07/15/2004 | KP2AA The Pi Colada Contest Club launched operations under our KP2AA callsign from St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, testing out our contest QTH in FD 2004 and having a lot of fun operating in the 4A/QRP/Battery class for the first time. This was the third FD for PCCC, the first being NP4A from Puerto Rico in 2002 and COS from east of Havana in 2003.

In making the decision to go QRP, we determined to concentrate on antennas. A full size 3-element 20-meter Yagi, full size 3-element 15-meter Yagi, a 3-element 10-meter Yagi, a 2-element wire beam for 40, and the killer antenna of all time, a rotatable 15-meter double-extended-Zepp, all found their way on top of stackable military mast, despite many interruptions for hourly dips in the pool which was conveniently located (within 20 feet of the operating positions!) on the deck of the QTH of NP2MR/NP2MV, our gracious hosts. The final antenna (which will become a permanent fixture of KP2AA) was a Force-12 C19XR that had just arrived on site and was built and installed on 28 feet of the military mast as a test. Radios ranged from a Yaesu FT-817, through FT-857s and FT-897s, to an FT-1000MP Mk-V Field (which will also become a permanent fixture), all cranked down to a measured 5 Watts.

Our advance team consisted of Bill, W1HIJ and Emily, KF6SGV, who went down a week early to ensure adequate supplies (electrical and liquid) on site. We were going to run on batteries, which obviously we would not carry onto an airplane, and Bill reports that the look on the face of the employee at the Western Auto store on St. Croix was priceless when Bill said he wanted eight Group 24 auto batteries! It took several minutes before he sidled up to Bill after the sale was done and asked quietly, "Can I ask what you need EIGHT batteries for?"

As always, Murphy's ugly head was in sight a lot. The most scary occurrence was discovering, three days before Field Day, that the 1100 feet of coax we had shipped down had disappeared somewhere between Florida and St. Croix. Fortunately, with the help of John Ellis, NP2B (SM for the VI) we were able to gather up enough coax to handle the problem, but it made for some nervous moments. The help of NP2B was in the finest tradition of Hams helping Hams, and we were delighted to have him aboard!

Unlike last year, conditions from the Caribbean were superb, with low A and K indices. The contest started, and after a few quick search and pounce contacts on 15 CW, I felt like I was loud despite the five watts. I found a clear spot, called CQ, and started running stations across the United States and Canada! This was our experience on all bands above 14 MHz, although 40 was quite tough with the QRP. Solution: more antenna next year! Twenty meters remained open all night, with 15 only closing for about three hours. Eighty meters was useless; we are just too far from the Mainland to make much of an impact there. And we were disappointed not to have a band opening on 6, because we had been hearing the FY7THF beacon before FD started (of course!).

And because we were so far from the Mainland, there was only one 2 meter QSO. But it was with NA1SS from the International Space Station on a southerly pass, and that was an exciting addition to our log!

In comparing our possibilities in 2004 versus 2003, we had guessed that our location, on the side of a north-facing ridge, had to be at least 10 dB better than our flat inland QTH last year. And conditions had to be at least 3 dB better than the 2003 wipe-out. This 13 dB, we reasoned, would make up for the power difference between 100 Watts and 5 Watts. We ended up with basically the same number of QSOs this year (with 5 Watts!), so it would seem our calculations were correct, to the tune of something on the order of 26,000 points! Location, location, location!!! Fortunately, we had no insects attacking us this year, we learned a lot, and we believe that this QTH has a ton of potential, especially for ARRL DX, Sweepstakes, and WAE. As W1HIJ observed, any QTH that has frigate birds soaring overhead is a good QTH!

Many thanks to all who heard our peanut whistles, and we look forward to even more FD fun in 2005.

73, -- K7JA