Ward, N0AX reports:
Well, here I am back on the bus to Helsinki after a fast-paced couple of
days at the Himos resort with all the other
WRTC participants. We are a little bit tired--some are dozing against the
windows--but I think that mostly we are all
anxious to get to our host's stations and get started. The contest is now
about 24 hours away.
I am a referee for the team of UA2FZ and RW3WR who will be operating from
the home of OH2BAH, about 50 km
northwest of Helsinki. I have never met any of those gentlemen before.
Except for many contest QSOs, of course. The
plan is for all of us to meet back at the hotel, drive to the host station,
set up and then return to Helsinki. We will then
return the next morning and complete the preparations.
All of the WRTC stations have the same antennas--a triband beam for 20-10
meters with 2 elements on each band and
a Windom antenna for 40-80. The organizers have done a great job of getting
52 similar operating sites ready. They
have installed antennas in addition to whatever the host may have already.
Some of the hosts have substantial
stations--just as in previous WRTC's--but we will be unable to take
advantage of the "Big Aluminum".
This is one of the interesting elements of the competition. Most of the
competitors have done the bulk of their
operating at top of the line stations or from rare QTH's. Now they get to
operate with most of the hardware- or
callsign-related advantages removed.
How many will remember what it is like to operate with 100 watts and low
antennas? We will see on Sunday night.
There has been a lot of discussion about the propagation we can expect and
whether the "home field advantage" will
tip the scales in favor of the Russian or Finnish teams. So far, solar
conditions look good, but the lack of deep darkness
makes the low bands a big question to most teams.
This may be an advantage for regional competitors. Since my team is from
UA2 (between ES and SP) and Moscow, I
will be watching with great interest to see if they can take advantage of
their experience. By the way, along with the
WRTC participants, Himos is also home to the SRAL Summer Camp, which is
roughly equivalent to an extended
hamfest where hams come and camp out for many days. Between the hotel and
lake there are rows of campers and
trailers, with wire antennas or verticals extending up and out into the trees.
Every cabin is either full of our WRTC group or with OH hams for the Summer
Camp. Several have trailers loaded
with the same cross section of interesting equipment and--would you believe
it--junk we find at US hamfests. I suspect
as we are leaving on Friday, our places are rapidly filling with Summer
Camp inhabitants. Let me describe Himos a little
bit. North of Helsinki, the flat landscape begins to roll a little bit and
then breaks into hills of a few hundred meters.
Lakes are everywhere and Himos is between a couple of the larger hills on
the shore of a large lake. If you are looking
for Himos on a map, it may be difficult to find. Try looking for Jamsa,
about 200 km directly north of Helsinki.
Himos is about 10 km northeast of Jamsa. The resort accomodates a few
hundred in cabins, tents, and mobiles. The
forest and grass are deep green and not dried out in mid-summer at all. The
lake water is clean and moderately cool,
ideal for swimming and there are nearly always one or two Finns taking a
dip. You can also see some sauna inhabitants
strolling outside to the water, cooling off, and returning to the heat.
Some fish, some stroll, and in our case, some enjoy
each other's company. The final activity this morning, before lunch and
breaking camp, was the selection of team
callsigns and the introduction of the referees and hosts to the teams. This
is always the most dramatic moment before
the contest as the referees receive a sealed envelope containing the
special callsign, not to be opened until 10 minutes
before the contest begins. Each team captain was called to the front of the
watching audience.
He selected an envelope from a long line laid out at the feet of the chief
referee, Roger Western G3SXW. The referee
and host for the team were then announced and all three met for the first
time in front of all of us. At the conclusion of
52 separate envelope selections, the competition is set. Everyone knows the
who and where and when. My next
installment will come after the contest is all over. I will be monitoring
each QSO of my team--all 24 hours worth. No
sleeping for the referee! We will meet back at the hotel and start the
delicate process of executing "Howdjadoo?" See
you then! Kiipis!
Harry, OH6YF has now more photos from SRAL Summercamp, check
http://wrtc.oh6yf.com/
>From Steve Daniel" <nn4t@bellsouth.net Sat Jul 13 15:29:41 2002
From: Steve Daniel" <nn4t@bellsouth.net (Steve Daniel)
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Fw: ft1000mp and computer interface
Message-ID: <018c01c22a79$babc30a0$c273d6d1@nn4t>
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Daniel" <nn4t@bellsouth.net>
To: <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 13, 2002 8:12 AM
Subject: ft1000mp and computer interface
> I can't seem to get my 1000mp to communicate with the computer. I recall
> reading that something in the radio needed to be altered from the factory
> default so that band info, etc., can be transferred from the radio to
> WriteLog, NA, etc. Anyone happen to know if this is correct? Thanks!
Steve,
> NN4T.
>
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