I should have known that my karma for this weekend was not in tune
with the situation after breaking one of my cardinal rules of radio
contesting: Absolutely no working on the station the day before a
major contest. On Friday night, what I thought was going to be 30
minutes of plugging stuff in and checking it turned into a 6 hour
marathon of fixing things, arranging equipment, and trips to the
antennas that lasted until after midnight. Ugh.
Contest starts at 1200Z. Quick summary: DVP went intermittent on
SSB. TR-Log stopped keying on CW on either radio. Even got a
different computer hooked up and it wouldn't go. Tried to use
DVP on first computer as a voice memory keyer. Hooked up a CW memory
keyer to try and compensate (yeah...right). Band conditions absolutely
sucked. Radio #2 died 3 hours into the contest - no RX. Then the
thunderstorms started. By 1700Z I'd gotten the hint, shut everything
off and went into town to buy some beer.
W4PA IARU HF single op, mixed mode 4.5 hours op time
359/66 = 70,784.
See ya in NAQP !
Scott Robbins, W4PA
TCG Facilitator
====================================================================
This is the e-mail address of Scott Robbins and Mary Carol Rhodes
Visit the TENNESSEE CONTEST GROUP at <www.k4ro.net>
"Set the gearshift for the high gear of your soul" - Phish
The views expressed above may not represent the view of my employer.
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