[3830] WPX CW CU4DX(K1ZZ) SOAB HP

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CQWW WPX Contest, CW

Call: CU4DX
Operator(s): K1ZZ
Station: CU4DX

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Azores
Operating Time (hrs): 36

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:  154
   40:  917
   20: 1233
   15: 1248
   10:  259
------------
Total: 3811  Prefixes = 1100  Total Score = 10,542,400

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

This was my second year in a row operating CW WPX from CU4DX on the island of
Graciosa. Since last year Jose, CU2CE and Francisco, CU2DX have put a lot of
effort into station improvements although there were some obstacles that had to
be overcome that made for an interesting time before the contest.

Linda, KA1ZD and I arrived from Boston at Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel (CU2) on
Monday morning and spent the first two days at Jose’s. Martti, OH2BH flew in
on Tuesday from Madeira (CT3) and took the four of us to dinner. It was good to
see Martti during his tour of places he has operated from in the past. On
Wednesday morning Linda and I flew to Graciosa; as veterans from the previous
year we generally knew what to expect on the smaller island. Martti loaned me a
local cellphone so we could easily stay in touch with Jose, which turned out to
be extremely important.

The antennas at CU4DX now consist of four small tribanders and inverted vees
for the three lower bands. Three of the tribanders are fixed in different
directions (North America, Europe, and straight north) on two supports near the
shack and the fourth, an old Hygain Explorer 14, is on a rotator some distance
away. We had been warned that the fixed antennas had a couple of missing
elements and that the rotator controller was being repaired off-island, so the
Explorer 14 was pointed south.

When we arrived at the station in our rental car it was apparent that there had
been some additional damage from high winds since our hosts’ last visit to the
station a few weeks earlier. The European antenna was fine, but the other two
fixed antennas were missing a total of five pieces of elements, including most
of both 20 meter reflectors. (Those two antennas are supposed to have two
elements for 20 and 15 meters and three elements for 10.) The 15 meter elements
were OK, but toward North America and to the north all that was left for 20
meters were the driven elements, in effect dipoles. Also, the Explorer 14 was
loose and was blowing back and forth between south and west. The weather on
Wednesday and Thursday was not cooperating, either; it was cold with high winds
and occasional rain. Things looked bleak for a serious effort.

However, Jose and Francisco saved the day with some local assistance by
Guilherme, CU4AB, who is a great guy and a wonderful help; he does not speak
English so our ability to communicate with him is limited since we do not speak
Portuguese. Francisco arranged for a borrowed rotator controller to be sent to
Graciosa by plane and Jose flew over on Friday with replacements for some
missing hardware so the Explorer 14 could be secured to the mast. Thanks to
that I had a fully functioning fixed antenna for Europe, fully functioning two
element antennas on 15 and useable antennas on 10 for North America and north,
and a rotating Explorer 14 to provide gain and F/B ratio on 20.

I had brought my K3 and a laptop, and coupled to the station amp and antenna
switching system everything worked fine for the contest. Conditions were not as
good as last year but I was able to equal last year’s score thanks to the
station improvements. I only had one radio, but in the future it would be
possible to operate SO2R and multi-op from here thanks to Dunestar filters and
the Explorer 14 being away from the other antennas. Even more antenna
improvements are planned.

The CU4DX breakdown (single op high power unassisted) is as follows:
Band	QSOs	Points
80  	154  	590
40  	917  	3398
20  	1233  	2729
15  	1248  	2510
10  	259  	357
Total  	3811  	9584
Prefixes: 1100
Claimed score: 10,542,400

I’m very satisfied with the score although top honors and congratulations go
to Kim, OH6KZP operating from the larger CR2X station on Sao Miguel.

Thanks for all the QSOs, and thanks especially to Jose!

73,
Dave Sumner, K1ZZ


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