PACC 2024 at PI4COM
One of the fixtures on the PI4COM contest calendar is the PACC contest.
As a Dutch contestgroup, we think it is important to make ourselves heard during the national contest and the duration of (only) 24 hours also makes it a contest with a low threshold for our members. We continue to find it difficult that the PACC coincides with another favorite contest of many of our members; the CQ WPX RTTY Contest. Every year there is a brief discussion about which contest it will be and then the PACC always wins. If someone manages to pull the dates apart so that we can participate in both, I’m sure he will make a lot of contesters happy…
This year the discussion was very short because it soon became clear that most of our members could not be available during the PACC weekend. It’s hard to believe, but there are more important things like the PACC contest. If a number of the already small group also drop out due to a circulating flu virus and the PACC 2024 team only consists of 2 operators, you will find yourself in a situation where you have to make a choice whether you can seriously participate in our regular Multi2 section. I will spare you the details of the meetings, but in the end the 3rd part-time operator was the deciding factor and it was decided to participate as Multi2 with an team of no less than 3 operators, one of whom would join in the course of the evening on Saturday directly from a week of training and a major home renovation. In short, a challenge awaited us. The team would consist of Dervin PD9DX, Ronald PA3EWP (part-time) and Alex PA1AW.
Construction:
The build-up on Saturday morning went well, especially the antenna work. The storm damage was not too bad and in fact the only antenna work that had to be done was to install a 2nd 80m dipole for the SSB part of the band. We deliberately tuned our fixed 80m dipole in the CW-RTTY segment of the band because we are more active there than in SSB. Although not announced, we were happy with the help of the members Richard PD4RD and Fred PA3GDG who, although they would not participate in the contest, came to help. Thanks again for this! Also a colleague of Alex PA1AW who passed the exam came to see how it works during such a contest. We don’t have much use to look and before he knew it, Jeffrey (now PD0JZ) was standing with the end of an 80m dipole in his hand and the challenge to attach it somewhere, which worked out fine by the way .
The construction of the two stations is a slightly different story. Those who are familiar with our station know that each shack is built in a separate “container”. A number of patch cables are buried between the shacks for coax, rotor and network. Really a thing to use the correct patch cable for the right application. It’s easy to make a mistake and no one is waiting for a signal to be transmitted directly into the receiver in the other shack. Due to the absence of part of the normal team, some of the normally deployed equipment was also missing. This means that setting up a working N1MM computer network, ensuring that the right antenna is available in the right shack (preferably including rotor clock) etc. provides a challenge. But in the end, half an hour before the start of the contest, everything seemed to work, and that without any significant stress.
For example, the absence of some regular operators also meant that coffee could not be made on Saturdays. The fact that this was eventually solved by Richard PD4RD’s full coffee machine on location so that we could drink freshly ground bean coffee was another unexpected stroke of luck. It was a pity that the coffee machine went home because you quickly get used to good coffee, but fortunately there was now a replacement solution with equally delicious coffee.
The station:
| Shack 1 | Shack 2 | ||||||
| Band | 10 | 20 | 80 | 15 | 40 | 160 | |
| Radio | IC7300 | IC7610 | |||||
| Antenne | 4 el LFA @26m | 5 el Optibeam @24m | 2x Dipool | 6 el Optibeam @24m | 2 el Optibeam @ 27m | Dipool | |
Contest:
So we had half an hour for the strategy discussion and that was also more than enough. With 2 operators leaves little room for variants and the strategy was simple: In both shacks, start on the highest possible band that really deliver. Dervin PD9DX as pure SSB operator everything in SSB and Alex PA1AW in the other shack as much as possible in CW. As soon as the runs would drop down, immediately switch modes to work in CW as well as the multipliers and stations. In a 24 hour contest you generally only get the right opening to a certain part of the world once and you have to take it. In our case, changing modes meant changing shacks. So with regularity it was collecting your stuff like a headset and a little walk to the other shack. Press OPON and search for a run frequency on the band where the other mode was just done.
Right from the start, the audience was good. We were happy that we were able to resist the temptation of starting at 20 and 40 and had put the focus on the higher bands so that we could rake in those one-off multipliers. A good choice and with the bonus of incredible runs, especially on 10m, we were doubly happy. Changing shack quickly became a habit and with a simple OPON all your settings back to the way you want them remains a perfect option in N1MM.
While logging we noticed that the PCs did not synchronize in time and there was a 2 minute time difference with logging. Together with Richard PD4RD we searched for the solution in N1MM and when we didn’t find it, we also started a clock synchronization program on the other PC so that the time started running properly. This took about 5 minutes but it was nice to see your own qso’s in the log. Due to the high QSO rate, they were out of the picture in the log above 5 or more QSOs on the other band.
Switching stations to have a good mode balance and to take full advantage of the (one-off) openings worked great. I’ve been surprised a few times after a band change by the HUGE pile up in the first 10-15 minutes; not doable bytimes. Usually it did drop, but then to QSO rates with several QSOs per minute for a longer period of time, and that for a PACC contest.
All fun comes to an end and so do the huge runs, but by then it was deep into the night. At that point, one of the operators got “stuck” due to fatigue and had the choice to either wake up the sleeping Dervin who would not reach the QSO rates needed with SSB alone at that time of the night or rotate the remaining night shift at 160-80 and 40m. We opted for the latter and did the “dog watch” with a single operator switching 40-80 and 160m running for fifteen minutes or even shorter each time to work maximum rates in both modes and then on to the next band. An additional advantage of this was the constant walk to the other shack so you can’t doze off. This went fine and if you look at the rates we should have done that a little earlier, so this solution could be here to stay. Second advantage was having two relatively rested operators when the sun and the QSO rates rose again.
The last hours of the contest were as usual. Enjoying 40m and 20m with a huge rate in both modes. Every year I am amazed at how such a relatively small contest can have such an impact on the bands….
The result:
Band Qso’s Mult Score
160M 118 37
80M 451 77
40M 791 115
20M 794 114
15M 749 131
10M 677 107
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Total 3580 581 2.060.226
We are quite proud of that. To achieve without a doubt the best PI4COM score ever in Multi2 with this small team was something we had not dared to dream of beforehand.
Contesting in this way is an attack on your constitution but at the same time gives so much energy that boundaries are pushed.
Of course we would like to thank everyone for the QSOs and making this beautiful experience possible. Of course, we are always available for questions. Are you a contester and are interested in a drive like PI4COM; We also have a place for new members. Of course, there are rights and obligations associated with this, but we are happy to share them with you.
Until the PACC2025 or of course earlier in another contest.
Team PI4COM PACC 2023; Dervin PD9DX, Ronald PA3EWP & Alex PA1AW
