[CQ-Contest] Grenada tales (long)
Tom Frenaye
frenaye at pcnet.com
Mon Dec 18 23:07:25 EST 2000
Grenada tales (long)
Several people asked for some more info about my J38DX activity during the
ARRL 10m Contest, so here goes.
It must have been ten years since my last real on-the-air activity from a
DX location. Had some fun from PJ4, ZF, J8 and FS in the past. It is a
lot of work to pack up everything (xcvr, amplifier, antennas, accessories,
etc) and head somewhere new. This time I was walking on the backs of a
number of people who had been there before me and didn't have to carry it
all with me.
Harry, AC8G (x-W8KKF), has been going to J3 for more than a dozen years and
with a group of others, and for the past several years, Don, K2KQ, has
organized some significant YCCC multi-op weekends as a way to build the
club score and to get more club members familiar with the steps necessary
so we might have more DXpedition activity (and points) in the
future. Just to have a target to shoot for I looked at the results from
last year and found that PZ5JR has smashed the old CW record with 3211 QSOs
and 163 mults for 2.09m.
The past several years (6? 7?) I've usually hosted multi-multi or
multi-single activity at my home QTH so it's been hard to leave the station
empty and head for the warm weather, plus we've generated lots of points!
Anyhow, it was time to get away from the stress of work and my wife and I
targeted the first couple of weeks of December as the ideal time (after
CQWW CW and before the Caribbean hotel rates go up around Dec 15th).
The rainy season ends in December - and it had been very rainy the week
before we arrived. While we were there we only had some brief (warm) rain
showers and quite nice weather with interesting clouds. Grenada is really
a failry mountainous tropical island, with active volcanoes a few thousand
years ago. The soil is rich, the place is very green and the warm breezes
wonderful!
Grenada is one place we hadn't visited but had heard a lot about, so after
some research (yes, there is a web cam and online audio from the Grenda
Broadcasting Network on the Internet) we picked a hotel on/near the beach
(Mariposa Resort Hotel). It had rooms with the required kitchen so we
could save money by making some of our meals ourselves. The main beach in
Grenada is called Grande Anse beach and is widely known as one of the
nicest beaches in the world, but it does have a reputation for having too
many wandering vendors selling spices, sarongs, baskets, etc. We were on
nearby Grande Morne beach, a little quieter and smaller and with only a
couple of friendly vendors.
Enough of the travelogue... Because of the hard work done by Harry, Don
and others, and the local hams, there is a good relationship between US and
Grenada hams and the Grenadian government's Emergency Operations
Center. The EOC is the location where the recent J3A activity has taken
place from. It's also where some of the antennas and towers are installed
for possible emergency use. The local hams are actively involved with the
EOC but as usual, equipment costs are significant. The average wage is on
the order of $3.00 an hour, better than some other areas of the Caribbean
but not an easy path for a transceiver.
A few weeks before heading to Grenada I heard that Harry/AC8G was going to
be there for the 10m contest as well. His favorite mode is SSB and mine
is CW. We talked about doing a multi-single but in the end decided to do
two single op entries. He planned to use his J37K callsign from
Gill/J39AL's QTH a few hundred feet away from (and lower than) the
EOC. It's less than 500' away so we hoped that being on different modes
and 400+ khz away would minimize problems. We were arriving Wednesday
night, his flight was due on Thursday night. I needed to set up the full
station at the EOC except for 40' of unguyed Rohn 25 already in place. He
needed to either repair an A4 tribander or use an A3 tribander.
On Thursday I checked to see when I could go to finalize my licensing
arrangements (in Grenada you can do some of it ahead of time but the
license isn't issued until you get there, get the paperwork approved and
get the fee paid). The person who does it wasn't in the office all day
long, so that left me with an uneasy wait until Friday, when I hoped he'd
be in the office and there would be no problems.
In the mean time I worked with one of the locals (not a ham) who has helped
the J3A group with their antenna work. We dug out a rotator and control
cable, rotator plate and the HyGain 5L10m beam from storage and proceeded
to put it up (plus some rope guy wires). The EOC is located about 800' ASL
overlooking the capital of St Georges and the harbor to the west, but with
a very good shot to Europe and North America. Next door is a favorite
tourist location with an old British/French fort - and Friday was cruise
ship day with three in the harbor, and most of them seemed to be in minivan
taxis coming right up the road we were using to put up the antenna. In a
30 minute period we were visited by two cruise ship hams from southern
California and one from Mississippi...
By the end of the day I still hadn't found a good rotator control box (they
were in a locked room that I didn't realize I needed access to), and hadn't
checked the rotator. I got part of the station set up (TS-570DG, SB-220,
old IBM PC, plus all the cables and accessories I brought with me) but not
enough to get on the air. Didn't seem like much more needed to be
done. Only one serial port on the PC so I used it for radio
control. The \mouse directory was empty so I couldn't easily rearrange
the screen on CT...
Friday morning started (after a nice local breakfast and swim) leisurely
with a phone conversation with Harry. At this point I found out I was
already late for an appointment with the licensing guy, and that the
rotator we put up was not likely to be any good since it came from the
wrong corner of the storage room. It took another 2.5 hours to get the
licensing completed but it did result in a callsign that I thought we work
well - J38DX - it has a good sound on CW (plus I once had J87DX from St
Vincent). Had planned to use J3/K1KI otherwise. Not sure I think J3A is
a good callsign, too short... The only problem with the callsign is that
Harry once had J37DX issued to him and there was the potential for
confusion (super check partial included). I bet Harry gets a few of my
QSLs...
The afternoon (nothing goes quickly in the Caribbean and when you're not
used to the hot weather) was spent putting up an A3 for Harry at the house
down the hill, then taking down the rotator, mast and antenna at the EOC in
some pretty brisk winds (30-40mph). The rotator plate had already slipped
so the antenna and mast were tilted... Then we put the good (and tested
on the ground) rotator, mast and beam, finishing a few minutes after
sunset. In the middle of the process (2pm) I tested the equipment set up
and antenna by working N6TT K0ECK and KL2A. My wattmeter showed the
SB-220 was only getting about 700w output but that seemed like plenty.
By 2230z the station seemed ready and I worked KN6YW and N2IW and then
finalized my contest preparations (the usual pre-contest snack, visit to
the back room, getting psyched, etc). From 2306-2345 I had fun working
about 70 stations including 45 JAs and N7ET/DU7.
When the contest started I switched to use J38DX and ran off 52 QSOs in 20
minutes starting with W9EBY. One was a JA, one was TI2KWN who must have
been sending with his left foot because I had a tough time even recognizing
he was calling me. The last 10 QSO rate dropped off rapidly at 0050z with
94 QSOs in the log and I started to S&P, adding some Caribbean, SA and a
couple of Oceania QSOs. K1TO and other FL guys were audible an hour after
other USA signals were gone. The night finished fairly early with 160 QSOs
at 0230z (only 10Q in 30 minutes). I planned on a little extra sleep the
first night - 7 hours - and 5 hours the second night.
After driving downhill to the hotel (and "shopping" at the only open gas
station market) and getting five or six hours of sleep, I was up at
5am and back at the EOC by 5:45am. TZ6DX was the only signal on the band
and he was running Eu and couldn't hear me. KH6ND, who I worked the night
before was in 599 long path at 0945z. Finally at 0952z I worked UR7GW,
then DL6RAI and M0SDX as the band started to open. By 1014z I switched
from S&P to run mode (sunrise was at 1013z) with the rate meter going from
125-170, as the European pileup grew, the TS-570 filter started to show
it's limits, and my lack of recent experience from the DX side of the
pileup began to show. I moved a couple of times, ending up on 28101 where
I stayed for three hours. At 1047z I paused for Asia, logged 4 UA9s, a UN,
and VR2BG, and kept going with the huge Eu pileup. SU9ZZ called in during
another Asia pause (OK, he's Africa but I didn't care). At 1134z W4ZV and
NB1B were the first USA of the morning, and 4K9W called around 1245z. Last
100 QSO rates stayed around 140 until around 1330z when I moved to 28015
(and it wasn't until 1345z that the mix of Eu and USA stations was 50-50)
and VE3ZT, VE4IM and VE1NB were logged from Canada.
EZ8CW came along at 1511z, then YB0DPO at 1531z and OY1CT at 1533z, with
rates still around 130/hour. The 16z hour brought VO1MP and OD5/OK1MU with
about 25% of the QSOs in Europe and 75% W/VE. At 1710z VU2PAI brought a
nice new one, and at 1718z I moved to 28063 as the NA stations were well
into the work each other mode and I got lost in the QRM lower in the
band. This is also about the time I moved the beam from Eu to NA, and
started to hear the remnants of Harry's J37K SSB activity as the beam was
now pointed towards him. I found that if I had it almost straight north I
could continue to work Eu and NA and only barely hear some of J37K. At
1737z rates were down into the 120s when VQ9QM was logged.
In the 18z hour things picked up again with rates back to the 150/hour
range with KE3VV in DC now in the log, but Eu was now fading fast and only
about 5% of the QSOs. At 1912z I went back down to 28014 and EA8/DJ1OJ
came by to say hello, then on to 28040. The rates were still good enough
that I didn't do any S&P at all. Seven hours during the day were in the
140-150 QSO/hour range. Not sure why it never peaked higher, maybe that's
my limit these days. I didn't have a second radio, the TS-570dg is good
but not as good as the FT1000mp at home. I figured that if I spent time
looking for mults I'd do worse (I had to find one every 10 minutes to make
it worthwhile).
At 2031z I took my first break (5 minutes) to stretch, walk outside and see
the world, then get back to work. Didn't think I could sit still for
almost 11 hours (1480 QSOs)! At 2050z RW1ZA was the last one from Eu
(always the very far north that shows up late). At 2148z JN3PYQ was the
first JA of the afternoon (my sunset was at 2141z, JA sunrise was at
2145z), but much weaker than the W/VE stations calling. Others were in
the pileup but too hard to work to make it worthwhile. TZ6DX called around
2223z. At 2248z the JAs started to get louder and I worked 28 in 30
minutes, plus DS5RNM K7BV/VY1 and a bunch of USA. By 2340z rates had
really slowed and it was S&P time again. That put LZ0A FM/F2JD in the log
and the last one for the night was VK4XW at 0130z. W4AN was the last USA
heard around 0100z. I'd figured the band would stay open later but it
wasn't worth it to stick around for a couple QSOs an hour when extra sleep
would help me the most for the morning. I went to bed with 1971 QSOs and a
multiplier of 145 so it looked possible to come close to the record.
Hoping that I could find some QSOs early I got up at 4am this time, took a
shower and headed back to the EOC. Interesting to drive on unfamiliar,
very narrow roads, on the left side, with a right side steering wheel when
it's dark out... So I arrived around 5am, well before the band opened,
had plenty of time to much from the dismal bag of snacks I brought with
me. I watched the full moon set over the ocean and listened to the frogs
croaking away in the brush. PY0FF was running Eu well before my sunrise
and I couldn't hear any of them. Finally, at 0950z I had IK2YLV in the
log and a little S&P found another nine QSOs in the next half hour, and I
busted the 5A1A pileup after 5 minutes at 1025z. At 1027z the band was
good enough for running, later than the day before and I settled in on
28095. E20RRW showed up at 1104z and rates climbed over 100/hour, but not
much more. At 1212z KH8/N5OLS surprised me with a nice long path signal,
and EX2X came by a half hour later.
As late as 14z I was still working more Eu than NA stations, and HS0/G3NOM
found me, then Chris A45XR. At this point rates had dropped to around
80/hour and every 30-45 minutes I changed frequency trying to find the
magic place where they would pick up. It really never did change and for
the rest of the contest they stayed around 80/hour, not slow enough to do
any S&P but leaving what seemed like lots of time in between QSOs. I had
some visiting lizards in several of the window openings - they seemed to
enjoy the show during the heat of the day.
After logging SP2000A earlier I found 2E0OOO to be the most interesting
callsign of the contest. The Europeans stayed in until about 19z and
ZL4PO came by at 2018z, then EA9CD long after anyone else from the east at
2030z. At 2123 KH0A was a new mult and at 2210 JJ3GPJ was the first JA,
followed by about 75 others, some very, very weak and I hope I got the
serial numbers right! I had trouble managing the pileup, briefly tried
going split but found out I was too tired and unfamiliar with the radio,
then moved to 28012 where things went fairly well.
The last half hour was slow, but CT3FT came in at 2338z, and 40 others
pushed me to a total of 3225 QSOs and 160 mults (99 countries, 60 W/VE
mults, plus R1) for 2.076m, just a hair less than the PZ5JR record, before
log checking. Maybe next year! N2BA closed out the contest at
2359z. I also logged 108 duplicates, some people came by three times
even though I signed my call after 99% of the QSOs. OA4CWT was the only
multiplier I heard and didn't work. Never even heard JM1CAX from ZS6Z who
made a big multi-mode score! And the band was really only open for 31 of
the permitted 36 hours for operating.
I think I'll do it again!
After the contest we stayed another four days, on Monday we took down the
5L10 and rotator so it can be used by J3A in the 2001 ARRL DX contest. A
couple of days were spent exploring the back roads of Grenada, a trip to
the rain forest national part, a visit to several nice restaurants, and
some snorkeling. Then it was time for the flight home - two hours to San
Juan, a six hour layover, then four hours to Hartford and an ice-covered
car and 25 degrees outside instead of the 70s and 80s in Grenada...
My successful contest operation wouldn't have been possible without the
help of J39AL, AC8G and K2KQ.
QSL J38DX via K1KI - but I'll be sending 100% QSLs via the bureau.
-- Tom/K1KI
Continent Statistics
CW
North America CW 1700 51.0%
South America CW 61 1.8
Europe CW 1353 40.6
Asia CW 185 5.6
Africa CW 10 0.3
Oceania CW 24 0.7
Countries with >10 QSOs
(not including W/VE)
9A 22
DL 224
EA 21
EU 15
F 59
G 93
HA 46
HB 19
I 76
JA 118
LU 21
LY 15
LZ 28
OE 11
OH 31
OK 114
OM 24
ON 32
OZ 11
PA 28
PY 21
S5 36
SM 32
SP 50
UA 128
UA9 40
UR 84
YL 10
YO 17
YU 52
BREAKDOWN QSO/mults
HOUR 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
0 104/40 104/40 104/40
1 46/11 46/11 150/51
2 9/0 9/0 159/51
3 . . 159/51
4 . . 159/51
5 . . 159/51
6 . . 159/51
7 . . 159/51
8 ..... ..... 159/51
9 3/3 3/3 162/54
10 103/28 103/28 265/82
11 142/8 142/8 407/90
12 144/4 144/4 551/94
13 149/14 149/14 700/108
14 148/6 148/6 848/114
15 136/10 136/10 984/124
16 145/7 145/7 1129/131
17 124/4 124/4 1253/135
18 147/2 147/2 1400/137
19 141/2 141/2 1541/139
20 128/1 128/1 1669/140
21 130/0 130/0 1799/140
22 108/1 108/1 1907/141
23 52/2 52/2 1959/143
0 6/2 6/2 1965/145
1 6/0 6/0 1971/145
2 . . 1971/145
3 . . 1971/145
4 . . 1971/145
5 . . 1971/145
6 . . 1971/145
7 . . 1971/145
8 ..... ..... 1971/145
9 2/0 2/0 1973/145
10 72/3 72/3 2045/148
11 114/1 114/1 2159/149
12 122/4 122/4 2281/153
13 94/0 94/0 2375/153
14 88/2 88/2 2463/155
15 85/1 85/1 2548/156
16 85/1 85/1 2633/157
17 86/0 86/0 2719/157
18 90/0 90/0 2809/157
19 64/0 64/0 2873/157
20 103/1 103/1 2976/158
21 84/1 84/1 3060/159
22 83/1 83/1 3143/160
23 82/0 82/0 3225/160
DAY1 1959/143 ..... 1959/143
DAY2 1266/17 . 1266/17
TOT 3225/160 . 3225/160
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
e-mail: frenaye at pcnet.com YCCC --> http://www.yccc.org/
Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box 386, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444
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