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@hotmail.com