 |
CQ WPX SSB CONTEST 2000
STORY
By Valeri Stefanov – LZ2CJ ( Wally)
The trend in HF Contesting in recent years for European Big Guns is
to build the M/M or M/S stations in countries next to
European Continent thus having the advantage of 3 or 6 points per almost each QSO made by working EU or USA. The Germans went to CN8 ,
Russians to 5B4 and Italians to 3V8 and African Italy Islands.
During last couple of years our results from LZ9A contest station have not shown any improvement. We constantly enter the top scores for M/S Europe, but are no longer able to reach top five places. Things have changed a lot during recent years and having 6,7 or 8 el. Monobanders on 20,15 and 10m plus 4 el. Monobander on 40m is not enough any longer.
After long discussions we decided instead of investing in a wood of stacked Yagies to “invest” in “creating” a contest station in Asiatic Turkey – the only site not still “invaded” by other European contesters. We have always been in good relations with our TA colleagues in spite of the political problems between two countries in 1989 when socialist ruler Todor Zivkov has forced the Turkish minority in Bulgaria to change their names and forced those unwilling to do so to immigrate in Turkey.
The
latest confirmation of the friendship and strong ties between Turkish and Bulgarian
radioamateurs was the collaboration between them during the last big earthquake in Izmit
area last year ,when a lot of people unfortunately died.
So,
the new challenging project was born and I contacted my old friend Bahri TA2BK (EX-
President of Turkish Amateur Radio Association) asking
him to find me a place from where to make an “exploratory” operation in WPX SSB 2000.
There are
over 2 000 hams in Turkey , but just very few of them are seriously active in HF contests.
The TA3J, TA3D and TA3YJ are the callsigns most often seen in different contests results
and that’s why I asked Bahri to get in contact with them and to pass my request to
operate from TA3J&TA3YJ’s QTH.
| |
Berkin
and Nilay were happy to accept me visiting
them and proposed exactly what I have been afraid to suggest myself at this early stage
– formation of a Turkish – Bulgarian M/S
Contest Team. This happened in early February 2000. A preparations started right away
because we haven’t had much time.
The
other LZ member of the team was to be my good friend Ceco – LZ2FV. He is an electronic
engineer and this proved to be very useful during our stay.So, we sent the copies of our
LZ licenses and TA3J and TA3YJ have been able to get in their hands the license for
special callsign to be used by the team - YM3LZ after ONLY 12 hours !!!
The
other great gesture from the Turkish side was done by Turkish Embassy in Bulgaria. Our
visas have been issued within couple of hours !!!
Equipment
to be used was the TS930S of Berkin and Nilay(TA3J and TA3YJ) and the TS850 of Yasar
(TA3D). The main problem was the Power Amplifier. I did not want to risk with the customs
this time and to carry with me my ACOM 2000A amplifier, so we jointly decided to go with
Yasar’s home brew 400 W amplifier in this
exploratory M/S operation. Antennas planned were A3S
tribander of TA3D for 20,15 and 10m plus a wire made yagi for 40m and 20m vertical for 80
and 160m (incl. beverages for reception) I have had some imagination about the mountain
QTH of Berkin and Nilay from the drawing sent to me by Yasar by Fax, but this proved to be
very wrong when we arrived at the place – Hi.
ANTENNAS
|
The
antennas proved being our weakest part as have been seen later on. Having not any
experience with building verticals and due to a bad weather and lack of human “power”
, Berkin and Yasar with a help of just one more man in winter storm with strong wind and
40 cm of snow on the ground at 1000m asl after heroic efforts were able to erect a 20m
high vertical. They however placed it just in contact with a small building which they
used as support .So, when we arrived with Ceco, we realized that vertical was installed
the wrong way.
So,
other solutions were to be looked for 80 and 160m antennas due to a lack of time. After
arrival we as mentioned above also seen that we are located on the one side of 1500m high peak, which was sloping to the sea
level at an angle of about 50- 60 deg. Site
was widely open towards South America, USA and Europe and still a clear shot was possible
towards Japan, but location was not suitable for installing the beverages in these
directions due to a topography of the region.
 |
Three
12 m high masts were available as support ,placed in a triangle configuration and spaced
app. 50 m apart. After lot of thinking and having in mind that 160m is rarely used in WPX
contest, we decided to go for an inverted sloping Delta Loop antenna for 80m with its base
between two masts at 12m high and its apex sloping to abt 3 m above ground . Thus Delta
Loop was beamed to Europe/ USA and was to use the ground as a natural reflector.
( In
the contest this antenna was putting a “killer” signal into EU with just 400W of
power).
After having the 80m Loop up, we started preparations to put up the A3S for higher bands.
 |
The
tribander was to be installed on a separate 12m high mast. We assembled the tribander and
tried to erect the mast together with A3S. We were only 4 and it proved impossible to make
it just by hands. So, we were forced to cut the mast to just 8 m and we tried again. We
almost succeeded this time, just to realize that we forgot to connect the coax to the yagi
– Hi. All construction went on the ground again, coax was connected and finally Yagi
went up at its final position We did not used
a rotator this time. Due to a nice location the effective antenna height was very nice and
this simple A3S with just 400 W PA did great for us especially on 10m.
The
greatest problem, however proved to be a 40m antenna. We were planning to make a wire 3 or
4 el. Yagi fixed to Europe, but due to the location of the masts and topography of the
terrain it was not possible this time. So, we decided to use the 20m erected vertical as a
post and to install a sloping 160 m rectangle which to use also as a 40m antenna via the
tuner. I have used such antenna on 40m at LZ2CJ in Pleven with great success in 1997. It
took us whole Friday to put this Large Loop up just to realize at early evening that this antenna on 40m is less effective than the 80m
Delta Loop via the tuner. It was a great RX antenna on 160m ,but fully ineffective as TX
antenna due to the fact it was so close to the ground. ( We have tried to call stations in
the contest with 100W since our PA was not working on 160m. The only station which was
able to get our callsign told us we are a DUPE on 1.8mhz for him in spite of the fact we
have not worked anyone on top band at all in contest !– Hi ) There was no time left
before darkness for anything else beside a simple Dipole for 40m and this is what we did.
( We wanted to get some sleep before the start of the Contest). Since it was an exploratory participation and we
did not really hoped to make a big score with our 400W amplifier we thought a dipole on
40m will go. (The coax connection of this Dipole blown up
due to the wind after getting in contact with the short steel mast it was attached to on the roof of the house.
So, after first night we used 80m Delta Loop as 7 mhz antenna,too.)
Finally,
we ended with A3S on 20,15 and 10m, Dipole
on 40m and single Delta Loop on 80m.(T/S – M/S Category – Hi ). These were
complemented by 400 W PA of TA3D working on 80 – 10m .
CONTEST
The
planned strategy was to stay as long as we can on 80 and 40m to get the advantage of EU 6
points QSOs and to maintain a good rates on higher bands during the day time, if possible.
Target set was 3 000 QSOs and 10 000 000 pts.
This
approach was affected by the nice propagation on higher bands. Although, we were loud
enough on 80 and 40m even with single Delta Loop and single Dipole and just 400 W, there
were no enough stations to work. All went to 20 ,15 and 10m bands.We started on 80m and
made 121 QSOs during the first hour. This was not a bad rate for 6 points contacts on a
noisy 80m band. For next 40minutes we kept making one QSO per minute and that’s why we
went to 40m at 01.46 GMT. The rate there was still 70 QSOs per hour and since this is
equal to a 140 per hour on 20m we stayed on 7 mhz until the morning time with short jumps
on 80m at 02.30 and 04.20 Z. At 04.28 Z we
have ended with lower bands with QSO total of 312 QSOs. Afterwards Berkin and Yasar took
the mike and laptop and went on 20m. There they were running mainly Europeans until 07.47
UTC. When moved to 15m at this time they tried to build up a good run ,but rate was not
high enough ,so they QSYd to 10m at 08.12 Z. There was one more try on 15m at around
10.50Z and shortly a return followed to 10m. At 14.30 YM3LZ went on 15 m again and we were
able to maintain the run on this band up to 18.35 Z. Afterwards we stayed on 20m until 20.00 Z and made a short jump on 15m to
land on 40m at 20.27 UTC.
Between
20.27 Z and 23.24Z we kept on jumping between
40 and 80m and at 23.27 UTC went
finally on 20m. The first 24 hours of the contest finished on 20m band with a QSO total of
1 775.
We
tried 15m , 40m and 80m between 00.50 and 02.00 Z and then stayed on 20m until 6.13 UTC.
Afterwards it was a turn of 15m up to 8.18 Z. Time until
19.00Z was spent mostly on 10m with some QSY periods to 15m to keep the rate
strong.
At
12.00Z our PA suddenly went dead and for about 4 hours we were running an output power
of just 100 W using TS850 barefoot. Thanks to the hard work and creativity of Ceco(LZ2FV)
and Yasar ( TA3D) the other blown up before the contest amplifier of TA3J was repaired and
we were back around 16.00 Z with 350W
on the air.
Next
hours after 19.00 UTC to the end of the contest were spent on 20m with a single “slow”
jump to 80 m.
Due to a nice propagation on high bands irrespective of very simple antennas and relatively low power for M/S Category we met easily our pre contest target of 3 000 QSO’s.
We claimed 3811 QSOs and 881 multipliers for a FINAL SCORE of : 11 314 683 points.
We
would even done better , if we turned antenna to Japan on 20m during the night time for an hour or two to get
more multipliers when rate was slow on 40m. We’ll do it next time – Hi.
The
exploratory YM3LZ M/S operation proved to be a great success and we declared the Turkish -
Bulgarian Contest Team Founded !
We
took the decision to continue this way in the future contests working hard to improve our
antennas and our amplifiers and promoting peace and friendship via amateur radio between
nations living in our troubled Balkan Region.
Special THANKS
go to the wife of Berkin – Nilay TA3YJ for her GREAT logistic support during the entire
48 hours and for helping with computer logging when her help was asked for.
 |
 |
OUR BIG GRATEFULNESS TO Aydogmus Family ( Berkin and Nilay and their son Taylan) for their GREAT HOSPITALITY both outside of the contest and during the contest time.
Thanks also to Yasar and his wife and
Family for
a nice evening and dinner on Tuesday after the
test.
See
you all in next contest. 73 & 88’s
 |
 |
