CQWW SSB Contest 1998 -
WP2Z
The Florida DXPedition Group traveled to St. Croix
in the U.S. Virgin Islands the last part of October 1998 to
participate in the CQWW SSB contest. Members of the group
utilized Windwood Estates on the north shore of St. Croix as
their QTH from October 19th-27th, 1998. Windwood Estates is the
highest private residence on the island, sitting 900 ft. above
the ocean. If you would like more information about this great
site for your own DXpedition detailed info can be found at www.qth.com/windwood.
A picture of the north
side of Windwood Estates
Several members of this
year's team were veterans of contesting from this great site.
Operations before and after the contest included SSB, CW, and
RTTY, with the individual team members signing their own call
/KP2. During the CQWW SSB contest the team utilized the call sign
for Windwood which is WP2Z.
WP2Z CQWW 1998 From Hurricane Alley
By Clarence J. Kerous W4CJK/KP2
For the CQWW SSB Contest
1998 members of the Florida DXPedition Group (FDXPG) began
looking for a location to operate. This we began in January of
this year, and in a real stroke of good luck secured Windwood in
the U.S. Virgin Islands after another group cancelled out.
Windwood is located 900 feet above sea level on the island of St.
Croix. When we rented it for 8 days for the CQWW SSB test, we
also got the use of the callsign WP2Z, a real advantage during
thecontest.
The dream team for the CQWW ended up as Bill W4WX, expedition
leader and founder of the FDXPG, Clarence W4CJK, Ernie W5OXA,
William N2WB, Jim AA9TK, and Chris VE3FU. Both Bill and myself
(Clarence) were veterans of operating at Windwood as we did the
CQWW in 1996 as WP2AHW, so we knew the lay of the land, and what
to expect.
As the months went by we were all kept busy preparing for the day
we could finally leave for KP2 land, we passed a mountain of
e-mails back and forth, and Ma Bells pockets were fattened with
countless phone calls among the group. Finally Oct. 19, 1998
arrived, the day of our departure. Bill W4WX,and myself, Clarence
W4CJK, flew out of Jacksonville, Florida International Airport at
7:45 am to Miami International Airport. When we arrived at JIA we
were ready to unpack and turn on all our electronic gear, but
surprisingly after being x-rayed, we were waved on thru! We took
off from JIA on a beautiful sunny morning in a American Airlines
Saab 340-B. By the time we got to Miami it was overcast and
raining. At MIA we hooked up with William N2WB, and the 3 of us
would fly to the USVI and St. Croix together, but not without a
few apprehensive moments. Our flight was put on hold as the plane
had mechanical problems. Later we were told the plane was taken
out of service with engine trouble, and another plane was found
and being readied, and all the baggage was being transfered to
it. Unfortunately it was located in a different concourse on the
other side of the airport, so we had to walk thru the entire
airport carrying our 2 carry onbags of heavy gear, and had to
have it x-rayed again, and again amazingly we were waved thru
without having to open any of them up, or turn anything on !
Finally 1 hour and 45 minutes late we took off for St. Croix.
Once out of MIA our flight on a Boeing 727 was smooth as glass.
As we approached St. Croix fom 27,000 feet, it again clouded over
and was raining as we landed.
At the airport we were met by Chris VE3FU, who was from Ottawa,
Canada, and was already there. After our voluminous baggage was
unloaded we piled all of it and us in a big Dodge van and headed
for Windwood, which being on one of the highest points on the
island is readily visible from almost any place on St. Croix. As
we drove thru and out of Christiansted we could see evidence of
damage here and there from Hurricane Georges which raked the
island a month earlier. After Georges hit St. Croix we all spent
2 and one half agonizing weeks waiting for word that the
electricity was back on, as there was none after the hurricane
passed thru. Luckily for us the power was restored a week before
we landed, as was telephone service. As we climbed higher and
higher driving on the left side of the winding roads to get to
Windwood we all became very anxious, for the last mile of the
journey up the mountain, the big Dodge van was in low gear, and
the V8 engine was screaming, pulling us and the driver, and all
our gear to the summit. When we finally got to Windwood it was
like a homecoming to Bill and I, as it brought back many good
past memories from 1996 and the CQWW as WP2AHW !.
We quickly unpacked and stowed our personal gear, and got down to
the real and only reason we were here, ham radio and the CQWW!.
At Windwood is a very complete station consisting of a Yaesu FT
1000 MP, an Icom IC 751, an Ameritron AL-82 2kw amplifier, as
well as a bencher paddle, Heil pro-set, MFJ memory keyer, MFJ
noise reduction unit, MFJ 3kw antenna tuner, and a desktop and
laptop computer. The Windood antenna farm is as follows, a Force
12 C4 with 40 meter add on kit on a 30 foot tower, a Cushcraft
A-3 tribander on a push up pole, a Cushcraft 402 CD two element
40 meter beam on a 20 foot tower, a Gladiator vertical for 80
meters, a 80 meter sloper which is attached to the tower which
the C-4 is on, and slopes down the hill, and a 80 and 160 trapped
dipole which is also attached to the C-4 tower, which also slopes
down the hill from Windwood. Keep in mind that although these
antennas are not high above the ground, the ground is over 900
feet above sea level, they all performed awesomely, and we kept
getting reports on how loud we were!. There was only one small
problem with all these impressive antennas, none of them were
up!. Because of Hurricane Georges a month earlier all were taken
down and stowed, and the tower for the C-4 was laying on the
ground next to the house. So we had our work cut out for us, on
Monday afternoon shortly after our arrival we first assembled the
Force 12 C-4 and mounted it to the mast on the 30 foot tower, the
tailtwister T2X rotor was still mounted and wrapped in plastic to
protect it from the elements. We used a come-a-long and ropes
which were stored in the antenna locker in the house, and got the
tower and beam up in short order. Unfortunately whoever took it
down didn't keep the bolts together, we found some dropped on the
ground around the tower, and scrounged up some more from the
utility room and antenna locker. Once the tower and beam was up
and secure, we climbed the tower and put up the two wire
antennas, again whoever took them down must have been in a real
hurry with the hurricane approaching as the wires were just cut
and thrown in the bushes on the side of the hill. We found them
after some searching in the brush on the side of the hill, and
let me tell you that was a real experience as the hill slopes
down at 45 degrees and and gets steeper as you get down a ways,
the footing is very poor with loose and crumbling volcanic rock.
By dark of our first day at Windwood we had about one half of the
antennas up and operational. We tried them out briefly, it was
like turning on a switch, an instant pileup when you called CQ.
Wow! Another member of our dream team flew in from Biloxi,
Mississippi, we were all glad to finally get to met Ernie W5OXA
in person for the first time. Ernie is a really likeable guy who
fit right in from the start ! This only left Jim AA9TK, he was
arriving on 1:35 pm the next day, flying in from O'Hare airport
in Chicago to Miami, then onto St. Croix, or so we thought !
The sun arrives very early in St. Croix, first light is around
5:20 am Atlantic Standard Time, St. Croix is as far east as you
can go in the U.S. and its possesions. We drove down the mountain
to Kingshill for a leisurely breakfast at the local McDonalds,
everything tasted the same as it does back in the states ! We
then stocked up on groceries and beer at the local Pueblo grocery
chain store. Then it was back to work, the Cushcraft A-3 was
assembled and put up on its push up pole out in the front yard.
The hardest part of the job was pounding stakes in the ground for
the guy ropes, we kept hitting lava rock just below the surface,
but finally got them in and secured the A-3. We used a rope tied
to the boom to turn it. We then assembled two 10 foot sections of
Rohn 25G tower and mounted it to a concrete pad on the opposite
side of the driveway from the A-3 and hinged it down, then we
assembled the 402-CD 2 element 40 meter beam, it was a breeze as
everything on the beam. as well as the A-3 is marked with color
coded tape, so all we had to do is match up the right color tape
and assemble them both. We then attached a rope to a Turpentine
tree and used the come-a-long and hauled the 40 meter tower and
beam upright and secured it.
Finally all the antennas were up and running. We had a station
with the Yaesu FT 1000 MP using the C-4 beam and William put out
a CQ, after 2 fast contacts, the digital display went out, we
could not tell what frequency we were on, amazingly the rig still
worked, but with no display we could not use it for the CQWW!
Ernie W5OXA brought along his Kenwood TS-50 with matching tuner
and power supply, and we quickly pressed it into service, and
retired the FT 1000 MP with no display. Bill W4WX brought his
Icom IC-706, and using the Astron 20 amp power supply from the
Icom IC-751 which was at Windwood we now had 2 rigs on the air.
We were anxious for Jim AA9TK the last member of our group to
arrive. We called the airport, and were told his flight was
delayed on account of mechanical problems with the plane. Jim was
to arrive on St. Croix on Tuesday at 1:35 pm at the Henry E.
Raulerson airport just outside of Christiansted, he finally got
there at 8:30pm, after numerous delays and diversions to
different airports all over the eastern USA. He finally got to
San Juan, Puerto Rico, and once there caught an American Eagle
hop to get to us in St. Croix, As the old saying goes, better
late then never. Jim brought with him a second operating Yaesu FT
1000 MP, and an Icom IC-738, and Drake MN-2000 high power antenna
tuner. We now had all the pieces we needed to assemble our
running and multiplier stations!
Your scribe brought along a Icom IC 28H 45 watt 2 meter rig, and
a MFJ 1274 TNC. Bill packed along a small 3 element MFJ 2 meter
beam. We assembled the beam and mounted it off the side of the
tower and aimed it toward Puerto Rico. With the gracious help of
a local ham Jimmie KP2BH, who stopped by and showed us how, we
connected to the node PIRATA on 145.30 in Puerto Rico, from there
we connected to KP4ES, and then to either DXC with is the WU3V
mega cluster in Lafayette, Louisiana, or to DX2 which is the
AC4ET DX Cluster located in Jacksonville, Florida. This was going
to be very useful in finding needed multipliers during the
contest.
The days before the contest were spent calling CQ and working
down the resulting pileups, or sightseeing, or just plain
relaxing, but as the old bromide says, ignorance is bliss, on
Tuesday evening as we were grinding down the pileups the weather
took a real turn for the worse very fast, the sky got very dark
and looked really ominous, then the rains started, it was a
torrental downpour like none of us had ever seen. The winds
picked up and howled around Windwood like a banshee!. It kept
this up Tuesday evening, all day on Wednesday, and into Thursday
afternoon. At times the visibility was absolute zero, we were on
the top of the island and could not see a thing at all. We tried
to get the weather on the TV, but the cable TV was still out from
Hurricane Georges a month earlier, luckily I brought a AM/FM and
short wave radio along. I tuned it to FM on 104.90 and got the
weather from WMGN Mongoose 104.9 in St Croix, we then learned of
Hurricane Mitch which was ravaging the Carribean to the south of
us. It did not hit St. Croix, but we got a good battering with
high winds and rain for over 2 days. Two major Hurricanes in a
month, St. Croix was turning into a real Hurricane Alley ! At
times the rain static was 20 over S9 making the bands totally
useless. Luckily Hurricane Mitch passed with no damage to any of
the antennas, and by Friday morning the sun was shining again.
Finally time for the contest drew near, we were all a little
nervous, Ernie and Jim never worked a major bash like this
before, but as it turned out they both did just great. WP2Z for
the CQWW SSB 1998 test would be a multi-single effort.
The running staion consisted of a Yaesu FT 1000 MP, Ameritron
AL-82 amplifier running thru an MFJ 3kw tuner if needed. The
running station used a Packard Bell 486 color laptop running CT
version 9.37 for logging. It was connected to the computer on the
multiplier station with a null modem cable. The multiplier
station was an Icom IC-738, with a Ten-Tec Centaur amplifier,
thru a Drake MN2000 tuner. The laptop was an IBM Pentium Think
Pad also running CT version 9.37. We drew up an operating
schedule for the entire contest, 4 hours on, 8 hours off. To
begin the test we had our big guns, William N2WB, on the running
station, and Chris VE3FU manning the multiplier station. At last
the clock ticked down and the bedlam erupted, QRZed Contest WP2Z,
Whiskey Papa 2 Zulu!. We started out on 20 meters, it was total
chaos at first, but quickly settled into a routine of grinding
out the Q's endlessly, as the hours of the first nite wore on we
went to 40 were we worked split, and then down to 80 meters, and
then to the top band, 160 meters. I had the 0800 Z to 1200 Z
shift on the running station, and 80 meters was unbelievable,
thousands of stations all slugging it out for a qso with WP2Z, I
was passed out "Qsl your 59 08" as fast as I could type
them into the computer. I then dropped to 160 meters, the noise
level was S9 to 10 over, but we had an ace up our sleeve for 160,
a snake receiving antenna laying on the ground and sloping down
the hill. It was erected by a group of EI hams. It made all the
difference in the world on receiving. Stations that were totally
in the noise, were Q-5 on the snake. I stayed on 160 meters until
a little after daylight working some gray line qso's. Then I went
to 15 meters, and the beam was pointed toward Europe, My God!,
the entire world was on 15!. Europeans were everywhere, and once
again I worked them as fast as I could log them. My 4 hour shift
was over in what seemed like a few minutes, after I was relieved
by another operator I had a quick breakfast and crashed for about
6 hours of sleep. Then it was up again as it was my turn for 4
hours on the multiplier station. It went by in an instant as I
combed the bands looking for needed multipliers, and then after 8
hours off I was back on the running station again early Sunday
morning, I had some really great qso rates going at times, and if
we needed a mult on another band I would ask them to QSY, and
would pass it to the multiplier station using the alternate G to
pass messages with CT. Using the Yaesu FT 1000 MP was like a
dream come true, it has dual receivers,
The main receiver, and sub receiver I set it up to transmit on 40
meters on 7.096, and was listening my frequency, and on 7.220 at
the same time !. I had 2 hugh pileups going at the same time,
Europe on 7.096, and the USA on 7220. This is the experience of a
lifetime for any DX er! From KP2 land we could operate 40 meter
SSB down to 7075, so it made this possible. Once again the 4 hour
shift went by in the blink of an eye, it was countless "your
59 08" and "QRZed from Whiskey Papa 2 Zulu".
Shortly after my shift was over Mr. Murphy paid us a little
visit, the entire island lost power! It lasted for about 1 and
one half agonizing hours. From about 1200 Z to 1330 Z. Windwood
has a 3kw generator for use when the power goes out, but
unfortunatly it suffered a mortal wound when used by the
caretakers in the aftermath of hurricane Georges, it was seized
up totally, it was only good for use as a boat anchor! All we
could do was sit it out and wait for the power to come back on,
it seemed like an eternity, but mercifully it came back on after
and hour and a half. Then it was back to "CQ contest from
Whiskey Papa 2 Zulu". My last shift of the contest was 12
noon to 4 pm local time, on the multiplier station. I kept
digging out new multipliers, and near the end of my shift 10
meters was wide open to the Pacific. I picked up a bunch of juicy
new mults, FK8, T32, FO, VR2, KH2, KH0, V63, C21, 3D2, C21 and
many others as well. As fast as it began, my shift was over. We
broke down the last 4 hour shift into 4 one hour shift to give us
one last chance to work the running station. About all I can
remember was calling QRZ, it was a slug fest on 20 meters almost
beyond belief, the hour went by in a heartbeat! Bill W4WX had the
honor of the last hour on the running station, and he really had
a run going, when all to soon it was over, and the bands fell
quiet instantly.
We then backed up the logs, saved them to disk, and put the disks
away safely. Then we went out for our traditional Victory Dinner.
We had a great meal at a place on the east end of the island
called Cheeseburgers in Paradise!. Totally open air atmosphere
with a live Reggae Band playing, how good it is MON!. We downed
several cold 807's and had the house special, a one half pound
cheeseburger with all the trimmings. What a glorious way to end
the CQWW, clear skies, moonlite, cool breezes of the caribbean,
now I know why the U.S. Virgin Islands are called "American
Paradise". It just can't get any better that this!. We then
returned to Windwood, and most of us crashed, but Chris got on 40
meter CW, he is truly a QSO Machine!.
On Monday evening after the test was over William N2WB got on 15
SSB and experienced a fantastic opening to JA land. He logged
literally hundreds upon hundreds of station in Japan, there were
so many, he had to work them split in order to work the pileup
down. Your scribe at the same time was on 20 meters and around
2300 the band also opened to JA, suddenly there were hundreds of
JA's calling me. We then had 2 JA pileups going at the same time,
what an experience that was!. William and I both must say that
our JA friends are the most courteous operators in the world,
when we would go back to one particular station, the rest would
all stand by, no one else calling, no delayed or tail end calls.
It is indeed a pleasure to work such polite and disciplined ops!.
Before and after the contest we all operated leisurely, we all
made around 2000 qsos each without even trying. Bill W4WX made
about 320 RTTY qsos with a Kam Plus he brought along. He also
brought along a small 6 meter vertical which we set up, and about
50 qsos on 6 were also made. When we got home we all had a pile
of QSL cards waiting to greet us. Ernie and Chris flew out on
Monday, and the rest of us left to go back home on Tuesday, In my
log entry for Tuesday morning before we left I have a bunch of
European QSO's, alot from the USA, several more JA's, and my last
qso after calling CQ for the last time from St. Croix was VR2KF,
this is the stuff dreams are made of!.
With
the CQWW SSB 1998 behind us its time to look ahead to the 1999
bash, We have our sights set on the emerald isle of St. Lucia for
a M/S effort as J6??. Hope to see you all in the pileups from
there !!.
For further
information, please go to the following sites
on the world wide web:
WP2Z pictures before, during, and after the CQWW contest:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hall/1204/photo.html
Information on renting Windwood WP2Z:
www.qth.com/windwood
Written by:
Clarence J. Kerous W4CJK
1104 Buggy Whip Trail
Middleburg, Florida 32068-3312
Please QSL via each
individual's home CBA or via the buro for any contacts made
before or after the CQWW SSB contest. QSL's
for contacts made with WP2Z during the contest should be sent via Steve Wheatley KU9C, P.O. Box 5953, Parsippany,
NJ 07054.
Please include a SASE or sufficient funds for
postage if you QSL direct !!
Back to
FDXPG Home Page
This Webpage created by Gary L. Young -
K4GZ. Any comments, suggestions, or ideas can be sent by email to [email protected]. Last updated
by W4WX on 8 November 2002.