[CVCC] Fw: Topband: "Special Report" to the Topband Reflector re: VU7RG(Agatti Isl) lowband results

[rsmorris]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <MAllphin at aol.com>
To: <topband at contesting.com>
Cc: <MAllphin at aol.com>
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 11:32 AM
Subject: Topband: "Special Report" to the Topband Reflector re: VU7RG(Agatti 
Isl) lowband results








Fellow low band enthusiasts,

Upon my return from  VU7RG, Bill, W4ZV asked that I put together a short
report and provide some  statistics from our NA and Low band results at 
VU7RG.  I
am delighted to  do so.  Please note that I am only discussing our operation
from Agatti  Island.  There were 3 other islands on the air, one of them a
major  international effort like ours.  That was the team on Kadmat  Island.
It was clear that the VU7LD operation  during December 2006 had not 
satisfied
the demand for QSOs with NA overall and  certainly had not spent much time 
on
the low bands.  As we saw our  mission, it was to concentrate on working NA
on all bands and because we had  several hard core lowbanders on the team, 
we
worked hard to do a big job there  too

Here are some numbers that indicate we did  pretty well....overall 15% of 
our
41,000 QSOs were with NA.   That  is a good number, when you consider that
were about 14,000 KM from the East  Coast of the US. We were aware of when 
the
bands might be open to NA and we  tried our best to be there!

On the low bands we were extremely  pleased.....

160m.....2152 QSOs overall with 133 NA QSOs....
    (we managed one Long Path  QSO with AA0RS on Jan.19 at 1409Z)


80m.......4425 QSOs overall with 1015 NA QSOs...
    (with 110 Long Path QSOs most between 1308Z and  1430Z- our Sunset was
approx.1300Z)

40m.......5989 QSOs overall with 1240 NA QSOs...


The radios were  all IC 756 PRO III's lent to us by Icom America...the
antennas  were:
160m...Toploaded Tee antenna....55 foot fiberglass mast with antenna  taped
to the mast and two top loading wires sloping down at about 45  degrees. 
The
antenna was mounted on a dock at the waters edge.  Two  elevated, tuned 
radials
were used with two additional 1/4 wave wires thrown  into the sea.
It was obvious to us that we were  being heard better that we were hearing.
One  reason is that most of you have optimized your RX situations and we 
were
just there for 9 days. Also, we found that the Neon lights  running along 
the
pier were causing some low level of noise until we found the  On/Off switch.
Also, remember that we were about 10 deg. North Latitude  and there is noise
at that Latitude, although it didn't necessarily  show on the S-meter.
Certainly, it was not as quiet as I have found  the Antarctic to be.  We 
tried a
K9AY switchable loop, which  worked well, but not better than the TX 
antenna.  We
also put up a 450 ft  beverage, but because of the orientation of the 
Island,
it was mostly NE and  helped with the JAs, but not EU or NA, which were 
North
and NW of us.

On 80m, we used a homemade  phased 2 element array.  The two elements were
both 41 feet tall and top  loaded.  One element had 4 top loading wires and 
the
other had 2 top  loading wires. The antennas were at the waters edge at high
tide and not more  that 30 ft. from the sea at low tide. Radials were laid 
on
the sand and staked  down to avoid being washed away.  The antenna was an
absolute  "killer".  The last night of our operation we took down the second
element and used only one...we could tell the difference! The array was 
oriented
NNW-SSE.

On 40m, we used a 4 square array, with  each element taped to a 33 ft.
fiberglass mast and each with two elevated,  tuned radials.  It was about 
125 feet
from the sea.  Also a  killer!


Click on this link to see some  of the antennas...


_http://www.dx-pedition.de/lakshadweep2007/photos/agatti-018.jpg_ 
(http://www.dx-pedition.de/lakshadweep2007/photos/agatti-018.jpg)


            On the left  side of this picture you will see the 2el 80m
antenna in the background.
          In the  foreground is the 80m Tee (slightly bent).  The antenna in
the right-center  foreground is
          the 17m  SVDA and on the pier in the background, you can see the
30m 1/4 wave  vertical.



In conclusion, let me  point out that our good results were because we were 
a
very dedicated and  cohesive team.  Every one contributed to the overall
success.   I might add it was a very congenial group and we had some fun 
along the
 way and to my knowledge never a cross word.....a great team in my  view.


The  following men contributed to the low band success on 160m and
80m...W8AEF,  K4UEE, W0GJ, VA7DX, DK5WL and W5MJ.  The entire team shared 
the operating
duties on the other bands!


For the  Agatti team,


73,  Bob
K4UEE
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