WAE DX Contest, RTTY
Call: VA7ST
Operator(s): VA7ST
Station: VA7ST
Class: Single Op LP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 21
Summary:
Band QSOs Pts QTCs Mults
------------------------------
80: 85 85 0 56
40: 126 126 0 75
20: 169 259 90 74
15: 60 110 50 42
10: 12 31 19 12
------------------------------
Total: 452 611 159 259 Total Score = 158,249
Club:
Comments:
FT920 and N1MM + MMTTY
3 ele tribander at 45'
2 ele 40M delta loop beam (aimed E)
1 80M delta loop
158,000 on 452 Qs beats 84,000 on 311 Qs last year. Felt very good on 40M and
80M Friday night. Saturday night wasn't as good (and 40M seemed to go way long
early in the evening).
Never heard a real EU opening on 20M or 15M. Worked maybe 6 EU stations Saturday
morning on 20M and that was it. Missed many a mult without them. Still, my mult
count of 259 was up nicely from 198 last year, due mostly to 40M and 80M
performance with the delta loops.
The lid population was out in force this weekend -- CW jammers, etc.
Had big guns pull up a little too close a couple of times. Other times, I
couldn't hear a damn thing with overdriven amps churning up dust 15khz wide --
even the usually bulletproof cascaded InRad 250+400 filters weren't up to that.
I like to hear everyone, but not on a raspy spur. A great majority of the really
loud signals I heard were nicely run; a few need to adjust their sets.
Sure noticed the casual ops jumping in for a few contacts. Saw lots of low
serial numbers right up to the end, which was great. If an hour or two is all
you can squeeze into a busy weekend, thanks for getting in there and doing it.
Apologies to anyone I couldn't pull through the noise. Many times I heard folks
in there, but the power line buzz was too thick. 20M is the very worst, but it's
there on the low bands, too. One of these days BC Hydro will solve the problem,
and it will be like discovering ham radio all over again for me.
Woke up to a snowstorm Sunday morning (6 a.m. local) and found SWR on the yagi
over 2:1. Blamed the very wet snow, swore and grumbled about bad coax, then
discovered an hour later that a rope had blown out of a tree and wrapped around
the director tip, pulling it in toward the driven element as I turned the beam
("stuck" rotor got me outside to see what was wrong). Couldn't see that till
daylight. Took maybe 10 seconds to fix and I was back in action.
Without EU to share QTCs, I pushed traffic as much as possible with SA and JA
ops. Was great to have 10M strong enough to SA for QTCs a couple of times.
Wished there had been more Japan stations with QTCapability -- could have bumped
up our scores quite nicely. Only managed 40 more QTCs this year over last, due
to the non-existent polar path.
Only managed to work Mike KH6ND/KH5 on Palmayra Is. once -- and that was on 80M
of all places. Tried many times on 15M to no avail. He was weak everywhere but
80M here. Landed V6B (Micronesia) on 20M but nowhere else.
Must thank all those who threw out a spot... several times I noticed the run
rate climb for a few minutes, only to notice I'd been spotted. Guess the system
works, hi. I heard a few VE7s, so the mult shouldn't have been very rare.
Will spend next weekend on antenna work in prep for CQWW CW. Raising the beam a
wee bit, rigging a 40M rotatable dipole (gamma-matched yagi boom to supplement
the delta pair, BTW anyone ever tried loading up an 18' boom for 40'?), and
maybe going back to hanging a second 80M loop for a reversible beam E-W. Lofty
plan, anyway. Will see what two days with the XYL and kids out of town will get
me.
Thanks to all for the great fun this weekend. See a lot of you in two weeks.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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