VP5B Wins M/2 Category
                                  In CQWW SSB 2003!
 
WX3B's North Caicos Activities in 2003
 
Revised:  December 22, 2009
 
 
                                 
                                  Team VP5B in 2003:  K4ISV (Owner/Leader), K1LZ, W5AO, WX3B. 
                                  In back:  K4UU, K4RO
 
                                                     
    
 
VP5B - a fond memory
 
As of Fall, 2004 Bud Foster sold LaVilla Rose to a non-ham and reliable sources have explained that Bud is building a bigger, better station in 9Y land.   Bud is looking for several sponsors to help with this effort. 
 
Click HERE for more information on Bud's 9Y sponsorship opportunities
 
Our hats are off to you, Bud Foster, for an unusually great contest station at VP5B and we can't wait to see how 9Y turns out.
       
 
VP5B Claims First Place, North America, Multi-Two in 2003 CQWW SSB!
 
In October, 2003 I was fortunate to join Bud Foster and a world class team of operators for the CQ World Wide DX SSB Contest.   Our team consisted of K4ISV (Owner & Team Leader), Gary, K4UU, Kirk, K4RO, Krassy, K1LZ, Dave, W5AO and myself.   Additional photographs of this event can be see at www.k4uu.com/~rghext/vp5.htm.   
 
Follow this link for a summary of our claimed score.
 
 
 
VP5LP Multi-Two 2003 ARRL DX CW
 
Team VP5LP in 2003 ARRL DX CW left to right:  N3SB, K3LP (Team Leader), N7DD, WX3B
 
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!
 
Thanks to David, K3LP and Larry, N7DD (our veteran DX-Peditioners and contesters) for showing us how it's done.  Thanks to 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.
 

Team VP5LP: February, 2003

K3LP, WX3B, N7DD

N3SB in Action

Steve's at it again

Dr. Dave K3LP

WX3B Runs Em

Mr. N3SB relaxes

Mr. Beckman N3SB takes his turn

Gorgous!

Main Tower

The Girls

N7 Dog Dog

Amplifier Repair Team

Welcome Home to SNOW!

K3LP in Position

Who's the LIMA PAPA???

N7DD our Executive Chef

N3SB Takes Amplifier Repair Break

Don't Wake WX3B Up!

SWL Position

K3LP

Tropical Paradise
 
 
 
         
       
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
 
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.