[3830] CQWW CW K5GO(@K5GO/N5DX) M/S HP

[webform at b41h.net]

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: K5GO
Operator(s): W0UA, K9BGL, N5XR, KM5G, N5RR, KM5PS, K5LG, N5DX, K5GO
Station: K5GO/N5DX

Class: M/S HP
QTH: ARKANSAS
Operating Time (hrs): 47

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:   71    20       66
   80:  259    27      101
   40: 1288    39      136
   20:  794    39      146
   15: 1332    36      148
   10:  568    33      121
------------------------------
Total: 4312   194      718  Total Score = 11,068,032

Club: 

Comments:

We had an interesting weekend - one that will not be remembered for how well we
did or didn't do but for good friends who came to operate and the events that
took place during the contest.

We hoped that the propagation predictions would be wrong and were happy that at
least we had good conditions for half the contest.  Friday night and Saturday
were not good but Saturday night and Sunday were much better.

These were the top two "events":

In the wee hours of the morning the first night, N5DX went outside the house
and heard the prop pitch motor running on the 20m rotating antenna.  A relay
had frozen in the closed position the last time it was rotated, and we had no
idea how long the thing was spinning around.  Wouldn't matter whether 15
minutes or two hours, the result would be the same.  A couple of trips up the
tower during the daylight on Saturday (one to replace the coax and the other to
fix the indicator) took care of the problem and all was well.  The weather was
nice and the wind was calm, so other than being pretty tired from having been
awake for about 30 hours it was not a big deal.

Sunday we were enjoying the improved conditions, doing well with W0UA on 10m,
working multipliers on 20 and 15, and the mains power went off. OMG, WTF, can
you believe this happened, etc. Come to find out, there were about 400
customers affected, and I am quite sure the very first report came from us.  It
is life or death...We have to have power, etc.  Having no idea when it might
come back on, we cut some wire hooked it up with jumper cables to my truck
battery, ran it through the window and were on the air in 30 minutes in the low
power "1B" category using a K3.  I sat down and operated longer than at any
other time in the contest to stay focused on something I had control over
instead of pacing the floor and worrying about something over which I had no
control. KM5PS was kind enough to go home and bring back a 5KW generator and we
got an amplifier, rotators and antenna switches running about 2 hours into the
3+ hours the power was off. For about two hours we hand keyed and paper logged
a hundred contacts or so. It is a mystery how 35 years ago in these contests we
managed to hand key and paper log thousands of contacts for 48 hours.  I found
that I don't miss those days too much. 

In the end our problems had a relatively minor effect and would not change
whatever position we have in the standings.  Despite the problems, we had a
good time, worked some juicy multipliers and will do it again next year.  My
favorite moment was prediting that if we turned the 40m antenna to the
Southwest at sunrise VU2JOS would call us.  I had worked him a few days before
and we needed it for a double multiplier.  W0UA was operating, I was listening
on the second radio and voila, there he was - calling to give us the 39th zone
after the antenna was turned.  

Thanks to all who came to operate, especially W0UA and K9BGL who drove many,
many hours to get here.       

W0UA told a story (he has a bunch of stories) including a quote that he
remembered from someone who said.... "Enjoy what you have.  Do what you can." 
In retrospect, I think that is exactly what we did.  Congratulations to all who
were also able to enjoy what you had and do what you could.  

Next year I am really hoping to have one more rotator control box in the
shack...

Happy Holidays to everyone.

73...Stan, K5GO

Equipment:

K3 x 2
TS-590S x 2

AL-1500 x 3
AL-1200 X 1
3-1000 x 1

Antennas:

160m. - Shunt fed tower
80m - 4 Square
40m - 5 element Yagi, 90 foot boom - 135 feet
20m - 6 element Yagi, 65 foot boom - 70 feet + 8/8, 114 foot booms - 146//73
feet fixed on Europe + 4L SE
15m - 7 element Yagi, 56 foot boom - 90 feet + 10 element Yagi, 108 foot boom
-
60 feet fixed on Europe +  6 element Yagi, 48 foot boom fixed (NW)
10m - 6 element Yagi, 38 foot boom - 80 feet + 6/6, 36 foot booms fixed NE

www.k5go.com


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