[3830] CQWW SSB PJ2T M/M HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB - 2022

Call: PJ2T
Operator(s): W0CG DL8OBQ VE4GV ND8L NN3W KL2A W3ACO W7MAH N6GQ W4IPC
Station: PJ2T

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

Summary:
 Band  QSOs   Zones  Countries
-------------------------------
  160:   232    15       30
   80:   994    23       86
   40:  2750    30      121
   20:  3566    38      132
   15:  4071    34      117
   10:  4521    34      123
-------------------------------
Total: 16134   174      609  Total Score = 36,959,949

Club: CCC

Comments:

We kicked off this contest season excited about a new year and buoyed by the
photo of the PJ2T QTH on November’s QST cover. Thanks K8ND for his
professional quality drone photography.

Our club members mostly prefer CW contests, so to fill an SSB team for WW we
were happy to welcome guests KL2A, NN3W, W3ACO, W7MAH, K6GQ, W4IPC, and N4RV.
CCC members DL8OBQ, VE4GV, and ND8L rounded out the team, with of course W0CG on
site, perpetually, like an installed appliance. 

Two weeks ago Uli (DL8OBQ) ran the Worked All Germany contest from here in
fabulous conditions. The following weekend he piloted PJ2T to the top claimed
score, DX side, in the EI/UK contest, in slightly diminished conditions. Alas,
things continued downward with declining conditions for The Big One. The low
bands were particularly bad, and even 20 meters disappointed, with zero (!)
non-dupe QSOs on 20 in the 15Z hour on Sunday. We slogged patiently ahead, as
did all of our colleagues around the globe, and managed to have fun and dispense
a lot of Curacao mults. 

It was a pleasure to welcome Connor Black, W4IPC, to our team. He’s a WRTC
Youth Team Leader, and it was easy to see why as he adapted to the complex
station almost instantly, spooled off a 355 hour in the 19Z hour Saturday on 10,
and came close to that number in many other of his shifts. He quietly,
professionally, and with little apparent fuss works and logs them like a pro.
Connor is an engineering student (EE and ME) at Old Dominion, and as such he is
at a stage of life where he needs a bit of help. Several members of our CQWW SSB
team happily stepped forward to take care of his air travel and all other costs
of this contest trip. If our sport has a future, it is vested in people like
W4IPC, and we were delighted to have him here this week.

We particularly enjoyed hosting Rich (W3ACO) and his daughter Melissa (W7MAH).
Rich has operated here previously and is well-remembered by all of those team
members as an accomplished chef. This was Melissa’s first trip to PJ2T, and
she showed us all week that she just might be an even better cook than Rich as
were treated to fabulous meals day after day. (Can PJ2T apply for a Michelin
star?) Melissa had just earned her General ticket and had never before
contested. She learned some introductory technique and added some contest QSOs
to our log, as a woman’s voice always attracts the deserving. CQWW SSB pileups
are a tough initial indoctrination to a first-time contester, but she handled it
well. In addition Melissa volunteered to help me climb to the “ridge” to
perform seasonal maintenance on the 1000 ft Europe Beverage. This is not for the
faint of heart in our very high temperatures and humidity, and the day we did
that trek the wind had dropped to nothing. She turned out to be in absolutely
fantastic cardio condition and strong, flexible, and agile, and was a tremendous
help. After we finished, and I was in the usual near-death condition, she
smilingly and chipperly asked when we were going to go climbing again, not
winded and barely breaking a sweat. Geesh. Melissa is a heavily credentialed
PhD+ medical data scientist, but this weekend she was a bushwacker of the
highest order. 

N4RV returned to PJ2T after a few years at the Bonaire WA3LRO site. Jack has
been coming to the Coral Cliff area to contest since 1969, and even honeymooned
with Gwyn in the PJ9JT, now PJ2T, John Thompson legacy house. It was a thrill to
have Jack’s smile and pleasant nature back, and to hear more tales from
Jack’s decades of incredible contest achievements. 

We all relaxed a bit this week knowing that if we needed dental help, VE4GV,
Winnipeg’s top endodontic surgeon, was on the team. Rob said he could handle
pretty much any dental problems on site if we could loan him a pair of needle
nose pliers. When he was not teaching dental courses online from here he was
running fabulous rates on all the bands.

NN3W, another WRTC Team Leader and his good friend Jon (KL2A) returned for a
second year, and they posted fantastic rates. Jon convinced his friend Jeff
(N6GQ) to join the team, and Jeff did a fabulous job, running very high rates
with the lowest dB voice on the team. He is so quiet and professional that at
times we forgot he was here until looking at the log as his rates blurred the
screen. 

As always, I thank our CCC members for the support that makes it possible to
sustain this place, now in our 23rd year of contesting. Uli (DL8OBQ) has been my
friend and a supporter of PJ2T for 19 years and continues to be a stalwart asset
to the club. Beginning in mid-October he and I un-mothballed the QTH after the
long months of inactivity, fixed everything inside and out, and made the place
shipshape for the arrival of the team, no small feat. CCC members ND8L and VE4GV
have also been generous supporters of our efforts in the club and did wonderful
work on the air this weekend. I thank them and all of our other members for
keeping us alive and on the air. W3ACO opted this weekend to join the club, and
we much appreciate that help. I also specifically thank Gene, KB7Q, for all his
patient help from Bozeman as I wrestled with re-doing the architecture of our IP
network, installing a new Cisco 4GB IP switch, and configuring some of the PCs.
 
We missed Jun, JH4RHF, who the day before he was slated to leave Taiwan for PJ2T
tested positive for COVID. Their requirement is seven days of unwelcome
quarantine, so we did not have the privilege of his skills on the WW SSB team.
His last-minute unavoidable withdrawal upset the carefully designed operator
schedule, and I apologize to our ops who were not happy with some aspects of the
reconfigured schedule. Lesson learned is that it is not possible to quickly
re-pencil a schedule when someone drops out, and we will do it more carefully if
this ever happens again. 

As always, I thank my partner of 15 years, Dorothy Dahlgren, for her relentless
support and her hard work on site at PJ2T in support of all we do on the air. I
positively could not do this without her.

PJ2T played perfectly all weekend, with zero hardware, software, or antenna
problems, and all six logs ended up in perfect agreement. 

What a thrill to hear the worldwide community of our contesting brothers and
sisters astride the bands this weekend. It’s contest season again, we are all
collectively back at it, enjoying this wonderful common interest and keeping the
thousands of friendships and acquaintances alive in this new season. 

See you on the CW weekend with a team of CCCers and some welcome guests from
VE3.

      For all 29 of our CCC members thank you, 73,
              -	Geoff, W0CG, PJ2DX


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