[SCCC] ZF1A in IARU

[Jim Price]

Hi gang - Gayle K6GO, Mike NA6MB, I (Jim K6ZH) and Joan N6KIM were on Cayman this past week for the IARU contest.  Gayle, Mike, and I operated pre-contest with our ZF callsigns:  ZF2GO, ZF2NA, and ZF2ZH respectively.  We collectively made several hundred Qs.  Then the 3 of us each operated 8 hours of the 24-hour IARU contest from the wonderful ZF1A station. Gayle and Mike were on SSB, and I was on CW.  The condx were very good, especially on 15 - we could have almost run the entire contest just on 15!  The EU signals on 40, 20, and 15 were amazing - for many hours (but not much heard on 10).  And the pileups were intense.  But that's why one goes to a place like ZF for a contest.  

We are very grateful to Joe W6VNR for allowing us to the use contest "time slot," and providing much guidance.  We are also very grateful to WRTC contestant John K6AM who provided all of the technical help we needed prior to arrival so that we could put the station together quickly.  And, of course, thanks very much to Andrew ZF1EJ, the station owner for use of this wonderful facility!

We did have one "Murphy-like" problem - at about 7 p.m. local on Saturday night, a very large lightning strike hit close to the station, and basically everything died for a short time.  Things came back on, but we were never able to re-establish connection between the computer and the transceiver, and the log periodic would no longer rotate.  But we made adjustments and "soldiered on."  

We did a little "touristing" - one can only do so much as the climate on Cayman is (for us W6 types) very hot and humid.  Cayman is a lovely place to visit, though - stable government, high standard of living, and excellent food.

Tnx to all for the QSOs - before and during the contest.  73 - Jim, K6ZH (plus Gayle, Mike, and Joan)


                   IARU Summary Sheet

    CallSign Used : ZF1A
      Operator(s) : ZF2ZH ZF2NA ZF2GO

Operator Category : MULTI-OP
             Band : ALL
            Power : HIGH
             Mode : MIXED
 Default Exchange : CARS
       Gridsquare : EK99ML

             Name : Jim Price
          Address : 4953 Lorraine Drive
   City/State/Zip : San Diego  CA  92115
          Country : USA

             Software : N1MM Logger

        Band  Mode  QSOs    Pts  ITU   HQ
         3.5  CW      19      53    3    2
           7  CW     113     367   11   21
           7  LSB    136     423   11    4
          14  CW      88     322    4   13
          14  USB    399    1451   20   18
          21  CW     575    2185   18   14
          21  USB    623    2333   12   15
          28  CW      51     157   12   10
          28  USB      1      5    1    0
       Total  Both  2005    7296   92   97


            Score : 1,378,944