CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW   2023   Nov 25   Claimed Score

Call: D4C
Operator(s): D44FF E77DX HB9CAT IK2NCJ S53CC S53F S53MM S53RM S53WW S53ZO S55OO S57AL S57C S57L S57VW
Station: D4C

Class: M/M HP
QTH: Monte Verde
Operating Time (hrs): 48
Location: Africa

Band	QSOs	Zones	Countries
------------------------------------------------------------
160:	898	19	83
80:	2132	31	104
40:	3532	37	135
20:	4510	39	151
15:	4873	39	158
10:	4816	39	148
------------------------------------------------------------
Total:	20761	204	779	Total Score	60,956,813

Club: [none]

Comments:  2023-11-28 20:38:38

It was after 2021 MM when we logged almost 18k QSO as TK0C that IK2NCJ send a message: “Congrats! We should 
make a “TeamC” joint operation sometime during this solar cycle”. “Life is too short not to” was our reply. 
The rest is history now…

We started preparation 6 months back. We really wanted to operate TK0C style (see the article in July/August 2023 NCJ), 
so we got permission to make some changes to the D4 Monte Verde contest station setup. We brought 13x 23kg pieces of 
luggage and 11x 10kg cabin bags of the equipment with us. Imagine the security control staff reaction when they met us.

We managed to set the new best hour rate already in the first hour due to 10m and 15m being in a very good shape 
(we were expecting this to happen at 19 GMT on Saturday). The 931 QSOs logged in one hour despite issues with in-band 
on 80m and 40m (not operational during the first night) and having to reboot the 40m computers two times is giving us 
confidence we could cross the bar of 1000 QSOs per hour easily.

With operating TK0C style we managed to make 15% of QSOs in S&P mode (2837 QSOs) and we could sense over the air that
 we made a day to the quite a few operators being called by a rare  double-mult station. 

The number of 6 banders is mind blowing - 488 stations worked on all 6 bands prove that top band reception was superb. 
Still, we would be happy to have much more one-pointers in the log 🙂.

Station is strong, the carefully selected team is strong, still the sun is the ultimate authority in this hobby. The 
conditions suddenly dropped on Saturday evening on low bands and only recovered on Sunday. On high bands, the rates 
simply did not build up as expected. 

Big thanks to Luca/IK2NCJ for making this “experiment” happen and to Mark/D44FF for his hospitality. As a host we rate 
you 9 out of 10. We reserved a 10 point rating for the next visit! Also, the notorious bad weather, heavily marketed 
in the preparation period, did not happen. 

73 from TeamC

Equipment:
2x FTdx10 (160m) and 5x Flex6600/6700

Antennas:
160m - vertical
80m - 4SQ
40m - 3el to EU, 3el to US, 3el to SA
20m - 2x4el to EU, 2x4el to US, 4el to SA, 4el to AF  
15m - 2x4el to EU, 2x4el to US, 4el to SA, 4el to AF
10m - 3x5el to EU, 2x5el to US, 5el to SA, 5el to AF

Inband antennas placed some 300m down the ridge:
40m - two phased verticals
20m/15m/10m - tribander

LB RX:
EU: 240m BVG
PY: 180m BVG
AF: 80m BoG
US: 2x DHDL on 160m, DHDL on 80m/40m