Hi all, I decided again to be a masochist and run another contest QRP when there is a perfectly fine Alpha War horse 18" away. I have to say not being able to contact stations you hear clearly is a significant irritant. Yes, the joy of being the underdog is at times over-rated. Still, I had a whole lot of fun.
I was surprised the DX wasn't more obvious at this QTH than in earlier years. I heard no loud Eu at all (I am 400' from the Atlantic on the coast of CT), Herb, KV4FZ, was clear as a bell but he couldn't hear me, same for the P4/ station & for that matter, I worked zero DX but as QRP, that is part of the game. One of the things I found a bug about is with S&P & being QRP, the person calling CQ struggles to get my call and then has to struggle with the section. Often I hear them calling CQ right after sending the report again and I don't know if they just decided to bail out on the QSO and look for a stronger signal to get in the log or, did they get the info and just immediately go back to CQing? If they bailed and I submit my log, then I get penalized for a Q that doesn't show up in their log. People should send an acknowledgment when they are satisfied they have received the proper data. I use the word I above but this same issue applies to anyone who is in a contest and has the same experience. My AMTRAK power line noise 75' away is always a joy to listen through and especially when it's the dusk/dawn hours when the commuter trains are in full swing. There must be 40 of them that pass by in the rush hours and each one disrupts 20+ over for up to a minute. & yeah, there is intermittent arcing that I hear all the time. With all that I had a great time and thought the band was pretty well filled. I just looked at a photo of my P3 screen I sent to the YL at 22:53Z. It was set to 5KHz so there was 10KHZ viewed and I count 27 CQers, not bad & not so many there was constant splatter. Thanks to all who pulled my signal out. N6DZ gets the Golden ears as my farthest Q and K7CA & W7RH are tied for 2nd farthest. 73, Gary KA1J --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
