PJ2C Newsletter #4
22 October 1999
====================

(As usual, this goes not only to the operators who are confirmed for the trip, but to ops from the VP5FXB and VP5CW trips as well as those who have tentatively expressed interest in PJ2C or other possible future CCC trips.)

All of the trip information is on the web site at http://asgard.kent.edu/ccc/pj2c. Please keep checking that site, as we're adding things as fast as possible.

CALLSIGN

As you're all now aware, we received a surprising notification by FAX on 13 October that our PJ9CW callsign had been changed to PJ2C. This is more good than bad. The bad is that I had to spend lots of time re-doing the web site, and also had to throw away a big box of shiny new PJ9/W0CG QSL cards. The good is that now Curacao has a prefix that is distinct from Bonaire.

In the past, stations in the Antilles could request a variety of callsigns, regardless of island. But now that the Netherlands Antilles is a signatory to CEPT (click on the link for more about CEPT), they have to comply with the CEPT requirement that each island have a distinct prefix. Thus, the big Multi/Multi on Bonaire was changed from PJ9B to PJ4B, and we are now a PJ2. Even though we will both count as the same "country" in the contest scoring, the distinct PJ2 prefix should serve to attract more stations to us.

ARRIVAL

Hillar and Elsie are already on the road and should arrive on the island Friday. Noel, Geoff, Dan, and Cindy will all arrive on the Tuesday afternoon flight on American, at 1:52 PM. We will work through the hassle with Customs, get the gear cleared, pay the duty on the things we are going to leave on the island (such as the 40 meter beam), and rent our car. I also have some unfinished business with the Avis manager from the July trip. We'll then go to the realtor's office in town to get the keys for W1BIH's house, stop at the Internet Service Provider and pay for our connection service, and then head for Kadushi Cliffs to check in.

I'll pay the whole villa tab on my credit card, so if Kadushi Cliffs tries to charge you for anything except for extra meals at the restaurant, resist that and point to Geoff.

N4OKX arrives later that afternoon, at 4:45 PM. Mark should have no problem clearing Customs, as I will have left forms there earlier. I will TRY to be there to meet Mark and Tanya, but if I don’t make it, rent your car and get a map and head for the Bahia Inn. Navigation on the island is VERY easy. WARNING: Be careful about insurance on your rental car. Unless you're positive that either your stateside insurance carrier or your credit card company provides coverage in Curacao, then accept and pay for the insurance. It's worth it. My credit card company covered most of the $1000 of vandalism damage to our cars in July, but only because we had DECLINED the car insurance offered on the island. Be careful and think through the terms of your coverage when getting the car. Mark and Tanya can then check in at the Bahia and head for Kadushi Cliffs to find the group. We will be out in the dark in the weeds assembling antennas! Go to Westpunt and follow the signs (they are not very BIG signs) to the Kadushi Cliffs Resort. You'll think it's pretty icky until you actually drive through the gate and into the resort proper.

Harry and Marjorie arrive at 855PM Tuesday night, and we will have someone there to meet you, help with Customs and the car, and lead you in the dark to "home" at Kadushi Cliffs.

We're not sure when WA8LOW arrives, as he's in Mishawa, Japan right now….

If you're so-inclined, you may want to hit a grocery store on the way to Kadushi Cliffs from the airport. If you take the "north" road to the resort (most logical for KKF) you will pass the "California Supermarket" on the left, about halfway there. It's not really very super, but not bad either. Prices are reasonable. They prefer to take local currency or credit cards in there. Breakfasts will be provided by the resort as part of the pre-paid cost, but other meals will be on your own. There's not much in the way of restaurants at Westpunt except for the one in the resort itself.

CUSTOMS

Please be careful here. I have arranged with the Customs servicing agent, a company called "Cargo Service Center," to pay a bond for the temporary import of all our declared gear. Today (Friday the 22nd) I wired $5143.00 of my personal funds to Cargo Service Center. In order to get that bond back when we leave, we have to do everything right. That list of declared gear is on the web site -- click on "Customs Declaration." Do not, repeat NOT take any additional major electronic items along that are not on that pre-cleared declaration list on the web site. When the Customs guy asks what you are leaving on the island after the trip, the right answer is NOTHING, with the exception of the 40 yagi, the rotor, and the verticals, which Geoff will pay the import duty for. Please cooperate with the Customs guys so that I can get my five grand back on November 2. Curacao sure makes it tough -- and they wonder why they have no tourism industry there….

If you have a problem with the Customs inspectors at the checkout station in the baggage area, you can get help from Cargo Service Center. Look for the green and white door at the north side of the baggage claim area, go through that door to the "Cargo Service Center" and find Mrs. Calmero or Mr. Merian. They will have the clearance paperwork.

EMERGENCY CONTACT INFORMATION -- FOR YOUR FAMILIES

The phone number at Kadushi Cliffs is 011 599 9 864-0200. That gets you to the switchboard, then request extension 121 or 122 for our two villas. E-mail there is kadushi@cura.net. The "Administrator" is Mr. Robert van Bilderbeek, and our reservations coordinator is Ms. Gerla Albertus. FAX is 011 599 9 864-0282.

SETUP

We will try to get a modest start on assembling antennas in the dark on Tuesday evening when it's not so hot. Also, it should be possible to get the run station set up and on the air on a vertical antenna (I have a 30 meter vee and a 17 meter vee on the island already). The run amp will probably not be running until Wednesday, as we will need to figure out how and where to tap into a 220 volt source. I'm bringing an assortment of 220 plugs and receptacles, some Romex, a couple of workboxes, and tools.

Wednesday a couple of us will head to PJ9JT's house to get the equipment and antennas stored there while everyone else works on putting together antennas and masts, stringing beverages, and setting up the run stations. WA8LOW will set up and configure the CT computer network, and CG will get the Telnet connection to the Internet integrated into that network. We should be able to get most of the antenna work finished on Wednesday if we dig in hard.

Setup will continue on Thursday, tuning things up, testing and running the CT network, and accessing the Internet. I believe it is best if we have someone operating the stations as much as possible -- we want to find and kill all the glitches before the contest starts. Lots of photos and video will be shot both days for the NCJ article and for hamfest presentations, the QSLs, and the web site.

If all goes as we hope with the setup, we can enjoy most of Friday on the beach, operating the stations, and talking operating strategy for the contest. The starting gun is 8PM Friday night.

OPERATING / SCORING

If we are able to make 10000 Qs x 700 mults, it will be a new all time Multi-Single world record. This is attainable! The operating schedule (on the web site), as drafted by Mark and modified a couple of times based on your feedback, is just a guide and we'll adapt as necessary. We will probably have one person talking at the run station and another logging in order to get the best possible speed and accuracy. The mult stations will be VERY busy throughout the contest. Initially, the mult station will be a lot like a second run station, because the mult station is allowed to call and work (but not CQ) any new multipliers. For the first few hours, there will be a LOT of new mults, and thus the mult station can contribute a lot to the Q-count as well as the mult-count. After those first few hours of high rates at the mult position, things will settle in and we will work hard at tuning and listening and using the Cluster spots to grab every single mult that is on the air. The run station will pass mults to other bands whenever possible. Cindy has suggested an index-card tracking system for working mults which should work like a charm. Thus, everyone will have as much time as you want on a radio, because we will need, can use, and will benefit from several mult radios tuning the bands continually and working the new ones. It will be a LOT more fun than the ARRL contest. Multi-Single is a much more artful category than Multi-Multi, and strategy and diligence are more important to the score than in any other category. I'm planning to put in many hours of very hard work at the radios. We're in the best location on the planet, for once, and we could win this thing, 20 foot high yagis notwithstanding.

Everything we do on the air will have to be with the ever-present thought that the new rule this year is that THREE QSOS are deducted for each busted call. Accuracy is really important this year.

I am bringing the latest copy of CT and new country and callsign databases that were just updated yesterday.

SSB M/S WORLD RECORD - PJ1B (1993) 22,596,570

Band QSOs Zones Countries

1.8 111 10 24
3.5 937 25 94
7.0 1,055 29 114
14.0 2,011 38 147
21.0 1,829 32 139
28.0 3,443 30 128

Total 9,386 164 646

EXPENSES

After the contest, we will tally up the additional expenses everyone has incurred and divide it by the number of ops. After we al get back home, I'll either be asking for one last check for your part of these final expenses. Thus, if you want reimbursed for items you bought, be sure I have it on my list before we depart.

MONDAY

We will tear down and carefully separate the stuff we are going to leave in our equipment stash on the island. Anything you are willing to donate to that stash will be welcome. The Butternut verticals, rotor, 1000 feet of coax (thanks Ron!), all the rope, some tools, and a lot of hardware will stay behind. We will haul all that stored material to the commercial storage facility in town early Tuesday morning. Jossy (PJ2MI) has been WONDERFUL in finding us this storage and reserving the space. I'll pay for about half a year of storage up front. We don’t know when the next CCC operation will be, but it will be darned nice not to have to haul all the gear the next time. For things you leave behind in the stash, we need to be sure there's clear understanding of whether each item is a loaner or is a hard-donation to the CCC stash. That stash is growing, and will eventually be moved to wherever our group buys real estate. When that move occurs, everything will move as a unit. If you're putting things in that stash that you DON'T want to be considered as "owned" by CCC, please be sure I know that, and you'll be able to retrieve your things whenever you want in the future. Also, we won't let any other contest groups have access to our gear unless the majority of CCC consents, and at least one of us is there when it is being used.

ALPHA AMP

The only missing piece on the logistics is that W8KKF, K8RF, and N4OKX will be doing their equipment-juggling this weekend so that Dan winds up with Harry's carrying case and the amp body, and Harry with the power transformer. This amp will power the mult station instead of the Centaur, which the majority of the group over-ruled.

TEE SHIRTS

I'll have them with me. The printer promised delivery later this afternoon.

LICENSES

Thanks to CEPT, you won't need a Netherlands Antilles license, but please be VERY sure to bring a copy of your stateside amateur license. We are required to have it available for inspection if requested. You'll sign PJ2/W9EFL, etc.

EXCHANGE

The easiest way for you to get local currency will be to bring cash in USD. There is a currency exchange at the airport. As you leave Customs, turn left, walk about 50 yards east down the sidewalk, make another left, and you will be at the Maduro and Curiel's bank exchange window. They are probably not open after about 5PM, however.

PASSPORTS

Don't forget -- passports or birth certificate are required to get in and out of Curacao. And speaking of "out", there's a $20 departure tax payable at the airport on the way out.

THURSDAY

Just a reminder -- our goal is to be ready for a full-up start of the contest on THURSDAY night.

STORAGE AND OWNERSHIP

I'm working on lining up a place for us to store gear the Monday after the contest. For things you leave behind in the stash, we need to be sure there's clear understanding of whether each item is a loaner or is a hard-donation to the CCC stash. That stash is growing, and will eventually be moved to wherever our group buys real-estate. When that move occurs, everything will move as a unit. If you're putting things in that stash that you DON'T want to be considered as "owned" by CCC, please be sure I know that, and you'll be able to retrieve your things whenever you want in the future. Also, we won't let any other contest groups have access to our gear unless the majority of CCC consents, and at least one of us is there when it is being used. Thanks.

CLIMATE

No news -- we're all Caribbean veterans, but plan to be VERY hot and sweaty, and bring clothes, hats, sunscreen as appropriate.

 73 and see you in the warm-country,

- Geoff

PJ2C Newsletter #3
10 October 1999
====================

(As usual, this goes not only to the operators who are confirmed for the trip, but to ops from the VP5FXB and VP5CW trips as well as those who have tentatively expressed interest in PJ2C or other possible future CCC trips.)

All of the trip information is on the web site at http://asgard.kent.edu/ccc/PJ2C. Please keep checking that site, as we're adding things as fast as possible.

EQUIPMENT - AGAIN

Thanks to all who scrutinized the spreadsheet and got back to me with detailed corrections, additions, and so forth. I made the appropriate changes and put it back out on the web site. I did NOT put the individual operator hyperlinks back, simply because it takes SO long to do it. As before, PLEASE look at the list of stuff you are scheduled to bring and let me know what may still need tuned up. If I don’t hear from you, I'm assuming you're good to go with your list and will show up on the island with the stuff. Remember -- two checked bags of 70 pounds max each, and two reasonable carry-ons are allowed. I have never had American squak about the length, girth, or otherwise odd shapes/sizes of stuff we have checked. Can't speak for the other airlines, though.

PEOPLE

K8RF is in contact with Brad, WW8J, who may be joining in at the last minute. More about that when I know.

THE AL-1200

Noel did it! He bought a factory-fresh AL-1200 for the horsepower behind the run station, and will be hauling it to the island. The hard-sided and padded carrying case for it is being UPSed to Noel from Indianapolis this weekend.

UPS

We have been keeping UPS busy. The coax, rope, and filters all arrived OK at N4OKX, and the 500 foot spool of coax should show up at Hillar's in Washington state on Monday. The only remaining needed cross-shipment is for me to get the Centaur linear (mult station) to Harry. (I picked the amp up from K4LT yesterday.) Thanks again to W8TK for allowing us to use his linear once again. It is turning out to be an incredible workhorse. It handled mult duties for VP5FXB, and was the run station amp for VP5CW and CY9RF. 550 watts goes a lot further than you'd expect these days !!

CARS

I need to know who has booked what on cars. So far, all I have is info from N4OKX. Remember, you need to book these yourselves, and it works well to share with someone else. Please let me know what is happening here so we don’t leave anyone stranded. If possible, request/rent a car with a security system, as we had two acts of vandalism against two separate rental cars in July when we went down to the island to set this trip up.

CUSTOMS

If you have a high-value item that will attract the attention of Customs, please don't bring it unless it is in my list, and has an accompanying valuation and serial number. I am going to ATTEMPT to arrange this week to pay a bond and get the stuff all pre-cleared. Customs on Curacao is NOT the "no problem" laissez-faire operation we have seen on so many other Caribbean islands.

AIRLINE FLIGHT INFO

Still needed for Hillar and Elsie. Also, ALM has apparently cancelled a flight on us, so I need to know what other arrangements you are making with respect to flight numbers and times, please.

TELNET / LOGGING

I'm not quite there yet, but have about half of the software working to get the Telnet spots into CT. Thanks to K4LT and K8RF (of CY9RF fame) for leads.

The vote (barely) was to use CT rather than TRLog. Guess we're a bunch of stubborn old coots. Maybe next time on TRLog….

I made contact this week with my friend at the Internet Service Provider on Curacao (Smartnet) and he is expecting me to stop by on Wednesday ro re-activate our account. Also, I got clearance from the SYSOP of the Telnet node we are planning to use. He says it will be OK for us to connect for the whole 48 hours, and he will help keep us in the system. We will connect using the CCC club call of WA8KUW (that was my original callsign).

MONEY

I sent individual E-mails to everyone on what is owed, now that we have a pretty accurate estimate of the amounts. The details of the calculations are on the web site…. It will be a great help to me to get everything paid before we go, as I will have to lay several grand on the villa people as soon as we check in.

EXCHANGE

The easiest way for you to get local currency will be to bring cash in USD. There is a currency exchange at the airport. As you leave Customs, turn left, walk about 50 yards east down the sidewalk, make another left, and you will be at the Maduro and Curiel's bank exchange window.

OPERATING STRATEGY

Harry, Mark, Dan and I have all been assembling numbers and trying to put together some band-strategies and some targets. I put what we have so far on the web site. Have a look, even though the tables are far from complete. Our goal is, of course, to try to set a new world record. It CAN be done!! We will be chasing mults like mad -- that's the key to a really dominant score.

SSB M/S WORLD RECORD - PJ1B (1993) 22,596,570

Band QSOs Zones Countries

1.8 111 10 24
3.5 937 25 94
7.0 1,055 29 114
14.0 2,011 38 147
21.0 1,829 32 139
28.0 3,443 30 128

Total 9,386 164 646

Also, Mark's operating schedule will be showing up soon, and as soon as it does we will post it on the site for your comments.

SHIRTS

I ordered the tee shirts about a week ago. The shop I use has been taken over by a new guy. He did NOT impress me as a rocket scientist, so I have my fingers crossed on the shirts, to say the least. I'll have them for you when you arrive on PJ.

PASSPORTS

Don't forget -- passports or birth certificate are required to get in and out of Curacao. And speaking of "out", there's a $20 departure tax payable at the airport on the way out.

QSLs

The vote on QSLs is NOT to QSL 100% as in the past, but only to respond to cards that we receive. W8KKF will handle the cards for the team. We will put the money saved into goodies for the equipment stash. Also, we'll select the QSL photo, as Mark suggested, by putting candidates on the web site and voting on them.

THURSDAY

Just a reminder -- our goal is to be ready for a full-up start of the contest on THURSDAY night.

HEADSETS

If you have a favorite headset, bring it along., weight permitting. I have a VERY strong preference for mics with the Heil cartridge in them -- the shaped response on that cartridge makes a HUGE difference in SSB punch-through. I'll have my Heil boomset with me….

PHOTOS

I put three more pictures of the villas on the site -- click on "More Photos."

SITE LAYOUT

I have not taken (or had) the time to update the site layout diagram to reflect our decision to abandon the slopers and go with the two HF-2V verticals for 80 and 40 mult. Other than that flaw, the site diagram is still pretty much current.

TO-DO LIST

If you've been watching the to-do list on the site, you will see tat it is shrinking as tasks are marked off as "Done." THANKS to everyone who has done a lot of hard work to get that list whittled down so far and so fast.

GEOFF and CINDY BUGOUT - THURSDAY

With apologies to the team, Cindy and I are going over to Bonaire for the day on Thursday. The reason is that we will be living in the islands somewhere starting in January, and still don't have a place nailed down. Bonaire is a candidate, and neither of us has ever been there. Thus we will leave the half-set-up station in the team's hands and go over there for the day to prospect. I've made arrangements with K3EST, Bob Cox, for us to visit them for a couple hours. As you know, Bob is no less than the CQWW Contest Director, as well as a famous contest op and an owner of the famous PJ9B station. This will give me a chance to see how the world-record holders do things, and Cindy and I will be able to look at Bonaire as a possible temporary home. Apologies to the team in advance for leaving at a critical time. The only thing worse would be to leave DURING the contest, which I won’t do….

STORAGE AND OWNERSHIP

I'm working on lining up a place for us to store gear the Monday after the contest. For things you leave behind in the stash, we need to be sure there's clear understanding of whether each item is a loaner or is a hard-donation to the CCC stash. That stash is growing, and will eventually be moved to wherever our group buys real-estate. When that move occurs, everything will move as a unit. If you're putting things in that stash that you DON'T want to be considered as "owned" by CCC, please be sure I know that, and you'll be able to retrieve your things whenever you want in the future. Also, we won't let any other contest groups have access to our gear unless the majority of CCC consents, and at least one of us is there when it is being used. Thanks.

Hi again,

We have had a couple of nights in the 40s here this past week, so I'm excited about getting to the Caribbean. Anything under about 85 is too cold for me.

EQUIPMENT LOGISTICS - OVERALL - IMPORTANT

I worked hard on the spreadsheet of equipment and it's almost finalized. What I did is try to think of everything we will need and put every single item in that spreadsheet. Next, I looked at what needs to get to PJ9, and who is carrying what, and attempted to do load-balancing so that everyone had about the same burden to carry down. Hillar and Elsie get off the hook somewhat because they are coming from so far!! J That spreadsheet is on the web in Excel downloadable form or you can click and view it. It is sorted by stations and again by callsigns. PLEASE look at the list of stuff you are scheduled to bring and let me know what does and does not work for you.

I don't mean to be dictatorial about this list -- this is just a draft. But there was much MUCH more down for W0CG to bring than Cindy and I could possibly handle, so we're trying to sort out the best way to spread out the load.

One of the things in the list is those contingency kits from last newsletter. Some of those are all set and ready to go, others have been scratched off as WA8LOW has much of the stuff needed, but others are still on the list for some of you to bring. Again, PLEASE PLEASE comb through your list and make sure you have all that is on your list, and that you can get it there. Let me know what we still need to change.

NCJ COVERAGE

PEOPLE

It looks like our team is stabilized at seven operators with a total of 11 people coming. We were fortunate to add Mark, N4OKX and his friend Tanya to the team, almost at the last minute. Mark is a California kid who somehow ended up in Louisville, and Tanya reportedly is a SCUBA diver who (like me) is rusty and wants to renew her skills while on the island. It will sure be convenient to do so, as the dive shop is literally inside the gates of Kadushi Cliffs. Mark has volunteered to take on coordination of the operator schedule -- please respond to his query about operating preferences and he'll get a schedule together in draft and e-mail it to me for posting on the web and your comments. He's trying to please all of the people all of the time, so please be patient as he works out the shift schedules.

Mark and I found ourselves both in attendance at the W9DXCC convention in Chicago last weekend, so we got to get together with Noel and do a little strategizing for the contest and a lot of BSing! Mark has jumped on a LOT of tasks related to setting up the trip -- thanks Mark for all your work. He is a veteran of other Caribbean operations, especially Bonaire, and has valuable experience we can all share.

Mark and Tanya will be staying just a few miles away, and hopefully Tanya will be with our crowd on the beach and in the water most days.

ONE MORE PERSON ?

Oddly, we have room for one more person, as the second bed in Noel's room is unoccupied. Any nominations? Adding that person would decrease the living costs in the second villa, and add one more to the divisor on the shared expenses.

WA8LOW travels the world, literally, upgrading 911 systems for Motorola so they will make it through the millenium changeover. In an unbelievable coincidence, his travels placed him in Akron last week, so he came to the W0CG QTH and we did a lot of logistics planning. Ron dropped off two factory-fresh 500 foot rolls of RG-8/U with the offer that if someone else can get them to Curacao, they're ours to keep for future operations!! This is a huge boost to the operation and we're super-grateful to Ron. He also brought along a boatload of bandpass filters, many of the networking components that Harry just brought back from Grenada, and some other magic tricks that I'm not even sure what they do yet! I'm going to ship one spool of coax to Mark to haul down in a suitcase (after removing it from the spool) and we're going to ask W8KKF or Marjorie to bring the other reel.

Noel (W9EFL) is going to provide the horsepower for the run station in the form of a brand new Al-1200 linear which he ordered yesterday from AES. And Ron has a contact in the Dayton area who has a custom-fitted carrying case for the AL-1200 that we are going to get up to Noel for the amp. This is a very highly-respected linear, and will give us some seriously needed clout, especially on the low bands.

CUSTOMS

We need to know within a week the serial numbers and estimated value in US dollars of any high-value items you are bringing, so that I can try to pre-arrange clearance. Customs on Curacao is a real pain, so we need to plan it ahead. I put the numbers I know about in the spreadsheet -- have a look and see if there's anything you're bringing that needs to be added.

AIRLINE FLIGHT INFO

I put a table on the web site with the flight info I have at present. Please send me your flight times and numbers so we can be sure that you're met at the airport.

CARS

N4OKX and Tanya and Cindy and I are going to rent a minivan or truck and share the cost. Please let me know what you have arranged for yourself on rental cars and I'll post that info on the web site also.

ANTENNAS/STATIONS

The current setup looks like this:

Run: TS-940, AL-1200, W0CG's laptop, and 160 dipole, 75 meter HF-2V, 40 Cush-Craft 2 el yagi, 20 K8RF homebrew yagi, 15 N8LGP 3 element yagi, 10 N8LGP 5 3el yagi.

Mult 1: IC-765, Ten-Tec Centaur, CCC Compaq desktop computer, 75 meter HF-2V, 40 HF-2V, 20/15/10 A-3S yagi.

Mult 2: TS-930 (K8RF), no amp, and (probably) W9EFLs Thinkpad laptop.

If you want to bring a favorite transceiver, that's OK, but everybody is already carrying a LOT of tonnage. Remember -- you're limited to two checked items, max of 70 pounds each, on American Airlines. Maybe less on the other airlines, right Harry? Actually, we could use one more transceiver and one more computer for mult-chasing.

Originally we were planning to use slopers for 80 and 40, but WA8LOW says that the Butternut HF-2V is like magic and he is going to bring two of them.

LOGGING

N4OKX is a TRLog fan. I have only used CT. I need a VOTE from you as to which program you want to use. We'll go with the majority preference.

OPERATING SCHEDULE

As I said above, let Mark know what/how you want to operate, and keep an eye on the web site and I'll post the draft schedule as soon as he sends it to me.

ON-AIR STRATEGY

W8KKF has been working hard compiling records and trying to look at other logs and we'll post an operating plan (in the password-protected area) as soon as we have the numbers. The idea will be to have a pretty good pre-plan of what bands, what bearings, when, and where we can make the most money on the run station.

PASSPORTS

Don't forget -- passports or birth certificate are required to get in and out of Curacao. And speaking of "out", there's a $20 departure tax payable at the airport on the way out.

DOLLARS

THANKS to the nearly everyone who has sent in a deposit!! This makes it easier for me to pay some of the bills up front. We are converging pretty rapidly on how much the shared expenses will be, and so about 10 days before we depart, I'll send you all a nice little summary statement of what the balance is on the villas and the shared expenses, and we'll get this all paid up front so that all we'll need to worry about when we arrive is having fun and staying cool. And being cool. If you're on the trip, I've already sent you the userid and password to get into the "Accounting" section. Additionally, hopefully you have all read my little epistle about the relatively large amounts of money I have lost on past trips because I ended up covering a lot of things out of pocket. Accordingly, I built in an allocation for myself (actually for the CCC account) to help me get a little bit caught up on past losses. Otherwise, I'm losing so much arranging these trips that I'll have to quit doing it. Please let me know if you feel this is either a fair or an unfair approach to the finances…?

QSLs

On all past CCC trips, we have implemented the policy of QSLing absolutely 100% to every contact made, via the bureaus, and have used very high-quality cards. We have wanted both to extend the final courtesy of a QSO (the QSL) and to convey a very professional impression of the group. Naturally, this costs some serious bucks (about $750 for CQWW SSB) and I need opinions from all of you as to whether you want to do so again, and whether any of you are in a frame of mind to donate some major dollars toward QSLs. In the past, we have had some VERY generous team members pick up all of the cost of the cards, and I have done all the legwork of laying them out and working with the printer. Need your thoughts.

Also, N4OKX suggested the clever idea that we all shoot a gob of still photos down there, and then have a competition among ourselves to choose our group favorite for the QSL card.

THURSDAY

Another growing CCC "tradition." We pretend that the contest starts at 0000Z THURSDAY, take that deadline seriously, and build toward being fully ready to start the contest 24 hours early. Sounds almost childish, but IT WORKS. We have never had a panic at the starting gun on Friday, everything works, and the transition into the contest has been smooth. Also, we do as much casual operating as time will permit before the contest to find and fix the weak spots in the stations and systems before the contest starts.

LOOSE ENDS

These are from the "Urgent To Do List" link on the web site, And THANKS to y'all who have already taken care of a lot of these items.

We still need a voice keyer for the run station.

Dan -- how goes it on the 20 monobander?

Who was some coax rotary switches?

PJ2MI

HEADSETS

If you have a favorite headset, bring it along., weight permitting. I have a VERY strong preference for mics with the Heil cartridge in them -- the shaped response on that cartridge makes a HUGE difference in SSB punch-through. I'll have my Heil boomset with me….

ON THE AIR