[PVRCNC] W1AW/4 - 15CW Soapbox

[Bruce Meier]

Jack, W0UCE, Jim, K4QPL, Mike, N4GU and Bruce, N1LN, gathered at Bruce’s QTH
to give out the ARRL W1AW/4 multiplier on 15 meter CW during this year’s
running of the IARU contest.  A big THANKS to the ARRL and to Steve, NR4M,
for giving us the opportunity to make this possible.   Even though 15 meters
never really opened up, we had a fun time and had some decent rates working
a mix of NA, EU, and SA with the occasional ASIA, PAC and Africa call signs
popping in.   The VPN (THANKS STU !!) that connected all of the W1AW/4
stations together added to the fun.  We were able to see the progress
everyone was making, the frequencies to pass stations to and also enjoyed
the real time chat that N1MM offers.  (Late Saturday night and early Sunday
morning the chat feature utilization increased in an inverse relationship to
rate)  Going into the weekend, one of our concerns was the always present
threat of thunder storms.  Fortunately, we only had to shut down once, but
it was Saturday afternoon during the last hour of the decent band opening.
When we shut down our rates were in the low to mid-100s and we were actually
ahead of 20cw in both Qs and points.  When we came back on after about 45
minutes of down time, our max rates never went above 60 for the rest of the
event and 20cw was so far ahead of us we couldn’t even see their tail
lights.

 

As with all ham radio outings at Camp LN, as the station is now called, in
addition to ham radio we pay special attention to the culinary delights.
This time was no exception.  To start with, lunch consisted of Merchant
Marine Burgers, fries and a selection of drinks.  If you don’t know what a
Merchant Marine Burger is, well – each one was ½ lb of ground beef formed
into 2 thin patties.  Then a slice of onion and a slice of cheese and some
spicy mustard is added between them.  Seal the edges well so the cheese
doesn’t melt out during cooking and BBQ.  They were enjoyed by all.   About
6:30pm Chef Archie arrived to make us an outstanding dinner consisting of
Chicken Cordon Bleu, served with a chilled fresh vegetable salad, warm
Italian bread and of course your choice of wine.  For some reason the flow
of the wine continued well after dinner.

 

When the final bell rang the 15 cw team was able to contribute 873 Qs to
this year’s IARU combined score for the W1AW/4 outing. 

 

73,

Jack, Jim, Mike and Bruce