ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: K1IR
Operator(s): KE1J W1VE K1IR
Station: K1IR
Class: M/2 HP
QTH: MA
Operating Time (hrs): 48
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 105 54
80: 750 91
40: 1435 110
20: 1463 113
15: 630 100
10: 26 15
-------------------
Total: 4416 483 Total Score = 6,388,641
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
Big change for us this time. We tried Multi-2.
The story goes something like this. We've been doing multi-single here for a
very long time, and we've been pleased with our successes in that category.
While it's been fun, it has also become a bit too familiar. So, we've been
thinking about trying something new. But, every time a contest comes along, we
seem to remain stuck in multi-single mode.
This time things were different. A week before the contest, the station was
somewhat crippled; all the wire antennas were broken. I also had a business trip
the week before the contest. But, thanks to a big effort from KE1J, we did
manage to salvage many of the wires before I left town. We were still worried
that the high winds predicted for "Contest Friday" would reverse all those
repairs. Additionally, we were going to be short-handed; one of our key ops -
K1OA - was not going to be available. Bottom line - we felt there was a good
chance we wouldn't be able to put our best foot forward in multi-single. That
opened the door for us to consider other options.
When I got back from the West Coast, the good news was that the station was in
the same shape we'd left it in, and we did the final repairs. But, I had just
spent the entire week with a bunch of business colleagues, of whom 50% were
sporting sniffles, wheezes, coughs, sweats and sneezes. Fate had me sharing a
rental car with one of the worst sufferers. On Friday morning I was starting to
feel my own health decline.
While KE1J and I prep'd the station on Friday afternoon, we talked about whether
we could even do multi-2 if we wanted to. I was very concerned about how much
interstation interference we would have to deal with. Remember, we have all but
one primary antenna on a single tower. There is a lot of RF to reject between
stations. So, we did some testing. We found that the worst situation was
interaction between 40m and 20m. We knew this would be critical at certaiin
times during the contest. But, knowing that a multi-2 effort would be primarily
an experiment, we decided we could "manage around" the interference problems we
had found.
W1VE was delayed in his arrival due to a wind-induced power failure at his NH
home. He left his house and family without power and was hoping it would come
back up soon. When the three of us - KE1J, W1VE and I - finally assembled with
just two hours remaining before the contest was to begin, we talked through our
options. We put our various goals on the table: have fun, make the most of what
we have to work with, be reasonably competitive in whatever we do, try something
new, etc. My fears about interference were still pushing me toward multi-single.
All I could imagine was a situation in which we start down the multi-2 path, and
quickly find that the interference is making the whole event totally "not fun"
and our effort non-competitive. How do you scale back to multi-single from
multi-2 after the contest has started? Doesn't sound easy.
It turns out that YCCC president, Mark K1RX, was probably the deciding voice in
our decision. His push for everyone to produce maximum points for the club added
greatly to the argument for multi-2. The guys really wanted to give it a try and
Mark wanted us to push for points, so I got my mind focused on multi-2, and we
went for it.
We learned a lot about the category. Multi-2 requires a major effort to keep
both radios producing rate all the time. We put together an operating schedule
that always had two guys in the chairs while the third could break for a
three-hour chunk of sleep. This worked well through the first night. In the
morning, as 20 was opening, W1VE got a call from home. The power company was now
predicting that electricity would not be restored for as much as three days. His
house was getting cold and there was a real danger that the pipes would freeze.
So Gerry left, expecting not to return. We were now down to a two-man multi-2.
And with my cold, I don't think I was a 100% contributor. The operating schedule
was "out the window" and we lost a lot of our momentum. KE1J and I pushed both
radios to produce QSOs [but we were both silently thinking that multi-single
might have been a better choice . . .]. The computers and the network gave us
some trouble in the middle of the contest, so I took one station down and some
time out to reconfigure the station to improve that situation. The log shows I
was on solo from 0700z to 1200z on Sunday morning. I vaguely recall wearing the
headsets for both radios at the same time, calling cq on 40 and 80. I guess I
hit rock bottom with 8 QSOs during the 1000z hour . . .
To my utter amazement, Gerry showed up at about 1300z on Sunday morning. He took
a chair and started running 15m. Turns out his power was restored overnight. We
continued the contest, but never quite regained the nice rhythm we'd started
with.
We did have tons of fun doing a multi-2. It was great to be able to share more
running time than what's available in multi-single. Here are a few observations
and lessons learned from this effort:
- Multi-2 is a completely different animal from multi-single. Under current
solar conditions M/2 shares more in common with M/M than M/S.
- With our past experience in M/S and our limited operator roster, we actually
ran this contest almost like a M/S, but with a second radio distraction. We
didn't take full advantage of the second radio, never mind the opportunity to do
all those band changes on each radio. We will have to learn more about how to
maximize everything available in M/2.
- Our interstation interference situation is tolerable, but would not be
satisfactory for a major M/2 effort. To work 90% of the guys who called in,
interference levels were low enough. But to win, one needs to be able to easily
hear the other 10% of the guys who call.
- The Acom amplifiers behaved very nicely this weekend. They have a tendency to
trip due to RF coming down the coax from other antennas in close proximity. We
only had this problem on 80/160, where the 160m inverted-L is located right in
the middle of the 80m four-square and coupling is very high.
- Our station is loud enough and the antennas are good enough most of the time.
I wish we had a serious antenna on 160m and a very high tower to support
something for 20-10m. I think our max height of 100 feet was the reason we
couldn't hear some of the stuff others were hearing on 10m.
- We enjoy using WriteLog, but I am tired of fighting with network issues on
the WriteLog computers. I wish somebody who has the secret sauce would share it
with us, or maybe we'll try N1MM.
- Our rate sheet shows we need to improve our ability to sustain 150+ hours
during the 20/15m morning openings. We had a good start, but others seemed to be
able to hold them longer. I think it's an operator technique/skill thing.
- We installed a four-square for 80m last fall [special thanks to N1IK and
K1LZ]. K1NQ's statistical log analysis from previous years told us to do
something about 80m, and he was right. That antenna was a real plus for us
versus the 3-element yagi we'd been using previously. The four-square gives us
similar effectiveness into Europe, but it adds the other directions we'd been
missing. It was a whole lot easier to work our JA, etc, with that new antenna.
- Station configuration for multi-2 is challenging. The antenna switch you
needed was always too far away this weekend. Need to rethink the switching
approach to make the ergonomics better.
- To keep my cold from getting the best of me, I took Robitussin CF. I noticed
that I seemed to be less prone to falling asleep at the key while I was on this
stuff. I later learned that it contains pseudoephedrine, which has side effects
that include "anxiousness and restlessness". I guess those side effects proved
beneficial this weekend.
All in all, we had a great contest weekend. Many thanks to all who contributed,
particularly my dedicated ops and station support team W1VE and KE1J. Others who
have been just fantastic have been my wife and family. K1LZ - my low band
antenna consultant and AAO [Attitude Adjustment Officer] - has been there all
the way [nice job on 80 meters this weekend, Krassy!]. More thanks to everybody
who gets on the air - it wouldn't be much fun if it weren't for the shear number
of big and little participants who show up year after year. Thanks to AD1C for a
fantastic, up-to-date country database. Thanks to K5ZD for a really complete and
accurate SCP database. That tool has improved tremendously over the past couple
of years.
Some "lighter note" thank you's. Thanks to W3PP for spotting us as K1SR -
generating many dupes for us - but realizing his mistake and correcting the spot
20 minutes later. Thanks to K2NG, who spent the weekend setting the example for
how not to act in a pileup situation. Thanks to everyone who posted all those
funky but entertaining spots on Sunday afternoon, including K3LR who lends
credibility to everything he touches. Thanks to everyone who slid up or down a
little bit to make life more comfortable on the bands.
Congrats to the LR, LPL, XX, KI and ZD teams on top-drawer results in each of
the multi categories. N3RS hasn't posted yet, but I bet Sig's crew will be
deserving of same . . .
See you all soon,
Jim Idelson K1IR
email k1ir at designet.com
web http://www.k1ir.com
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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