[NCC] PJ2T CQWW 160 CW Report.

[James M. Galm, W8WTS]

CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW
 
Call: PJ2T
Operator(s): K8ND W8WTS
Station: PJ2T
 
Class: Multi-Op HP
QTH: Curacao
Operating Time (hrs): 27
 
Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 1424  State/Prov = 59  Countries = 76  Total Score =
1,904,175
 
Club: North Coast Contesters
 
Comments:
 
This was the fourth CQWW 160 CW Contest multi-op effort by W8WTS and K8ND
from
the PJ2T Signal Point station.
 
Congrats to the P33W and UA2FW multi-op crews for excellent results! 
 
Our score is up a bit over last year, but not quite as good as in 2009 or
2007,
falling significantly short of 2M points and our South America record set in
2009.  We met our QSO goals, but fell short of the DXCC country goals.
Rates
the first night were lower than expected, and the rates the second night a
bit
higher, balancing out. 
 
The European signals were not as loud and the pileups were not as deep as in
recent years.  Even from Radio Paradise, X-rays and charged particles
eventually catch up with 160 m.  
 
As always, operating on Topband from 12 degrees north of the Equator
requires a
special degree of lunacy and dedication.  The K3 keeps proving itself in
battle
from the noisy environs and the congested band during this contest.
Stations
are definitely operating clo
ser to each other on the band than in years past,
which the K3 handles magnificently.  
 
Our three on-site CW Skimmers kept us on top of pop-up multipliers and new
stations!  Each SDR-IQ receiver was fed from a different RX antenna and
processed by a separate instance of CW Skimmer, and their spots were then
aggregated and fed to Writelog along with the main DX Cluster Network feed.
The
scheme was the same as used in 2010, and can be seen in block-diagram form
at:
http://www.k8nd.com/Radio/Planning/CQWW160/pj2t_cw_skimmer_scheme.pdf. 
 
During our stay for this contest, Jim W8WTS made the first-ever 6-meter EME
QSO
from Curacao.  The JT65A-mode QSO was with W7GJ in Montana, and other EME
stations were copied during the attempt. Our station was minimal - FT-2000
and
300W amplifier with our rebuilt 5-element yagi.  Jim has posted photos and
description of the effort at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmgalm/sets/72157625992649516/. 
 
Radio: Elecraft K3/100
Amp:   Ten Tec Titan III (2x 4CX800A)
TX Ant: Inv-L
RX Antennas: 
      1000-foot EU Beverage
      650-foot USA/JA Beverage
      DX Engineering 4-Square
      Flag (x2)
CW Skimmer Receivers: RFspace SDR-IQ (x 3)
 
Backup Station: FT-2000 / AL-1200
 
(NOTE: We decided to delay our 3830 posting until after the contest
submission
deadline due to the 3830-related "irregularities" reflected in the 2010
multi-op results of this contest.)