Callsign Used : WP2Z
Operator : K4MA
Category : Single Op - High Power
Default Exchange : # B WP2Z 77 VI
Team/Club : PVRC
BAND Raw QSOs Valid QSOs Points Mults
__________________________________________________
80SSB 40 40 80 0
40SSB 160 160 320 1
20SSB 1082 1081 2162 16
15SSB 614 614 1228 62
10SSB 484 484 968 0
__________________________________________________
Totals 2380 2379 4758 79
Final Score = 375882 points.
Equipment: Yaesu FT-1000 & Dentron Clipperton-L
Antennas : Force 12 C4 @ 30 feet
Cushcraft 402CD @ 20 feet
75M sloping dipole apex @ 30 feet
Site : Windwood which is on top of a hill
that is approx. 900 feet above sea level.
Nothing but water between the station
and US Mainland.
Rate Sheet (best overall rate according to QRATE was
160 @ 2219Z):
HOUR 80SSB 40SSB 20SSB 15SSB 10SSB TOTAL ACCUM
---- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- -----
21 0 0 0 152 0 152 152
22 0 0 46 79 0 125 277
23 0 0 130 0 0 130 407
0 0 0 129 0 0 129 536
1 0 0 145 0 0 145 681
2 0 18 90 0 0 108 789
3 3 65 0 0 0 68 857
4 5 19 32 0 0 56 913
5 0 0 32 0 0 32 945
6 0 0 0 0 0 0 945
7 0 0 0 0 0 0 945
8 0 0 0 0 0 0 945
9 21 0 0 0 0 21 966
10 11 56 0 0 0 67 1033
11 0 0 0 0 0 0 1033
12 0 0 75 0 0 75 1108
13 0 0 37 10 0 47 1155
14 0 0 0 114 0 114 1269
15 0 0 0 67 45 112 1381
16 0 0 0 0 130 130 1511
17 0 0 0 0 112 112 1623
18 0 0 0 0 115 115 1738
19 0 0 0 17 82 99 1837
20 0 0 0 110 0 110 1947
21 0 0 0 62 0 62 2009
22 0 0 56 3 0 59 2068
23 0 0 108 0 0 108 2176
0 0 1 80 0 0 81 2257
1 0 0 103 0 0 103 2360
2 0 1 18 0 0 19 2379
TOTAL 40 160 1081 614 484
QSO Distribution:
1. OH 124
2. IL 121
3. MI 108
4. STX 91
5. VA 73
6. MDC 68
7. NTX 66
8. EP 59
9. WNY 58
10. TN 55
11. NC 54
12. CT 51
13. GA 50
14. NNJ 49
15. IN 49
16. SFL 47
17. SCV 45
18. WPA 45
19. LAX 45
20. MN 44
21. CO 41
22. EN 40
23. WWA 40
24. WI 39
25. EM 38
26. MO 37
27. OR 35
28. KY 35
29. NFL 34
30. AZ 34
31. KS 34
32. NH 32
33. AL 31
34. ORG 27
35. AR 27
36. SNJ 27
37. NLI 27
38. ON 25
39. SV 25
40. OK 24
41. WV 23
42. IA 23
43. LA 21
44. SC 19
45. SJV 18
46. WMA 17
47. NV 17
48. NE 14
49. ID 14
50. MS 14
51. SDG 14
52. SF 13
53. SB 13
54. QC 13
55. ME 13
56. VT 13
57. MT 12
58. RI 12
59. EB 12
60. WY 11
61. AB 10
62. NM 10
63. UT 10
64. WTX 9
65. NNY 8
66. PAC 8
67. DE 8
68. EW 7
69. SD 7
70. SK 7
71. BC 7
72. PR 6
73. ND 5
74. MAR 5
75. MB 4
76. NL 3
77. AK 3
78. NWT 1
79. VI 1
The Story:
I have returned from Paradise yet again.
The pictures of Windwood on the Internet
Web Page do not do it justice. It is
without a doubt the most beautiful house
and the most incredible views that I have
seen in the Caribbean.
This was my first trip to the Caribbean for
a single op effort, and it appears I came
a way with a win. But let me congratulate
Rich, N7TR, on a fantastic job to make it
so close. Look at our respective rate sheets.
He was far ahead after the first night, and
if not for my good 10M opening that he did not
get, he probably would have won.
But this plaque was not won without some work
and last minute sweating. I arrived on St. Croix
on Monday, 11/10, and I was on the air that night
One advantage of going to KP2 or KP4, no license
problems or waits.
The next day I had scheduled maintenance on the
Force 12 C4 to replace the feedline for the
tribander part with new coax sent down by KE2VB.
(An aside, Larry Reader, KE2VB, does a great
job in making sure that Windwood is as ready
as possible for incoming renters. Thanks a
bunch, Larry). I also put up a Cushcraft A3
on a 10 foot mast for a second, listening
antenna (which turned out to be of limited
usefulness in this contest), and I installed a
feedline for a 80M (CW) dipole for use outside
the contest. After 24 hours there, the station
was cooking.
The next several days I worked DX when the beach,
snorkeling, and great restaurants were not
interfering with radio. But even this fun was
not without some visits from Murphy.
On Wednesday evening I had a asked with KE2VB to
just let him know how the setup was going. During
the QSO, the Clipperton (my amp) seemed to smoke,
funny noises and bad smells. I turned the amp off
and didn't use it the rest of that evening.
On Thursday, I opened the Clipperton up. It looked
like one of the doorknob caps on the plate tuning
circuit had smoked along with another cap on the
same circuit. I am basically an appliance op.
I can solder connectors and put in feedlines and
other basic stuff, and I'm considered a computer
whiz by those that know me, but when it comes to
really debugging and fixing RF circuits, forget it.
Well, I had the Clipperton manual with me, so I read
the schematic and went to local Radio Shack to try
and get replacements. No luck (as expected) with
exact replacements, so I decided to power it up
again with cover off and see what arced. As Gomer
would say, "Surprise, Surprise", it worked, and it
kept working (maybe Dentron was the parent company
of Energizer) with the apparently blown caps.
On Friday evening after another fantastic outside dinner
on the water with the cool trade winds blowing, we
were back at Windwood watching Jurassic Park - Lost
World on tape when the power went out. My wife (Karen)
and I went outside to try and start the generator (to
see the end of the movie), but no luck. We went to bed,
hoping that the power will be back on tomorrow.
Saturday morning and still no power and the generator
won't start. Panic is in the back of my mind at this
point. Luckily my assertive (and beautiful, wonderful)
wife calls the St. Croix Power Company and reports the
power outage. I'm expecting a response of "Don't worry
mon, we fix sometime next week", instead, they say they
will check into it. A couple of hours later a crew shows
up and determines that a transformer has blown. They
claim that another crew will fix it today (yeah, right
I think). Lorrin Woodman (the owner of Windwood)
and I continue trying to get the generator started.
We take the generator to a repair place, and they think
the carb is clogged. They agree to do clean the carb
and get it running today. Lorrin shows back up with
the generator working about 1600Z, so I at least know
that I can run low power using the generator. I get
on the air with the generator to make sure that all
is working (it is).
At 1720Z, I QRT so I can get gas for the generator
and run some other last minute errands. I return
an hour or so later to the welcome site of a bucket
truck fixing the transformer. Shortly there
after we have power. Check the time. OK time,
finish watching Lost World from the night before
(my first time to see it), take a shower, and
I'm ready to rock'n'roll (literally). It has
become a tradition with AA4NC and me to listen
to loud Lynyrd Skynyrd (turn it up, dude) just
before the contest to get ourselves pumped up.
Guess you have to be from W4 to appreciate.
The contest starts on 15M for me. You can
read the rate above. No hours up there with
the best from the West but consistency was
the key for me. Stay on the band that was
generating 100+ Qs per hour.
General comments:
Had WH2U (Guam, @1223) & WH0AAV (Saipan, @1230) call
in on 20M on Sunday morning.
Thank you to VY1JA (K6LA) for calling me for my only
VY1/VE8.
Last 5 sections worked:
5. VI
4. NL
3. UT (Can you believe?)
2. PR
1. AK
484 QSOs on 10M: some would say WOW! But
I say hard work. They may be the unmined
mass, but they are also the uninformed mass
(at least in SS). Lots of talking someone
through the Q. Lots of explaining, etc.
FYI, I found that if I would really explain
the exchange to someone about every 15 minutes
then those trying to get through in the pileup
would be in tune and get the info right for
the most part.
I found 40M & 80M very tough from VI.
I tried to get stuff going on those
bands, but no luck. I was very
surprised that I made as many Qs on 20M
as I did on 15M & 10M combined.
BTW and according to K1DG's Amateur Radio
Almanac, my score was the 3rd highest ever
behind KP2A (N2IC) and W6GO (N6IG). N7TR's
score was the 8th highest of all time. For
next year, who will be the first to break
400K for SS SSB?
Thanks for the Qs. See ya from VP5 for
ARRL DX SSB.
73, Jim Stevens, K4MA & 8P9JA
email -- k4ma@mindspring.com
WWW -- http://www.mindspring.com/~k4ma
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