CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB - 2020
Call: P49Y
Operator(s): AE6Y
Station: P49Y
Class: SOAB HP
Class Overlay: Classic
QTH: Aruba
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 4 3 4
80: 168 11 25
40: 965 21 60
20: 1397 22 59
15: 1952 22 74
10: 321 15 35
------------------------------
Total: 4807 94 257 Total Score = 4,994,379
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Comments:
This is one of those "bad news and good news" write-ups. The bad news
started out right away on Friday night in the form of horrific noise levels on
160 and 80 that rendered 160 virtually useless for me and 80 only a little more
functional. We have a very good beverage system here, but it was pretty much
ineffective on those bands. Forty was much better, fortunately. I literally
made only one NA 160m QSO, with NN3W, and never heard the big multi-ops that are
usually easy to work. Of course, lacking a second radio because of the Classic
Overlay, I couldn't monitor the band very effectively, so I might have missed
some breaks in the noise (but even 160 maven W2GD/P40W wasn't happy with the
band).
The cause seemed to be thunderstorms in the Caribbean. There was a day of
intense rain on Tuesday preceding the contest and that brought with it very high
noise levels. It also rained on Sunday during the contest, but the effect on
the high bands fortunately wasn't as dramatic as on Tuesday. John also thinks
that there was an unusually large amount of atmospheric absorption, so signals
just didn't get through as usual.
Interestingly, in checking out our new JK antennas that we had installed last
October and this February, there were very interesting variations in noise
level. For example, at one point the Mid-Tri (at 45 feet) was 1 to 2 S units
quieter on 20 than the monobander at 65 feet, even though they are just a few
feet away. Then on Sunday during the contest, for a while there was a lot of
noise on 15 on both the Mid-Tri and the 10/15 at 55 feet; but I was able to keep
contesting thanks to the new 2-element Steppir, which is fixed mounted at 30
feet, because it was several S units quieter than the other two. I guess the
moral is that in spite of the advances in modeling and predictions, there are
still inexplicable and peculiar antenna effects and interactions, and this time
I was glad to have had options.
The good news was that all of our antennas seemed to be effective, and
justified the weeks of work by W6LD, W0YK, P43A, and myself to install. The
further good news was endless runs on 15 that were quite exhilarating. I have
had hours over 300 in the past on phone, though I don't think I've ever had
consecutive hours at that rate -- but on Saturday afternoon, I enjoyed three
consecutive clock hours over 300, peaking at 328. Now that was fun!
I did the same Classic attempt in this contest in 2017. This year's score is
down about 12% with close to the same number of total QSOs, due to fewer
multipliers. For some reason, though in some senses propagation was good (e.g.,
we had a real EU opening on 10) it seemed limited, at least without spotting
assistance to help find mults. And some of it was "searchlight"
propagation; e.g., in one 15 minute period on 10, I worked a dozen HB9s!
The other bad news, by the way, is how Covid is hurting Aruba, a place whose
economy is based on tourism. Although there were two cruise ships in the
harbor, it turns out they awere just keeping up some kind of routine, and had no
passengers. The Government is trying hard to allow some tourism without
spreading the disease, but their restrictions can be difficult for travelers. It
was hard, for example, to find a location in the SF Bay Area where I could get
the required PCR molecular nasal swab test within 72 hours of my flight, and get
the results in time to be cleared. The situation has also dampened the usual
delightful social atmosphere that normally features dinners with local friends
such as P43L, P43A and P43C. But John and I have resolutely been breaking bread
together on this trip and hoping things return to normal.
Thanks to everyone for the Qs and their patience when I was sometimes unable to
pull them out through the noise.
73, Andy, AE6Y
K3, Alpha 91B
JK Mid-Tri, 20/40, 10/15, inv vee for 80, vert. dipole for 160, beverages
CQPWIN ver. 13.0
See full write-up to be posted on www.arubaqth.com.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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