[3830] ARRLDX CW VP5K M/S HP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, CW - 2019

Call: VP5K
Operator(s): AC0W K0PC
Station: VP5K

Class: M/S HP
QTH: VP5
Operating Time (hrs): 46.5

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:  512    55
   80:  979    59
   40: 1405    62
   20: 1529    62
   15:  503    57
   10:   19    11
-------------------
Total: 4947   306  Total Score = 4,540,428

Club: Minnesota Wireless Assn

Comments:

We were back at Harbour Rock (vp5vacation.com) for a second year. The great
accomodations make this a wonderful place to operate a contest. The pool and
fantastic view don't hurt either. It wasn't hard to leave Minnesota during the
polar-vortex, all-time snow record February for the sun and warmth of the Turks
& Caicos. We even drove through a snow storm to get to the airport for good
measure.

Jim, K4QPL, has outfitted Harbour Rock with a K-Line station so there was no
need to haul a lot of equipment this year. It really made packing and TSA
navigation much easier. A little work with the antennas and we were on the air.
There was plenty of time before the contest to get our CW groove set and a bit
of time for lounging by the pool as well.

As I said, we planned a crew of three operators but ended up with two. Scott,
K0MD, had a last minute family health issue that required him to stay home.
Bill, AC0W, and Pat, K0PC, carried on with a two man schedule. Thanks to the
help of our wives, Cindy and Marlyn, we were well fed and primed when the
contest started.

The 48 hour contest took an unexpected break on Saturday afternoon. We lost
power for about 80 minutes in the middle of a 180/hour run. It's hard to assess
the impact on our final score but we certainly took a hit.

Conditions looked to be about the same as last year and that proved to be the
case. We had a lot of noise on the low bands the first night last year but
luckily that didn't happen again. Two good overnight rounds filled out the low
band log with 20% more QSOs than our previous best year. 40M & 20M were the
go-to bands as usual and we worked them hard. 15M left something to be desired
and never really seemed to open up for us. 10M was bad again but at least we had
19 QSOs and 11 mults this year. Last year we had nada! Just 30 points on the
solar flux would make a big difference. A man can dream cant he?

We need to thank our wives, Cindy and Marlyn, for joining us in paradise again
this year. It really makes a difference to have them with us on Valentine's Day
and not sitting in Minnesota on the other end of a phone call from the
Carribean. That never went well...

73, Bill AC0W & Pat K0PC


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