>
>Hello,
> I've been on this mail reflector for a few months and I haven't
>seen any mention as to what constitutes a good "fuel" to keep an operator
>awake and alert during those long wee hours of the night. With the contest
>season in full swing, this may be a good topic to persue.
> I've tried the coffee and doughnut diet and that usually results in
>a headache from the caffine and the "shakes" from all the sugar! (Which is
>not all bad... if you can keep your CW key in sync with the shakes, then
>you can send like a machine !) 807's tend to put me to sleep early.
>(Although I usually don't care by then...) During the CW SS I tried a lot
>of juices and fruit, and that worked pretty good. Fortunately the "can"
>was only a door away.
> What do some of you do/eat/smoke/drink/chew/ to keep alert for the
>24 hours or so of a contest? E-mail me direct and I will post a summary to
>the list.
>
Take one swig (tsp if you prefer) of apple cider vinegar every
12 hours.
That combined with whatever else you eat will keep your eyes
wide open, believe me. Try it, you'll like it.
K7FD
--
>From kb8pk@tc3net.com (Kevin J. Grammes) Tue Nov 21 20:36:22 1995
From: kb8pk@tc3net.com (Kevin J. Grammes) (Kevin J. Grammes)
Subject: KG8PE
Message-ID: <01BAB851.0AE743A0@tc3dialin12.tc3net.com>
Hi all My call is KG8PE Name is Mike age 12 extra
I use my dads e-mail his call is KB8PK name Kevin....
Sorry about the mix-up but thanks to all who helped and I'll
do better on the rest of my posts...........
73 Mike KG8PE via internet : kb8pk@tc3net.com
see you in arrl 160 from KG8CW multi-op.................
>From ni6t@ix.netcom.com (Garry Shapiro ) Tue Nov 21 20:57:57 1995
From: ni6t@ix.netcom.com (Garry Shapiro ) (Garry Shapiro )
Subject: Anyone in SF
Message-ID: <199511212057.MAA11113@ix13.ix.netcom.com>
You wrote:
>
>> Well many of the people living in SF are interesting...
>
>I heard (and worked) W6BIP in SF. He doesn't work 'em very fast,
>but he was there as in previous contests. The callsign database
>says he just turned 84 years old. Good for him!
>
>de Walt kk6nr
>
Not only is Bip 84 years young, but he just recovered from a heart
attack, has a pacemaker, still attends almost every meeting of the
Northern California DX Club and Northern California Contest Club, has
his station on the air in almost every major contest, either with
himself operating or with a guest op and---to my knowledge---has never
missed a single Sweepstakes! And this year was the 62nd edition!
Bip sleeps with a 2m rig next to the bed, so as not to miss any DX
spots for stations he needs (he starts his count over again each New
Year's!) His lovely wife, Elsie, also licensed, is completely
supportive and accompanies him to club meetings.
Bip wears a hearing aid and does not hear well. Most would say his
operating skills have diminished due to physical limitations, and that
he occasionally blows it in a pileup, but--Marconi bless him--he is
game, competitive and there, and he is an inspiration. Marconi grant
that I live that long and am still contesting!
He is a most remarkable man! And he and Elsie are a most remarkable
couple! 73 to both of them!
Garry, NI6T
>From ni6t@ix.netcom.com (Garry Shapiro ) Tue Nov 21 21:06:12 1995
From: ni6t@ix.netcom.com (Garry Shapiro ) (Garry Shapiro )
Subject: out of band SS
Message-ID: <199511212106.NAA00723@ix11.ix.netcom.com>
You wrote:
Heard some interesting Canadian accents on 14352 USB
>passing some kinda coordinates
>of location and several spanish QSOs from 14350-14380 USB in the late
>afternoon....anyone know what gives here??
Fishermen?
>
>I think Im officially becoming an OF....I kept marvelling at how
anyone
>could have the perserverance to call
>"CQ Contest" for so many hours straight....when just a few years ago
I was
>one of em.....
>maybe its a passing phase..awaiting the return of 10meters.....we'll
see
>
>there is another level of SS delight that allows one to casually
>contest....ie allows for many breaks...an exhange of kindness to an
old
>friend...a little TV..and time with the family.... and I am beginning
to see
>the pureness of that format..after seeing ONLY the hard core entry for
many
>years, Well there's nothing like perspective....
>Its fun either way!
>
>73 de K7SS
>>From the "RELAXED SCHOOL of CONTESTING"
>
>
Hey, you OF!
I loved your comment, when I noted your low number so far into the
contest:
"Hey, I am taking all my off-time in the beginning!"
Garry, NI6T
>From ni6t@ix.netcom.com (Garry Shapiro ) Tue Nov 21 21:04:30 1995
From: ni6t@ix.netcom.com (Garry Shapiro ) (Garry Shapiro )
Subject: Greying Contesters
Message-ID: <199511212104.NAA23434@ix3.ix.netcom.com>
You wrote:
>
>At 10:31 AM 11/20/95 EST, Hans Brakob wrote:
>>Maybe (...only maybe) the trend is changing, at least in SS?
>>
>>During SS (especially Phone), I had an impression that I was working
a lot of
>>checks in the 90's (more than I expected, anyhow). Also a seeming
increase in
>>YL's.
>>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>I noticed the same thing. Someone earlier credited the more
"user-friendly"
>announcement in QST, and I suspect they're right. I was also
surprised
>several times by "check 95" from what sounded like well-seasoned ops.
The
>Hope-For-The-Younger-Generation-Meter just rose a few points...
>
>73, Bill W7LZP
>wrt@eskimo.com
>
>
I agree completely: many of the Check 9x (0<x<5)people were plenty
slick and smooth. It was great to hear so many of them.
Now, if someone would just tell these folks (and all the pre-check90
ones--that it is not necessary to say PLEASE COPY....
I even had one guy send me that on CE two weeks ago!
Garry, NI6T
>From Bill Standerfer <bills@hpislwes.lvld.hp.com> Tue Nov 21 21:51:46 1995
From: Bill Standerfer <bills@hpislwes.lvld.hp.com> (Bill Standerfer)
Subject: KF0DJ SSB SS Comments
Message-ID: <199511212147.AA064880453@hp.com>
KF0DJ - SO high power - Colorado - check 66 (No, not five six! SIX six!)
1160Q 2320 x 77 = 178,640
Equipment Description: FT-1000D, SB-221, CT 9.10
80M vertical, 2el Hygain for 40M, 204BA for 20M, TH6DXX for 20/15/10
News and comments:
- I haven't been able to get past the plateau of about 1200 Qs and get
competitive. This game is as much mental as equipment, so there's some work to
be done there. The station is mostly there for SS, but the mind isn't yet.
- Last section: AK. I still needed AK early Sunday afternoon and hadn't even
heard anyone. I tuned across VY1JA on 15 with a good signal, so decided to
point the beam north and troll for a contact. I called CQ for about 4 minutes
and KL7HF dropped in for a sweep (thanks Del). Sometimes you get lucky.
- 15 was a nice place to be Sunday with a couple of long runs (there's still
life left in that old TH6). It was nice that the band was open to a place
where there are lots of people (the Northeast). 20 and 75 were there usual
selves here. Finally resorted to the high parts of the bands and found OK
rates for a while late Saturday on 3991 after the nets closed down. 40 was
pretty good, but the BC crud started early in the afternoon.
- There seemed like more than the usual dupe tries. AA1JM wins the prize
since he tried to call at least five different times Sunday. I was almost
ready to offer him a computer and software. :-)
- Eating scrambled eggs for breakfast doesn't seem to drop the rate much, but
waffles drops it 10 to 20 per hour. Drink-wise I went to Gatorade until Sunday
early afternoon, then switched to Coke for the last few hours. That seemed to
work better than a steady diet of pop for the whole contest.
- I started hearing some QRM while running on 15 Sunday and finally gave up
since I obviously wasn't bothering them. It turned out to be some !@$#%
broadcast of the NASA shuttle comm and information officer. I'm a strong
supporter of the space program, but this crap has no business on 15M during a
contest.
Notable lowlights:
- Two folks (who will remain nameless - this time) operating on 3750 and
7151. FWIW, I'll put a note in with the log to ARRL *with* the calls. Perhaps
peer pressure would be better though.
- A guy describing his WAS net by saying if you can't hear each other they'll
help you out. What's the point? Makes the WAS certificate worth that much
less the those nice sweep mugs that much more worthwhile.
Bill
Bill Standerfer * Hewlett-Packard Company
CFI-A, IA, ME * Measurement Systems Division
bills@lvld.hp.com * Loveland, CO 80539
Baron N222AB - KF0DJ * 970-679-2378
>From William G. Till" <wtill@microage-ll.awinc.com Tue Nov 21 21:24:00 1995
From: William G. Till" <wtill@microage-ll.awinc.com (William G. Till)
Subject: VE5RI - SS SSB score
Message-ID: <m0tI0BO-0009qWC@awinc.com>
Multi-single entry from VE5RI - Sask Alta Contest Group
Station located at farm QTH near Lloydminster SK/AB - the Canadian border city
Band QSOs Mults
80 93 11
40 39 10
20 799 34
15 33 22
Totals 964 **77** Score 148,456
Equipment: Kenwood TS-940SAT
Hunter Bandit 2000B linear (4 x 572B)
4 el 20 meter Yagi @ 65'
2 el 40 meter Cushcraft Yagi @ 55'
Inverted Vee on 80 meters @ 45'
We may have used the wrong strategy starting with S & P for mults at the
beginning,
but there were so many strong signals on the bands for the first few hours
that we
couldn't get any satisfactory runs going. Sunday was different, running from the
VE5 end was fantastic and we were able to give hundreds of callers the VE5
section.
Our only downer was that the linear's output suddenly dropped by half part
way through
and we suspect at least one of the 572B's decided to leave town permanently.
The antennas
at our club contest station performed very well and justified this summer's
efforts.
Look for VE5RI with even more skyware in the future.
Scariest time was when we realized at 2250Z that the last section for a
sweep was KH6
and none were to be heard on 20. A quick checking of 15 found KH6RS for the
sweep. Oddly
enough our last section in the lower 48 was MS. Many thanks to the YL who
found one for us,
held our run frequency while we dug KB5RQL out from under 3 layers of
stronger stations and
graciously yielded our run frequency when we returned. As far as sweep
strategy went, S & P
during the first day did pay off, because we had no last minute frantic
search for rarer
ones like VI, PR, VY1 etc. Great participation from the usually rare
sections this year. VE4
was a toughie, though. We only worked one for our last VE section.
To summarize, SS was great fun, as usual. The contesters were cheerful,
helpful and obviously having fun, in contrast to the good old boys and the
net nuts who seem to enjoy the contest weekends by being miserable.
73 to all,
Bill, VE5FN
William G. (Bill) Till Amateur Radio Callsigns: VE5FN & VE7LW
3401 - 58th Avenue E-mail: wtill@microage-ll.awinc.com
Lloydminster AB Phone:(403)-875-7619 Fax:(403)-875-7687
T9V 1X3 Canada Packet: VE5FN@VE7YLL.#NEAB.AB.CAN.NA
>From bwruble@ix.netcom.com (Brian Wruble) Tue Nov 21 22:15:40 1995
From: bwruble@ix.netcom.com (Brian Wruble) (Brian Wruble)
Subject: IC706
Message-ID: <199511212215.OAA01514@ix7.ix.netcom.com>
Has anybody out there tried the new ICOM 706 all mode 160 through 2 meters
rig? I'd appreciate any feedback, and will synopsize it for the reflector.
Tnx. Brian
From: Brian F. Wruble
bwruble@ix.netcom.com
>From beaton@wintermute.co.uk (Alastair Beaton) Tue Nov 21 22:26:54 1995
From: beaton@wintermute.co.uk (Alastair Beaton) (Alastair Beaton)
Subject: Satellite DXCluster?
Message-ID: <199511212226.WAA11529@oberon.wintermute.co.uk>
Firstly, apologies for bandwidth...
Is there any likelihood of the DXCluster appearing on an OSCAR, even in
read-only form? I am well out of the way (Scottish Highlands), on the fringe
of the EU network, and can only get access on 20m (not ideal for CQWW, ARRL
DX, etc.).
I have tried the AMSAT Web site with no luck.
Please respond directly.
Thanks
Al, GM4BAP
>From wb2jsj@ka2tcq.ampr.org (Greetings from WB2JSJ RADIO!) Tue Nov 21
>17:37:00 1995
From: wb2jsj@ka2tcq.ampr.org (Greetings from WB2JSJ RADIO!) (Greetings from
WB2JSJ RADIO!)
Subject: WB1GQR SS Phone
Message-ID: <2064@ka2tcq.ampr.org>
Message-Id: <2064_ka2tcq>
From: wb2jsj@ka2tcq (Greetings from WB2JSJ RADIO!)
To: cq-contest@tgv.com
WB1GQR ARRL SWEEPSTAKES -- 1995
Call: WB1GQR Section: VT
Mode: SSB Category: Single Op, Hi Power
BAND QSO
160 85
80 812
40 280
20 602
15 65
10 1
------------------
Totals 1845 77 Sections
Score: 284,130
Time = 24 Hours
Station: TS830S, MLA-2500
Tribander at 50', Dipoles at 50'
A basic Little Pistol Operation.
COMMENTS >>>
To ditto WA2LCC, "There ain't no meters like 80 meters", particularly
if you are in the New England black hole. It partially makes up for
the butt-kicking we get on 20 and 15 from the guys out West!
Best hour was 137 at 2300-0000 the first night, a personal best in the
SS. After 0100, 80m got weird. The short stuff disappeared. Without
all the short hop stations to work, I was getting killed. A rare jump
to 160m for a hour or so averted disaster. 160m was real primo - a
VE7 with a nice signal answered a CQ - a rather rare occurance from
this QTH. Things were going great until a ragchew bunch without
receivers, up 10 KHz, started complaining about splatter and made the
frequency useless. So much for the "Gentleman's Band". I won't even
go into the garbage that I and virtually everyone else ran into on the
other bands. Fortunately, 80 meters picked up the short hop stuff and
with great openings to the West, good rates were available all night
long and well into the morning.
I missed the sweep last year when VY1JA got disgusted with the ugly
pile-up and pulled the plug. I vowed that I was not going to miss NWT
this year, no matter what. Within the first hour a VE8 worked me.
Then another one. And another one still! I breathed a sigh of
relief. But it was still a struggle. Of all the W6's I worked on 80
meters, none were in SDG or SB. On Sunday, I jumped on 15 meters and
work a whole bunch of 'em. I guess the moral of the story is that
hams in SDG and SB don't operate 80 meters! Unfortunately no one in
KH6 called me during the entire contest. I had to conduct an all out
search to finally find KH6RS, as I was running out of time.
The bands were all overcrowed. You couldn't buy a frequency on 80
meters most of the night. With the acceptance of voicekeyers, many
stations CQ endlessly, often with few answers towards the end of the
contest. With all the CQing, there simply is no room. Maybe we need
to go back to the days when you had to do your own talking. At least
that would cause some stations to CQ a lot less - particularly when
their voice ran out!
Hey, what's a contest without QRM and mayhem?
73, Mitch WB2JSJ/WB1GQR
wb2jsj@ka2tcq.ampr.org
7283645@mcimail.com
>From Bob Patten <z002816b@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us> Tue Nov 21 13:48:19 1995
From: Bob Patten <z002816b@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us> (Bob Patten)
Subject: N4BP Phone SS, Single Op, Hi Pwr
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9511210844.A13871-0100000@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us>
Call used: N4BP
Location: SFL
Category: Single Op All Band
Mode: SSB
Power: 1500
Hours of operation: 21
Band QSOs points
==== ==== ======
160 0 0
80 0 0
40 290 580
20 671 1342
15 359 718
10 0 0
Total 1320 2640 X 76 multipliers = 200,640
About an hour into contest (just before sunset), BN-86 balun on TH7-DXX
burned. Grabbed small roll of RG8 from garage, ran it up the tower,
and installed as current balun - worked great! The Hy-Gain BN-86 will NOT
handle legal limit, apparently other users have also discovered this!
MFJ-432 DVK was a disaster. After several reports of muffled
audio/distortion, I discontinued its use (except for emergencies -
failing voice). It was apparently readable, but nobody liked hearing it.
Didn't improve on last year's score, but did match (exactly) my entry in
the '95 CW SS. Missed VY1/VE8 for the clean sweep..
Equipment list: TS-430S
AL-1500
TH7-DXX @ 45 feet
40M dipole @ 35 feet
NA contest logging software on 386SX-40
Bob Patten
bobpatt@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us
>From David Brian Ritchie <dbr@alumni.caltech.edu> Tue Nov 21 23:41:47 1995
From: David Brian Ritchie <dbr@alumni.caltech.edu> (David Brian Ritchie)
Subject: INFO response: HELP
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.951121153152.23274B-100000@alumni.caltech.edu>
Regarding your response to my request for an actual real copy of the
ARRL/SS contest rules which were NOT published in QST as they always have
been...
Thank you for your help, however, I must protest the notion of simply
hiding the real information "somewhere over the Internet" and not
publishing at least a brief summary of the rules in QST -- it is only a
matter of luck that I happened to comply with the Off-Time rules for the
contest -- I recalled that the minimum time was 15 minutes (it is really
30 minutes), read the "rules" in the announcement and determined that the
rules had been changed to require only a total of 6 hours off with no
minimum time component (read what you printed, you will agree) -- and it
is only if you read the "announcement" in great detail that you come to
the conclusion that it is not what it always has been, but merely an
incomplete summary of the rules. PLEASE DON'T DO THIS AGAIN!!! Feel free
to strip the rules of the blither and babble in which they are couched,
but print an accurate rules summary in the magazine -- it is really hard
to get on the internet in the middle of the contest to try to figure out
what the rules are -- it is a fairly simple matter to open the magazine.
Thanks for your understanding.
N6DLU
Dave Ritchie 818-683-8800 (w)
dbr@alumni.caltech.edu 818-683-8900 (FAX)
>From Gary Nieborsky <k7fr@ncw.net> Tue Nov 21 22:43:44 1995
From: Gary Nieborsky <k7fr@ncw.net> (Gary Nieborsky)
Subject: Who is Grey?
Message-ID: <199511212348.PAA26954@bing.ncw.net>
At 10:19 11/21/95 EST, you wrote:
>Doug suggested a theory that the high "hit rate" in 91-95 SSB is not
>CONTESTERS at all, but new folks filling the blanks in their WAS
>application. If this is the case, how do we convert these wallpaper
>chasers into contesters?
I've found that contesting is self addicting. How about a plaque for each
high scoring SO 94-96 ck? Certificate...nice words in QST?...
honorable mention in Section News (ooops, sorry, my SM said nobody was
interested in contesting so it never appears in our News).
Gary (pariah of EWA) K7FR
>From RUSSELL S. RINN" <miltex@bga.com Tue Nov 21 23:50:16 1995
From: RUSSELL S. RINN" <miltex@bga.com (RUSSELL S. RINN)
Subject: SSB SS at N3BB
Message-ID: <199511212350.RAA18727@zoom.bga.com>
I waited 15 years for this weekend. I have always wanted to enter
Sweepstakes but for various reasons have not been able to. I've been
licensed since '80 and I think the last time I got on I made about 50
qso's back in 1983.
Breakdown...
BAND Raw QSOs Valid QSOs Points Mults
__________________________________________________
80SSB 55 55 110 3
40SSB 704 700 1400 14
20SSB 694 691 1382 26
15SSB 527 525 1050 34
__________________________________________________
Totals 1980 1971 3942 77
Final Score = 303534 points.
Band by Band...
80m Work a few then go to bed.
40m Really good band, had my best rate here.
20m Disappointing. Got beat off most run freq's I had.
15m Decent QSO number but everyone seemed weak. Low noise helped alot.
The week before...
There wasn't alot to do as I had done WW SSB at the station a few weeks ago.
Jim went up the tower to fix the 20 meters. Still doesn't sound like
that band is working like it should.
I stayed in the shack to get the DVP working w/the 2 radio box.
CQ SS...
Saturday was my wifes birthday but we celebrated on Friday night. Tnx Kaaren!
I normally get to Jim's 3 hours in advance, but since everything was setup
I figured 2 hours would do. I got there with 90 minutes to go. Not
enough time. I won't get into details, but suffice it to say I was
"ready" with only 15 minutes to spare. No way to get a 20m freq so I
found one on 15m. I just wasn't prepared for the throng on 20m camping on
their freqs.
At the start my rate on 15 wasn't cutting it, in fact had my freq stolen
by a friend of mine. Had 75 at :30 but the search for a new freq cost me
any improvment and I finished w/a 129. My poor first 3 hours really hurt.
I think everyone has glitches that steal a few q's here or there, but this
was the first time in recent memory that I've had equipment problems that
have cost me significant time and qso's. I should have been better
prepared.
My DVP/2nd radio hookup was bad and while I could use the DVP on radio 1 I
couldn't even transmit on radio 2. This was very frustrating. I didn't
really care about the DVP but I really wanted my 2nd radio! I tried
fixing it while running but that REALLY hurt my rate. I lost about 30
minutes over about the first 2 hours. I didn't want to waste an offtime
that early so wasted time in 10 minute chunks trying to fix it. Finally
got it about 5 hours later. The fix removed the DVP from the setup - I
never use it anyway.
More software/hardware problems, perhaps '940 interface probs, caused my
radio to change freq's for no apparent reason. (Any clues anyone?) It
would just qsy and there was no stopping it. When this happened I had to
turn off the radio and reboot the computer. There goes the run freq!
This was really a pain when I was CQing on 2 different bands and I ended
up losing both freq's or qso's as I would try to save the freq but the
callers couldn't standby while everything came back on. I bet between the
freq change problem and the standard computer lockup's I had to reboot 20
times.
My plan was to maximize rate and let the mults take care of themselves. I
had 76 sections at 0730z and worked KP4 on Sunday at 1902z. Was able to
CQ on 2 bands and got the rate in the mid-80's a few times Sunday
afternoon using that method.
The more I operate the more I realize I need to operate more. Experience is
very important. Now that I've got the first one under my belt we'll see what
happens next year.
Thanks again to Jim for the station and all his hard work. Thanks also to
George, WB5VZL, for some stat's and advice.
Thanks for the q's and 73, Russ--
Russell Rinn
AA5RB
miltex@bga.com
|