Caribbean Contesting Consortium - PJ2T Station Overview

PJ2T is located on a half acre lot immediately adjacent to the Caribbean sea on the south coast of Curacao. There are three towers and numerous wire antennas and four full KW stations inside. Computers are Pentium-class with all flat screen monitors and are networked both with an Ethernet network. WriteLog is our standard logging program. The radios are a mix of FT-1000s (5) and vintage Kenwood and Icom. Internet connectivity is via dialup to a local ISP. All towers are guyed with Phillystran and nearly all feedlines are Heliax. The house is simple but comfortable, with two air conditioned bedrooms, four beds, two full baths, and a large (non-air-conditioned) common room.

(Click on photo for larger image.)

The design philosophy was to build one tower for Europe, one for US/JA, and a third for WARC bands. The towers are situated to minimize interference with each other, and to minimize the number of antennas that would be rotatable, because the year-round high seaside winds are very hard on rotators. The Europe tower is 100 feet of Rohn 55, and is the rightmost tower in the photo above. The US/JA tower, at the left, consists of 80 feet of Rohn 45, and the WARC tower is in the center.

Support	Band	Antenna	Height	Rotation
Europe Tower (100 ft)	20	5 el yagi, 34 ft boom	95 ft	Fixed Eur
Europe Tower (100 ft)	40	2 el Cush Craft yagi	107 ft	Rotatable on mast (T-2X)
Europe Tower (100 ft)	15	5 el yagi, 38 ft boom	85 ft	Fixed Eur
Europe Tower (100 ft)	10	5 el yagi, 24 ft boom	75 ft	Fixed Eur
Europe Tower (100 ft)	10, 15, 20	3 el Cush-Craft A-3S	45 ft	Fixed SA and US long path

US/JA Tower (80 ft)	6	Cush Craft 5 el yagi	86 ft	Rotatable on mast (Ham IV)
US/JA Tower (80 ft)	20/15/10	Mosley CL-33	82 ft	Rotatable on mast (Ham IV)
US/JA Tower (80 ft)	20	5 el yagi	70 ft	Fixed US
US/JA Tower (80 ft)	15	5 el yagi	60 ft	Fixed US
US/JA Tower (80 ft)	10	5 el Cush Craft XM-10 stack	54/36 ft	Fixed US

Mult Tower (54 ft)	17/12	A-3WS yagi	54	Rotatable on mast (Ham IV)
Mult Tower (54 ft)	30	Inv vee	50	Omni

On 100 foot tower	80	N8VW three element wire loop	80	Fixed Eur
On 80 foot tower	75	Inv vee	75	Omni
Ground Mounted	80/40	HF-2V vertical	Ground	Omni
Ground Mounted	160	Inverted vee	100	Omni
Ground Mounted	160	650 Beverage - US	6	Fixed US
Ground Mounted	160	1000 ft Beverage - Eur	6	Fixed Eur

Station # 1 (Primary Run)

FT-1000, Alpha 78, Pentium 450 (on Ethernet) and flat screen monitor, MODEM connected phone line, Autek WM 1 SWR meter, Top Ten devices antenna switching, WX0B stack controls for 10, 15, 20, complete set of W3NQN bandpass filters (automatically switched), Bencher paddle, Heil boomset, Bencher YA-1 low pass filter, Heil foot switch, LPT1 serial keying adapter, rotor controls for 40 yagi, CL-33 monobander, WARC yagi, K9AY pushbutton selector for RX antennas. Both Beverages are available as well as two optional flags.

On 20, 15 and 10 the operator can select any combination of the US/JA yagis, the Europe yagis, or both.

Station # 1, September 2003

Station # 2 (High Band Mults)

FT-1000 MP, Ten Tec Titan 2 Linear + outboard fan, Pentium 455 (on Ethernet) and flat screen monitor, Bencher paddle, automatically selected W3NQN bandpass filters, Radio Shack foot switch, LPT1 serial keying adapter, K9AY pushbutton selector for RX antennas. Both Beverages are available as well as two optional flags.

This station is configured to give the operator access to nearly all high band antennas when they are not in use at the run station. 40 yagi is also available.

The Station # 2 operator has the added dividend of a direct picture window view out across the Caribbean.

Station # 2, September 2003

Station # 3 (Low Band Mults)

Omni VI with all mods, Cary LK-800 linear, Pentium 1GB (on Ethernet) and 17 inch flat screen monitor, Bencher paddle, manually switchable W3NQN bandpass filters, MODEM connected phone line, Autek WM 1SWR meter, Heil foot switch, Heil boomset. Both Beverages are available as well as two optional flags.

Specializing on the low bands, this station can switch in all of the low band antennas, and some high band antenna access is also available at this station.

Station # 3, September 2003

Station # 4 (Miscellaneous Mults and Six Meters)

IC-765, Titan 425, Pentium PC (on Ethernet), Autek wattmeter, Bencher paddle, foot switch.

This station has access to nearly all transmit antennas. Both Beverages are available as well as two optional flags.

A six meter transceiver (FT-100) is also located at Station # 4.

Station # 4, March 2008

Other Stations

110 and 220 volt power and access to the Ethernet network are readily available to add two more stations for a multi-multi configuration. These would be located on the food table, in the bedrooms, or on the outdoor covered porches.