[3830] CQWW CW VP9I(@VP9GE) M/S LP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: VP9I
Operator(s): N2BA W1NN
Station: VP9GE

Class: M/S LP
QTH: VP9
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  472    15       56
   80:  739    21       73
   40: 1400    28       99
   20: 1912    27      106
   15:  211    19       67
   10:    1     1        1
------------------------------
Total: 4735   111      402  Total Score = 5,659,929

Club: North Coast Contesters

Comments:

Many thanks to Ed Kelly VP9GE for being a tremendous host and allowing us to
completely tear his station apart for the contest.  It was probably a fluke that
we ended up here in the first place because the station is usually booked well
in advance for the major contests, but somehow we were able to reserve the
weekend only six months or so back. 

Ed's station is quite modest but it performs very well.  It consists of a
tribander and fairly low dipoles for 40, 80 and 160.  However, the property is
on the north side of the main island and slopes downward to the ocean, which is
about half a mile away.  The tribander is on a 40 foot mast at the high point of
the property and really works.  The low band antennas also work very well.  But
clearly being in the middle of the ocean and being a rare multiplier help
immensely.  

Brooke did a lot of the preparation before we left the States.  He set up both
laptops so that they were networked and connected to the cluster.  He also
prepared and hauled down two verticals so that we would have two antennas on the
high bands so that, for example, one op could search for mults on 15 while the
other op ran with the tribander on 20. Poor propagation on 10 and 15 limited the
usefulness of this setup but it probably helped us pick up a lot of those mults
we found on 15.  Having three separate antennas for the low bands allowed the
mult station to keep busy, especially during the first night.  The abysmal
conditions on 10 and 15 were a major disappointment but we had a lot of company
and to some degree good condx on the low bands compensated.  20 was outstanding
for most of the daylight hours.  A moderately severe storm passed through on the
second night, causing pretty bad static crashes on 80 and 160 but that's life in
places like this.

Our goal was to keep the run radio on for 48 hours and the mult radio on when
two or more bands were open, and we managed to meet our objective.  We took some
naps but I don't think either of us got much real sleep.  We had occasional
problems with some of the connections but Brooke was usually able to get things
back working again quickly.  The XYLs were out sightseeing during the daytime
but they kindly us several proper meals.  We are grateful for their support of
our crazy avocation.  

It's so much fun hearing from our friends around the world during the best
weekend of the year in amateur radio (but sad not hearing from those who are no
longer with us).  

73, Hal W1NN


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