8P3A (op.VE3DZ) - ARRL DX CW Contest,
February 2010
The score
ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: 8P3A
Operator(s): VE3DZ
Station: 8P3A
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Barbados
Operating Time (hrs): 42
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 230 48
80: 518 53
40: 903 58
20: 1116 59
15: 1381 60
10: 597 48
-------------------
Total: 4745 326 Total Score = 4,640,610
Club: Contest Club Ontario
Set-Up.
Operation was completely a "Field Day" or "DXpedition" style with all antennas and equipment installed before the Contest and then dismantled few days after the Contest.
Radio - ICOM IC-746.
Amplifier - Tokyo HyPower 500 watts (400 watts on 10 m) - tnx 8P9NX.
Antennas - Spider Beam for 20-15-10 (tnx VE3VO) at 35' fixed North.
43' vertical for 40 and 80 and MA160V for 160 m (both - courtesy of 8P9NX). No receiving antennas. All antennas installed on approximately 50' by 50' lot on a sea cliff in the South Eastern part of the Island.
RigExpert USB interface for CAT and keying.
MFJ 1 kW tuner.
Dell laptop with N1MM Logger.
Story.
When I finally decided that I will be able to go to a DX location for the ARRL DX CW about 3 month before the Contest, all known to me rental locations with decent antennas were already taken.
I was ready to give up on finding rental QTH, but Peter 8P9NX convinced me that I could come down to Barbados and rent the cottage very close to his house and he would help me with antennas and some equipment. He offered me his vertical and amplifier and I just needed to bring my radio, computer and some kind of a beam for higher bands.
For the beam, Val VE3VO graciously offered his Spider Beam that we used a couple of times at the Field Day. it is very light weight and perfectly fits into the 4' long photo camera stand case that I borrowed from Paul, VE3TA.
Late afternoon on Monday, February 15th, Peter 8P9NX and his wife Priscilla met me at Bridgetown airport and brought to the cottage. It is getting dark around 6 P.M. (winter), so all I could do on the first evening is unpack Spider Beam and put all of my simple gear on the some kind of an operating desk.
Next morning I started assembly of the Spider Beam. I've never done it myself before, and what looked like an easy and obvious task in the beginning took few hours (mostly reading the manual). The problem was that antenna was initially designed to be assembled on the telescoping mast, which I didn't have, so we had to use a 4' piece of PVC pipe that we found in Peter's garage, and empty barrel as a stand. :-) Also, it was so ho starting form around 10 in the morning that I couldn't work outside for more than 15-20 minutes at a time...
Anyway, on Tuesday I only managed to assemble Spider Beam on the ground, and (with great help of Peter) put up a 43' vertical with a bunch of radials, so at least I could be
on the air. I tried 30, 40 and 80 meters (barefoot) and was satisfied with the performance of the vertical, which I used with a tuner.
Next morning (Wednesday) Peter came early and we started to put up the Spider Beam. The challenge was to raise the whole antenna assembly and to hook it on to the top of the lopsided mast that Peter made in advance of two 20' water pipes.
After a couple of hours of jugglery and trying different techniques, we finally pulled the mast with the beam using ladder, pulley on the palm tree and a rope attached to Peter's car. Peter was visibly happy, He confessed that he never believed we could accomplish this.
I checked SWR and to my surprise it was less than 1.3:1 in SWR portion of all 3 bands.
Later in the day Peter brought MA160V vertical for topband which we installed in no time. My antenna farm was completed.
I was pleasantly surprised with the performance of the Spider Beam. Using 500 watts Tokyo HyPower Amp I always felt loud. Whenever I called CQ on 20 or 15 meters, few minutes later I already was in the middle of a pile-up. 40 and 80 worked pretty well, same with 160 m (on transmit).
I did not have any rotor, so I kept my antenna fixed to EU in the morning and day hours, and turned it to North (U.S. and JA) in the late afternoon using a piece of rope attached to the boom.
Lack of receiving antenna for topband was very noticeable, but neither I had space nor time to do that.
It would be too selfish or naive of me to try to win with this kind of a setup. Being that far South you must have beam antennas for at least 40, 20, 15 and 10 m bands, good receiving antenna for 80 and 160 and full legal power amplifier. But I was very excited and decided to try to do my best. Also I had a hope that 10 m would open much better for me than for my competitors up North. My contest setup looked like this.
Unfortunately on Friday I had to solve a problem with my return ticket and I couldn't get good rest before the start of the contest. So , by 4 A.M. local time I felt that I started to fall asleep and decided to take a short nap. Woke up around 6 and still managed few Q's on 80 and 40 before switching to 20. Morning hours were difficult as usual, with good conditions to Europe which made all of the U.S./ VE stations turn their antennas East. My rate dropped significantly and I needed to start looking for the run frequency higher in the band several times. 15 meters were so hot that I almost missed 10 m opening on Saturday. When I finally got there, the band was full of N.A. stations from VE1 on the East to W6/W7 on the West. I didn't hear much of the Western states though, neither from up North (VE4, 5, 6 or VE7). I had pretty decent run on 10, but so all other Caribbean stations. :-)
By 00:00 UTC I had 3003 Q's in my LOG and I felt like I might be able to reach 5K mark at the end, thus improving my 2-yr old score from Belize.
However, later in the evening, while on Lower bands, the rate dropped again, and I started to feel tired after many hours of 200+/hr. run.
Decided to take a short nap again, but (as happens to me quite often lately) I overslept, and instead of planned 2, I slept 4 hours...
The Sunday scenario was pretty much the same as Saturdays. Except morning hours were even worse with rate dropped down to 30 Q's./hr. and
the 15 and 10 m bands opened a bit later than on Saturday, Anyway, I managed to end up with almost 600 Q's on 10 meters, which is I guess more than any
other station could do, missing just WY, ID, MT, UT, ND, SD, NE and VE4/5/6/7. Talking about multiplier, I obviously lost on 160, but I can't understand how could I miss PEI on 40, RI and NE on 160 and KS, ND, SD, WY, VE4 and VE7 on 80. Oh well...
Anyway, I had real blast and improved my own score which I made 2 years ago from Belize by almost 300 QSO's. My biggest and most pleasant surprise was the performance of the Spider Beam despite its ugly look. :-)
I had a lot of fun!
Thank you all for all the QSOs.
My special thanks go to Peter 8P9NX, who not only assisted me with antenna installation and dismantle, but also loaned me a good deal of his equipment and tools. He took a very good care of me there. Without Peter my operation could not be possible!
Also thanks to Peter's wife Priscilla and to Pat (the owner of the Turtle Cottage) for their hospitality.
Thanks to Val, VE3VO and Paul, VE3TA for assistance with preparation.
See you next time!
Thank you for reading.
Yuri VE3DZ 8P3A (8P9AA)
ve3dz{at}rac.ca
