[CQ-Contest] LZ8T in CQWW 160m CW 2001

[Valeri Stefanov]

LZ8T in CQWW 160m CW 2001

After erecting successfully the 20m high vertical last October and = 
first=20 trial of my new contest QTH by LZ2FV in November during CQWW 2000 
CW ( = 92 000=20 pts claimed) the CQWW 160m CW was to be a second time for 
testing this = location=20 on the magic band. I received the special 
call(LZ8T) permission two days = before=20 contest and it was used for the 
first time in this contest. The rig was = to be an=20 IC735 with 250Hz CW 
filter and PA mine ACOM 2000 A.

We planned to arrive with LZ2FV early on Friday morning to be able to = 
place=20 the Beverages and to install the coil and connect it to the 
vertical. = However=20 Ceco had some things to be done on Friday morning 
and we arrived only = around=20 14.00 Z. This has left just two hours for 
stretching the Beverage = antennas and=20 work on the vertical before dark.

So, Ceco started rolling off the coax and connecting the coil to the=20 
vertical, while I started installing the Beverages. Murphy was away and = 
it was a=20 nice winter day with lot of sunshine and temp around 7 deg C. 
This time = a 300m (=20 abt 850 ft) beverage was planned for JA and Russia, 
450m ( 1 200 ft) for = USA/VK=20 and 250m (750ft) for Carribean /South 
America. Beverages were open at = their end=20 which is not a problem at 
least for me here. While I was placing the JA = beverage=20 LZ1UQ and LZ2HM 
arrived from Sofia and started helping us. So, with = their help=20 we 
finished with tuning of the vertical and installing the beverages. = LZ2FV 
made=20 the first QSO this afternoon with RA6 station running just 3 watts 
and = report=20 was 589 at 16.10Z. Sounded great at this time.

Around 16.45 Z JH2FXK has been worked myself and every one of us = worked 
about=20 7 to 10 JA s until the start of the contest. What a surprise when 
= we have=20 been able to work ONLY ONE JA station in the test for two 
nights and = after a 5=20 minutes struggle for the QSO ???

This year contest was the "Inverted Vee" contest. After the = end of=20 the 
first night LZ2JE who has been using an Inv.Vee antenna just 18m = high at 
its=20 apex had about 100 QSO s more than us using almost the same power = 
output.=20 ( Locations are about 70 km away from each other ).

Fisrt hour finished with 98 QSOs and some nice mults ZC4, OD, = 4K,=20 
EA8,EA9 ,A61 and A45 for example. Not a sound from any JA pile up = we 
ve=20 had just before the start of the contest ! Only Europeans and few = 
Asiatic=20 Russian plus ex Soviet Republics stations. Finished first night 
with 398 = QSOs=20 and couple of times LZ2JE with his low Inv.Vee antenna 
beat us while we = were=20 calling a given station simoultaneously. During 
first night the only USA = worked=20 was W2GD with very potent signal. 
KC1XX was about 2 S units weaker and = have not=20 been able to hear us 
after about 30 min of calling. Same happened with = NP2S (=20 called for 45 
min) and also ZF2NT.(NP2S will receive our award for = longest=20 called 
station in the test with no response L .=20 Dissapointed we went to sleep.

The second evening started slowly with just about 40 QSO during first = hour.

We worked TA3D ,SV0LK (SV9),Z32LM,OH0RJ,EX8W,CT and GW,EA6NB, = 
9H1XT,IS0LYN=20 for new multipliers until 00.00Z.

The first station to be heard and worked from USA second night was = K3WW 
with=20 veery good signal. Took us 3 calls to work him at 23.14Z. He was = 
followed by=20 K2TOP who was even stronger and with no QSB the best US 
signal = here in=20 LZ.

After midnight the worst part of the contest started for us. We have = 
been=20 hearing the USA stations all around the band and have been calling 
them = many=20 many times without a sign that anyone is capable of hearing 
our sigs. = Believe me=20 guys it was very frustrating. At the same time it 
was very interesting = that=20 those of EU located between UK/F and LZ were 
not able to hear these many = US=20 stations. On great number of 
frequencies there were an EU and an US = station=20 calling CQ without 
hearing each other. Few times we have had to ask the = EU=20 station to 
stop transmitting to be able to call the US station CQing on = the same=20 
frequency.(Unfortunately in most instances our calls were in vain)

While trying to call W3TS unsuccessfully I have been called by ZS6ES = 
with=20 such a booming signal that I thought at first that is a pirate. ( 
W3TS = was=20 calling CQ right on S50A frequency and Tine was not hearing 
him at = all-That is=20 to give you an imagination what a mess it was on 
one and the same freq. = here in=20 EU J ).

The only USA stations worked on CQ were N4MM, W3EKT and W4WA. Total = of 
worked=20 NA on second night are : K3WW, K2TOP,AA1K,NU4Y,K2NG,W4ZV, VE3EJ, 
NY4A, = K2PLF,=20 W4MYA, W8JI, N4MM, W3EKT, W4WA, K4MA, W1FJ, N8AA, 
VA3UZ,KT3M(?) and = W4NF. About=20 100 different USA stations were heard 
and called unsuccessfully. Among = them even=20 stations in Iowa and 
Montana which are very difficult from LZ. Champs = not being=20 able to 
copy us even after 20min of calling each one KC1XX, W9RE = ( 35min=20 
calling), WD5R, N4UK, N6AR, WB9CIF, KB8U,KT4ZX,WK3I,W3UR, K8AC, = 
KG7H,WA3HEQ and=20 from NA NP4A,VP5F, HI3LFE. Multipliers heard and not 
worked = include also=20 VQ9PO,VU2PAI,4L1UN and T77C.( 4L1UN worked just 
before the test = L )

After such a night we thought about renting the antennas and 500 Kw=20 
transmitter of the near by located MW commercial radio station for SSB = 
part=20 J !!!!

Thus we finished this one with 747 QSOs, 64 countries, 12 states or = VE=20 
provinces and the claimed score of only 307 268 pts.

Another vertical will be added this summer and an Inv.Vee will be = 
installed,=20 too.

Thanks to all who called us and look for LZ8T in CQWW 160m SSB in=20 February.

73 s de Wally LZ2CJ ( LZ8T)



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