ARRL DX Contest, SSB
Call: ED5T
Operator(s): EA5DFV, EA5KV, EA5ON, EB5EKT, EA5HTC
Station: EA5ELT
Class: M/S HP
QTH: Torrent
Operating Time (hrs):
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 2 2
80: 312 41
40: 1282 54
20: 692 58
15: 995 60
10: 995 53
-------------------
Total: 4270 268 Total Score = 3,439,512
Club: Torrent Contest Club
Comments:
What a blast!
Last year we didnâ??t do ARRL because our antennas were still wind damaged, so
we were really raring to get back in the chair and have fun.
No real hardware issues before the contest this time except our AL1200 which
had another failure about a month ago and is still awaiting â??surgeryâ??. Our
easy way out this time was that our guest op Jose Miguel EA5DFV lent us his.
Antenna-wise our tech wizzkids took advantage of the 160 contest last weekend
to try out a flag RX antenna, coming to the conclusion it was no better than
our K9AY loops. We now have a fenced off zone where we can leave the RX
antennas with a bit more security so Friday PM all EB5HTC had to do was run the
control able and coax out to the K9AY and put in the earth stake where the choke
is inserted in the line. We replaced the clubs TS850 with your scribes 850,
recently back from the repair shop, in the second operator position, ready for
a quick change in case of problems on the first operator position. Fortunately
the main position, using Victors FT1KMkV, worked flawlessly, after Elias EB5EKT
made up an RX relay box to replace the internal one in the mkV which is faulty.
For this contest we were not able to count on Jose EA5GS who had other prior
commitments, however we were able to invite our dear friend EA5DFV to spend the
weekend with us. Jose Miguel was our host for countless contests at his home QTH
an hour south of us, and we had been wanting for some time now to be able to
repay him in kind for all those years of generosity. And of course take
advantage of his great operating skills! Thank you José Miguel, I know
â??hotel Torrentâ?? isnâ??t the most hospitable place on earth, but I hope you
enjoyed using our modest station. Thanks for accepting our invitation.
The first night on 40 was extremely good with over 700 QSOs by sun up. 20 was
not so hot though and we made quickly headed on up to 15 where condition were
reasonable. We kept a close eye on 10, just in case, and sure enough, started
hearing the big east coast stations. Elias was on a run on 15 so we waited 10
minutes while he worked a few more. But when he went up onto 10, W3LPL and K3LR
were nowhere to be seen. We called CQ just in case and lo and behold after a
while were called by a VO1. And that was it! Back to 15 but I was not convinced
and then half an hour later a loud W4 prompted us to return. We then chose a
spot to call CQ and right back a station from TX. From there, we worked a
vigorous rate until the propagation dried up again after 160 QSO in the log.
Back to 15, where we finished the day with around 700 QSOs in the log. Then to
20, which closed early, then back to the low bands. Saturday night was a little
disappointing, only 2 QSOs on 160m (in the EA segment, we could hear other out
of our restricted band) and 200 on 80, which had it not been for the RX loop
would have been even less. 40 however continued to be reasonable although with
lower yield than Friday.
Sunday followed a similar pattern but with 15 opening later and worse. We had
hoped for good things after working a string of VE6 at 1030 local time on 20m,
but in spite of that and the good solar info, it looked like Sunday would be a
washout. How wrong could we be. 10 opened later but boy did it open! We
finished after dark already and 5 QSOs short of the thousand. With all that
time on 10 we had to run like crazy to see if we could make 1000 QSOs on 15 but
in the end, got the exact same number as on 10, only with a few more mults. 20
was also great and I worked a several layer pileup at the top end of the band
until it dried up well at almost 11pm local. We finished up on 40 with a raw
total of 4270 QSOs.
No stations worked in NWT (VE8EV, VE8GER, we missed you!), or NU and quite a
number of holes in the other rarer Canadian provinces. Highlights, working so
many old friends and familiar calls. For the most part, disciplined operators
and few frequency fights. Nice to work folks on 10m who were obviously new
techs and I guess never seen 10m open. One station in AL was confused and
though I was AD5T and asked what state I was in. When I clarified the call and
that I was in Valencia, Spain, his reaction was, â??OH MY LORD!â??. I spent
some time briefly explaining what the contest was about to a few folks too.
All in all a really fun weekend with very limited Murphy visits and thanks to
each and every station who called us. We are aware that there were times we
just couldnâ??t pull some calls out of the noise or the QRM, we do thank you
for hanging in there and reminding us we need to keep working on the RX
antennas! Also thanks to EA5HSI, EA5GIE and EA5YI who came to lend us a hand
and slowly but surely are getting ready for joining in the pileup.
73 to all de EA5ON on behalf of ED5T team.
Rig Yaesu FT1000MKV
1 KW
Tower 1: Optibeam OB11-3, 40m rotary dipole, 80m bazooka, 160m bazooka
Tower 2: Optibeam OB11-3, 40m rotary dipole
RX: K9AY
N1MM logger
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