ARRL DX Contest, SSB
Call: N5ZC/REMOTE
Operator(s): N5ZC
Station: N5ZC
Class: SOAB(A) HP
QTH: TX
Operating Time (hrs): 7
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
----------------------
160:
80: 4 4
40: 23 15
20: 49 40
15: 77 61
10: 76 57
----------------------
Total: 226 177 = 120,006
Club:
Comments:
Had lots of fun even though I only operated 7 hours. Great conditions.
Wayne (author of writelog) added support for the Kachina 505dsp. It was a real
pleasure being able to use all the features of WL this time around. I always
hated to remember to change bands manually. I normally would screw up and log
qso's on the wrong band. No more!
Most of the above qso's were made clicking on the bandmap or packet window. I
was testing the interface to be sure there were no problems. I'm happy to
report there were none, WL worked perfectly with the 505dsp.
The only issue was active windows. In other words, if I was tuning the 505dsp,
the 505dsp window was active. When I found a station I would have to click on
the WL window, log the station, then click on the 505dsp window and start
tuning again, ect ect. Lots of key clicks. I fixed this by hooking up my
laptop to the home network and telling WL that the interface file it was
looking for was on my laptops hard drive. Worked great. I could tune the
505dsp with the up and down keys, and have the cursor on the main computer in
the call entry field. No more bouncing around with the mouse.
I ran the station via remote control again. The Acom 2000a amp worked great
accept that my line voltage is low. I only have 200 volts available, however,
the local utility decided to let that jump around a bit. It went as high as
205 volts which was a bit high and I would get some warning messages from the
Amp. A call to the local electrician is plannned to solve that issue. I'm
using some software which Gerry, W1VE, wrote which monitors/controls the amp.
I run it on my pc at work and use RADMIN to connect to the office pc from home
via the cable modems. Its a nice way to monitor the amp as well as turn it
on/off remotely.
Equipment:
Kachina 505DSP HF RIG
Kachina 505RC Remote Control Unit
Kachina 505ARX Rotor Control
Acom 2000a Amplifier
Acom 2000sw 10 position antenna switch. Follows the amp band changes. Cool.
F12 C4XL at 75'
F12 C3 at 45' fixed on Europe
Above phased with WX0B Stack Match (interfaced to be remote controlled)
Inverted V on 75/80.
Nothing on 160. Thats the only band that still gives me fits and disconnects
the remote, even at 50 watts out. I need to fix that.
Thats about it from here. Really pleased with the remote. The only major
changes on the horizon is maybe some new antennas with more gain. Then again
the C4XL/C3 combo works pretty darn well. But I do need to improve my 80m
antenna as well as 160. The 505dsp has two antenna ports. I may put up a
receive antenna on 160/80 and put up some sort of dual band vertical for those
bands. I need to get the vertical further down the office building in hopes of
curing my rf problems/modem disconnections.
See you in WPX. Now if I could just install the remote at some rare dx
location and operate from Amarillo........
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