Preliminary results of PACC 2017

We have finished checking our log data and are happy to conclude that we have done *very* well this year: our preliminary results are actually HIGHER than our final results last year (when we won).

Band conditions were clearly less favorable than last year - with the higher bands hardly open. In 2016 we scored 35 multipliers on 10m and this year only 2 (-33). We also scored less multipliers on 15m (-14) but we compensated most of the loss on the other bands ending with only 24 multiplier less than last year on 333 multipliers. 

We managed to make more QSOs than last year, much to our surprise - as we were already very pleased with those results. We went from 1564 (post-check 2016) to 1705 (pre-check 2017) QSOs. 

Remember that these are preliminary results that have been filtered on dupes but not on other errors - like call or exchange mismatches. Last year we lost 4% of the QSOs in the final check. This included a few multipliers. The final score was 5,5% less than the pre-check score.

If this is exemplary for "our" error rate than our score will be somewhere around 535k to 540k. This is less than the 558k we scored last year but judging from the feedback of other participants, we did extremely well.

It is our of our hands now.. we will have to wait and see what the final outcome will be.


Callsign: PC55C
Category: MULTI-OP ALL HIGH MIXED ONE


Band     Qso    Cancelled  Dup  Point  Penalty  Mult        Score
160M     135            0    0    135        0    37
 80M     491            0    5    485        0    73
 40M     496            0    7    489        0    90
 20M     483            0   15    467        0    86
 15M     126            0    1    125        0    45
 10M       4            0    0      4        0     2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
        1735            0   28   1705        0   333       567765

PC55C - PACC 2017 in pictures

We have just finished our fourth PACC. It was a challenging one as we were keen to improve on our performance of last year but the bands were not in a shape to make that an easy task. Last year we had some openings on 10m and quite good 15m propagation. This year we had to rely more on the lower bands. The flow was quite different from last year.

We will have to analyse our log file some more to make claims about our success but in the mean time we can share with you some images of PACC 2017 @PC55C.

Just like in our previous attempts, we have used a field day set-up. We prepared the low band wire antennas on Friday afternoon on a campsite we also used in 2015 and 2016.

Our 26m high center support pole for 160m and 80m 

An improvement over last year was our new center pole. We used the -very heavy- Spiderbeam 26m pole instead of the 18m version. We have seen better results on 160m and 80m, so we think it helps (but the impact of propagation variation is hard to filter of course).

We have used the 18m pole for the 40m inverted V this year. Last year we put it on a 12m version - so it was a bit higher as well. 

Support poles and sheep - an interesting combination

When we arrived at the campsite we saw - to our surprise - sheep grazing the field we were going to use. Assuming they would not nibble on the guy wires we followed our original plan but we did keep the coax a bit more than sheep height off the ground.

The sheep kept their distance initially but soon they got used to us

Last year we stayed in a cabin near the field. It was already rented out however, so the owners kindly offered us a cabin they use as an office when the camping is open - inside a large barn.

A comfortable spot but it did present us some coax challenges as the antennas were quite a bit further away. It turned out that a lot of the spare coax was not good enough and we just made it connecting the usable segments together. 

Our 2017 shack - weather proof under a double roof

In the same barn they store a few camper vans. One of them was available for us to sleep in. 

A camper van for us to use as bedroom

Saturday morning we arrived at the camp site. We added our last antenna: the portable hexbeam for 20-15-10 and were ready for some action.

The tried and trusted portable hexbeam

Some impressions of our team in action:

PG8M behind some random trophies PG8M behind some random trophies

PD7YY listening carefully

The operations center - our planning table

The table above shows you some of the data we have used planning our operation. We always come prepared, using data of our previous attempts and recent propagation information. The plan we make before the contest serves as our guiding light. We use the plan and the propagation as it unfolds (experienced behind the radio but also from sources like the cluster) to make our band and mode decisions.

We had a lot of fun and apart from the normal issues like connectors not working properly and a 12m support pole tipping over (no damage), everything went smoothly. Propagation was rather typical and made this quite a different contest compared to last year. We used more CW and wasted less time on the higher bands. We did miss the short skip propagation for a nice phone sprint in the last hours of the contest - as we had last year.

Sunday at 12 UTC we switched off the radio and started to pack. There was quite a bit of work ahead to take down all the antennas, poles, guy wires, coax. Luckily the weather had improved - the sun was out and most of the snow had melted.

The sheep were following our steps

Two hours after the contest we left the campground as it was before - like nothing happened this weekend.

An empty field once again (on the right side the cabin we used in the previous 2 years)

We will update this blog once we have had a time to look at our performance.

Watch for PC55C in PACC

This year we will be competing in the PACC ham radio contest for the fourth time in a row. The last two times we managed to get into the top 3 (2015 2nd place as PE55E and 2016 1st place as PA55A) and we are hoping to get a good result again this year.

Just like the last two times we will be using a special call for the occasion: PC55C.

A lot of things will remain the same (at least.. that is what we think will happen - there are always surprises with our field day approach). We will be using the same antennas as last year and operate from the same campsite.

There is one planned improvement and one slight setback. We are considering using a higher center support pole for our 160/80m dipoles (26m instead of 18m). That might just improve our performance on those low bands a tiny bit. The slight setback is that our former shack is rented out already. This means we will be operating quite a bit further away from the field we use for the antennas. So there will be some serious lengths of coax involved this year.

As long as the weather is not too extreme we will most certainly enjoy ourselves. We hope to get you in the log!

73 de PD7YY, PG8M & PH0NO aka PC55C

Presenting PACC proof

A few weeks ago PD7YY and PG8M went to pick-up our PACC trophy. 

So we can now proudly present to you the proof of YNOMY's highest contest achievement so far:

We are still pondering over our next step. Are we going to beat the highest multi-multi achievement of CQWW or should we aim for WPX all-time high?

Winning PACC on third try

Looking at the winners of the PACC 2016, you might ask yourself "why not me"? And you are right of course. YNOMY captured first place in the multi operator single tx category, with most QSOs and most multipliers of all single tx contestants, using the call PA55A.

Last year we (PD7YY, PG8M and PH0NO) were very content with our second place. We started this year's contest knowing that it would be difficult to match that result.

For three times in a row we have entered this contest with a field day setup and matching spirit. On Friday we arrive on an empty campsite where we set up our wire antennas and hook up our radio. On Sunday afternoon we leave the campsite empty again. In between we give our best shot at logging as many contacts as possible using our band strategy as a guide and the conditions as we experience them to fine tune our operation.

Looking at our way of working there are I guess three important ingredients for success. The first is spirit: we enjoy what we do and we enjoy doing it well. The second is our eagerness to learn. We used our previous two experiences to understand which decisions worked and which did not. The third is our focus to log flawlessly. We again had a very low number of errors.  The experience we have gained in various expeditions helps us copy calls even in difficult circumstances.

Looking at the setup we used and the setup our competitors used, you can see one other thing typical of our way of operating: we value skill and dedication over "stuff".

All three times we participated we have been out in the field in the rain, snow and wind. Stuff broke, things didn't work, antennas had to be cut during the contest, etc.
This both gives us great campfire stories and makes the results even more satisfying.

Now.. on to the next challenge..

PACC 2016 results preview and PACC 2015 trophy

Things are looking good for our ranking in PACC 2016. The list of robot scores has been published. In 2015 we used the call PE55E, this year we participated with PA55A.

YNOMY participated with the call PA55A

Trying to learn all we could learn from our first two attempts (2014 and 2015) seems to have paid off. Now we will have to wait for all the log checks to find out how accurate we and our contacts have been. Last year our error% was very low.

This is a good time to look back at the award ceremony of PACC 2015. We came in second in the MOST category. PD7YY and PG8M went to the ceremony to claim our trophy. Below you can see both Marcel's looking proud (well, at least one Marcel is) showing off the huge trophy.

YNOMY active in PACC as PA55A

Watch out for us during the PA contest this weekend. We are working from the same campsite we used last year, using the special call PA55A.

Just like we have done during our first two years, we are building up a temporary station for this contest from which we will be able to work all contest bands 160-10m. A field day operation in winter. Luckily weather conditions seem acceptable.

Low band wire antennas installed

Last year we reached second place in the multi operator single radio category. We hope we will be able to get into the top 3 again.

If you hear us, give us a shout. We need a report + serial number and we will give you a report and "GD" for Gelderland (our province).

PG8M and PD7YY installing the hexbeam