Call used: PJ7/AB6FO Location: PJ
Category: Single Op All Band Mode: SSB Power: 150W
Callsign of Operator: AB6FO
Exchanged Information: PJ7/AB6FO KEN PJ
Hours of Operation: 9:58
band QSOs points mults
160 1 1 1
75 16 16 12
40 44 44 27
20 383 383 53
15 90 90 33
10 3 3 3
TOTAL 537 537 129 SCORE: 69,273
This trip came about when my wife and her sister decided our families
should take a joint summer vacation. To interest her 17 year old son, my
sister-in-law chose St. Martin. She also chose the dates. Then I looked at
the contest calendar. NAQP Phone fit the bill. In a very neat Internet
usage, I got the name of the Hotel Chatelaine which sports an A3S and HF2V
from Scott, KA9FOX, saw pictures of the place on his Web site, and the rest
was easy.
Papa Japan Seven Stroke Alpha Brave Six Foxtrot Oscar is a mouthful,
but the Landsradio office wouldn't issue a PJ7 call since the NAQP is "not
a major contest." Bummer. Not so much a bummer as my plugging my TS-950
into what I thought was a 110v outlet, only to find with a flash of light
that it was 220v. The names I called myself couldn't be said on the air.
Fortunately, my brother-in-law had a 10 amp fuse, so I was back in
business.
I couldn't get anything going, even with the PJ7 prefix in the first hour.
In the second and most of the third hour, I made up my own contest and ran
Europe. No mults but plenty of points. Getting the names slowed me down to
an 88 rate. That was my first experience with a phone pileup. I have a new
found respect for DXpeditions.
15 meters opened for the 2100 hour and the rate hit 98. Alas, 10 never
opened. I finally found a spot in the 2300 hour on 20 and had a good run,
with a rate of 104. In the middle of the run I had a disconcerting
experience. I was on 14244.8. A guy comes on and tells me I'm interfering
with a DX net on 14247. Now I'm 2000 miles away, running 150 watts into an
A3S at 20', and 2.2 khz away from his frequency. He is the loudest signal
on the band, obviously running full power. The band is jam packed and I
finally have a run frequency. What to do? I decided to tell him I was 2.2
khz away and he should use his filters. Boy, did I get harangued. If I was
1 khz away or 1.5 khz away, well, that is one thing.
Then I took my first break at 0000 and couldn't do anything the rest of the
contest. Don't ever complain about 40 meter phone until you try to work it
from the Caribbean. Ouch. I did have a 10 minute run on 40 before a
broadcast station opened up on me.
73. Ken, AB6FO, KWIDELITZ@DELPHI.COM
>From ke7gh@primenet.com (Brain Short) Wed Aug 23 23:21:48 1995
From: ke7gh@primenet.com (Brain Short) (Brain Short)
Subject: Contest Software (circa 24 Aug 1995)
Message-ID: <199508232221.PAA07343@mailhost.primenet.com>
Hi,
In the morning (Aug 24, 1995), I am assured FedEx will deliver my Windows
95 before 10:00 am. Maybe I was asleep in class when the Beta testers were
posting notes, but if I install Win95 tomorrow, will I still be able to run
CT 9.x, N6TR 6.x, WF1B (RTTY) 2.20e, etc. I did not get involved in the
Beta process and have seen only glossy sales brochures with few details. I
certainly don't want to start a Win95 thread! I just want to know if all of
my CONTEST software will function completely using this new operating system.
(I assume there is no doubt WriteLog would work, and I don't have NA.)
Machines are 486's with 8MB, lots of HD, lots of stuff plugged in.
The day that will go down in infamy?
73 de Brian
THANKS FOR THE BANDWIDTH, RESPOND PRIVATELY SIL VOUS PLAIT
>From Tim Totten, KJ4VH" <kj4vh@iglou.com Thu Aug 24 00:03:25 1995
From: Tim Totten, KJ4VH" <kj4vh@iglou.com (Tim Totten, KJ4VH)
Subject: FT-1000/OMNI VI
Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.91.950823175801.24937E-100000@iglou>
On Wed, 23 Aug 1995, Dave W6QHS wrote:
> I believe that this effect is the source of the "crunchy" background noise
> you hear during a contest (you know, the noise that suddenly disappears at
> 0000z). Without testing, it looks like the OMNI VI may be very good in
> this respect as well as in phase noise. Also, it doesn't weigh too much for
> travelling. However, the RIT clear is no good for serious contesting, and
> it looks like a software/firmware change is required to fix it (you have to
> hold the RIT button down for an awfully long time before it clears).
I've used the Omni-VI in a CW contest environment a few times at N4AR. I
can only offer anecdotal evidence (no hard data), but my general
impression squares with what Dave and others have said in the past couple
days. I like the rcvr better than anything else I've used, and that
includes the FT-1000D, FT-990, IC-781, IC-765 (my radio), and all the
high-end Kenwoods. It's hard to verbalize exactly what I like so much
abt the rcvr, but Dave seems to say it pretty well. The bottom line is
that I feel like I can really hear those third-level Europeans even
between the monstrously loud East Coasters on the low bands.
But Dave has also hit on one of my big gripes--the RIT is a pain in the
butt. Not only do you have to hold the button for an eternity to clear
it, but the knob doesn't function during xmt. In other words, if I'm
running stns, someone comes back a bit off freq, and I adjust the RIT, I
can't even manually turn the RIT back to zero (or near-zero) while I'm
sending TU/QRZ. So when I finish my QRZ, I'm listening off freq until I
quickly try to turn the RIT back to zero. If someone calls me far enough
on the other side of zerobeat, I miss the first letter or two.
On the plus side, the remote VFO knob is a great feature, especially if
you're the multiplier guy in a M/S. I first thought it was a silly toy,
but a few hours into the contest, I realized how nice it really is!
Another peeve--the computer interface does not seem to work when the
radio is in xmt. This is annoying if you are using CT (and perhaps other
programs?) when it's interfaced to the radio during runs. I normally use
the "+" key to simultaneously log a contact and play the TU/QRZ msg, but
in this case, when CT requests the frequency information from the radio,
the Omni-VI won't respond until after transmitting, and it really screws
up my timing. The result is that you have to either log the QSO first,
THEN send the TU/QRZ msg, or just send the TU/QRZ msg and hit the Enter
button to log the QSO while you're copying the next guy that is calling
you.
As Dave mentioned, the RIT problems--and probably this computer interface
problem--could be solved with a firmware change. Perhaps Ten-Tec has
already fixed these things on later units (N4AR has a couple of the early
serial numbers). If not, it would seem they could do so if enough
contesters wanted them to.
There is one hardware complaint I had with the Omni-V, and I honestly
can't remember if they did the same stupid thing with the Omni-VI or
not--someone pse tell me! I remember my first time using the Omni-V in a
contest. I started the contest running guys, using semi break-in.
Unfortunately, the delay was set a little too long--fine for normal
ragchewing, but too slow for contesting. I was missing the first letter
of each stn calling me. I kept looking for the knob to adjust the delay,
but figuring it was on the back, I hollered to Bill to reach around back
and tweak it while I continued to operate. I could tell by the look on
his face that it wasn't that easy. Sure enough, we ended up pulling the
radio off the desk, turning it over, and taking off the bottom cover to
adjust the break-in delay pot! I still can't believe they designed it
like that! So, can someone cfm whether they did the same thing with the
Omni-VI?
Bottom line: if I was in the market for a new contest radio right now,
I'd probably be leaning toward the Omni-VI, even with it's little quirks.
73,
Tim Totten, KJ4VH kj4vh@iglou.com | ". . . moderation in the pursuit
http://www.iglou.com/members/kj4vh.html | of justice is no virtue."
DX IS! | --Barry Goldwater, K7UGA
|