NA Sprint CW Contest
Call: N3BB
Operator(s): N3BB
Station: N3BB
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Austin, TX
Operating Time (hrs): 4
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Op Time
---------------------
80: 101
40: 132
20: 81
---------------------
Total: 314 Mults = 44 Total Score = 13,772
Club: Central Texas DX and Contest Club
Team: Austin Powers Rangers
Comments:
The usual fantastic Sprint whirlwind.
20 opened quite nicely and was usable for well over an hour. My line noise
killed me there, and I apologize for being able to hear only the louder
stations. In hour #2, my rate fell to 70, the lowest of the four hours, due to
the QRN. That will be my number one priority for the forseeable future to find
this and get it resolved. It could have been worse, as the line noise was 20 dB
over S9 before we got a tenth of an inch of rain on Thursday. That helped knock
it down to S6-S9.
40 meters was very interesting. Here, 40 is very open for the entire contest,
and two radios are productive from the get-go. The band was cluttered by RTTY
above 025. I found it open between 7005 and 7025 and operated there for the
most part. 40 got very long and "hollow sounding" in hour #2 and #3, and then
it was so long that the west coast were the only stations in. KL7WV was one of
the stronger stations.
Here, the 3Y QRM seemed worse on 20 as there was a growling pile-up from 14015
all the way to 14030. I stayed above 14030 on 20. However 40 was tough, as
many have mentioned. This quote from Tree's 3830 report is interesting:
de N6TR:
"Activity seemed to be down - probably because of the RTTY contest, the 3Y
operation and bad WX. Maybe we should move this contest to the week after
ARRL
DX CW?"
I sure agree we ought to move the Sprint. The RTTY crowd seems to be more
active every year. In fact, in the CTDXCC they are the most enthusiastic and
largest group. Let's separate the Sprint from RTTY WPX. It will increase
participation and solve a major headache from QRM on 40 meters. The weekend
after ARRL is just the same as the weekend before it as far as I am concerned,
although some travelers and serious operators would be tired and worn out. All
in all, I think it would be better for the Sprint. Are there any other contests
in that in-between weekend that would pose a major problem?
Back to Sprint comments and observations...
For some reason, TR sometimes got jammed up when I got a 2nd radio answer on the
"F7" CQs. I will have to sit down and see what I am doing wrong. It would
result in a bad sequence. When K6XXX called, it would send N3BB K6XXX ### JIM
TX N3BB. Sorry for several really QLF QSOs on my part.
During the first part of the Sprint, I was operating on 40 around 7020-25 and on
20 at 14040-50. Therefore I had the 2nd harmonic RFI at its worst, as my 40 and
20 antennas are on the same tower. Even with the 40 meter coaxial stub and the
Dunestar band pass filter, I interfered with 20 when transmitting on 40. Since
that was the case for a while, it caused me to have even more difficulty hearing
stations on 20. That and the darned line noise almost drove me crazy in hour
#2. So when I "discovered" that I could operate down at 7005-7015 on 40, and
moved up a bit higher on 20, it helped the harmonic-based interference to 20
quite a bit. But by that time, the band was fading, and signals were covered up
with the S7-9 line noise1 There were several stations who called and called,
and I finally sent "sorry, QRN" and gave up. I'm sure there were more, but I
could not hear them.
Worked all mults heard except for one VE6 heard on 20 near the first of the
Sprint. Thanks to the J7 for calling on 40 and standing by for over 30 seconds
while I turned an antenna that way to get his call and number.
Also, thanks to VE9DX for calling on 40 the first hour. Andy was strong.
Others representing what probably was the only operation from their states/prov.
like W7UQ, K4FXN, WW2Y, K3STX, N8NA, VE4XT, N4ZR, VA7RR, NY1S, W0BS, N0AC are
much appreciated.
Congrats to the great operators and scores. The level of operating in the
Sprint is the highest. Thanks to the Boring ARC and the NCJ for supporting this
great operating event.
JG
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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