>From jcrovell Wed May 28 11:06 EDT 1997 remote from 580howard
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>From: "John Crovelli" <jcrovell@580howard>
To: "'Contest Scores'" <3830@contesting.com>,
"floydjr" <floydjr@Interpath.com>
Subject: P40W - SOAB QRP
To: <3830@contesting.com>
Date: Wed May 28 10:17 EDT 1997
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Hi everyone.
This was truely an exciting contest. Who would have expected such
outstanding
conditions on the high bands. Running QRP, it was the ideal situation since
it allowed
me to successfully call CQ most of the time. The first 10 hours it was
hard to choose
between 40 and 20 meters. Twenty was wide open and rates were exceptional.
But my
game plan was to make as many contacts as possible on 40 and 80 so opted to
suffer
through most of my first night on the lower bands. This proved to the
right decision
and yielded nearly 300 six point contacts.
Saturday morning (local time) 20 and 15 seemed flat. Took a second off time
around noon.
When I returned 15M was showing signs of life and I found a clear spot on
21.035. I
was able to hold this frequency for nearly 6 hours without challenge (no
small feat for QRP)
running Eur and US at rates between 100 and 130 contacts/hour. WOW! I
still don+t believe
how good conditions were to Europe well into their night. A brief sprint on
10M even
yielded a few European contacts.
After about 17 hours of operating time the score was already equal to the
old QRP record.
Based on the exceptional 20M conditions, a strategy change was made and I
concentrated
on the high bands for the remainder of the contest, forgoing the effort
required to make 6 pointers
on 40 and 80 (one can take not being heard on the first call just so much).
Rates of 80/hour
were achieved on 20M until early morning (0600Z) when my body told me to
sleep.
In contrast, the bands were never as good the last 12 hours of the contest.
Twenty was
crowded and it seemed impossible to find a clear frequency to call CQ, even
above 14070.
15M never seemed to really open on Sunday, with only the big Eur. stations
being heard
consistently. A lot of search and pounce was yielding plenty of mults but
not many contacts.
A few hours of snooze time on the beach were a welcome alternative.
Finished out the contest on 20M and managed to push the score above 4 meg.
on a strong
run to US/EUR during the last hour. I still get a thrill out of what can be
worked with just a few
watts and this contest provided lots of enjoyment when CQs were answered by
7X, JY, 7X,
UA9, VK, VU, ZS, 4X, all so far away.
Special thanks to my Aruban hosts Humphrey and Corry and to Bob, WX4G/P40J,
whose
help lowering, repairing, and raising the 20/40 yagi in 35+ mph winds was
invaluable.
Plan to return for CQWW Phone in October.
73, John W2GD/P40W
jcrovell@gbsmail.bcs.lucent.com or W2GD@hotmail.com
Call: P40W Country: Aruba
Mode: CW Category: SOAB/QRP
BAND QSO QSO PTS PTS/Q PREFIXES
160 0 0 0.0 0
80 47 270 5.7 15
40 243 1436 5.9 153
20 746 2229 3.0 244
15 802 2352 2.9 202
10 57 147 2.6 19
--------------------------------------
Totals 1895 6434 3.4 633 = 4,072,722
Op Time: 32 hours
Equipment Description: TS930S 5 watts
5el Force 12 10M Yagi at 78+
5el Force 12 15M Yagi at 85+
4el Force 12 20M Yagi at 72+
2el Force 12 40M Yagi at 72+
80M inverted V at 70+
650+ beverage to Eur
450+ beverage to USA
Club Affiliation: FRANKFORD RADIO CLUB
JOHN CROVELLI W2GD/P40W
1271 WASHINGTON VALLEY ROAD
BRIDGEWATER, NJ 08807
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