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[3830] SS CW K4RO Single Op QRP

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Subject: [3830] SS CW K4RO Single Op QRP
From: k4ro@k4ro.net (k4ro@k4ro.net)
Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 23:56:15 -0800
                    ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

Call: K4RO
Operator(s): K4RO
Station: K4RO

Class: Single Op QRP
QTH: TN
Operating Time (hrs): 22
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:  101
   40:  196
   20:  341
   15:   75
   10:   53
------------
Total:  766  Sections = 79  Total Score = 121,028

Club: Tennessee Contest Group

Comments:

Well, this was one contest that I won't soon forget.
I decided to go QRP after W4PA suggested I give it a try.
My Icom 765's would not go down lower than 7-10 watts on
some bands, so I built a simple circuit to provide a
negative feedback voltage to the ALC input.  This neat
little box allows me to control both radio's output
power down to the milliwatt level.

As with any contest I want to take seriously, I spent
a lot of time preparing.  Thursday night, everything
was ready to go.  I had repaired the ring rotator, fixed
the Beverages, and even spent an entire day tweaking and
aligning my radios.  The ALC control box worked well, and
I was prepared for my first venture into QRP operating.

Friday morning, the ring rotator indicator fails AGAIN.
I come up with a means to steer it, but there is no end
stop.  This came back to haunt me later.

Saturday, I think I am ready to go.

1800z - After weeks of silence, the line noise is now
S9+20dB on 20, 15, and 10 meters.

1900z - I found the pole.  I hit it with a sledgehammer,
shake the guy wires, and can only quiet it for 10 seconds
max.  I make a frantic call to NES pleading them to come
out today if possible.  I'm getting rattled.

2000z - I decide to try the latest copy of TR-Log, 6.71b

2015z - Discover that 6.71b makes my DXD parallel keying
lines go haywire.  Now I am frantically searching for
the older copy I had just overwritten.

2045-  TR 6.70 installed, and everything is working.  Whew!

2100z - BANG.  I hit the ground running.  Even with the
horrendus line noise, conditions are great and there
are tons of loud signals.

Within 5 minutes, I am S&Ping interleaved QSOs on two radios.
I have never done this interleaved QSO thing before. My
experience with SO2R so far has been CQing on one radio
while S&Ping on the other.  What is happening now is that
I am working one QSO on one radio, while setting up the next
QSO on the second radio.  I learned this from W4PA, who
let me see his log and explained what he was doing.
I think this is how SO2R is done in the Sprint as well.
Setting up QSOs on alternate rigs like this lets you move
from QSO to QSO at an incredible speed once you've got
the movements down. I think I finally understand what the 
real SO2R ops are doing, and how they wind up with hundreds
of band changes in a 4 hour Sprint.

But I can't keep up the interleaving for long.  I am just barely
keeping up with the pace, and after an hour, I completely lose it
and resort to calling CQ on one radio while S&Ping on the other.
I couldn't have done this a couple ofyears ago because I couldn't
copy code well enough to handle it.  I still can't handle it for
long, but I think I have an inkling of what the Major Leaguers
are doing with SO2R. I'm not even in the minor leagues, yet.

2306z
After respectable (for me) opening hours of 64 and 59, something
goes terribly wrong.  Everytime I log a QSO, there is a fifteen
second delay while the computer speaker spits out wierd beeps and
my DX Doubler goes crazy.  I can't log QSOs!!  Rebooting doesn't
help.  Power cycling the DXD doesn't help.  I am LOSING IT --
It's hour #3 of CW SS. Now after weeks of preparation, I can't
log a QSO in Tr-Log!  I consider using paper, but having never
done that before (!), it's not an attractive option.

I try an even older copy of TR-Log, but it makes no difference.
The clock is ticking and I am having a hard time staying calm.
Then it hits me.  I changed something.  Yes -- I turned on
PTT ENABLE because QSK was driving the DXD nuts in "PTT" mode.
I check my LOGCFG.DAT, yep there's the PTT ENABLE line.  But
wait, what's this?  PRINTER ENABLE????  Apparently I accidentally
hit an extra key in the TR menu, and added a line to turn the
printer on.  Well, the printer uses the parallel port, which is
also used to send CW keying.  You can figure out the rest...
WHEW -- problem solved.  But I lost 10-15 minutes of prime
time SS, and I wasted a great deal of energy.

2323z - I am back in the game.  Highly rattled, but breathing
deeply and trying to stay calm and focus on the contest.
The next few hours were uneventful.  The bands were short
and really hopping.

0208z -  I want to use the NE Beverage.  All I get is dead
silence. It worked fine the night before.  Something broke
literally overnight.  It's feedpoint is over 300' away, and
allows same-band SO2R.  So much for that strategy.  Murphy
is starting to make me angry.  I am WAY behing W4PA's rate
from last year.  Try as I might, I have to accept that I'm
not it Scott's league.  I'm not even close.

Things are going OK, although I miss the NE Beverage.
My numbers are looking good.  I'm ahead of every QRP op
I've heard except for N6TR.  Tree is cleaning my clock,
141 QSOs ahead of me at 0804z:

40CW  03-Nov-02 08:04  498  W5WMU  639  Q 67 La  2$

I am amazed by what 5 watts can do.

1628z Sunday.   I wasn't paying attention to the ring rotator,
and I had let it spin freely for god only knows how long.
My first clue was the SWR going crazy on 20 meters.  I run
outside, and it looks like after several revolutions, the
coax ripped the phasing harness off the antenna.  Nothing
was connected. I considered going up to fix it, but it was
raining, and I was exhausted and demorialized.  I decided
to get back to the contest, and slug it out with what I
still had working.  I am totally surprised at how well the
4BTV vertical plays on 10 meters. I can still use 2 radios.

I have 2.5 hours of off time left to use, and I calculate
when I'll have to stop operating the contest.  The final
insult of the weekend came when I put my log together and
discovered that I only operated 22 hours!!  Somehow I was
convinced that the contest ended at 7PM local. I had my off
times carefully written out on paper, and had converted
it to local time.  So after all this effort and heartache,
I shortchanged myself two hours of operating.  Given the
rate at the end, this probably cost me 30-40 QSOs.

My friend Jana came out after with some Chinese take-out,
and tried to get me to stop kicking myself in the ass.
I still can't believe I made such a ridiculous mistake.
I vow to NEVER screw up off time calculations again.
I hope I can still sneak into the Top Ten, but those
two hours probably cost me.  OUCH.

This was in some ways the contest from hell.  It will take
some time for my station and psyche to recover, but you
can bet that I'll be back.

Wait 'till next year!

-Kirk  K4RO


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