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2020 ARRL International DX Contest (CW)

02/17/2020 | HI0LT

 A big thank you goes out to my friend Tino HI3CC for making it possible to have a good call sign and not have to use HI3/KC1XX all weekend long.

This was a higher score than I imagined would be possible from this QTH.
I am staying at the Sosua Inn, in the town of Sosua, DR. It has a beautiful shot to the north right over the ocean but it is a city and the man-made noise on the low bands is absolutely incredible. I am on the fourth floor of the building with a beautiful view over the ocean to North America but the building is also filled with LED lighting and solar heaters etc.
The Austrian owners of this place have been a tremendous support throughout.
I have access to the roof and I was able to construct a 4 meter wooden tower with a steel mast to support a tri-bander that I brought from home. I strung 2x40 meters of wire across another roof and to a parking lot on the adjacent side.
That was fed with open wire line. This antenna was used on 40, 80 and 160.

On the roof, there is lots of solar power, and air-conditioning units that run all the time. I also have a power line on the street that looks like a very bad corroded mess.
I apologize to the people that were calling me on the low bands that I could not hear but it was almost impossible to hear stations through the S-7 to S-9 noise
I still managed to work a lot of stations on 80/160. Thank you so much for your patience with me on the low bands.

I must also admit that operating by myself is a very different environment and I am definitely not used to it. Operating from home with large antennas in a multi contest is 180° out from this experience. When I went to 20 on Sunday afternoon and I got spotted, the pileup was so overwhelming that twice, I had to just get out of the chair and turn the volume down. At this point I was tired and I could not copy a thing anymore.
Anyway, I had a lot of fun and I appreciate all the callers and multipliers.

Again, a huge thanks for supporting our crazy hobby to my OE friends Gabi, Arnold and Kevin of the Sosua Inn. Their hotel looks amazing with Antennas on the roof.

Tino, muchísimas gracias por tu ayuda con HI0LT.

Bob, WA1Z thanks for spending lots of time on the phone trying to get my computer straightened out and my networking set up.

VY73, Matt HI0LT (KC1XX)

-- KC1XX


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