another 20 qsos and a few CA mults. Are the sunspots ever going to
return?
At this juncture decide my goal should be to complete the contest with 4000
contacts. This would require some above average rate over the remaining few
hours but it was possible. Fortunately 20M cooperated, yielding 178, 158, and
90 hours back to back.
Went to 40M the last hour hoping for some decent rate and needed mults. Found
a hole on 7037 and finished out the 2009 CQWW CW with a 151 hour, with 5 more
multipliers, and 3987 contacts.
An hour after the contest, had dinner with P49Y, P49V, and AI6YL. As you would
certainly expect the primary discussion was the contest. Andy had broken 6000
contacts for the first time SOAB HP, and Carl had enjoyed a solid weekend doing
a 20M S/B effort. I always find comparing notes and each operator’s
prospective on propagation fascinating.
The next several days were spent finishing up all the loose ends of the P40W
reconstruction, and taking down and storing away the temporary antennas and
cables. By Wednesday afternoon, over 1800’ of coax runs had been coiled and
put safely away.
Overall, it was a very good week. K0DQ commented “the contest score is just
a footnote, the long term survival of P40W as an entity is front page.â€
Thanks Scott!
Congratulations to Bud, AA3B/A26K for another great WW CW effort. I listened
to him often over the weekend and enjoyed his never give up style.
Taking more time to enjoy ‘DXer’ mode provided an unusual opportunity to
observe many of the big guns. Of course N2NT was a standout at V47NT….his
never ending aggressive style was yielding results … and was really fun to
listen to. I heard Jose, CT1BOH several times as well. It seemed his pileups
were never quite as deep, and the light setting of the weight controls on his
keying made Jose’s signal less of a standout to my ears. Tom, 8P5A was his
usual ‘never stop’ style, always fun to observe. Only heard and worked
EF8M once the entire weekend and never heard ZS4TX….sorry Bernie, could have
used the Z38 mult on several bands! From the states K5ZD found me on his
second radio at least 3 times, if not 4. Only heard K1DG a few times…and was
happy to QSY to 160M for Doug….you are most welcome OM. Yuri at VE2IM was
worked on 5 bands…..always glad someone is willing to make that long and cold
trip north for our collective benefit. Heard K3LR Cqing on 10M for several
hours on what was otherwise a dead band Sunday. Got a dit dit dah dah dit dit
a few times but no joy until later in the day.
Running LP I found it difficult to work many of the Carib mults on the higher
bands, particularly on 15M. The ops at KP2M and PJ4A have really good ears.
Heard and worked VQ5V only twice, and NEVER heard VP9I all weekend. NP4Z was
‘cookin’ this time, and KV4FZ was 20 db louder than anyone else in the
Carib on 160M…..how does Herb do that? EY8MM was loud both nights near his
sunrise on 160, go a “?†once or twice but no luck…maybe next time Nodir.
Observed the long path was often better on 20M than SP, particularly to OC and
AS. The number of PY, LU, and other southern SA stations working 80 and 40
seems to steadily increase each year….a welcomed trend. The ops at
HC8N/HC8GR sounded great, they had a beacon signal on every band.
Many thanks to P43A and P49V for completing the preliminary phase of
reconstruction work in my absence, and to P49Y for lending a helping hand when
most needed last week. And as always a big thank you to my hosts Humphrey and
Corrie who over the years have so wonderfully tolerated the ‘wiring’ of
their property.
Log will be posted to LOTW. Or QSL via N2MM.
Hopefully CU again during one of the ARRL DX contest weekends.
73,
John W2GD/P40W
W2GD at hotmail.com
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