[CQ-Contest] 8P1A CQWW Story - Very long

[Georgens, Tom]

 I usually like to do a post contest write-up as it allows me to relive the
 excitement of the event and record some notes for future reference.  I
 have been too busy to do them for the most recent contests, but this
 year's CQWW was so unusual, I decided to spend the time.  For those of you
 who send me notes about my write-ups, I hope you enjoy the story.  For
 those who do not, I apologize for the use of the bandwidth.
 
 This year's CQWW story begins back at the beginning of the year when I got
 a message from my the station owner indicating that the 3 element 40 meter
 beam was broken and could not be repaired in time for the contest.  Steve
 (K4FJ), ever the class act, offered to let me out of my commitment to rent
 the cottage under those conditions.  Having operated my first CQWW from
 outside the US last year, I was looking forward to returning and mounting
 an assault on the all time North American SOAB record.
 
 Steve had installed a V-beam for 40 but it was unproven as a contest
 antenna and he could not predict how effective it would be.  With just my
 wife and I going to Barbados, it would be impossible to repair the beam or
 to install an alternative rotatable antenna.  After a fair amount of
 thought, I decided to go with a phased array of 4, K8UR style dipoles.  I
 figured this could be a reasonable compromise between gain, directivity,
 and ease of install.  The 90 foot tower, which is relatively in the clear
 would be an excellent support.  
 
 I explained my plans to Steve, but in conjunction with my concern about
 how much stuff I would have to bring.  Last year I had my FT1000 and TL922
 and it looked like I might need to bring another case full of dipoles,
 phasing lines, and phasing boxes.  Steve offered to let me use his
 personal TS850s which would eliminate bringing the FT1000.  In addition,
 he offered the use of his AL1200 as well, but I would have to replace a
 damaged bandswitch upon my arrival.  Last year, my TL922 failed about 10
 hours into the contest with a bad bandswitch.  Although I replaced the
 bandswitch, there has been virtually no operating time on the amp since
 and I did not have complete confidence in its reliability.  I offered to
 attempt the bandswitch replacement and bring my TL922 along just in case.
 
 The non-technical side of the contest preparations were also a struggle as
 my family relocated to California in the summer and we were having
 difficulty finding someone to watch the kids while my wife and I were
 away.  Our original plans caved due to medical complications on the part
 of a family friend and we did not close this issue until just two weeks
 prior to our departure.  The final coverage plan would require flow
 charting software to explain.  Another issue leading into the CQWW trip
 was the advancement of my favorite baseball team, the Mets, to the World
 Series for the first time in fourteen years.  The thought of missing the
 World Series was not attractive and I had asked my host to find a place to
 see the games while I was in Barbados.  The cottage does not have a TV and
 Barbados is more European than US centric and interest in baseball is very
 low.
 
 All of the technical preparations were proceeding well but work was still
 demanding of my time.  For once, the contest timing was merely poor rather
 than the typical impossible.  On the Monday before the contest I had to
 fly to Seattle to meet with the employees of a company my business just
 acquired and return that night.  The next day was a relatively light
 schedule with the major event being the company's earnings conference
 call.  I had no duties to perform but had to be available in case an odd
 question was asked.  I spent the entire meeting yawning despite the fact
 that the week had hardly begun.
 
 Our flight arrangements were to take the 10 PM red eye flight from San
 Francisco to New York on Tuesday night and then the morning flight to
 arrive in Barbados around 2PM.  My goal was to put up the dipole array
 that afternoon and fix the amp that night.  Fortunately, the flights were
 fine and the immigration/customs/car rental process took about as long as
 expected.  Barbados had its characteristic 95 degrees and 95% humidity for
 our entire visit, which is beyond what my body can tolerate.  
 
 After the 45 minute drive to the cottage, it was time for the action to
 begin and my wife knew that she was to play an integral role if the
 antenna was to be up by sundown.  However, Murphy struck quickly as the
 local host had not left open the storage areas and many of the tools,
 cables, etc were not available.  In addition, a quick scan of the existing
 antenna SWRs indicated that the TH7 was not functional.  I had no time to
 deal with the TH7 at that time but it was another hurdle to overcome.
 
 My plan for the 40 meter array was to put up a single element, tune its
 length, and adjust the others accordingly.  Unfortunately, since I could
 not get to the storage areas, I had no spare feedlines so I had to use one
 from an existing antenna on the tower.  However, I had to peel it back to
 the 45 foot level so I could run it out to the sloping dipole.  This
 proved to be a major undertaking as the feedlines were copiously taped and
 were trapped beneath the center insulators of other wire antennas strung
 from the tower.  The broiling heat combined with the red eye flight and
 unexpected extra work were reducing my patience but I finally extricated
 the feedline and fed the dipole.  As expected, it resonated low but
 shortening the antenna did not have the anticipated result.  I reasoned
 that there was probably some interaction between this antenna and some of
 the other  wire antennas, in particular, the 40 meter V-beam.  As I looked
 at the 40 meter V-Beam, with its 200 foot legs, both crossing power lines,
 I was reticent to take it down.  Since it was getting dark, I thought I
 would sleep on the situation and come up with a plan in the morning.
 
 I went inside to do the station set up.  I unpacked my TL922 and was
 hoping that it would work the first time and not need any debugging like
 the last two times I took it on the road.  In the shipping box I had a bag
 of Styrofoam peanuts that broke and about twenty of them found their way
 inside the amplifier.  Before I could fire it up I had to spend a
 half-hour fishing peanuts from every corner of the amp.  I finally had it
 all set and it fired up the first time but I could not key it from the
 TS850s.  Right at this time, I was at a mental low and  Steve happened to
 call to see how I was doing.  I tested my antennas theories with him and
 he suggested that I keep plugging with the 40 meter array but he had no
 thoughts on the amp keying or the TH7.  He was very upset that the local
 host had not unlocked the storage bins for me and was kind enough to allow
 me to pry off the locks.  I needed access since the AL1200 and second 850
 were locked away.
 
 When I pried off the locks I found not only the AL1200 but the AL80A I
 used last year after the TL922 failed.  I decided on figuring out what was
 working rather that dwelling what was broken to establish baseline station
 functionality.  My original plan was to assemble two complete stations
 with Writelog switching the microphones,  a homemade box I brought from
 home to switch the headphones, and an antennas switch to route the
 antennas.  This configuration would allow rapid failure recovery and quick
 band changes.  I used my TL922 and the AL80 as the two amps, pending
 resolution of AL1200.  While I was doing the set up, I was missing Game 4
 of the World Series so I followed the game over the Internet using the
 Gamecast feature on the ESPN website.
 
 The keying problem was a bad cable and slowly the station started taking
 shape.  I went though the rituals of testing the amps on each band and
 checking for the usual RF problems.  Everything was working fine except
 for the computer control.  I intended to use computer control of the
 primary radio using a KIY box as an interface but,  despite having all of
 the Kenwood documentation available, I could never make this work.  With
 the station set up, it was time to get on and run a few stations since I
 had not operated a radio in seven months.
 
 I was particularly interested in the 40 meter antenna.  My first few CQ's
 produced nothing so I went to 20 were things worked great.  About 3Z, I
 went back to 40 and worked a few statesiders - mostly big guns doing
 testing of their own.  W5KFT called in to say that I was far louder than
 any of the other Caribbean stations that were also doing testing.
 Somewhat relieved, I tried working Europe and a huge pileup ensued.  It
 was now well past midnight but I was actually feeling like I at least had
 an operable situation.  The downside to the evening was the Mets one run
 loss in game 4.
 
 The next morning was Thursday and at sun up (about 6AM) my local host
 showed up with the keys.  While I opened the internal storerooms, the
 outside room had all of the coax and other wires.  My priority plan for
 the day was TH7, beverages, 40 meter antenna, and AL1200.  With some
 instruction, my wife offered to do the beverages while I worked on the
 TH7.  Steve suspected that one of barrel connectors had gone bad which is
 what I was hoping as well since I didn't think the crank up tower still
 operated and I had no intention of climbing it the check the antenna.  The
 feedline measured an open to the antenna which should have been a DC
 short.  The feedline consisted of a surprising number of segments and I
 disassembled them one at a time until I came to the last one, which was
 about 15 feet up the tower.  Disconnecting this one produced the expected
 short the rest of the way up the tower, which was fortunate since there
 was nothing left to try.  I connected an alternative coax and the TH7
 worked fine.
 
 My wife had just finished running the European beverage which consisted of
 running out the wire and attaching it to wooden stakes to get it off the
 ground.  The US beverage took on all new complications.  There were hooks
 in trees to raise the wire over a dirt road where farm vehicles passed.
 This road was no longer in use and an alternative path was being utilized
 but there was no mechanism to support the wire 
 at a sufficient height.  As luck would have it, there was an R5 vertical
 right where the beverage feed points converge and we took it down and used
 it as a support to raise the wire sufficiently above the road.
 Unfortunately, there were further complications.  The field immediately
 below the shack was completely plowed over and I was reluctant to cross it
 with my beverage should it have been recently planted.  Having to avoid
 the field meant navigation around an active chicken coop.  After finally
 maneuvering around the obstacles, my wife ran out the remaining 800 or so
 feet of wire.  
 
 All during the time we were there, there would be torrential downpours for
 about 15 minutes and the sun would return.  This day, Thursday would be
 the worst.  When the rain was bad, I decided to make incremental progress
 on the AL1200 but did not get far as there was not an Allen wrench small
 enough to remove the knobs.  With the beverages and TH7 complete, my wife
 and I went to get the wrenches and renew my 8P callsign.  We were going to
 shop for food but I was exhausted so she did the shopping and I took a
 brief nap.  Working feverishly in the broiling heat is grueling and take
 is toll on the body.
 
 I woke up and began working on the 40 meter antenna.  I decided that I
 would not risk removing to 40 meter V beam and would just try to make the
 dipole array work the best it could.  Unfortunately, I could not get the
 single element to perform as expected despite rotating it about the tower.
 I eventually decided to give up and just go with the V-beam.  It was now
 going to be dark soon  and I wanted to got out to eat.  My wife had not
 done anything but work on antennas and run errands and I  was feeling
 guilty.  Before dinner, I gave a listen to the CN8 guys warming up on 40
 and the single vertical dipole was several S-units better than the V-beam.
 I am not sure whether it was a matter of polarization or V-beam
 directivity but I was concerned.  Since it was clear that I did not have
 time to install the full 40 meter array, it was equally clear that I
 needed another option.  I had a thought to build an antenna that I had
 previously used on 80 from Massachusetts.   I had used a K8UR style
 vertical dipole with a loop reflector behind it.  I reasoned that the
 V-beam would be adequate toward the US and I could use this array aimed at
 Europe.  In the dark, my wife and I used the remaining dipoles to make the
 full wave loop, I installed it on the tower, and used my antenna analyzer
 to tune it 5% lower in frequency. As it turns out, in securing the
 feedlines, I found that my problem with matching the antenna was due to
 the angle at which the coax exited from the antenna.  The closer it got to
 90 degrees, the more the antenna worked as predicted. It was now time for
 dinner.
 
 When we got back, it was time for the AL1200.  Prior to leaving, I had
 discovered that removing the existing bandswitch required substantial
 disassembly of the amplifier and I had reached a roadblock.  There was a
 nut that locked the switch in place but it was nearly inaccessible.  My
 wife took it as a challenge when I said that I had given up.  While I
 finished setting up the computers and radios, she spent an hour and
 finally worked the nut free.  The AL1200 was not designed for easily
 replacement of its bandswitch and it was slow going.  I need my wife's
 help as an extra set of hands to hold wires, flashlights, etc.  In the
 course of the work, the soldering gun loop failed.  Not being able to find
 a replacement, I used a piece of solid wire as the loop.  We went through
 about 10 of these but they worked reasonably well.
 
 Around 12:30 AM, I said that it was too late for me to still be up on the
 night before the contest  and she offered to finish the last three
 connections on the amp.  It was another frustrating day and I did not get
 a chance that night to scan the bands.  To make matters worse, the Mets
 lost game five and the series was over.
 
 The next morning, I was up with the sun again to do a final tweak on the
 40 meter antenna and to try the amplifier.  My contest policy is typically
 not to do any work on Friday but the AL1200 was still not done.  I fired
 up the amp and let it warm up but, when I switched from standby to
 operate, the high voltage was lost.  I then removed the 25 or so screws
 that hold on the cover, bypassed the interlock switch and started
 debugging.  After about an hour, I was probing a terminal strip and the
 voltage mysteriously returned.  After some warm-up, it was time to give it
 some power.  I picked 20 meters as the first band and, although the plate
 and grid currents seemed to respond as expected, there was no output.
 After some head scratching and looking around, I noticed that the external
 watt meter was registering power and the internal wattmeter was broken.
 With that hurdle overcome, the amp loaded on every band.
 
 I muscled the amp into the operating position instead of the AL80 and did
 the precontest ritual of marking the dial settings on the amps for each
 band.  I had lunch and went to take a nap.  It was a typical pre contest
 nap, very restless and not much real sleep.  Nonetheless, I had a feeling
 of relief that the station was really ready.  Every couple hours, I would
 get up to check if everything was still working.
 
 I got up and began the process of warming up a frequency prior to the
 contest.  I commented to K9NW that I hope to see him when the contest
 starts in 10 minutes.  He replied awkwardly "uh... don't you mean an hour
 and 10 minutes?"  I turns out, I forgot the time had not yet changed and I
 still had an hour to kill.  I went back to bed and looked at the ceiling
 for an hour.
 
 The contest finally started and I was rolling on 15.  I was having a good,
 but not great, hour when the calling stopped.  I looked up and saw that
 the AL1200 was not putting out any output.  I calmly switched to the other
 radio/amp pair without losing more than a minute.  I also eyed the AL80A
 on the other side of the room thinking it may be put into service yet
 again.  After 15 slowed, it was time for 20 when the thought hit me that I
 should try the AL1200 on 20 as the problem may be specific to 15.  Behold,
 my theory was correct and the AL1200 worked flawlessly on every band but
 15 all weekend.
 
 At 0306Z I passed 1000 Q's and was beginning to think about the low bands.
 It was looking like 20 would be open all night and I wanted to make sure
 that I dedicated enough time to do justice to 40 and 80.  As it turned
 out, 40 seemed OK but there just did not seem to be the volume of stations
 on the band since 20 was open.  By contrast, 80 was very noisy with
 limited Europeans being heard and 160 was a complete washout.  The noise
 on top band was deafening and it was hard enough to work the USA.  On a
 lighter note, one of the sudden rain storms came up during the night and
 the rain was so loud that it overcame the VOX and I had a tough time
 finding a setting that would open the VOX with the rain while
 simultaneously letting my voice trigger it.
 
 Despite the lack of low bands, I was still ahead of last year going into
 the morning opening.  Unlike the east coast of the US where you work the
 progression down to 10, 8P is very far east and 10 becomes runnable around
 0945Z.  I suspect the signal strengths would allow earlier runs to Europe
 but few stations are looking for North America that early.  
 
 As the 10 meter opening started to heat up, I experienced an entirely new
 phenomenon.  Since I moved to California, my body clock is even further
 out of synch than usual.  The normal low energy hours of 6-9Z are shifted
 a few  hours and I was experiencing a high fatigue period during the first
 two hours of the 10 meter opening.  I never had the experience of fighting
 off sleep during a high rate period and it was a real struggle.
 Unfortunately, the full impact of this was not to be realized until the
 next day.
 
 The 10 and 15 meter openings were productive and I was able to maintain a
 pace a bit ahead of last year.  After the European activity subsided on
 15, I went back to 10 for a quick USA run.  In this period I had my best
 10 minute rate (460) and 60 minute rate (370) even though I did not stay
 for a full hour.  
 
 At the half way point, I had 5127 Q's and was a few percent ahead of last
 year.  The second night was a struggle on the low bands as activity was
 low and 80 and 160 were noisy.  A frustrating thing about 40 is that every
 CQ where I listened for Europe a stateside station would say "listen up."
 I usually stay calm during a contest but this really irritated me.  
 
 During one of my runs that night, a very persistent N2NT stopped by and
 convinced me to QSY to two other bands despite my objections.  I told him
 he owed me.  Some day I am going to make him an offer he can't refuse.
 
 During the 6-8Z periods, the rate slowed and I contemplated taking some
 sleep but I was wide awake and not feeling a hint of fatigue.  This would
 prove to be a huge mistake.  By the time 10 meters opened, my body clock
 was telling me it was time to sleep and I desperately fought off micro
 sleeps for several hours.  To make matters worse, the pileups were far
 more intense the second day evidently due to the fact that Europe to US
 propagation was not good and the southern path to Barbados was much
 better.  I was not aware of this at the time but what I did notice was
 that the frequency would go from pure chaos to dead silence on consecutive
 CQ's.  In one instance I moved a station to 15 in the midst of a roaring
 pileup.  When I returned, 30 seconds later, I could not get an answer for
 several minutes.  I remarked several times that the band was strange.
 
 When 10 started to lose its intensity I tried several times to move to 15
 but could not get anything going until the last time when a very deep
 pileup ensued.  I had never experienced anything like the next three hours
 and, for the first time, I really learned how to work a pileup.  The other
 positive about day two is that I finally managed to successfully and
 efficiently move multipliers.  It took a contest and a half but I finally
 felt like I understood how to play the game.
 
 Just like the day before, after 15 died down it was off to 10 to run the
 US for a while before starting up on 20.  As I watched the score build, it
 became apparent that  I would easily clear the North American record with
 sufficient margin to survive the log checking.  Almost simultaneous with
 my certainty of breaking the record, I started to have trouble
 concentrating.  It was as if the adrenaline stopped flowing once it
 appeared that I would achieve my goal.  Last year's contest ended ugly for
 me when I started to have delusional experiences and had to quit.
 Contesting from this station has the added dimension of operating under
 extreme heat and humidity which take their toll.  After last year's
 contest ended, I was certain that dehydration was my ultimate undoing and
 I drank extensively this year, as my frequent trips to the bathroom would
 attest.   
 
 After completing my run on 10, I went to 20 to resume running Europe.  At
 this point another huge pileup resulted but I simply could no longer pull
 the calls out of the chaos.  The frequency just got worse as I paused.  I
 was starting to panic so I got up to take a walk outside.  I was not tired
 nor physically beat but I just could not copy calls anymore.  My wife was
 not around as she was with friends (In the category of a small world, our
 backyard neighbors from our previous house happened to be in Barbados at
 the same time) and I needed some way to calm down.  I decided to go back
 to running the US on 15 where the pileup would be less intense and I could
 slow things down.  I vowed to sit at the radio and work guys, no matter
 how slow the rate got, rather than quit.  The harder I tried, the more I
 deteriorated until it was pretty futile.  I was in sad shape when my wife
 returned home and I told her what was happening.  I told her I was going
 to lay down for a while and to wake me in a half-hour.  I could not sleep
 and, after 20 minutes, I came out of the bedroom determined to keep going,
 but it was not to be and I had to stop.  
 
 The disappointment was, and still is, overwhelming, as I could not finish
 for the second year in a row.  This year was not nearly as bizarre as last
 year's delusional state, but the result was very much the same.  This time
 was particularly painful as my goal of breaking the NA record was in hand.
 It looked like deciding not to sleep during the contest was going to be a
 fateful decision which cost me about 2.5 hours of prime time.  I have
 operated 48 hour contest straight through many times, including twice
 since last year's CQWW SSB, but operating this event from 8P is obviously
 far more demanding than any other event I experienced.  The respect I have
 for the great CQWW ops like CT1BOH and N6KT only grows as I try to get
 their level.
 
 After resigning myself to quitting and taking a shower, my mind cleared a
 bit and I took another stab at operating and had a reasonable productive
 last half-hour on 20.  This was an important step as it tells me how to
 react in the future and, in this last stint, I passed the NA record but
 probably not by enough to survive the log checking.
 
 When it was over I was incredulous that the unthinkable had happened again
 but it appears that he precontest work and the lack of sleep before and
 during the contest had caught up with me.  Nonetheless, the contest was a
 tremendous amount of fun and a great learning experience.  The combination
 of physical, mental, intellectual, and technical challenges all rolled
 into a single event combined with top notch competition make this a great
 sport and keeps me coming back.  There is no other activity in which I
 participate that requires the sustained level of intensity where every
 decision matters and where I can truly say I gave every bit of effort that
 I could muster. 
 
 I would like to thank Steve, K4FJ, for the use of the station for the
 unrelenting support in the weeks leading up to the contest.  Despite the
 issues getting everything going, Steve and his friends have done a
 tremendous job building an outstanding station in remote location with
 limited local support.
 
 More than anything, I would like to thank my wife Kathy, without whom my
 contesting would have been impossible.  Putting up with spending a
 vacation in a non air conditioned cottage on a sugar plantation with no
 amenities is one thing, but running beverages, pulling on ropes, fixing
 amplifiers, and providing continuous support is more than anyone can ask.
 
 73 and thanks for the Q's
 
 Tom W2SC 8P9JG 8P1A
 
 

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