Stew Perry Topband Challenge - Spring
Call: PJ2T
Operator(s): K8ND
Station: PJ2T
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: FK52
Operating Time (hrs): 8:44
Remote Operation
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 210 Total Score = 1,850
Club: Mad River Radio Club
Comments:
Following a year unavailable, the PJ2T remote station was re-installed by Geoff
W0CG / PJ2DX when he arrived at Signal Point Curacao before the ARRL SSB. I made
use of it for the Spring Stew.
Starting at Curacao sunset, the USA Beverage seemed useless during the following
~3 hours. Of the first 58 stations worked, ~2/3 were only copiable on the
transmit inverted-L and the Beverage showed little improvement in
signal-to-noise, something I had not experienced in 19 years operating on
Topband from Curacao. In this remote environment, switching between Beverage and
transmit antenna on RX was very hard work, as selecting the transmit antenna
required manipulating 'RX Ant' button on the K3/0-Mini rather than just
selecting between the two Beverages from the keyboard. After ~3 hours, I judged
it not worth the effort, and decided to quit.
After 2.5 hours off, encouraged by Geoff and feeling annoyed, I decided to give
another listen to see if I could diagnose the situation. USA signals were now
quite good on the Beverage, and European stations were available on the EU
Beverage. So I settled in to operate another ~6 hours until the Ugly Yellow Ball
appeared in the Caribbean sky and made further QSOs impossible. I have no idea
what conditions resulted in my earlier observations, but they were real and very
very odd!
My unplanned off-time caused me to miss most of the Europeans, having caught the
tail-end of their availability before EU sunrise.
The slow Signal Point DSL Internet connection held up fairly well during
operation, however many of the repeats I requested were due to very short
character-length drop-outs of the signal between Curacao and Ohio while
receiving a report.
Thanks to Geoff W0CG / PJ2DX, for deploying from storage the remote hardware
following its year-long pandemic cold-storage and for managing the daily on-site
requirements to make use of the remote. Thanks also to Gene KB7Q, who is the
PJ2T 'Remote Whisperer' and creator of our remote station technical manual and
the Beverage remote switch hardware.
Curacao Side:
Elecraft K3S, KPA500, KAT500: 450 Watts
TX Antenna: Inv-L
RX Antennas: 880-foot USA/JA Beverage, 1000-foot Europe Beverage
Ohio Side:
Elecraft K3/0-Mini
N1MM Logger+
Remote Connection: RemoteRig, AnyDesk
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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