[3830] CQWW SSB VP2MDG M/S HP

[webform at b4h.net]

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB

Call: VP2MDG
Operator(s): AL7BA K2DM KA1AF N0SMX
Station: VP2MDG

Class: M/S HP
QTH: Montserrat
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  159     8       22
   80:  375    20       66
   40: 1377    31      106
   20: 1366    28       96
   15: 1231    26       94
   10:  514    13       22
------------------------------
Total: 5022   126      406  Total Score = 6,227,592

Club: 

Comments:

Well, that was FUN!  This year I was joined by three fellow members of The
Villages Amateur Radio Club:  Dennis (N0SMX), Jim (AL7BA) and Frank (KA1AF).  We
planned a serious multi-single effort.  To that end, I purchased a high-power
triplexer and bandpass filters so that the RUN and MULT stations could share the
TH6 triband yagi, and we carried down a second amplifier so that both stations
could run the Montserrat legal limit of 1KW output.  Since I have never done a
serious multi-single effort from Montserrat, Frank took on the job of making
sure we had a working network, relevant spots for the band map, etc.  While we
took turns manning the MULT station, it was Frank’s baby, and that station
contributed significantly to our score.
The RUN station was operated by Jim, Dennis and me in what was planned to be a
scheduled rotation.  The schedule went out the window shortly into the contest,
and we basically just took turns at the mic when it seemed time for a change. 
And given the “low-band genes” that run in my family, I took the overnight
shifts at the RUN station.
We had to overcome some significant issues before and during the contest.  The
K3 at the MULT station failed before the contest.  It appeared to be a
synthesizer board problem, and it was resolved (at least for the duration of the
contest) by banging on the top of the cabinet once.  Yes, I know, the folks at
Elecraft would have been happy to help us figure it out, but it occurred before
business hours out there.  Our temporary fix sufficed.
One of our ICE switchable bandpass filters (that we used for the low bands)
wouldn't power up.  Frank scoped out the circuit and found an open solder
connection, so that problem got fixed before the contest.
We lost the 80M dipole right after we started using it.  We didn’t want to
lower the tower at that time to check out the feedpoint, so we threw up a
temporary, lower dipole and quickly tuned it.  It carried us through the night. 
Mid-Saturday we quickly lowered the tower and replaced the coax on the original
dipole, thus fixing that problem.
Oh, and did I mention that the MULT station amplifier that I had paid $80
dollars as overweight, extra baggage to fly down to Montserrat failed shortly
into the contest?  No worries, we had a spare Ameritron amp waiting in the
wings.  Oops, the spare didn’t seem to want to load up.  So we dragged an old
Clipperton-L out from storage and hooked it up.  It hadn’t been use in years,
but it powered right up and actually worked while I poked around inside the
Ameritron.  Finding nothing visibly amiss in the Ameritron, we put it back in
the line, and it worked fine.  Go figure!  So we used it for the rest of the
contest.
We also experienced some occasionally nasty interstation interference, but it
was seemingly unidirectional – from the RUN station to the MULT station, but
most of the time the two stations co-existed fairly well.

Despite these visitations from Murphy, we cranked!  The TH6 and 40M yagi
performed perfectly, and the solid 1KW that we were able to pump into them
allowed us to run big-time on the RUN station.  We got off to a good start on
40M for about the first 5 hours, then did a 160/80/40 rotation overnight.  When
20M opened, we didn’t spend too much time there, switching to 15M after only
about 160 Qs.  15M was our money band Saturday as we put around 800 Qs in the
log, but then 10M opened late in the 1800Z hour.  We had a great time on 10M for
over two hours making virtually all of our 10M contacts during that period.  We
only made 1 contact on 10M Sunday.
Things were slow in the 2200Z hour Saturday, but 40M picked up in the next hour
with 112 Qs.  About then I started the night shift.  I really wanted to bolster
the 160M and 80M contact totals, but 160M didn’t seem as productive as in past
years.  80M and 40M were our overnight stars.  When 20M opened we decided to
spend more time there to pick up our contact total, and that seemed to be
effective.  We spent a few hours on 15M, but nothing after the 1700Z hour.  Four
hours on 20M followed by two hours on 40M finished it up for us.  Jim had the
pleasure of pushing our contacts over the 5,000 mark with minutes to spare.

On a personal note, it was a treat to have three good friends along to share the
tiresome travel, all the work of setting up and taking down the stations and the
antennas, and to put lots of contacts and multipliers into the log.  As usual,
it was great fun to work friends and family.  Lots of fellow members of TVARC
called in during the contest, and that was super fun.


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