Tiny Elephant's Contest CornerThe Latest Contest News -
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Tiny Elephant's Contest CornerThe Latest Contest News -
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I arrived in Grenada on Tuesday night before Thanksgiving after a 4-hour flight from Miami. I cleared customs after thoroughly confusing the poor officials as to why I was carrying a serious-looking piece of electronic equipment. They did not know if I was just an amateur radio operator as I claimed or a geriatric James Bond. As I exited the customs area, Ann, WA1S, and Don, K2KQ, two members of our team met me. During the ride to our hotel, Ann told me that I could expect unbelievable DX pileups as soon as I got on the air. She had spent a couple of hours that afternoon running a SSB pileup on 10 meters using a tribander just 10 feet off the ground fed with 100 watts. (It’s good to be DX...)
The next morning, we waited for the hotel restaurant to open at 7 for breakfast. (Hey, it’s the Caribbean; why rush?) Don is president of the Yankee Clipper Contest Club and the prime mover behind organizing the operation. He had anchored the YCCC effort for the SSB contest in October and was glad to get several ops to commit to the CW contest in what he hopes will become a club mainstay. Our operating QTH would be the island’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) located on a ridge overlooking the city of St. George. When I asked where it was located, he pulled me over toward the street and pointed up the hillside to a large building several hundred feet up. “Is that it?” I asked. “No”, he said, “It’s behind that, about twice as high.” When he saw my eyes bulging with glee, he knew I was going to enjoy it. (It’s good to be DX...)
The drive up to the site would have been a white-knuckler had I not been battle- hardened by my Massachusetts commute. The steep, winding road was no wider than a normal driveway. The “wrong-side” driving rules made me glad I did not get a Grenadian driver’s license. Like many of the islands in the Caribbean and in South America, there are three rules of the road: (1) horn; (2) horn; and (3) horn. If a car needs a brake job before the horn dies, the driver is a coward.
When we got to the EOC, I was impressed at the view. The place is next to Fort Frederick, a national landmark from Grenada’s colonial days and more recently from the country’s dark days in 1983 when Castro made a move to take control. The EOC is a long, solid- looking building with a sheet-metal roof and slatted windows that masked barred window frames. Our operating area was to be a large conference room inside and an adjoining room, plenty of space for 6 stations. The building is part of a complex that covers an area roughly 50 x 150 feet with the ground dropping off sharply on either side of the smaller dimension. The view to the North, West, and South overlooked St. George and nothing but water to the US, Pacific, and South America. The view to the East was mostly clear except for a ridgeline that rose higher than our site. The ridge was far enough away that we did not expect it to interfere with coverage to Europe and Africa. (It’s good to be DX...)
We spent the day pulling out some of the equipment we would be using. Don had amassed several desktops and 5 amplifiers donated by YCCC members to build up the station at J3A. The amplifiers were old, ranging from a mildewed L-4B, a battered Henry 2K, to a healthy-looking AL-811. The antenna farm was going to be a 40-2CD on 40 meters (already up on a 20-foot mast), a 5-element 10 meter monobander, a 4- element Cushcraft long-boom on 20 meters, and a 4-element monobander for 15 meters. An inverted vee for 80 meters would be installed on the tower with the 20-meter beam and a K2KQ double-L vertical for 160 supported by a 50-foot mast would give us Topband capability. Each monobander would have its own tower, 30‘ for 10 and 15 meters and 50’ for 20. (It’s good to be DX...)
We did what we could in the way of site preparation. The EOC has two sections of Rohn 25 installed and ready to “grow”. I made a makeshift climbing belt to install the push-up mast on the tower that would serve as the support the 160 antenna. I grunted and lugged the mast into position and clamped it to the top section of the tower. I became soaked with sweat as I jockeyed the mast to raise each section. Déjà vu’! It’s Field Day already! I was now panting and sweating like a summer 10K race and I only had half the mast extended. Don told me to come down before I fell down and let the Grenadian crew he hired worry about it later.
We went back to the hotel for lunch and dry clothes. When we got back to the site, I unpacked my rig and set about checking it out. I had to remember that it was now wired for 220 VAC operation and NOT to plug it into a 110 VAC outlet. Don motioned me into the smaller room and asked if I wanted to get on 40 and run Europe. I looked at him kind of puzzled and asked how I was going to hear anything at 4:00 in the afternoon. He smiled and reminded me that we are an hour ahead of the US, we are in the Caribbean, and we are THE ONLY ACTIVE STATION ON GRENADA. (It’s good to be DX...)
I parked myself on the low end of 40 and called CQ. Instantly, 2 Europeans came back to my call. I worked them easily, sent QRZ de J3/K2TE and had several more. The puny keyboard on my laptop made it difficult to type fast, often causing me to hit the wrong function key when responding to a station. After 10 minutes, I noticed that the pile was getting large and unruly. I tried to pull out calls but the annoying European habit of just sending the last two letters of their callsigns made things worse. My fumbling fingers got worse as I tried to go back to a station with the first part of his call, hoping he would be in the clear. Fat chance. I have observed many stations sending their call when it is no where close to what the DX station asked for. Sure enough, the frenzy got worse. Thirty minutes and many silent oaths later, I yanked the headphones off after just 30 Qs. I heard Don and Ann laughing at my predicament. Don pointed at his laptop and said that he had spotted me on the European cluster via Internet about 10 minutes after I started to operate. Relax, he said; a 40-meter pile-up of Europeans is the worst I would experience. (Uh, it’s good to be DX...)
That night we went to the airport after dinner to pick up two more members of our team. John, NJ1V, is a new returnee to New England having moved to Chelmsford from Texas back in the spring. Jim, K5TT, is a friend of John’s from when John lived in Oklahoma. Both are very good CW ops and both have experienced pile-ups thanks to a DXpedition to Belau (KC6) in the early 90s. John proved to be the comic for our group, often using Jim as his foil although Jim could throw it right back. John brought his FT-1000MP to use on 15 meters and Jim had a FT-990 that was slated for 160. My rig had the honors of being the muscle for 20 meters while a TS-870 was set for 40 meters. The last member of our group would be bringing his FT-1000MP for 10 meters.
Our Grenadian ground crew showed up Thursday morning. We had 4 guys led by a wiry fellow named Humphrey who had helped Don before. I asked Humphrey where was his climbing belt for the towers. He said that he didn’t like the feeling of both hands free so he either wraps an arm or leg around the tower. Oh well, I thought, it’s his neck.
Humphrey clearly knew what he was doing as he gave orders to the other 3 in the relaxed island dialect that no one understood. The 10- and 15-meter towers were 3 sections of Rohn 25 just like NARC uses for Field Day. We hoisted each tower up on to a stepladder and installed the beam. Each tower had a set of rope guys at the top and, with one man on each rope and Humphrey using an extension ladder, tower and beam were pushed up. These towers proved easy to put up since they were in opposite corners of the facility against the fence posts. Humphrey climbed the towers, threw a leg through a rung, and calmly connected the coax and rotor cable.
The 20-meter tower was an angle iron design made to work with a Hazer unit. The Hazer is nice if you don’t (or can’t) climb a tower since the rotor and beam are mounted on the side of the tower and get cranked up. Since we had no gin-pole to build the tower, we had to assemble all 50 feet on the ground and raise it up. I was skeptical about our prospects of getting the tower up since I knew what it took to raise 30 feet of Rohn 25 - and this stuff was heavier. “No problem, mon”, said Humphrey. “We do this before.” With two of our crew on the guy ropes, two holding the extension ladder, and the rest of us hoisting, we slowly worked the tower up. Humphrey calmly shouted when to pull/lift to keep things under control. The tower swayed a little as we got past the halfway point but went up smoothly to vertical.
The 20-meter beam, a 4-element Cushcraft with a 32-foot boom, was now ready to go up. This turned out to be a snap since the Hazer provided a convenient support about 10 feet off the ground for building the beam on the tower. Humphrey climbed the tower with the Hazer, dropping the ropes at the first set of guys, then reconnecting them. He repeated that at the top set, reconnecting them to the bottom of the Hazer unit. I was impressed at how relaxed he was at 50‘ with no guy ropes. Ah, to be so young again!
After a lunch break, Humphrey took care of hoisting the telescoping mast sections for the 160-meter antenna support. Soon after, we had the 160-meter, half-wave double-L antenna installed with 50 feet of vertical and the rest horizontal. It was now late in the afternoon and the heat was wearing me down. Humphrey and his crew, however, showed no signs of being tired, but then, I sort of expected them not to be. Don paid them and bid them farewell until Monday.
Once inside, we all plopped down to cool off and relax. I sat there staring at my rig and slowly came to the realization that there was an antenna connected to it. I grabbed my laptop, turned the rig on, and checked out the low end of twenty. The beam was aimed due North which would hit the eastern US, Europe, and on over the top to Japan. A quick CQ brought a European back. A few more CQs and the pile started to build. This time, I sent “up up” and started working split. Within minutes, I was rolling along picking out Europeans, Asiatic Russians, Japanese, and Korean stations. I smiled as I was in control and the world needed ME. I remember Mike, K7CTW, telling of his experiences. A long time ago (when he had hair - Ed note: Y1K was the big news item at that time) in a place far, far away (Bahrain), Mike held the world at his bidding for months as MP4BJR from that remote island kingdom. (IT’S GOOD TO BE DX...)
I was intently pecking at the keyboard logging stations when Don tapped me on the shoulder and said it was time to leave. Reluctantly, I shut it down after 90-odd minutes and 140 Qs. Ah, what a feeling! Bring on the contest!
That night, the last member of our operation arrived on the one flight into the island. Kazunori Watanabe, or “Kaz”, JK3GAD, arrived from London lugging a huge suitcase that probably weighed more than he did. Kaz is a 29-year-old Japanese investment banker working out of the London office of his company. His slight build made him look 10 years younger. He is a very quiet chap who, I had heard, lets his keyboard do the talking on CW. He is a contester for hire having operated from a multi-multi group in Alaska (where he became AL7NC). He also spent some time in Africa as 7Q7BR. He is the kind of guy who can push a sustained Q- rate of nearly 300/hour on CW. Kaz would look right at home wearing sunglasses, white gloves, and holding a gold Bencher paddle.
Friday morning started a little later than normal on the premise that we would get some extra sleep (another fat chance) to be ready for the contest that evening. We spent most of the day getting the amplifiers hooked up and the computer network rigged up. Each station was brought up in turn with its amplifier on and CT running for interference checks. Everything checked out fine. Interstation interference was remarkably absent thanks to ICE filters, although 80 meters did come through on 160 but not enough to kill the band. Don logged on to packet via the internet so we would be able to get DX spots since we would need other countries just like everyone else.
It was one more dash down the hill to the hotel for a quick dinner, shower, and back up to the station. I was ready and restless as 0000Z approached. Finally, it was CQ CONTEST TIME! J3A was off and running for CQ Worldwide CW 1999!
So how’d it go? Come to the NARC February club meeting and find out. (Don’t you hate it when I do that?)
73, de K2TE