Admirals Adventure @ Papa Forty Navy; Retired Navy Pals Run The Bands And Pile Ups From Aruba

By Jamie Dupree NS3T radio-sport.net
Posted March 15, 2010

It didn't matter that conditions in the 2010 ARRL DX SSB Contest weren't as good as two weeks earlier in the CW leg. It didn't matter that one of the operators hadn't contested in years. But it still added up to a winning formula for K0DQ and N4OC at "Papa Forty Navy".

(Retired U.S. Navy colleagues K0DQ and N4OC)

For Scott Redd K0DQ and Ed Giambastiani N4OC, the story of the 2010 ARRL DX SSB Contest is a combination of contesting and military service, two colleagues who are more than enjoying their retirement with a dose of ham radio.

The Admirals Adventure - 2010 ARRL DX SSB

The plan was for an "easy, laid back M/S" at the QTH of Carl Cook P49V in Aruba, said Redd before ARRL SSB.

"I think we're the top seed in the "Old Admirals" class, but not much more," he joked.

In fact, Redd and Giambastiani were both Admirals in the U.S. Navy, both rising very high in the ranks.

Redd retired in 2007 as the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, capping a career that included 36 years of active duty in the U.S. Navy.

Giambastiani retired in 2007 as well, his last post as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, one of the highest ranking U.S. military jobs.

Both had a love for the Navy and both had a love for ham radio contesting as well.

Redd said Giambastiani came to him about a year ago to talk about getting back into the game.

"He had operated from W1ZM 30+ years ago," Redd said. "We decided a Caribbean vacation combined with a low key phone operation would be just trick."

It also worked out well that the Admirals could take their wives along too for a warm, wintertime vacation.

The Goal Was to "Have Fun"

While K0DQ had managed to squeeze in some major contests during his Navy career, N4OC for the most part had only been keeping his license active.

"Ed had made maybe a few dozen contacts in the last decade and none from a DX location," Redd said. "He'd never used a computer in a contest."

The contest started on Friday night local time with K0DQ at the mic for the first four hours. Then it was time for a change of command on the bridge.

"Ed took the chair about 04Z and I went to bed," Redd recounted. "He went from zero to 60 in short order."

At first, "typing and talking simultaneously were a challenge" for Giambastiani, known as "Admiral G" by many in the Navy during his later years.

"Within a few hours he was hitting 150/hour rates," said Redd, who said his fellow operator ended up operating "probably over 60 percent of the time."

How well did the pair of Retired Admirals do? Right now, P40N is in first place on the DX side for Multi-Single claimed scores, with 7.52 million, almost a million points up on Team PJ4G.

"Did a lot better than I thought we would," Redd told radio-sport.net after returning to the U.S.

"Lots of fun running the big piles while Ed kept the steady rate going."

"As for Ed, he's hooked," said Redd.

"What's the next contest?" was the response from Admiral G.

So if you hear "Papa Forty Navy" again in the future, you might just be chatting with a pair of pretty happy Navy buddies.