CQ WW SSB Contest

The towers at VE9FI

What a great week!!!   Don, VE3MNE, and I left last Wednesday morning for the 2 day trek to Hampton, New Brunswick, where we took part in this years CQ WW SSB Contest using the station of Russ, VE9FI.

The drive down can be summed up in one word....RAIN.  It absolutely poured down for the great majority of the trip, stopping just before we arrived in Hampton on Thursday afternoon.  I have to admit the highways in New Brunswick are fantastically well maintained.  It was a real treat to drive on them.

Thursday afternoon and Friday were spent settling in and learning how to operate the equipment in the shack.   Russ has two 75' towers, one with an 8 element log periodic and the other with a 6 element 20m beam.  We also had a 1/4 wave vertical for 80m and 40m, a full sized folded dipole for 80m and 40m, and a full sized long wire for 160m.

I was using the resident Flex-6700, and Don used his own FT-950, so I had a bit of a learning curve to learn to operate the Flex....never having done so before, and I have to tell you that after spending 36 hours operating one I much prefer my FT-950.....but perhaps if I used it more I might change my mind.

The operating position for the Flex-6700.

The contest itself was a lot of hard work....but fun.  It was very different being on the receiving end of the pileup instead of one of those stations calling in.  Nothing like being hit by a wall of sound...all calling you to cause a bit of "pucker" factor......   We had lots of good comments about our signal, including to places I never work from home in Kingston, most of the time the received report was "booming".

The other thing we quickly realized was that the propagation is different from here at home.  Stations we can not get from Kingston, no matter how many times we call, all answered us on the first call from Hampton.  We also had to take into consideration that the signal bounce was landing in a different location from home and that caused a bit of worry until we realized what was happening.

At the end of the contest we ended up with a total of 997 contacts and a submitted score of 808,707, and now we await the judges comments.......

The trip home had even more rain than the trip down, and this time we also had 50 km winds gusting to 90 km for most of the trip as well....not very comfortable being buffeted around like that.   We managed to make a grand total of two 2m contacts, both on the way home.  Thanks to Ted, WW1TED from Hamlin, Maine, and Stephan, VE9SAP from St. Basile, for their company on the Grand Falls, NB, repeater.

All in all it was a fantastic trip.....I could have done without the 1270 km drive each way, but what the hell, it's a great way to see the country.

Don and I can't thank Russ and Pat enough for their unbelievable hospitality....and Pat's cooking has to be eaten to be believed.....what a cook !!   Thanks guys for everything !!

And now, a few pictures........

The 20m beam down ready for the high winds.

Another shot of the Log Periodic.

The best sea food in NB.....at St. Martins.