[RTTY] MJ/DF4OR ANARTS MOAB claimed score (long)

[Ekki Plicht]

Hi lists...

Soapbox:

Man, what a week... 
As last year we (Ray, DL1ZBO, Tilo, DJ5BX) and me went to Jersey (MJ) to 
participate in the ANARTS fun. Following the experiences from the last year 
we made some improvements, mostly on antennas. 
We arrived Wednesday before noon, after driving through the night from Germany 
and a short but overwhelmingly expensive ferry trip. Most antennas were setup 
by the evening, partially in strong rain and gusty wind. Don, you need rain 
in LA? Go to Phil, the Channel Islands have enough, they should export it :-)

But then... the new (used) 3elem triband beam, borrowed from our local club, 
didn't work as expected. We took it down again, took it apart, cranked it up 
again, about 5 times. The new 10mtr crank-up tower is just great, but after 5 
times in the rain it gets boring. We didn't fix it really, had to live with 
vy bad SWR on 15 and 10m.

The planned 80m vertical (13m/44ft high) had some large and heavy top-capacity 
(actually a tin dustbin lid and some wires), which was just too large for the 
strong seawinds. Actually the 10m telescopic mast we used for it got bent out 
of shape. We had to shorten it and change the top-load to accomodate for the 
different length. It performed vy well by Friday afternoon...

The 240mtr/800ft beverage we planned for JA/VK direction could not be laid 
out, because on the very day we arrived the farmer besides our site decided 
to bring the potatoes in. And the antenna was supposed to cross his only 
access road to the lot... oh my. So we waited until Friday afternoon, but 
man, does it take time to harvest potatoes. So I finally asked him if they 
would work on the weekend - yes, they would. But we should go ahead, there's 
another access road back there, which is rarely used. 
So we strung the wire just when it _really_ began to rain that day. In the end 
a substantial part of Jersey soil was sticking to our feet and trousers. It's 
really sticky - but the Jersey potatoes are sure really tasty...

Condx Friday night were excellent, 15m and 20m open nearly all night. Lot's of 
long runs with more that 70 or 80 Q/hr. Lot's of new callsigns... most 
noteably W7AY... he must a newbie (never heard him before) but works like a 
pro ;-)

Cluster access to GB7DXG (new this year, tnx to sysop MU3EFB, Keith) was vy 
helpful, a special award goes to W2YC and AA5AU for most RTTY spots... BTW, 
Don, why did you spot but not work us on 40m? 

Saturday continued with good short skip condx, interesting to see how many 
German RTTY ops there are which you never hear when your in country. Between 
each band changed we jumped to 10m to see if it's open - and indeed it was, 
but no activity. After a while more people found it and we made good 
contacts. The cluster really helps activating a band.

Vy interesting to watch TEP on 10 and 15m. During 10m openings and most of the 
time on 15m, SA was easily workable. Once I saw Don spotting some Argentina 
station on 10m which was vy strong here, but did hear him (Don) at all. Maybe 
next time we should go south of the equator and work lots of EU and NA at the 
same time.

Next night was partially vy slow, less then 10 Q/hr at times. The new 80m 
vertical performed vy well, the new beverage not at all. Zero, zilch, 
nothing. Someday I have to learn how to build a beverage antenna. Anyone? Ok, 
stringing the wire for more than 50% through dense, wet hedges and bushes 
probably didn't help, but it saves on support poles.
Despite the new 80m antenna the activity was vy low... highlights were PY0FF 
and LV5V on 80! Only 3 NA stations on 80 (VE9DX, W1JR, K3WC, tnx). 

40m was ok, but again not that much activity. The early hours of the evening 
were busy, but later at night vy few dx. Highlights on 40m were ZL2AMI late 
sunday afternoon, VK2KM (strong) and ZL2BR.

Sunday morning brought fantastic runs to JA, at times more than 80 Q/hr. The 
MJ call still helps with the runrate. The afternoon and evening were ok, 
always hunting the odd multiplier, jumping bands like crazy. Last QSO was 
XE1XOK on 20m for a new multi.

In the end we managed to do 21% more QSOs (1349 compared to 1113 last year), 
but abt. 51% more points (22.999 mio vs. 15.134 mio last year). So we must 
have done something right, but we are still scratching our heads what 
exactly. But we will find out.

Thanks for many 5 bands sweeps 
DX: PY0FF and LV0V! 
EU: 9A5W, DJ1OJ (tnx Heijo), DJ2XC, DJ3IW (tnx Goetz), DJ5JK, DJ7UC, DJ9XB 
(tnx Uli), DL1ARJ, DL2WW, DL5WW, DL6JZ, DL7UKA, ES1QV, GU0SUP (Phil!!), 
HB9AWS, I1COB, IT9BLB (molto grazie Joe), IZ4DZD, OH2LU (tnx Tapani), PA0EHF, 
PA5AT, RA3WA, RK6BZ, SM7BHM, SP2FAV, SP3XR, SP6IHE, UY8IF, YL2GC, YL2KF (tnx 
Vilnis), YU7AM (tnx Arpad)

All in all it was a terrific week and contest weekend, we had a lot of fun. 
Seafood is really great there, we had lobster and scallops on the last 
evening. 
Somewhen in the next days there will be a website with some pics.

Thanks to the sponsors, thanks to all who worked us. See you next contest 
(most likely from at home...).

We will be back as MJ/DJ5BX then in June 2003. 
If you are interested in DXing from MJ (not in early June 2003!!) drop me a 
line for a few hints and pointers.

mni 73,
Ekki, DF4OR
Rainer, DL1ZBO
Tilo, DJ5BX


                   ANARTS DX WW RTTY Contest

Callsign         : MJ/DF4OR
Loc./DXCC/Cont.  : Jersey / GJ / EU
Category         : Multi Op. / All Band
Mode             : RTTY
Power            : High   400 Watt
Contest Date     : 08.06.2002
Default Exchange : 599
Operating Time   : 48:00 h
Software         : RCKRtty V2.15 + MMTTY 1.62
Hardware         : IC756Pro, IC735, TenTec Hercules II
Antennas         : FB33 3el, triband yagi, 11m up
                   FD-4 dipole, 10m up
                   HF6V vertical
                   Vertical for 80m band, 10m long with top load
                   240m beverage for low bands.


BAND  QSOs  Valid QSOs  Points  DXCC  Dis. Cont. VK-Bonus
10     197      197      1403    48     5    6     600
15     460      458      5415    54    27    6     800
20     442      439      4962    53    23    6     700
40     167      167      1165    36    12    5     400
80      83       82       410    26     3    4       0
--------------------------------------------------------
      1349     1343     13355   217    70    6*   2500

* = Counted only once (not once per band)

Final Score: 13355 * (217 + 70) * 6 + 2500 = 22.999.810

I declare that all contest rules and all the rules and the
regulations for amateur radio in my country have been
observed and adhered to.
I'll accept all decisions of the Contest Committee.

Date: 12.06.2002  Sign: <unreadable>        Call: MJ/DF4OR