[SECC] TI8M ARRL DX 'phone recap

[Bob Wilson]

Sorry for the big delay in my getting something to you on our ARRL DX 'phone effort from Costa Rica as TI8M.  We arrived home last Tue night so I guess a week is my requirement to re-compress.  Thanks to John Laney for his comments last week nudging me to submit this.

There were 5 hams from the Atlanta area (myself...W4BD, K4UN, K4WPM, NA4BW and W4KTR) plus two native, Costa Rican ops, our old friend TI2KAC and his buddy, TI2MOT, for a total of 7 ops operating from Quepos, Costa Rica.  Quepos is about 32m south of San Jose, Costa Rica on the Pacific coast but it takes 3-4 hrs by taxi and about 110 road miles to get there.  Ours is very intense preparation for contesting with about a full week of an advanced Field Day type effort just to assemble the Multi-two station.  We start with only our airline baggage allowance and nothing permanently installed, pull boxes from storage and unpack, assemble and erect a TA-33 tri-bander and a 15m monobander (likely to be replaced by a second TA-33) plus slopers for 40m, 80m and 160m using only trees for supports, unpack two amps and cross our fingers as they are powered up and just make all the necessary interconnects to make everything "talk".  All this is completed in 85-90 degree heat plus high humidity with no air conditioning.  Our operating location has only screens and a warm breeze.  While this probably seems like a long time to set up, there must be time allocated for other activities such as beach walking, taking the bus into town to shop, buy supplies (both eats and items to get the stations going) and perhaps take a canopy tour through the local jungle tree tops.  And of course the local seafood isn't too bad either.  We usually make a sked with folks at home in Atlanta each night, scheduled around catching the sunsets and dinner plans.  Obviously a busy week of preparation!

Our motto for these trips is that we try to always remember to have fun with our efforts.  We know all too well that we will never be seriously competitive "out of a suitcase" so we aim to maximize "the fun factor" as we call it and hopefully place somewhere in the "top ten" in a category that has maybe 15-20 entries each year...not so ambitious is it!  This is much more than just a contest operating opportunity, it's a big adventure with something new each trip.  This year it was sighting Crocodile tracks across the beach about 200 yds from our accommodations, then seeing the big boy in the surf just offshore, where the locals always surf.  Needless to say, he cleared out the ocean pronto!  

This year's efforts did manage to increase our score and our multiplier tally from last year, in spite of the solar conditions.  10m was the real surprise with a good production there coupled with better counts on the low bands than previous years.

Our totals for this year were:

Band         Q's            Mults
160m        209            43
 80m         756            57
 40m         564            56
 20m       1260            59
 15m       1405            60
 10m       1410            53
Total       5604           328        for 5,514,336 Claimed Score    

This year we spent 1 1/2 days getting the 160m sloper into it's usual spot instead of the normal 1 full day, but it proved it's worth with 209 Q / 43 M for our best results to date on 160m.  We were satisfied for the rookies that we are, but we do have plans for a Beverage for CQWW in Oct...we had planned that for this trip but just ran out of time.   I heard one comment about our weak signal on 160m but I stand by my reply that "We put our sloper in the tallest tree around (a 100 footer about 30' from hight tide) and just can't do much better!". At least 209 folks heard us. 
We had excellent openings on 10m with 1410 Q / 53 M for a pleasant surprise. Evidently 10m was not as good in the states so a big "Thanks!" for all who worked us, especially the last few 10m mults we snagged, ID, MT, WY & NV, though we never could find UT or ND on 10m. 

I want to say "Thanks!!" for all the SECC members we worked.  On Sunday afternoon during one of my hours operating, I worked a W4 or K4 with a familiar call who asked how things were going.  When I replied about the 10m mults we were missing, he immediately said he'd go see if he could find some of them and send them our way.  I can't remember who it was in the heat of the battle, but it sure was nice to hear...whoever it was.  If anyone reading this was that op, please let me know.

Sorry for the long message but I guess that's one downside of waiting a week to create this, you get reflective and wordy.

73's es tnx for all the QSO's...

Bob Wilson - W4BD -- TI8/W4BD