P40L-P49Y Contest Summary Information

Going into this contest, we debated the pros and cons of high vs. low power. On the one hand, we already held the record in the LP category from our 2023 effort and the high rates and higher success rate chasing mults, makes HP a lot of fun. On the other hand, we had our hands full experimenting with remote operation (K4/0 to K4D, using SoftEther to connect to the shack LAN) and alternate arrangements for the In-band S&P station and it was already challenging to fit four operating positions (Run, Run Partner, In-band S&P and Mult) in the small circa 80 square foot radio room without adding amplifiers. Weighing these considerations, we decided we had enough on our plate and opted for low power again.

Conditions were not looking that great before contest and we thought we might regret that decision; however, during the contest, conditions were surprisingly good, with high rates on 40 through 10 meters even though we were low power. But 80 and 160 were a struggle, as expected, as were many of the mults that could be heard but not worked. The lack of HP was felt most acutely during the night hours and during the second 24-hour period of the contest when rates generally were lower.

This was our third post-pandemic contest experience with in-band S&P. We decided to experiment with dedicated in-band S&P antennas instead of the more common approach of using a 2x2 switch to share transmit and receive antennas between the Run and In-band S&P stations. The in-band S&P antennas were (1) an A3S tri-bander at 32’ located about 600’ away from the main antennas, and (2) a 40/80 inverted V with the apex at about 40’ located about 400’ away. We wanted to try this approach because, in our prior WPX operation, the shared receive antenna was picking up so much noise from our transmissions (even though the receive antenna for 10-20 meters was about 700 feet from the main transmit antennas) that our in-band S&P transmissions significantly impaired the run rate. We believe this was due to interaction between our main transmit antennas and nearby metal roofs. So, we figured that the more we could get transmit power away from the metal roofs the better.

The dedicated in-band S&P antennas approach was highly effective at minimizing interference between the Run and In-band S&P stations and made it possible for the In-band S&P station to work stations as close as 3KHz to our run frequency without adversely affecting the run op. The downside, however, was that we had not fully anticipated the effect of the losses that resulted from 600+’ of RG8U-type feed line and the multiple junctions and switches, especially on the high bands. Post-contest we estimated that we were only getting 20 watts at best to the A3S on 10 meters. So, our LP In-Band S&P signal was WEAK. Thanks to everyone who heard us nevertheless! We suspect that if we’d gone HP (with about 200 watts getting to the antenna on 10 meters) this would have been less of a factor. Potential solutions for next time include: 1) replacing the feed line with something lower loss such as LD4-50A Heliax; 2) putting a remote amplifier out at the remote antennas; 3) going back to sharing a receive antenna with a 2x2 switch (the interstation noise is more of issue in WPX where serial numbers have to be copied); and 4) going with HP!

Although he was going to be on vacation with his wife in Vancouver during the contest, Ed, W0YK/P49X, agreed to help out during the night hours by remoting in even though it meant being a tourist during day and contesting through the night, i.e., an exhausting schedule. We did a fair amount of testing with his recently released K4/0 during the weeks prior to the contest. Lots of dialogue with Elecraft and several updates to the K4/0 firmware resolved some initial issues. Nevertheless, as of a day or so before the contest, we realized we still had a significant problem with CW “slurring” and drop-outs, especially at higher speeds. The extent of the problem was not initially apparent because the CW sounded fine on the operator side. But it was very noticeable on-the-air. Our apologies to those who had to listen to it. We received helpful input shortly before the contest from K4 guru, Bob, N6TV, suggesting we increase the key down delay from the 80ms default setting to something more like 400ms (which required the use of a macro to apply remote control commands). This improved things considerably, to what we considered an acceptable level for our Mult station, but not 100%. As of this writing, it is unclear how much of the remaining problem is internet related vs K4/0 or K4 related. More work is needed.

We had a 3-man team on the ground and Ed remoting in during the night hours to man the Mult station. A full-scale M-S effort these days takes more manpower than in the past, with a Run, Run Partner, In-band S&P and Mult station required at a minimum. An additional op or two would have been helpful.

This claimed score is slightly better than our 2023 LP score, which, after log checking, became the current world record. Depending on log checking, this may be the new world record.

As always, we greatly appreciated all the Qs.

73, John, W6LD/P40L, on behalf of the P40L CQ WW CW 2025 team: WD6T, N7MH, W0YK & W6LD

Permanent station antennas:

Rohn 45 tower (66’): Single boom 2-element shortened 40m interlaced with 4-element 20m (68’) (JK2040, long-boom version); 80m Inverted-V (65’); 160m Double-L center-fed vertical dipole (65’)

North Rohn 25 tower (56’): Single boom 5-element 15 interlaced with 6-element 10 (58’) (JK1015 configured for dual feed)

South Rohn 25 tower (45.5’): Tri-bander (JK Mid-Tri)

Temporary In-band S&P antennas:

30’ aluminum tower: A3S tribander (fixed NNW) 40’ SpiderPole: 40/80 fan dipole configured as inverted Vs

Receive antennas: 4 Beverages controlled by K9AY 2x8 switchbox: JA/West-US (800’), East US (500’), EU (800’) and East-West (AF and OC) (350’)

Rigs: 2xK3/P3; K4D; K4/0; EA4TX interlock box

Computers and software:

3xmicro PCs and 1x laptop DXLog.net for logging with the software interlock feature enabled for Run, Run Partner and In-band S&P

SoftEther for remote station to get on shack LAN

PstRotator rotor control CCUser to manage internet spots