P40L-P49Y Contest Summary Information

Comments:

This effort came together at the last minute as a multi-single. None of the us had operated together before, so it was a pleasure to see how well we were able to work together. I (W6LD) arrived on the island mid-day on Wednesday, Denny (KX7M) on Thursday and Rick (N6XI) on Friday only about 6 hours before the contest start. Nevertheless, with the benefit of Denny's high energy level and enthusiasm, everything came together timely.

The station performed well. Our problems were limited to a bad feedlne connection on the European beverage the first night, some intermittent RFI in the keying lines and interstation interference that at times hampered the run station rate (something that we might have been able to solve with a little more time before the contest). Our apologies to those who were affected when the run radio briefly went deaf or the keying line locked up.

Band conditions were generally good for this point in the sunspot cycle, especially the first day. Openings on 80 the first night and 10 into Europe the first morning were very good and, in retrospect, we should have spent more time earlier on those bands in those periods taking advantage of them (and we had to work hard to make up for it later). By contrast, 20 was a bit of a disappointment, closing early each day.

15 and 10 were the high rate bands during the day and 40 and 80 were the high rate bands during the night.

Rates shot up Saturday mid-morning when we started to turn our attention to the U.S. on the high bands - seven straight hours of 200 plus QSOs on the run radio ensued, peaking at 242. Both Rick and Denny succeeded in getting the rate meter over 300 for sustained periods during these hours. Very exciting and a lot of fun!

The Carribbean mults on the high bands were among the most difficult. It was surprising how quickly some stations would pick up our weak fluttery signal (8P5A and TO4A come to mind, for instance), while it took what seemed like forever to get through to others.

All in all we had a great time. Thanks for all the contacts!

73, John, W6LD/P40L