P40L-P49Y Contest Summary Information

K3S, KPA1500 - 1 KW Win-Test logging software

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

Four beverages in key directions. See https://arubaqth.com/

This week's stay at P40L/P49Y was similar to several other operations from this great station over last few years. The antennas systems were all work great. Propagation the days before the contest was superb with an SFI near 200 and very low A/K numbers and no solar disturbances. Even the line noise seemed under control the first few days. The recent addition of auto-tune amplifiers made band changing much more convenient. But it's always the 'unknowns' that come into play that you need to be prepared for when they happen.

I'm enjoying the ongoing competition to qualify for a Team Leader position at WRTC 2026. It seems no secret that both RA3CO and I have eyes on the SA2 title and Dimitri (at PZ5DX) and I are in a virtual tie for the top spot. Competition is good. We both know we have to be at the top of our game and come to the playing field with a winning plan. Each of us have skill sets that complement our operating styles. Execution is everything.

To help my 75 year old memory I had two operator aids on the desk: An alphabetical check list of HQ Station abbreviations, and a new list of the likely workable ITU Zones with corresponding prefixes. The process of putting together these cheat sheets helped increase my familiarity with the geography of the ITU zone system and established recognition "cues" in my mind for what I should be especially listening for when in S/P mode. The ITU list exercise proved particularly rewarding.

Friday afternoon the line noise situation unfortunately took a turn for the worse. A solid S-8 to S-9+ noise level developed in the neighborhood. I found a few beam directions that knocked the noise down about 15 to 20 db (JK monobanders have sharp patterns) and some tweaking of the K3S DSP NB and NR settings helped, but nothing I did made a huge difference. Summertime is the dry season on Aruba when the salt build up on the power grid is at its worst. Only rain would offer some relief.

Miraculously overnight Friday the rains came! Woke up on Saturday morning, sat down to listen, and found the noise COMPLETELY GONE - it was like magic! No longer had any difficulty hearing even weaker signals. Felt elated and naturally pumped.

My plan called for front loading as many multipliers as possible the first few hours since you never know what surprises the sun might produce. Felt I executed this strategy successfully throughout the contest, but paid a price by sacrificing rate.

Opened on 15 - it was wide open to EU and AS. But per plan quickly went to 10m during the first hour to log whatever mults could be found. Throughout the contest 10 meters, from this latitude, was terrific almost around the clock. I thought it unfortunate the majority of operators were staying on 15m which was even better. But running EU on ten at 1:30 a.m. local time will always be a thrill to remember.

The first five hours 20 meters was virtually dead at this QTH. Could hear only a few signals and all weak. Finally figured out we'd suffered several flares. Eventually propagation returned to near normal but at the time it was quite concerning.

Continued to harvest mults with each band change. Using just one radio naturally limits rate, so the emphasis to maximize mults as an offset for lower rates drove much of this operation. The hope was frequent band changing would increase exposure to a wider variety of propagation opportunities. Propagation was far above expectations and the late night runs on 15 meters were a highlight of the contest.

With the higher bands producing so well, I quickly made a decision relegate 80 and 160 to multiplier band status and made little attempt to run. Skimmed off whatever mults presented but likely missed some easy ones by not CQing much. EU was particularly difficult on 160.

Once the hoped for multiplier goals were reached, spent somewhat more time concentrating on rate. By the close had fewer sub-100q hours than prior years and the score is my best ever in this event.

At exactly 1043Z someone flipped a switch turning on the S-9 noise again. Limped to the finish line the last hour in S/P mode. Felt disappointed the opportunity to break 3000 contacts was stolen.

Had a great time celebrating my 75th birthday week on "One Happy Island" and hope all of you enjoyed this year's IARU. Thanks for calling.

Plan to return and operate from the "real" P40W QTH during CQWW PH and CW this fall.

73,

John, W2GD