North American QSO Party, CW
Call: K4XD
Operator(s): K4XD
Station: K4XD
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Raleigh, NC
Operating Time (hrs): 10
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 51 29
80: 102 38
40: 120 36
20: 115 36
15: 18 12
10: 23 10
-------------------
Total: 429 161 Total Score = 69,069
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Team: PVRC Part Timers 2
Comments:
This week started with a call at work late on Monday - "can you make it to Tokyo
for a meeting on Thursday?" I don't know, is that possible? Well, turns out it
was. So I spent about 36 hours of Tuesday through Friday "in the chair" but
without a radio in front of me. The sad part is these long flights are starting
to feel normal! I didn't feel too jet-lagged but I slept until 9AM this Sunday
morning, something I "never" do. No time to visit Akihabara, the electronics
store district in Tokyo, which may be just as well as it's time to catch up on
Christmas credit card spending, not add to it.
My cell phone and Blackberry didn't work in Japan, but I had internet access at
the hotel and work, so kept up on email and the reflectors. Jim WX3B announced
the "PVRC Part Timers" team idea on the PVRC reflector and I took the bait.
OK, I'm scheduled to leave Tokyo at 6PM Friday and get home at 9:30PM Friday
(that International Date Line has quite the sense of humor), plenty of time to
rest up and hit the radio at 1800 Saturday. The plane out of Tokyo was 3 hours
late, but I still made the connection in Chicago (partly because the plane out
of there was an hour late, quite accomodating of them). Got back to find I was
on PVRC Part Timers 2, and this contest bug has bitten hard enough that I was
already figuring out how to schedule a max of 2 hours of off time for my "part
time" effort. I don't think I got it quite right, more on that later.
I reviewed my log from last summer's NAQP CW - with 50 Q's, it wasn't exactly a
basis for a 10 hour plan! I figured I'd "follow my nose" and use the obvious
progression of bands over time, using the Icom 756 pro II's band scope to do a
quick check of a band for activity. I have to admit Icom has me hooked with
the band scope. Probably the only thing saving me from "new radio fever" --
despite reading the detailed reviews of every new rig that comes out and
lusting after some feature or other (Direct Internet Connection! 10 Hz Roofing
Filters! 200 Watts Built In! Best Receiver Ever!), I think about sitting in
front of a rig without that $#$! display and just can't imagine doing it. It's
so... handy.
I spent about 45 minutes before the test setting up WriteLog macros -- thanks
to Mike K4GMH for pointing out the FKeys add-on for WriteLog (search Google,
you'll find it). It lets you configure mouse clickable buttons that make
WriteLog do all kinds of tricks, from simply duplicating what you would get by
hitting a function key, to much more interesting things like adding the current
Q to the band map, or entering the Q into the log AND doing a file save. I got
the "basic" configuration working but decided it had way too much capability to
mess with seriously in the 15 minutes before the contest.
I am still not perfectly happy with my choice of function key macros in
WriteLog. My ideal is having both CQ and S&P exchanges in logical progression
on adjacent keys with one keypress - not shifted, ctrl'd or alt'd. I also like
to have the elements of my exchange handy - for NAQP I had F5=Rowl, F6=NC,
F7=?, F8=agn. Shifted versions of those keys sent "name?," "st?," "?" and
"agn?."
So with three groups of 4 keys, you'd think it would be easy to set up one for
CQ, one for S&P, and one for exchange elements.
F1 to F4 handle CQing OK with "CQ" | "EXCH" | "TU QRZ" | K4XD. I put the
exchange elements on the second group of four, F5 to F8. You would think this
means I could use the last group for S&P - but WriteLog pre-assigns F11 to send
whatever you send with F1, and F10 is what gets sent for the exchange when you
use the Enter Sends EXCH/QRZ function, which is very handy when CQ'ing. That
"breaks up" the F9-F12 set of keys if you put anything but the CQ sequence
there, which I suppose I could do... but with F1 & F11 assigned to the same
macro, but F1 is the first in the four key group F1-F4 and F11 is the third in
the four key group F9-F12, it really messes things up if you need to use those
groups for the CQ series and the S&P series.
I ended up with F4 being K4XD, and shifted F2 being the EXCH for S&P. Still
awkward. I hear some of you saying, for crying out loud man, use the paddle.
You really don't want me to use the paddle, trust me. I'm sure the "right"
answer is staring me in the face, but so far I always feel like I end up with a
compromise that requires shifting and jumping around the function keys, instead
of a nice easy to remember sequential order.
The other place I always get in trouble is forgetting to switch between "Enter
Sends EXCH/QRZ" when CQ'ing and NOT when S&P'ing. So on the first CQ after an
S&P fest, I'll enter your call in the call window, hit Enter expecting to send
the EXCH, and watch in horror as your call drops into the log and WriteLog
sends... nothing. At least this time I figured out that I can hit the EXCH
function key and it will send the exchange based on the most recent call sign
added to the log (yours), while I hastily re-type the call into the call window
and delete the premature QSO. Conversely, I get to exhibit lid behavior when I
forget to turn "Enter Sends EXCH/QRZ" off when I go back to S&P, and end up
sending "TU K4XD CQ" when I meant to just silently add the Q to the log and
slink off to the next S&P target. At least I'm getting good at finding the ESC
key in a panic stricken split second and shutting it down. Fortunately there is
no video in this medium.
I checked the naval time site to make sure my PC clock was on the dot, and even
set the Icom clock, which seems to lose time, to be on the money too. A nice
feature of the Faros Beacon monitor program is automatic time synchronization
of your PC clock. But this close to contest time, I didn't want to load it up
since it tries to get rig control and with WriteLog already doing that, I
didn't need the Murphy Factor.
I started with some S&P on 20M at 1800, which just seemed like the obvious band
to hit first. I pointed the hexbeam at 300 and marched up the band. DE on QSO
number 3, sweet! Thanks Art. Those first Q's are a lot of fun -- everyone's a
mult. Mostly West and Midwest as you would expect, but in addition to DE, Rick
K4TD AL was in the first 10. Also nice to get SK that early. A pretty nice
way to kick things off. The second 10 Q's included MT, AB, UT and LA - nice! I
was definitely enjoying the mult fest, which didn't let up in the third 10 with
VP9, ME, PE and MS. I usually don't get half of those mults until much later
in a contest. Just luck or NAQP?
The rate stayed pretty decent that first hour so I stuck with S&P until 1900,
and then figured it was time to have a peek at 15M. Good activity there too,
so I scanned through and picked up 10 Q's. THen a voice told me, "go look at
10M." Actually, it was a PSE QSY 28xxx that told me. What the heck, I
suffered through 24 hours of the ARRL 10M QSO Desert Torture Test, maybe things
will be different this time. Hey, what are those signals doing dancing on my
scope on 28 MHz?! Don't they know we're at The Minimum? I'll be. So I plowed
into 10M and picked up 23 Q's 30 minutes, one local (thanks Bert!) and the rest
Out West. That was fun, wonder what it will be like in a year?
10M seemed to be a well kept secret so after a couple minutes of nothing new, I
headed back to 15M to see if I could get a run going. Nope. Did pick up XE and
KH6, but the rate was low, my Attention Deficit Disorder was kicking in, and I
couldn't sit still. Back to 20M and spent a pretty solid 2 hours there.
Couple of medium length runs but still mostly S&P. I swore to myself I would
have the discpline to run more in this test, but when the rate drops to one Q
every three minutes, I get itchy and start hunting again. Probably not the
best strategy, as I know those couple of minute dry spells could be easily
followed by a stretch of back to back Q's.
If I'm not being logical anyway, why not go check out 80M at 2221? Good idea,
I think I will. So off to 80 I go, "just curious," and found PA, GA and NH in
3 minutes. Not logical, but fun. Since 20M was still showing some good
activity, I hopped back there and tried a run relatively high in the band at
14068, which dropped another 14 Q's in the log before things started getting
slow again.
A break in the action to discuss the exchange. My name, Rowland, is not common
and at 7 characters, a bit long compared to, say, Bob or Ed or Al. Not wanting
to give up that 3 or 4 character advantage (which is pretty ridiculous given my
average rate but hey, we get to obsess about whatever we want in this hobby), I
shortened my name to Rowl for the test. At least 70% of the time, sending Rowl
NC resulted in "<pregnant pause> name?" I think people hear the "R" at the
start and think I'm saying R for Roger, and then probably hope they're not
really having a QSO with a guy named Owl. So my attempt to save 3 characters
seems to end up requiring me to send Rowl two more times, and you to send
"name?" back to me, so I've spent 12 characters instead of saving 3. But all
that is assuming that if I sent "Rowland" people would get it the first time.
Decisions, decisions...
My wife brought in the mail at this point, which included a very nice full
color folding QSL from Tom, VP6TD. Very classy! And a big box from ICE with a
bunch of hardware for the Big Grounding Project. Not nearly as big as some of
you out there (and you know who you are, Tom), but enough to let me look the
insurance guy in the eye and say "I used protection."
Speaking of obsessing, by this point in time I had taken one 30 minute break
and was worrying about when to take the remaining 90 minutes. I decided a one
hour dinner break would be a nice concession to my family ("I can quit this
contesting thing any time I want, honey, really... just watch... OK, I'm
getting up and leaving the radio now... $@!, that was NV CQ'ing, just give me 5
more minutes"). So we took off for dinner at 2321 and went to the local Tap
Room and had some pub food (OK, and just one pint of tuning oil), and watched
the Packers run around and throw snowballs at each other when no one could find
the football anymore. Just kidding, my wife being from MN/WI Duluth/Superior,
we almost wore those ridiculous cheesehead hats (I've been warned that if Green
Bay gets into the Super Bowl, I will be sporting one at the Super Bowl Party. I
feel a toothache coming on...). Unfortunately the Packers were enjoying
themselves, considerably more than the Seahawks, and my when 45 minutes of my
time off had expired there was still "Ten Minutes" to go, which in football
time could be anywhere from half an hour to an hour if the sponsors think you
will endure that many SUV commercials just to see How It Turns Out. It was
pretty obvious at this point how it was going to Turn Out (risk of cheeseheads
greater than zero) so my sweetie agreed we could leave as my time off clock
struck 60.
This got me back to the dials with 1:15 of off time. That plus my 30 minutes
earlier meant I had 1:45 minutes of my 2:00 taken. If I had Stopped To Think
(what a concept), I would have taken fifteen more minutes then so I could
cleanly go to 0600. But the lure of those dancing 40M signals on the scope was
too strong, and I took the bait and went back at it. Only in the calm between
CQ QSO's an hour later did I start doing the math... #$!, I think I'll have to
quit at 0530 because I have to take 15 more minutes off but the minimum time off
is 30 minutes... groan. Sorry team.
An hour on 40 yielded about 35 Q's, all S&P (so much for my CQ'ing resolution).
The band was long, and yielded the usual suspects plus MT, BC, and KP4.
At 0100 I figured the crowd would be starting to migrate to 80 so they could
get some quality time in there and still hit 160 before hitting the sack, so I
hopped down there and found a lot of signals and a lot of QRN. This was
probably the most work of the contest, pulling names out of the static. Not
quite summer levels, but worse than usual winter by quite a bit. Nice to work
Gary K9AY, listening on "his" antenna! It doesn't work mniracles but it does
seem to improve S/N at least half the time, and I needed it last night.
K5KA asked me to qsy to 160, so I did, and he almost seemed surprised when I
showed up and worked him there. At 0150, I had worked through the mob on 80
and decided to go grab some mults on 160, so spent about 20 minutes and did
just that. Only one of 15 Q's was not a mult, so that helped. At this point I
figured 40M might have changed, and sure enough, it yielded a nice run with a
little over 80 Q's from all over, FL, MA, OH, NY, MD, PA, WV as well as the
long haul from KH6.
At 0400 I went back to 160 for some more Q's and mults. I ended with a 160
total greater than the sum of 10M and 15M combined. Given that 10M was pretty
open, I think this says I could have used more time, or a better strategy!
I spent the last hour bouncing a bit between 160M and 80M, enjoying some of the
best rate of the contest for short periods. At 0530, I figured I probably
needed to quit because I still needed 15 minutes off, but the blocks of time
off have to be 30 minutes. But I was having too much fun so stayed at it until
the WriteLog "Time On" clock said exactly 10:00, at 0539. So there may be 6 80M
Q's at the end of my log that get scratched. No mults in there, though. I'll
let the contest gods figure it out.
SO2R would definitely add to the fun, Q's, and chances to look like an idiot on
the air. I've been rolling it around in my head, thnking about how to do
something on the cheap to get a taste. Thanks to Barry K4CZ for the helpful
links. I think my Yaesu FT857D, which is already interfaced to the PC, plus
connecting up my 160M vertical to it as a "most band" antenna, and running 100W
on different bands from those in use on the main rig, would probably keep me
from frying the Icom. Although the risk of doing that detracts from my desire
for SO2R. But doing it "whole hog," with a commercial interface box, a "real"
SO2R antenna setup, and real bandpass filters... it adds up, as this audience
knows extremely well. It's always good to have another mountain to climb.
Thanks all for the Q's and see you next time.
73,
Rowland K4XD
Here are the "real" numbers -- my approximations in the soapbox are limited
by my impatience in actually counting off entries in the log!
QSO/MUL by hour and band
Hour 160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total Cumm
OffTime
D1-1800Z - - - 33/23 1/1 - 34/24 34/24
D1-1900Z - - - - 13/8 23/10 36/18 70/42
D1-2000Z - - - 17/5 4/3 - 21/8 91/50
30
D1-2100Z - - - 34/5 - - 34/5 125/55
D1-2200Z - 3/3 4/4 31/3 - - 38/10 163/65
D1-2300Z - - 13/10 - - - 13/10 176/75
38
D2-0000Z --+-- --+-- 18/10 --+-- --+-- --+-- 18/10 194/85
37
D2-0100Z 5/5 53/29 - - - - 58/34 252/119
D2-0200Z 11/10 - 32/7 - - - 43/17 295/136
D2-0300Z 1/1 - 53/7 - - - 54/8 349/144
D2-0400Z 18/9 31/5 - - - - 49/14 398/158
D2-0500Z 16/4 15/1 - - - - 31/5 429/163
Total: 51/29 102/38 120/38 115/36 18/12 23/10
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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