SECC
[Top] [All Lists]

[SECC] TI8M ARRL DX 'phone recap

Subject: [SECC] TI8M ARRL DX 'phone recap
From: w4bd at w4bd.com (Bob Wilson)
Date: Tue Mar 16 20:56:27 2004
Sorry for the big delay in my getting something to you on our ARRL DX 'phone 
effort from Costa Rica as TI8M.  We arrived home last Tue night so I guess a 
week is my requirement to re-compress.  Thanks to John Laney for his comments 
last week nudging me to submit this.

There were 5 hams from the Atlanta area (myself...W4BD, K4UN, K4WPM, NA4BW and 
W4KTR) plus two native, Costa Rican ops, our old friend TI2KAC and his buddy, 
TI2MOT, for a total of 7 ops operating from Quepos, Costa Rica.  Quepos is 
about 32m south of San Jose, Costa Rica on the Pacific coast but it takes 3-4 
hrs by taxi and about 110 road miles to get there.  Ours is very intense 
preparation for contesting with about a full week of an advanced Field Day type 
effort just to assemble the Multi-two station.  We start with only our airline 
baggage allowance and nothing permanently installed, pull boxes from storage 
and unpack, assemble and erect a TA-33 tri-bander and a 15m monobander (likely 
to be replaced by a second TA-33) plus slopers for 40m, 80m and 160m using only 
trees for supports, unpack two amps and cross our fingers as they are powered 
up and just make all the necessary interconnects to make everything "talk".  
All this is completed in 85-90 degree heat plus high humidity with no air 
conditioning.  Our operating location has only screens and a warm breeze.  
While this probably seems like a long time to set up, there must be time 
allocated for other activities such as beach walking, taking the bus into town 
to shop, buy supplies (both eats and items to get the stations going) and 
perhaps take a canopy tour through the local jungle tree tops.  And of course 
the local seafood isn't too bad either.  We usually make a sked with folks at 
home in Atlanta each night, scheduled around catching the sunsets and dinner 
plans.  Obviously a busy week of preparation!

Our motto for these trips is that we try to always remember to have fun with 
our efforts.  We know all too well that we will never be seriously competitive 
"out of a suitcase" so we aim to maximize "the fun factor" as we call it and 
hopefully place somewhere in the "top ten" in a category that has maybe 15-20 
entries each year...not so ambitious is it!  This is much more than just a 
contest operating opportunity, it's a big adventure with something new each 
trip.  This year it was sighting Crocodile tracks across the beach about 200 
yds from our accommodations, then seeing the big boy in the surf just offshore, 
where the locals always surf.  Needless to say, he cleared out the ocean 
pronto!  

This year's efforts did manage to increase our score and our multiplier tally 
from last year, in spite of the solar conditions.  10m was the real surprise 
with a good production there coupled with better counts on the low bands than 
previous years.

Our totals for this year were:

Band         Q's            Mults
160m        209            43
 80m         756            57
 40m         564            56
 20m       1260            59
 15m       1405            60
 10m       1410            53
Total       5604           328        for 5,514,336 Claimed Score    

This year we spent 1 1/2 days getting the 160m sloper into it's usual spot 
instead of the normal 1 full day, but it proved it's worth with 209 Q / 43 M 
for our best results to date on 160m.  We were satisfied for the rookies that 
we are, but we do have plans for a Beverage for CQWW in Oct...we had planned 
that for this trip but just ran out of time.   I heard one comment about our 
weak signal on 160m but I stand by my reply that "We put our sloper in the 
tallest tree around (a 100 footer about 30' from hight tide) and just can't do 
much better!". At least 209 folks heard us. 
We had excellent openings on 10m with 1410 Q / 53 M for a pleasant surprise. 
Evidently 10m was not as good in the states so a big "Thanks!" for all who 
worked us, especially the last few 10m mults we snagged, ID, MT, WY & NV, 
though we never could find UT or ND on 10m. 

I want to say "Thanks!!" for all the SECC members we worked.  On Sunday 
afternoon during one of my hours operating, I worked a W4 or K4 with a familiar 
call who asked how things were going.  When I replied about the 10m mults we 
were missing, he immediately said he'd go see if he could find some of them and 
send them our way.  I can't remember who it was in the heat of the battle, but 
it sure was nice to hear...whoever it was.  If anyone reading this was that op, 
please let me know.

Sorry for the long message but I guess that's one downside of waiting a week to 
create this, you get reflective and wordy.

73's es tnx for all the QSO's...

Bob Wilson - W4BD -- TI8/W4BD











   
<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>