[NCC] CQ160 CW PJ2T Multi-Op HP

James M. Galm jim at w8wts.com
Mon Jan 31 12:35:54 EST 2022


                    CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW - 2022

Call: PJ2T
Operator(s): K8ND W8WTS
Station: PJ2T

Class: Multi-Op HP
QTH: Curacao, S.A.
Operating Time (hrs): 25:20

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 1178  State/Prov = 57  Countries = 70  Total Score =
1,482,979

Club: Mad River Radio Club

Comments:

Congratulations to all of the category winners for their amazing performance
in the 2022 CQ160 CW Contest.  The top band operating team of K8ND and W8WTS
put PJ2T on the air for this running of the CQ160 CW contest from Curacao,
South America.  We read reports of freezing temperatures and snow storms
from our friends in USA during the contest.  That must have been unpleasant,
we guess, because it was 28 degrees C (84 degrees F) and sunny here, with a
quick shower some mornings.  

At PJ2T, the contest starts in full daylight.  Our first QSO was with HI8A
at 2204Z.  During the first hour, the only stations to work are the
Caribbean beacons and some of the USA big guns.  We hear the Europeans
working each other like piranhas devouring fresh carrion, but they are not
the least interested in working the Caribbean.  

With the full sunset at 2330Z, the activity picks up.  The first stations
that take notice of PJ2T are the southeast USA stations, of which there are
many.  USA signals were strong and clean, with every callsign copyable on
the first hearing.  The best hour of the contest was 00Z consisting of
nearly all USA.  As Friday night and Saturday morning moved along, the
Europeans entered the picture.  Europe was good into the south Caribbean
Saturday morning, but not overwhelmingly strong.  We continued to work a mix
of USA and EU until the astronomical twilight terminator started sweeping
across Europe.  When the AT terminator hit EU, the noise level increased
dramatically in every direction.  The period between EU sunrise and pacific
sunset is a good time to work USA night owls, but it seems most USA ops
choose to go to bed when EU is no longer available: the rate drops and the
band becomes less crowded.  

When the sun went down in PAC, the band was still noisy and QSB was starting
to be a factor.  We worked ZL3AB and ZM4T at 1040Z and 1043Z, but those were
the only PAC stations that we heard on Saturday morning.  We kept at it,
working the USA morning crew until the sun was well up.  Our last QSO on
Saturday morning was with K5AF at 1112Z.  

Saturday afternoon opened with KP2B at 2212Z.  The daylight and twilight
time is slow, with only 14 QSOS between 2212Z and 2330Z.  When the sun set,
USA started with enthusiasm.  Many ops reported poor conditions on Saturday
night into Sunday morning, but that was not the case from PJ2.  USA signals
were strong, and at 0000Z the Europeans started to break through.  EU was
coming in nicely as the QTHs gradually changed from all USA, to a mix of USA
and EU, then mostly EU.  We heard some fast QSB on EU as the AT terminator
started to cross Europe.  

When we are listening on our Europe facing receive antennas, North American
signals are completely and totally inaudible.  During the periods when we
are working mostly Europe, we miss some W/VE callers.  When we switch to the
NA receive antennas, we occasionally have an angry mob deriding our ignoring
them.  Please be patient, our receive antennas really are that directive.  

Europe stopped with unusual abruptness Saturday morning.  Nevertheless we
worked some great multipliers on Sunday morning, such as MD2C at 0344Z, 4X2M
at 0400Z, and 4L9M at 0430Z.  

We worked the first of three Alaskan stations with KL7SB at 0747Z. We were
pleasantly surprised to start a nice JA run, starting with JA7QVI at 0910Z.
The JA signals were not strong, but were not suffering from the same fast
QSB that we heard at the end of the EU opening.  Many were copyable on first
hearing with no fills. A total of 20 Japanese calls were logged.  

Our astronomical twilight at 2235Z starts the inevitable wind down of the
PAC opening.  We are able to work a good number of USA stations,
particularly in the Southwest and west coast after our AT.  At this point,
the only plan is to keep CQing on a clear frequency and pounce on every new
station that the RBN and our skimmers dig up.  Our last QSO was with N4II at
1106Z.  

Note that at 12-degrees north of the Equator, we have less than 25 hours of
darkness or twilight during the contest period in which to make our QSOs.
Those in Western Europe have 29 hours or more, an extra 4 hours of
productive contest time.  

Sunny Sunday afternoon is a bust at grid FK52.  We wait as Europe enjoys a
final 6 hours of darkness and start to hear the EU stations working each
other, but there is no chance of us being heard under the bright Sun.  For
the last hour of the contest, we called CQ and watched the RBN and skimmers
for anything that looked or smelled like a QSO, but we worked no additional
stations.  The contest ends in full daylight 6 p.m. local time, when it is
time to open an ice cold POLAR Pilsner and unwind.  

Our station operated wonderfully.  We used a K3 and a Command Technologies
HF-2500 amplifier, driving an inverted L.  We listen on three Beverage
antennas, 330 m NE, and a pair of 268 m NW, plus a DX Engineering receive
four square system.  Some receive antennas are deployed Field Day style for
the contest weekend.  We set up three SDR-IQ receivers with CW Skimmer to
listen and keep the band map populated with known hearable stations, along
with spots from the PJ2A skimmer server and the DX Cluster backbone.  

It is always fun to operate the CQ160 CW contest from PJ2T.  The rush of
being the DX is without compare.   The team of K8ND and W8WTS won the
multioperator category of CW160 from PJ2T in 2014, 2015, and 2016.  Whatever
the final order of finish, we had a load of fun operating from 12 degrees
North latitude where it is always warm and sunny, and we appreciate every
QSO.  

73, 

Jim, W8WTS and Jeff, K8ND


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