Ohio QSO Party
Call: K1LT
Operator(s): K1LT
Station: K1LT
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Fairfield County OH
Operating Time (hrs): 12
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
80: 186 0
40: 210 0
20: 135 0
15: 35 0
10: 3 0
--------------------
Total: 569 0 CW Mults = 100 Ph Mults = 0 Total Score = 113,800
Club: Mad River Radio Club
Comments:
When I started my goal was again to try to beat W8WTS operating from
K8AZ's station. The plan was to use the SO2R capabilities I have been
developing the last few months. I haven't tried SO2R mixed mode as of
yet but I guessed that I might figure it out during the contest.
Several of the mobiles and rovers start in relatively rare counties
and 40 meters is the band to use to work them. However, at the start
of the contest absorption was very high and short hop contacts on 40
just did not work. Initially, I CQed on 20 meters on the first radio
while using the second radio to tune 40 meters. I note that 40 and 80
were so quiet in the daytime that I could use the transmit antennas
for receive instead of the Beverages. Since the QSO rate on 40 was so
low, I had the opportunity to experiment.
I discovered dueling CQs. Using Writelog, if one turns on "automatic
restart" of CQs, and initiates a CQ on each of the radios, Writelog
will automatically alternate transmitting CQs and QSO entry windows.
So one just sits back and waits for a caller. When someone calls, the
QSO proceeds normally, except that pressing the exchange button or the
thank-you button interrupts the CQ on the other radio. Alternately,
if the CQ is fairly short, one can wait for the CQ to finish before
proceeding.
In my case, my CQ is not so short because I am sending K1LT/FAIR to
identify myself as someone in Ohio. Therefore, when I waited for the
CQ to finish, I made my caller wait and and often he repeated his
transmission unnecessarily. That makes me sound like a lid. On the
other hand, if I sent the exchange immediately, sometimes part of the
interrupted CQ would be prepended to the exchange which also makes me
sound like a lid. Since I am a lid, I suppose there wasn't much harm.
In retrospect I should have changed my CQ to K1LT/8 since I think most
people would make the correct assumption.
I think the real problem is that my homebrew K1EL keyer clone (Arduino
and software by K3NG) has a defect. When the logging program sends to
the keyer the command to abort a transmission, the keyer does not
always stop immediately. It usually finishes the character it was
transmitting and then holds the PTT line for a random duration. This
behavior is tolerable when using the second radio for S&P, but
intolerable for dueling CQs. So I have some software to fix.
Since the dueling CQs were so much fun, I found myself staying on CW.
After a while, I changed my goal. The new goal was to win the "Ohio
Single Operator CW" plaque which KV8Q won last year. Therefore I
figured I had to beat his QSO total or score, one or the other since
I'm not sure of the criteria for the plaque.
At the end of the contest, I think I made my goal. I exceeded KV8Q's
2014 QSO total and score, despite having far fewer multipliers. Of
course, if Tom beat his own score, then I am nothing. Nevertheless,
it was great fun. Also thanks to Tom for QSOs on all 5 bands.
Equipment: K3/100, P3, K3/10, Hardrock 50, tribander, verticals.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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