ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: VY2PA
Operator(s): W4PA
Station: VY2ZM
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: PEI
Operating Time (hrs): 46
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 251 61
80: 737 78
40: 1148 96
20: 1593 101
15: 269 74
10: 11 6
-------------------
Total: 4009 416 Total Score = 5,001,984
Club: Tennessee Contest Group
Comments:
The below is also reproduced on my contest journal at w4pa.journalspace.com.
VY2PA (@ VY2ZM) ARRL DX CW 2007 SOABHP
Donâ??t really remember when K1ZM started talking about me going up there to
try a CW contest, might have been Dayton but more likely it was after WRTCâ?¦my
notes say I bought the plane ticket to go up there on Air Canada on November 15.
Pre-contest: Tuesday night drove down to Rebeccaâ??s in Atlanta to stay over,
got up at 4:45 a.m. to drive over to Hartsfield Weds 2/14. I flew up light only
taking a backpack with two changes of clothes and a pair of hiking boots plus
some misc electronics, two cell phones, my Mini-Disc recorder, headphone switch
box, batteries, and some cables. Despite the airport chaos of February 14th
with many JetBlue flights cancelled on the east coast, a big snowstorm and the
boards lit up in Toronto with cancelled and delayed flights, I sailed through
on all three legs ATL>Toronto>Halifax>Charlottetown without a delay. Very
lucky indeed. Even more lucky was the lack of snow on PEI, I was prepared to
hike in to the house but we were able to drive in and out each day without any
problem.
Lots of activity on the air on Wed night, Th, Fri. My handwritten log looks
like around 300 contacts. Worked a lot of Europeans and Russians on 160, VU2
on 80, ST2 on 80 and 160. Had an hour long QSO with W4NL on 20m SSB on Friday
that was interrupted by WD0BGS (fellow Ten-Tec employee) who heard me on and
recognized my voice. K1ZM was on quite a bit as well at the same time, we
spent some of Weds and Thurs nights both sitting at the table with Jeff
operating 160 and me tuning around on the other bands.
Went out and drove around the island quite a bit; -25F wind chill kind of keeps
you in the car though I did get out in it and take some pictures. Windmill
power, lighthouses, the fishing villages.
Friday: 8 ½ hours of sleep Thursday night plus 8 to 9 hours every single
night for 10 days previous except the night of the CW Sprint. Also took a not
real successful 2 hour nap from 4:30 to 6:30 with contest starting at 8:00
Atlantic time.
The QTH at VY2ZM on Prince Edward Island is near the northeast tip of the
island. Antennas and house are set back a couple hundred feet from a saltwater
shot in every direction, Europe through N to Japan to the west. The south and
southwest are a little hard from Jeffâ??s; the entire island is that direction
and the land slopes downhill across the island SW to NE. I would get beat for
Caribbean multipliers particularly on the higher bands regularly through the
weekend. Itâ??s a big island, too; K6LAâ??s VY2TT QTH is on the west side, a
2 ½ hour drive away from VY2ZM.
Antennas are 10 meters 5/5/5/5, 15 meters 5/5/5/5, 20 meters 5/5/5, 40 meters
2/2, 80m 4 square, 160m transmit array that is 4 quarter wave verticals in two
pairs spaced 5/8 wave apart with a sophisticated pointing system that allows
them to be end-fired, broad-side fired and even a mix of a couple of
directions. 160m RX arrays are several Beverages plus a system of 6 phased
vertical elements fixed on Europe.
Contest: I got the band edge to kick it off at 7000.3 with K3LR just above me.
I made 3 contacts in the first couple of minutes because â?? three USA
stations that donâ??t understand that VY2 is Canada decided to call me when the
contest started. This would plague me through the whole contest â?? I would
estimate every 10 to 15 minutes a USA station called through the whole weekend
and I either had to tell them NO USA, ignore them, or just work them. 200
extra contacts over the course of 48 hours. Stupid. Really, really stupid.
First hour would end at 135 in the log, 126 on 40 plus picking off 9 QSOâ??s
on 80 on the other rig.
Moved to 80, then 160 to CQ through the first 5 hours including making 53
QSOâ??s on 160 in 40 minutes between 0400-0440Z before dropping back to 80 for
a short period. At 0512Z I moved back to 160 to CQ on 1820 and got off a run
of 73 QSOâ??s on 160 in the next 48 minutes while pulling down 34 second radio
contacts on both 80 and 40. Segue to 80 at 0600Z for 105 there + 11 on radio
#2, then to 40 and 80. I was keeping an eye on 20 through this as I kept
hearing loud Europeans popping up â?? by 0930Z 40 was slowing and I could sense
the moment to go to 20 had arrived, and was able to kick off the run there at
0931Z at a 182/hr pace with 91 QSOâ??s in the first 29 minutes on the band,
then right into ditching the use of the second radio for the next hour at 178
QSOâ??s from 1000-1100Z. 140/hr is about the point where it becomes too much
trouble to make QSOâ??s on the other radio â?? at 11 to 1200Z the pace would
continue with 165 more on 20 meters but I did manage to pick off 9A7A on 15 on
the other rig at 1151Z as the run continuedâ?¦.as it slowed a little to 125/130
an hour in the next three hours I was able to again resume working stuff on the
second rig.
15 meters would not open well on Saturday â?? there were a number of loud
southern Europeans but other than that the band sounded weak. I figured stick
with the rate on 20 and had 8 hours in a row of 100+ there before moving up to
40 to go into the night. I never did move up to 15 to try and run Europeans.
Kept checking 10 but only made 7 QSOâ??s the whole first day.
The 2000Z hour first day on 40 meters would be the last above 100/hr, all
others to the end of the contest in the double digits with a lot of band
changing along the way among 40, 80 and 160 just trying to keep the rate going
any way possible. Each time a few minutes went by with no answer I would go
off to the next band where I thought some contacts could be made, or even just
CQ for a few minutes and then move off to yet the third bandâ?¦.
I had planned on operating all 48 hours but by 0500Z Sunday I was starting to
tire â?? the rate didnâ??t drop any â?? and in fact during 0600-0700 would be
the highest hour (88) I had out of any of the previous 7.
Through all of this K1ZM has been in and out of the radio room; a second pair
of headphones was Tâ??d off the audio box so he could listen in on whatever it
was I was doing at the time. He was actually awake and in the radio room at 4
a.m. when I decided that â?? hate myself or not for doing it â?? I was taking a
break. I really, really dislike not operating the whole 48 hours but I figured
Iâ??d be paying for it later if I didnâ??t stop. So at 0752Z, off to sleep for
90 minutes, followed by waking up around 0930Z and drinking coffee â?? I need
not have worried, I guess, because the good 20m opening of the day before at
that hour did not materialize; there wasnâ??t much of anything going on. My
first QSO back on was EA8BQM on 40 at 0958Z â?? there is a gap from there until
when 20 got going again for a run at 1016Z. Trying to work 40m stuff on the
second radio â?? 9V1YC was plenty loud here on 40 meters and I called and
called but he wasnâ??t working anyone. Heâ??d call, the pileup would call and
call, and then heâ??d send 9V1YC again. I finally gave up on him, I have no
idea why he didnâ??t go splitâ?¦
Into the Sunday runs, 20 was kind of slowly moving along at 70 an hour or so
but I had tons of QSOâ??s there so even though 15 was weak I went and CQed up
there from 1215-1539Z on 21020 and then 21055 just poking along for rateâ?¦
51â?¦58â?¦41â?¦before going back to 20. Most of these guys were pee weak, the
band just never really opened.
A few more contacts on 10m, P40W, HP1XX, P49Y â?? a total of 11 QSOâ??s for 6
mults over the 2 days.
Made a sked to work VP9 on 160 that came off without problem, was able to move
VK7GK from 40 through 20 and 15 only to find he was loudest of all on
15â?¦SV9AUZ in Crete was calling G4ILO on a schedule and I gave him a quick
call on 160 for another multiplierâ?¦last at the end of the contest would be
fitting, RO4M calls me on 160 at 23:59:45 with a good signal, I send 599 PEI
and he sends RO4Mâ?¦I send 599 PEI - 00:00:00 â?? contest over. No QSO.
Summary: Line score 4009/416 for 5,001,984. Operated 46 hours, made QSOs on
the second radio in 44 of the 46, taped 3 or 4 hours of contest audio from both
rigs on the Mini-Disc, 160m on Friday night, some of the 20m runs Saturday
morning, Sunday a.m. on 15. I didnâ??t keep a list of what I recorded so
Iâ??ll have to figure it out later. Fun quotient: 10 of 10.
Post-contest: Up at 5:00 Eastern (6:00 Atlantic time) on Monday, ate breakfast
in town and then Jeff dropped me at the CTown airport at 8:00. K6LA was on the
same flight and we (he, not me actually) had an hour layover to get some coffee
and talk about the contest. With my arrival so began the usual airline hell
that -- of course -- involved Delta Airlines. I never, ever fly on Delta any
more â?? far too many problems in the past. I got to Halifax only to find my
Air Canada flight to Toronto cancelled and was rebooked on Delta to Atlanta via
Boston. I knew right then it was going to be a long day and true to form, both
Delta flights were delayed.
Another great weekend at VY2ZMâ??s place. Jeff has built a fantastic station
up there, I can only hope Iâ??ve done all the work involved to put it together
justice and that Jeff will have me return in a future year for yet another run
at a serious contest effort.
73
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