The Envelope Please
Posted: Jul 10, 2006 10:09 PDT

The day of the contest starts early; I hear stirrings in the next room just at sunrise. I vaguely recall hearing “PopaPopa 5/F6BEE” sometime in the middle of the night. Ivana, ZZ5ISA, our other host had thoughtfully prepared some great Brazilian coffee for us. It is hot and strong; a toothpick could stand vertical in the middle of the cup. Now, THAT’s a cup of Joe! I am almost afraid to ask if everything is ready. Yes, John says. They got to bed around 1am after getting the laptops networked by using WiFi. One look under the table and behind the rigs confirms that this is truly a ‘wireless’ hobby. With black cables, grey cables, coax stubs and antenna lines; it looks like a roiling fur ball of fighting snakes, frozen in time.
At 1150z, I hand Jack the sealed envelope with the assigned call sign: PW5F. I tell Jack that Popa Whiskey 5 “France” is not an acceptable phonetic for self ID purposes! This is a joke as Jack’s French accent on SSB will be unmistaken.
1200Z-and they’re off. The team is having problems getting any runs going…at the end of the first hour they have 75Qs…John goes outside and announces that a thick rf absorbing fog has rolled in over the houses. These first couple of hours are very disappointing to the guys and they resort to S&P until they find a clear hole and CQ. Where is the endless stream of callers? Finally around 16z, the bands open up and the rate rises above 100, 130 then 150 per hour. The boys are “in the zone” and rockin! They trade places each hour and I am having the time of my life! John is north of 35wpm and I’m hanging on for dear life! My job is to confirm the call signs and watch the log for errors. Each hour I “SMS” in the call and score for the live scoreboard.
Soon I am in the groove also and find that now I am silently competing to pick out call signs in the pileups. Hey, I’m just got a complete call that John needed a fill, YEAH! Then another, go boy go! I’m smoking! Why aren’t I sitting in their chair? This is easy, I can do this! Yeah, right, about 20minutes later, synapses are failing to close, I collapse in a heap silently in my chair. I am burnt out. That’s why John is in the Contest Hall of Fame. He does this hour after hour; this 24 hour contest must feel like a sprint to him! Maybe next WRTC they will have a Senior competition (over age 60). I will enter the Oscar Foxtrot division. Let’s see….4 hour competition with mandatory 1 hour siesta somewhere included.
Jack jumps into the ssb fray….his accent attracts attention…he is on a roll…I keep a record of the score at 55 after each hour….they jump 50k points between 16 and 17z, then 62k, then a slow hour again and back up to 86k, then 103k point difference, 109k, 108k, this is looking really good! The boys are passing mults from the B station to A, quick qsy, work’em, then back to running…great coordination and communication between the two.
Disaster strikes!
Around 00z, the fog rolls in again and shortly afterward S-9 noise kicks in. Long burst, 3 or 4 seconds off then on again. All bands are affected; this is a killer. We go through the house checking lights and appliances. The team move the beams trying to find the source/null. Nothing seems to work. We joke about finding a bar or going to bed early. As if by magic, the radio gods fix the problem and 48 minutes later, the noise totally disappears. By then, it seems the MUF has dropped to 160m or lower; there is nothing out there. It must be affecting all as one after another team comes by while doing their S&P. Finally around 2z, 40 opens up to NA and EU sunrise kicks in.

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