The Hopes, Plans and Misadventures

of the 1999 4M7X DXpedition

43 Verticals on the Beach

By Dean Straw, N6BV

Visalia International DX Convention, April 27, 2002

6Y2A, Jamaica

Flush with our 6Y2A CQWW CW Multi-Multi victory in 1998, Team Vertical set out to beat our own record in 1999...

We had almost 18,000 QSOs in 1998 from 6Y2A — But a lot were with the USA, worth only 2 points in the CQWW contest.

To Beat the 6Y2A RecordWe had to move where:• European, USA and Japanese QSOs would each be worth 3 points.

• Logistics wouldn’t be overwhelming for Team Vertical — That pretty much left out Africa.

• Luckily, some team members had extensive experience in Venezuela.

It’s 1000 Miles from 6Y2A to 4M7X, but it’sThree-Point Territory

The Advantages of Verticals Over Saltwater -- the 6Y2A Experience

• Low elevation angles are critical, especially on the lower bands.

The Advantages of Verticals Over Saltwater -- the 6Y2A Experience• Higher angles are important also.

Our Goal: 2 dB More Gain on Each HF Band, 10 to 80 Meters,

Compared to 6Y2A Antennas

• We have learned that each additional 2 dB opens up another layer of callers.

Covering All Azimuths

• The 6Y2A arrays were fixed in azimuth.

• At 4M7X, we needed steerable vertical arrays with more gain.

• On 80 and 40 meters we chose Four-Square arrays, using Comtek boxes.

• On 20/15/10 meters we wanted even more gain than a Four-Square.

The “Cross-5” Array Europe

Common Driven Element

Director

Reflector

0.2

0.2

0.2

0.2

Disabled

Disabled

Symmetrical array, with a common Driven Element. The Cross-5 uses half-wave

vertical dipoles (HVDs).

Cross-5 Switchingfrom N6BV Engineering Notebook

Cross-5 Truth Table

from N6BV Engineering Notebook

Cross-5 Array• Peak Gain over saltwater is 12.3 dBi.

• F/R is modest: 11dB, which is OK.

• Covers all needed elevation angles well.

We Compete with Stations Using Stacked Horizontal Yagis on the

20/15/10-Meter Bands• Gain of 15-16 dBi for stacks is common.

• Cross-5 alone won’t be competitive, except at really low elevation angles.

• Vertically stacking vertical arrays is physically very difficult!

What to do? • Stack ‘em! Side-by-side with “Sidecars.”

JA “Sidecar” Cross-5 Europe “Sidecar”

(When pointing to JA, the Europe Sidecar is out of circuit.)

Now the stacked Gain is a very respectable 15.2 dBi. We had 11 elements each on 20, 15 and 10 meters.

1 1

Japan

USAEurope

Aiming the Antennas

JA Sidecar Cross-5 EU Sidecar

WX0B Stackmatch

Feeding Cross-5 and Sidecars

Azimuth ControlRF

Phasing Line

Phasing Line

A Very Narrow Pattern Results• Combined Cross-5 + Sidecar has a 35° 3-dB Beamwidth — We called this a “Superbeam.”

Oh, by the Way...

• When the azimuths to Europe and Japan aren’t exactly 90° apart, you’ve got to fiddle with the phasing lines to make them aim in exactly the right directions. (Remember how narrow they are?)

• We leave that exercise to the student.

Other Nearby Radiators Affect the Pattern Some

Cross-5 affected by Sidecars — Note that this happens for almost all ham installations with nearby arrays.

Detailed Patterns to Europe/Africa

Detailed Patterns to USA/Japan

We Had Some Killer Antennas on Paper

Now we had to find a great place to put them!

We OriginallyPlanned on Operating from the Venezuelan

Mainland• But the distances from the operating positions to the antennas were > 1000’.

• Logistics getting there were difficult.

• We didn’t have local friends at the chosen location.

So We Chose a Promising New Location on Coche Island,

off Margarita Island• We had local contacts, especially in Customs, and local friends.

• A new hotel was being finished at a fantastic radio QTH, on the salt flats.

• Coax runs to the antennas would be reasonable.

Coche Island 4M7X

4M7X on Coche Island, Venezuela

Margarita Island

Coche Island

Local Layout

Margarita ~ 5 miles to the North

151040 20 80

160Mult. Antennas

160 RX

80 RX

Getting to Coche Island

SFO to Miami (American Airlines) Miami to Margarita Island (Aeropostal Airlines) Margarita to Coche Island (by boat)

A VeryWet Dave & Ralph

Hurricane Lenny Creates Hazardous Seas

NT1N

K9ZO

Uh, Senõr, We Have a Little Problem at the Hotel...

• Uh, they didn’t quite finish building it…

• And there is no power...

• And there are no windows or doors...

Team Vertical Presses OnReal Contesters will not be denied!

• We hire and transport (at great expense, with a big truck) a 70 kVA diesel generator from the main island.

• We rewire the hotel — good thing OSHA wasn’t watching.

• We find accommodations at a nearby hotel, full of German tourists.

Electrical Distribution & Antenna Patch Panel

Low Band Shack

High Band Shack

Antenna Patch Panel

No Doors, No Windows, No Wiring...

220 VAC Wiring

El Oasis Hotel & Generator

Operating Area

Goat Guano70 kVA Diesel Generator

Building the Antennas

20-meter HVDs (Halfwave Vertical Dipoles)

160-m 2-ElementVertical ArraySame 57’ Elements as 6Y2A

DrivenReflector

15/40 Mult Yagi

GoatPen

80-m Four-Square Vertical ArraySame 37’ Elements as 6Y2A

Notice the Cinder-Block Guy Anchors -- These Would Lead to Lots of Problems Later...

40-m ZR Four-Square ArraySame 15’ Elements as 6Y2A

40 m10 m JA “Sidecar”

Driftwood prop for 160-m radial

15-m Array and Margarita Island20/15/10-m Arrays Each Had 11 Elements

Cross 5 Eu. SidecarJA Sidecar

Relay box, 1of 4 per Cross-5

Flooded Beach, 10-m ArrayYes, That is Indeed Saltwater

Vertical Heaven!

Through aVertical Forest, Darkly

40 m

10 m

160 m

20 m

160 m20 m

Notice the salt water

10-m Relay Box

Moon Over the Vertical Patch

4M7X Antenna Summary

160 m: 2-Ele. 57’ Vertical Array, Fixed on Europe80 m: 4-Square, 37’ Linear-Loaded Elements, Comtek Box40 m: 4-Square, 15’ 40-ZR verticals, Comtek Box20 m: 11 HVD Elements + WX0B StackMatch15 m: 11 HVD Elements + WX0B StackMatch10 m: 11 HVD Elements + WX0B StackMatch

43 Vertical Elements for Team Vertical !!

Multiplier Antennas: 10/20-m Yagi @ 20’, 15/40-m Yagi @ 20’Rx: Low dipoles for 160/80 m

Antenna Design Goal: Increase Gain by 2 dB on 10-80 m Compared to 6Y2A

4M7X and Local Crew of El Oasis

de Coche

We Ran Into a Few More Problems• We couldn’t find good solid anchors for antenna guy ropes. We used concrete block anchors, to our regret later.

• The 40-m station absolutely killed all other bands — even at 5 W output.

• Storms brewed up, bad for guy anchors and really bad for lightning bolts.

• The goats kept getting out and the “supersonic mosquitos” were amazing.

Troubleshooting 40-m InterferenceLuckily, we had dozens of ferrite chokes

K2KW NT1N

High Band Control Cables

40 m 10 m 10 m

So, Did the Antennas Work?

• They worked very well, while they were vertical. We had outstanding reports from the USA and Europe before the contest started.

• Just prior to the opening gun we were pumped! Tired, but pumped.

Some of the Guys...

Dick

YV5AMH N6BVN6BT

K9ZO YV5EED

W4SO

Lunch at the El Oasis Hotel

El Oasis Transportation

80-Meter Station

K9ZO

WA5VGI

40-Meter StationNT1N

“Modified” Cellular Packet

High-Band Shack

15 M10 M15 Mult

20 M

Our Creed!

High-Band Shack

KE7X

AG9A

20 M

10 M

15 M

15 Mult

Super Beam Controller

Then the Contest Started• The contest started out quite well.

• By 0844 Z, 80-meters reports “GENNY WET AND COUGHING.” This is not good.

• We also have several great lightning shows — right in the antenna field!

• By late afternoon we finally locate a diesel repair man from the nearby fishing village.

“Modified” 70 kVA Generator

Gravity-Fed Fuel Tank

Fuel Return

Goat Guano

Goat Guano

Did I Mention That it Really Stormed Hard?

• 15/40 multiplier antennas fell down 4 times.

• At end of contest on 20 meters, 2 verticals were left standing, out of 11.

• We lost more than half our antennas to the wind, and to the surf that came over the low seawall.

• We lost at least 6 prime-time hours due to the generator.

15/40 Yagi...After the Winds

AD6EKE7X

Gimme a Break…What Now?

Jay Says the Warranty Doesn’t Cover Saltwater Immersion...

Still, We Didn’t Do That Badly4M7X Results

Band QSOs Points Pts/QSO Zones Mult.160 650 1917 2.95 23 62

80 1639 4863 2.97 28 98 40 3251 9664 2.97 38 130 20 3372 10010 2.97 40 145 15 3669 10868 2.96 40 154 10 3504 10323 2.95 36 133 ---------------------------------------------------

Totals 16085 47645 2.96 205 722 => 44,166,915

We beat our own 1998 6Y2A record — but so did the competition, in spades!

BREAKDOWN QSO/mults 4M7X CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST Multi Multi

HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT

0 59/19 100/39 196/48 199/46 177/33 34/24 765/209 765/209 1 51/7 95/14 199/8 181/25 152/12 23/12 701/78 1466/287 2 67/4 92/11 213/13 205/11 152/7 21/7 750/53 2216/340 3 60/6 139/6 228/7 176/12 48/7 13/6 664/44 2880/384 4 64/8 89/5 213/8 154/6 13/6 25/9 558/42 3438/426 5 55/8 99/1 187/8 66/12 9/2 18/2 434/33 3872/459 6 44/2 114/6 174/10 119/11 4/1 5/0 460/30 4332/489 7 19/3 83/5 135/6 46/4 . . 283/18 4615/507 8 17/2 53/5 116/10 9/0 ..... ..... 195/17 4810/524 9 15/2 49/4 88/3 64/6 5/7 1/1 222/23 5032/547 10 1/2 26/1 82/1 59/0 125/33 116/29 409/66 5441/613 11 . 1/0 34/1 56/4 160/7 187/13 438/25 5879/638 12 . . 12/0 31/0 85/6 119/1 247/7 6126/645 13 . . . 35/1 115/9 137/10 287/20 6413/665 14 . . . 16/1 156/11 154/6 326/18 6739/683 15 . . . 9/2 154/3 145/8 308/13 7047/696 16 ..... ..... ..... 19/2 112/5 112/4 243/11 7290/707 17 . . . 77/2 119/4 211/4 407/10 7697/717 18 . . . 107/0 114/1 237/6 458/7 8155/724 19 . . 2/1 139/6 169/2 203/0 513/9 8668/733 20 . . 50/8 95/6 128/4 163/6 436/24 9104/757 21 . . 31/0 25/0 40/0 9/4 105/4 9209/761 22 2/0 6/2 6/2 15/0 18/0 1/0 48/4 9257/765 23 19/1 23/2 80/1 70/2 54/3 2/0 248/9 9505/774

40m rate averaged 200/hr for first 7 hours

After the Contest, we Finally Could Relax

• We could sit in the sun, reflecting on the joys of camaraderie and sticking to a task, no matter the obstacles.

• We had some great rates, when the generator was working and while the antennas were still standing!

• So, we really did have lots of fun, really... Who knows, we may do it again!

Local Flora and Fauna: “Toukee” the Toucan

A Feathered Bombadier

“Toukee” Loved to Party...

Drinking from N6BT’s Cup

Dinner at Coche Speed Paradise

N6TV

YV5AMH

N6BV

KE7XK2KW

AG9A

Relaxing by the Pool

Feet, Courtesy N6BT

Look in the Sky — Is it a Bird? A Plane? No, it’s Team Vertical!!

Actually, we’re all soaked from the boat ride, and standing in a windy area to dry off.

4M7X Sponsors:

Force 12 Antennas Groupo DX Caracas QRO Technologies Comtek Systems Array Solutions Nemal Electronics

Special Thanks to Our Venezuelan Friends!

Without these guys, we would have had a much tougher time

• Ramon, YV5EED• Reinaldo, YV5AMH• Vincent, YV7QD• Ivan, the electrician

And my personal thanks to Kenny, K2KW, for his help in preparing this presentation and for being the leader of the

DXpedition.

The Hopes, Plans and Misadventures

of the 1999 4M7X DXpedition

43 Verticals on the Beach

By Dean Straw, N6BV

Visalia International DX Convention, April 27, 2002