Stew Perry Topband Challenge
Call: TF3KX
Operator(s): TF3KX
Station: TF3KX
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Nr. Reykjavik
Operating Time (hrs): 8
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 101 Total Score = 1,188
Club:
Comments:
Rig: IC746, 100W
Ant: 12m/39ft vertical
Great contest, as always, but a bumpy progress on my side. Started out at just
before 18z (which is the same as local time here). Had just put up a 12m/39ft
vertical, using my MFJ fiberglass pole, with two opposing wires at the top for
loading. Made my first 20 QSOs that way for an hour. Had a nice dinner with
the family but found, when I returned, that the fiberglass pole had broken in
the middle and the antenna was down. My shack is in the attic with access to
the roof through a small window. On this windy and rainy evening I finally
decided to risk stepping out on the sloping roof and managed to salvage the
remnants of the antenna. Put up a temporary 12m vertical using another
fiberglass pole (from Spiderbeam) that I simply stuck out of the window, using
the metallic roof as a counterpoise. Finally I managed to obtain a match using
a simple LC tuner along with the IC746 internal tuner.
But this was not all. After calling CQ a few times smoke emerged from the
tuner (a small MFJ-16010) and it ceased functioning. After desparately looking
through my junk boxes for anything that could be used for matching, I decided to
wind my own coil to tune out the reactance of the vertical. The only material
available was some standard electrical wire from the hardware store that I
wound on a disposed paper cylinder from inside a WC roll. This is probably as
low as one gets when it comes to antenna construction!
Anyway, I was finally back on the air at just before 23z. Regrettably I missed
the valuable time between 19 and 23z/local, but I was glad I didn't decide to
quit, which had also occurred to me. The night went reasonably well and when I
finished I had managed 101 QSOs in the log.
Longest distance was N7JW at approx. 6400km / 4000mi. I had 27 different
countries in the log, the most frequent being W (14Q), DL (13Q) and G (12Q).
After all I improved my score from last year. Conditions were relatively good,
compared to the past months where we have had frequent geomagnetic disturbances
here in the aurora zone.
So, all things considered, a fun event and I hope to be on in the CQWW 160.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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