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[SECC] My First Contest - the official summary

Subject: [SECC] My First Contest - the official summary
From: scottstraw at mindspring.com (Scott Straw)
Date: Mon Mar 3 00:02:45 2003
I'm cc:'ing the club, because I'm sure others have the same question...

There were three reasons that I used the 25W RS rig on 10M:

1. To prove that it could be done.  I probably should have not handcuffed 
myself on my first adventure, but I wanted to prove to myself that the 
investment was worth while. (It was!)

2. Size.  I knew that I would have to do a lot of travelling during the 
weekend - unavoidable shuffling.  I wanted to use a radio that could 
integrate into my "mobile comm. center" in the van while moving.  I have a 
siren, trunking scanner, dual-band 2M/440, CB, SWR meter, HTX-10, MFJ 949 
tuner, and a 3-ring binder map book all in between the two front seats. I 
also have two cell phones, a 12VDC/120VAC power inverter, a GPS and a 
charger for my fire department pager that are powered from that area as 
well.  The various red lights for emergency response in my POV, are wired 
through another branch of the main feed from the battery.

3. I knew that I would have a passenger riding in the front seat, so I had 
to keep "my desk" cleared off so they could sit down during the day.  There 
was really no place to put the large TS-160.  At night, I would hook small 
jumper cable-type clips fed through the window to the battery under the 
raised hood.  The TS-160 would then sit on the driver's seat.  I'd sit on 
the passenger seat with my laptop in my lap (hence the name) and log.  If I 
didn't have a passenger during the day, I'd put the computer on "my desk" 
and log.  Sunday coming home from church, I got my son to log a few 
entries, hoping that he would be intrigued by the foreign nations I was 
contacting, but he seemed unmoved by the whole event.

What I really, really want is to put the TS-160 in my office and feed coax 
to the attic for 10, 15, and 20 (no outside antenna covenant in the 
subdivision).  May be that will happen someday, but right now I stay gone 
too much.

At 10:43 PM 3/2/2003 -0500, Lee Hiers wrote:
>I saw you mention that before the contest, and was wondering why you'd use 
>the RS rig
>instead of the Kenwood...doesn't the KW work on 10m?
>
>Just curious...
>
>73 de Lee
>
>
>--
>Lee Hiers, AA4GA
>Cornelia, Georgia


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