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Editor's Note:  This is the second part of a longer article penned by PARC Member Jim Cassidy, KI7Y, about his trip to Costa Rica for the 2003 ARRL CW DX Contest, which operation garnered the highest score  for a DX multioperator, multi-transmitter entry.  Jim and Al Rovner, K7AR, will be presenting the program for the September 19 general meeting, on this trip and operation.  Many thanks to K7AR for providing the accompanying photo-graphs.  The first part of this article appeared in the August issue on page 2.

Part II, Life on the Other Side of the Pileup

here began a whole new experience for me  when I made a single CQ at 100w on 40m CW as TI5/KI7Y.  That started a pileup that could have lasted all night.  Although warned of what would happen when I was spotted on the European packet cluster, I was initially frustrated with the depth of the pileup, and also with my operating, seemed like a novice when it came to sending CW.  I felt a little better about it all as time progressed that evening, especially when I realized I had been up over 30 hours with virtually no sleep.

The others got on and operated, and the first of many days of operating much of each day began.  Being the DX was very interesting, and I had to operate differently than when chasing the DX.  It was fascinating to find out the techniques that others used to break the pileups and get my attention.  I learned a few tricks to take home with me.

Wednesday, the second day in TI, we visited down town San Jose with Keko, who had some errands to run.  This was, to say the very least, most interesting.  We visited several electronic parts houses as Keko searched for items he needed.  We cashed some travelers' checks, watched by armed guards. We walked about down-town San Jose, a city with modern areas no different from the States or Europe, and the beautiful old colonial buildings.  We also visited the site of the TI2NA 6 meter beacon transmitter.   It has been in ser-vice for many, many years and was recently replaced with a modern solid state unit.  The following day we toured some of the Costa Rican countryside and found it very interesting.  Keko loves his country, is very knowledgeable, and his driving was great fun, not only for his good guiding, but as a source on the history of Costa Rica.

Racking up the points:  Will Gross, TI2WGO, and the author, (top and bottom, respectively) in the heat of the contest at TI5N.  Their efforts won them the DX Multi/Multi award in this year’s ARRL DX Contest (CW).

As the week went by, we spent more time on the air, checking out the antennas, how propagation compared with our pre-contest planning and arranging the contest shack.  We were to enter the ARRL DX CW Contest as a multi-op entry, but with only 3 operators.  The operating plan was going to be a killer, as it became obvious that we would be in for some long hours at the operating positions.   Fortunately, Keko had found out that Will Gross, TI2WGO/VA6WGO, was in San Jose and we invited him to operate with us.  Will agreed, and his prowess as one of the operators at the VE6JY super station became obvious, but he could not join us until Saturday morning, some 14 hours into the contest.  So, the 3 of us, K7AR, N7MQ and I, KI7Y, started the contest.  We were very tired by the time that Will joined us mid-morning on Saturday.

Things went well with our contest effort.  I did have some initial difficulties learning how to make the best of the TS 570 radios that Al and Mark have used over the years on their trips, and that they had brought for the contest.  Also, both Will and I had a learning curve with the Writelog.  Both of us had done almost all of our contesting with TR Log.

Things went well during the con-test and we finished with about 6600 QSOs, 333 total multipliers, and a final claimed score of 6.4 million points.  It was a great con-test, especially for me.

Following the contest we went out for dinner at a very nice local restaurant.  Open air dining on a warm evening with good company.  It was a perfect ending to a great weekend of contesting.

We were to stay a few days after the contest and did some more sightseeing and lots of operating, especially low bands and WARC bands.  Too quickly, it was time to go home, and 10 days after we arrived, we left to fly back, return-ing through Atlanta overnight and back to our homes in the Pacific Northwest.

To sum it all up, I have to admit that everyone who predicted that I would become totally hooked on this kind of operation were correct.  In fact, I have already decided to try it again next year, and our Cinco Nueve Contest Group has made arrangements. Special thanks to the CNCG for inviting me to participate.  And to anyone interested in a great experience in Costa Rica should check out the information about Keko.  His information can be found at www.qsl.net/ti5kd.  You might also want to visit the Cinco Neuve Contest Group Web Site at www/qsl.net/k7ar.  Now to be content to operate from home; see you next year from TI5N!

Special thanks to N7MQ for his editing help with this article and to K7AR for providing the pictures.

-KI7Y