ARRL Sweepstakes, CW
Call: VE7FO
Operator(s): VE7FO
Station: VE7FO
Class: SO LP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 18
Summary:
Band QSOs
-------------------------------
160:
80: 42
40: 65
20: 106
15: 39
10: 219
-------------------------------
Total: 471 x 77 = 72,534
Club:
Comments:
Well, first CW SS in, I think, 35 years.
CURRENT STATUS:
New neighbours have TVI problem. Tried a few simple things but no luck. Have
been waiting to move into new basement shack with good ground before putting a
lot of work into this. In the meantime, when they want to watch TV they call
and I QRT. When they have finished, they let me know and I go back on the air.
Once in the new shack, if the problem is still there, I'll do my best to help
them solve it. If they don't want to do what it takes then they're on their
own and I'll operate whenever I want to.
PREPARATION:
Really wanted to have moved from the 2nd floor to the new basement shack for
this one so put out a lot of effort over several late nights, got it finished,
had the rig and computer in place by very early Sat am and went to bed. Had
been having computer problems which were getting worse and worse, to the point
where, no matter which way I tried to do it, I couldn't access DOS. For a user
of TRLog it's hard to imagine anything more serious. Tracked it down to the
video card, reloaded the video card BIOS and all is fine. Whew!!
Tower Talkians may be wondering about the shredded 3" wide Cu ground strap the
jerk ran over with the lawn mower. Turns out the remainder was still long
enough to reach the ground rod so did a temporary hookup to the rod. Rerouted
the coax from the tribander and the 2 dipoles that went to the 2nd floor shack
down the conduit from the roof deck to the basement. They all reached the
basement, none of them long enough to reach the new shack but not a problem,
lots of old RG8 lying around. Peeled back the outer jacket, looked at all the
discoloured copper, cut a few feet off, checked again, checked the other end
and realized I had a couple of hundred feet of junk - now in the garbage.
Found one OK piece. Used that for the tribander. Found a hundred feet of
RG58. Used that to connect to the 40 dipole coax. Decided I would just swap
it over to the 80 dipole when I went on 80. Rotor control box is still in the
2nd floor shack but just point the beam East, no problem from VE7. W5s and W6s
still plenty loud. Whew, we're in business. Oops, haven't set up the TRLog F
Keys. I use these a lot so I have different setups in different config files
which I load in, depending on the contest. Hmmm... don't have one for SS but
NAQP should do. Oops, don't want to be sending CQ NA so make the necessary
changes. Well, the bare minimum because it's now 2100Z.
WHAT HAPPENED:
Tune around a little to see which band I should start on. Oh Lord, I
forgot/didn't have time to do any CW practice. What is this wierd stuff
everyone is sending? Check the rules. Oh yes, the ARRL message preamble.
Makes sense, trains people in the rudiments who might not otherwise do any
traffic handling. Having a lot of trouble copying cw and realize that I am
quite tired. Listen for a while to get my confidence up then start on 10 at
2143Z and do a bunch of S&P, throttled back to 20 wpm (instead of my usual
sparkling 23 wpm).
0001Z - 40 Qs, 29 sections, including Ab, Ut, Pr, Nh, Ri. Hear VY1JA. Run up
2 flights of stairs cursing the fact that I don't have the rotor control box in
the new shack yet. Point the beam at 330 deg, run back down, call fruitlessly
for 5 min, run back up, point beam East, run back down and S&P. Check his freq
a while later. No stronger but gotta try. Run up 2 flights of stairs, still
cursing the fact that I don't have the rotor control box in the new shack.
Point the beam at 330 deg again, run back down, call fruitlessly for 5 min, run
back up, point beam East, run back down and S&P some more. Confidence level in
cw ability has picked up, time to run. Hey, I can hold the frequency!
0145Z - 98 Qs, 51 sections. 10 is starting to get noisy. Still haven't a clue
as to when to change bands but thought maybe this was it and switched to 15.
Mostly running.
0248Z - 121 Qs, 58 sections. Mostly running (slowly). 15 getting noisy.
Switched to 20. Mix of run and S&P.
0421Z - Hear VY1JA again. This time he's 10 over 9. Run up 2 flights of
stairs thinking I may have a chance. Point the beam at 330 deg, run back down,
he comes back to me on the 2nd call, run back up, punching air all the while
and yelling, "Yes, yes, yes," point beam East, run back down and S&P.
0441Z - Finally work Bc. Old buddy from 40 yrs ago. My Q#192. His Q#310.
Don't get too excited about the difference as I know he likes to get into
contests and hand out Q #s significantly higher than others in the section/call
area. When trying to smoke him out by asking why he didn't send in his log he
would reply that he didn't think his score would be good enough to bother.
0504Z - 197 Qs, 66 sections. Getting worried about the close in sections.
Switch to 40.
0712Z - 241 Qs, 67 sections. WPa. Not exactly close in. Lots of east coast
though. Switch to 80.
0736Z - That's better. 250 Qs, 70 sections, Id, Mt and Ne.
1025Z - 304 Qs, 71 sections. Hmmm... didn't hear from the neighbours at all.
Maybe moving the shack and getting a good ground cured their TVI problem.
Really tired. Off to bed. Pretty pathetic, but I've been having an attitude
problem and really grumpy from overtiredness. Still, a lot better than my
total 184 Qs and 60 sections that won the BC Section in 1966. Of course, that
was phone so it doesn't count.
1748Z - Back at it. Not much on 20 so switch to 10. Not enough sleep.
Really
crabby and having difficulties copying so slow down to 17 wpm hoping that the
guy on the other end will too. Some do, some don't. Mix of run & S&P on 10
and 15.
2138Z - 409 Qs, 77 sections. Not having any fun. Go back to bed.
2242Z - Back at it. Feeling better for the sleep. Speed up to 20 wpm.
0042Z - Neighbours call. TVI still there. Oh good, an excuse to stop. QRT
with 471 Qs, 77 sections. Missing Nf, Wy and Sc.
HUMOUR:
I was sitting on a frequency, listening for a few moments to see if I could use
it for running, when I heard, "QRL?" The mischevious imp that lives inside me
promptly sent, "NO". He called CQ, I worked him and found another frequency to
run. I do seem to like messing with peoples' heads.
RANT:
As always, some people matched my speed when calling, some slowed down
somewhat, and some didn't slow down at all. To the ones that matched my speed,
thank you. I do the same for the people (very few) slower than me. 5 wpm?
Doesn't matter, I can send perfect code at 5 wpm.
The ones that slowed down somewhat fell into 3 categories.
1. They sent good code but somewhat faster than what I was sending.
That's OK,
I deliberately send slower than I can copy because I know people will do this.
2. They send good code at at the same rate but put more space between the
characters. This works for me - I can copy individual characters at 30 wpm, I
just can't get them into the log at 30 wpm.
3. They try to slow down but send horrible code riddled with mistakes.
Amazingly, the ones that didn't slow down at all fell into 2 categories.
1. For some reason, there are some people that I can copy at 30 wpm. I'm
sweating to get it into the log but I can do it.
2. The rest of them. Eventually I get it but often need several fills.
This
really slows me down and it annoys me as it is so unnecessary.
When responding to those who were easy to copy, I sent my response at, or close
to, their speed in order to minimize the time for the Q (and so they wouldn't
fall asleep while I was sending the exchange). I have no problem sending
perfect code at 30 wpm. You want 50? Still no problem.
One view of people that won't slow down is that they think it beneath them and
that those who can't copy at least 30 wpm are lids and shouldn't be messing up
the contest. The obvious rejoinder is that, if people are treated so
discourteously, they will lose interest in contesting and, as we old farts die
off, the hotshots won't have anyone to talk to except the elite few. Just
imagine, it's Sunday afternoon, they are all CQing, their hourly rate is zero.
No one to blame but themselves.
Well, that's one view, but I think I discovered something listening to the
folks trying to slow down and making a big mess of everything. I think it may
be that A LOT OF PEOPLE CAN SEND AT ONLY ONE SPEED. The instant, though
uncharitable, thought which occurs is, "So who really is the lid here?" Maybe
they recognize that the Q goes faster if they don't have to send the exchange
or bits of it 3 times and would love to be able to slow down but don't have the
skill required to do it.
So, if I am right, you folks need help. Listen up, here it is.
How is it that I can send any speed I want to? I don't use my Vibroplex that I
bought in 1951 when I was 16. It's sitting in its green felt lined wooden box.
I don't use paddles. I use TRLog. I set up the function keys for the
standard stuff including requests for fills and, my favourite, "PSE QRS", and I
use the keyboard for the odd time when the canned messages aren't sufficient.
To change speed I hit PgUp or PgDn which instantly increases or decreases the
speed in 3 wpm increments. Totally painless. While I haven't tried it in
WriteLog the manual says that PgUp and PgDn will change the cw speed. I have
no experience with other contesting software but I would be very surprised if
they don't all offer the same facility.
So, I believe you have the capability of adjusting your speed but you aren't
aware of it or haven't taken the time to figure out how to do it. I'm
sympathetic to those who feel, "There's no bloody way I'm going have some
machine sending soulless code under my call." I respect that and wish I still
had your skill (assuming I ever did) but I don't and I'm not going to use the
precious time left to me to develop it. I'd rather get my receiving speed up
to 50 wpm so I can make the 30 wpm guys feel bad by sending too fast for them.
I believe there is a win-win solution to this. The following requires the use
of the computer parallel port to implement but it may be possible to do it with
serial port keying as well. Never used serial port keying so don't know.
1. Set up your contest logging software to
a. send the exchange and ask for fills using the
appropriate keys/on-screen
buttons.
b. key the rig through the parallel port.
2. Build or buy a keyer interface between the parallel port and your rig.
My
home brew MkV interface consists of one resistor and one transistor. You are a
ham aren't you?
3. Hook up the key to key the rig too.
a. If you're using a bug, connect it between the collector
of the interface
transistor and ground.
b. If you're using an external or built-in keyer you're on
your own here as I
have no experience with either. However, hooking up an external keyer to work
with the parallel interface should be pretty much a no-brainer. Internal
keyers may be more of a problem. Could there be some way to shut it off when
keying from parallel port? I don't know.
Now, zip along at your preferred speed using your preferred input device, bug,
paddle, mouse (no, no, don't use the mouse as a key) or whatever. When you
come across someone who is plodding along like me, hit the slow-down key enough
times to match his speed, use the appropriate keys/on-screen buttons to
complete the Q and watch your rate drop less than it would have otherwise.
In order to encourage the implementation of this I'm thinking that, in future,
if someone won't QRS
1. If I'm S&Ping, I'm gone
2. If I'm Running, I call CQ.
SS, NAQP and WPX are probably the only contests when anyone would care about a
VE7, and then not much, so I don't expect to turn the contesting world on its
ear by doing this. I know ..... I'll move to VY or VO and then they'll pay
attention.
Of course, if you're a mult, I would never be so rude.
Well, this kinda got away on me. I would be very pleased to receive comments
on this (sent direct, not on 3830) from anyone, pro or con. Flames will be
viewed through welders' goggles, but they will be viewed. Can anyone suggest a
reflector where this topic could be pursued?
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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