Hello Tak,
I purchased two balloon kits for Ron but have not
recieved them yet. Hope to get them up by this weed ends
Arrl 160 test. I am using Hydrogen not helium (as Ron does)
its cheaper and has more lift although flameable!! The kit
includes the balloon, special lite weight strong antenna wire,
momo filament fishing line to guy the balloon etc. I do not
have Ron's email addrs....not sure he is active...but his fone
number is 206-752-7817....Good luck Tak cu in ARRL test.
73's de Bravo, Ai7b
>From Gary Nieborsky <k7fr@ncw.net> Mon Nov 27 15:47:16 1995
From: Gary Nieborsky <k7fr@ncw.net> (Gary Nieborsky)
Subject: ts-850 problem
Message-ID: <199511271652.IAA06513@bing.ncw.net>
One of my 850's went partially deaf during cqww cw....about 40dB down from
its twin. The always helpful owners manual suggests that the lithium
back-up battery is dead resulting in decreased receiver sensitivity. Don't
laugh, that's what it says. Anyone out there ever experience this? Any
suggestions (no, I don't like Icom, Yaesu, etc.). Joe, KW1K, has a lead on
a crack fixer-upper but I would like to know if anyone out there has ever
had this happen to their 850.
Gary K7FR
>From Marijan Miletic <s56a@ljutcp.hamradio.si> Mon Nov 27 16:31:11 1995
From: Marijan Miletic <s56a@ljutcp.hamradio.si> (Marijan Miletic)
Subject: S56A CQ WW CW sad story
Message-ID: <107865@ljutcp.hamradio.si>
I was prepared to run 2 stations for the first time and spent lot of time
fixing computers and radios. Unfortunately, freezing WX affected my antenna
relays and I lost both beams within first 15 mins together with rotor
indication! It was all tested in 48 hours EU RTTY contest but winter was slow!
I went to bed at 2 AM and then fixed TH6DXX North with direct feed without 402.
On Sunday I discovered that I can rotate beam with visual direction control...
I used R7 for 40m with some TVI complaints and I was forced in my beloved S&P
mode giving numerous spots to local DX Cluster which was occassionally
connected only to Italy as snow broke DL route via OE. Not much problems
since the begining but I was not in the competitive spirit after all...
SCORE 26-Nov-1995 S56A
CQ WW CW SOP. ASSISTED.
Band QSOs Pnts Mult Zone
--------------------------
160M 68 67 32 4
80M 172 224 57 14
40M 198 465 81 29
20M 372 837 95 34
15M 191 517 74 34
10M 4 5 4 2
--------------------------
All 1012 2115 343 117
TOTAL : 972.900 Points
Rig : FT-1000 + SB-221
Ant : TH6DXX + R7 + Windom
Comment: Antenna relays & rotor
failed from the start because of
low temperature. Used R7 instead
of 402BA and slept too much...
CONDX were stable and many spots were given on 10m but I didn't catch them.
Lower bands were noisy but the signals were strong, especially 40m on Sunday.
I missed Pacific zone 31 on all bands but the others were quite active.
CU ARRL 10m de Mario, S56A, N1YU.
>From Marijan Miletic <s56a@ljutcp.hamradio.si> Mon Nov 27 16:31:11 1995
From: Marijan Miletic <s56a@ljutcp.hamradio.si> (Marijan Miletic)
Subject: S56A CQ WW CW sad story
Message-ID: <107865@ljutcp.hamradio.si>
I was prepared to run 2 stations for the first time and spent lot of time
fixing computers and radios. Unfortunately, freezing WX affected my antenna
relays and I lost both beams within first 15 mins together with rotor
indication! It was all tested in 48 hours EU RTTY contest but winter was slow!
I went to bed at 2 AM and then fixed TH6DXX North with direct feed without 402.
On Sunday I discovered that I can rotate beam with visual direction control...
I used R7 for 40m with some TVI complaints and I was forced in my beloved S&P
mode giving numerous spots to local DX Cluster which was occassionally
connected only to Italy as snow broke DL route via OE. Not much problems
since the begining but I was not in the competitive spirit after all...
SCORE 26-Nov-1995 S56A
CQ WW CW SOP. ASSISTED.
Band QSOs Pnts Mult Zone
--------------------------
160M 68 67 32 4
80M 172 224 57 14
40M 198 465 81 29
20M 372 837 95 34
15M 191 517 74 34
10M 4 5 4 2
--------------------------
All 1012 2115 343 117
TOTAL : 972.900 Points
Rig : FT-1000 + SB-221
Ant : TH6DXX + R7 + Windom
Comment: Antenna relays & rotor
failed from the start because of
low temperature. Used R7 instead
of 402BA and slept too much...
CONDX were stable and many spots were given on 10m but I didn't catch them.
Lower bands were noisy but the signals were strong, especially 40m on Sunday.
I missed Pacific zone 31 on all bands but the others were quite active.
CU ARRL 10m de Mario, S56A, N1YU.
>From n6ig@netcom.com (Jim Pratt) Mon Nov 27 17:05:24 1995
From: n6ig@netcom.com (Jim Pratt) (Jim Pratt)
Subject: W6GO CQWW 40M score
Message-ID: <199511271705.JAA20150@netcom19.netcom.com>
W6GO 1995 CQWW CW Score:
40 meter single band, high-power, no packet, Zone 3:
1421 QSO 39 Zones 130 Countries = 639,496
3784 QSO Points
Guest operator: N6IG
Station: FT1000 + Alpha 77
Antennas: 4/4 at 147'/85'
Comments:
WOW! What a great band, actually ran EU on 40 SP both nights. Morning LP
was very strange, nothing but echo until about 15Z, signals to EU and
Asia better SP until then, even though SP was through sunlight. Then, at
around 15Z, it was as if someone clicked the "LP switch" and the path
shifted.
This was my first "unassisted" effort in years, it was very strange not
having packet to rely on. It was fun though to do it the "old fashioned
way".
Only 2.66 points per QSO...lots of "W" stations "helped" me by giving a
QSO. At least it helped keep me awake!
Very strange to miss Zone 12; wish XR0Y had stayed a little longer!
Arrived at the station Friday at 2100Z, turned on the rig and heard
"buzz...buzz...buzz" aimed at EU, S9 on the meter. The electric fence to
the north had developed another problem in the few days since I had been
at the station. The owners of the property know Jay and me by sight...we
have fixed this fence several times (it is made of aluminum
wire...arghhh!). But this time they weren't home, and have a new dog
that does a very good job of watching the house. I couldn't even get
onto the property to ring the doorbell! A phone call to them got only an
answering machine, so back to the station...
After making sure that everything was OK at the rig, I went back to the
house and sat in my car in front, awaiting their return. A neighbor came
over and asked me what I was doing (despite what Rush Limbaugh says, Rio
Linda isn't that bad a town!); finally, at about 2215Z, the lady comes
out the door and waves at me...she had been taking a nap! I got to work,
and fixed four bad joints with Jay's help. Problem solved at 23Z; we
will be returning to their house and replacing everything with steel wire
and good insulators very soon! Sure it is their problem and
responsibility to fix, but the peace of mind will be worth it!
73, Jim N6IG
n6ig@netcom.com
>From Gary Nieborsky <k7fr@ncw.net> Mon Nov 27 16:19:29 1995
From: Gary Nieborsky <k7fr@ncw.net> (Gary Nieborsky)
Subject: cqww cw score
Message-ID: <199511271724.JAA07670@bing.ncw.net>
CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST -- 1995
Call: K7FR Country: United States
Mode: CW Category: Multi Multi
BAND QSO QSO- PTS PTS/QSO ZONES COUNTRIES
160 38 55 1.45 10 12
80 116 262 2.26 18 37
40 331 898 2.71 32 60
20 461 1151 2.50 33 87
15 164 375 2.29 25 52
10 20 30 1.50 7 5
---------------------------------------------------
Totals 1130 2771 2.45 125 253 => 1,047,438
Hi-lites:
0. Breaking the 1,000,000 point barrier!
1. Made all 3 of our (my) goals; 1000 q's, 100 zones, 200 countries !!
2. Working 3DA0NX on first call through a pile-up as big as Texas.
3. Working EU/Africa on 80 and 160. Not bad for antennnae put up 2 hours
before the contest!
4. Seeing the Gene's, W7WMO, excitement working the 'rare' ones.
Low lites:
0. Having one of my 850's go deaf.
1. Finding out I have to re-submit my ssb logs because I didn't read the
(PRINTED) rule about each band sorted out seperately.....see guys, you can
have all the printed rules you want, but ya gotta read 'em.
2. Missing BY,HS.
For Jim, WA4ZXA
Hours: 48
Score: 1,047,438
Q's: 1130
QSO Pts: 2771
Zones: 125
Countries: 253
Ops: K7FR, K7MM, KW1K, W7WMO, KA7EKL, WB7UPU
>From Danley, Tad" <Tad.Danley@dialcall.com Mon Nov 27 17:22:00 1995
From: Danley, Tad" <Tad.Danley@dialcall.com (Danley, Tad)
Subject: Contest Rules in QST
Message-ID: <30B9F512@alcnwgw1>
The abbreviated contest announcements in QST may be a great way to get new
blood to consider entering the sport of contesting, BUT the League needs to
do one of the following as well to make these announcements useful:
Best option: Print the complete rules in the back of QST. In the body of
the abbreviated announcement, make reference to the complete rules with a
caveat that all participants should refer to the complete rules prior to the
contest for all necessary details, etc.
Next option: If printing cost or space options prevent printing the rules
in QST, in the body of the abbreviated announcement make reference to the
complete rules, list where/how the complete rules can be found with the same
caveat that all participants should refer to the complete rules prior to the
contest for all necessary details. Also, include in the abbreviated
announcement a date certain when participants may be assured that the rules
they download on/after that date are complete and final.
It would be a real shame if a new contester got excited about contesting and
decided to participate, only to be disqualified because he/she had read the
abbreviated rules. Lets make it easy AND fun to join our ranks!
73, Tad, NZ3I
>From De Syam <syam@Glue.umd.edu> Mon Nov 27 17:22:17 1995
From: De Syam <syam@Glue.umd.edu> (De Syam)
Subject: CQWW CW: K3ZO score and comments
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.951127105851.2920A@cappuccino.eng.umd.edu>
After attending a hamfest on a tropical island in the Gulf of Thailand
last weekend, I hurried to get back here to make sure I had time to
prepare for the contest, arriving Wednesday morning.
Martti Laine (OH2BH) was at the same hamfest -- the SEANET Convention --
and did his best to talk me into joining some others at the XZ1A
operation for the contest. I guess he was non-plussed when I said I
would rather do the contest from here; guess he thought I was crazy. But
after having spent quite a bit of time overseas, I really do like
contesting from here better. Mainly, it's the best competition in the
world, and no artificial advantage is gained because of rare multiplier.
Despite the fact that there was an all-night windstorm which blew through
here in my absence, all antennas and rotors were "go" upon inspection.
Unfortunately I left the selsyn on for the prop-pitch rotor on my 80/20
meter beams all day the Friday before the contest, and it overheated and
burned up. My operational "fix" was to time a complete 360-degree
rotation (72 seconds) and count off the proportional time for the number
of degrees I wanted each time I rotated those antennas. It worked pretty
well.
Here is the breakdown:
Band QSOs Zones Countries Antenna(s)
160 64 14 42 Half-slopers to SE and W
80 291 22 73 3-el KLM Yagi at 140'
40 849 35 102 3-el Telrex Yagi at 94'
20 978 33 101 6-el Telrex Yagi at 150'
4-el W6PU Quad at 78'
15 437 24 99 4-el W6PU Quad at 78'
10 10 4 5 4-el W6PU Quad at 78'
TOTALS 2629 132 422 = 4,190,456 FINAL SCORE
Equipment: TS-830-S driving Titan 425
Accessories: N6TR logging program (for logging only - I don't use the
Computer for sending).
486SX
MFJ Grandmaster keyer
Comments:
Frankly I was mad at myself for laying back and running too much in the
Phone contest, a strategy which I realized had failed miserably after I
saw the other scores. So I was bound and determined this time to do more
S&P for multipliers. After all, in this contest it's relatively easy to
find new multipliers as the contest exchange gives you a clue.
Weather conditions were favorable for keeping my line noises low -- no
wind and reasonably high relative humidity with a nice frost on the power
lines each morning of the contest. This made for a very satisfying
low background level on all bands and helped me pull the weak ones
through, of which there were many.
I still haven't completely found all the RAM I need in the computer for
N6TR's program after Windows was installed and reconfigured my
auotexec.bat and config.sys files, even though I have 8 mb. of RAM in
there somewhere. So I was running out of RAM late in
the contest and had to start a new document which meant I had no dupe or
multiplier check for the last few hours. I solved the multiplier check
problem by printing out the contents of N6TR's restart.dat file so from
that point on I called only new multipliers when I S&P'd, which I guess
is another reason why my multiplier total was relatively good. N6TR's
post-contest program made it a cinch to combine the two documents and
come up with accurate totals and one running log after the contest was
over.
BAND-BY-BAND:
160 meters: Hey! I could hear DX on my transmit antenna for a change.
Guess the calm weather quieted some line noises I didn't even realize I
had. Also the low atmospheric noise made this band fun for a change.
80 meters: Guess I could have done better here contact-wise, probably
S&P'd too much and didn't run enough. Late the second night I settled
down on 3503 between K1AR and KY1H and did pretty well, should have tried
sooner. Someone complained that I had clicks but wouldn't give his
call. That surprises me because the TS-830-S usually gets pretty clean
reports, but on this KLM beam signal levels are immense for stations just
beyond the skip-over zone, which means New England. I myself heard a lot
of buzz-buzz from synthesized exciters which would not normally be
noticeable on the higher bands.
40 meters: A great band overall but a little scratchy to Europe between
0100-0400 when the MUF to parts of Europe evidently dropped below 7 MHz.
Best hours from here were, surprisingly, the 2100 GMT hour on Saturday
afternoon (114) and the 0700 GMT hour Saturday morning (103) when both
JA's and Europeans called in with my beam running them pointed about 20
degrees. Scandinavians and Northern Russians including some UA9's and
UA0AGI had monstrous signals at that hour.
20 meters: It didn't pay to crank up here much before 1200 GMT this year
but when the band got going it really got going! Saturday morning on the
6-el Telrex at 150' brought some of the best runs I have ever had from
here with back-to-back hours of 152 and 137 at the 1200 and 1300 hours
respectively. Guess I could be pardoned for taking a while before going
to 15 as the rate-meter was shouting at me: "don't go anywhere". The
1200 hour on Sunday pushed the rate meter up over 100 again (108) but I
broke away a little after 1300 to go to 15 because I wanted to get the
Eastern Europe mults before they faded away. Lots of echo on signals
Saturday morning made me think of turning the beam to the long path for
Asian multiplier search but you can't do everything at the same time and
with the rates up there I resisted the urge. Sunday afternoon the band
dropped off drastically when it got dark in Europe and signals went way
down in a matter of minutes. Unlike during the phone contest, there was
no scatter path skewed to the south in the late part of the opening. The
path stayed direct but got very weak, and my 4-el Quad at 78' was by far
the better antenna during this period. Repeated CQ's on the high Yagi
brought forth nothing but the quad always managed to scratch up a few.
15 meters: Talk about scratchy signals, there were plenty of them on
this band. Thank goodness there was no line noise because if I had had
any at all I probably would have missed half the callers. I still think I
copied DL8NU half by ESP, but "Ur call DL8NU?" brought a series of r's so
I guess I got it. My project for the summer was to have gotten the
same 8-el Telrex which K3RV used so effectively in the past to set W4
single-band 15 meter records up at about 150', but that has now become
"next summer's project". I sure could have used it!
10 meters: If this was an accurate preview of the ten meter contest,
there are going to be a lot of bored people in a couple weeks! What
can I say? CX, LU, PY, W, ZF. That was all I got. Heard zones 3 and 4
and VP5FOC while rig was on another band, didn't feel it was worth
changing bands to get them.
Very 73,
Fred Laun, K3ZO
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