ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: K1LT
Operator(s): K1LT
Station: K1LT
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Ohio EM89ps
Operating Time (hrs): 41
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 58 38
80: 146 58
40: 310 76
20: 764 91
15: 719 87
10: 752 81
-------------------
Total: 2749 431 Total Score = 3,542,820
Club: Mad River Radio Club
Comments:
The goal for this contest was to beat last year's QSO total and try
for 3000 QSOs in a weekend. A secondary goal was to make greater use
of my new SO2R capabilities, which are still confined to the low bands
because I haven't developed my high-band antenna farm sufficiently.
I last used SO2R during the CQ WW 160 content with the KX3 as the
second radio and the K3 and Writelog in SO2V configuration. That
configuration allows CW over the serial interface cable to the K3 with
no lag or tails (PTT activated when I want to be receiving).
Operation worked fine except for the manual process of copying the
frequency from the KX3 to the K3 second VFO. Prior to that, I used
SO2R in the CQ WW CW contest with the IC765 as the second radio. That
configuration requires my homebrew SO2R box to extract CW keying from
the USB interface and lacks a PTT signal because of Writelog's
limitations. Operation was acceptable, with VOX causing some delay in
reception. Also, the IC765 is somewhat clunky compared to the K3 and
I think that radio is aging faster than I am.
Therefore I built a WinKey clone to get around the Writelog
limitation. I also acquired a second K3 (10 watt version, no frills
like sub-receivers - I used my Hardrock 50 amplifier between the
second K3 and Jeff's ETO 91B). Finally, I built some bandpass filters
for 80 and 40 meters to remove the interference that I observed with
the IC765. (Removing same-band interference from the KX3 is an
entirely different issue, see my 3830 for the CQ 160 test.)
SO2R with 2 nearly identical radios is very nice. I have keyboard
shortcuts programmed to switch left ear audio between the first radio
and the second radio, and additional shortcuts to move the so-called
"keyboard focus" and "transmit focus" between radios. Thus
the only
time I need to remove my hands from the keyboard is to tune the
radios. After a few QSOs, I had a rhythm going.
One minor problem that I observed is that the WinKey keyer does not
stop instantly when I press the escape key. It completes the current
character. When I force the second radio to transmit while the first
radio is already transmitting, Writelog and the SO2R box switch
transmitters but the keyer keeps on sending that last character while
the change occurs. Thus the last couple of dits or dahs goes over the
second radio prior to the desired transmission. Since I have source
code for the firmware in the clone keyer, I expect that I can cure
this problem.
I had one malfunction which I detected 20 minutes before the contest
started. There was no reception on my Beverages on the second radio.
A Magic-Tee splits the signal from the second port on my Beverage
switch box to feed both the 2nd receiver in the primary K3 and the
only receiver in the second K3. The quick solution was to move the
splitter to the first port on the Beverage box and do without the
second Beverage output. However, I could still get signals on the
primary K3 second RX. I cannot currently explain why this is so. I
missed only about 5 minutes at the beginning of the contest.
I found that I did not need the bandpass filters to suppress
interference. Neither K3 receiving on the Beverages heard the the
transmitted signal from the other radio. When receiving on the high
bands, I used the antenna tuner as a bandpass filter which nicely
removed any interference. Since I used the second radio only to
search and pounce, I didn't do much first radio receiving while
transmitting on the second radio.
Having the P3 is very nice. The P3 provides a very handy visual
backup to my auditory system. My left ear is dedicated to the first
(or only) receiver in each K3 while the right ear listens to the K3
sub-receiver (where present). Most of the time, a caller on the first
radio is inaudible on the sub-receiver. (The exceptions are
non-European and non-Asian callers when running stations from those
areas.) But even though the main receiver audio is blocked, I can
still see a caller on the P3. Furthermore, on a dying band like 10 or
15 meters in the late evening, it is much easier to visually find the
next station to tune. Finally, the P3 shows me where those annoying
key clicks are coming from.
The contest itself was great. I should have CQed more often,
especially on 80. I avoided 160 the first night because there is some
very nearby noise source that turns on when the weather is very cold,
and Friday night was extremely cold. The noise was even bad on the
high bands Thursday night, but fortunately the noise abated before the
contest started. 160 the second night was the best that I have heard
during any contest this season. I did not use the phased arrays since
I have not integrated the phased array receiver with my SO2R setup as
yet.
Since my goal was to beat last year's QSO total, I observed that I was
behind by about 50 QSOs after the first 4 hours. I was never able to
make up that deficit which gyrated somewhat and finally settled around
80 QSOs at the end. Nevertheless, my score is down only about 1% even
though the multiplier chase in the last 2 hours allowed only 7 more
multipliers than last year.
The surprise multiplier was 9J2HN on 20 midday Sunday. 5R8SV was also
a surprise multiplier on 10. The long-path Asian opening on 20 Sunday
morning was very nice: several JA, Asian UA, BY, and HS.
My best 60-minute QSO rate was 172 QSOs. Last year it was 171 QSOs.
I finally accomplished a long sought goal: I worked JA3YBK on 6 bands.
My last QSO was a multiplier, but even more satisfying was competing
the 6th band with OL7M as my second to last QSO. I had 14 other
6-band QSOs and 34 5-band QSOs.
DX worked: 3D2, 4O, 4X, 5B, 5R, 6Y, 8P, 9A, 9J, BY, C6, CE, CE9, CM,
CN, CT, CT3, CU, CX, D4, DL, DU, E7, EA, EA6, EA8, EA9, EI, ER, ES,
EU, F, FM, FY, G, GI, GJ, GM, GW, HA, HB, HC, HH, HI, HK, HL, HR, HS,
I, IS, J3, J7, JA, JW, K, KG4, KH2, KH6, KH8, KL, KP2, KP4, LA, LU,
LX, LY, LZ, OA, OE, OH, OH0, OK, OM, ON, OZ, P4, PA, PJ2, PJ4, PJ7,
PY, PY0F, S5, SM, SP, SV, SV9, TA, TF, TI, TI9, TK, UA, UA2, UA9, UK,
UN, UR, V2, V3, VK, VP5, VP9, VU, XE, YL, YO, YU, YV, Z3, Z8, ZF, ZL,
and ZS for a total of 114 entities versus 109 last year.
Equipment: K3, P3, 8410; K3, Hardrock 50, 91B; 160 "tee", 80
vertical,
40 vertical, 20-10 tribander. Lots of boxes with microcontrollers and
microprocessors and lots of software.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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