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[3830] P40W WPX SSB SOABHP

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Subject: [3830] P40W WPX SSB SOABHP
From: w2gd@hotmail.com (John Crovelli)
Date: Thu, 01 Apr 1999 12:28:20 PST
Bon bimini to everyone.

This was the first time I?ve had the opportunity to enter WPX SSB from 
Aruba.  Actually, I have never done a full SSB effort in this contest, 
but prior WPX CW efforts from Aruba gave me some idea of what to 
expect..  I ultimately found that the CW and SSB events are very 
different, largely a function of propagation and participation.  

Over the two weeks prior to the contest a fair amount of time was spent 
trying to develop a good operating strategy, in terms of band usage and 
off times.  In retrospect, some of my assumptions proved a little off 
the mark and the 36 hour time single-op time limit (which by the way I 
vote be kept) is very unforgiving, leaves little chance for recovery 
once critical errors are made.  Figuring out the right strategy is the 
real challenge, which makes this event so fascinating to me.  In 
retrospect I made too many wrong choices but the knowledge gained will 
be useful in future attempts.

Congratulations to Rich, N6KT for his outstanding (and likely winning) 
effort from HC8A.  I had several opportunities to listen to Rich?s 
focused and consistent operating style over the weekend.  The mechanics 
of his delivery are absolutely flawless, a model of efficiency for 
others to emulate.  Great job Rich!  

Here are the P40W summary and breakdown reports:


        CQ WORLD WIDE PREFIX CONTEST -- 1999

      Call: P40W (W2GD)              Country:  Aruba
      Mode: SSB                      Category: SOAB High Power

      BAND     QSO   QSO PTS  PTS/Q PREFIXES      

      160        7       42   6.0        6
       80      242     1424   5.9       80
       40      507     3004   5.9      159
       20     1116     3300   3.0      299
       15     1172     3461   3.0      182
       10     2090     6198   3.0      326
     --------------------------------------

     Totals   5134    17429   3.4     1052  =   18,335,308

Time:  36 hours

Club Affiliation: Frankford Radio Club

Equipment Description: TS930S, Alpha 87A, Force 12 Monobanders 40-10,
Inverted Vs on 80 and 160, beverages toward Europe and USA/JA.


BREAKDOWN QSO/mults  P40W  CQ WPX SSB  SOAB High Power

HOUR      160      80       40       20       15       10    HR TOT  CUM 
TOT  

   0    .....    .....    65/57    70/47    .....    .....  135/104  
135/104
   1      .        .      11/8    169/87     7/6       .    187/101  
322/205
   2     5/5     15/10    54/22      .        .        .      74/37  
396/242
   3      .      23/13      .     112/43      .        .     135/56  
531/298
   4     1/0    111/37      .      23/9       .        .     135/46  
666/344
   5      .        .     117/21      .        .        .     117/21  
783/365
   6     1/1     55/16     2/1     48/24      .        .     106/42  
889/407
   7      .      11/1     95/31      .        .        .     106/32  
995/439
   8    .....    11/3     17/5     60/27    .....    .....    88/35 
1083/474
   9      .        .       1/0      2/0       .        .       3/0  
1086/474
  10      .        .      15/3       .        .        .      15/3  
1101/477
  11      .        .      11/1       .     110/52     7/3    128/56 
1229/533
  12      .        .        .        .        .     177/41   177/41 
1406/574
  13      .        .        .        .        .     192/52   192/52 
1598/626
  14      .        .        .        .        .     157/29   157/29 
1755/655
  15      .        .        .        .        .     184/37   184/37 
1939/692
  16    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....   203/39   203/39 
2142/731
  17      .        .        .        .        .     191/22   191/22 
2333/753
  18      .        .        .        .        .     130/24   130/24 
2463/777
  19      .        .        .        .        .     182/15   182/15 
2645/792
  20      .        .        .        .      73/14    92/11   165/25 
2810/817
  21      .        .        .        .     165/24      .     165/24 
2975/841
  22      .        .        .        .     113/17    24/4    137/21 
3112/862
  23      .        .        .        .      47/6     80/6    127/12 
3239/874
   0    .....    .....    .....    15/1     .....    .....    15/1  
3254/875
   1      .        .        .     165/11      .        .     165/11 
3419/886
   2      .        .       5/0    102/13      .        .     107/13 
3526/899
   3      .        .      87/9       .        .        .      87/9  
3613/908
   4      .      12/0      1/0    107/11      .        .     120/11 
3733/919
   5      .       4/0     25/1     72/8       .        .     101/9  
3834/928
   6      .        .       1/0    139/14      .        .     140/14 
3974/942
   7      .        .        .       5/1       .        .       5/1  
3979/943
   8    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    ..... 
3979/943
   9      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   
3979/943
  10      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   
3979/943
  11      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   
3979/943
  12      .        .        .        .     137/12      .     137/12 
4116/955
  13      .        .        .        .     105/14      .     105/14 
4221/969
  14      .        .        .        .        .        .        .   
4221/969
  15      .        .        .        .      12/2     83/14    95/16 
4316/985
  16    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....   169/17   
169/174485/1002
  17      .        .        .        .        .     138/7    138/7 
4623/1009
  18      .        .        .        .     159/12     1/0    
160/124783/1021
  19      .        .        .        .     170/16      .     
170/164953/1037
  20      .        .        .        .      74/7     80/5    
154/125107/1049
  21      .        .        .        .        .        .        .  
5107/1049
  22      .        .        .        .        .        .        .  
5107/1049
  23      .        .        .      27/3       .        .      27/3 
5134/1052
DAY1     7/6    226/80  388/149  484/237  515/119 1619/283    
.....3239/874
DAY2      .      16/0   119/10   632/62   657/63   471/43      .   
1895/178
TOT      7/6    242/80  507/159 1116/299 1172/182 2090/326      .  
5134/1052


BREAKDOWN in mins/QSO's per hour  P40W  CQ WPX SSB SOABHP

HOUR    160      80       40       20       15       10    HR TOT   CUM 
TOT 

   0   .....    .....    44/88    16/263   .....    .....    60/135   
60/135
   1     .        .      10/66    45/223    4/94      .      60/187  
120/161
   2    5/60    16/57    40/81      .        .        .      60/73   
180/132
   3     .      21/66      .      39/173     .        .      60/136  
240/133
   4    2/25    51/132     .      10/145     .        .      62/130  
303/132
   5     .        .      58/122     .        .        .      58/122  
360/130
   6    4/14    33/101    4/31    20/147     .        .      61/105  
421/127
   7     .       6/110   53/107     .        .        .      59/107  
480/124
   8   .....    13/52    15/67    34/106   .....    .....    62/85   
542/120
   9     .        .       2/25     1/212     .        .       3/61   
545/120
  10     .        .      13/69      .        .        .      13/69   
558/118
  11     .        .       8/80      .      49/134    3/157   60/128  
618/119
  12     .        .        .        .        .      60/177   60/177  
678/124
  13     .        .        .        .        .      60/192   60/192  
738/130
  14     .        .        .        .        .      60/157   60/157  
798/132
  15     .        .        .        .        .      60/184   60/184  
858/136
  16   .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    60/203   60/203  
918/140
  17     .        .        .        .        .      60/191   60/191  
978/143
  18     .        .        .        .        .      61/128   61/128 
1039/142
  19     .        .        .        .        .      59/184   59/184 
1099/144
  20     .        .        .        .      27/161   33/169   60/165 
1158/146
  21     .        .        .        .      60/166     .      60/166 
1218/147
  22     .        .        .        .      46/146   14/103   61/136 
1279/146
  23     .        .        .        .      21/133   32/150   53/143 
1332/146
   0   .....    .....    .....     5/183   .....    .....     5/183 
1337/146
   1     .        .        .      60/164     .        .      60/164 
1397/147
   2     .        .       5/59    55/112     .        .      60/107 
1457/145
   3     .        .      61/85      .        .        .      61/85  
1518/143
   4     .      13/54     5/12    40/159     .        .      59/123 
1577/142
   5     .       6/37    22/67    32/134     .        .      61/99  
1638/140
   6     .        .       2/40    58/144     .        .      59/142 
1697/141
   7     .        .        .       2/188     .        .       2/188 
1698/141
   8   .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....  
1698/141
   9     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    
1698/141
  10     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    
1698/141
  11     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    
1698/141
  12     .        .        .        .      59/140     .      59/140 
1757/141
  13     .        .        .        .      52/121     .      52/121 
1809/140
  14     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    
1809/140
  15     .        .        .        .      11/64    30/166   41/139 
1850/140
  16   .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    60/169   60/169 
1910/141
  17     .        .        .        .        .      60/138   60/138 
1970/141
  18     .        .        .        .      59/163    2/36    60/159 
2031/141
  19     .        .        .        .      59/172     .      59/172 
2090/142
  20     .        .        .        .      33/135   27/178   60/154 
2150/143
  21     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    
2150/143
  22     .        .        .        .        .        .        .    
2150/143
  23     .        .        .      12/138     .        .      12/138 
2162/143
DAY1  0.2/36   2.3/98   4.1/94   2.7/177  3.5/148  9.4/173   .....  
22.2/146
DAY2     .     0.3/49   1.6/75   4.4/144  4.5/145  3.0/158     .    
13.8/137
TOT   0.2/36   2.6/92   5.7/89   7.1/157  8.0/146 12.3/169     .    
36.0/143


Looking at the rate reports, you see the critical error I made by 
starting the contest on 40M when better rates were likely on 20 or 15.  
The pre-contest plan was to maximize 40 and 80 both nights, a strategy I 
tried to follow until conditions and the then current rate gave me 
queues that I should be elsewhere.  Unfortunately my stubbornness got in 
the way and I kept trying to make 40M plan work when the competition was 
undoubtedly cleaning up on 20M.  On CW, my strategy has worked well in 
past events.  Once the error was made there was really no way to recover 
(the curse of short contests).

Although others might disagree, from where I sat there seemed to be a 
tremendous amount of US activity.  I was very pleased with my final 
multiplier count.  Good JA runs on 10, 15 and 20 really helped.  I 
thought conditions were really fabulous to everywhere, especially the 
first 24 hours of the contest.  On Friday night there was little QRN 
which made 75M fun.  The noise was far worse the second night, giving me 
a queue to sleep and not try to make the proverbial round peg fit in a 
square hole.

The rate machine never seemed to get going for me on Sunday.  Maybe it 
was the fact I knew I had been out maneuvered and I was playing for 
runner-up status.  I probably didn?t choose my off hours well on Sunday.  
Finished up before sundown so I could take down the beverages and 
inverted Vs before dark.  

As always, the Sunday night post-contest dinner was great with P43A, 
P43P/P40B, P43W, P49MR, P40N/KB8N and P40W/W2GD enjoying the local 
cusine at our favorite waterside restaurant.  Swapping our individual 
contest stories and debriefing each other about the goings on over the 
weekend is a great social way of ending the weekend's fun.

Monday and Tuesday were spent taking down all of the P40W antennas and 
the 70 foot Rohn 25G tower (my special thanks to AI6V/P40V and W2REH, 
for loaning me the heavy ropes, Rohn ginpole, heavy duty pulleys, metal 
plates, and hydraulic jack were used to get the job done).  My Aruban 
host (a non-ham) is building an addition on his home, right where the 
tower previously stood.  The current plan is to relocate the 70? tower 
by early this summer, and at the same time adding a second tower in line 
toward Europe about 175 feet away.  The second tower will enhance 
station flexibility and offer some interesting 40, 80, and 160 meter 
antenna possibilities down the road.

Looking forward to seeing many of you in Dayton next month.

73,

John    W2GD/P40W


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