Call: 9A1A Country: Croatia
Mode: CW Category: Multi Multi
BAND QSO STATES/PROV
160 269 39
80 701 45
40 1132 52
20 1234 59
15 354 36
10 0 0
---------------------
Totals 3650 231 = about 2.5M
Ops: 9A9A 9A5D 9A6D 9A5W 9A2R 9A7R 9A6A 9A2DQ 9A3GW K4XU and about 4
others.
Greetings from beautiful downtown Croatia! The above score is very
preliminary. I took my bin file and merged it with one from the other
side of the loop which was broken for a good part of Sat night and
Sunday morning. CT users note: we do not use a "station #1" in the
network, so there is no timing sent around the loop. This greatly
reduces the traffic on the network, but when I merged the logs I had
about 30% dupes because the times were off by a minute or so.
Since I operated only 160, 20, and 15M, all I know about the other
bands is interpretation of the gab and network traffic - when it was
working. The ARRL DX from Europe is a neat contest. It is a
nighttime thing until dawn, some sleep, an afternoon foray, then
another nap until starting over. A 48 hour contest and about ten hours
of sleep. Wonderful!
160M: Looks like 9A1A is finally out of the "alligator class". There
were a few short outbreaks of line noise but the wx was clear and dry.
Bigger problem was that most of the local autos do not have suppressed
ignitions. The snow was too deep for us to use the driveway. With
three or four of our cars parked on the road in front of the
schoolhouse where the towers are installed, the local traffic had to
navigate the remaining half lane very carefully. The first station
worked was K1ZM followed by W3LPL. Never touched my dial after laying
claim to 1833.5. Once or twice I thought about it after TM1C or UA2F
opened up next door. Some of those stations are rather broad.... 124
contacts and 30 mults the first night ending with a dupe on N2RM at
0622. The second night started with K3NZZ at 2226Z. If anything it
was better than the first night, but not as many stations available
since we had already worked all the big signals. Again, no S&P. Just
lots of CQ on 1834. I did tune around a bit with the sub receiver on
the 950SDX to see if there were any stations we missed, but we had
already worked anyone strong enough to be calling CQ. The last
station of Sunday AM was N4KG in AL at 0610. Niksha, 9A5W worked
three more stations before packing it up Sunday night, though he was
plagued by high line noise. Except for KB5UL in NM, nothing to the
west at all. The whole station, amplifiers, radios, rotor controls,
VHF/UHF radios, TNCs, power supplies, cots, sleeping bags, all have to
be packed up and put in the closet or the cars before leaving.
Remember, the contest here ends at 1AM on Monday. The 160M station is
a TS950SDX + 77DX to a sloper from the top of the 15M tower at 110'.
Rx help from a 1 wave Beverage. Final 160: 255/39.
80M was the place to be. The operator was Emil, 9A9A, who installed a
300 degree "stealth" beverage the day before using TOW antitank
missile wire. It ran from the corner of the building and across the
road at 6M high then continued another wavelength at 3M high to the
termination. Worked like a champ, just ask N9JF. At the end of the
first night, Emil was 220 QSO ahead of 40M. Rig: Just like 160 into
a pair of full sized phased verticals over 48 radials each. Final
about 700/45.
40M: I'm not sure who the operator was, but he was an unhappy dude
missing the rates more typical of this band. Reasonably good long path
openings to the west coast both days during the 15Z hour: 39/4 the
first afternoon and 17/0 the second including N0DH/7. Gear: TS950SDX
with an old semi-homebrew amp that died early Saturday AM and was
replaced with a 77DX, into a 4el KLM at 80 feet. Final tally, about
1130/52.
20M: Using a 6/6 stack on this band at 120/60' gives you an edge when
working to a specific area of the world. The TIC ring on the top is
sure an improvement over the weather-beaten and SLOW tailtwister!
Saturday Robie 9A3GW and Braco 9A2R had 20M. It started slowly
(except for a single 0004Z Q with W1OO) with K1KI at 0923. Less than
20/hr until 12Z. A 100/hr feeding frenzy for the next seven hours
then nothing, like someone flipped a switch at 1910Z. Ditto for
Sunday but only 75/hr. I did 20M after 15M cooled each day at 1530Z.
Its fun to say hi to the occasional friend in the middle of a pileup.
Maybe some thought we were using N6TR-log in the name mode. I really
enjoyed operating with Robie who types a helluva lot better than I.
On Sunday there is no reason for us ever to S&P except with the sub
rx. We stay in one spot (get it?) and defend it against all comers...
including N3AD and K0RF who both made concerted but futile attempts to
steal it. Similar equipment on 20M: 950S and Alpha into 6/6.
1230/59. Missed Lab, VE8 and YUK, hello VY1JA?
15M: We exercised the rotator on the top 6el looking for an opening.
Swinging from skew path over Africa to direct on every signal heard
coming out of the noise. Never anything big on Saturday. 70 Qs with
a rousing 38 hour at 14Z. On Sunday I started with a personal goal
to break 150Qs and 25 mults. It began just like Saturday, slowly with
skew path signals 10, 20 an hour when all hell broke loose at 1515Z.
78 in that hour, 139 the next, then nothing. Stations would come in
waves as spots hit clusters in different parts of the country. No
problem making the goal. Gear: the 160M station with 6/6/6 starting
at 120'. Final: 354 and 36.
10M: We tried! The 5/5/5/5 stack was sweeping the ether both skew
and direct. Operators Pero 9A6A and Darko 9A6D made a brave effort,
but all they could hear was the occasional Italian making it across.
The Croatian DX Club, 9A1A, has made a big effort to improve
conditions at the primary school in Kozjaca. This time there was
running water for the first time in four years. A pipe in the
foundation had burst from frost and the school system had no funds for
repair. That makes teaching the 15 students in grades 1-4 hard, but
life for the teacher's family who live in the attached apartment must
have been really difficult. The kitchen even had hot water! Braco
proved to be a superior cook: bean soup and sausages without
flatulence. The kitchen also serves as a shack for 9A1KOZ, the local
school club. The kids are all age 8-14 and come from several of the
small schools in the area where 9A1A teaches radio classes twice a
week. Even with running water, we polished off two cases of
Karlavacko Pivo (the local beer in 0.5 liter bottles)....
There is nothing quite like starting the contest after having had a
shot of the local homebrew called rakia. About 120 proof and
administered with gusto by Bozho, the schoolmaster. It seems to
improve my resistance to loud static crashes....
It looks like I'll be here for another two weeks. Listen for me as
9A/K4XU in the WW160 SSB and again with 9A1A in ARRL SSB.
My apologies to the gang at K4VX. I hate to leave you short handed.
Just pay their ransom demand and I'll be available by WPX.
Dick
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