[3830] CQWW CW TO3A M/S HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: TO3A
Operator(s): VE3EY, VE3TA
Station: TO3A

Class: M/S HP
QTH: St Barts
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  291    16       51
   80:  515    21       73
   40: 1964    30      110
   20: 1770    35      110
   15:  802    32      111
   10: 1467    30      108
------------------------------
Total: 6809   164      563  Total Score = 12,887,529

Club: Contest Club Ontario

Comments:

Paul, VE3TA and I have made plans to operate again from St Barts Island in M/S
category.  We operated from the beach motel situated on the northern shore with
a clear shot to EU, US and JA.  With the exception of some extension cords which
we procured locally, we carried rigs, amp, antennas, mast, auxiliary gear and
everything else onboard the aircraft.

The initial plan was to go small with just one radio and two verticals covering
all bands.  As we watched the Solar flux increase we grew increasingly greedy
and later decided to bring a better antenna for 20-15-10.  So we settled on a
Spiderbeam graciously loaned by VE3DZ.   In our attempt to remain
self-sufficient we also elected to bring a 30 ft tall Spiderbeam aluminum
mast.
 
Then we also decided to bring another K3 so that we could chase some mults. 
This in turn necessitated the addition of a W3NQN bandpass combination filter,
more cables, another laptop etc. etc.  By the time we carefully packed
everything, we ended up with a total of 10 suitcases and antenna containers to
share among two guys.  We had a mixture of 6 carry-on and check-in suitcases
and 4 plastic tubes containing the BigIR vertical, 18m Spiderpole, Spiderbeam
and aluminum mast.
 
Kudos to WestJet Company for accommodating our extra weight and oversize
luggage for a very reasonable additional charge.
 
It was rather comical watching two of us hauling all this gear though the
airports, on the boat from PJ7-FJ and everywhere else in between. 
We started erecting the antennas on Wednesday morning and quickly learned that
all this gear was too much for two of us to handle.  The area where we ended up
installing the Spiderbeam was a Jungle-like combination of bush , thorny weeds
and roots about 5 feet tall making it very difficult to maneuver around.  The
nearby palm trees made it frustrating to assemble the antenna as the fiberglass
element ends and wires were constantly becoming tangled in the branches.  It
took us until dusk.  Exhausted at the end of the day we managed to erect the
Yagi to around 25 feet only to find the SWR was infinity on all three bands. 
Demoralized we took the antenna down and found that the RF choke was open. 
Paul took it inside and soldered the wire which fell off the SO-239 center
pin.
 
By the end of Thursday we had all three antennas up and operational.   The plan
was to utilize the wire Yagi on the run station for the higher bands and the
BigIR vertical for the multiplier radio.  For the low bands we had 40m on the
BigIR and remotely switchable 160/80 supported by the 18m tall Spiderpole which
we could swap between two radios as needed.
 
We also realized that we could not possibly man both radios for 48 hours.  The
obvious choice was to ensure the RUN radio was attended to at all times and to
do our best on the mult radio taking turns.
 
We seldom had to call CQ during the contest.  Even at 600W output power things
were quite busy.   I was personally struggling to keep up with EU runs.  At any
moment while I tried to give someone a report there were at least several other
stations calling all the time.  All calling in zero beat making it all sound
like one big “whoosh”.    North American runs, albeit 2 pointers from Zone
8 were much more manageable.
 
W3LPL and K3LR probably have the most sophisticated Skimmer systems out there. 
Wherever we showed up, in no particular order these two called in just few
seconds after our first CQ.

Chasing mults on the other radio turned out to be difficult.  With only 100w of
power and a vertical, while sufficient to have pileups in dx-pedition mode, we
were unable to break many pileups.  Our multiplier totals suffered compared to
some other M/S setups out there.
 
All in all we are happy with the outcome.  It was lot of work for two guys to
set up and take down the camp but (for the most part) fun nevertheless. 
Our sincere thank-you goes to:  Pascal, F5JSD for his assistance in obtaining
of the TO3A call,  Yuri, VE3DZ for Spiderbeam antenna and mast and Dragan,
VE3FF for logistical support.

Some pictures from TO3A setup:  http://dx.fireroute.com/TO3A_2011

Equipment: 
Run station:  K3+Acom 1010 @ 600W
Mult station:  K3 @ 100W
Antennas:  Spiderbeam @ 25ft (20-15-10), BiggIR (40-10) and remotely switchable
“T” vertical for 80/160 supported by 18m tall Spiderpole. 
73 de Paul, VE3TA and Nick, VE3EY


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