RAC Canada Day Contest
Call: VA7ST
Operator(s): VA7ST
Station: VA7ST
Class: SOAB/CW HP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 8.15
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs CW Mults Ph Mults
----------------------------------------
160:
80: 27 7
40: 82 6
20: 176 10
15: 21 5
10:
6:
2:
----------------------------------------
Total: 306 0 28 0 Total Score = 46,256
Club:
Comments:
I had a good first few minutes on Monday afternoon, including two RAC stations
for my first two Qs. Then, just 12 minutes in -- at 0012z -- we got hit by what
I can only describe as a microburst from the leading edge of a massive storm
cell.
It slammed us with hail and sheets of rain you couldn't see through, and wind
so severe it snapped five Lombardy poplars on the neighbour's property (there's
carnage 30' off the ground), and downed one of my pines (naturally, one holding
up a 40M half-square). Have another 70' pine leaning 30 degrees that'll come
down in the next storm. (Both pines were my only two beetle-kill victims, three
years ago, so no great loss other than the clean-up they'll require).
Tree movement snapped my steel-cable catenary rope for the 80M and 160M
verticals, so they'll have to be reconfigured now. Vacation at the end of this
week, and it couldn't come at a better time. The tower was cranked down,
tribander at 25' the whole contest.
Got back on at 0225z for a while. Had everything rigged up to try SO2R, so gave
it a whirl running 20/40. 20M wasn't much good that late, but 40M seemed OK.
Lightning in the area put me off for another hour a bit later on. Just bad
weather for a contest.
Thanks to VE8RAC for 20M and 15M on Tuesday, and to those far-away Maritime
stations who can be so hard to find from here -- good signals in this one! I
managed 3 more mults than ever before, but Qs are exactly half of last year's
well-attended weekend contest. Definitely saw the hit in participation for a
weekday contest. That, combined with really bad propagation on the high bands,
might put me on the beach next year (unless sun spots are better and I can work
EU's evening to fill in for the work-day Ws... worked just a handful from
Europe, all in a bunch late Sunday morning).
Used the remaining side of the twin half-square array on 40M for a while, but
the unused coax feed to the missing half-square made it a bit flakey. Later in
the evening I turned to my trusty two-element vertical array, pointed roughly
40 degrees with wide ears. Still, I was down about 90 Qs on 40M due to the
train of storm cells that moved over us for several hours Monday evening.
80M was noisy with static crashes, but signals were big too. Only had 19 Qs for
4 mults last year, but the new dual vertical array netted 27 Qs for 7 mults this
year, and one of the vertical wires was rather compromised (it usually hangs
from the 75'-high catenary rope.) SWR was still good, so I used it, hi.
All in all, plenty of fun. Sure need this solar minimum to be over, though.
Seems we've been dragging along at the bottom for at least a couple of years
now.
Year CW Ph Mults Score
2008: 306 0 29 47,908 HP
2007: 612 0 25 61,750 HP
2006: 445 0 23 45,218
2005: 167 0 16 12,800
2004: 160 0 15 13,800
2003: 126 0 23 19,642
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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