[3830] CQWW CW 3B9HA(G0CKV) SOAB HP

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CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: 3B9HA
Operator(s): G0CKV
Station: 3B9HA

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: MH10QG
Operating Time (hrs): 38

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:   62    10       32
   80:   95    20       57
   40:  787    36      102
   20:  861    32      110
   15: 1331    29       94
   10:   25    12       19
------------------------------
Total: 3161   139      414  Total Score = 5,160,596

Club: Wey Valley Amateur Radio Group

Comments:

My third trip and second CQWWCW from 3B9. These trips are cheap extensions to an
annual holiday with the XYL in 3B8. The deal is that I talk with the XYL while
in 3B8 and play with the radio when I am alone in 3B9. Staying at a simple
guest house with half board on Rodrigues probably cost me less per day than
being at home in the UK.

A big improvement from last year was that a new fence around the property kept
the free-ranging goats and cows out of my radials and the antenna wires and guy
lines. The beasts made a real mess of it last year.

Otherwise it was tough. Three slow days under a brilliant hot sun putting up
antennas and laying out radials were very conducive to a midday nap. The
extraordinary clear nights make stargazing more attractive than dx-ing and
sleeping. The view from the shack looking out over the turquoise lagoon and Ile
aux Cocos is seriously distracting and cost me many qsos and repeats. The fridge
thermostat was stuck so the beer was a couple of degrees too cold.

The QTH is a couple of hundred meters away from the sea looking north and
perhaps 50m up with gently sloping dry poor ground down to the sea. A great
take-off from the west through north to the east. 

The bottom 16m of an 18m spiderbeam pole supported a 160m vertical with four
umbrella wires doing the toploading.  The same pole held an inverted L for 80
in parallel thus using the same radials (some 40 of them). Another 18m pole
held the center of parallel inverted V dipoles for 10-15-20 at about 14m. My
antenna modelling suggested that the dipoles would outperform verticals on HF
over poor ground away from the sea. Plan was to do a two-element vertical array
for 40 but after all the 160/80 radials I was not in a mood to lay radials
around two more verticals so I used a 12m pole for a single vertical with
elevated radials. No internet in shack but some blind cq-ing and later
RBN-checking confirmed that I was getting out.

The comparative statistics between almost identical setups 2015 and 2016 tells
the solar flux story very well.

        2016   2015          2016   2015
        QSO                  Mult
160       62     18            42     25
80        95     89            77     69
40       787    429           138    114
20       861    805           142    141
15      1331   1128           123    137
10        25   1154            31    127
Total   3161   3623           553    613

This is all great addictive fun. I am not sure whether doing one-man
field-day-style all-band setups on remote islands keeps you young or makes you
age prematurely though?

73 Olof G0CKV


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