[3830] ARRLDX CW VP9/W6PH(@VP9GE) SOAB LP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: VP9/W6PH
Operator(s): W6PH
Station: VP9GE

Class: SOAB LP
QTH: Bermuda
Operating Time (hrs): 40.5

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:  342    50
   80:  398    51
   40: 1202    59
   20: 1260    59
   15:  824    55
   10:  366    39
-------------------
Total: 4384   313  Total Score = 4,116,576

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

IC-7000  CT-WIN Ver 9

160m Inverted L (40 ft vertical)
 80m Dipole at 25 feet
 40m Dipole at 20 feet
 20-10m A4S at 25 feet

I tried starting on 80m but found that I was not getting many calls and only
had 50 watts going to the antennas due to foldback from an elevated SWR.  The
Z-100 antenna tuner was not flattening the SWR as it had done in the past. 
That lower power on 80m affected me psychologically and I harbored thoughts of
doing a single band 40 as 40m was really perking.  When I hit 160m the computer
went into fits from RFI which I traced to my outboard keyboard.  After I
disconnected it, 160m worked good by using the keys on the laptop which were in
an inconvenient position.  When things slowed down on 160 and 40, I went back to
80 and found that it was working well despite the lower power.  I received some
comments that I was scarce on 80 and this is the reason why.  It was my lowest
band in QSO/hr production.

40m and 20m were great contact producers.  The 40m dipole is optimally oriented
with most of the US broadside to it.  I spent a lot of time on 40m because there
was a bottomless pit of callers until the sun had been up for an hour.

I only had about 40 contacts on 10 meters on Saturday, mostly Texas with a few
in states around Texas.  But Sunday was another story.  Late morning I tuned
across the band quickly to get a feel for its possibilities and it seemed to
have potential.  I called CQ and immediately had callers from all over the
west.  After about an hour of callers at S9+, I heard some weak callers and the
band was open to the northeast and I started putting 1s, 2s, and 3s in the log
but no 4s.  The signals were just above ESP but readable for a couple more
hours.  I did finally get a handful of the big W4 stations in the log but
missed a bunch of W4 multipliers.

Now the dark news.  Many pileups were the result of the point and click crowd. 
The result was a continuous tone of varying amplitude.  The guys who transmitted
slightly off frequency were easy to pick out but inevitably it was a continuous
dash until someone gave their call or a bit of their call in the clear.  I
apologize to those who said CALL?.  I tried to sign my call at least once a
minute or more frequently but I may have gone longer.  Despite that I had very
few duplicate callers.

This was my 12th consecutive year at VP9 for the ARRL DX Contests and it is my
best score so far.  Ed Kelly, VP9GE, is the greatest host someone could have
and has turned into a great friend.  They do not make them any better. I just
turned 70 yrs old so I have a few more years left.  It is a real rush to hear
so many friends that I have made over the years.  Thanks to all of you.  It was
a great contest.

I will be partnered with N6WIN for ARRL Phone.  Tim is a terrific operator and
we have worked together at our K6Z CQP operation.

I figured that this expedition cost about 17 cents per contact which I think is
pretty cheap.  I answer all QSL requests quickly whenever I am at my QRZ
address.
                    73, Kurt, W6PH


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