P40L-P49Y Contest Summary Information

A last minute decision to do this contest as a multi-single operation resulted from the confluence of two factors: (1 W2GD's P4 station was not going to be "contest ready" due to needed antenna and tower work; and (2) W6LD was still mulling over his options because he was not looking forward to putting in the effort needed for a 48-hour single-op entry in a phone contest.

We were delighted that a call to Jean-Pierre, P43A, less than a week before the contest, rounded out the team, although he would have to join beginning Saturday morning after returning from an out of country business trip.

W6LD arrived in Aruba the Wednesday afternoon before the contest, leaving little time for set-up of a multi-single operation. W2GD had arrived the prior Tuesday and had used the time to get a jump start on the work needed on his station. Most of Thursday was spent repairing the 160 meter and 20 meter antennas at P40L/P49Y station, after which we figured there would still be plenty of time for inside station set-up work. But failure of the 40 meter yagi the Thursday night before the contest start meant that valuable time and energy had to be expended on Friday to make the required repair.

Fortunately, master P4 contester and antenna and tower guru, W2GD, was able to pull the 2-element 40 down from its perch at the top of a 10-foot mast on the 68-foot tower and replace a bad coax jumper at the feed point by lunch time. That left the afternoon to complete the inside work of station set-up, including logging software configuration and networking. It was a bit more rushed than would have been ideal, but we had it all ready to go by the start time.

During the contest, low band conditions were very poor with enormous noise levels Friday night (probably due to the impressive lightening storms visible in all directions) and no propagation Saturday evening. By contrast, high band conditions were very good and included strong long-path openings that played an important role in grabbing some of the much needed multipliers.

By the halfway point we were at well over 5000 Qs and were beginning to hope for a 9500 result, but the terrible low band conditions the second night meant that was not to be.

As always, thanks for all the Q's and congratulations to the many fine multi-single efforts, including D4C, CR3A and P33W, who continue to give us and the rest of South America new goals to shot for.

73,

W6LD/P40L, W2GD/P40W, P43A