CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB
Call: P40W
Operator(s): W2GD
Station: P40W
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Sta. Cruz, Aruba
Operating Time (hrs): 41.8
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 37 8 20
80: 454 19 74
40: 846 20 74
20: 1782 32 101
15: 2090 29 106
10: 1133 22 57
------------------------------
Total: 6342 130 432 Total Score = 10,449,828
Club: Frankford Radio Club
Comments:
Rig: IC756ProIII, Alpha 87A SO1R
Antennas:
160: Vertical Dipole, Inverted V @ 70'
80: 3 ele wire yagi pointed EU @ 60', Inverted V @ 70'
40: 4 ele wire yagi pointed EU @ 60', 2 ele wire yagi to US/JA @ 70', F12 C4
20: F12 4 ele @ 72', F12 C4
15: Cushcraft 4 ele @ 82', F12 C4
10: F12 5 ele @ 76', F12 C4
800' beverage EU, 450' beverage US/JA, 500' bev N/S, 500' bev E/W
A Story:
Arrived on Aruba Tuesday afternoon knowing there would be plenty of work to do
before the contest. Back in July while attending WRTC2006 in Brazil my Aruban
host had emailed me that the 15M beam had broken in two at the mast during a
bad wind storm and fallen into the street. Later a neighboring ham, P43W
confirmed the damage with photos. So at a minimum I knew I would be doing
major antenna surgery at the top of the 14 foot mast which after 15+ years of
service is of questionable structural integrity.
The game plan was to complete all other setup and repair chores before
addressing the 15M yagi problem. I figured on using my C4 backup on 15M if
things didn't work out as planned. P40W/P40R is not a plug and play station.
To make it operational takes many many hours of laying cables and erecting or
repairing wire antennas. Approximately 1600 feet of coax and control cables
are deployed, beverages partially erected, and wire antennas re-strung from
their inactive status. It is the equivalent of one person setting up a 4A
Field Day station. Definitely not your normal 'vacation'.
As I started laying out the beverage feedlines, P49Y/AE6Y stopped by to say
hello and discuss the coming week. He reported problems at his station too and
I promised to take a look, and help when I could. We agreed to meet for dinner
that evening. Over the next 3.5 hours, until after dark, all of the feedlines
and control cables were laid out and routed to the shack. The furthest 140
meters of the NE beverage re-erected (it crosses outside of the property line,
but no one seems to mind much), and some preliminary SWR checks were run. Most
everything looked about normal.....a plus.
What I didn't expect were problems with the wall air conditioner unit in the
shack. It was installed about 6 years ago and fortunately had previoiusly
worked perfectly and never required service. I turned it on Tuesday afternoon
and it was horrendously loud, the compressor was not happy. It initially blew
cold air but by later in the evening when it was operating much more quietly it
was no longer supplying the cool dry air needed to make the weekend a reality.
Made arrangements the next day to have the A/C service person come and take it
away for evaluation. Ultimately learned the compressor was shot. Fortunately
my host had a used wall unit pulled from a rental property....it worked....and
was installed Thursday evening.
Wednesday morning I set out to complete beverage antenna installations. The
locals had helped themselves to the #12 and #14 house wire I use for a
counterpoise ground system at the far end (not the first time this has
happened). Took an hour to cut new radials and make the repair. Then repaired
the 160M vertical dipole. When I left the island last May after WPX CW, I knew
it it needed a new center insulator and balun due to corrosion damage, and the
feedline needed to be evaluated for damage and the connectors replaced. One
climb up the 2nd tower and an hour later the antenna was operational.
Next came installing the 3 ele 80 and 4 ele 40M wire yagis that hang inverted V
style from a catanary rope between the two towers. This is always a 'fun' job
since it requires alot of walking around many obstacles, mostly of the cactus
variety. Used a full 1000 foot roll of nylon string to get the ends of the
elements in the air. Total installation time 3.5 hours. Then to finish off
the day an old 4 ele Cushcraft 15M yagi that had resided in the weeds for at
least 10 years was extricated. Cleaned off the accumulated dirt and salt and
put the boom and elements together with liberal use of lubricants. It seemed
to clean up nicely and I hoped it would be a viable replacement for the 5 ele
F12 that had failed after 12 years of reliable service. Enough work for one
day.....headed to Tony Romas for dinner.
Thursday dawned sunny and hot. I prefer a cloudy day to do tower work....at
least on Aruba....the sun and wind do a real number. Finished assembling the
15M beam and planned out how to remove the remains of the old 15M yagi, which
is now a close spaced 3 element, all on one side of the mast - it looked very
odd. Eventually got my nerve up and climbed the tower and then the mast.
Installed an angle iron step between the 20 and 10 meter yagis and stood on the
10M boom. So far so good. The old mast seemed to be a bit wobbly but otherwise
no obvious defects were evident. Installed another step and gingerly climbed up
so the 15M boom/mast plate was a head level. Things are rocking and rolling a
little more, but holding together. Rigged a pulley above my head with the pull
rope. Loosened the U-bolts holding the 15M boom/mast assembly and worked the
beam down the mast a few feet....the weight imbalance making it difficult.
Eventually got it down far enough to unbolt the plates....the antenna came off
the mast. Disassembled the elements from the half boom...and lowered
everything to the ground. A major sigh of relief when that was done, it had
taken 2 hours! As I climbed down, the 10M yagi was unbolted and dropped on top
of the 4 ele 20, and I loosened the boom of the 20 to tilt the elements
downward. The idea was to create enough clearance to tram up the replacement
15 up and above the lower antennas. Drank 2 qts of Gatorade when finally
reaching the ground. By 3 p.m. had the tram rope rigged and nos needed
assistance. Andy, AE6Y/P49Y answered the call and came over. We proceeded to
get the antenna rigged on the tram...there wasn't alot of room to work, many
thorny trees/bushes strategically located in the wrong places. Together we
pulled the antenna up to the 55 foot level and I went back up the tower. With
the luck of the Irish the tips of the new antenna just cleared the upper tower
guys with the help of a wind gust or two. After that it was just routine work,
bolted in the beam, hooked up the choke/feedline, and put the 10m and 20 meter
antennas back in place.. Another 2 hours of tower time logged. Hooked up the
coax to the rig and the SWR curve looked good. P40W was just about ready for
CQWW PH 2006.
I'd promised to help Andy with his antenna project later that day/evening. His
F12 4 ele 20 with interlaced 40M elements had been repaired and was ready to be
remounted on top of their 60' Rohn 45G tower. Ended up spending another 2
hours up on a tower in the dark as the P43 ground crew got the antenna properly
positioned and rigged in the cunuca which is full of bushes and cactus. It was
an exiting experience, the wind kept gusting as they trammed the antenna up to
me and fortunately one of those gusts helped push the element tips over the
guys. Got the antenna bolted in, coax cables connected and then off the tower
to get cleaned up and have a late pasta dinner with P49Y. He offered to loan
me his Alpha 87A for the contest for my part in helping with 20/40M antenna.
THANK YOU ANDY!
Each evening after dinner while I tried to diagnose the problem with my
non-functioning Titan amplifier, I noted the noise level on 160 and 80 kept
increasing. The T-storms in YV-land were clearly visible and becoming more
numerous. Unfortunately this trend would continue through the contest weekend.
Of course on the Monday night after the contest the noise level had dropped to
a very tolerable S-5. Grrrrrrrrrrr.
Friday was a planned day of rest. I actually listened to the bands to get a
feel for conditions, and did some human engineering of the operating position.
One final trip was made to the store to buy â??contest foodâ?? and then an
afternoon nap. Unfortunately when I awakened after just 1.5 hours, my back was
killing me with muscle spasms. Counted myself very lucky I had gotten through 3
days of intense station preparation without health problems. Couldnâ??t go back
to sleep so took a walk to try to loosen up. Unfortunately its now 5 days later
and my back is still a problem.
Decide to start on 20M, for no other reason than I really dislike operating 40
SSB. Conditions to the US are fading, signals are generally weak with QSB.
But it was the least of all evils and stuck with 20M for 1.5 hours, a slow
start, just 184 the first hour. Decided to try 80M at 0130, found it noisy,
S&Ped for multipliers. Moved to 160 at 02Z, again finding it very noisy so
again S&P for mults. Worked EA8 and many Carrib, but I would never manage to
work a single European on 160M all weekend, a major disappointment this time in
the solar cycle.
Finally made it to 40M at 0207Z, S&Pâ??d for 20 minutes, picked up 20 quick
mults, then found a nice run frequency on 7144, reasonably quiet. Ran off
another 143 qsos before going back down to 80 and 160 for what turned out to be
fairly non-productive op time.
Around 06Z hour managed to grab 3794 and had a relatively good run of EU and
USA for 1.5 hours. The 3 ele 80 wire beam is working as I had hoped, at least
well enough to hold a busy frequency. A few more round trips to 160 and 40
rounded out the first evening. With my back hurting, decided on a 1.25 hour
nap from 0930 to 1045. Woke up to a nice run of post-sunrise Wâ??s on 40M for
45 minutes. Then on to 20M for my first taste of EU below the US band before
S&Ping up the band to knock off the loud multipliers prior to taking a listen
to 15M at 1200Z. Didnâ??t feel conditions were quite right yet so quickly back
to 20 for another hour of mostly EU/US. Back to 15M again at 13Z for a nice run
of EU below the US band. Took a listen on 10M at 14Z and found a few workable
EU stations but it was not runable. Returned to 15M for nearly 2 more hours
alternating between 21134 and 21447. At 16Z found Al, 6W1RY on 10M and moved
him to 15M and soon thereafter Olli, OA4WW for a 3 bander double multiplier
move. From this point on began to move double multipliers whenever possible
(e.g. C52T, D44BS, 9J2BO, etc.)
At 1830 had a mini-EU run on 10M, 17 stations in 14 countries. Then some weak
Wâ??s made it into the log before the flood gates opened and it was off to the
races with the best rate hours of the weekend. Put 725 qsos in the log over
the next 3 hours on 10Mâ?¦.mostly N.A. but a smattering of EU. Got me pumped.
Spent the 22Z hour on 15 and 20 (222Q) before finishing out the first day on
20M (206 hour).
Stuck with 20 for another hour of mostly US before taking a needed 30 minute
â??powerâ?? nap. My ability to process data was too compromised to continue.
Awoke refreshed and back to the grind, this time on 40M for nearly 2 hours of
100/hour rate. Made my way back down to 80M at 0145 for an hour of EU/US
running. Its noisier than the first night but stuck with it since the mults
kept calling in. Went to 160M at 0500Z but the noise was terrible and only
managed a few Carrib mults. By chance I checked 20M at 0515 and found it wide
open to VK/ZL, a very pleasant surprise. Ran 40 OC stations (including 2 E51s)
before returning to 40M. Alternated between 40 and 80 a few more hoursâ?¦.the
rates are not great. Decided to take another 1.5 hour nap at 0745Z and be up
at 0915 to be up for the sunrise opening. Unfortunately this was not to be
since I slept through 2 alarm clocks blaring until 1100Z. (I need to find a
better system for waking up.)
Spent the first 1.5 hours after sunrise on 20M since I was still missing many
easy EU multipliers. Found 14.141 particularly productive. Went to 21445 for
the first time at 1245z and found the band about to open but kept going back to
20M where the rate seemed the same. Between 1310 and 1338 did some CQing on 10
and was rewarded with 6 additional EU/AF multipliers. Then it was back to 15M
for the next 3 hours to run both EU and US at ~ 200/hour. Moved a dozen
multipliers to 20M.
At 1800Z ten meters opened to the states once again. Signals were loud and the
rate was a respectable 195/hour, not bad for a Sunday afternoon. After putting
293 qâ??s in the log over 1.5 hours, it was back to 15M where the rate was
slightly higher and added another 206 contacts that hour. The next hour I had
two short power failures of 10 minutes each which killed the rate but some mult
hunting was productive.
Decided to close out the contest on 20M. This turned out to be a productive
decision, with 225 and 227 hours back to back.
This is my 20th year competing from Aruba in CQWW. Every contest has been an
adventure.
Special thanks to NO2R for helping get my equipment ready, AE6Y/P49Y for
providing assistance replacing the 15M yagi, and P43E for paving the way with
the DTZ.
CU again during CQWW CW from P40W â?? SOAB HP.
73,
John W2GD
BREAKDOWN QSO/mults P40W CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST Single Operator
HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
0 ..... ..... ..... 184/21 ..... ..... 184/21 184/21
1 5/9 21/24 . 106/4 . . 132/37 316/58
2 3/3 . 100/45 . . . 103/48 419/106
3 3/3 26/20 63/3 . . . 92/26 511/132
4 3/1 15/6 67/1 3/0 . . 88/8 599/140
5 4/3 74/10 1/0 . . . 79/13 678/153
6 3/1 114/10 . . . . 117/11 795/164
7 . 48/4 61/7 . . . 109/11 904/175
8 4/3 22/5 33/5 1/0 ..... ..... 60/13 964/188
9 4/2 13/0 15/0 . . . 32/2 996/190
10 . 5/1 2/1 . . . 7/2 1003/192
11 1/1 . 96/8 31/24 1/2 . 129/35 1132/227
12 . . . 177/21 4/4 . 181/25 1313/252
13 . . . . 199/49 . 199/49 1512/301
14 . . . . 221/4 4/7 225/11 1737/312
15 1/0 . 1/1 . 176/21 3/5 181/27 1918/339
16 ..... ..... ..... 4/6 54/9 24/25 82/40 2000/379
17 . . . 45/5 86/3 6/2 137/10 2137/389
18 . . . 2/1 107/4 35/14 144/19 2281/408
19 . . . . . 299/7 299/7 2580/415
20 . . . . . 310/1 310/1 2890/416
21 . . . 9/3 4/0 124/4 137/7 3027/423
22 . . . 48/1 174/6 . 222/7 3249/430
23 . . . 206/6 . . 206/6 3455/436
0 ..... ..... ..... 184/2 1/1 1/1 186/4 3641/440
1 . . 2/2 28/0 . . 30/2 3671/442
2 . . 108/7 . . . 108/7 3779/449
3 . 2/0 122/4 . . . 124/4 3903/453
4 . 88/9 . . . . 88/9 3991/462
5 5/2 2/0 20/2 40/6 . . 67/10 4058/472
6 1/0 20/1 63/5 . . . 84/6 4142/478
7 . 1/1 88/1 . . . 89/2 4231/480
8 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 4231/480
9 . . . . . . . 4231/480
10 . . . . . . . 4231/480
11 . . 1/0 104/9 . . 105/9 4336/489
12 . . . 61/4 30/1 . 91/5 4427/494
13 . . . 10/3 57/5 11/6 78/14 4505/508
14 . . . 11/7 159/5 . 170/12 4675/520
15 . . . 1/1 188/5 . 189/6 4864/526
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... 236/5 ..... 236/5 5100/531
17 . . . 29/1 107/1 3/0 139/2 5239/533
18 . . . 1/0 2/3 187/3 190/6 5429/539
19 . . . . 85/1 106/1 191/2 5620/541
20 . . . . 187/1 19/2 206/3 5826/544
21 . 1/1 1/1 49/2 11/4 1/1 63/9 5889/553
22 . . . 224/3 1/1 . 225/4 6114/557
23 . 2/1 2/1 223/3 . . 227/5 6341/562
DAY1 31/26 338/80 439/71 816/92 1026/102 805/65 ..... 3455/436
DAY2 6/2 116/13 407/23 965/41 1064/33 328/14 . 2886/126
TOT 37/28 454/93 846/94 1781/133 2090/135 1133/79 . 6341/562
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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