Congratulations! Sounds like fun! 73 de --Bill, KG5FQX On Sun, Feb 14, 2016 at 7:08 PM, Michael Rapp via BVARC <[email protected]> wrote:
> CQ WW RTTY WPX Contest > > Call: KT5MR > Operator(s): KT5MR > Station: KT5MR > > Class: SOAB LP > QTH: STX > Operating Time (hrs): 16 > > Summary: > Band QSOs > ------------ > 80: 43 > 40: 114 > 20: 108 > 15: 74 > 10: 4 > ------------ > Total: 343 Prefixes = 188 Total Score = 131,036 > > Wow that was a ridiculous amount of fun! > > This was sort of a casual-serious effort from me, more on the casual side > than the serious side (I enjoy sleeping). My primary goals (other than > having fun) were to operate assisted for the first time and gain experience > with that and to see if I got the kinks out of my 40 meter antenna (I > didn't), and see how best to utilize my dipoles and verticals when I had > them available for the same band. > > Operating assisted was interesting. It certainly is not magic and > presents its own challenges when operating with low and compromised > antennas as I have. Just because someone is spotted does not mean I can > hear them, even if I had the cluster trimmed down to just skimmer spots > from W4 and W5 call areas. > > Just as in DXing, I seemed to get my best results if I stumbled upon a > multiplier before they were spotted. > > Where operating assisted did make a difference is in helping me know when > to make the transition from 15 to 20 and from 20 to 40 as they started to > close down and the number of multipliers moved as the day went on. > > One bizarre situation I had to deal with was constantly switching between > my dipole and my vertical when working Europe and especially Japan on 15 > meters. I could hear far better on my dipole, but he couldn't hear me. If > I switched to the vertical, he could here me but the print was garbled on > my end. I gave that antenna switch a workout on fifteen meters. > > Also on fifteen meters on Saturday afternoon I managed a decent bit of > running. That was exhilarating. Running is where it is at. That was the > second highlight of the contest, which is very cool for me as when I > started contesting I was absolutely terrified of running a frequency, let > alone ever thinking I could with my compromised antennas. > > The highlight of the contest for me, hands down, was stumbling across V55V > -- Namibia -- on 40 meters last night with no takers! What happened next > was such a comedy of errors that I am absolutely astonished I got him in > the log. > > I have a problem with RFI on 40 meters and I *thought* I had solved it as > long as I keep my rig at 50 watts or less. If I use more power than that, > I risk the rig locking up, the Signalink locking up, the computer locking > up, or all three! > > So I throw out my call to the lonely V55V...and my rig locks up! I do a > quick reset and call again....the Signalink locks up! Ack, I guess the RFI > is still here. I quickly dial down the power to 40 watts. To my > astonishment, V55V still has no callers. I transmit again....and the rig > locks up! I forgot to save the new power setting! > > At this point, I am sure I have lost him. The hoards will be upon him and > he will have slipped through my fingers. I reset the rig, save the power > this time and throw my call out. He comes back to me....with my call > wrong! I resend my call one final time...he comes back with the correct > call, we complete the exchange, and with my hair a little grayer, V55V is > in my log. :) > > (Did I mention that my 40 meter antenna is no higher than 16 feet off the > ground?!) > > What's next is to see if I can come up with some temporary antennas for > contest weekends that I can get higher than my permanent, but necessarily > low/stealthy antennas. Before I can even begin to think about an > amplifier, I need to improve my receive dramatically. > > Oh, and if I can get a confirmation from V55V, that will put me -- finally > -- at 100 entities confirmed (DXCC!). > > 73, > -- > /*/-=[Michael / KT5MR]-=/*/ > > _______________________________________________ > BVARC mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org > >
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