IARU HF World Championship
Call: W2GD
Operator(s): W2GD
Station: W2GD
Class: SO CW LP
QTH: Central PA
Operating Time (hrs): 12
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Zones HQ Mults
-------------------------------------
160:
80: 156 0 11 19
40: 160 0 13 31
20: 125 0 19 21
15: 130 0 14 17
10: 30 0 6 4
-------------------------------------
Total: 601 0 63 92 Total Score = 215,605
Club: Frankford Radio Club
Comments:
QTH: Lycoming County, PA
Rig: IC756ProII
Antenna: 80/40/20 fan dipole @ 15m
Made the decision to do a "boy and his radio" style operation (LP
with a wire in the trees) Wednesday evening when my XYL and I were invited to
visit her relatives in central PA for the weekend. The QTH would be a hilltop
with 20 mile views, and I was really excited anticipating about how it might
play. In summary, had a great time building and installing the antenna, and
then subsequent diagnostics and corrective actions to become operational (much
of the diagnostic work turned out to be misdirected unfortunately). The score
turned out to be decent considering I operated a 'casual' 12 hours.
I want to really thank Jim, WA3FET, for going over and above the call to loan
me a backup transceiver, since circumstances dictated we had to meet up at 2
a.m. Saturday morning to do this! Also I thank my in-laws for my 'invading
their space' with the temporary antenna and station setup.
OPERATION TIMELINE (in local time)
Wed 7/10 10 p.m.
Invite to brother-in-law's near Muncy, PA accepted
Thur 7/11 9 a.m.
Trip to Home Depot to gather misc. materials to
assemble and install portable antenna (nylon string, rope,
slingshot, insulators, paint stirrers, Scotch 33 tape, etc.
Thur 2 p.m.
Load XCVR, 25A Astron PS, roll of #14 wire, 130' of RG8X,
MFJ Analyzer, laptop, paddle, headphones etc. into the car.
NOTE TO SELF: Next time remember to pack a Volt-Ohm Meter!
Thur 6 p.m.
Arrive at portable QTH. Scope out trees for possible antenna locations
Fri 7/12 8 a.m.
Up early to build new antenna - fan dipole with 80/40/20 elements
Used the four free 18 inch paint stirrers I'd picked up from HD to keep the
elements seperated.
Fri 11 a.m.
Complete assembly of antenna. Shoot line into 50' tree.
Fri 12 noon
Complete installing antenna in an Inverted V configuration. SWR looks good.
Fri 1 p.m.
Set up station in a 2nd floor den. Experience what I believe
to be RF problems...severe reaction (shutdown) by xcvr over 15w output.
Cut/attach artificial ground wires. No change.
Fri 2 p.m.
Relocate antenna between two trees, now in a flat-top config.
What I believe to be RF problem continues. I'm really puzzled.
Now believe XCVR is damaged (symptoms mimic prior a failure)
and begin search for backup xcvr.
Friday 3 p.m.
Connect with WA3FET via cell. Jim is at the Orlando Airport enroute
back to State College via Baltimore. Discuss options.
Jim volunteers to loan me a spare TS480SAT he has at home in State College.
Friday 4 p.m.
Tweak element lengths for under 2:1 SWR on CW bands
Friday 6 p.m.
Jim WA3FET calls upon arrival in Baltimore. ETA to his home is 1 a.m.
Friday 11 p.m. I take 1.5 hour power nap. Very tired from stn setup work.
Saturday 7/13 1 a.m.
Leave Muncy, PA to make rendezvous with WA3FET near Lock Haven, PA off I-80.
Saturday 2 a.m.
Meet WA3FET as scheduled at the Lock Haven I-80 exit ramp. We both agree
contesters have a serious 'addiction' problem which drives abnormal behavior
like this. LOL My in-laws now know I'm totally nuts.
Saturday 3 a.m.
Connect and test TS480SAT SAME PROBLEM...rig shutdown
when running more than 20w output. The REAL problem becomes self-evident,
its the Astron power supply, not RF, and not a broken Xcvr as previously
believed.
Saturday 4 a.m.
Three hour nap.
Saturday 7 a.m.
Now certain the regulator in the Astron 25A supply is bad,
try to obtain a local replacement PS from ham neighbor but this is
unsuccessful.
Saturday 9 a.m.
W2NO suggests I use a car battery to power the IC756Pro2
Saturday 10 a.m.
Remove car battery from my brother-in-law's Jeep. Connect
to PS output terminals in hope the otherwise wounded PS
will trickle charge the wet cell (this actually worked FB).
Saturday 11 a.m. Several hours late - finally start operation. Condx are not
very good. Discover I can work plenty of stations, including the louder EU on
20
and 15M. VE3EJ gets the 'best ears" award for pulling me out on 15m, and
K0DQ in the chair on 20m at NU1AW/3 (W3LPL) is runnerup.
Saturday 2 p.m. Another 1.5 hour power nap but this time involuntary...just
fell asleep at the key.
Saturday 3:30 p.m. till Sunday 3:30 a.m.
Operated the remainder of the contest taking frequent breaks for meals, snacks,
a dip in the pool, etc. Some of the USA signals on 15m are HUGE during the
afternoon, most notably K5RT and WX0B. Worked some short skip on 10m, even a
few southern EU and one AF. Never heard a JA all weekend. At sunset, discover
I could effectively run EU with my mighty 75w on 40m, and later even on 80m.
Forgot to try 160m for some easy mults. By 3 a.m. decided to hangin to reach
my goal of 600 qsos and head for bed.
Sunday 11 a.m.
Complete the dismantling of the antenna and station.
Tuesday 7/16
With the assistance of Bill, W2RQ, installed the doublet antenna permanently at
the QTH of N2AA. Hopefully Gene will have as much fun with it as I did.
73,
John W2GD a.k.a. P40W
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