IARU HF World Championship
Call: NI6W
Operator(s): W4EF
Station: NI6W
Class: SO Mixed HP
QTH: DM04 (CA)
Operating Time (hrs): 14
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Zones HQ Mults
-------------------------------------
160: 0 0
80: 0 0
40: 137 46 18 13
20: 154 87 30 32
15: 24 6 10 1
10: 5 3 2 1
-------------------------------------
Total: 320 142 60 47 Total Score = 141,668
Club: Southern California Contest Club
Comments:
Rig : Ten-Tec Omni 6+ / Drake L-7 / N1MM Logger
Antennas : Cushcraft R7000 Vertical at 10ft
Soapbox : Threw a station together rather hastily at my Littlerock, Ca QTH just
to see how the new location plays. I am amazed at how quiet 20 and 40 meters are
up there. There is some line noise on 15 and 10 meters, but it is still very
quiet compared to my Tujunga QTH. I had the R7000 vertical antenna up on
Thursday, but I didn't start gathering up equipment until midnight Saturday
morning. My goal was to be in Littlerock in time for the start, but I ended up
getting there about two hours late.
There are still some bugs to work out with the new station. The R7000 needs to
be moved farther away from the shack. I mounted it with the base at ~10ft on an
old rusty (but very sturdy) light pole which happens to be about 20 feet from
the shack. The close proximity caused some problems with RF in the shack. I
partially cured this by wrapping the USB cable between the laptop and the K1EL
keyer with a #31 ferrite core, but I still had problems with the laptop's
touchpad locking up if I happen to touch it while transmitting. There were also
problems with the Omni 6 generating random beeps while I was transmitting on
SSB. Apparently it didn't affect my transmitted signal, but it was very
distracting when it happened. Again probably an RF in the shack problem. I also
had what appeared to be fairly large fluctuations in VSWR which were a function
of my transmitted power level. The R7000 has been sitting out in the weather
for several years so perhaps there are some dead bugs in the traps or some such
thing.
The station played about as well as could be expected for a 1/2 vertical over
dry soil. I could hear pretty well, but it was obvious that on 20 and up in
most cases that I wasn't terribly loud (lots of DX stations asked for multiple
repeats). On 40 meters I felt like I could hold my own. Unfortunately I missed
a lot of prime 40 meter time due to a late start and then a "nap" that ran from
~0715 to 1045 UTC on Sunday morning. The last hour or so I was able to generate
a nice run on 40CW which was a lot of fun as almost all my other QSOs were
search and pounce. Anyway, great fun from the high desert.
73, Mike W4EF/6
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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