P40L-P49Y Contest Summary Information

Elecraft K3 X 3, 100W, N1MM logging software

Monobanders 40m - 10m, Tribander, 80m inverted V, 160m vertical dipole

Four beverages in key directions. See www.arubaqth.com for station details.

Many thanks to P40L/P49Y for making the station available.

What a difference a year makes. On this weekend last year we all enjoyed fantastic conditions (with the SFI >200) resulting in a number of record breaking scores. This time conditions were less than stellar which seems to be the norm much of the time lately. There are always a few propagation surprises in every contest, but this weekend there were very few.

Since Bud, AA3B and I expect to attend WRTC 2026 as competitors we wanted to have some meaningful team practice time together. With P40L/P49Y available we quickly made plans for this M2 entry over about three weeks. We'd hoped for conditions like 2024 but as it turned out that was not in the cards.

The P40L/P49Y station played great as always. The only problem we encountered was interference between 40m and 20m which is most likely the product of re-radiation from one or more nearby metal roofs. This has been a longstanding and known issue. Judicious selection of TX frequencies on 40 turned out to be an adequate workaround. Otherwise two transmitter operation on the other bands was interference free.

The other important variable at this location and elsewhere on Aruba is power line noise. Fortunately during June abundant rain had fallen and we had several hard showers again this week that cleaned the salt residue off power line insulators. We were noise free during our entire stay.

The IARU starts on Aruba at 8 a.m. local time. Our first hour was our best during the event - a solid 273 hour. 15M was open to EU/NA while 40 and 20 provided mostly NA contacts. We had set pre-contest goals of 4000 contacts and 300 multipliers. Although there were three more 200+ hours during the contest, the impact of subdued conditions and other factors limited productivity.

Working stations on 10m and 160m was difficult. Still amazed we didn't work a single station in NA on ten meters, and heard just one EU on 160m. It appears other stations in the Carib region experienced similar propagation limitations.

We both have a serious CW bias so moving to PH is never our first choice. But it seemed runs on PH were quite sustainable for extended periods on 20 and 15 while not viable on 40 or 10. Forget about 75 in the Carib during the summer months. Not running on PH more frequently may have been our most notable missed opportunity.

A well done to all those posting their progress on the scoreboard. Watching the various Multi and Single Op races develop and play out was entertaining and adds a needed element of transparency to this and all events.

And special congrats to the HG7T and LX7I teams for their spirited competition in the M2 category. We enjoyed the chase and envy your Zone and HQ totals!

Finally, thanks to everyone for the contacts and for sticking with us while dealing with the deliberate QRM.

73, John, W2GD