CQ-Contest
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SSB Sprint

Subject: SSB Sprint
From: tigger@prairienet.org (Sean E. Kutzko)
Date: Mon Sep 18 01:29:13 1995

Zack, W9SZ says:


>This was my first Phone Sprint. It was mostly fun (except for 75 meters.) 
>I hung in there the whole 4 hours... heard WN4KKN a few times but didn't
>get to work him (Casey Jones you'd better watch your speed!)

Hmm.... maybe he should have been a Grateful Ed!



--
Sean Kutzko                                          Amateur Radio: KF9PL
Urbana, IL                                           DXCC:304 worked/300 cfmd
                
                     "All Good Things In All Good Time."

>From Randy Thompson <k5zd@iconics.com>  Mon Sep 18 12:04:21 1995
From: Randy Thompson <k5zd@iconics.com> (Randy Thompson)
Subject: ICOM Comm box
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.91.950918070119.25768A-100000@genesis.iconics.com>

Help!  It appears that my "black box" that does the conversion from 
RS-232 to Icom remote communications has died following a bout with 
lightning.  Looking for suggestions on the best options to replace it.

The box that died was KIY computer interface manufactured by K1CC.  It 
has worked flawlessly for the past 5 years.

Thanks in advance.  Realized during WAE Phone that working split without 
software control of the radio is work!


Randy Thompson, K5ZD
k5zd@iconics.com


>From Fred Cady <cady@mainman.ee.montana.edu>  Mon Sep 18 13:21:05 1995
From: Fred Cady <cady@mainman.ee.montana.edu> (Fred Cady)
Subject: SSB Sprint de KE7X@N7ML
Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.3.91.950918061443.12695A-100000@mainman.ee.montana.edu>

What a great contest!  First time SSB for me and for N7ML's station:

75  72 
40  97  
20  119
_______
    288 x 48 = 13,824

Had a blast.  I know I blew the callsign sequence and think even a couple 
of times sent the time instead of the number!  Thanks for all the nice 
comments about the QST cover.  Mike wants everybody to 
know that the house is now (about) finished.  That was a heck of a 
project too.   

Fred KE7X


>From Paul Ferguson <K5ESW@nando.net>  Mon Sep 18 13:53:15 1995
From: Paul Ferguson <K5ESW@nando.net> (Paul Ferguson)
Subject: ICOM Comm box
Message-ID: <9509181253.AA23834@nando.net.nando.net>

If you have the time, I recommend building the circuit described in Feb. 93
QST --
"Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Hardware for
Computer-Controlling Modern Radios".
It uses the MAX232 chip as does the interface box sold by ICOM. The circuit
works fine, but there is a pull-up resistor omitted. It is necessary to
bring the voltage up to spec. Let me know if you want the details.

73  Paul   K5ESW@nando.net

Paul  K5ESW@nando.net


>From Larry Schimelpfenig <lschim@mailstorm.dot.gov>  Mon Sep 18 14:18:06 1995
From: Larry Schimelpfenig <lschim@mailstorm.dot.gov> (Larry Schimelpfenig)
Subject: FONE SPRINT K7SV
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950918090349.21846B-100000@mailstorm.dot.gov>

I admit to having some bias for cw contests, but in my estimation it 
takes a masochist to operate fone sprint from this area running low 
power! Conditions were weird. The fives were weak on 20. Thought I was 
going to miss NC on 80. I could hear W2YV and some of the others, 
but the band appeared to be too long for them. I figured the band was 
just going to get longer, but it got shorter instead! Having a qth that 
slopes towards Eur is a real disadvantage in domestic fone contests on 
40. The bcst crap out of Vatican or wherever was murder. 


IC735 100W TO KT34xa, rotatable 40 mtr dipole and 80 mtr N4KG special.

Band     Q's

80      39
40      52
20      47
total  138 X 45mlts = 6210

Hey I did work the king of NERDS (WN3K) in Del with his funky name. Heard 
several VE5's and VE4VV, but 20 was too long, 40 covered with bcst crap 
and still had antenna problem on 80 (W9RE accused me of running QRP)! 
Fone contests suck. Bring on the Cal QSO party!

73 de Larry K7SV - lschim@mailstorm.dot.gov

>From Larry Tyree <tree@cmicro.com>  Mon Sep 18 14:29:53 1995
From: Larry Tyree <tree@cmicro.com> (Larry Tyree)
Subject: SSB Sprint
Message-ID: <199509181329.GAA09327@cascade.cmicro.com>


Made about 160 QSOs with 39 mults for the Jerry team.

IT WAS REALLY SAD TO SEE THE CALLSIGN RULE SO CONSISTENTLY IGNORED.

I think about half the stations I worked didn't sign both callsigns
during the exchange.  Many didn't sign any callsign.  There was one
time when it was very obvious that confusion was created because of
this.  

The sprint contest, because of the QSY rule, can become very confusing
as to who is working whom.  This is worse on phone where two QSOs might
be occuring on the same frequency (due to high QRM levels and different
skip zones).  

Remember, the software checks all the logs and if you don't appear in the
other guy's log, you will loose not only the QSO, but a 2 QSO penalty.

There were also a couple of people who didn't know about the QSY rule.
I assume they were people who heard the contest going on and didn't
know any better.  This isn't a big problem in my book.

73 Tree N6TR
tree@cmicro.com


>From Jay Kesterson <jayk@bits.fc.hp.com>  Mon Sep 18 15:33:57 1995
From: Jay Kesterson <jayk@bits.fc.hp.com> (Jay Kesterson)
Subject: K0GU Phone Sprint Results
Message-ID: <9509181333.AA03137@bits.fc.hp.com>


UTC    75   40   20  rate total    K0GU Phone Sprint - Low Power
-------------------------------    
00Z     0    0   72    72    72    FT-1000D
01Z     0    0   58    58   130    Mosley PRO-96 @ 57 feet
02Z     0   60   21    81   211    75m Inverted L 
03Z    48   22    0    70   281    Beverages
-------------------------------
tot    48   82  151  ----   281   X   46 multipliers  =  12,926

Decided at the last minute to give low power a try. 20 was as good as I've
ever heard. It was VERY short and long. So short I worked 43 of my mults on
20. Heard six mults I didn't work, got beat out calling three of them. I got
beat out frequently on all the bands but 75m was really tough......

Checked the rules before the test and couldn't figure out what the low power
limit was. I ran 100w to be safe. Is it 100 or 150??

73, Jay  K0GU                  jayk@fc.hp.com

>From beaton@wintermute.co.uk (Alastair Beaton)  Mon Sep 18 14:54:17 1995
From: beaton@wintermute.co.uk (Alastair Beaton) (Alastair Beaton)
Subject: IRC filters, etc.
Message-ID: <199509181354.OAA17450@oberon.wintermute.co.uk>

Hi All,

Has there been any move with IRC since Walt AC1O/4 posted his detailed
update on Aug 23?

Has anyone discovered IRC's filter manufacturer in Japan? AOR fit a 2.4kHz
filter from Murata in their AR3030 HF receiver. Could Murata be the source
for IRC? 

CQWW-CW's getting closer and I'm chewing my fingers down to the knuckle!

73
Al, GM4BAP


 _______________________________
|                               |
|     Alastair J.S. Beaton      |
|     Tel: +44 1463 231197      |
|     Fax: +44 1463 717854      |
|E-mail: beaton@wintermute.co.uk|
|_______________________________|


>From De Syam <syam@Glue.umd.edu>  Mon Sep 18 15:37:28 1995
From: De Syam <syam@Glue.umd.edu> (De Syam)
Subject: SAC CW Contest:  K3ZO score and comments
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950918100903.2834B-100000@cappuccino.eng.umd.edu>


Band         QSO       Mult

80            28         14
40            49         23
20           128         35

Totals       205         72        Final Score = 25,848

Comments:

I have always enjoyed this contest because the Scandinavians turn out in 
sufficient numbers to make it interesting.  Besides, I won a free trip to 
Finland in this one once so I believe in participating as a form of 
gratitude for the fine hospitality the XYL and I were shown by our OH 
friends.    Propagation to Northern Europe makes this contest a bit more 
challenging also than the other European contests.
 
We are near the bottom of the cycle, and it showed.  I listened on 15 
several times, but all I could hear out of Europe was F and HB0.  
Couldn't even hear backscatter from the Scandinavians working LU's.

I started off on 20 with K2SX/1 hanging neck-and-neck with me but 
think Dennis fell back when a shift to the low bands was mandated.  
VO1SA quickly jumped ahead and stayed there until the end; believe he 
will win for North America as usual.  He owns this contest.

Band-by-band comments:

20 was OK and stayed open until 2100 GMT or so, opening up at 1000 GMT       
the next morning, though nobody I called came back until 1047 GMT.

40 was best early and it paid to be there as soon as the band opened.  I 
got there at 2049 GMT and the band peaked around 2130-2200 with SK0UX and 
OH2HE hitting 40-over-9 on the meter in that time frame.  The band was 
never as good later on with signals later shifting to backscatter mode 
from the Southeast and then a weak and watery European sunrise opening.

The same can be said for 80;  the opening was best early.   I got there 
at 2254 GMT and the signals were not strong but there were plenty of 
them, they were workable, and the QRN was low. The good conditions 
lasted until about 2400 GMT.  By comparison, the 
European sunrise opening was limited largely to OZ and Southern SM, and 
the QRN was a lot worse than it had been earlier.  Best signals: OH3BZY 
early, OZ1LO at European sunrise. 

What does this say about the likely conditions for CQWW?  Let me hazard a 
couple guesses.

The cycle is low enough so we will probably have a washout of the direct 
path to Europe on 40 from about 0100-0400 GMT.   This is something we 
haven't seen in several years but it was there at the bottom of every 
cycle I have operated.  This means we will be forced to beam North Africa 
for those hours to get Europe on scatter, or move to 80 and 160.   

Both 80 and 40 will open sooner than we have been accustomed to, and even 
for all-band entries it may be well to start looking for Europe as early 
as 2000 GMT on 40 and as early as 2200 on 80.

                                           Very 73,

                                         Fred Laun, K3ZO 

>From richard.frey@Harris.COM (DFREY)  Mon Sep 18 14:00:21 1995
From: richard.frey@Harris.COM (DFREY) (DFREY)
Subject: Sprint score - K4XU
Message-ID: <05d83c70@maila.harris.com>

     K4XU  Dick  IL  SOHP
     
     240 x 43 =  10320
     
     First SSB sprint in years.
     Nothing to northeast.  Missed Connecticut!  VERY Noisy here. 
     Another Sprint from the HOLE.
     
     CU on 160M or 20M from 9A1A in WW SSB.
     
     Dick

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