[3830] ARRLDX CW VP2V/AA7V SOAB LP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, CW - 2023

Call: VP2V/AA7V
Operator(s): AA7V
Station: VP2V/AA7V

Class: SOAB LP
QTH: VP2V
Operating Time (hrs): 38:20

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:    0     0
   80:  404    52
   40:  681    53
   20:  951    58
   15:  863    59
   10: 1108    58
-------------------
Total: 4007   280  Total Score = 3,365,880

Club: Arizona Outlaws Contest Club

Comments:

Exhausting and exhilarating.
Wanted to go to zone 8 for WW CW but Thanksgiving got in the way. Wife said I
have a pass for ARRL DX CW. Unfortunately, all the snow birds had gobbled up the
nicer, cheaper, wife-friendly villas. I settled for an interesting cottage 600
ft above the water, a straight shot to the USA. No A/C, TV or wife friendly
amenities. I was on my own.
My OCD kicked in and I was nearly always paranoid about not being prepared. I
ended up hauling 2 radios, 2 12V radio power supplies, 2 laptops, etc etc. I
figured any single point failure item could be bad. There are no Ham stores to
run to for a quick backup. Fortunately, I had zero equipment issues. I loaded
all this stuff plus 5 dipoles, coax, push up mast and a mile of string into one
checked bag, one carry on bag and one laptop bag. Threw in some underwear,
shorts, socks and a toothbrush for good measure.
I was psyched to get 25-30 mults on 160. This was a complete, dismal failure.
First, as you know that antenna is quite long. That was just a real estate
challenge and there was a way to work that problem, just time consuming. I
turned on the radio, tuned it to 160 and BOOM, solid 20 over 9 noise. This
wasn’t "normal" noise but some kind of odd pulsing crap. The radio's
NB didn’t stand a chance against it. I think the 160m band has gone done the
drain these days with all of the solar array stuff along with who-knows-what
other power conditioning equipment there is these days. The only other bonehead
thing I should have fixed was one of the 80M dipole legs went directly over the
cottage and the operating location. I ran out of time and energy to do anything
about this so had to back down the rig to about 50 w on that band.
Lastly, I knew the mornings would be a challenge what with most people running
EU. The first morning did end up OK, probably thanks to folks that used their
2nd rig to find and work me. The second morning was quite a flop. I had a better
rate going up and down the bands answering big gun CQers. Interesting that once
EU sunset occurred, all hell broke loose. The pile ups were big and courteous
(the EU pileups the morning prior to the contest were totally out of control
with endless poor operating behaviors). It was easy to see the grey line move
across EU and then just like a switch, instant stateside pileups.
Thanks for the contacts and 73.
Rig: Yaesu FT 950
10, 15, 20 separate dipoles. 40-80 Alpha Delta trap dipole. 
All hanging from trees at a height of around 20ft.


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