[3830] CQWW CW VE2IM(VE3DZ) SOAB HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: VE2IM
Operator(s): VE3DZ
Station: VE2IM

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Zone 2 
Operating Time (hrs): 47
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  447    15       38
   80: 1012    23       85
   40: 1178    28      110
   20: 1720    32      107
   15:  556    24       87
   10:   25    10       16
------------------------------
Total: 4938   132      443  Total Score = 6,698,175

Club: Contest Club Ontario

Comments:

Initially, Alex VE 2XAA was supposed to use the station for the CW Contest,
however, his work and family commitments forced him to cancel his trip at the
very last moment. He offered me his spot. First the idea of driving again 3000
km (as I did already for the SSB part) was not very encouraging, but since I
could not book any decent location for this one, I finally decided to take
over, especially hoping to be probably (as usual for CW) the only one Zone 2
station.
Left Toronto around 2 P.M. on Tuesday and made it to Montreal in about 6 hours.

Stayed overnight at VE2XAA’s and left for Sept-Iles the next morning at 6:15.
The weather was excellent except for the small portion of the route in the
mountains between Quebec City and La Malbaie where the visibility was very
limited due to fog, but overall it was unbelievably warm for Northern Quebec -
+2C all the way, though usually at this time of the year everything is already
covered by snow.
Anyway, with just three stops - two for gas and one for the ferry in Tadoussac,
I managed to get to Sept-Iles (950 km ride from Montreal) at 3:30 P.M., after a
9:15 hrs. drive, which is a new record for me. :-)
By the time I picked up keys from the station and bought some food at the local
grocery store it was already 5 o’clock. I was so tired that all I could manage
is to unpack and install my FT1000MP and hook it up with DX-2SP amplifier
(thanks to Paul, VE3TA) and make few contacts on top band. I also checked SWR
on 7 elements tribander and 40/80 m dipoles.  Everything looked Okay, so after
a couple of beers I happily fell asleep.
Next morning I started with adjusting the 80/160 m dipoles to CW portion of the
bands and tuning 160 m Inverted L. I had 6 radials that I made for my previous
trip so I added 2 more and with the tuner that I borrowed from VE3XB and
modified a bit, the Inv. L tuned perfectly on 1825. Looked like an easy task,
the whole procedure took almost all day, but at least I did not have to worry
about low bands anymore. 
It’s getting dark early in Northern latitudes and around 4 P.M. it was
already completely dark. I ate my late lunch and started to assemble Cushcraft 
AP8A 8 band vertical which I intended to use with the 2nd radio. I felt so brave
that I even managed to put it up and lay radials in complete darkness, but I had
to postpone the idea of tuning it until the next morning. Instead, I did set up
my 2nd radio and amp. Everything looked more or less good, except I had my
computer hang on 80 meters when I used external keyboard. I tried all kind of
toroids and filtering that I could but it helped very little. Oh well, you know
how it goes, when you set up a field day style station… 
I decided not to use external keyboard on 80, but anyway – later in the
contest while on 80 I had to reboot my PC few times and LOG "old style" on
paper…
I gave up for the night and made another few Q’s on top band, trying to give
new Zone on 160 for the desired.
Next morning I relatively quickly tuned my AP8A and even had time to put up my
old TH3 which I had in the storage since 2004 when we did our only M/S
operation from Zone 2.
I could not believe – by the 2 P.M. I had everything up and running and I
even had some time to think about my operating strategy a bit! K9GY already
pointed out that having a good rest prior to the Contest is a key thing to stay
awake. I can share a secret with you - for me it works big time! This time I
managed a 3-hour nap before the Contest and it allowed me to stay tuned almost
the whole Contest. 
I decided to start on 160 m with 2nd radio on 40 and it paid off with few rare
mults on top band. I used 2nd radio pretty extensively during the whole
Contest. However some time at mid-mark I fired a trap on AP8A which somewhat
reduced my 2nd radio ability. However TH3, that I put up at the very last
moment, helped a lot.
Conditions were pretty interesting, can’t say good or bad, however, on 20
meters I managed only 3 or 4 Japanese, though I heard guys some 1000 km south
of me were enjoying JA pile-ups for quite some time… Also I made same mistake
as usual – stayed too long on 20, and missed some EU openings on 15, however
at the same time I managed to break 1000 Q’s barrier on 40 and 80 for the
first time from Zone 2. Also 447 Q’s and 38 DXCC on top band makes me think
that I did not waste my time with that Inv. L antenna…
Anyway, after the Contest was over, it took 2 hours at night and 3 hours the
following morning to take everything down and pack.
Driving back was not as smooth as before, I’ve seen snow, ice, wind and so
on. Had to stop more often sibce I was was falling asleep...
Anyway - tired to death but alive and well by 9:30 P.M. Monday I was already in
Montreal sharing stories with my buddy VE2XAA. 
This trip marks my 10 years of travelling to Zone 2 for the CQ WW Contests. In
the past 10 years from Zone 2 I’ve participated in 7 CQ WW SSB, 6 CQ WW CW
and 1 CQ 160m CW Contests. I logged more than 75,000 QSOs and I was happy to
give a new zone to a lot of guys. I am greatful to late Phil Goetz N6ZZ who
introduced me the idea of going to Zone 2 for the CQ WW and I was really happy
to get in touch with many local VE2 guys including VE2NN (now S.K.), VE2XY,
VE2STK and VA2FGG.
Another thing - if you stay alone at such remote location, sometimes you feel
lonely and I really appreciated the support of my good friend Paul, VE3TA who
called me few times a day and tried to let me think that I'm not alone.
Thanks!
Big thank you to all for the QSO’s and a lot of fun that I had over the
years. Special thanks to those who did not refuse to move to another band for
me. 
Hopefully next year I’ll manage to get on from some 3-point location.

Thank you for reading. 
Season's greetings.  

Yuri  VE3DZ / VE2IM


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