Received this article from Billy Gallier, W4WX. Thought it would be
interesting reading for the reflector. Billy has OK'd my posting it o
the reflector. I was not at the station during the contest but want to
compliment Clarence, W4CJK, on a well written article. Billy tells me
it has already been accepted for publication in Japan.
73
Larry
KE2VB
Trustee, WP2Z
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OK guy, now your all going to famous !!!
WP2Z CQWW 1998 From Hurricane Alley 1
By Clarence J. Kerous W4CJK/KP2
For the CQWW SSB Contest 1998 members of the Florida
DXpedition Group (FDXPG) began looking for a location to
operate, This we began in January of this year, and in a real
stroke of good luck secured Windwood in the U.S. Virgin
Islands after another group cancelled out. Windwood is
located 900 feet above sea level on the island of St. Croix.
When we rented it for 8 days for the CQWW SSB test, we also
got the use of the callsign WP2Z, a real advantage during the
contest.
The dream team for the CQWW ended up as Bill W4WX,
expedition leader and founder of the FDXPG, Clarence W4CJK,
Ernie W5OXA, William N2WB, Jim AA9TK, and Chris VE3FU. Both
Bill and myself (Clarence) were veterans of operating at
Windwood as we did the CQWW in 1996 as WP2AHW, so we knew the
lay of the land, and what to expect.
As the months went by we were all kept busy preparing for
the day we could finally leave for KP2 land, we passed a
mountain of e-mails back and forth, and Ma Bells pockets were
fattened with countless phone calls among the group. Finally
Oct. 19, 1998 arrived, the day of our departure. Bill W4WX,
and myself, Clarence W4CJK, flew out of Jacksonville, Florida
International Airport at 745am to Miami International
Airport. When we arrived at JIA we were ready to unpack and
turn on all our electronic gear, but surprisingly after being
x-rayed, we were waved on thru!. We took off from JIA on a
beautiful sunny morning in a American Airlines Saab 340-B. By
the time we got to Miami it was overcast and raining. At MIA
we hooked up with William N2WB, and the 3 of us would fly to
the USVI and St. Croix together, but not without a few
apprehensive moments. Our flight was put on hold as the
plane had mechanical problems. Later we were told the plane
was taken out of service with engine trouble, and another
place was found and being readied, and all the baggage was
being transfered to it. Unfortunately it was located in a
different concourse on the other side of the airport, so we
had to walk thru the entire airport carrying our 2 carry on
bags of heavy gear, and had to have it x-rayed again, and
again amazingly we were waved thru without having to open any
of them up, or turn anything on !. Finally 1 hour and 45
minutes late we took off for St. Croix. Once out of MIA our
flight on a Boeing 727 was smooth as glass. As we approached
St. Croix fom 27,000 feet, it again clouded over and was
raining as we landed.
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At the airport we were met by Chris VE3FU, who was from
Ottawa Canada, and was already there. After our volumus
baggage was unloaded we piled all of it and us in a big
Dodge van and headed for Windwood, which being on one of the
highest points on the island is readily visible from almost
any place on St. Croix. As we drove thru and out of
Christiansted we could see evidence of damage here and there
from Hurricane Georges which raked the island a month
earlier. After Georges hit St. Croix we all spent 2 and one
half agonizing weeks waiting for word that the electricity
was back on, as there was none after the hurricane passed
thru. Luckily for us the power was restored a week before we
landed, as was telephone service. As we climbed higher and
higher driving on the left side of the winding roads to get
to Windwood we all became very anxious, for the last mile of
the journey up the mountain, the big Dodge van was in low
gear, and the V8 engine was screaming, pulling us and the
driver, and all our gear to the summit. When we finally got
to Windwood it was like a homecoming to Bill and I, as it
brought back many good past memories from 1996 and the CQWW
as WP2AHW !.
We quickly unpacked and stowed our personal gear, and got
down to the real and only reason we were here, ham radio and
the CQWW!. At Windwood is a very complete station consisting
of a Yaesu FT 1000 MP, an Icom IC 751, an Ameritron AL-82 2kw
amplifier, as well as a bencher paddle, Heil pro-set, MFJ
memory keyer, MFJ noise reduction unit, MFJ 3kw antenna
tuner, and a desktop and laptop computer. The Windood antenna
farm is as follows, a Force 12 C4 with 40 meter add on kit on
a 30 foot tower, a Cushcraft A-3 tribander on a push up pole,
a Cushcraft 402 CD two element 40 meter beam on a 20 foot
tower, a Gladiator vertical for 80 meters, a 80 meter sloper
with is attached to the tower which the C-4 is on, and slopes
down the hill, and a 80 and 160 trapped dipole which is also
attached to the C-4 tower, which also slopes down the hill
from Windwood. Keep in mind that although these antennas are
not high above the ground, the ground is over 900 feet above
sea level, they all performed awesomely, and we kept getting
reports on how loud we were!. There was only one small
problem with all these impressive antennas, none of them were
up!. Because of Hurricane Georges a month earlier all were
taken down and stowed, and the tower for the C-4 was laying
on the ground next to the house. So we had our work cut out
for us, on Monday afternoon shortly after our arrival we
first assembled the Force 12 C-4 and mounted it to the mast
on the 30 foot tower, the tailtwister T2X rotor was still
mounted and wrapped in plastic to protect it from the
elements. We used a come-a-long and ropes which were stored
in the antenna locker in the house, and got the tower and
beam up in short order. Unfortunately whoever took it down
didn't keep the bolts together, we found some dropped on the
3
ground around the tower, and scrounged up some more from the
utility room and antenna locker. Once the tower and beam was
up and secure, we climbed the tower and put up the two wire
antennas, again whoever took them down must have been in a
real hurry with the hurricane approaching as the wires were
just cut and thrown in the bushes on the side of the hill. We
found them after some searching in the brush on the side of
the hill, and let me tell you that was a real experience as
the hill slopes down at 45 degrees and and gets steeper as
you get down a ways, the footing is very poor with loose and
crumbling volcanic rock. By dark of our first day at Windwood
we had about one half of the antennas up and operational. We
tried them out briefly, it was like turning on a switch, an
instant pileup when you called CQ. Wow!
At 830pm another member of our dream team flew in from
Biloxi, Mississippi, we were all glad to finally get to met
Ernie W5OXA in person for the first time. Ernie is a really
likeable guy who fit right in from the start !. This only
left Jim AA9TK, he was arriving on 135pm the next day, flying
in from O'Hare airport in Chicago to Miami, then onto St.
Croix, or so we thought !.
The sun arrives very early in St. Croix, first light is
around 520am Atlantic Standard Time, St. Croix is as far east
as you can go in the U.S. and its possesions. We drove down
the mountain to Kingshill for a leisurely Breakfast at the
local McDonalds, everything tasted the same as it does back
in the states !. We then stocked up on groceries and beer at
the local Pueblo grocery chain store. Then it was back to
work, the Cushcraft A-3 was assembled and put up on its push
up pole out in the front yard. The hardest part of the job
was pounding stakes in the ground for the guy ropes, we kept
hitting lava rock just below the surface, but finally got
them in and secured the A-3. We used a rope tied to the boom
to turn it. We then assembled two 10 foot sections of Rohn
25G tower and mounted it to a concrete pad on the opposite
side of the driveway from the A-3 and hinged it down, then we
assembled the 402-CD 2 element 40 meter beam, it was a breeze
as everything on the beam. as well as the A-3 is marked with
color coded tape, so all we had to do is match up the right
color tape and assemble them both. We then attached a rope to
a Turpentine tree and used the come-a-long and hauled the 40
meter tower and beam upright and secured it.
Finally all the antennas were up and running. We had a
station with the Yaesu FT 1000 MP using the C-4 beam and
William put out a CQ, after 2 fast contacts, the digital
display went out, we could not tell what frequency we were
on, amazingly the rig still worked, but with no display we
could not use it for the CQWW!. Ernie W5OXA brought along his
Kenwood TS-50 with matching tuner and power supply, and we
4
quickly pressed it into service, and retired the FT 1000 MP
with no display. Bill W4WX brought his Icom IC-706, and using
the Astron 20 amp power supply from the Icom IC 751 which was
at Windwood we now had 2 rigs on the air. We were anxious for
Jim AA9TK the last member of our group to arrive. We called
the airport, and were told his flight was delayed account of
mechanical problems with the plane. Jim was to arrive on St.
Croix on Tuesday at 135pm at the Henry E. Raulerson airport
just outside of Christiansted, he finally got there at 830pm,
after numerous delays and diversions to different airports
all over the eastern USA. He finally got to San Juan, Puerto
Rico, and once there caught an American Eagle hop to get to
us in St. Croix, As the old saying goes, better late then
never. Jim brought with him a second operating Yaesu FT 1000
MP, and an Icom IC-738, and Drake MN-2000 high power antenna
tuner. We now had all the pieces we needed to assemble our
running and multiplier stations!.
Your scribe brought along a Icom IC 28H 45 watt 2 meter
rig, and a MFJ 1274 TNC. Bill packed along a small 3 element
MFJ 2 meter beam. We assembled the beam and mounted it off
the side of the tower and aimed it toward Puerto Rico. With
the gracious help of a local ham Jimmie KP2BH, who stopped by
and showed us how, we connected to the node PIRATA on 145.30
in Puerto Rico, from there we connected to KP4ES, and then to
either DXC with is the WU3V mega cluster in Lafayette,
Louisiana, or to DX2 which is the AC4ET DX Cluster located in
Jacksonville, Florida. This was going to be very useful in
finding needed multipliers during the contest.
The days before the contest were spent calling CQ and
working down the resulting pileups, or sightseeing, or just
plan relaxing, but as the old bromide says, ignorance is
bliss, on Tuesday evening as we were grinding down the
pileups the weather took a real turn for the worse very fast,
the sky got very dark and looked really ominous, then the
rains started, it was a torrental downpour like none of us
had ever seen. The winds picked up and howled around Windwood
like a banshee!. It kept this up Tuesday evening, all day on
Wednesday, and into Thursday afternoon. At times the
visibility was absolute zero, we were on the top of the
island and could'nt see a thing at all. We tried to get the
weather on the TV, but the cable TV was still out from
Hurricane Georges a month earlier, luckily I brought a AM/FM
and short wave radio along. I tuned it to FM on 104.90 and
got the weather from WMGN Mongoose 104.9 in St Croix, we then
learned of Hurricane Mitch which was ravaging the Carribean
to the south of us. It did not hit St. Croix, but we got a
good battering with high winds and rain for over 2 days. Two
major Hurricanes in a month, St. Croix was turning into a
real Hurricane Alley !. At times the rain static was 20 over
S9 making the bands totally useless. Luckily Hurricane Mitch
5
passed with no damage to any of the antennas, and by Friday
morning the sun was shining again.
Finally time for the contest drew near, we were all a
little nervous, Ernie and Jim never worked a major bash
like this before, but as it turned out they both did just
great. WP2Z for the CQWW SSB 1998 test would be a multi
single effort. The running staion consisted of a Yaesu
FT 1000 MP, Ameritron AL-82 amplifier running thru an MFJ
3kw tuner if needed. The running station used a Packard Bell
486 color laptop running CT version 9.37 for logging. It was
connected to the computer on the multiplier station with a
null modem cable. The multiplier station was an Icom IC-738,
with a Ten-Tec Centaur amplifier, thru a Drake MN2000 tuner.
The laptop was an IBM Pentium Think Pad also running
CT version 9.37. We drew up an operating schedule for the
entire contest, 4 hours on, 8 hours off. To begin the test
we had our big guns, William N2WB, on the running station,
and Chris VE3FU manning the multiplier station. At last the
clock ticked down and the bedlam erupted, QRZed Contest
WP2Z, Whiskey Papa 2 Zulu!. We started out on 20 meters, it
was total chaos at first, but quickly settled into a routine
of grinding out the Q's endlessly, as the hours of the first
nite wore on we went to 40 were we worked split, and then
down to 80 meters, and then to the top band, 160 meters. I
had the 0800 Z to 1200 Z shift on the running station, and 80
meters was unbelievable, thousands of stations all slugging
it out for a qso with WP2Z, I was passed out "Qsl your 59 08"
as fast as I could type them into the computer. I then
dropped to 160 meters, the noise level was S9 to 10 over, but
we had an ace up our sleeve for 160, a snake receiving
antenna laying on the ground and sloping down the hill. It
was erected by a group of EI hams. It made all the difference
in the world on receiving. Stations that were totally in the
noise, were Q-5 on the snake. I stayed on 160 meters until a
little after daylight working some gray line qso's. Then I
went to 15 meters, and the beam was pointed toward Europe, My
God!, the entire world was on 15!. Europeans were everywhere,
and once again I worked them as fast as I could log them. My
4 hour shift was over in what seemed like a few minutes,
after I was relieved by another Operator I had a quick
breakfast and crashed for about 6 hours of sleep. Then it was
up again as it was my turn for 4 hours on the multiplier
station. It went by in an instant as I combed the
bands looking for needed multipliers, and then after 8 hours
off I was back on the running station again early Sunday
morning, I had some really great qso rates going at times,
and if we needed a mult on another band I would ask them to
QSY, and would pass it to the multiplier station using the
alternate G to pass messages with CT. Using the Yaesu
FT 1000 MP was like a dream come true, it has two receivers,
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The main receiver, and sub receiver I set it up to transmit
on 40 meters on 7.096, and was listening my frequency, and on
7220 at the same time !. I had 2 hugh pileups going at the
same time, Europe on 7.096, and the USA on 7220. This is the
experience of a lifetime for any DX er!. From KP2 land we
could operate 40 meter ssb down to 7075, so it made this
possible. Once again the 4 hour shift went by in the blink of
an eye, it was countless "your 59 08" and "QRZed from Whiskey
Papa 2 Zulu". Shortly after my shift was over Mr. Murphy paid
us a little visit, the entire island lost power!. It lasted
for about 1 and one half agonizing hours. From about 1200 Z
to 1330 Z. Windwood has a 3kw generator for use when the
power goes out, but unfortunatly it suffered a mortal wound
when used by the caretakers in the aftermath of hurricane
Georges, it was seized up totally, it was only good for use
as a boat anchor!. All we could do was sit it out and wait
for the power to come back on, it seemed like an eternity,
but mercifully it came back on after and hour and a half.
Then it was back to "CQ contest from Whiskey Papa 2 Zulu".
My last shift of the contest was 12noon to 4pm local time,
on the multiplier station. I kept digging out new
multipliers, and near the end of my shift 10 meters was wide
open to the Pacific. I picked up a bunch of juicy new mults,
FK8, T32, FO, VR2, KH2, KH0, V63, C21, 3D2, C21 and many
others as well. As fast as it began, my shift was over. We
broke down the last 4 hour shift into 4 one hour shift to
give us one last chance to work the running station. About
all I can remember was calling QRZ, it was a slug fest on
20 meters almost beyond belief, the hour went by in a
heartbeat!. Bill W4WX had the honor of the last hour on
the running station, and he really had a run going, when all
to soon it was over, and the bands fell quiet instantly.
We then backed up the logs, saved them to disk, and put the
disks away safely. Then we went out for our traditional
Victory Dinner, We had a great meal at a place on the east
end of the island called Cheeseburgers in Paradise!. Totally
open air atmosphere with a live Reggae Band playing, how good
it is MON!. We downed several cold 807's and had the house
special, a one half pound cheeseburger with all the
trimmings. What a glorious way to end the CQWW, clear skies,
moonlite, cool breezes of the caribbean, now I know why the
U.S. Virgin Islands are called "American Paradise". It just
can't get any better that this!. We then returned to
Windwood, and most of us crashed, but Chris got on 40 meter
CW, he is truly a QSO Machine!.
On Monday evening after the test was over William N2WB got
on 15 SSB and experienced a fantastic opening to JA land. He
logged literally hundreds upon hundreds of station in Japan,
there were so many, he had to work them split in order to
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work the pileup down. Your scribe at the same time was on 20
meters and around 2300 the band also opened to JA, suddenly
there were hundreds of JA's calling me. We then had 2 JA
pileups going at the same time, what an experience that
was!. William and I both must say that our JA friends are
the most courteous operators in the world, when we would go
back to one particular station, the rest would all stand by,
no one else calling, no delayed or tail end calls. It is
indeed a pleasure to work such polite and disciplined ops!.
Before and after the contest we all operated leisurely, we
all made around 2000 qsos each without even trying. Bill W4WX
made about 320 RTTY qsos with a Kam Plus he brought along. He
also brought along a small 6 meter vertical which
we set up, and about 50 qsos on 6 were also made. When we
got home we all had a pile of QSL cards waiting to greet us.
Ernie and Chris flew out on Monday, and the rest of us left
to go back home on Tuesday, In my log entry for Tuesday
morning before we left I have a bunch of European QSO's, a
lot from the USA, several more JA's, and my last qso after
calling CQ for the last time from St. Croix was VR2KF, this
is the stuff dreams are made of!.
With the CQWW SSB 1998 behind us its time to look ahead to
the 1999 bash, We have our sights set on the emerald isle
of St. Lucia for a m/s effort as J6??. Hope to see you all in
the pileups from there !!.
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