Stew Perry Topband Challenge - Spring
Call: K1LT
Operator(s): K1LT
Station: K1LT
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: EM89ps
Operating Time (hrs): 8
OpMode: SO2R
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 330 Total Score = 917
Club: Mad River Radio Club
Comments:
After 4 months the world has resynchronized with my clocks but not my
circadian rhythm. Ugh!
This year is the Spring Stew's first encounter with sunspots.
Participation keeps drifting down each recent year. I hope attendance
recovers when the high bands inevitably go away.
Conditions to the east and south seemed poor while conditions to the
west seemed normal to good except fot the static. I heard no
Europeans before midnight except for IK0YUT and OK1CF QSOs at 0051Z.
A few minutes later I worked K7RAT about an hour before his sunrise
and another European whose call does not reconcile with his grid.
As darkness spread to the west, the QRN kept increasing. The noise
was not particularly strong, about 6-10 db over background, but the
static was very continuous.
At 0333Z I worked ghost in the noise G3PQA only because I recognize
his call. At 0514Z I worked a surprisingly loud G3YRO followed by
several more likely high-powered western Europeans. When I worked
DF2PY I noticed his signal on the receiver listening to the Beverage
was 25 db over the noise while the not so great audio I heard came
from the vertical array. So maybe this opening was a "high angle"
opening. Last Eu was G3OQT at 0553Z.
After 25 minutes of CQing and hunting without a QSO I took a nap
expecting a mundane morning. Last QSO was 0614Z. At 1121Z I returned
to the radio, searched and pounced for a couple of QSOs to wake up
then started CQing. I was immediately called by VK6GX who I failed to
initially recognize because of my foggy brain. Usually the "VK"
prefix comes through even when the other letters don't. Not this
time. I made 15 QSOs in morning, about half of which were west coast.
DX worked: DL (4), G (3), I, KH6, KP2, KP4, OK, ON, PA, PJ2, VK for a
total of 11 entities. 16 DX QSOs compared to 45, 37, and 71 from 1 to
3 years ago.
Equipment: K3S/100, P3, 8410 at 800/1500 watts, K3/100, P3, homebrew
SO2R stuff, 3 phased array / SDR receiving systems, 12 Beverages (one
used for the full-duplex device), 'tee' antenna 60 feet tall over 75
radials.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|