In 1986 I decided to try my luck at contesting. The CW Sweepstakes presented itself as my first opportunity. My effort, though low in score, was a lot of fun. I soon began entering all the major contests and my scores began to rise as my skills and code speed increased. Still the scores were not competitive with the big stations. In May of 1988, I got the chance to operate in the WPX CW contest with the multi-multi team at WM5G. I finally got a taste of big-time contesting and discovered what a difference a big station could make. I had always enjoyed contesting before, but this really hooked me on it.
In early August of last year, I received a phone call from Bill Carter, KM5R. Bill told me that he and Ron Marra, AA5DX, were planning a Dxpedition to VP2M (Montserrat) for the CQWW CW Contest and they needed another operator. I had always wondered what it would be like at the other end of the pileup in a big contest, so I quickly accepted. The fact that Ron and Bill were both experienced expeditioners made my decision a lot easier.
Planning for the trip began almost immediately. Bill had to leave for law school in San Antonio, but kept in touch by mail and phone. Ron and I kept in touch by mail and phone. Ron and I kept in touch by phone on a weekly basis, making sure all the details were worked out.
Our operating site was the summer home of Perry Britain, W5STI, and VP2MR, who is a local ham here in Dallas. Perry's neighbor in Montserrat is Doc Hollatz, VP2MF, who helped with our licenses and assisted us by meeting weekly radio schedules with AA5DX.
Finally, on November 21, we were ready to leave. Ron and I left together from DFW Airport; Bill left the next morning from San Antonio. I carried my TS-530S, a key, and assorted paper work. Ron carried a TS-930S, borrowed from WM5G, his own FL-2100B amplifier, a keyer, Beverage wire and coax cables. Meanwhile, Bill had the unpleasant task of carrying a 75-pound Alpha 76. We would meet Bill the following night in Montserrat as we planned to spend a day in Antigua.
Our flight arrived in Puerto Rico at 8:30 PM. From there, we flew to Antigua where, by 11:00 PM, we were settled into our hotel room. The hotel where we stayed was not luxurious, to put it kindly, but we survived and awoke Tuesday ready to look around the island. Our first stop was the city of St. John's, which is not the tourist hub of the island. In fact, the only way I can describe it is like Beirut without the gunfire! Once you get out of St. John's though; you discover why this island is such a tourist spot. The scenery and beaches were the best I had ever seen.
Tuesday afternoon, we left Antigua for Montserrat. The flight took only about 15 minutes. As in Antigua, we experienced no problem getting our equipment through customs. We arrived at our QTH about 8:00 PM. Soon after, I had my TS-530S set up and began handing out contacts as VP2M/WQ5W.
The next morning, we got a chance to look around the island. Montserrat is small, only about 39 square miles, and very mountainous. Everywhere you look, you see lush green mountains. The population consists of about 7000 people. Plymouth, the capital, is small and not unlike many small US towns. The entire island, in terms of modern conveniences, is fairly comparable to living at home.
After a little tourism, the rest of Wednesday was spent working on the station. For the run station, we set up the TS-930S and the Alpha linear. The multiplier station used the TS-530S and FL-2100B. All our antennas had to be built or connected. We built a 160-meter Beverage for Europe and rebuilt two umbrella verticals. For 40, we were allowed to use a 3-element monoband Yagi. The high bands were covered by a 3-element TET tribander at 60 feet. We used the beams for the run station and the umbrella verticals for the multiplier station.
Contest time arrived Friday evening. Our operating plan was organized in nine-hour shifts. Each operator spent the first three hours of his shift at the run station, the second three hours at the multiplier station, and the last three hours sleeping. This plan made sure that a fresh operator was manning the run station at all times. At the start of the contest, I operated the run station, Bill was on the multiplier station, and Ron stood by and nervously watched.
On November 26, 1988 at 0000Z, VP2MW hit the air on 15 meters. I ran 176 stations the first hour, my best ever! After three hours of 160+ contacts per hour, I finally knew just how much fun a contest could be. The end of my three hours on the run station coincided with the closing of 15, so when Ron came on he switched to 20 meters and easily kept the rate up.
As the night progressed, we eventually switched to 40 meters. Forty was outstanding. It stayed open to Europe all night with signals 20dB over S9 or better. The 3-element beam helped us to work more Europeans than stateside stations. This was important, of course, because our location in North America meant the Europeans were worth three points versus two points for stateside. The JA opening on 40 was short, but those who called were loud. Eighty and 160 were given to the multiplier station for the first night. Conditions were generally poor on these bands that first night.
Fifteen meters opened to Europe at 1000Z Saturday morning. Saturday's European openings were great on both 10 and 15 meters. 20 also provided many QSOs, but the majority of the time was spent on the higher frequencies. Our only disappointment on Saturday was the lack of a JA opening on 10 meters. At the halfway point of the contest, we had over 3500 QSOs.
Saturday night brought better conditions on 80 and 160. Most of Europe was worked on 80, and we managed 10 Europeans on 160. Conditions were tough to the West, though, as no JAs were worked and only a few Pacific multipliers were bagged. We experienced our first lull late Saturday night. For two hours we worked less than 100 stations per hour. It got so bad we were forced to run stateside on 160!
On Sunday, Doc let us hook the multiplier station to his tribander and 4-element 20-meter monobander. This allowed us to get many multipliers we just wouldn't have worked with the vertical. Conditions also helped, as they were much better on Sunday. We worked our first 10-meter JAs on Sunday afternoon. Our rate was consistent throughout the contest, but Sunday produced the most activity from the multiplier station.
The contest ended with the run station on 40 and the multiplier station picking up a flurry of last-minute multipliers. Our final duped results were:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
1.8 99 9 20
3.5 232 18 53
7.0 1149 25 72
14.0 1541 36 107
21.0 1655 34 93
28.0 1308 29 80
TOTAL 5984 151 425
Final Score: 9,046,080
We were very pleased with our effort. Unlike many Dxpeditions I have read about we had no major problems. Our equipment worked the entire 48 hours without interruption. I believe the key to this was our extensive planning and a lot of good luck! I have only pleasant memories of this trip. Everything fell into place like it was supposed to. This first Dxpedition will always be remembered and will be very hard to top.
VP2MW finished #1 in the world in the Multi-Single category, something I'm still very proud of.
I still have logs and QSL's for both VP2M/WQ5W and VP2MW. Please QSL via the bureau or direct to:
Alan Benoit
12527 Liberty School Road
Azle, TX 76020
