ARRL 10 METER CONTEST -- 1999
Call: ZL6QH (ZL2BSJ op) Country: New Zealand
Category: Single Operator
(CW, HP)
MODE QSO QSO PTS STATES COUNTRIES
CW 1492 5968 55 64
SSB 0 0 0 0
-----------------------------------------
Totals 1492 5968 55 64 = 710,192
All reports sent were 59(9), unless otherwise noted.
QSL: bureau, or direct via ZL2AOH
(Ralph Sutton, 12C / 186 The Terrace, Wellington, New
Zealand)
Equipment Description: FT1000MP, AL811 amp.
Venue: Quartz Hill, a former Radio NZ receiving station.
Vee beams (unterminated, 80 m legs, @ 20): USA, USA (lp),
Eu/JA, Eu (lp), VK/Asia
Rhombic (80 m sides, @ 20 m): reversible Eu/JA sp, Eu (lp)
Vertical (@ 8 m)
Club Affiliation: Wellington Amateur Radio Club Inc.
Comment: I would say the propagation gurus were right...by
the end of the contest the band really took off. An amazing
experience: a solid wall of Stateside signals pouring in. The
CB-ers and other FM interlopers must have been wondering what
had hit them, he he!
At the close of the contest the Vancouver beacon (25W) was 10
over 9 on my spotting vertical. I could still hear it on a
coax patch lead!
On both nights I had good openings into Eu. The first night a
pipeline into SP when SP3HLM/QRP was worked running 5 W. Very
good signals out of OH land and other Scandinavian ctys, with
the distinct echo of multipathing.
Things got a bit quiet during the middle of the contest, when
it seemed I had worked JA and North America completely dry. I
turned the CQ machine on and got so bored I started reading
the Contest Rules (General, Under 30 MHz and ARRL 10 m....)
as the run rate dropped to 20/hr and multipliers became worth
50 minutes.
Luckily some light entertainment was provided by the Vintage
Radio Club, who turned up at Quartz Hill to plug their
classic homebrew radios into the antenna switchboard.
Unfortunately for them I had already grabbed most of the
useful wire beams, but that didn't stop them from hooking
into a spare Marconi, strung in parallel to a Vee I was
transmitting into...
Just as well the little crystal set didn't have any active
semiconductors...every time my CQ machine fired up, it had a
hernia. I have never seen so much noise and key clicks come
out of a crystal set! I took pity on it and pointed to JA for
a while...the cat's whisker might have fused.
The Vintage Radio guys got their revenge however: with a sly
grin somebody pulled out a beautifully crafted regenerative
set, and that was the end of ZL6QH for a while. The downtime
was spent checking out the Vintage Radio barbequeue, so it
wasn't all wasted.
The Vintage Radio ladies must have though I was about to
expire at the paddles, because they left me some really nice
homemade pies that tasted pretty good compared to the frozen
supermarket ones I had brought with me.
For a while it looked like I was going to be stuck below the
500k mark, but on the last morning the band picked up, and it
turned out there were still lots of W's I hadn't worked.
Nevertheless, DC and SD got away (does anybody actually live
in DC?) as did a 3rd of the VE provinces (places like PEI and
NF etc) The VEs I did work had great signals.
Thanks to the ARRL for organising a great contest...hope to
see you next year.
Wilbert, ZL2BSJ.
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