[SECC] Behind the scenes at P40W !

MAllphin at aol.com MAllphin at aol.com
Mon Dec 14 12:09:17 PST 2009


Hello everyone.....
    If you have an interest in contesting, you will  want to take a few 
minutes to read this.  It was sent to me by John  Crovelli, W2GD.  You probably 
know that John is one of the top contesters  in the World and is best known 
for his winning operations from Aruba as  P40W.  I shared that station in 
Aruba with John for about 18 years (I was  last down there in 2003.) And I 
helped him build it.  
    The antennas and towers have been exposed to the  salt air and climate 
for many years and despite almost constant  maintenance, they have 
deteriorated to the point where they were no longer  safe.  This is an account of 
John's trip down to Aruba just prior to the  CQWW CW contest a few weeks ago.
      I am sending it along, because most  folks don't really understand 
what is involved in getting a world class DX  contest station on the air, even 
from nearby Caribbean QTHs.  Next time you  work P40W, you'll have a better 
appreciation for what was required to put that  QSO/multiplier in your log!
73, Bob
K4UEE
 
 
Call: P40W
Operator(s): W2GD
Station: P40W

Class: SOAB  LP
QTH: Aruba
Operating Time (hrs): 38

Summary:
Band   QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
160:  154    14        32
80:  401     15       60
40:   897    21       80
20: 1435    28        80
15: 1000     25       69
10:   100    11        18
------------------------------
Total: 3987    114      339  Total Score = 5,323,656

Club:  Frankford Radio Club

Comments:

Transceiver: IC-765ProII, 95W  output
Software:    Win-Test V 3.27 (Simply the  BEST)
Towers/Antennas:  

Tower #1 - (Refurbished) 60 foot Rohn  25G â?? Phillystran  guysets
160/80  Inverted V @ 55  ft
F12 C31XR @  61' (recycled from the original P40V/P49V stn  ocation)
Cushcraft 40M Rotatable Dipole @ 68 ft

Tower #2 â?? 60 foot Rohn 25G,  located 150' NE of Tower  #1
160M Vertical  Dipole
3 ele 80M  inverted V wire beam  (EU) @ 55' on  catenary
4 ele  40M inverted V wire beam  (EU) @ 55' on  catenary
F12 C4  Tribander (40M element currently  broken)
Ham III  rotators on both  towers
800'  beverage EU/NE, 500' beverage USA/NW


Another LONG CQWW CW Contest  Station Story.......by W2GD/P40W 

This trip was a planned rebuild of the  primary station tower and antennas 
at
P40W.  The relentless Aruban  environment had rendered the main 70 foot 
Rohn 25G
tower unsafe to  climb.  A significant number of pinholes in the legs had
developed over  the past 2 years and the upper guy wires last replaced in 
2003
were almost  gone (only 2 strands of 7 remained on 1/4 inch EHS steel).  It 
 was
either do major renovation now or find other places to enjoy the CQWW in  
the
years ahead.  Weighting my options I decided the effort necessary to  enjoy 
a
few more years competing from 3 point territory was without a doubt  the 
right
choice.

During the weeks before arrival, my Aruban neighbor  Jean-Pierre, P43A 
(weâ??re
literally 200 meters apart), discussed several  options on how to safely 
remove
the antennas and the top half of the tower  safely.  The only workable 
solution
was either a crane or manlift  truck.  JP investigated local sources and 
found
an available manlift at  a high but affordable price.  The Friday morning 
before
the contest JP  removed the 20, 15 and 10 meter monbanders, cut off the top 
of
the mast, and  then cut and folded over the old tower just above the first 
guy
set at 35  feet.  Carl, P49V/AI6V, was also on-hand to assist and kindly  
brought
along the gin pole needed Iâ??d need for reconstruction work the  following 
week.
Removal of the beams and tower top was completed safely  without any 
injuries -
thank you so much guys!

With all the materials  needed to refurbish the tower and antennas I had 
planned
to bring three 70  lbs. checked suitcases containing replacement the 
phillystran 
guy cable,  several runs of RG213 and 8X, 200' of rotor control cable, rotor
shelf,  thrust bearing, thimbles, shackles, replacement antenna hardware, 
and  of
course a transceiver, headphones, and a few changes of clothes.   Checked 
with
Continental Airlines two days before departure to be sure I  could check 3 
bags,
was told no problem.  The next day I go to check in  on-line and they won't 
let
me add the third suitcase.  Immediately call  the airline again, and learn 
I had
been given wrong information the previous  day, that there is a third bag
'embargo' in effect until mid-January,  2010.  You can imagine the issues 
this
now presented, what to take, what  to leave behind.  Spent Sunday afternoon
repacking, and ultimately had  to leave home several runs of coax and other 
nice
to have odds and  ends.  The XCVR was packed in my carry-on bag - which
significantly  exceeded the allowed weight limit.  Note:  2 days later
Continental  sent me a $50 travel certificate...to ease my pain.  Thanks  so
much.

Arrived on Aruba Monday afternoon and assessed the situation.  The lower 
guy set
needed to be moved down 5 feet, the remaining 5 feet of the  severed tower
section needed to be removed, and the three replacement tower  sections
(recycled items from the P49Y/P40L rebuild last year) required  plenty of
scraping and painting before installation.  My original  plan/estimate was 
one
day to reconstruct the tower, one day to build and  install the replacement 
yagi
antennas, and one day to install the wire  antennas (beverages and wire 
beams),
which hopefully would leave time to rest  on Friday. As the work progressed
during the week, the schedule would  ultimately be pushed out one critical 
day.
Spent the remainder of Monday  afternoon taking inventory of materials,  
made a
run to the hardware and  food stores for supplies, and then scraping and 
primer
painting the  replacement tower sections.  Fortunately the replacement 
sections
were  in much better condition than those removed, no pinholes, plenty of  
solid
steel.  The sun promptly sets at 6:15 p.m. local time on Aruba,  and by 6:35
p.m.  its too  dark to work safely  outdoors.

Later made another trip to the food store, had at Subway  sandwich dinner, 
and
returned to set up the radio equipment, antenna  switching, and software.  
In
retrospect, it was very fortunate I set the  station up on Monday
evening......there would not have been time on  Friday.  Little did I know
thenâ?¦..what was to happen.

Tuesday  it was full speed ahead moving the lower guy set down five feet  
(after
installing temporary guys â?? safety first of course), adjusting the  
length of
the lower guys (a rather slow tedious process when done alone, many  trips 
up
and down the tower), removed the remains of the severed 5' tower  section,
removed needed guy bracket hardware from the old tower, and  continued to 
paint
and repaint the replacement tower sections.   Discovered the TB3 thrust 
bearing
I'd brought with me was defective, found  ball bearings missing.  
Fortunately in
the depths of the P40W junk pile,  a 20+  year old substitute bearing was
discovered (itâ??s amazing what  you forget you have "in stock").  Progress 
is
painfully slow.  I'm  working alone, itâ??s sunny, hot, and humid.  But by 
late
Tuesday  afternoon the three replacement tower sections are nearly ready to
install.  I'm roughly 1/2 day behind schedule at this point.   Treat myself 
to  a
great dinner at Tony Roma's restaurant later that  evening.

Wednesday:  up bright and early again at 6:45 a.m.   Discover I can't 
extract
the TB3 bearing from the rotor plate it's mounted  on, regardless of the 
amount
of pounding I inflict on the mounting  bolts.  Decided it was time to seek 
out
professional help.  Walk  across the street to the auto body shop/junk yard 
and
the owner Chago kindly  uses his compressed air impact tools to remove the
rusted, not to be removed  by hand, mounting bolts in short order.   
I've never actually  built a tower alone before so some of what happens 
next was
trial and error -  and a valuable learning experience.  I just wish it were
occurring under  different circumstances....the clock is ticking!  

Hoisted up a new  15' galvanized steel mast and got it inserted into the 
tower
on the 2nd  try.  Then the first replacement section was raised with the  
gin
pole.  Through trial and error (and several tower climbs) I managed  to 
position
the tower section at just the right height where I could lift it  6 inches 
and
drop it down on the legs of the section below unassisted.   Fortunately the
tower legs were in fairly close alignment.  By 1 p.m.  had managed to get 
the
first two replacement sections on the tower, and  installed a set of 
temporary
guys, before raising the top section.  Took  a short break, then raised the 
top
section topping off the tower.    Proceed then to Install the upper guy 
bracket,
and then one by one, install  new phillystran guys.  Each guy cable takes a 
climb
up and down the  tower, to attach and adjust.  MORE very slow, tedious 
work, but
by about  4:30 p.m. the tower is up, guyed, and ready for antennas.   P49Y
unexpectedly stops by shortly thereafter at an opportune time to help  lift 
the
mast up through the top section.  Later that evening Andy and I  have 
dinner at
a close-by restaurant and discuss the upcoming contest....he's  very excited
about his first planned SOAB HP effort.  

Thursday  (Thanksgiving Day):  Up again at 6:45 a.m.  Todayâ??s goal is  to
construct, refurbish, and raise the used C31XR  (this is a relatively  big 
and
heavy antenna in the islands), and to install at the top of the mast  a
Cushcraft 40M rotatable dipole that has been sitting fully built but  never
installed on-site for 4 years.  The site layout precludes any  possibility 
of
tramming the antenna into place, so it's built suspended from  the tower at
about 15 feet, and the plan is to raise the C31 up to each guy  set 
location,
install a temporary guy under the antenna, loosen and remove a  guy wire, 
thread
the antenna over the other two guys, lift, reinstall the  removed guy, and
continue raising the antenna to the top guy station, and  repeat the 
process.  
Fortunately the ~13 year old F12 C31XR was in very  good condition.  Working
alone I assembled the C31 in about 4  hours.  Replaced all of the element to
boom mounting hardware, built a  replacement truss assembly and a new DE to 
DE
connection wire set.  More  tedious time-consuming work steps, but by 2:30 
p.m.
the beam is ready to go  in the air.  I then pulled the 40M rotatable 
dipole up
to the top of the  tower and secured it to the mast, along with a balun and
feedline.   Raise the mast with a comealong winch, install the rotator, and
presto,  everything is ready to add the C31XR.

I'd made arrangements with P49Y to  return and help with raising the C31XR 
later
on Thursday afternoon.  And  fortunately my host family's son Whitney was 
also
available to help pull the  gin pole rope.   With three of us the work went 
as
planned and  smoothly, and about an hour later, we had the C31XR bolted to 
the
mast.   SUCCESS!  

Spent the remainder of Thanksgiving Day afternoon  repairing and 
reinstalling
the 160M vertical dipole, and restringing the rope  catenary between the two
towers upon which the 80 and 40 meter wire beam  elements would be attached 
on
Friday.

Got cleaned up and made  myself presentable for the prearranged Thanksgiving
buffet dinner at the  Radisson Hotel.  In attendance were P43A, P43E, P43L,
P43P, P49MR, P49V,  AI6YL, P49Y, and several wives.  The buffet was just 
like
back home in  the states, salad, several types of potatoes, green beans, 
yams,
turkey, ham,  assorted deserts, etc.  The pina colada wasn't bad either!  
It  was
a great way to end a long day with friends.

Friday:  The  tasks at hand were to repair the NE and NW beverages, and 
install
the 40 and  80M wire beams.  I hoped things would go smoothly for once, so 
I'd
be  done by 1 p.m. local time and have the chance to go food shopping, and  
then
have an all important afternoon siesta.  I must have been dreaming  - things
would ever go that smoothly.

Beverage antennas are an  absolute NECESSITY if you expect to be anything 
but an
'alligator' on 160M  and 80M from this part of the world.   The typical RX 
noise
floor  on the transmit antennas is S9 or higher and with all the t-storm
activity to  the south in YV-land during the 'rainy season' itâ??s often far
worse.   

The 800' NE beverage is the most critical and was attacked first.   Right 
off
the mark I discover the 75 foot segment of the antenna closest to  the 
feedpoint
end is totally missing (wires simply disappear down  here).  The really bad 
part,
much of the 75 feet is through thorny  trees, thick undergrowth and cactus. 
The
wire can only be strung by throwing  a string over the vegetation and then 
hack
out a path through the cactus to  retrieve the string to pull the wire up 
and
over.  Spent over an hour  using a branch cutter and machete to hack my way
through and replace just  this short portion of the beverage.  

Moving further to the NE, two  more splices are required where the wire 
passes
through a large open area  much traveled by packs of roving goats.  Nearly 
three
hours later the NE  beverage is connected and seems to be working well.  But
Iâ??m already  about 1.5 hours over the time budget for the day.

Work on the NW beverage  next.  Itâ??s 500' long and also runs through some 
very
thick cactus  areas.  Find some breaks in easy to access places and get  it
connected.  But no signals! I cut and check the wire near the  feedpoint 
end. 
Its reddish brown.....a sure sign of  contamination/corrosion.  Decide to
replace a 100 foot portion that runs  through the thick cactus.  Another 
string
throw, another hacking out of  a path to retrieve the string, pulling the 
wire
up and over, etc., and 2.5  hours later the NW beverage is fully restrung.  
But
still hear no  signals, another problem?  Feedline, beverage xformer, 
what?. 
Itâ??s  now noon.  I retest the NE beverage...its gone DEAD now too!    
Check
feedline connections, substitute transformers, both beverages still  DEAD. 
Decide it has to be the feedlines.....but we're talking about 500' of  cable
needed to replace what's laying on the ground out there.  And what  are the 
odds
that two feedlines, that have worked perfectly for years, would  go bad on 
the
same day!  Mega-Murphy is at play here today.  And I  still have the wire 
beams
to put up....normally a full 3 hour job.  I  already know the possibility 
of any
meaningful rest before the contest is not  going to be possible.  And the 
clock
continues to go tick tick  tick.

Start scrounging for replacement feedline material.   Fortunately I have a 
junk
pile of used cable much hasn't been touched very  much in ten years or 
more. 
Quickly find several longer coax cable pieces to  rewire one beverage.  Get 
the
NW beverage working.  Decide to  proceed with raising the wire beams....and
return to the NE beverage feedline  problem later.

Having erected the 80 and 40 wire beams at least 9 times,  the process is 
well
known.  This time I made a change to save time,  shortening the distance of 
the
element anchor points from the catenary center  line.  Maybe it saved 20 or 
30
precious minutes.    

Also made a last minute decision to roll out the 300â?? of coax from the  C3
tribander on the far tower.  The rotator wasnâ??t working but figured  it 
would
be good to have a backup and some additional flexibility on the high  
bands. 
The beam is fixed north.  The C3 did come in handy during the  contest.

Finally return to the NE beverage feedline problem.  Found  a 20 year old 
run of
RG213, one of 8X, and a third of RG59.  Fortunately  they did the trick.  
As the
sun dipped behind the horizon, everything  that could be done had been 
done. 
Its now just 1.5 hours before the  bell.  I havenâ??t eaten in 10 hours,
havenâ??t purchased any â??contest  foodâ??, and most importantly, hadnâ??t 
had
any sleep.
Rush to take a  shower and head to town to buy food, and grab something for
dinner (it ended  up being a Subway sandwich, Micky Dâ??s was mobbed with
families and small  kids on a Friday night).  Get home 8 minutes before the
contest  starts.  Fill the cooler with ice and drinks and head to the 
shack.  

Open up on 40Mâ?¦.immediately notice the CW being sent by the computer  is
clipped, it sounds like the weighting is all wrong.   After a  few minutes 
of
unanswered CQs decide the keying problem had to be fixed  immediately, so I 
stop
operating, run a disk cleaner program and do a full  computer reboot, to  
clear
the temporary files of garbage.  This  solves the issue.  Later I notice
Win-Test is not inserting the correct  Zone when working Wâ??s.  Loaded a 
more
recent version of the AD1C  country fileâ?¦.another problem resolved.

But 25 minutes have already  clicked off by the time the process completes. 
Iâ??m now thinking of the 80+  QSOs that were already lost.  Finally start 
CQing
again on 40M high in  the band.  Just canâ??t get a consistent run going.  
Resort
to some  S&P of loud EU stations.  25% of the time Iâ??m asked for  callsign
repeats, and worse  at least 10% of the time stations CQ in my  face.  
Start to
think, am I that weak?  I know running LP isnâ??t  like HP, BUT, should 
there be
this big a difference?  Start to think  maybe the 95W output indicated on 
the
ProIII is somehow wrong, maybe I have a  cabling problem between the XCVR 
and
the antenna switches.  Pull out a  watt meter and insert it in the line 
which
confirms the rig output is getting  where it belongs.  Are conditions that 
poor?
My fatigue masked my  thinking I suppose, failing to recognize conditions 
were
fairly poor the  first few hours.  I QSY to 80M, the same result, more 
requests
for  callsign repeats, more CQâ??ing in my face, etc.  The ultimate, I QSY  
to
160M.  I hear many EU and EY8MM.  Canâ??t make a contact with  anyone 
outside
NA/SA, despite aggressive calling.  Again, I fail to make  a connection 
between
poor band conditions, running LP, etc.  My spirits  sank, and admittedly 
Iâ??m
more than a little psyched out.

After the  first 4 hours the QSO total is less than half expectations, mult
totals are  way down from normal, and I feel extremely tired, but decide to
stick with it  until EU sunrise.  The 05 and 06 hours are finally 
approaching
something  near normal rates, but I badly need to close my eyes.

Set four  alarm clocks and manage to hear one of them at 1035Z, local 
sunrise
(note to  KU1CW/V31CW, sometimes it takes 5 alarm clocks).   Starting on  
160,
catch two Carib mults, move to 80 for a short run of Wâ??s, then on to  
40M, for
an hour or so of Wâ??s and JAâ??s at ~150/hr.  The new 40M  rotatable 
dipole @
68â?? seems to be working very well.  Make a quick  final S&P sweep for 
mults
and then move to 20M.

The band is  packed, canâ??t find a clear frequency low in the band and 
finally
start  CQing way up on 14074.  The rate is nothing to write home about,  
about
110/hr, but this is pretty typical from P4, the real action is between  W 
and
EU, we South Americans are ignored most mornings.

At 1300 try  CQing on 15M but it seems a little too early for a meaningful 
run. 
Return to  20 and find my run frequency gone.   Go up to 14110 and CQ.   It
doesnâ??t work, find a hole at 14028 and start again.  Rate is a  little 
better
but not great.  Go back to 15M at 1345 and do an S&P  mult sweep top to 
bottom
before an hour run on 21008.  Rates are not  fantastic, but in hindsight, 
this
was the right place to be, since the band  would fold to EU early both days.
Back to 20M at 1500Z for one hour.   Rate never gets much better than 120 an
hour.  Back to 15M at  1600Z.  The rate picks up but itâ??s almost all NA.  
This
worries  me, EU had dried up far too early.  I didnâ??t even have a Z16 yet 
 on
15.
The next two hours flip back and forth between 15 and 20, while  checking 
10M
every 15 minutes for signals.  At 1720Z hear and work W2FU  on 10M, and 
then a
45 minute run of Wâ??s and SA stations follow.  Lousy  rate but no way of
knowing if this would be it for 10M all  weekend.

Back to 15M after what few 10M signals there were petered  out.  The peak 
rates
all weekend were to follow the next two  hours.  The 19 and 20Z hours on 
20M was
a perfect setup, my Q total on  the band is still low, the Wâ??s are loud, 
15M
has essentially closed, itâ??s  the â??perfect stormâ??.  Ripped off back to
back 204 and 241  hours.   Being a confirmed rate â??junkieâ?? this had the
adrenalin  flowing.
Followed up the following hour with a 158, but Iâ??m physically  slowing 
down
now.  The next several hours I go back into â??DXerâ??  mode, doing S&P, 
picking
up mults on 15 and 20.  Should have been  CQing instead, I know.  My lapses 
into
DXer mode cost me the  contest.

Head to 40M at 00Z, rate isnâ??t great.  Over the next 6  hours made 
constant
moves between 40/80/160.  Never really get a good  rate going, the fatigue
factor is getting worse.  Kept trying to make  something happen on 160M but
there seems to be this electronic curtain  between P4 and EU.  But much to 
my
surprise, at 0530Z the band finally  opens to EU.  Ten EU mults answer my 
CQs,
and KH6AT calls in too for a  double.  But just as quickly as it opened, the
door was slammed shut  again, my subsequent calls to EU stations are met 
with
CQs in the face.  

Hang on till 0730 and go to sleep for four hours (slept through all the  
alarms
this time which were set for sunrise at 1030z) .  Opened on 40M  and had a
pretty good 145ish hour mainly USA/JA but no new AS  mults.

>From 13 to 16z things are very slow on 20 and  15.   Did manage to finally 
work
a few Z16 stations on 15M, and  a number of the common EU mults missed the 
first
morning, but it was a repeat  performance, the band essentially closed to 
EU by
1500z.  Went back into  DXer mode, did a lot of tuning, mult hunting, and
observing.  Unlike  prior CQWW contest, made little or no attempt to move 
mults
band to  band.  The overall low mult totals reflect this less than  
aggressive
approach over the entire weekend.

During the 1700 hour 15M  is very good to the US, signals are loud.  W9RE
stopped by and alerted  me 10M was open.  Sure enough at 1830z found 10M 
open
coast to coast,  but it was like someone threw a party and nobody came, 
there
was no  volume.  Ran off 40 qsos and returned to 15M.  Returned to 10M once 
 more
at 1900z for another 20 qsos and a few CA mults.  Are the sunspots  ever 
going to
return?

At this juncture decide my goal should be to  complete the contest with 4000
contacts.  This would require some above  average rate over the remaining 
few
hours but it was possible.   Fortunately 20M cooperated, yielding 178, 158, 
and
90 hours back to  back.  

Went to 40M the last hour hoping for some decent rate and  needed mults.  
Found
a hole on 7037 and finished out the 2009 CQWW CW  with a 151 hour, with 5 
more
multipliers, and 3987 contacts.  

An  hour after the contest, had dinner with P49Y, P49V, and AI6YL.  As you  
would
certainly expect the primary discussion was the contest.  Andy had  broken 
6000
contacts for the first time SOAB HP, and Carl had enjoyed a solid  weekend 
doing
a 20M S/B effort.   I always find comparing notes and  each operatorâ??s
prospective on propagation fascinating.     

The next several days were spent finishing up all the loose ends of the  
P40W
reconstruction, and taking down and storing away the temporary antennas  and
cables.  By Wednesday afternoon, over 1800â?? of coax runs had been  coiled 
and
put safely away.

Overall, it was a very good week.   K0DQ commented â??the contest score is 
just
a footnote, the long term  survival of P40W as an entity is front page.â?? 
Thanks  Scott!
Congratulations to Bud, AA3B/A26K for another great WW CW  effort.  I 
listened
to him often over the weekend and enjoyed his never  give up style.

Taking more time to enjoy â??DXerâ?? mode provided an  unusual opportunity 
to
observe many of the big guns.  Of course N2NT was  a standout at 
V47NTâ?¦.his
never ending aggressive style was yielding results  â?¦ and was really fun 
to
listen to.  I heard Jose, CT1BOH several times  as well.  It seemed his 
pileups
were never quite as deep, and the light  setting of the weight controls on 
his
keying made Joseâ??s signal less of a  standout to my ears.  Tom, 8P5A was 
his
usual â??never stopâ?? style,  always fun to observe.  Only heard and worked
EF8M once the entire  weekend and never heard ZS4TXâ?¦.sorry Bernie, could 
have
used the Z38 mult  on several bands!  From the states K5ZD found me on his
second radio at  least 3 times, if not 4.  Only heard K1DG a few 
timesâ?¦and was
happy to  QSY to 160M for Dougâ?¦.you are most welcome OM.  Yuri at VE2IM  
was
worked on 5 bandsâ?¦..always glad someone is willing to make that long  and 
cold
trip north for our collective benefit.  Heard K3LR Cqing on 10M  for several
hours on what was otherwise a dead band Sunday.  Got a dit  dit dah dah dit 
dit
a few times but no joy until later in the day.   

Running LP I found it difficult to work many of the Carib mults on the  
higher
bands, particularly on 15M.  The ops at KP2M and PJ4A have really  good 
ears. 
Heard and worked VQ5V only twice, and NEVER heard VP9I all  weekend.  NP4Z 
was
â??cookinâ?? this time, and KV4FZ was 20 db louder  than anyone else in the
Carib on 160Mâ?¦..how does Herb do that?  EY8MM  was loud both nights near 
his
sunrise on 160, go a â???â?? once or twice but  no luckâ?¦maybe next time 
Nodir.
Observed the long path was often  better on 20M than SP, particularly to OC 
and
AS.  The number of PY, LU,  and other southern SA stations working 80 and 40
seems to steadily increase  each yearâ?¦.a welcomed trend.  The ops at
HC8N/HC8GR sounded great,  they had a beacon signal on every band.  

Many thanks to P43A and  P49V for completing the preliminary phase of
reconstruction work in my  absence, and to P49Y for lending a helping hand 
when
most needed last  week.   And as always a big thank you to my hosts 
Humphrey  and
Corrie who over the years have so wonderfully tolerated the â??wiringâ??  of
their property.  

Log will be posted to LOTW.  Or QSL via  N2MM.  

Hopefully CU again during one of the ARRL DX contest  weekends.

73,
John  W2GD/P40W

W2GD at hotmail.com


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