ARRL 160-Meter Contest
Call: WJ9B
Operator(s): K0DI, WJ9B, N2CEI, K4SME, L1KA
Station: N2CEI
Class: M/S HP
QTH: NFL
Operating Time (hrs): 32
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 1344 Sections = 80 Countries = 41 Total Score = 370,633
Club: Florida Weak Signal Society
Comments:
M/S ARRL 160m, NFL: The saga Continues:
Station manager, N2CEI, made improvements beyond their collective effort in
2011. Confident that his engineering job was well done, the station manager
wanted all ops to view â??Spock talks on Dx pileups.â?? So, they gathered for
an impromptu and inspirational video featuring Spock of Spaceship Enterprise.
Spock, apparently so2r competent op, admonished all radio amateurs to follow
the rules, and to behave themselves.
L1KA, their top-dog op, also watched the video. First she wanted to know what
Spock did with Captain Kirk!!? Second, L1KA seemed to bark approvingly when
Dr. Spock threatened to use his Vulcan Grip, and other sanctions, to insure
that contest and dx-ops follow the rules and proper amateur radio etiquette, or
her bark was one of disapproval. It is hard to tell. L1KA didnâ??t have much
to do this time around because station improvement and operator skill are now
beyond her very tall standards.
There was some concern on Friday night that minor solar flares may have
magnified D-level absorption just as EU/AS stations were ramping-up for
gray-line activity. As a consequence, the EU/AS total for the first night was
down somewhat from expectations. They pressed onward, unfettered; the second
night was far better as they worked into EU/AS but activity during the
remaining time was painfully slow right up until the end. Of course they
pressed as much as possible as night turned into early morning yielding very
little activity from the Pacific. However, Saturday morningâ??s results did
yield one JA in the log. In the waning hours of the contest wj9b tried to log
kp2 (VI) as kp4 (PR), but confessed his error under threat of Vulcan Grip and a
planetary arse kicking. He insisted that the error was an honest attempt to
find and work a Puerto Rican station. Mb, and Nt were not found, either. Wj9b
pointed out that he worked the only JA in the log, and the contact was, in fact,
valid.
K0di did an excellent job running station EU/AS station on Saturday, but
because the ops rotated their operating time, wj9b complained to the station
manager that k0di was hoarding M/2 mojo during his off time, and saving-up mojo
rather than sharing it. The station managerâ??s response was that, since M/2
is signing wj9b, wj9b-op is not to worry about mojo and who has it.
Station design now includes a run position and a mult-position, engineered to
use the same beverages and amplifier, with a cleverly constructed hard-key tx
lock-out that also protects both receivers.
Me thinks the station manager still needs to listen a bit more to ops. For
example, both ops where horrified to learn that the relay in Omni V was so slow
that entire first letters of call signs were missed on receive at speeds of only
25 to 30 wpm. This was particularly disturbing to wj9b. He had just
participated in M/2 CQWW CW at NY4A, where pin diodes do t/r switching. The
debate at NY4A is whether to use pin diodes or vacuum relays! Wj9b spend many
hours on an amplifier that used pin diodes, leading to desire creation where
previously there was none or very little.
Both ops had complained that K3 t/r was too slow, but neither op complained
again about K3 after a brief use of Omni V. The Station manager made some
rambling remarks about the need to replace a relay in the bias supply of the
amplifier with a vacuum type as a reason for slowing down t/r switching. He
canâ??t do everything all at the same time, said the station manager. Both
K0di and wj9b looked at each other with widely open eyes, and then avoided Omni
V as much as possible. L1KA seemed to accept the station managerâ??s
explanation, but again, it is hard to tell.
K4sme helped with FB food preparation. This and great fellowship helped take
the edge off using Omni V, and the post-contest briefing went well. The
station manager expressed openness about the concerns of the opsâ?¦ as he
lightly groomed L1KA.
The Saga continuesâ?¦.
73, M/S Mojo
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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