CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB
Call: PZ5K
Operator(s): G4XUM G3NKC M0RIC G4BVY G4CLA N0VD
Station: PZ5RA
Class: M/2 HP
QTH: Suriname
Operating Time (hrs): 48
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
-------------------------------
160: 90 10 24
80: 1090 29 93
40: 2243 34 121
20: 3091 36 129
15: 3606 33 131
10: 224 16 42
-------------------------------
Total: 10344 158 540 Total Score = 20,911,382
Club: 1/6 Arizona Outlaws Contest Club
Comments:
Another CQWW SSB is in the books. Our excursion began at the end of last year's
CQWW SSB contest with discussions around things we learned and what we could do
to improve the station. Out of those discussions came improvements in the
antennas and better utilization of the multiplier station.
Pete, G4CLA and Roger, G4BVY arrived 10 days prior to the contest to install a
new AD-3446 which had been shipped earlier in the year. This gave us 3 elements
on 40, 4 on 20 and 15 and 6 on 10 and replaced an aging trapped Mosely. We are
convinced this was worth the time and effort and outperformed the remaining
Mosely.
We also improved our 80M antenna this year. Last we ran a single vertical which
we felt performed better than the existing dipole. This year we decided to add
a second vertical and phase them together. Based on this year's 80M numbers, we
believe the phased verticals made a difference compared to prior years.
A new addition to the setup this year was the use of a receive antenna that
could be used on the multiplier station. We recognized that our multiplier
station was underutilized and we felt having an antenna that allowed for easy
tuning around would help with ease-of-use issues we encountered.
For the most part Murphy was kept at bay during the contest. However, he let us
know he had indeed hitched a ride to PZ when prior to the contest one of our
brand new Expert 1.5s let out its magic smoke. This created the challenge of
how to configure the station minus one amp. Ultimately, we decided to wire the
multiplier station into the setup to allow it use Run Station A's amp when
working in-band mults, but unfortunately left us barefoot when trying to work
mults on the other bands.
Our other challenge was Topband. We apologize for not being able to hear.
Prior to the contest we found and eliminated most of our local QRN - LED lights
everywhere causing loads of noise. We felt we were in pretty good shape, but
something showed up after the contest started that caused a tremendous amount of
noise on Topband making it very difficult to hear anything – other than bacon
frying. The newly repaired beverages helped, but we believe our 160M numbers
suffered due to this new mystery noise.
Given where we are in the sunspot cycle we're pleased with the results. We kept
checking 10 hoping for an opening, but never saw the second hop materialize.
Thanks to everyone around the world for getting on and giving us a call. It was
a lot of fun and we look forward to next year.
On behalf of Team Parbo - Kelly, N0VD
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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