[TVARC] Fwd: CQWW SSB VP2MDG M/S HP

Thu Nov 1 09:18:03 EDT 2018

Yes. We are hoping at least 4 of us do so. 3830 wouldn’t let me manually enter a club name, but the CQWW robot did accept “The Villages Amateur Radio Club “, albeit with an advisory to make sure it was spelled correctly.
73,
George K2DM 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Nov 1, 2018, at 8:32 AM, n4fp.wayne <n4fp.wayne at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Are you reporting to CQ as club The Villages Amateur Radio Club?
> 
> N4FP
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
> 
> -------- Original message --------
> From: GEORGE BRIGGS <k2dm at comcast.net>
> Date: 11/1/18 07:10 (GMT-05:00) 
> To: TVARC <tvarc at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: [TVARC] Fwd: CQWW SSB VP2MDG M/S HP
> 
> Clubmates,
> Here is the 3830 writeup for our entry from VP2MDG in CQWW this past weekend.  Operating from VP2MDG
> is a grind.  The journey down and back is long and tiring.  All of the antennas have to be taken up
> to the rooftop deck and assembled on the tower.  The stations have to be put together.  The reward
> for this work is 48 hours of running DX at rates we just can't imagine here in TV with our flagpoles
> and screwdrivers.  Afterwards we have to take it all down and put it away.  Happily for me, Frank, Jim
> and Dennis were willing and able to pitch in and make it all work.  I could not have asked for better
> teammates!
> Thanks to all of our friends in TVARC who contacted us during the contest and on FT8.
> 73,
> George K2DM / VP2MDG
> 
> > ---------- Original Message ----------
> > From: webform at b4h.net
> > To: 3830 at contesting.com, k2dm at comcast.net
> > Date: October 31, 2018 at 5:46 PM
> > Subject: CQWW SSB VP2MDG M/S HP
> > 
> >                     CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB
> > 
> > Call: VP2MDG
> > Operator(s): AL7BA K2DM KA1AF N0SMX
> > Station: VP2MDG
> > 
> > Class: M/S HP
> > QTH: Montserrat
> > Operating Time (hrs): 48
> > 
> > Summary:
> >  Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
> > ------------------------------
> >   160:  159     8       22
> >    80:  375    20       66
> >    40: 1377    31      106
> >    20: 1366    28       96
> >    15: 1231    26       94
> >    10:  514    13       22
> > ------------------------------
> > Total: 5022   126      406  Total Score = 6,227,592
> > 
> > Club: 
> > 
> > Comments:
> > 
> > Well, that was FUN!  This year I was joined by three fellow members of The
> > Villages Amateur Radio Club:  Dennis (N0SMX), Jim (AL7BA) and Frank (KA1AF).  We
> > planned a serious multi-single effort.  To that end, I purchased a high-power
> > triplexer and bandpass filters so that the RUN and MULT stations could share the
> > TH6 triband yagi, and we carried down a second amplifier so that both stations
> > could run the Montserrat legal limit of 1KW output.  Since I have never done a
> > serious multi-single effort from Montserrat, Frank took on the job of making
> > sure we had a working network, relevant spots for the band map, etc.  While we
> > took turns manning the MULT station, it was Frank’s baby, and that station
> > contributed significantly to our score.
> > The RUN station was operated by Jim, Dennis and me in what was planned to be a
> > scheduled rotation.  The schedule went out the window shortly into the contest,
> > and we basically just took turns at the mic when it seemed time for a change. 
> > And given the “low-band genes” that run in my family, I took the overnight
> > shifts at the RUN station.
> > We had to overcome some significant issues before and during the contest.  The
> > K3 at the MULT station failed before the contest.  It appeared to be a
> > synthesizer board problem, and it was resolved (at least for the duration of the
> > contest) by banging on the top of the cabinet once.  Yes, I know, the folks at
> > Elecraft would have been happy to help us figure it out, but it occurred before
> > business hours out there.  Our temporary fix sufficed.
> > One of our ICE switchable bandpass filters (that we used for the low bands)
> > wouldn't power up.  Frank scoped out the circuit and found an open solder
> > connection, so that problem got fixed before the contest.
> > We lost the 80M dipole right after we started using it.  We didn’t want to
> > lower the tower at that time to check out the feedpoint, so we threw up a
> > temporary, lower dipole and quickly tuned it.  It carried us through the night. 
> > Mid-Saturday we quickly lowered the tower and replaced the coax on the original
> > dipole, thus fixing that problem.
> > Oh, and did I mention that the MULT station amplifier that I had paid $80
> > dollars as overweight, extra baggage to fly down to Montserrat failed shortly
> > into the contest?  No worries, we had a spare Ameritron amp waiting in the
> > wings.  Oops, the spare didn’t seem to want to load up.  So we dragged an old
> > Clipperton-L out from storage and hooked it up.  It hadn’t been use in years,
> > but it powered right up and actually worked while I poked around inside the
> > Ameritron.  Finding nothing visibly amiss in the Ameritron, we put it back in
> > the line, and it worked fine.  Go figure!  So we used it for the rest of the
> > contest.
> > We also experienced some occasionally nasty interstation interference, but it
> > was seemingly unidirectional – from the RUN station to the MULT station, but
> > most of the time the two stations co-existed fairly well.
> > 
> > Despite these visitations from Murphy, we cranked!  The TH6 and 40M yagi
> > performed perfectly, and the solid 1KW that we were able to pump into them
> > allowed us to run big-time on the RUN station.  We got off to a good start on
> > 40M for about the first 5 hours, then did a 160/80/40 rotation overnight.  When
> > 20M opened, we didn’t spend too much time there, switching to 15M after only
> > about 160 Qs.  15M was our money band Saturday as we put around 800 Qs in the
> > log, but then 10M opened late in the 1800Z hour.  We had a great time on 10M for
> > over two hours making virtually all of our 10M contacts during that period.  We
> > only made 1 contact on 10M Sunday.
> > Things were slow in the 2200Z hour Saturday, but 40M picked up in the next hour
> > with 112 Qs.  About then I started the night shift.  I really wanted to bolster
> > the 160M and 80M contact totals, but 160M didn’t seem as productive as in past
> > years.  80M and 40M were our overnight stars.  When 20M opened we decided to
> > spend more time there to pick up our contact total, and that seemed to be
> > effective.  We spent a few hours on 15M, but nothing after the 1700Z hour.  Four
> > hours on 20M followed by two hours on 40M finished it up for us.  Jim had the
> > pleasure of pushing our contacts over the 5,000 mark with minutes to spare.
> > 
> > On a personal note, it was a treat to have three good friends along to share the
> > tiresome travel, all the work of setting up and taking down the stations and the
> > antennas, and to put lots of contacts and multipliers into the log.  As usual,
> > it was great fun to work friends and family.  Lots of fellow members of TVARC
> > called in during the contest, and that was super fun.
> > 
> > 
> > Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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