CQ World Wide SSB - Better Late than Never!

Despite my best efforts over the preceding two weeks, 0000z on Friday arrived and I was still looking at an empty room and had more work to do outside on the tower. After staring at the gigantic yagi hovering over the front yard for the past few days I decided it would be prudent to beef up the tower supports. I fabricated a mid-point guy station and ran a set of guy wires up to the 32 foot mark. I also strengthened the mounting point at the eave of the shed. I was pretty sure it would be better to miss the first part of the contest than have a storm blow in and turn all my hard work into twisted scrap metal.

Early Saturday morning I brought in the desk and amp rack then finally started to pull the electronics out of the old mobile shack trailer and install them in the new room. By the time I had everything mounted and connected and brought in the antenna feedlines it was almost midnight. Fortunately, when I turned on the power everything worked nearly perfectly. As I switched through all the bands and antennas I could hear signals from 80m all the way up to 10m. After a year-and-a-half hiatus and 11 days of putting it all together I was finally back on the airwaves!

I had been watching the geomagnetic forecast for the past few days and it said things would be pretty gloomy. Multiple solar flares were predicted to impact the magnetosphere and cause radio blackouts and stormy geomagnetic conditions. This spelled disaster for HF radio from this latitude but luckily all the solar nastiness passed by without hitting us. The result was probably the best radio conditions for a CQWW SSB contest in over a decade! Even at midnight local time I was hearing many stations from Europe and the Middle East on the 10m band. I decided that I was going to enter the single-band 10m category. This could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity from up here to work the world on 10m and I wanted to make the most of it.

I decided to begin by concentrating on collecting unique CQ zones and countries for multipliers (and also to boost my DXCC numbers on 10m!). Pretty soon I had worked everything I could hear on 10m and the band and I both started fading. It had been a long, long, day! I turned in for the night and hoped that the good conditions would continue on Sunday.

After three hours sleep I popped out of bed at 6am and headed back to the shack. Not only was 10m open again, European stations were booming in! I picked my way through the band working as many new countries as I could. By 1700z the North American stations started coming through and I knew it was time to make some hay. I swung the big TH6DXX to the southeast and started calling CQ. Almost immediately I began getting replies. The rate meter spiked at over 200/hour and I filled the bucket as fast as I could.

I put 500 stations into the log over the next few hours but then I started watching the spots. This was my first time having reliable internet access during a big contest so I was finally able to connect to the spotting network. As I watched all the juicy DX spots rolling past on the screen I decided I wanted to boost my multiplier count. I gave up my run frequency and started 'playing'. If I had been making a serious effort from the beginning of the contest I probably would have been more disciplined but really I wanted to take advantage of the conditions to work as many new countries on 10m as I could. I even spent some time hunting for a couple of all-time new ones on the other bands but other than 7O2A (Yemen) that I had worked the night before on 15m I came up emtpy handed. As I usually do in these contests, I spent the last hour beaming out to the Pacific working JAs and island stations.

Final numbers were 665 contacts, 59 countries, and 27 zones.



Here is the new station. Flex 3000 SDR, TS-2000, and BH30 amplifier. Out on the tower is a 4 element 6m yagi at 75ft, the TH6DXX at 65ft, a 40m 1/4 wave sloper, and a 30m delta loop. On the roof of the house is a 43ft vertical for 80m. Still to be done over the next few weeks is hang the little TH3 yagi on the tower at 32ft, add the loading coil to the vertical for 160m, and install the beverage and flag receiving antennas for the low bands.

CQ WW SSB VE8EV SOSB(A)/10 HP

CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB

Call: VE8EV
Operator(s): VE8EV
Station: VE8EV

Class: SOSB(A)/10 HP
QTH: Inuvik, NT
Operating Time (hrs): 14

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:                    
   80:    2     2        2
   40:    3     3        3
   20:    1     1        1
   15:    2     2        2
   10:  665    27       59
------------------------------
Total:  665    27       59  Total Score = 117,390

Club: 

Comments:

I decided two weeks ago that I was going to quit procrastinating and get my new home station built and on the air in time for CQWW this year.  After eleven frantic days of wiring, tower erecting, antenna work, furniture and amplifier moving, and equipment installation I was finally ready to go at 0500z Saturday night.  I decided I was just going to get everything working, have fun, and DX my way through what was left of the contest.  When I got on the air 10 meters was open over the pole and I decided right then and there to go single-band 10.  I've never heard conditions on ten meters like that from this part of the world and in the back of my mind I know there is a possibility I never will again.  The triple-play of low K-index, high SSN, and a big contest sure doesn't come around very often! 

After grabbing a handful of mults and a few hours sleep Saturday night the band was open again to Europe first thing Sunday morning so I spent the first few hours collecting more multipliers.  Once the propagation started shifting to the south I turned the big yagi towards the states and started running with a 200/hour!  By mid-afternoon Sunday 10 meters was jam packed right from the bottom all the way up past 29 MHz.  I alternated between running and collecting multipliers and then spent the last couple of hours beaming out to the Pacific picking up 3-pointers.

High point (other than 10m- wow!): After years of poor or non-existant internet access at the old hilltop contest site it was a nice treat to be able to go "assisted" and pick up a few extra multipliers from spots.

Low point: RF coming back into the shack and messing things up when I used the amplifier with the new 40m sloper.  Not a big deal for this contest but I better get it sorted out before Sweepstakes!

Day-by-day countdown of the station building exercise is on the blog http://ve8ev.blogspot.com

73
John VE8EV



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T-0: Ready or... NOT!

In the end I came pretty close to being ready but here it is Friday afternoon and I haven't even started moving equipment into the house yet. Nevertheless, I think there is a strong possibility I will be on the air by tomorrow evening. Pictures and a lengthy station description to follow tomorrow. Stay tuned!

T-4 Days: Up, Up, and Away!

I worked like a dog all weekend and all day today but the effort paid off.  When the crane finally arrived it was only in the driveway for 40 minutes.  The lift went smoothly and in no time at all the tower was standing securely in the front yard.

Antennas mounted, cables coiled up, and everything ready to go.

Up she goes!

Having the right tools for the job is very important.

I hate climbing towers but the guy wanted his crane back so someone had to go up and undo the strap...

Ready to rock and roll!  TH6DXX at 64 feet for 10/15/20m, VB64DX at 75 feet for 6m and, still strapped to the tower in this picture, a 40m wire sloper and a 30m delta loop.

T-6 Days: A Stick in the Mud

I still can't get over this crazy weather.  10 degrees Celsius today when the normal high for this time of year is minus 7 and the low is minus -14!  You know, like winter. I'm even starting to appreciate all the mud because it really should be snow and ice.  Instead of a parka, I spent the day working in my shirtsleeves getting the base and the tower put together.

The old DMX tower has seen better days but I am installing all new hardware and it will be guyed instead of freestanding so should do the trick.  As promised, here are some pictures I grabbed right before dark.

Here is the base with the pins/ground rods installed.

Thrust bearing and custom made top plate with guy anchor points.



The truck is an integral part of the process to keep the business end of the tower high enough off the ground to get the antennas mounted.

T-7 days: A Week Away

The tower is ready to put together.  Over the last couple of days I fabricated the new top plate with thrust bearing, modified and mounted the rotor plate, and got all the miscellaneous hardware purchased.  The plan for Saturday is to build the base and completely assemble the tower at ground level.  It will be laid over the truck so I can mount the antennas on the mast.  On Sunday I will run all the coax cables, guy wires, and install the wire antennas- the 40m sloper and the 30m delta loop.  Pictures to follow tomorrow.