Operator: NO2T
Time on: 29 hours 30 minutes
Score = 1,191,200
Band QSO Pts Pref
80M 152 428 50
40M 230 960 74
20M 305 581 131
15M 180 449 76
10M 221 560 69
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Total = 1088 2978 400
Radios: Yeasu 1000MP MK-5, Icom 781, Kenwood TS-940
Power about 800 watts using a Collins 30S1 and and old Alpha 77DX
Antennas: KT34XA (stuck pointed to NE see notes), 2 el shorty 40 (also
stuck NE) 15 meter dipole(in the trees), Delta loop for 80.
Thanks for the Q's. Snow again here in Northrn New Jersey. Had some
problems. High SWR and resulting RF in the shack. Keyboard/Computer
lockup can be a pain. Even when no obvious lockup there were unexplained
keyboard repeats.
The final straw was early Saturday morning when the rotor stopped
turning
clockwise. This staarted when I turned the antennas CCS towards the
Southeast to work South America etc. With only one tower this put me in the
dumps. I quit early that night. 5:30 local time I was outside trying to Ohm
meter the rotor cable and the switches in the control box. No luck.
Fortunately had big loops on the coax, so nudged the rotor clockwise until
pointed to about 50 degrees. Left it that way for the remainder of the test.
Like Mike K4GMH, worked a lot of 40 and 80 meters to maximize my point
count. Paid attention to the rate meter. Kept thinking 1,2,4,6,points per
QSO. It paid off. Did not hunt for rare DX, rather rate and let the mults
come as they wanted.
The low end of 40 (7030-7040) was a zoo. Very hard to copy cleanly. As
so
many of yu have said, MMTTY works very well under these condx. Not much
action between 7080-7090.
Still many hams calling off frequency. Worst case that I spotted was
over
150 Hz. There maybe were others that were never recognized. Most seemed to
be about 50 to 80 Hz off. Wondered whether it was my rig xmitting on a
different frequency than it was receiving. My TS-940 does that. On the
other hand the "Big Guns" always called me right on frequency!!
At my QTH 10 meters opened later on Sunday than Saturday with poorer
signals. It also closed much earlier.
With my antennas stuck to the NE, there was not much in the way of a JA
or
Pacific run during the prime openings. Got single Pacific stations long
path or off the back of the beam.
The bottomline was I had fun. This is one of the best of the year's
contests. Like the 30 hour format. Makes me think, when to run, when to
fold and when to hit the sack. It adds still another dimension to the
stratagy of the contest. Anthing that makes you think, adds to the
enjoyment, when you do it right. But it also adds to the gloom when you are
wrong. The beauty is that there is always the next contest.
73 from snowy cold New Jersey Jerry NO2T
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