VP5LP 1st Place World
Whitby, North Caicos, BWI
Written by my good friend WX3B
 
VP5LP Multi-Two 2003 ARRL DX CW

 

L to R: Steve (N3SB, David (K3LP), Larry (N7DD) and Jim (WX3B) - The VP5LP Team ARRL DX CW 2004 - Beach

David (K3LP) at the Radio operating as VP5/K3LP

 L to R: David (K3LP), Steve (N3SB, Jim (WX3B) and Larry (N7DD) - The VP5LP Team ARRL DX CW 2004 -North Airport

VP5LP CONTEST RESULTS; ARRL DX CW 2003

Band   QSOs    Mults

160      392        54

80        811        58

40       1422       59

20       1604       58

15       1717       59

10       1755       58

Total:  7701     346

Total Reported Score = 7,993,638

 

ARRL Validated Score

Total:  7603     346

Total Reported Score = 7,891,914

1.27% Error Rate in Submitted Log

VP5LP QSL Card

VP5LP ARRL DX CW 2003 Score

Larry (N7DD) at North Caicos Air trip - This is the plane that delivered us to & from the island

VP5LP

ARRL DX CW 2004

Multi-Operator – Two Transmitter

ARRL DX CW 2003 CONTEST SCORES - M2 CATEGORY:

#

Call

Score

QSOs

Mult

Class

Continent

Club

 Results:

1

VP5LP

7,891,914

7,603

346

M2X

NA

Potomac Valley Radio Club

 1st World DX, 1st North America DX

2

6D2YFM

6,840,444

6,746

338

M2X

NA

Texas DX Society

 2nd World DX, 2nd North America DX

3

9A7A

3,239,502

3,941

274

M2X

EU

 

 3rd World DX,

4

HG6N

2,662,983

3,401

261

M2X

EU

 

 4th World DX,

5

RU1A

2,201,580

2,718

270

M2X

EU

 

 5th World DX,

6

JH5FXP

1,787,256

2,472

241

M2X

AS

 

 6th World DX,

7

LZ9W

1,729,308

2,422

238

M2X

EU

 

 7th World DX,

 
 
 
ARRL DX CW 2004 - Posted Log Checking Results by ARRL for VP5LP
 
SCORE SUMMARY     160    80    40      20      15       10       Total
-------------    ----  ----  ----  ----  ----  ----     ----     -----     ------
      Raw QSOs =          414   842  1475  1659  1787  1840  =  8017
   Dupe QSOs =              23     31     53      57      72       86  =   322
 Busted QSOs =               5       3       6       13      13         6  =    46
  Valid QSOs =            386   808  1416  1589  1702   1748  =  7649
Penalty QSOs =               5       3        6      13      13         6  =    46
  Final QSOs =             381   805  1410  1576  1689   1742  =  7603
 Multipliers =                  54     58      59      58      59       58  =   346

Total QSO Points = 22809
     Final score = 7,891,914
      Error rate =  0.6% (100 X (Busted QSOs / Duped QSO total))
 
 
 
 
 
I am pleased to announce that our team consisting of Steve, N3SB, David, K3LP (Team Leader), Larry, N7DD and Jim, WX3B won the 2003 ARRL DX Contest outside of the USA.  Our score:  7,891,914 was #1 overall, not only in M/2, but it was the highest score outside of the USA in any category!
 

Turks & Caicos Islands Location Map

 The VP5LP Location on North Caicos was Whitby
 
Steve Beckman, N3SB for all of the fine antenna work.   
 
Our team was active in February, 2003 from  Whitby, North Caicos, BWI for the ARRL DX CW Contest.  In addition to having a good 'old time on the radio, we missed the Blizzard of 2003 in Maryland. 
 
Special Thanks to Terry Hines, N4ZH for handling all of our QSLs, and to Bud Foster, K4ISV for making La Villa Rose such a great vacation and radio destination. 
 
Here are some pictures of our adventures while on vacation.
 
         
David, Jim, Larry       WX3B Runs 'Em     Pileup on N3SB             The Girls              Team VP5LP         '87A Repair Team
 
         
Skyhawk on Left           C-3 & N3SB              What a View          David & Larry       VP5LP Antennas   Larry, N7 Dog Dog
 
 
DX Dave:  K3LP        Welcome Home
       
VP5LP Acknowledgements
 
Bud Foster, K4ISV maintains a world class contest station in North Caicos.  Our team benefited from many other contests held at this location (VP5B).   Having the Tower, two Yagis, and dipoles and all radio equipment in place was a BIG stress reducer.   Bud has invested heavily in this location to make it operational - with very little additional effort.
 
N3SB's 2nd HF Tribander (the C-3) installation and tower building/climbing skills were critical.   N3SB also did a great  job with the two networked computers - both running writelog.  Writelog performed flawlessly - and perhaps next year we'll consider adding Packet Spotting to our efforts.
 
Jim, WX3B gets the credit for organizing the transportation to VP5, handling the licensing, assisting with the computer network, verifying the radio & keying interfaces; handling the finances, organizing the operating positions in the radio room,  and most importantly - cooking the BBQ "Bubba" Burgers. 
 
David, K3LP won the iron man award for operating several (non-contest) nights - all night long and we could hear him CQing during sunrise.  
 
Larry, N7DD was the die-hard King of 160 among the group - and our Executive Chef.  
 
Steve, N3SB was our master of  PSK31 and one of the fast contest "runners" during the morning European runs.  In addition,   Steve was also the Amplifier and Yaesu MP Surgeon.  Please see the MS PowerPoint presentation for details if you're interested. 
 
The 160 vertical (Inverted L) was set up quickly by N7DD and K3LP since Bud's station planning was in order and the materials were ready to go.   The companion receive antenna for 160 was a Pennant antenna.
 
VP5LP Equipment Summary
 
The equipment we used included Yaesu FT-1000MPs (2), a (1) Kenwood TL-922 amplifier, (1) Alpha 78 amplifier, Two Heil HC-4 headsets, Writelog Contest logging software, a Force 12 C-3, dipoles, Cush-Craft 2 element 40 meter beam at 55 feet, 160 meter inverted L with a special pennant antenna for receiving; and the star of the show was a Bencher Skyhawk Tribander at 50 Feet.
 
I became fascinated with the Bencher Skyhawk because it combines durability with high gain, flat SWR, and monoband performance on 10/15/20.   The beam is 3 separate monobanders on a 24 foot boom:  3 elements on 20,  3 elements on 15, and 4 on 10.   I recently discovered that Tim Duffy, K3LR and Jim Breakall, WA3FET did the mechanical and electrical designing of the antenna, respectively.  In addition, Bob Locher, W9KNI (Author, Contester, DXer) is an owner of Bencher.   
 
 
       The Bencher Skyhawk Tribander
 
 
For the entire story complete with contest results from VP5LP - you can view the PowerPoint presentation of our Multi-Two Effort:
 
The Complete, Authorized 2003 VP5LP Contest Vacation
 
Finally - to get the ultimate taste of VP5LP DX-Peditioning - Dan Flannagan, W3DF captured the fun and excitement of running pileups in VP5 for your listening enjoyment.   Dan's DX Audio clips are quite interesting in general - and you can listen in on the VP5LP and VP5/WX3B Audio Clips.  Thanks for the excellent recordings, Dan.
 
VP5LP (and other) DX Audio Clips by W3DF
 
Thanks again to Bud Foster, K4ISV for maintaining this world Class Villa and contest station. 
 
Please Remember:  QSLs for VP5LP, VP5/WX3B, VP5/N3SB and VP5/K3LP go to N4ZH.   QSLs for VP5/N7DD to to W7RJ.