ARRL DX Contest, CW - 2020
Call: PJ2T
Operator(s): KB7Q WI9WI W0CG NF9V W9VA K9JF VE3CX K9DR
Station: PJ2T
Class: M/M HP
QTH: Curacao
Operating Time (hrs): 48
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 800 56
80: 1240 61
40: 2100 62
20: 2063 61
15: 1509 59
10: 368 38
-------------------
Total: 8060 337 Total Score = 8,139,561
Club: CCC
Comments:
This is our first large scale CY 2020 operation as we celebrate 20 years of
continuous contest operation from PJ2T. W1BIH (PJ9JT) (SK) founded this place
for contesting in 1971, and we’d like to think that Mr. Thompson would be
proud to see that we’ve continued building on his legacy. John Thompson’s
memory and initials are imbedded in our PJ2T callsign
We welcomed K9JF to Signal Point this weekend, his first visit to PJ2T.
Conspicuously missing this year were K2PLF and WA9S, both veterans of many, many
years of contesting with us. Marty and Keith are both fighting medical demons,
but we look forward to seeing them at Dayton and hope they will some day be back
in a chair at PJ2T.
Thanks to WI9WI for coordinating the operating schedule and overall strategy,
and to KB7Q for doing all of the hard work configuring the computers, handling
N1MM+ duties, and submitting the log. Everything worked flawlessly all weekend.
In addition, Gene made nearly 2000 of our Qs single-handed and attained a
personal best single-hour CW rate of 217 in his usual 40 meter chair. We also
thank our members VE3CX and K9DR for stepping up at the last minute to fill in
for operators who had to cancel. Tom and Dan are super gentlemen and superb
operators, and we are grateful for their presence. Once again this year we were
also very happy to have Rudy, NF9V on hand for ARRL CW. He very kindly covered
an extra shift when that need arose, and is always smiling and always happy to
do whatever is needed. Rudy made a huge wholesale number of Qs, as always. And
I’m particularly happy to thank Bill Smith, W9VA, who this year is in his 21st
year of operating with and supporting CCC groups, beginning with VP5CW in 1999.
He also kindly provided our team tee shirts this week. At ~82 Bill is showing
absolutely no signs of slowing down in the pileups, and I’m honored to count
him as a friend.
This year’s score exceeded 2019’s by nearly a meg, mainly on the shoulders
of 10 meters. I spent many hours Saturday on 10, attaining an overall rate of
zero. Then I went tower-climbing, and when I got back down VE3CX had managed one
10 meter Q. I cleaned up and sat down and proceeded to have a surging peak rate
hour of 5. This was the deadest I had ever seen the band: no skimmer spots, no
human spots, no beacons heard, no PY or LU, no atmospheric noise whatsoever, and
I couldn’t even hear the neighbor’s lawn mower ignition on 10, a first.
Everything changed Sunday, and we were treated to decent rates and in a short
three hours or so logged 368 QSOs across 38 multipliers. The opening never made
it northwest of Oklahoma, but that still enabled us to significantly juice up
our total score with multipliers undreamed of on Saturday.
The station is in the best shape ever in our 20 years. We have five K3s, thanks
to donations by K8WDN (SK), KB7Q, W1FJ, and the KE7X estate. This September we
added a seventh AL-1200 courtesy of W3KHZ’s estate, administered by K2PLF, and
we are grateful to Art’s estate for that amp which served this weekend on 80
and 10. Our present suite of computers were mostly donated by SM4KYN. The total
rebuild of the shack’s RX antenna system by N7IR last November also served us
very well this weekend on the low bands. And best of all, the new 100 foot Rohn
55 tower is still corrosion-free after 14 months, and we’re appreciative every
day to W3YQ for his help in making that happen and to all of our CCC members who
collectively donated about $24K to replace the old rusty, dangerous tower.
We’ve also recently made some significant security upgrades to the QTH, and a
September 2019 break-in attempt was a total failure. The bad guys took off
running.
Beginning in late June we have faced enormous challenges from the initiation of
construction of a new resort hotel adjacent to our property. They have bulldozed
our RX antenna field into oblivion, dug up feedlines that have been buried for
decades, and attacked part of our Beverage antenna infrastructure on the hill
north of the station. In addition they have infuriated the neighborhood by
destroying residential septic systems, accidentally knocking down phone poles,
excavating on property that is not theirs, and accidentally killing commercial
power sometimes for an entire day at a time. But we’ve recovered from all of
this, relocating RX antennas and cables, installing new RX antennas in safe
spaces far from the construction, and generally refusing to let these guys get
us down.
I thank my partner of 12 years, Dorothy Dahlgren, for her patience with the PJ2T
endeavor, which eats much of my time every day of my life, for her willingness
to come to Curacao to feed our team this past weekend even though her job back
in Idaho has become ever more demanding, and for all she does to make Signal
Point habitable. Dorothy is a tools woman, and her skills in masonry repair,
refinishing and painting, tile, furniture repair, and all other aspects of real
estate maintenance are unmatched, as are her boundless energy and bright smile.
Thanks to the 27 members of our CCC group who provide the excitement, resources,
skills, and overall motive force that continues to carry us from contest to
contest as the 20 year adventure continues.
73 from the warm, sunny, beautiful tropics,
- Geoff, W0CG, PJ2DX
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|