[3830] CQWW SSB VP2MDG M/2 HP

[webform at b41h.net]

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB

Call: VP2MDG
Operator(s): K2DM, G3NKC, G4XUM, GM4AFF
Station: VP2MDG

Class: M/2 HP
QTH: VP2M
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
 Band  QSOs   Zones  Countries
-------------------------------
  160:   116     7       18
   80:   496    21       48
   40:  1819    32      108
   20:  2334    37      123
   15:  2908    35      126
   10:  4139    32      121
-------------------------------
Total: 11812   164      544  Total Score = 20,687,760

Club: Frankford Radio Club

Comments:

WOW!  Or as my UK teammates said a few times this past week, “Holy Moly!” 
Our somewhat modest station here on Montserrat really produced over the
weekend.  It was not without a few minor challenges, however.  First, about 24
hours before our initial flights, we learned that our flight from Antigua to
Montserrat had been cancelled, because FlyMontserrat was grounded due to the
recent fatal crash.  Airline personnel scrambled to book us on an SVG charter
flight, but we had very short connection times owing to other SVG commitments. 
Stewart (GM4AFF) had spent the night on Antigua, so he made the charter easily. 
I made it by 5 minutes, thanks to my fellow passengers on my AA flight, who
cleared the aisle so I could be first off the plane in Antigua.  Martin’s
(G4XUM) and Dave’s (G3NKC) flight from the UK was disembarking as Stewart’s
and my flight taxied for takeoff.  No worries, though, as Martin and Dave
enjoyed a night in Antigua and made it to Montserrat the next morning.
     While exchanging English lessons, we installed the 40M yagi and found that
it still did not work.  Some thought led us to check the Cushcraft loading
coils, and we found one to be open due to rubber coating overstepping its
boundaries.  With the 40 now working nicely, we turned to the TH6.  It checked
out OK, but not great, so we checked its dimensions and found it to be set up
for CW.  We changed it to low phone, and it also worked nicely.  Someone had
mis-placed my 80M dipole, so we built a new one.  As soon as we got it up and
tuned, we found the original one.  What else is new?  We had no troubles with
the 160M dipole or the CL-33 yagi.
     Then we tried three amplifiers before we found one that worked.  Finally
we were ready to go.  With our four ops, we worked four-hour shifts, with
Martin and Dave taking one shift and Stewart and me taking the other.  We
showed up like clockwork for our shifts, and we worked hard throughout.  Most
bands were hot, although 160M was nearly impossible.  I think our contact total
and our score bear that out.  Martin and Dave even “enjoyed” a 30-minute
power outage on Saturday evening.  (Nothing like the power outages caused by
Sandy as she hammered the US East Coast.  What is it about the end of October
these days?)
     Bottom line, we had fun as we put another one into the books.  It was a
pleasure meeting and hanging with Stewart, Martin and Dave.  I learned some
English in the process â€" never knew about eggy bread.  In return I showed
them where Paul McCartney stayed when he was on Montserrat.

73,
George K2DM / VP2MDG


Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/