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VP5CW Newsletter #5
3 February 1999
==================

Hi to all team members and friends and fans of the VP5CW team. The date is
approaching fast, and before you know it, we'll be on Provo and having fun!
The bad news is that there's still some work required to get it all
together. Please read all this closely and get back to me with any
problems, exceptions, or suggestions. Even if it is all PERFECT with you,
please e-mail me anyway so I at least know you received this message?
Thanks!! This newsletter also is on the web site at
http://asgard.kent.edu/ccc/vp5cw . (There is NO logic to the order of
topics that follow!)

K8RF

It now appears that Dan, K8RF and his girlfriend will be with us. This is
great news as Dan is a wonderful low-band specialist and a one-man
antenna-installation miracle. They will be getting there the middle of next
week and remaining past the departure of the team, staying in a room in
Jody's main house.

STATIONS

I made the drive to W8TK's in Columbus last Friday, as scheduled, and
brought back a vanfull of gear that Tom has very generously loaned to the
team. Yesterday I picked up W8AV's Dentron MLA-2500 linear at his
workplace, and so all the big pieces are in place. I have assembled both
the RUN and the MULT stations at my place in their entirety, and have been
running them for several days now as a sort of burn-in and compatibility
test. All seems fine. EVERY PIECE is connected: amps, amp switching,
keyers, K1EA LPT keying adapters, coax jumpers, isolation relays, headphone
Y-connectors, a beverage antenna switch on the run station, computers, and
even a lamp and fan for each station. The only missing piece is the
computer network cables, which K4LT promised to send me from Cincinnati on
Monday. This may be overkill, but I REALLY feel better seeing all these
pieces in place and apparently functioning together and making contacts! We
also have spare tubes for the Centaur. In addition, I will be bringing all
the necessary trick plugs and sockets for all possible types of 220 volt
wiring.

Our backup will be Jody's SB-200 linear and her Icom transceiver that
resides in the Hamlet.

HAULING THE STUFF

Sometime this weekend or early next week we will distribute the large items
of gear for hauling to Provo as follows:

* TS-940 will go as a W0CG hand-carried item, as in past years, in a
cardboard protector sheath.
* Run computer and misc cables, keyer, etc will go packed in a W0CG checked
bag.
* Dentron amp will go as a W0CG checked bag in W8AV's shipping box. I'll
pay the overweight charge.
* TS-930 goes as a WA9S hand-carried item in a protective cardboard sheath.
* Centaur amplifier will go as a WA9S checked bag - Ken will have to figure
out a shipping container.
* Mult computer and misc cables, keyer, etc will go in a WA9S checked bag.
* 15 meter yagi will go as an N8LGP checked bag.
* 10 meter yagi will go as one of N8LGP's XYL's checked bags. (Sorry Dee).

I'll arrange with Ken and Steve to get these items all handed off for the
trip. The rest of you are not entirely off the hook, though <grin>, as
there will be some miscellaneous items we will be asking you to bring, as
you'll see below.

ROUGH SCHEDULE

Dan will be there first, and hopefully he will be able to get some of the
antenna work started on his own, such as stringing a beverage oriented on
the states for 160, assembling some of the 25G sections in the ruins for
the 80 delta loop just like last year, and maybe even putting the 40-2CD
yagi together for 40. Then, over the weekend of the 13th and 14th our only
duty is to rest, as Jody will be running the RTTY contest and we will not
have access to the Hamlet until Monday or possibly even Tuesday anyway. On
Sunday, some of us may fly over to North Caicos and pay a visit to Bud,
K4ISV, who has a house on North Caicos and will be operating the contest as
VP5B. I've checked with him and he would be real happy to meet us and show
us "his" island and property.

Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday will be work REALLY hard days, getting all the
antennas set up. The absolute no-kidding goal is to have everything up,
connected, and on the air, ready for the contest to start, by 8 PM on
THURSDAY night. Then Friday we can rest, relax, work casual QSOs, and fix
minor bugs that crop up, and also set up operating strategy and tactics. We
did this last year with VP5FXB and it worked VERY well. Starting the
contest brought no surprises and no crises. We will be able to tear down
and get everything put away easily by noon on Monday, if past experience is
any indicator, and the balance of Monday and Tuesday can be fun and sun for
the people left over by then.

MONEY

Thanks!! Most everyone came through fast (and uncomplainingly, thanks) with
the checks for shared expenses. If you haven't sent that in yet, it would
help me a lot to get it before we go. There's a summary of receipts and
disposition of funds on the web site.

OPERATING MANAGEMENT

One place we found out that we need to improve from last year is on
managing the contest operating, the pursuit of multipliers, and overall
tracking of progress and milestones. N8LGP is the main man in this area,
and this year Steve will focus on keeping the score-progress graphs current
and tracking multipliers aggressively, so that we don't end up giving away
a win because of silly oversights. Careful management of the operating is
especially critical in a multi/single, because half the key to winning is
being on the right bands at the right times. This means that someone will
be scanning the other non-run bands on the mult station at all times, and
cue the run operator on when to QSY and to what band in order to keep the
rates maxed. Also, it will be very important to carefully distribute
operating time evenly across all the open bands to equalize the chances of
hitting all the band-multipliers. Last year in M/M it was easy -- all
stations, maxed out, at all times. For M/S a lot more finesse is required.
We will even have arrangements this year at both stations so that two sets
of headphones are attached to each radio. This will enable a second op, as
time and sleep allow, to sit with the run operator and help pick out
callsigns accurately, possbily assist with logging problems, and generally
back up the run operator in the same way that air traffic controllers
almost always have another controller standing behind them, also on the
scope and wearing a headset....

FOOD

Cindy (my XYL) doesn't have a license or work CW but she is the MOST
important member of our team. She will be collecting dollars from everyone
and using that money to stock up at the IGA on groceries. She'll then (like
last year) make breakfast and lunch on the days when were working in the
Hamlet (Tues-Thurs, at least) and during the contest, and we will be VERY
well fed, if last year is any indication. Maybe we will even be able to
persuade K8RF to cook up a vat of his famous contest chili. We may not get
much sleep during the contest, but food and drink will NOT be a problem
<g>. Please be sure you bring some extra US cash to fund Cindy's trips to
the IGA and to the Provo beverage center.

CURRENCY

For those of you new to Provo, US dollars and US credit cards work GREAT.

CARS

I have reserved a car at National Car Rental for Saturday pickup. Cindy and
I will share it with the Livengoods or, if it ends up making more sense,
possibly with Steve and Dee. The Livengoods may decide it makes better
sense to share their car with Bill Smith, as the arrangement is that he
will now be staying in the Rangiroad house. For now, all that matters is
that the car reservation for the Howards is firm and confirmed. WA9S also
has reserved a car for the 12th. If anyone else wants a car, you're on your
own to make the reservation if you haven't done so yet, and you'll find
phone numbers on the web site. Please call me (330.628.5707) or e-mail me
(ghoward@kent.edu) if you still have concerns about cars.

PASSPORTS AND DEPARTURE TAX

Remember - a passport is not required for entry to and exit from Provo. If
you have one, definitely bring it. If not, a birth certificate will
suffice. There is a small departure tax, payable in cash at the airport,
but I forget the amount. Something like $25, as I recall.

CUSTOMS

As always, patience and courtesy usually win the game with customs people.
We have never had any trouble on Provo. I will FAX a list of incoming major
equipment items to Jody next week, with serial numbers, and she will get
that list to customs ahead of time.

ARRIVAL LOGISTICS

WA9S + Mary and W0NB + Mary will be on the same flight on the 12th from MIA
to PLS. Ken will have a WA9S sign or do something outrageous in the
departure gate at MIA to attract attention to himself. Jim -- you can also
check out the photos of Ken, WA9S, on the web site so you can pick him out
at the gate. On arrival on Provo, WA9S will get his rental car (if you
could call it a "car") and take all four of you to Jody's.

>From the airport, drive out the access road (there's only one way you can
go) until it ends in a tee by the clinic. Turn left at the tee and follow
that main road for two miles or so (wild guess) as it curves and turns.
Look for Cherokee Road on the left (I believe it is opposite the NAPA Auto
Parts store. Turn left on Cherokee and from there you'll recognize the
geography -- you go to the top of the hill and about halfway back down, and
Jody's driveway will be a right turn up the hill. Remember that Jody will
be running the RTTY contest, so Paul (Jody's Haitian friend) (and K8RF, if
he's there) will help you get quietly situated -- the Wishmeiers in the
Hamlet and the Livengoods in one of Jody's bedrooms. (More lodging detail
follows below.)

K8RF: Dan, if you're there it would be really neat if you could meet the
flight on Friday and save WA9S some hassle...!

On Saturday morning Ken needs to call Elliott Holdings and Management
Company at 649.946.5355 (Lynnette Simpson is our contact) and arrange to
meet them somewhere and get led to the Rangiroad house, get the keys, and
get moved in. I have FAXed a letter to them authorizing W0NB and WA9S to
check in in my name. I'll send the check for the balance of the rent to
WA9S so that they can be paid in full. (They already have $2000 paid.)

Saturday someone (WA9S?) will need to meet me and Cindy on the afternoon
flight and lead us to the Rangiroad place. We'll have a car, but have no
clue exactly where the house is...! If we are not on the flight, that means
we took a voluntary bump and will be on the evening flight. If that
happens, we will call and leave a message at Jody's.

All other arrivals (N8LGP, W9VA, W9EFL) will be met at the airport by
someone. Please be sure to send me your flight details, as mentioned below.

ARRIVAL FLIGHTS/DATES

PLEASE send me your flight information. I think I have it all correctly,
but need to be doubly-sure. This caused some confusion last year!! For
starters, our info is below. Please, send me yours....

W0CG + Cindy, Feb 13, AA285, 3:06 PM.

LODGING

Here's the fun part. All the lodging detail is on the web site in a table
(http://asgard.kent.edu/ccc/vp5cw), but here's that same detail in text
form if you have trouble getting to the web. I may STILL not have this
perfectly right, so check it closely and let me know if I need to make any
changes.

W0CG + Cindy: Feb 13, 14 ,15 in the Rangiroad sofabed; Feb 16, 17, 18, 19,
20, 21, 22 in the Hamlet.

W0NB + Mary: Feb 12 in a bedroom in Jody's main house, Feb 13, 14, 15, 16
in Rangiroad twin bedroom; Feb 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 in the Rangiroad
queen bedroom. I reiterate that confirmation for the night at Jody's and
payment are separate and you need to handle this directly with Jody.

WA9S + Mary: Feb 12 in the Hamlet; Feb 13, 14, 15, 16 in the Rangiroad queen

WA9S: Feb 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 in the Rangiroad twin

W9EFL: Feb 15 the Hamlet; Feb 16 in the Rangiroad sofabed; Feb 17, 18, 19,
20, 21, 22 in the Rangiroad twin room. Again, confirmation for the night at
Jody's and payment are separate and you need to handle this directly with
Jody.

N8LGP + Dee: Feb 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 in the "Studio"

W9VA: Feb 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 in the Rangiroad sofabed, Feb 23 in a room
in Jody's house. Bill - You'll need to reimburse Jody separately for the
one night in her house.

K8RF + girlfriend: All nights in a room in Jody's main house.

If I have any of the above hosed up, I apologize in advance. This is
complicated, and as the makeup of the team changed over the past months it
got more complicated. Kenny: If Noel gets his nights mixed up and climbs in
bed with you and tries anything funny, I'll accept full blame.... Remember
-- anything beats Louise Fletcher's.

PLEASE let me know if you see any errors, or if you see something in the
lodging that you can't live (or sleep) with. At J6DX I ended up sleeping on
a leather couch in a living room, just me and the 100% humidity and the
mosquitoes, and all the racket from the ham radio half the night, and yet
paid the same lodging share as everything else. I don't want anyone in our
group to feel similarly unfairly-treated....

TEE SHIRTS

I have the tee shirts. I'll bring them all in my baggage, or possibly ask
N8LGP to bring a few of them. They were only a little less than $12 each,
so I'll absorb that cost as my gift to the team.

QSLs

We all need to thank Noel, W9EFL, who contributed $150 toward the cost of
QSL card printing. The team's present sentiment seems to be to go with an
inexpensive card, and only QSL in response to cards we receive. We can
discuss this on the island.... I have some samples I got last week from
Vi-Con, and will bring them along for everyone to review.

HOLD-HARMLESS

Jody will be asking everyone to sign hold-harmless statements so that she
will not be liable for any injuries or damage during our visit. I don't
blame her -- I'd do the same thing as a property owner, and I hope nobody
will have a problem with signing the document.

LICENSES

Jody has the licenses and will give them to us on arrival. Be sure to carry
a copy of your stateside license in case customs gets dicey, either
entering the Turks and Caicos or re-entering the States.

AIRLINE BAGGAGE LIMITS (from W8TK)

W8TK checked with American Airlines about baggage limits to Provo. Each
passenger is allowed two checked bags with a combined weight limit of 100
lb and one carry-on bag with a weight limit of 40 lb. They seldom say
anything, though, about a second small carryon. Weigh your bags -- don't
take a chance, because they CAN and will turn you away at the check-in
counter. Getting back out of Provo is usually more critical....

SERIAL NUMBERS

If you are bringing any major items (like Noel's IBM Thinkpad), I need your
serial numbers RIGHT NOW so I can put them in the FAX to customs on Provo.

MEDICAL CARE

Unfortunately we had an opportunity to test the medical care on
Providenciales in 1995 when WD8AUB (now K4LT) came down with a very serious
case of food poisoning. The care was good. The Turks and Caicos is a
British Commonwealth, so there are doctors there from the U.K. with the
commensurate high quality training. They were very helpful and gracious
with Doug when he had his crisis.

OTHER EQUIPMENT ITEMS TO BRING

Nobody needs to drag transceivers or amps (except for CG and WA9S) unless
you want to do extra operating at your own QTH. W9VA very much wants to
operate six meters, and so does N8LGP, so Bill, would you please
communicate with Steve either by e-mail or phone (330.929.5585 or
n8lgp@earthlink.net) and work out what Jody has on site, and what you two
need to bring to be able to get on six? And as a
no-six-meter-experience-guy, I'll watch with great curiosity!!

Everyone: We could use one more five or six-position coax switch. If you
have one or can get one, please e-mail me so that I know it's coming.

Noel: Can you bring your IBM Thinkpad again? We may be able to network it
as a third computer and use it to monitor all the activity and make the
progress and scoring graphs.

Can anyone get or borrow one or two 8875s? These would be the spare tubes
for the Dentron. If not, we will survive -- loss of that amp would simply
move us onto Jody's SB-200, but I'd feel better with spares. (We do have
spares for the Centaur and for the SB-200.)

N8LGP: Steve, as we discussed, we're counting on you for hardware for the
tower sections, just in case, and the usual set of tools. You know better
than anybody what we need in the mechanical area. Do you have a drift pin?
A couple of 1/4 inch pulleys?

Noel and Bill: Could each of you buy a roll of 3/8" yellow polypropylene
rope and bring it? You can usually find this in coils of about 600 feet for
about $25 or so in hardware stores. It is cheap and light and fits easily
in a suitcase.

Jim (W0NB): Do you happen to have a muffin fan or two that run on 110 VAC
that we could simply set on top of the gear? Provo gets as hot as KP2, even
in February!! We also need one box of blank 3.5 inch diskettes.

Everyone: If you have a favorite set of headphones, bring them. If you're
not picky, I will have enough sets. They need to connect to a 1/4 inch
phone jack, stereo-style.

Noel: Could you bring a handful (maybe 10) PL-259s, and maybe 100 feet of
RG-8X of RG-58 coax, just in case, to connect beverages? And could you also
bring like five or so rolls of electrical tape and two big rolls of duct
tape??

Everyone: Bring a set of light tools: screwdrivers, vice grips, 1/2, 7/16,
9/16 box end or socket wrenches. Bring gloves. One pair of long pants helps
too, when dragging coax through the bushes.

W0NB: Jim, could you go to Radio Shack or wherever and pick up a collection
of ferrite bead and ferrite core devices for interference reduction? We
will need a LOT of these to wrap around or snap around computer networking
cables, keying lines, keyer power supply lines, and other unanticipated
places. The more the better. Get a big assortment, in quantity. With luck,
we won't need any of this stuff, and you can take it all back home
unopened!!

W0CG: I will bring my usual huge assortment of 3AG fuses.

W0NB: Jim, could you and Mary get a first aid kit and a whole mess of band
aids and bring that along? And possibly one lightweight desk lamp and a
small desk fan? Also, if you could find and bring a bunch of tie wraps? We
also BADLY need about 50 cable labels - preferably the tie-wrap kind that
you can write on with a pencil.

K8RF: You're mister 160 and 80. You need to take (or find down there) all
the pieces of the 80 loop you built last year, including the balun. The
coax is still there and, of course, the telescoping mast and the tower
pieces. Beverage wire is still there, and I'm bringing a beverage matching
box. We'll transmit on 160 on Jody's magic bent dipole. It's tremendous. No
more Yucca fires this year.

N8LGP: Steve, as last year, you're responsible for all grouding, inside and
outside. It was WONDERFUL just the way you did it last year. J6DX did not
have good grunding, and as a result could never get their computer network
to work!

-------------------------

I'm pooped. Certainly I've forgotten something, so there will be more
e-mail before we head for the sun and sand. For now, that's it, though.

THANKS to all for your patience with me as we try to coordinate this thing
in an ever-changing set of circumstances. And special thanks to Cindy and
ALL our XYLs for putting up with our man-toy nonsense. It'll be fun,
though, and while our score is an uncertainty, we can COUNT ON 80 degrees
and sun and sand and surf no matter what happens with on the radio!

Thanks and 73,

- Geoff

VP5CW Newsletter #4
3 January 1999
====================

WEB SITE

I made a lot of enhancements and additions to the WWW site. Have a look at http://asgard.kent.edu/ccc/vp5cw. I put a LOT LOT of time into this, so please take some time to study everything on there carefully. It's all important. The equipment lists and operating schedule, etc, are all in DRAFT, so don't panic if you see something wierd. Please send me your comments, if any, on this material as it stands. When the equipment lists and schedule have been finalized, I'll let you know and we will then juggle whatever needs juggled.

You will also see that I put some photos on the VP5CW site. Many more will show up on there after the contest!

CATEGORY AND COMPETITION

Logistics and availability of people and many other considerations have forced us to finalize on a Multi-Single operation this year. I did a lot of analysis of scores of winners in the past four years. Please have a look elsewhere on the site for those score analyses. (Thank goodness for QST on CD-ROM!) It looks like the Multi-Single category has been a tad less competitive than the Multi-2, at least in the past four years. Also, we simply don't have enough people to do a Multi-2. The team to beat, winning Multi-Single each of the last three years, is PJ9C, manned by W1WEF and W1BIH. I don;t know if they will be on again this year, but they are an established dynasty.

I put together a set of scoring objectives by taking the numbers from the top stations in years past and bumping them all up a realistic 10% or so. This gave us a target of 7200 QSOs and 348 multipliers for 7,516,800 points. This is not unrealistic, and if we attain it, would have a very strong chance of winning. Again, please don't take my word for any of this, but look for yourself at the numbers on the site. I even put in a link to the full-text article on last year's results from QST. As we found out last year, there is always the chance of being blind-sided by a superteam like V26B, but those are the chances we take. This year, I would like us to be the superteam and blindside somebody else for a change.

TEAM

I am still trying hard to recruit one or two more operators, but no success thus far. Almost had K8MR, but his XYL killed that idea. There has been some interest from one or two of the J6DX crew, but nothing firm yet. Please help by trying to recruit another run operator or two. Send me your leads!!

LODGING

Everything is finalized, as per my last e-mail on lodging. The schedule is on the WWW site. PLEASE check this and be sure it is consistent with your view of who is staying where and when. I need WA9S and W0NB to contact Jody ( jody@tciway.tc ) if you have not already done so, and be sure you are all set with her on the extra nights in her house on the night of the 12th in terms of costs and reservations. Also, please remember that she will be operating the RTTY contest that weekend, so there will be no support available from her and you will have to stay out of her hair during the contest. She would do the same for us....

WA9S and W0NB will have to identify each other at the gate in Miami somehow and Ken will assist Jim and Mary on arrival on Provo in getting cars, etc., and getting to Jody's house. Saturday you will have to move out of Jody's house and find the Rangiroad house and the agent (Lynnette Simpson, Elliott Holdings and Management Company Ltd, (649) 946 5355) and get moved in. Then one of you will need to meet Cindy and me on the Saturday afternoon flight. If we are not on that flight, it means we got bumped and will be on the late flight on Saturday. There may not be any way for us to get word to you that we got bumped, either. Sorry.

Unless K8RF shows up, the Hamlet bedroom is empty, thanks to KU8E pulling out on us. Half of the cost of the Hamlet is paid by the operator group for the use of the station/site, and the other half is paid by whoever lives in there. Right now nobody is living in there, so the shared expenses are likely to be quite high. I haven't asked for money yet for these shared costs because I'm still hoping to find someone to live in the Hamlet...! Again, I apologize -- the six people who committed to come and then pulled out have placed us in this awkward spot financially.

EQUIPMENT

I'm coordinating now with W8TK and Goose on borrowing gear. You can see the proposed setup elsewhere on this site. Jim: do you have an amplifier that you could bring? Would that be feasible? Once we get the station designs all set up, I'll finalize the equipment lists and let you know that they are finalized. After that, we may need to juggle some gear. For example, I may lay a transceiver or a linear on WA9S for him to carry down -- we will meet in north-central Ohio in late January and hand it off!

J6DX

I was on the November ARRL CW J6DX team on St. Lucia. Great group of guys, and as always I learned a lot of new things. There is still a chance that we may be able to recruit one or more of them to join with us on Provo!

CARS

Did I dream that WA9S already has a rental car reservation for him and Mary and Noel? Jim: Would you and Mary want to share a car with me and Cindy?

MONEY

Thanks to W0NB for responding to my request for lodging dollars with lightning speed. Would everyone please help me out by getting me the necessary dollars as soon as possible so I can get everyone (Jody, rental agency, etc.) paid with prompt professional courtesy.

TEE SHIRTS

I'll have shirts made for: W0NB, Mary, WA9S, Mary, W0CG, Cindy, N8LGP, Nancy, Dee, W9EFL. Total of 10 shirts. Please let me know if you do NOT want one, or if you want an extra. They will be about $15 each, personalized, with the CCC logo in color.

QSLs

Last year W8TK very generously picked up the cost of the QSLs (over $500). This helped minimize the shared expenses for all of us. Anyone feel generous this year? Or, alternatively, does anyone have a lead on a corporate sponsor who might pick up this cost in exchange for advertising exposure? Or should we just get cheap cards and only QSL to those who send a card first? Who can volunteer to be QSL manager? Maybe one of the people who bailed out on us? (Hint hint.)

Please call or e-mail me with your questions.

73,

- Geoff, W0CG

VP5CW Newsletter # 2
18 October 1998

LODGING

If you have not looked yet, we have a table of the lodging arrangements, as we understand them thus far, on the WWW site at http://asgard.kent.edu/ccc/vp5cw.

We are hoping to be able to put W0NB and Mary, K8CC and K9TM, and possibly N9DX into a second rental house, beginning on or about February 13 (Saturday) and continuing for a week (or two if you want to stay that long) after the contest. Most of the houses rent from Saturday-Saturday, one week at a time. Rentals are anywhere from $2000-$2400, so a week split four ways would be $500-$600/person, a deal indeed. The house we have in mind is on the beach and close to one of the others that we have already rented. If you want to stay an odd number of days, such as 10 or so, we can put you in a house for a week and then into a motel or B&B for the odd leftover days. PLEASE LET ME HEAR FROM YOU on your lodging preferences and dates ASAP so that we can get this figured out and secure a second house before everything desirable is gone.

AIRLINES

The flights are filling up very rapidly. The Saturday Feb 13 flight from MIA to PLS (AA285) is already overbooked. You need to decide right away on your travel dates and call American and get booked. The airport identifier at the destination is PLS. Fares from Cleveland are running from $550 - $700 for the round trip depending on how lucky you get. American Airlines has a near-monopoly on the Provo route, so it is not inexpensive, particularly in the February "high season."

OPERATORS

The operator list is stabilizing. As you will see from the WWW site, we have been fortunate to sign on some world-class ops. Getting the airline tickets in hand will stabilize the operator list in its final form!!

STATIONS, RADIO, OPERATING

Not much to say at present -- we will defer the radio planning until we have the lodging nailed down and the airline tickets in hand. Radio planning will be MUCH easier than last year, as we all know the ropes and we still have the antennas and towers, etc, on the island, thanks to Jody's generosity with space in her garage.

LICENSES

If you have not yet done so, please send me a check right away for $20 and a copy of your stateside license. That gets you a VP5/ callsign and license for a year. Thanks to those of you who have done that already. Checks payable to Geoff Howard, and mailed to 1984 Trares Road, Suffield, OH 44260.

SHARED EXPENSES

The shared expenses will include half the cost of the Hamlet rental, additional overhead charges for each operator because of the very high utility consumption in the Hamlet with a large group, QSL cards, costs of fabricating a killer 10 meter yagi (thanks N8LGP), and some unforseen miscellany. I'll update you as soon as I have a better estimate of how much this will be. Probably in the neighhorhood of only about $170/operator. (Last year the individual charges were very low because of two large donations received for the 40 meter beam (W9EFL) and for the QSL cards (W8TK). We may not be that fortunate this year.)

Please call or e-mail me with your questions.

73,

- Geoff, W0CG

VP5CW Newsletter # 3   
10 November 1998
====================

LODGING

As always happens at this stage, everything is still changing, but less and less each week. Please have a look at the lodging panel on the WWW site http://asgard.kent.edu/ccc/vp5cw. This is the latest read I have on who will be where, when. As you will see, W0NB and his XYL Mary will be in the Rangiroad house. Mary Wishmeier leaves on Wednesday and Noel will move into the Rangiroad house on Wednesday in her place. For Monday and Tuesday nights, Noel will be in the Hamlet. (Friday night the 12th, WA9S and XYL will spend one night in Jody's main house, as the Rangiroad rental does not begin until Saturday.)

N8LGP and Dee and Nancy are all set again this year in The Studio.

K8RF and KU8E will split the rental on the Hamlet again, but this year that will begin on Wednseday night and end on Tuesday. (Correct me anywhere I still don't have this right!) Dan and Jeff -- this may have an impact on the dates you decide to come to the island.

Right now the big loose end is whether we can get some additional nights in the Rangiroad house (Sat, Sun, Mon nights during and after the contest.) I have calls and e-mails into the rental agent, but they respond at the usual Provo speed.... No problem. I'll let everyone know what will happen to the Howards, the Livengoods, and Mr and Mrs Kindt-Wishmeier (Kenny and Noel) for those last three nights as soon as I know.

This leaves K8CC, K9TM, and W8MJ still without a place to stay, and they have indicated that they will jump on this now that the CW SS contest is over. Dave: have a look at all the Provo links on the VP5CW home page http://asgard.kent.edu/ccc/vp5cw   for cues on lodging. The Erebus Inn is a good and economical alternative, and you can also e-mail Cindy (cshoward@gwis.com) for contact information on the B&B that caught her eye. Also, if you are interested in a REALLY low-end B&B, you can contact WA9S for the full, unfiltered story on Louise Fletcher's as a possible place to stay.

AIRLINES

To my knowledge, only W0CG and Cindy, N8LGP and company, and WA9S and Mary are ticketed thus far. Again, correct me if I'm wrong. Nag nag nag, but it is WAY past time to be booking flights, as we are going at the peak of the vacation season. Please let me know for sure on your dates as soon as you have flights booked so I can be sure that I have the lodging dates right. Thanks.

LICENSING

I have the fee money and stateside license copy from W0NB, N8LGP, and WA9S. K8RF will already have a valid VP5 license. Please get a copy of your US license and $20 to me right away so that we can batch the license request and get it to Jody. Setting up a trip like this takes a lot of time that I don't have, so please help make it easier on me and send these things in right away so we can check off the licensing thing as completed.... Checks to Geoff Howard, 1984 Trares Road, Suffield, OH 44260.

ANTENNAS

For 10, Steve, N8LGP, has again worked his professional machinist magic and turned Goose's and K8MFO's piles of scrap metal into a masterpiece of design. The 5 element 10 meter monobander on its 24 foot boom is now at W0CG on a ring rotor at 62 feet for a test period. The antenna is getting INCREDIBLE signal reports from all over the world. Even more amazing is that is all fits into an airline-compliant PVC tube, and assembles in about 15 minutes, thanks to Steve's clever color-coding of parts. Having said that, we're not quite sure yet where to put the 10 yagi -- best guess right now is that it will be in the ruins where the 15 yagi was last year.

On 160, we will use Jody's magical bent dipole for transmit and a beverage on receive.

For 80, the fabulous near-record-setting delta loop by K8RF will again go after the all time QSO record, and a beverage will be used on receive.

The 40 yagi, which is stored at Jody's, will again be put up on the tower at 40 feet using the W8TK rotor. Jody has had one of Steve's hinged tower bases cemented permanently to the island northeast of the spot where the temp tower was last year.

For 20 we are hoping to once again take advantage of Jody's generosity and use her 20 yagi up at the main house, connected through the long cactus-run of coax.

The Pro-67 will get the nod on 15, with Steve's LGP monobander on standby as a backup if there is too much interference between 15 and 40.

BAND CAPTAINS

Right now it looks like 160 belongs to K8RF, 10 to W0CG, and 20 to the K8CC+K9TM combination. Who wants to speak up and be the czars of 80, 40, and 15? (KU8E has said he would like to try something other than 40 this year, so 40 is up for grabs.) Those of you who are new to our "Band Captain" scheme can read all about the concept from last year's VP5FXB site at http://asgard.kent.edu/ccc/vp5fxb/bandcapt.htm .

EQUIPMENT

It is a little premature to talk about gear, but here is a FIRST DRAFT.

10/160: W0CG TS-940 and a W8TK Alpha amplifier.

80: K8RF TS-930 and an unknown amplifier.

40: Borrowed W8TK or W8AV TS-930 and the W8TK Centurion Amplifier.

20: Preferred complete station brought by K8CC and K9TM.

15: Unknown -- depends on who the Band Captain is for 15....

PEOPLE

As you've probably heard, W8AV and Sue are off the trip. Goose had a glitch in his vacation schedule at work, and because he is with a small company, he could not be gone at the same time that someone else had scheduled vacation. He will be made to pay, somehow, in a very painful fashion, for leaving us in the lurch. K4LT cancelled out last month. W8TK will be away on another (family) trip.

In contrast, we are looking forward to getting to know Jim and Mary Livengood (W0NB) and the K8CC crew from Michigan: Dave Pruett, K8CC, Tim Mitchell, K9TM, and Ken Keier, W8MJ. All these folks are seasoned, experienced contesters. Under the heading of "returnees", we will be welcoming back Ken, WA9S (this time joined for part of the trip by his wife Mary), Noel, W9EFL, mister-low-bands Dan, K8RF, and world's best antenna-builder Steve, N8LGP, accompanied again by his XYL Dee and his sister Nancy.

We still could really use one or two more operators. It would be perfectly OK for ops to drop in on Friday, operate like heck, then book on Monday. We're stilll hoping to talk W8AV and K4LT into doing it that way. In the meantime, who would you nominate? Let me know.

THE BANDS

As you have probably experienced, 10 meters is coming back like gangbusters. This means that we have a real chance of winning this year if the built-in propagation disadvantage of VP5 goes away. But to do so will require a heck of an effort to get all the best gear to the island, and to build a solid suite of stations.

OUR BIGGEST NEED

The team's biggest need is linears. We need to get as much power as possible to the island, in reliable and carryable packages. If you are looking for suggestions for your Christmas list, ask Santa for a lightweight KW linear. Then build a custom carrying case for it with wheels and a heckuva handle and bring it to the island in February.

THE INFAMOUS CCC THURSDAY TARGET

For those of you new to our group, we have a hard and fast practice that you may thing is just plain WEIRD, but it works. Our target during the pre-contest week is to have EVERYTHING up, running, tested, loaded, and ready to start the contest at 7 PM on ----- Thursday. That's right. Thursday. Just as if the contest were beginning 24 hours early. This worked GREAT last year and we pretty much made that goal. Friday was for sleeping, swimming, planning strategy, CT practice, and fixing last-second glitches. It works. In other years, when we have NOT used the Thursday goal, we have had crises (big ones) right up to and through the beginning of the contest. Call us crazy, but that's the rule. Thursday.

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Nothing more for now. PLEASE: licensing materials to W0CG, book airlines and let CG know your dates, and Michigan crew work on lodging.

73,

- Geoff, W0CG