[3830] CQWW CW V31WI(WI9WI) SOAB(A) LP

[webform at b4h.net]

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: V31WI
Operator(s): WI9WI
Station: V31WI

Class: SOAB(A) LP
QTH: Placencia
Operating Time (hrs): 32

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:    0     0        0
   80:   47     9       15
   40:  517    20       81
   20:  805    32       84
   15:  824    26       81
   10:  382    19       49
------------------------------
Total: 2575   106      310  Total Score = 247,440

Club: Society of Midwest Contesters

Comments:

This was our second trip to Belize. The first was in the fall of 2013 when our
daughter was in Punta Gorda working for TIDE. It was mainly a family trip. I
took my IC-7000 and operated a total of about 20 hours, making  around 1000
QSOs operating mostly mornings and late evenings, including 750 in the CQ WW
RTTY contest. We decided to go back this fall to do some more vacating and
sightseeing. This time I decided to do a bit more serious radio including the
CQ WW CW contest. I figured there was a good chance I'd be the only V3 on the
air. The villa we rented in 2013 proved to be a good radio location last time,
so we rented it again. It is 50 ft from the ocean, has three stories, is radio
quiet and has internet access. The entire V31WI superstation consisted of a K3,
Astron switcher, Microham CW keyer, N3ZN paddles, $10 Walmart headphones, a used
Toshiba laptop, 50 ft of RG-8X, and an 88 ft 20/15 meter EDZ antenna as
described by N0AX in one of his recent QST tutorials, plus a few cables to hook
it all together. The whole mess fits into a medium sized carry on bag. The
antenna was tied to a third floor porch pillar at a height of about 35 ft in
inverted V fashion. It loads as advertized on 25 and 20 without a tuner, and on
all the other bands with the K3's internal tuner. I didn't have the nerve to try
it on 160. I was obviously weak on 80, but felt surprisingly strong on the other
bands. I made about 1050 QSOs outside the contest. The contest went well. I
wasn't sure quite what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. Being the only
V3, some interesting mults called in. I worked about 124 countries.  I felt the
bands were pretty good, with the obvious effects of increasing absorbtion on day
2. Ten didn't go as well as I had hoped. There were lots of strong signals, but
I would quickly run out of stations to work. I mostly ran to make the mult
available. I decided to go assisted to use the cluster to find mults and save
time from tuning around a lot. I lost the internet for about 10 hours on day 2
and made a couple of band sweeps the old fashioned way. All in all it was an
interesting exercise. I may do it again next year, but from a different
location in V3.

Thanks to all for the QSOs and the fun.

73

Jim
V31WI/WI9WI


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