[CQ-Contest] WPX Multi-Distributed

Thu Mar 18 10:05:35 EDT 2021

Understand! In HH2AA the only issue we have experienced in eight years has been ISP but that should be resolved with Starlink for good. The HH2AA station is in a concrete building with no electricity. In a third world country electricity is actually a luxury! The solar panels (4) with batteries have been very reliable! No human intervention in a year! The station is a proof of concept - solar panels with 100w that can create pileups - it’s like being on a DXpedition without traveling! 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 18, 2021, at 9:52 AM, ku8e <ku8e at ku8e.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Unfortunately PJ2T can't have an unmanned remote station in Curacao because of the regulations governing remote operating. If the regulations were like they are in Bonaire they probably would've been on the air remotely during COVID-19 like PJ4A was. They have many amateur radio locals in Curacao which would've helped them keep it running.
> 
> Jeff
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> 
> Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
> 
> 
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Ray Higgins <ray.w2re at gmail.com>
> Date: 3/18/21 8:11 AM (GMT-05:00)
> To: Jeff Clarke <ku8e at ku8e.com>
> Cc: cq-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] WPX Multi-Distributed
> 
> Let’s just say PJ2T experimented. It’s not difficult to keep an unmanned station on the air if well engineered. HH2AA is the perfect example, nobody had been to the site since we implemented a Flex 6600 almost a year ago. This site is on solar power and has been active since 2014. We’ve made two trips during that time to upgrade the station. Here is the location from a GoPro strapped to my hard hat: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bV6l8JsXKCI&t=
> 
> From this post we now have a few more ops on the WPX team including two WRTC competitors. Having experienced ops on the team with youths will make for an epic event.
> 
> Ray W2RE 
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> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>>> On Mar 16, 2021, at 2:34 PM, Jeff Clarke <ku8e at ku8e.com> wrote:
>>> 
>> Ray,
>> 
>> No disrespect to all my good friends at PJ2T but they're hardly pushing the envelope remotely. I think the 2021 ARRL DX CW was the first contest they ever did remotely as a multi-op. In the past KB7Q and K8ND have done some off and on remote operating when the owner was on site.  I don't even know if they have the ability to switch antennas remotely. Plus the station owner W0CG was onsite during ARRL DX CW to fix any problems that might occur. The regulations for Curacao require someone to be on-site.
>> 
>> In contrast K4BAI , W1MD ,myself and others have been operating the station owned by K2NG/PJ4G in Bonaire and built by WW4LL and W9SN of Beloud.Us since early 2020. In Bonaire there are no regulations requiring someone to be onsite when operating remotely. There is no one in Bonaire to fix any problems onsite other than a handyman employed by the owner who can check things out and do simple tasks with step by step instructions from the owner or WW4LL. The last six months have been a real challenge because there are some technical issues to resolve and no one has been able to travel to Bonaire for over a year to address them. It wouldn't be a stretch for me to say that we've faced a lot more challenges than any of the stations that you listed that are operated remotely. Hopefully these issues will be fixed by the Summer of this year when someone can travel to PJ4.
>> 
>> Jeff KU8E / PJ4A Team
>> 
>> 
>>> On 3/16/2021 10:45 AM, Ray Higgins (W2RE) wrote:
>>> WPX Multi-Distributed
>>> 
>>> I would like to thank the WPX committee for adding this new and exciting category. It's basically a M/M with larger boundaries (Zone).
>>> 
>>> First of all it gets new people involved in M/M. We invited 10 youths to join our team - they range from 14 to 22 years old from the USA and abroad. We had way more than 10 requests from youths but we promised to allow the others access to contesting in other ways under the RHR Youth program. The RHR youth program is growing - just last month 22 Turkish youths passed their FCC exam to join the system. It's just not a USA thing anymore. We have stations being implemented in EU, Caribbean and USA on a dedicated youth network just for them. We will get more activity in contesting by mentoring and granting access to youths around the world! Its actually exciting times right now in the hobby! We just need to use the tools to reach them, both the RHR youth network and streaming has been very effective.
>>> 
>>> We have been very busy busy building out the logger and the lockout in the cloud for this event. Here is how the lockout works within the console: https://youtu.be/1Rj9pSip1EE <https://youtu.be/1Rj9pSip1EE>
>>> 
>>> Here is an example how two stations can be on same frequency interlacing QSO’s:
>>> https://youtu.be/nUxk6DUibMc?t=96
>>> 
>>> We currently have 10 youths + 11 other operators on the team consisting of eight countries. Everyone has FCC call sign. We would like to invite a few others to participate with us that have experience running 200/hr and don't mind mentoring youths. We will use SLACK to communicate during the event. Please send mail to support at remotehamradio.com If you meet the FCC license requirement and an experienced SSB operator.
>>> 
>>> Some of these youths are pretty darn good operators, so we expect not only to have fun but to have a big score if bands cooperate. We do this for fun! Its why we like new and exciting things like the M/M distributed.
>>> 
>>> Lastly, I appreciate all the support from the contest community the past few years with remote operations. Im excited when I see stations like W2FU, K1IR, N7DX, K1TTT, K0RF, WD6T, PJ2T, HP3SS, K3JO, N2QV, N5DX, N2IC, ZF5T, FY5KE, V31MA, ED1R, N2NT, KM7W, N6MJ, NR3X, KU1CW, HH2AA, ZF1A, N6MJ, CR6K, NR6O, W1UE  and many many more pushing the envelope remote.
>>> 
>>> I'm very very PLEASED to see the WPX committee implementing big and bold ideas. This is exactly what we need in this hobby to make it exciting for the next generation.
>>> 
>>> Ray W2RE
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>>> 
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