[3830] CQ WW RTTY W4TMO/VE2 M/S LP

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CQ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY

Call: W4TMO/VE2
Operator(s): W4TMO N4CW
Station: W4TMO

Class: M/S LP
QTH: Quebec Zone 2
Operating Time (hrs): 37:40

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  State/Prov  DX   Zones
------------------------------------
   80:   50       15       9     6
   40:  199       36      35    13
   20:  463       41      56    15
   15:   72        8      28    13
   10:    1                1     1
------------------------------------
Total:  785      100     129    48  Total Score = 539,596

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

Wow! Jim (W4TMO)planned this expedition, and I(N4CW)was invited. Jim had a high
school graduation anniversary to attend in upstate NY and drove there to
attend; I had to fly from Raleigh, NC to Sept-Iles, Quebec. Jim rented a
cottage right on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, just south of
Sept-Iles...great location! After the reception he drove from NY to Sept-Iles,
arriving on Wednesday before the contest. He brought all sorts of wire antenna
stuff and supports as well as a couple laptops and his KX3/KXPA-100 station. I
carried my KX3/KXPA-100 station in an aluminum tool "suitcase"...rig,
amp, fans, SignaLink USB, wires, manuals, etc all tightly packed.
I had no problems getting through Canadian customs and airport security with
those...neither did Jim.
When I flew into Sept-Iles, Jim picked me up and we went to the QTH to wind
down. He had already created an inverted-L for 40M and tried it out. Friday, we
spent the day setting up the stations and erecting an 80M Windom, per W8JI
specs. We used RG-6 coax because we had a spool of it! We used a 36-foot mast
of 4-foot surplus fiberglass military-surplus tubes...9 of them...and guyed the
mast with additional support from a cluster of birch trees. We hooked up the
rigs and computers, and discovered they wouldn't network! That was a
disappointment because we wanted to have a mult AND run station; that wasn't to
be, so we shared one rig with no networking involved! Setup finished just in
time for the start of the contest.
We took shifts operating the contest. I started and was disappointed at not
being heard by some very loud stations. Apparently, we weren't alone in that
respect; others complained about "getting out" problems the first
night! The remainder of the contest was plug 'n chug, with occasional runs. Our
best hour was under 50!!!
Early afternoons were most productive on 20. Saturday, 15 gave us a few hours
of Q's. On 10, I heard nothing, but Sunday Jim checked 10, heard a loud 5T5 and
worked him; that was our single 10M contact! 40 was quite productive after 20
closed, and 80 was a lot of work. Had it not been for our VERY quiet location,
I would probably not have been very enthused about this contest. We persisted
and did okay for 99% using the Windom. The inverted-L just didn't "cut
it". 
Sure, a beam on a tower and a big amp would have commanded the bands much
better, but for our "holiday style" situation, we are pretty content
with the results.
Many thanks for the patience afforded us by so many stations, and a special
thanks to CQ Magazine and Ed Muns for sponsoring and maintaining a fun contest.
See y'all for this one next year. 73, Bert (and Jim)


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