Re:CQWW CW 2009 - 2009/12/01 10:06Last update from Yuri VE2IM: QSO about 5K Points about 7M73! Alexey VE2XAA
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va2wdq
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Re:CQWW CW 2009 - 2009/12/01 13:10So CGQ-1 team would have score about 13M )))) Not bad!
73!
Victor
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VE2FK
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Re:CQWW CW 2009 - 2009/12/01 15:34Ok, let's say we will all be QRV for a big score next year. By the time Fabi will be running CW to help. For sure we are having fun.
73, Claude VE2FK
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VE2FK
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Re:CQWW CW 2009 - 2009/12/01 16:55Alexey, ask Yuri if he got any pictures of his operation in zone 2. Would be nice to see his setup.
73
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VE2XAA
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Re:CQWW CW 2009 - 2009/12/04 08:58Claude, Yuri did not send me the photos, but the story only. ************ Initially, Alex VE 2XAA was supposed to use the station for the CW Contest, however, his work and family commitments forced him to cancel his trip at the very last moment. He offered me his spot. First the idea of driving again 3000 km (as I did already for the SSB part) was not very encouraging, but since I could not book any decent location for this one, I finally decided to take over, especially hoping to be probably (as usual for CW) the only one Zone 2 station. Left Toronto around 2 P.M. on Tuesday and made it to Montreal in about 6 hours. Stayed overnight at VE2XAA's and left for Sept-Iles the next morning at 6:15. The weather was excellent except for the small portion of the route in the mountains between Quebec City and La Malbaie where the visibility was very limited due to fog, but overall it was unbelievably warm for Northern Quebec - +2C all the way, though usually at this time of the year everything is already covered by snow. Anyway, with just three stops - two for gas and one for the ferry in Tadoussac, I managed to get to Sept-Iles (950 km ride from Montreal) at 3:30P.M., after a 9:15 hrs. drive, which is a new record for me. By the time I picked up keys from the station and bought some food at the local grocery store it was already 5 o'clock. I was so tired that all I could manage is to unpack and install my FT1000MP and hook it up with DX-2SP amplifier (thanks to Paul, VE3TA) and make few contacts on top band. I also checked SWR on 7 elements tribander and 40/80 m dipoles. Everything looked Okay, so after a couple of beers I happily fell asleep. Next morning I started with adjusting the 80/160 m dipoles to CW portion of the bands and tuning 160 m Inverted L. I had 6 radials that I made for my previous trip so I added 2 more and with the tuner that I borrowed from VE3XB and modified a bit, the Inv. L tuned perfectly on 1825. Looked like an easy task, the whole procedure took almost all day, but at least I did not have to worry about low bands anymore. It's getting dark early in Northern latitudes and around 4 P.M. it was already completely dark. I ate my late lunch and started to assemble Cushcraft AP8A 8 band vertical which I intended to use with the 2nd radio. I felt so brave that I even managed to put it up and lay radials in complete darkness, but I had to postpone the idea of tuning it until the next morning. Instead, I did set up my 2nd radio and amp. Everything looked more or less good, except I had my computer hang on 80 meters when I used external keyboard. I tried all kind of toroids and filtering that I could but it helped very little. Oh well, you know how it goes, when you set up a field day style station: I decided not to use external keyboard on 80, but anyway - later in the contest while on 80 I had to reboot my PC few times and LOG "old style" on paper: I gave up for the night and made another few Q's on top band, trying to give new Zone on 160 for the desired. Next morning I relatively quickly tuned my AP8A and even had time to put up my old TH3 which I had in the storage since 2004 when we did our only M/S operation from Zone 2. I could not believe - by the 2 P.M. I had everything up and running and I even had some time to think about my operating strategy a bit! K9GY already pointed out that having a good rest prior to the Contest is a key thing to stay awake. I can share a secret with you - for me it works big time! This time I managed a 3-hour nap before the Contest and it allowed me to stay tuned almost the whole Contest. I decided to start on 160 m with 2nd radio on 40 and it paid off with few rare mults on top band. I used 2nd radio pretty extensively during the whole Contest. However some time at mid-mark I fired a trap on AP8A which somewhat reduced my 2nd radio ability. However TH3, that I put up at the very last moment, helped a lot. Conditions were pretty interesting, can't say good or bad, however, on 20 meters I managed only 3 or 4 Japanese, though I heard guys some 1000 km south of me were enjoying JA pile-ups for quite some time: Also I made same mistake as usual - stayed too long on 20, and missed some EU openings on 15, however at the same time I managed to break 1000 Q's barrier on 40 and 80 for the first time from Zone 2. Also 447 Q's and 38 DXCC on top band makes me think that I did not waste my time with that Inv. L antenna: Anyway, after the Contest was over, it took 2 hours at night and 3 hours the following morning to take everything down and pack. Driving back was not as smooth as before, I've seen snow, ice, wind and so on. Had to stop more often sibce I was was falling asleep... Anyway - tired to death but alive and well by 9:30 P.M. Monday I was already in Montreal sharing stories with my buddy VE2XAA. This trip marks my 10 years of travelling to Zone 2 for the CQ WW Contests. In the past 10 years from Zone 2 I've participated in 7 CQ WW SSB, 6 CQ WW CW and 1 CQ 160m CW Contests. I logged more than 75,000 QSOs and I was happy to give a new zone to a lot of guys. I am greatful to late Phil Goetz N6ZZ who introduced me the idea of going to Zone 2 for the CQ WW and I was really > happy to get in touch with many local VE2 guys including VE2NN (now S.K.), VE2XY, VE2STK and VA2FGG. Another thing - if you stay alone at such remote location, sometimes you feel lonely and I really appreciated the support of my good friend Paul, VE3TA who called me few times a day and tried to let me think that I'm not alone. Thanks! Big thank you to all for the QSO's and a lot of fun that I had over the years. Special thanks to those who did not refuse to move to another band for me. Hopefully next year I'll manage to get on from some 3-point location. Thank you for reading. Season's greetings. Yuri VE3DZ / VE2IM73! Alexey VE2XAA
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VE2FK
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Re:CQWW CW 2009 - 2009/12/04 09:28Alexey thanks for QSPing the report and BRAVO Yuri. Hard working guy, no wonder why the result is so good.
73, Claude VE2FK
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VA2UP
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Re:CQWW CW 2009 - 2009/12/04 10:30Thank you Alexey. Yuri, this makes for very enjoyable reading, I don't have the pleasure of knowing you personally but look forward to meeting you in the future maybe over a CGQ spring BBQ or something. Congratulations for a job well done!
73, Fabi
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va2wdq
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Re:CQWW CW 2009 - 2009/12/04 10:31Alexei,
Thank you for Yuri's story upload. That's very interesting.
73!
Victor
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va2wdq
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Re:CQWW CW 2009 - 2010/09/09 16:08Contest Group du Quebec won 3-rd Place in the CQ WW Team competition!!!!!!
Forume
