Stew Perry Topband Challenge - 2019
Call: N9NB
Operator(s): N9NB
Station: N9NB
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: VA
Operating Time (hrs): 14
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 614 Total Score = 4,678
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
Fun times! These may have been some of the best conditions I have ever
experienced on 160 m. I don't ever recall working so many EU stations before in
a contest.
I made the 3 hour drive to the mountain station, and arrived just before
sunset, and was welcomed by a ceiling fire alarm that was beeping due to low
batteries. Took a while to replace the batteries and silence the loud chirps,
and from then on, there never seemed to be a dull moment. I think a big part of
the excitement was due to the online scoreboard. I got on the air at precisely
my sunset. Things worked well from the start, and I particularly was happy with
the SAL-30 RX antenna which I had tweaked to peak performance earlier in the
fall (unlike last year, where the SAL-30 had a damaged feed line to the loop,
rendering it useless).
After encouragement from Nate N4YDU on my drive up to the station, I used the
Online Contest Scoreboard for the first time ever, and it was fun to see the
scores move around throughout the evening. The online scoreboard provided great
motivation, as I tried to catch up with K9NR and K1EP who had a head start in
the contest (congrats to them on FB efforts!). I didn't think I could ever catch
them, but was able to leap ahead when the EU sunrise hit around 1:30 am in
Virginia, and the log rapidly filled with 20+ point QSOs.
The shunt fed 80/160 m 2-el vertical array (described in the QST article in May
2019 and the 2019 Dayton Antenna Forum) worked extremely well, exhibiting good
directionality and signal punch. The Sal-30 allowed me to copy almost every
station who called (I think I may have missed a KL7 and ZL at ESP signal levels,
and an SM5 who was Q4 - those are the only stations I recall not being able to
complete a QSO with - my apologies).
Thanks to everyone for the Q's, and thanks to the organizer for another great
Big Stew. And thanks to the contest on line scoreboard- that was really cool.
73 and looking forward to working you in the next contest. Happy new year, and
Happy Decade! May everyone have a wonderful 2020!
ted n9nb
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