ARRL DX Contest, CW - 2021
Call: VP5M
Operator(s): K4QPL
Station: VP5M
Class: SO Unlimited LP
QTH: VP5
Operating Time (hrs): 27
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 0 0
80: 722 53
40: 1045 58
20: 1503 60
15: 912 59
10: 39 14
-------------------
Total: 4221 244 Total Score = 3,082,452
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
Band QSOs Mults
160 0 0
80 722 53
40 1045 58
20 1503 60
15 912 59
10 39 14
Total* 4221 244
Total Score* 3,082,452
First off, the Covid pandemic has messed up multi-op contesting around the world
and VP5 is no exception. The usual M/S team of Pat K0PC and Bill AC0W as VP5K
made the right decision to miss ARRL DX CW here this year. Being old enough to
qualify for vaccinations in advance made it feasible for my XYL and me to travel
and I could pinch hit for them as SO. Hopefully they can return in 2022.
It was not an auspicious start since we could only arrive Friday afternoon after
getting up at 0 Dark 30 for the earliest available flight. On arrival we had the
usual lunch and shopping for the weekend. Setup was slow and didn't have time to
erect the 160M antenna. Missed those 160M mults! By contest start time the
station wasn't ready and all I wanted was a nap! Started late and after fighting
to stay awake I called it a night about 0500Z. Felt better around 1000Z but
Saturday was still a drag with a lot of uncounted breaks. Rates were great for
low power but couldn't get VE7CC telnet working properly to transfer spots to
N1MM. That's a whole different story that as of this moment I don't know the
outcome. I watched raw feed but didn't really find it useful for mults. Mostly
they came to me as there aren't any alternatives for others to get the VP5 mult!
I did miss a few I could probably have chased down if the link had worked
properly.
The SteppIR always plays well but without another radio or antenna connected I
couldn't keep an eye on band conditions and almost missed the Saturday opening
on 10M entirely. It started fading just as I got there but did manage to grab a
few mults. As far as I can tell it never came back on Sunday.
80M started out sort of weak and the antenna required some tuning which is not
normal so I didn't know if the far end of the inverted V was down in the dense
bush that I seldom venture into. Results seemed to pick up as time went on and
played well across the continent. Not sure if it was the antenna or whether the
call sign just added enough db to work everyone low power.
40M is always a money band but it worked best for me when EU wasn't strong.
Likewise for 15 and 20. 20M just kept on giving all day with strong propagation
from Maine to California and Newfoundland to British Columbia. East Coast was a
virtual pipeline with the peak signals emanating from my home state of North
Carolina. I didn't know we had so many CW contesters there! Must get them into
the club.
Big pileups are not my strong point and several times I just wanted to walk away
and let everyone wonder where VP5M went. But I soldiered on and by the end I was
a lot more relaxed. Thanks to all for their patience and the numerous fills and
corrections caused in equal parts by brain dropout and typos.
By about 1900Z Sunday, two goals emerged as I watched the score card. One was to
reach 4000 Q's and the other to break 3M points, neither of which I had done
before as SOLP. With the ten-minute rate meter holding 190 to 250 with
occasional jumps and dips the Q count came in pretty easily. Getting to the 3M
points was tougher but a few new mults came in and I saw that one exceeded as
well. We'll have to see what the log checking does.
Working so many friends from PVRC, CWops and other contests I had to resort to
the "dit-dit" method for many greetings during the pileups.
The Turks & Caicos government is working hard to control the virus here and
they have already done better than in the US. Vaccine supplies are increasing
for the general population. We expect the trend to continue and we're hopeful
team operations can resume at Harbour Rock VP5.
Again, thanks to all for the many Q's and your patience in the pileups.
73,
Jim, K4QPL VP5M
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|