Stew Perry Topband Challenge - Summer
Call: K1LT
Operator(s): K1LT
Station: K1LT
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: EM89ps
Operating Time (hrs): 4
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 77 Total Score = 320
Club: Mad River Radio Club
Comments:
I had plans to spend a few hours before the contest to try something
new. The plan was to try mixing 3 receivers together instead of just
two to reduce receive antenna switching. However, storms earlier in
the week broke my Internet access (and the neighbor's gas line and
well pump) and Saturday was mostly consumed by the final steps
necessary to resurrect access (my Internet provision is very complex).
(The Internet outage pretty much blew away my plans for a serious All
Asian contest operation, too.)
I operated low power as I have done the last couple of summers.
However, this year might have worked out OK with high power. The
noise was not very bad, and I experienced some frustration calling
people who could not hear me, like HC2AO, for example. At one point,
I considered changing power levels, and attempted to tune up the Alpha
8410. But the amplifier would not tune properly on 160, although it
still tunes fine on 20. Perhaps a fixed padding capacitor in the
output network has gone away.
KV4FZ and NP2X were the best DX at 7 x 2 points each. N5RZ was the
only 4 point QSO and all the rest were 3 points or less.
The second phased array (a broadside array of 3 2 element end-fire
arrays) worked very nicely. Although it still works, I'm thinking
that the original 4 x 2 array needs an overhaul to restore some
directivity.
On the newer array, I used aluminum screen to cover the vent hole at
the bottom of the box that contains the matching network (inductor,
capacitor, and resistor in series) since the ants would chew through
plastic screening and build a nest inside the box. But I found a nest
inside a new box too. I haven't had a chance to see how they got in.
Stupid ants (or stupid human). Maybe some ginger sprinkled in each
box, every year.
Equipment: K3, P3, computer running dttsp, sdr-shell, and homemade
beam steering software, audio routing switches, and lots of receive
antennas: 4x2 phased array, 3x2 phased array, 6 2-wire Beverages every
30 degrees. Transmit antenna: 65 foot "Tee" top vertical with one
saggy "half-tee" (forgot to go tighten that before the contest).
I didn't even remember the sagging "tee" until I was typing this
report. I wonder how much performance that cost? I did notice that
the SWR seemed a bit higher than normal, but the cause just didn't
click at the time. Stupid lightning (or stupid human).
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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