IOTA Contest
Call: KU8E
Operator(s): KU8E, K4BAI
Station: KU8E
Class: Multi-Op LP
QTH: NA058, Jekyll Is, GA
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band CW Qs CW Mults Ph Qs Ph Mults
----------------------------------------
80: 0 0 0 0
40: 220 39 2 1
20: 291 33 144 28
15: 0 0 0 0
10: 0 0 0 0
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Total: 511 72 146 29 Total Score = 380,871
Club: South East Contest Club
Comments:
TS850S, 100 watts output, 20 m dipole at 20 feet, 40 m "T" vertical, NA
logging
program.
After our disasterous expedition to a camp ground on St. George Island,
FL for
the IOTA contest last year, Jeff, KU8E, and I hadn't planned to go to an
IOTA
island for the contest this year. It is always disappointing since most
of the
activity and interest is in Europe and, if conditions aren't good to Europe,
rates are often rather slow. However, Jeff and his family went to St.
Simons
and Jekyll Islands, GA (same IOTA group) on vacation in July and Jeff
checked
the IOTA website and found that the Georgia Island group (NA058), which
includes
St. Simons and Jekyll Islands was credited only to a small percentage of the
program participants. So, he suggested that we give it a try again this
year.
We were unable to find a place to reserve in advance and, indeed, many
places on
the islands showed no vacancies for this weekend on their websites. We
decided
to go and try to find a place to rent to set up for the weekend with a
fall-back
plan to operate near the water from the car with portable antennas and
maybe go
on to Amelia Island, Florida in the afternoon if the GA rates were slow. We
both took Friday afternoon off work and left for the 5-hour drive to the
coast
around 1:30 PM. We wanted to get to Jekyll Island and look for a place
before
it was dark.
We were QRV as K4BAI/M on the trip over on the 20 and 30 meter county
hunter's
nets. We had to stop to change resonators, so we didn't change bands
but once,
moving from 20 to 30 in the early evening. We were encouraged that we
worked
DL5AWI in a number of GA counties on 20 and also worked one European
station on
30M from the mobile installation. We arrived on the island and went QRT
from
the mobile to look for a site. We checked several motels, many of which
had no
vacancies and most of the rest didn't look like they had a good place for
antennas near enough a room to run the coax in. The Holiday Inn seemed a
possibility, but they said we would have to move from one room on Friday
night
to another on Saturday. Since the contest starts at 8 AM local time, that
didn't seem workable. Then, we checked a place called Villas by the
Sea. It
looks like a large motel/convention center with a steak house
restaurant. It
turns out that the units are condominium units rented at the front desk on
behalf of absentee owners. Yes, they did have some vacancies. We
didn't tell
them about radios or antennas for fear that we would be refused for fear
of TV
interference or other inconvenience to other guests. They permitted us
to look
at a room and it seemed to be a pretty good location. There were
sliding glass
doors looking out on a natural green area that contained trees and soem
shrubs
this side of a children's play area. We felt that we might be able to
run the
coax also to the car and use the mobile antennas. We did leave and
check out a
couple of other places after they agreed to hold the unit for one hour
for us.
Not finding anything better, we returned, rented the unit for two nights and
unloaded the car so everything would be safely inside. Then we caught
the last
seating for dinner at the restaurant at about 9:45 PM. The food was
quite good
and not too expensive.
We had planned for Jeff's TS850S to be the main rig. If we had two separate
antenna, we would use my IC736 to try to spot multipliers and band
openings. We
also took an Alinco DX70 to use in the car if the TS850S had some
problem, since
the IC736 will not operate from d.c. We also brought two electronic
keyers, two
Heil headset/boom mikes, a laptop computer, a small antenna tuner, two
sets of
bandpass filters, wires, tools, etc. Jeff had built a vertical that
would have
required some effort and would likely have attracted attention if we had
erected
it. So, we decided to put up just one antenna, a 20 meter dipole that
Jeff had
constructed the previous week. The coax feeding the dipole had a coax
coupler
about 17 feet from the feedpoint and Jeff had prepared a box with an antenna
tuner and coax connectors to be inserted into the feed line to turn the
dipole
into a "T" vertical for 40 meters. He had also cut and brought 4
radials for 40
meters to use with the vertical. We considered putting up the dipole on
Friday
night in the dark, but we had forgotten to bring an flashlight and, when
we went
outside to survey the area, we found that there were a lot of other
owners or
guests sitting on their patios or balconies looking out at the area where we
intended to put the antenna. So, we decided to erect the antenna at first
light. The dining area of the condo unit had a nice solid table and three
chairs which served nicely as an operating table and a large screen TV
was in
the corner behind the operator's position. We set the radios and
accessories up
on Friday night and listened on the bands connected to the dipole in the
room.
We were able to hear a few CW signals, primarily on 40 M. We turned in for
about 6 hours sleep and were up by 6 AM on Saturday.
We had a bit of difficulty in throwing the string up into the trees
after we had
selected a site for the dipole since there were many small limbs that kept
getting in the way of a good support point on the trees, but Jeff was
successful
in getting the ends of the dipole supported about 20 feet in the air.
If we had
brought Jeff's fishing rod and a golf ball with an eye-hook in it, our usual
method of getting antenna supports up, we might have been able to
achieve more
height, but we didn't want to get the coax too far off the ground, since we
would have to insert the antenna tuner in the line 17 feet from the feed
point.
We did notice that one owner was out on her porch observing our project,
even at
that early hour. We didn't say anything to her, but ran the coax into
the room
through the end of the sliding glass door. We kept the curtains open
during the
day time so we could enjoy the outdoor view and also so we could observe if
anybody tried to mess with the antenna or feedline. The feedline came
down in
some brush near a picnic table, but then ran through brush until it ran
across a
ten foot wide path used by golf carts and foot traffic and thence into the
room.
The 40 CW meter band had some ragchewers, but no descernable contesters
warming
up. The 20 meter band was about dead. The start of the contest saw us
on 20
CW. There were some weak signals from Europe, but most signals were
from the
US, Canada and the Caribbean. The skip seemed pretty long at the start,
but it
shortened up and we were able to hear more US stations after a while.
We didn't
seem to have the usual morning JA opening at first, but we could hear
some JAs
after an hour or so. We were not able to get JAs to answer us, but
JA9IFF did
call in for our only JA QSO. VY2TT had an outstanding signal at the
beginning
of the contest, as did VP2E. Several XEs called in early and the relatively
high level of XE stations calling us for IOTA contacts was noticeable
throughout
the contest, although they didn't seem to be interested in calling CQ
themselves. Two G stations called in the first few minutes and we were
able to
hear a few European stations running, but couldn't get through the European
pileups to make a QSO. We made 39 QSOs the first hour and the rate
dropped to
33 for the second hour. 3 US or Canadian stations spotted us during the
first
two hours (many thanks), but that didn't help much as there wasn't much
US/VE
activity outside a few other IOTA island stations. We did not have the
internet
available, so packet spots were retrieved for information later.
Last year, we signed "KU8E/P" to try to call attention to the fact that
we might
be portable on an IOTA island. That added to the length of the call and we
weren't sure it actually helped, so this year we just sent KU8E NA058
frequently. I noticed that N2US/P was using the portable designator,
but most
of the other US IOTA stations were not.
In the third hour, we went to 20 SSB and were surprised by being able to run
some US and other hemisphere stations. The weak Europeans we had heard
earlier
had faded out by this time with mid-day absorption. We had 52 QSOs,
mostly SSB
in the third hour. During this time, Jeff went to the grocery store and to
check out possible vacation and IOTA contest operation places on St. Simons
Island. I notice the neighbor owner walk over near the picnic table and
look up
at the antenna while she smoked a cigarette. I was headed out to tell
her what
it was when she walked on away, so I didn't speak to her. About 30 minutes
later, two golf carts arrived with four maintenance workers from the
Villas.
They drove over the coax outside the room without apparently noticing it and
stopped near the coax feed to the antennas and began looking up. I
walked out
to explain what it was. The head man seemed to be pretty sharp and said
something like, "That's to help your radio reception, isn't it." I
assured him
that it was exactly that, told him it would be down the next morning,
and to let
us know in the unit if it caused any problem. He said that he knew it
hadn't
been there the night before and that it had been reported to maintenace
by the
other owner. I said thanks and that I was glad to have met them, and
that was
that. When Jeff got back, he said that, now we had "permission." I
told him
that it might not be actually permission, but that I didn't think there
would be
any more problem. He bought a flashlight, which came in handy during
the night.
We had the TV on (there was a cable system) and never saw or heard a
bit of TVI
in our unit. This had been one of my major concerns and I had intended
to bring
a low pass filter, but had failed to do so.
We listened to 15 meters several times during the day and heard only
K9NW, a VE
station or two, CU4M, and F5VHY. We considered trying the get a few
mults by
using the antenna tuner with the dipole to try to tune it on 15 M (this
TS850S
does not have the optional ATU), but signals on 15 never justified the
downtime
this might require, so we considered slugging it out on 20 M, mostly CW
and some
SSB. We hoped that the band would open to Europe about 1930Z as it had
while we
were in the car on Friday, but it opened much later on Saturday, at
least to the
extent that we were able to make a few European contacts.
Rates from 15 to 20Z ranged from 39 to 13 per hour, but we kept CQing and
calling anybody we could hear in the contest and working
US/Canada/Caribbean and
some Northern South America. One of the first DX stations we could hear was
C4EU in Asia, which I believe was George, 5B4AGC. He apparently had huge
European pileups and I don't think we ever got through to him nor did we
hear
other US station work him on 20M. In the 21Z hour, we finally began to do
better into Europe and the rate picked up to 46 for that hour. We had a
couple
of European spots in the 22Z hour and that seemed to bring a lot of European
callers. The rates for 22Z and 23Z were 54 and 46 respectively and a lot of
them were from Europe. We were very pleased to make so many European
contacts
with 100 watts and a simple dipole, which must have been 300 yards from the
ocean which an intervening condo unit. We ended up with 154 European
QSOs on
20, of which 28 were on SSB. During the 00Z hour, we returned to 20 SSB and
worked everyone we could hear and work after the CW rate had begun to
die. That
brought us 31 QSOs and a number of SSB IOTA multipliers.
Around 01Z, we took a listen at 40 meters and the signals from Europe seemed
pretty good. So, we were QRT for about 10 minutes, went out with the
flashlight
and inserted the tuner into the coax line, ran out three of the radials, and
tuned the antenna for 40 meters CW with the MFJ antenna analyzer. Jeff had
fixed bought materials for sandwiches for lunch and some frozen
foodstuffs that
he cooked for supper. One of us was always operating and the other could do
something with food or the dishes. I like to listen when someone else
operates,
so I was seldom not listening to the receiver. At first, 40 M was
pretty hard.
The US IOTA stations had pretty big pile ups and most of the DX stations
running
had big European pileups and it was hard for us to get through.
However, as the
evening wore on, we were able to run and a few spots from Europeans
helped. I
went to sleep about 0330Z and Jeff had our best run of the contest at
the 04Z
hour of 60, many of whom were Europeans. We ended up with 97 Europeans
on 40,
which we considered pretty good with the simple antenna and low power.
About
05Z, Jeff woke me up and he turned in for a while. The end of the European
opening was coming up quickly, although I did get to work a few more through
European sunrise. After that, the rates were really slow. I kept on
CQing and
calling anybody that I could hear that wouldn't be a dupe. We did get
YV7QP,
ZL1TM, and VK2GR. Rates were 18, 12, 10, 9, and 10 for the hours
through 09Z.
Jeff took over and I went back to sleep for the last two hours. 40
meters was
just about dead as far as contesters was concerned. We both tried 40 SSB
without success, simply due to lack of interest by US stations. I
worked K9NW
and Jeff moved K3PJW to 40 SSB for a new multiplier on that band/mode.
The rate
for 10Z was down to 5. Jeff then removed the antenna tuner from the
line and
returned to 20M for the last half hour or so. He worked a VK4 on 20 CW
and one
European multiplier on 20 SSB. The rate for the last hour was 10. Jeff had
taken down the antennas by the time I woke up 30 minutes after the
contest was
over. We were able to load the car by check-out time.
We did a bit more mobiling on the CW CHN on 20 M on the way home, but
conditions
were pretty bad and there wasn't much activity. We tried to give Jerry,
W0GXQ,
a new GA county on 30 M, but, for some reason, the 30M Hustler whip was no
longer resonant when we tried to change to that band. I did work 17
stations
with 5 watts QRP in the Flight of the Bumblebees QRP contest, but time
in that
contest was limited by giving out new counties on CHN and by my driving
a couple
of hours during the middle of that Sprint. Band conditions seemed to be
pretty
bad, but it was fun to do some 2xQRP contest work from Jeff's car.
Our result of 657 non-duplicate QSOs far exceeded our pre-contest
expectations
with 100 watts and simple wires. Thanks for all the QSOs and an enjoyable
weekend. Jekyll Island and the Villas by the Sea are very nice. QSLs
for the
IOTA contacts go to KU8E.
73,
John, K4BAI.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at:
http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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