RAC(VE) Winter Contest
Call: VE7FO
Operator(s):
Station:
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 16:30
Summary:
Mults
Band QSOs CW Phone
-----------------------------
160:
80: 47 6 4
40: 28 5 4
20: 111 8 9
15: 140 5 8
10: 201 7 9
6:
2:
-----------------------------
Total: 527 31 34 = 205,920
Club:
Comments:
CURRENT STATUS:
Sound card still not working. The next step is to reinstall Windows over
itself. Makes me nervous, to say the least. Too chicken to do it for this
test. Consequently, no DVP for phone. However, I now have until Jan 5, ARRL
RTTY Roundup to do it and recover.
My keying interface between the computer and rig is still on a breadboard
socket with the cables secured by elastic bands.
Some who read my ARRL 10 story may be wondering, "Well, did he work HN8V or was
it SN8V?" I sent an e-mail to SN8V and he confirmed that, indeed, I am in his
log and not to worry! Sigh.
PREPARATION:
As always, I keep forgetting to set up the F Keys to the way I want them in TR
until just before the contest. I'm just a little way into my 2nd year of
modern contesting and am starting to build up a collection of config files set
up the way I want for the various contests. The only problem being that I
don't fix them up once the contest is finished but still fresh in my mind.
Time for a New Year's resolution, I guess.
Forgot to turn off printer sharing on the home network but not a problem as,
this time, my daughter didn't send a print job to the MkV.
WHAT HAPPENED:
I got all the F Key programming done and was only 15 minutes late starting. I
was almost 24 hours late because, for some dumb reason, I thought it ran from
Sat to Sun. Discovered my error a couple of hours before start. I believe
that someone else, who shall remain unnamed, actually made that mistake.
I thought this would be a good opportunity to try out my SO1.5R setup by
running on cw and using the 2nd half-radio (VFO B) to S&P on phone. However,
the SO1.5R setup as it stands won't handle mixed mode so I gave up on that
idea. I did try running on cw and S&Ping with VFO B on phone, thinking I would
have less problem with mixed mode dual listening compared to same mode. It
sort of worked but I'm not good enough to hear a weak cw response with all the
phone racket in the other ear. Being only one radio, the only time I get to
hear the "mult" radio is when I'm not transmitting. Once again, I set myself
to climbing these little hills, find they aren't at all easy and gaze in awe
and wonderment at the folks who casually say, "Well, only made 387 Qs on the
2nd radio."
All times are local (PST).
Spent a lot of time in the first few hours trying to do the manual version of
SO1.5R so rates weren't that great.
1617 PST Start on 10 cw. Pretending that I really can run cw in one ear
and
S&P phone in the other.
1715 10 getting pretty thin. 37 Qs, 8 mults. Switch to 15.
1820 73 Qs, 16 mults. Switch to 20.
2110 159 Qs, 22 mults including what I think may be my first VY0 and an RAC
20
pointer at that! Switch to 40.
40 is my worst band. In my previous ham incarnation from 1953 to, say, 1970, I
always claimed that 40 wasn't a real band because I could never hear or work
much on it. A former teen age elmee (elmee - one who benefits from the
ministrations of an elmer), VE7AQF now VE7IN, who has latterly become MY elmer
invited me to his QTH some 18 months ago or so to work a contest. First time
back on the air since 1970 or so. Well, he had a 2 el 40 at 130 ft. Hey, 40
really is a band! (Anyone who doesn't like my stories or takes exception to my
behaviour on the air or on the various reflectors can blame VE7IN. He has
released a monster, albeit a rather slow moving one that seems incapable of
climbing. Even a sloth can climb.)
So, we got VE9RAC on phone and VE8RAC on cw who agreed to move to phone as
well. Pretty happy about that.
2235 177 Qs, 35 mults. Switch to 80.
0025 223 Qs, 38 mults. Back to 40.
0050 231 Qs, 41 mults. Not many Qs but 3 mults I won't get tomorrow. Let's
see if 20 is open. Yes, to Eu. And VE6.
0300 244 Qs, 43 mults. Damn, got trapped in the late night DX chasing trap
yet
again. Should have gone to bed but, just for fun, took a peek at 15. Good
grief, 3 am local time and it's open. Eu and deep into central Asia. Worked
UA9AR on SSB near the China and Mongolian borders. Heard someone working a VU
and could just hear the VU but no copy.
0354 250 Qs, 43 mults. 19 Qs and 2 mults in 3 hours. It was fun, though.
Maybe I don't have the discipline to be a competitive contester. Off to bed.
1041 Back at it. On 15. Still trying to run cw on one ear and S&P ssb on
the
other. Rate not great. Let's check out 10.
1305 323 Qs, 53 mults. Wow, 10 is humming. Had a 77 and an 82 hour with a
peak rate of 140, all on ssb. These are good rates for me. Used both ears.
Mult display suggests I should check out 10 cw.
1450 467 Qs, 59 mults. Pretty good cw rate for me but figure I should try
15
again. Don't remember why.
1510 487 Qs, 61 mults. Can't complain about the rate but mult display
suggests
move to 20.
1545 514 Qs, 62 mults. Finished on 20. Rate still good and picked up 3
mults
in last 15 min so I guess I made a good choice.
1559 529 Qs, 65 mults.
GENERAL COMMENTS:
Looked at my results for last year. 310 Qs. Aha, I am improving. Looked at
how long I was on last year. 5 hours or so. Sigh.
Was pleased to see lots of activity from the RAC calls.
I found the mixed mode quite fun. Qs drying up on one mode? Switch to the
other. Does add another bad decision you can make, though.
Worked the ubiquitous 7L4IOU a number of times. For a change, I don't think I
once called him ZL4IOU. The 7Ks are still ZKs, of course.
A fun contest. Maybe by next year I'll be able to do the split ear thing.
Thanks for the Qs, everyone and Happy New Year
Jim VE7FO
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/3830
Submissions: 3830@contesting.com
Administrative requests: 3830-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-3830@contesting.com
|