[3830] ARRLDX CW T88UU(W1NN) SOAB HP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: T88UU
Operator(s): W1NN
Station: T88CN

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Palau
Operating Time (hrs): 28

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:    -     -
   80:   42    20
   40:  511    45
   20:  241    43
   15:  673    53
   10:  407    40
-------------------
Total: 1874   201  Total Score = 1,130,022

Club: North Coast Contesters

Comments:

This was an operation from a station located in a small hotel in the downtown
area of Palau’s largest town.  It is not a rental shack per se because it is
not actually rented out but rather is made available to amateurs staying at the
hotel who have made advance arrangements and received a license from the local
authorities.  The owner, T88CN, has been making his station available to
visiting hams (99% of whom are JA’s) for quite a few years and the visitors
have donated equipment, organized the place and erected antennas on the hotel
roof for him.  George, the owner, is now quite advanced in years and does not
seem to use the station himself very much, and it is managed by an informal
group of Japanese hams who visit regularly and keep things running.  

The radio room is located on the top floor of this three-story hotel and is
equipped with an old Icom 756 radio, a Japanese kilowatt amp (on average
putting out 700 watts), and a number of other older transceivers.  On the roof
are a pretty effective tribander mounted about 6 meters above the roof and
dipoles for 40 and 80.  There is currently no working 160 meter available.  

The ocean is about half a mile to the north and is visible from the roof, so
the station is in a good location for transmit purposes.  The problem is
reception.  The hotel is surrounded by buildings and power poles and the
man-made noise is considerable.  This affected all bands but of course 40 and
80 were the worst.  The effects of this can be seen very clearly in the above
totals, especially in the 80 meter multiplier.  The ICOM-756 proved to be
completely incapable of eliminating any of this noise so I just had to live
with it.  I really missed my K3.      

Palau is a long way from North America and it takes at least three or four
flights to get there from most US cities.  I was traveling from Japan, so the
trip was much easier, but it still took about 14 hours door-to-door on United
Airlines via Guam because I plan to spend a couple of days in Guam on the way
back to Japan.  Delta does fly nonstop Tokyo-Palau several days per week, but
the flight is not cheap.        

Accompanying me on this trip was Hiro, JA1WSX, my friend and a six-time Palau
visitor.  It had been over five years since he had been to the island and when
he heard I was interested in operating from Palau, he volunteered to come
along, show me the ropes and help me with some antenna projects before the
contest.  His assistance was invaluable and I owe him, the station owner, and
the others who have built and maintained this station, a big “thank you.” 


We arrived in Palau on Wednesday night and had all day Thursday and Friday to
check things out and do some antenna work.  Years ago Hiro had brought a
shortened two-element 40 meter beam to the station and it had been sitting in
its box for most of this time.  We thought it would be superior to the dipole
so we spent most of Thursday and part of Friday assembling and erecting this
antenna.  Unfortunately we could only get it about four meters above the roof. 
It proved to be slightly less noisy than the dipole but the signal reports we
got showed that it was not much different from the dipole.  

I had come a long way (and spent quite a bit of money) so I was planning to put
in a serious effort.  But at the same time, I could see no point in sitting in
front of the radio for hours on end making 10 contacts per hour, so I took time
off each day after the morning opening was over and around 1 AM at night after
activity on 40 meters dried up with West Coast dawn.  I may have missed some
openings on 20 doing this.
  
Operating from Palau is much like operating from Japan, at least in terms of
the band openings and operating times.  Both are in the same time zone and at a
similar longitude, although of course Palau is quite a bit further south (7
degrees north latitude compared with 35 degrees for Tokyo).  In both places,
the contest starts at 9 AM Saturday and runs through 8:59 AM Monday morning
local time.  When the contest begins on Saturday, the high bands are normally
still open to N. A. for a couple of hours.  Then on Sunday morning you get the
entire opening and then again toward the end of the contest you get two or
three more hours when the band can be open to N. A.  The low bands are usually
useful from around 4 PM through midnight or 1 AM local, although some of these
hours can be painfully slow.   

The contest started off with excellent conditions on 10 and 15 for about two
hours.  After 10 and 15 died, 20 was somewhat productive for an hour, but
things slowed dramatically in the fourth hour and ground to a near halt in the
fifth.  I took a break until 40 showed signs of life around 0730Z.   Then it
was about seven straight hours of mostly grueling labor putting stations in the
log on 40.  Not only was the local noise a problem, but the band in this part of
the world is also filled with strange SSB signals and wooshing Chinese
radar-like noise that sweeps through the band.  You think you have a fairly
clear QRG and suddenly a loud SSB signal comes on and obliterates the
frequency.  The 756 just couldn’t do anything with the local noise and many
calling stations were just impossible to pull out of the mud.  When I went over
700 contacts at 1430Z I had had enough static in my ears for one day and I went
to bed hoping that Sunday morning would bring another nice opening on the high
bands.   

I was not disappointed.  Conditions on 10 and 15 were superb, although rapid
QSB and big pileups required a lot of repeats.  During the 4.5 hours from 2130
through 0200Z I added another 550 Q’s to the total.  15 stopped producing
around 0200 but the QSY to 20 brought very poor rates.  The band was sort of
open but I guess most NA stations were busy on the low bands.  I never did
figure out when I should be on 20 and the Q total there shows it.   

Sunday night on 40 was pretty much a repeat of Saturday except that rates were
much poorer.  I believe that NA activity slows dramatically during the second
night of the contest.  I had to take off an hour of prime run time to pick up
the XYL at the airport.  Things on 40 picked up nicely when the Americans and
Canadians woke up on their Sunday morning and the 1400Z hour brought 86
contacts, my best rate on 40.  I never knew there were so many VE7 and VE6
stations.  I went to bed at 1515Z (about midnight my time) with 1526 contacts
in the log.  

I was back on the air at 2015Z (Monday morning at 5:15 local.) for the final
hours of the contest.  Fortunately, high band conditions continued to be good
for me and I was able to put another 377 contacts into the log during the last
3:45 of the contest.  Signals on 10 were strange, with some guys blasting in at
20 over nine and others just barely audible.   

It appears that I had much better conditions on 10 than my friends in Japan.  I
guess Palau’s more southern location really made a difference.  On the other
hand, they seem to have done better than I on the low bands.    

As soon as I can arrange it, I will upload the log to LOTW, so if you need
confirmation of our QSOs, please be a little patient.  If you need a paper QSL
card, please send an SASE to my home address but please hold off until late
April or the cards will just sit in the post office and annoy my letter
carrier.  Cards sent to the bureau typically do not reach me for a long time
and are unlikely to be answered quickly. 

Thanks to all for a really fun contest.

73, Hal W1NN


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