432 MHz Spring Sprint - 2023
Call: NV4B/R
Operator(s): NV4B
Station: NV4B/R
Class: Rover LP
QTH: AL
Operating Time (hrs): 4
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 30 Mults = 29 Total Score = 870
Club:
Comments:
For this Sprint, I decided to start with a stop 'n' shoot from Raccoon Mountain
in EM75 as I have for several previous Sprints, then drive 30 minutes south to
set up on Lookout Mountain in EM74. This time, however, I added an additional
item to the agenda. Since participation in the 432 Sprints seems to be way off
in the South than the other Sprints -- in part due to Wednesday night church
services -- I decided to coordinate with K4CNY/R to circle the EM63/64/73/74
grid corner in Gadsden, AL about 80 highway miles south of the EM74 stop. Could
I really pull all of this off in a 4-hour Sprint?
For this Sprint in particular, participation in North Alabama was even more off
than usual due to rain, so starting from the Eastern Time Zone and working
stations to the east was a good choice. However, activity was fairly slow all
around at the start, so after making 6 QSOs in 6 grids and not hearing anyone
else workable, I left EM75 for EM74 around 7:45 Eastern, slightly ahead of
schedule.
On my way to EM74gv, it began to rain. Fortunately, the rain was light and did
not hinder setup or operation on Lookout Mountain. By this time, activity had
picked up quite a bit, including quite a few folks on in Georgia, Tennessee, and
the Carolinas for the East Coast 70 cm Net. This resulted in a couple of CW
QSOs, plus a CW QSO with a station I normally work on FT8 but who was having
issues getting his software to decode. Since signals were sufficiently strong,
the CW decoders between our ears worked just fine! Unfortunately, however, the
constraints of my schedule resulted in me having to leave potentially quite a
few QSOs on the table in order to get moving to Gadsden. I did extend the stop
a little over 10 minutes more than scheduled for a couple of mults on FT8,
including my best DX of the Sprint, AA9MY, with a loud signal from EN50fm (449
mi).
As I headed down I-59, K4CNY/R arrived in Gadsden, and we began trying to make
our QSOs on FT8 while I was in motion in EM74. This did not go as planned since
I-59 runs in a valley between Big Ridge and Sand Mountain. We saw and heard
each other's signals occasionally via scatter, presumably aircraft, but the
Doppler was so extreme that there was no hope of decoding FT8. I initially
suggested that we try FT4 instead, but the drift was too great even to decode
that. Finally, as I got within about 20 miles and we were hearing each other
more consistently, we switched to CW and started completing QSOs. We were able
to complete about 5 of our planned 16 QSOs before I reached my stop in EM63. At
that point, I only had about 20 minutes remaining until 11:00 p.m. Eastern, but
since Gadsden's grid corner is semi-conveniently located in the middle of the
city -- albeit complicated by the Coosa River -- we were able to knock out the
remaining combinations on SSB with just over one minute to spare.
Although very stressful due to the tight schedule, the plan worked out great,
and I quadrupled my previous best score in the 432 Spring Sprint. Although I
made several good FT8 contacts, analog really shined in this one. On more than
one occasion, I had easily copyable signals by ear that WSJT-X wouldn't decode
due to Doppler and multipath. CW could have saved quite a bit of time, and if I
had asked more folks to use it, I might have been able to wring out a few more
Qs and mults in my limited stop 'n' shoot time.
Thanks to all for the QSOs, and my apologies to those I did not have time to try
to work.
Total DX worked = 5524 km
Best DX: AA9MY EN50fm worked from EM74gv = 722 km
Avg DX: 184 km
Mode breakdown:
12 SSB
10 FT8
7 CW
1 Q65
Rig: ICOM IC-9700, 75W
Mobile antenna: Efactor dual-band loop
Stop 'n' shoot antenna: Directive Systems 15-element K1FO "Rover"
Yagi
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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