I had a great time in the Commonwealth Contest 1996 operating as ZF1JT. Here are some notes on the trip.
So many US ham visitors go to ZF that the latest licensing info was actually available in the magazine which is given to every visitor to the Caymans. My licence was obtained through the good offices of Andrew, ZF1EJ, but you can do it yourself through the General Post Office in Georgetown. However note that customs treatment may vary as Barry, N0KV/ZF2KV, visiting at the same time as me, had to leave a deposit on his rig at the airport. I think this may have been because he had not got all of the documentation in advance as I had. I had no such problems. ZF1 is for Caymanians and Commonwealth and ZF2 is for the others.
I took the IC 735, and used the antennas at ZF1EJ. These are also the facilites of the Cayman club and comprise, a TH7 at 100', complete with a red light on top, a 80m rotary dipole at 60', a PRO57 at 50' stuck NE, a 402CD at 40' and a 160m inv vee. Although these were all cut for the SSB section of the bands I had no problem with SWR. A 12 volt 50A PSU was made available for my use. I took a laptop and keyer and ran SDC, the Commonwealth version of Super Duper. No equipment problems. I took a DSP 9+ but I am not sure it added much, too steep skirts, noise supression moderate.
The carry on weight was about 33 lbs, of which IC735 - 12, computer - 7, keyer - 2, misc leads - 2 and the bag - 6.
Propagation was about typical for this stage of the sunspot cycle. No Qs were made on 10m. Not a single signal heard, apart from pirate CB. 15m opened early to AF/EU/NA etc but only with 'searchlight' propagation, necessitating many band visits. 20 and 40 were easily the most important. 20 opened about 1 hour after the contest started and then, apart from a few breaks, was open somewhere for most of the time. 40 was very similar, 80 was very noisy.
The main problem was atmospheric noise, unbelievable crashes and bangs. I thought the RX was going to give up sometimes. I had a tropical storm after about 6 hours which forced me to close down later.
My notes say, ' 1730Z sky turned black. 1935Z raining heavily and flashes lighting up the horizon. Noise level S9+ on 80/40/20'. Interestly enough the PRO57 was a lot quieter than the TH7.
Calls from non-contest stations were a pest. Top of the pest list this year were the DLs. But as always the operating manners are very good in this contest. Go back to a station with his call wrong and everyone waits.and the odd comments and greetings are always welcome and can even lead to more bonus points.
So who were the big signals, G4BUO and G0IVZ, G3HCT (40/20) VE3EJ, VE3VHB, VK4EMM, VK2BJ, and VK4WIA. GB5CC was not a big signal, come on guys we can do better than that. Strongest of all was 6Y5HN of course.
Got- aways included ZK1DI (40), 9J2BO (on 15m, band closed rather than opening !), ZL3GQ (80), 9L1PG (80) and where did the VE5s and ZSs go this year ? No VUs heard at all.
Glad to work UA9MA/C91 for a new Commonwealth member, but did he really have to have his keyer set at 'blurspeed' ? And was amused to hear the G pile up on HR/N4MO who I don't think is in the Commonwealth these days.
Contest QSOs will be 100% via the buro or direct if you can't wait. Outside contest will be on-demand to me direct only. Hope you enjoy the picture !
I made about 500Qs for about 5000 points. Not enough to beat VE3EJ but not bad. Should be good enough for the top 5.
Commonwealth Day was the 10th March this year and in Cayman many of the schools had special Commonwealth events. Many of the stations I worked this year from ZF were after a contact with a DX station. This suggests to me that we might be able to build up a Commonwealth DX Weekend (CDXW) along the lines of the Marconi event. Say with a special award for working Commonwealth stations. Or would this kill off participation in BERU ? And what about SSB ? How about a corporate sponsor ? Any ideas anyone ?
The Commonwealth Contest is an interesting exercise, at least I find it so. More a question of tactics and agility, not sitting on one frequency all the time, persistence and hunting and pouncing..It is perhaps a gourmet contest, friendly and highly competitive, international. It needs sponsors and by the way it is CW!
Cayman is a world financial centre and tax free, so there are a lot of strange conversations to overhear at dinner,
- 'if 'goldfields' sink a new shaft it will cost them 15M$ but they might recover 5Moz !'
- how to trade your stock options in creative ways whilst practicing the latest card tricks !
- how to offset your new power boat against personal tax !
and chatting over free champagne round the pool, 'What do you do for a living?' , ' Oh, I am in Intelligence'. This after seeing GoldenEye on the flight over.
Things to do, apart from radio, banking or getting sunburnt (very easy),
- the Museum in Georgetown. Try to read the book on the 1932 Hurricane. Eye witness accounts of the tidal waves on the three islands and the shipwreck and rescue from Serrana Cays (NA133), extraordinary, vivid and horrifying..
- Stingray City, fantastic and an absolute must. The stingrays swim all around you, even through your legs and you can touch them. a bit like very smooth velvet. The diving is excellent. I was seasick though.
- Great restaurants, the Lighthouse at Breakers for lunch.
- Shopping, lot's of it.
We stayed at the Clarion, Grand Pavilion , lovely hotel, friendly staff.
And finally my thanks to Andrew, ZF1EJ, for the use of his facilities and help with local licensing.
And what's all this about 'Bob the fish ...', come to the CDXC AGM and find out.
Any ideas for next year will be considered.