7th Call Area QSO Party - 2020
Call: WD6T
Operator(s): WD6T K6AW N6WM N6RO
Station: N6RO
Class: M/M HP
QTH: CA
Operating Time (hrs): 17:30
Remote Operation
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
----------------------------
160: 42 12 0
80: 92 105 1
40: 185 509 0
20: 141 195 6
15: 0 0 0
10: 0 0 0
6: 0 0 0
2: 0 0 0
----------------------------
Total: 460 821 7 Mults = 162 Total Score = 492,966
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Comments:
This is a great contest and one of our favorites out here in California. For the
past two years, I (WD6T) had operated as an SO (setting a record for
LP-Mixed-Assisted as K6DAJ last year), but a perusal of past non-7 records
suggested a different plan this time: organize an M/M at N6RO ("Radio
Oakley") and attempt to surpass not only the previous non-7 MM record of
150K (W6YX, 2006) but all existing non-7 records!
Thus began a week of strategizing given the current stay-at-home situation. We
decided not to do a "distributed multi," but rather stay with the
traditional "all antennas in the same area," albeit with the three of
the four operators remote via the internet. This was tricky due to limited
up-link bandwidth, but by carefully managing our bandwidth budget (including
avoiding SO2R/V), and throttling back
everything we could, we were able to achieve smooth connectivity with no major
glitches at the radio site.
We debated allocating a single antenna per band and alternating modes, but
decided it would be more productive to maximize the potential of the active
bands and operate phone and CW simultaneously, taking advantage of the many
excellent antenna choices at Radio Oakley. This involved juggling a number of
challenging constraints involving which operator and antenna could connect to
which station, but eventually, through literally hundreds of text messages, we
settled on a viable plan. We also agreed to focus solely on 7QP and not get too
distracted by the other parallel QSO parties, though we would work them if they
called in.
The contest had a bit of a rocky start, as we had chosen the "7qp"
module in N1MM and, for some reason, it refused to accept any exchanges until we
switched to the combined module. This worked, but we had lost the first half
hour. From then on, it was smooth sailing with Ken N6RO manning the mother
ship, with re-cabling and tuning
amplifiers as needed, as well as operating his favorite band, 160 meters. The
remainder of our experienced team consisted of Steve K6AW, Chris N6WM, and
myself. Ken generously suggested that we use my recently-acquired call sign,
WD6T, its first use in a multi at RO.
With the exception of a few hours in the middle of the day, we had three
stations on the air for the entire contest, and a fourth station active for the
last few hours, requiring much BIC. 40 meters was very good in the morning and
even better in the later afternoon. 20 meters was the tough band, as the skip
distance made many of the signals extremely weak or non-existent, and 15m and
10m were no shows. But we held out hope that the lower bands would be a breath
of fresh air, as they turned
out to be. Spotting assistance would occasionally draw our attention to a RTTY
4-pointer, which we jumped on without missing a beat.
It was awkward to track our exact progress due to the use of the combined QP
module, and we were not looking at the on-line contesting score, but it became
clear on the air that NJ4P was putting in a major effort. In fact, on 20m CW,
they were often the loudest signal on the band. We congratulate them on their
excellent score!
Given the expected reduction in mobiles and expeditions, we initially wondered
if multipliers would be an issue, but there were plenty to be had, no doubt due
to careful planning on the part of the contest organizers. Kudos, guys! In
addition, phone participation was terrific, and there seemed to be a
never-ending stream of callers on that mode, with many casual operators. N6WM
took advantage of it by running most of the time and making a whopping 628 SSB
Qs, including 480 on 40 meters alone. Meanwhile, WD6T conjured up many ESP CW
contacts from the void of the
20m skip zone and later had some high rates on 80m CW/phone, while K6AW mined
40m CW for all it was worth, and N6RO pulled 54 rabbits out of his 160m hat. In
addition to the QSOs listed in the summary, we had many callers whom we could
not log, as they didn't qualify for any of the QSO parties, despite adding /CA
to our CQs. This included many Europeans and other DX.
We communicated throughout the contest using Slack. We did have some issues with
inter-station interference, but were able to manage them by turning antennas,
reducing power, negotiating operating frequencies and telling each other (mostly
others telling me) to take a deep breath and relax!
Band-by-band breakdown:
10M 5 x 5 x 5 (not used -- no signals heard)
15M 5 x 5 x 5 (not used -- ditto)
20M SSB 5 x 5 x 5 - N6WM, captain
20M CW/RTTY C3 @ 90 feet - WD6T, captain
40M SSB 4 x 4 - N6WM, captain
40M CW pair of phased verticals - K6AW,captain
80M SSB/RTTY wire four square - WD6T, captain
80M CW wire quad - WD6T, then K6AW
160M wire 4 square - N6RO, captain
Radios:
STN1 (WD6T remote) - Flex 6600-M + 403A + PGXL amplifier; SSDR, using SmartLink
and RemoteRig for audio/keying.
STN6 (N6WM remote) - same as STN1
STN4 (K6AW remote) - K3s + AL1200 amplifier; K3 Twin/RemoteRig for audio/keying
STN5 (N6RO in person) - K3s + Alpha amplifier
Many thanks to Ken for hosting our effort at Radio Oakley and to all for the
great contest.
73,
Dave WD6T
with Steve K6AW, Chris N6WM and Ken N6RO
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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