CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
Call: K1IR
Operator(s): K1IR K1LZ K1OA K1VR KE1J W1VE
Station: K1IR
Class: M/S HP
QTH: MA
Operating Time (hrs): 48
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 37 13 34
80: 497 23 87
40: 785 33 122
20: 1122 37 135
15: 730 31 121
10: 114 24 77
------------------------------
Total: 3285 161 576 Total Score = 6,850,415
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
It got pretty interesting before the contest here at the single-tower K1IR
multi-single station . . . we had a few things going against us as start time
was approaching . . .
- S9 Power Line Noise - Last year, we were severely hampered on all bands by a
strong line noise generated about a mile northeast of us. After more than a
month of working with the power company, the noise was still there for the
contest. After taking a severe toll on our 2003 point total, it magically
disappeared 48 hours after the contest ended. When I found a similar noise on
the bands this year just prior to WW SSB, it was deja vu all over again. I
started to work the problem right away. I quickly located the bad pole where I
saw a wire hanging loose. The power company came out and met me at the pole, but
that wire wasn't the problem. The technician tried what he could, but to no
avail. He agreed to report the problem to the NSTAR Radio Lab. A week later, I
got a call from the Radio Lab saying they would come out and help track down the
problem. This was two weeks before WW CW. They came out and confirmed that I had
identified the right pole. The technician submitted a repair order for a set of
bell insulators that she suspected were bad. I wasn't so sure, and I asked them
to call me when they did the work so I could confirm that the problem had been
eliminated. Upon my return from a business trip, on Saturday 11/20/04, the noise
was still there. I went to the pole and saw that the insulators had been
replaced, but they had never done anything to confirm that they'd solved the
problem. When Monday arrived, I was on the phone making my case for another
visit to the pole. With Thanksgiving approaching, the level of motivation at
NSTAR was not very high. They scheduled the visit for Tuesday 11/30/04. I
explained how important it was to get this fixed before Thanksgiving weekend and
asked to speak directly with the manager who schedules the crews. He finally did
call me on Tuesday 11/23/04. He said there was no chance the work could be done
on that day, and that rain was predicted for Wednesday. If rain is in the
forecast, they won't even send the crews out - union rules. And, you can be sure
there is even less incentive when rain is predicted on the day before
Thanksgiving. He reiterated the firm plan to come out on the Tuesday after the
contest, and made it clear that I shouldn't get my hopes up about any work
getting done before Thanksgiving. On Wednesday morning, though, I was pleasantly
surprised to get a call saying the crew and the Radio Lab would be out within a
half hour to work the problem. I met the crew - all eight of them, in three
trucks - at the pole, and they started testing immediately. The crew foreman did
all the work. He tightened some hardware. That had no effect. Then he said he
would disconnect the six lightning arrestors one at a time. The third LA turned
out to be the problem. This was confirmed and the LA was replaced. Problem
solved - with almost zero time left to go. What a difference in the sound of the
bands when I got back home! I will be posting additonal information about this
noise tracking process on k1ir.designet.com soon.
- Failing M2 Rotor - The tower has two rotators - an M2 for the main mast and a
TIC ring for the 40m yagi. They both absolutely have to work or we are out of
business. A couple of weeks before the contest, the M2 began to fail. It was
intermittent, but it got worse every day. The M2 team had me climb the tower to
try fixing connections, then they sent a replacement reed switch. Finally, it
seems there was a mechanical problem with the limit switches. That got fixed
with only a day to go before the contest started.
- Failing TIC Ring - With a new OptiBeam OB4-40 replacing the 'ole reliable
[and light-weight] CC 40-2CD, the ring now has a much bigger job to do. We got
the new antenna up just a couple of days before the SSB contest, and it worked
great. But, just two weeks before CW, the ring started to exhibit slipping
problems. I went up and put additional tenson on the motor to better engage the
drive gear and the ring through the entire 360 degrees. Seemed to have that
fixed a few days before the contest, but with limited time for testing.
- Limited Operator Schedules - We had a great team assembled for the contest,
but as the start approached, I learned of several big chunks of time that a few
of us had to take off for family obligations. There were several critical
periods that were going to be difficult to cover . . . one of those was the
start of the contest!
The Contest
When the contest started, the computer network had only been up for 5 minutes -
a variety of issues kept us from having it all running much earlier in the day.
Why is it always the computers?
Day 1 0000z to 1200z
We started the contest running on 40m and doing mults on 20m. That gradually
shifted to a greater focus on 80m as we realized that 40m just wasn't producing
like it did during the SSB weekend. The 0500z hour produced a good rate with a
good balance of QSOs on 40 and 80. At around 0600z, KE1J reported that the 40m
rotator [TIC] had failed. It became very difficult to get the rotor moving and
we didn't know where it was pointed because of a problem with the direction pot
in the rotor. I put out a call for assistance on the reflectors. Rate was slow
from 0600z through the 1000z hour and we avoided turning the 40m. This probably
cost us some good mults. We managed to get the EU runs started in the 1100z hour
with a short stint on 20m followed by a quick change to 15m.
Day 1 1200z to 2359z
>From 1200z to 1600z, it was all 15m. We worked in a few mults on 20m and kept
trying to see if we could raise any rate on 10m. That never happened. The 15m
rate dropped to less than 125 in the 1500z hour, so we moved down to 20m where
we popped that rate back up a few notches. The rest of the afternoon was spent
with ever-decreasing production on 20m and efforts to revive 15m were
unsuccessful. I had to be away for a family event much of the day, so when I got
back home at 2:30pm [with only 90 minutes of daylight left] I climbed the tower
with some tools to try and coax the TIC ring back into operation. I applied some
gentle blows with a 'pursuader', adjusted the tension of the drive motor on the
main ring gear, and sprayed a ton of Radio Shack contact cleaner in the vicinity
of the direction pot. With me still on the tower, we tested the rotation. There
was no change, but it seemed that the erratic movements we were able to induce
to get the antenna turning were not going to damage anything. So, we eventually
turned the rotor back toward EU and decided not to change it unless absolutely
necessary. We had no effective alternative antennas for the other directions, so
this was viewed as a serious limitation on the operation. Finally, 40m opened at
2100z and we stayed there with 75/hr rates into EU until 2400z. By the way,
thanks for all the helpful responses to my plea on cq-contest, yccc and
towertalk; I wasn't expecting to get so much help from those of you who were in
the middle of operating the contest!
Day 2 0000z to 1200z
Alternating between 80m and 40m, we ground out the QSOs at rates not exceeding
50/hr from 0000z to 0700z. Then the rate dropped off through the 1000z hour. It
was during this time that we decided to play with the 40m rotor and see if we
could work any of the important mults to our west. It was a welcome surprise to
find that the pot was giving much steadier readings. Perhaps some of that
contact cleaner had migrated into the pot. We had our 40m antenna back. 1000z
was an ugly period - generating only a few good mults on 40m. But, 20m opened
with a bang at 1100z. Right after the band opened, we lost power for 3 seconds.
Well, that was long enough to do two things: 1) it took out the logging network
- which required about 10-15 minutes to fully restore, and 2) it convinced me to
get a UPS in place to keep the computers running. I have one in my home office;
why not the station, too? By the way, why is it always the computers?
Day 2 1200z to 2359z
With the exception of a short stint on 15m during the 1200z hour, we cranked
decent rates on 20m until 1800z. The 1800z-1900z hours offered an ecclectic mix
of non-mult QSOs on 40-10m. We wound the contest down with rates under 50/hr,
mostly on 40m. There were a few nice mults in those last hours, as well.
Our PDRG's [Prima Donna Rate Guys] for this contest were W1VE and K1OA. Their
total commitment is greatly appreciated - especially in those times of tough QSO
production.
Our LMG's [Lowly Mult Guys] were KE1J, K1VR and K1IR. K1LZ also came by to
support the operation. Kudos to the guys who kept their ears to the radio and
eyes on the spots for all those hours. As I look at the log, it is quite clear
that we didn't have many of the rare mults calling in on our run radio; our
LMG's did the hard work and went out and snagged them on the mult station.
The efforts of our non-operating support team are also greatly appreciated. My
wife, Sue, was always helping out - from making us a delicious turkey breast to
helping clean up after the crew all weekend, she was always adding value to the
operation. Our kids kept themselves busy and out of trouble. And the neighbors
withheld all RFI complaints for the entire weekend.
Looking back on this one, there are a few things I will remember:
- Forget about what conditions were like yesterday. Right now is all that
matters.
- Sometimes things get fixed just in the nick of time.
- Sometimes things break just at the wrong moment.
- Staying motivated when the chips are down can make all the difference.
- Rate is always king - even when conditions are bad and activity is low.
- It's always the darn computers.
Station - Inside
Radios: 2 x FT-1000MP, IC-781, Orion
Amps: 2 x Acom 2000A, Alpha 87A, Kenwood TL-922A
Computers: WriteLog running on Win98 OS
Antenna switching and filters: Lots
Antennas
160m: Inverted-L
80m: 3-el wire Yagi @ 60 feet, sloper
40m: OptiBeam OB4-40 @ 85 feet [new! wow!]
20m: 4/4 [100/60]
15m: 4/5 [93/50]
10m: 5/5 [93/70]
South tribander: ATB-34 @ 80 feet
Vertical: R7
RX: Beverages
Congrats to all who slugged it out to produce good scores. It wasn't easy.
Thanks to the DX and DXpeditioners for giving us great rate and plenty of
interesting places to work.
73,
Jim K1IR et al
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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