TopBand: "Who's Who..." and VK9LX LH trip

[Nick]

Dear topbanders,

"Who's Who ..." list has been finally updated. Unfortunately, some
people keep sending their score via old watch4you.com server. I'm not
receiving any mail from that domain so please use provided
web form at http://qsl.net/160 . This is where you can find the latest
list, too.

Few words to all of you who keep asking "what happened to VK9LX on
topband ?" :

This year trip was loaded with problems from the very beginning -
yes, we have all radios, amplifiers and antennas on Lord Howe
waiting for us but we have to deal with problems we never expected
to be. Only 48 hours before departure time we found that our prepaid
airplane tickets were just piece of paper- no seats on plane!
What a disaster! "Computer mistake" cost us nerves and precious
last minute preparation time. Countless phone calls, sleepless night, 
empty promises - 48 hours nightmare -  we finally left Sydney tired and
emotionally broken with K6KM in cockpit. 
Arrival on Lord Howe and rain / storm weather. This island is known
as dry place but this year we have had no single day without rain!
We spent two days erecting tribander and WARC beam and finally on third
day we got our 20m high top loaded vertical up. Checking out
for SWR - it was 1:1 on 1825. But only 15 minutes later strong wind
broke 80m trap and that was the end of third night.
Next day we decide it would be to risky to take the vertical down for
repair
because of strong  wind. Actually, it was so strong that it would be
probably impossible to to have it up again and risk 80 and 40m. I've
decide to try to bottom load it which
worked fine. Few CQ's generated modest pile-up on 1822 but no way to
copy any signals: crashes on RX and lightening nearby - what else but to
QRT and wait till tomorrow. 
By then we were so tired; it was said to see 4 complete radios and 3
computers and no one on the air. The rest of the team quietly went to 
their cabins trying to get some sleep; I walked out in night
to watch  lightening. No drama, my clothes were already wet.
I felt sorry for hundreds of guys wondering where the hell are we
on 1822 ?! 
Day five: taking down WARC beam and replacing it with second tribander
to get ready for CQWW. Another "hardware" day; WARC guys crying for more
QSO's but that was the end of 10/18/24. It was sad to see the beam going
in to the box - countless hours wasted (?)  for only 1500 QSO's...

Day six: solving usual multi-op station problems: networking was
actually NYET WORKING ; keying, logging, interference, etc. 
No time for 160. 
 
CQWW: If you were CQ-ing somewhere between 1.8 and 2 MHz during the
contest we were calling you. The reason you didn't hear us is because
you were to busy working the guy 100 km away. We would do the same,
but there is no much to work if you are an insulated dot in Pacific.
And 40m pile-up was enormous and so easssy to run... (7.6M points and
4750 QSO's)

When the contest was over, we were completely worn out. We didn't talk
much. All we wanted to do was to take all antennas down, take group
photo and fly back home. GB, Lord Howe! CU in May, 1999.

Nick, VK2ICV
PS: My advice to anyone who is planning contest dxpedition:
1. NO WARC beam! Vertical would work just fine;
2. NO 6m ! We wasted 10-12 hours on 6m and manage 0 (zero) QSO's
3. RTTY is fine if you have devoted RTTY op. who is bringing his
   own equipment. Mary Lou, NM7N was great! 
4. On 160 RX ant is more important than BIG TX ant. There are so many
   well equipped topband stations worldwide and they can hear you. But
you need to hear them, too. (Can you believe that N6RO was only 349
in       QRN?) 
4a. The Battle Creek Special is great antenna because it is easy to
erect
   and work just fine. We missed it this year!
5. If you are crazy about 160, you are going to cause lot of trouble to
the rest of the crew. For them, you are just pain in the neck.
   They may even try to get rid of you, which is fairly easy on remote
island.
6. If you work VK9LX on 160m, you are kidding yourself with buro card.
   I do expect at least one IRC and kind word(s) for our trouble.
   Hey, you are the winner, aren't you?

7. If you have problem with my English, please wait for censored report
   by K6KM. Check our website in 4-6 weeks. http://qsl.net/vk9lx

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