[CQ-Contest] K2TOP(at WW2Y) CQ160 Multi Story

[Robert G. Flory]

Contest Story: K2TOP at WW2Y

Rough score 1087 Q, 57 Countries, 58 States/Provinces, 530K

Operators: WW2Y, K1ZM,K2WI,N2NU,N2NC

Station:  The usual setup of wires in trees.  A 4-element array of inverted
Ls in a semi-rectangular(trapezoid) configuration, 3-element Beverage array
for EU, 6 other Beverages, a Ewe for broad NA coverage.  Run station is an
FT-1000d and an R4c, tuning station is a TR7/R7 combination.  Run and
tuning stations share a common 8877 amplifier at 1500W through an interlock
arrangement that breaks the keying line on the other station while
transmitting.


I started the month of January looking for a place to operate the CQ 160,
my favorite contest.  I thought about making a run at low power from home,
but I really don't have the RX antennas needed to make it at all fun or
competitive.  I figured that the same investment in antenna work would
bring the WW2Y station back up to snuff, after a couple of years of
neglect.  When I approached Peter with the idea in mid-month, he agreed it
would be fun to get the station back together and do a 2-man multi. 
Luckily my wife was away visiting her dad during this time, so she did not
miss me while I was at Peter's every day for a week and the full weekend
before the contest.  Peter and I made rapid progress on getting TX Ls back
up in trees and repairing Beverages with trees down on them.  The
competitive juices started flowing and sometime in there I mentioned to
Jeff that we were getting the station together. Jeff expressed an interest
in coming down, and with great caution I suggested we might be ready.   We
were a little skeptical, because Peter usually has to spend a couple of
weeks tracking down line noise sources and working with the local utility
to get things cleaned up but there was no time.  Wednesday before the
contest, the line noise situation was pretty good and the station was ready
to go so we told Jeff to "Come on down".

We agreed to make a serious go at the contest with an "Iron-Man" approach
that was going to require marathon efforts from the hard core of the team. 
Fortunately we were able to recruit some daytime relief from N2NC which let
us get a little sleep.  It is one thing to pull an all-nighter in CQWW when
the 10z hour may be spent running EU at 100/hr on 20 or 40, but the CQ160
challenges your ability to stay awake.  One day I hope they will make it a
48-hour contest with off time, making it fairer for the rest of the world
and eliminating the boring daytime operation.

The conditions were as favorable to our effort this year as they were
unfavorable to our effort last year from K1ZM on Cape Cod.  Where last year
stations to the west and south of us were beating us in every pileup, this
year we experienced a sensation of total domination as never before.  From
Peter's we are accustomed to doing very well in EU, but usually struggle in
other directions.  Not so this year.  Whatever pileup we found ourselves
in, we were out in no time.  This weekend really seemed to favor verticals.

The start of the contest was very inauspicious.  We tripped a punky circuit
breaker on the run station immediately before the start and then again soon
after the start.  We are told by witnesses that Peter's feet never touched
a step on the way down to the basement to reset it.  Where last year's 1st
hour produced 130+ and the we had 140+ the year before, we only made 111
Qs.  I am an optimist, so I told myself that it was the conditions.

EA8BH was the first QSO across the pond at the end of the 1st hour and
ON4UN the first EU at 0000z, followed closely by I4JMY at 0002z.  At 0030
we started to run EU and the 0100 hour produced 48 EU plus a juicy VQ9
mult.  At 0400 the band was almost dead to EU but at 0500 it opened again
for a while.  There was not much of a peak at EU sunrise.

In the 0800 hour we had back-back QSOs with PY and 2 LUs, followed by 5
ZLs.  In spite of quite a few packet spots we never heard a trace of VP6BR
or either of the V7s.  We tried looking for KH2 and XZ in their usual
haunts and heard nothing.  As the terminator swept across Australia we
worked 4 VKs.  The conditions seemed excellent to the Southern hemisphere. 
Jeff and I were pretty tired in the morning and our heads were bobbing. 
>From time to time if Jeff's chin was on his chest for more than 5 seconds I
would tune my radio to his frequency and send a dit to wake him up. I am
lucky I did not pull a muscle in my neck from all the times my head jerked
up from nodding off.

For the benefit of Tom W8JI and crew I will mention here that we had about
700Q and 300k at sunrise.


Peter took over at sunrise after a couple hours of sleep and then John N2NC
took the mid-day slot.  Thanks, John, we owe you bigtime for that.  Jeff
and I got some rest and took over in the mid-afternoon.


We worked a couple of Gs at sunset, and it was around then that W8JI
vanished.  I guess the terrible storms must have taken out the power down
there. I am sorry that we lost one of the big competitors.


At 0030 the band sounded like the daytime.  There was hardly any band
noise.  I had this terrible feeling that our protection circuitry had
failed, we had destroyed the front ends of all the radios, and that Peter
would be really mad at me.  Fortunately it was just the conditions.  We had
about 15 EU in each of the 01/02/03/04/05/06 hours with the exception being
the 03 hour with 22.  JY9QJ eluded us as we found him right before his
sunrise with a huge EU pileup that we could not crack before he faded out. 
This evening John N2NU lent us his excellent ears, piecing together the
weak EU callsigns.  The station whose callsign we got immediately in one
piece was the exception as most were quite weak and required many tries to
complete.

LA3XI checked in on the run for the unique LA mult.  We never got an OH. 
We managed to work EI8H during his brief appearance and also snagged a
couple of juicy ones in the form of C3 and ZA.  Most of the mults were the
usual ones.  Conspicuous in their absence(at least in our logs) were GM,
GI, and EA6, which are usually available.

Jeff found a CO station ragchewing with YV1DIG in Spanish and got his
attention when he was done for a mult.  Peter was also really on the ball
and found North Dakota working a DX station and made a quick exchange with
him to complete our 48 states.  We managed to work both V7s but VP6BR again
eluded us.  

We worked 2 JAs in a very peaked opening on the direct path right at our
sunrise, something I never thought possible at this time of the solar
cycle.  We then searched for a KL7 after a quick check of XZ0A and a quick
judgement on my part that despite the fact that I could hear them slightly
we would not be able to put them in our log.  Congrats to AA1K for snagging
that one and the KH2.


N2NT commented that his loop was not making the grade this year and the
same must have been true for W2GD and their loop at Sandy Hook.  You guys
made a valiant effort in the face of rather unfavorable conditions.  W1FJ
once again proved that they are very competitive.  Congratulations to ON4UN
for his megapoint effort. From the list you posted, I see you worked quite
a few USA stations that we did not!! 

Thanks Peter for hosting yet another 160meter marathon.

Rob K2WI


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