[Contest] 3DA0WW CQWW SSB 2007

[frosty1 at pdq.net]

Subject: 3DA0WW CQWW SSB 2007


Hi Guys,
 
Just a short note to inform you all that AfricanDXSafaris is on the move
again.......ZS6DXB, ZS2DL and I, ZS6JR, are competeing again in the contest
in the Multi2 category. (See How's DX column in Nov 2007 QST). Dave ZS6AVM
with the call 3DA0VM will be accompanying us and will be active on the
regular bands in testing the station prior to the weekend and while the 3 of
us will be busy in the contest those of you who are not contesters will be
able to work Dave on 18 and/or 24 MHz on a completely separate station. He
will have an A3WS up at 20m and 500w of power....the same setup that was
highly successful earlier this year with the Irish Afri75 group. Donovan,
being a highly skilled CW op, may test the station on CW prior to the
contest for those of you in need of 3DA0 on that mode.
 
New for the contest and AfricanDXSafaris will be a wire 4 square (Comtek) on
80m. The configuration that will be used has never been tried by us at all
and as such we will only know the success of this based on the signals you
hear from us during the contest. Testing of this new antenna will commence
probably Thursday evening. 30 40m long radials will be run beneath this
array to enhance its performance. The 40m 4 square which produced great
results for Afri75 will also benefit from 30 20m long radials to be added
for the contest. 1 Set of Dunestar BPFilters will be tried for the first
time as an upgrade from the older ICE filters. Additional stubs have been
constructed to minimise any possible RX overload/harmonic problems created
not only by the second station but also by the third station running
separately on the WARC bands.........yes 3 stations running simultaneously
during the course of the weekend. New Heil ProHeadsets will be used in place
of the older standard one. In addition, replacing the 2 old faithful amps,
the IC2KL's, will be an Alpha78 and a QSK modified TL922. Upgraded laptops
provided by Rhy will be used together with N1MM's latest upgrades.
 
The rest of the station will be as before....2 Yaesu FT1000MP's, 2 by A4S's,
1 at 24m and 1 at 22m on portabel tower, 20m vertical for 160m with 30 40m
long radials, K9AY RX loop antenna for 80/160m.
 
Last year 5 hours of operating time was lost due to tropical storms and
power outages........Hawane has arranged to provide us with a standby
generator to help us out of the power problems but we have no solution for
the possible lightning storms......here the best is still to be to
disconnect and wait for it to pass on by.....!! 
 
Special thanks to Andy and Willie for their efforts in getting our paperwork
ready in time.
   
Hoping to give you all 5 9 38 this weekend in the 'test.
 
73
 
Daniel ZS6JR 0835534140

 


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