For those who like to read the comments here is a little writeup of the
weekend at the trailer! For those who don't there is always the delete key!
CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST -- 2002
Call: VE3DC (HARC)
Category: Multi Two
Power: High Power
Band: All Band
Mode: CW
Country: Canada
Zone: 4
Contest Club Ontario
BAND QSO QSO PTS PTS/QSO ZONES COUNTRIES
160 148 293 1.98 8 16
80 422 858 2.03 14 49
40 495 1186 2.40 29 106
20 751 1766 2.35 36 118
15 1125 2949 2.62 32 114
10 521 1370 2.63 27 113
---------------------------------------------------
Totals 3462 8422 2.43 146 516 => 5,575,364
Operator List: VE3RZ VE3STT VE3OZO
CQWW CW
The plan - the new Multi/2 category. We thought we could keep two stations
going for the whole time and as it turned out, we did for all but about
30mins throughout the 48hour period.
So, at 1:30pm on Friday, picked up Steve, VE3OZO and made our way to Rick's,
VE3BK, to pick up an antenna switch for the second station (thanks Vic,
VE3VMO!). After this, we drove to the workshop to meet Don, VE3VZ, to pick
up the keys to the trailer and the rotor control for the CL36.
At this time, the snow was coming down quite heavily and the drive to the
site was rather slick! I had brought a 40m bobtail antenna which I thought
we could have strung between the two towers with the HF beams, but in that
snow, the plan was abandoned.
Getting the first station setup - Tcvr TS850SAT, amp SB220 (thanks VE3HG)
that was modified to operate on 160m. Computer setup, then found no adapter
to allow the rig control cable to connect to the computer. The 160m
vertical seemed to have high VSWR so a trek to the base of the antenna was
in order. I had good boots and was dry under my coat, however, I forgot
that snow was good and wet so I had very wet jeans when I returned and
couldnt feel my thighs! Changed into spare jeans I had brought and all was
well. There was an acummalation of snow on the base of the 160m vertical
that I cleared off. The VSWR still seemed a bit high, but the amp tuned
into it ok with about 400watts.
Mike, VE3DXF, came and setup the packet station which was connected to
VE3EJ-10. This worked very well with no dropouts for the whole weekend and
made a big difference in the multiplier bagging.
Steve tried to get some rest before the start, but was too keyed up (no pun
intended!). David, VE3STT, arrived about 5:30pm and the second station was
setup. This consisted of a Yaesu FT990 and FL7000 amp that put out about
500watts. The computer was setup and both were tested for networking via an
ethernet connection. The logging software used was CT.
The first station had a choice of 160m vertical, 40m vertical and 15m 3
element tribander at 48feet. The second station used a horizontal loop at
30 feet for 80m, 20 and 10 used the CL36 tribander at 48feet and a 3 element
monobander for 10m at 30feet. This was the same setup as used by the group
for the SSB contest a month earlier.
For the contest itself, the conditions seemed to be okay. I don't really
remember Saturday being much different from Sunday! We seemed to be able to
work everything we could hear - and in particular on 160m. The biggest
improvements would have to be better receive antennas for 160m and a lower
angle antenna for 80m.
Steve had a bit of trouble with the vox delay being too long on the TS850
which we only got sorted out on Sunday. It meant that repeats were asked for
frequently. Steve had been in the habit of using auto-repeat, probably from
the RAC contests where the rates are low, and he found that he didn't always
make it to the "escape" key soon enough. Finally he got into a rhythm with
it by leaving the ring finger of the left hand on the escape key and the
right hand on the home row with the index finger feeling the bump on the "j"
key.
Certainly towards the end of the contest on Sunday, I was amazed at how
spongy my brain became and the stations that sent a little slower where the
ones that got copied first! Many of the pileups were enormous, and you
could certainly tell the packet crowd - if you hadn't worked the multiplier
within the first two or three calls, you were immersed in the masses!
However, VE3DC was able to break through most of them, only a couple of
stations with the huge pileups were let go!
Steve earned the high rate run award with a very good long sustained run on
15m on Sunday morning. David earned the title of multiplier king with his
continual snagging of double mults..(and the Tim Horton's coffee when he
arrived each morning at about 6:00am was very appreciated!). I did what I
could and had a ball doing it..being especially pleased that we worked 29
zones and 104 countries on 40m with a ground mounted vertical.
This was the first time that the group had made DXCC on four bands! We will
be chasing EA8ZS next (they made DXCC on all 6 bands!).
Best rates in the contest were:
Steve, 82/hr during hour 14 of first day on 15 metres
Tony, 63/hr during hour 23 of second day on 40 metres
David, 61/hr during hour 20 of second day on 20 metres
The combined peak hour was 142/hr during hour 14 of the first day.
All too soon it was over and the rigs were torn down and packed away.
One point to make is that this was done with antennas and power that any
average ham can use. No beam was higher than 48feet, and the 40m totals
were made with a butternut vertical. The SB220 amplifier was run quite
lightly with no more than 600watts out on any band. The other amp put out no
more than 500watts.
73 and thanks to all who had a qso with us.
Tony, VE3RZ
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