Hello all:
Some of you might have some interest in my experience with a modest SO2R
station full time high power in this year's ARRL SS CW. The rest of you
should delete this message now.
I have done SO2R 3 or 4 times in ARRL SS CW from the W4AN station as
guest op and once did CQ WW DX CW from there SO2R. I had no gear for
SO2R at home until I bought a DX Doubler at Dayton this year. KU8E set
it up for me and we are indebted to W4NZ for a suggestion necessary to
make it work with NA. I used it SO2R in several QRP contests beginning
in May or June. No bandpass filters were necessary at QRP power and it
worked very well. At the time of Field Day this year, I was reminded
that our local Columbus Amateur Radio Club has two sets of 80 - 10
Dunestar bandpass filters for use in Field Day. Joe, KO4RR, also takes
them on his DXpeditions. So, I borrowed them from the club after FD and
used them first in IARU RS in July full power. I didn't do SO2R HP
again until ARRL SS. I feel it is important for a full-time operation
in CW SS because the run rates drop off significantly after the first 12
hours or so and the S&P rate is slow because you hear only the same
stations calling CQ over and over.
My set up was as follows: Two FT1000MPs, purchased used, with filters.
Rig #1 has the stock 500 and 250 hz. filters. Rig #2 has 400 hz. IRC
filters as well as one stock 500 hz filter. Amplifier for rig #1 is an
Alpha 78 with full QSK and no-tune band change. Amplifier for rig #2 is
an Ameritron AL811H with no QSK and only about 600 watts output.
Antennas are a TH6DXX at about 45 feet, an 88 foot center fed zepp at 40
feet, a dipole for 40 meters at 40 feet, and an 80 meter inverted vee
dipole with the apex at 40 feet. I have no automatic bandpass filter
controls as yet and hooked up a bunch of coax switches to put the
bandpass filters in the line between the exciters and the amplifiers.
I decided that rig #1 would be the MP/78 and would be used on
10/15/20/80 with the TH6 and the inverted vee. Rig #2 would be the
other MP and the AL811H with the zepp and the dipole. It would be used
on 40 and 15. The zepp favors the north and north east and the dipole
favors the west and northwest. I could select either antenna for 40
meters and could use the 40 meter dipole on 15 M. The "run" rig would
be rig #1 unless I was running on 40 M and the run rig would be #2 in
that case. If I do this again, I will need to plan ahead and put in a
little more delay in the keying from the MP as it was so short that it
dropped out pretty often and the relay in the AL811H clattered more
often than was necessary. I didn't try to change it during the contest
as it requires an internal programming change that isn't easy for me to
remember how to do. In everyday operation, I like the relay to drop out
quickly when I am calling someone or calling CQ and often engage the MOX
button to keep the relay engaged while ragchewing.
Much more so than in the IARU RS contest, I listened to both rigs
virtually non-stop during this contest. I would occasionally turn down
the volume on the S&P radio if a weak station answered a CQ. But, for
the most part, I was continually tuning the second radio while running
on the first, as the chart below will show. I stacked the MPs one on
top of the other. This took up a lot of the desk top that I have liked
to have clear, but there is no real use for it without the need for a
logbook or dupe sheet on the desk. There was still room for the laptop.
I did try early on to use an outboard keyboard that I had bought for
that purpose. I added a toroid in the line from the keyboard to the
laptop because I have sometimes had RF problems with it in the past.
This time there seemed to be no RF problems, but I got some unusual
sending when using the F keys with the outboard keyboard and didn't try
to analyze why--I just disconnected teh outboard keyboard and used the
laptop itself for the contest. The "insert" and plus keys that are
often used in running in CT and NA (I used NA1057) are not conveniently
located on the laptop like they are on the standard keyboard, so I often
hit the wrong keys. If you hit the "numbers lock" key by mistake, you
can't accurately log until you hit that key again. The plus key does
work without having to hit the shift key at the same time, which is a
big improvement over my first laptop from IBM that required a two stroke
effort to use the plus key. This is a Dell Inspiron 5000 laptop that I
purchased in 2000. It has a split harddrive and I am running CT and NA
in Windows 98 thanks to Jeff, KU8E, who got a program to enable me and
him to do this with our contesting computers. It is called "Boot
Magic." It is a real good thing to do if you must use a computer with
Windows 2000, XP, etc.
I had 6 duplicate QSOs (the best advice still is work and log all
duplicates). Gross 1116, net 1106. The total QSOs on the S&P rig were
270. I think this is a pretty significant number and is probably more
than I had at W4AN when the QSO totals were also higher. The higher
your run rate is, the less you need help from the second radio QSOs. By
band, the breakdown is: Using #2, 40M 105 and 15M 69. Using #1 for S&P
while running on 40M, 35 on 20 and 61 on 80. I should explain why there
are only three QSOs on 10 M. I did not have a good antenna for 10M for
the second radio and didn't have any 10M filters set up for it. I could
have swtiched filters and retuned the antenna tuner (big old MFJ
ca.2000) for 10 M. I listened to 10 before the contest and it was only
fair to the west coast. WP3R was genuinely weak. I was told that VY1JA
was on 28017 before the contest, but I couldn't hear him at all. My
experience from here has been that it is almost impossible to get much
rate while running on 10 and 15 on CW in SS. Texas and West Coast and
Pacific and Caribbean stations get good rates. Maybe Florida gets fair
rates, but in GA we are too close for good rates to most areas where the
guys are doing S&P. You can, of course, get some QSOs scatter on those
bands, but in SS where you are exchanging so much information, those
QSOs are slow and difficult. So, I listened with rig 1 while CQing on
40 with rig 2 once on Saturday and heard nothing to work. I guess the
band had closed by then. On Sunday, I listened earlier and heard a
whole lot of stations I had already worked. I worked K9OM in FL, K4SB,
and one west coast station that I had missed on the other bands. I
don't think I missed much and probably gained a lot by not wasting time
on 10 when I could get good rates by CQs on 20M. See the comments to
the 3830 reflector from N4PN about "giving in" and working a lot on 10
at less than optimum rates.
I worked the following SECC members: (forgive me if I failed to jot
your call down). N4GG, KU8E, N4AA, W4BQF, N4PN, AE4Y, N4LR, AA4NN,
W4OC, AA4GA, K4AQ, K4LW, KY5R, N5VI, K4OGG, K4VU, W4NTI, K4SB, W4ATL,
NY4N (ex AF4QZ), NA4BW. Also the following frequent ops at NQ4I: K9JS,
KA6SAR, N5QQ, K8JQ, W7FB. Also the following former SECC member: K5OT.
And former Georgia residents K4QPL and W6OAT.
For possible recruitment as members, I worked the following: GA: W4TED
(not really a contester, but an old friend who called with #1 for me),
KE2WB (quite active in QRP contests from the Augusta area), W0AG, W4BTZ
(an attorney in Atlanta), KW4E, K4LDI. From AL: K4ZGB, K4HAL, K4TD,
KJ3V, KG4CUY, N4KG, W4NBS, K4NP. From SC: WA8OJR, AA4V, AE4FA, W2GJ.
For those of you who mentioned problems with particular sections, I
worked: AB: VE6EX, QRP called me. (I heard NE6I work VE6TN, but I
couldn't hear him). AK: KL7Y, KL7WV, KL7HF. The last two called me,
WV on 80 and HF on 20. KL7Y was running on 20 when I found him. QC:
VE2AWR (answered my CQ on 20 for my first SS QSO!), VE2WU, VE2UJ, VE2DO.
All four answered me, but I heard VE2AWR running a lot. NT: VY1JA,
called me on 80. Pacific: KH6NF (my last section, answered my CQ at
1323Z on 40, quite late for Hawaii on that band), KH7X running a huge
pile up on 20 late Sunday afternoon and gave me a number lower than 50.
NL: VO1HP, VO1WIN, VO1MP. All called me, but I heard VO1WIN running
a lot. SC: WA8OJR, W4OC, AA4V, NY4N, AE4FA, W2GJ.
Hour by hour analysis:
Hour Run S&P Run S&P Total Mins Running Comments
QSOs QSOs Bands Bands QSOs Total
2100 56 19 20 15 75 59 75
2200 57 16 20 15 73 60 148
2300 58 11 20/40 15/20 69 60 217 2324: Last 15M QSO
0000 49 19 40 20/80 68 60 285 0030: Last 20M QSO
0100 30 23 40/80 40/80 53 60 338 0053: First 80M QSO
0200 50 15 80/40 40/80 65 60 403
0300 59 10 80 40 69 60 472
0400 58 7 80 40 65 60 537
0500 40 12 80 40 52 60 589
0600 29 12 80 40 41 60 630
0700 24 19 80/40 40/80 43 60 673
0800 15 5 80/40 40/80 20 31 693 Hourly rate: 40
0900
1000
1100 1258: Last 80M QSO
1200 13 5 80 40 18 23 711 Hourly rate: 47
1300 19 17 40 20 36 60 747 1307: First 20M QSO
1400 29 12 20 40 41 60 788
1500 28 11 20/40 40 39 60 827 1501: QSO N6DE/CA 40
1600 6 8 20 15 14 28 841 Hourly rate: 29
1700 25 13 20 15 38 60 879 1634: First 15M QSO
1800 16 0 20 - 26 28 895 Hourly rate: 34
1900 19 9 20/15 15 28 50 923 Hourly rate: 34
2000 31 2 15/20/10-40 33 60 956 QSO W6LFB/TX 200MW
2100 21 5 20/40 40 26 60 982 QSO K8LGN/M Vets Day Parade
2200 24 8 40/20 40/20 32 60 1014
2300 19 4 40/15 20 23 57 1037 2335: Last 15M QSO.
0000 17 3 40 20/80 20 31 1057 Hourly rate: 39
0100 32 6 40/80 80/20 38 60 1095 0118: Last 20M QSO.
0200 20 1 40/80 40 21 49 1116 Hourly rate: 26
As you all probably know, the last few hours, particularly, were greatly
affected by aurora. 20 M closed early. All bands had waterly, wavery,
aurora like sounds on signals. All signals on 80M were weak. 40M had
very strong signals with very strong aurora sound. I found it effective
to CQ on 40M with the narrow filter in and mostly listen on 80 for the
few signals that could be heard. When I did CQ on 80, I got several
calls from stations that were too weak to be identified.
About the 6 hours and five minutes of off time: My wife was going out
to a party for an engaged couple. Fortunately, our daughter and
son-in-law were going too, so it wasn't too hard to get excused. She
nearly never brings me meals at the rig, but she did so this time, since
she wasn't to eat at home. So, I didn't get out of the chair from 4 PM
until 3:31 AM. I then took a sleep break, including breakfast with
Weesie for four hours and 6 minutes. The next 31 minute break occurred
in late morning when I first tried to change bands to 15 meters for S&P.
Something didn't work at first and it took me ten minutes to find the
trouble in an intermittent contact on one of the coax switches that I
was using to switch antennas and bandpass filters. Since I had lost ten
minutes, I took a break then. Later, I took a break for lunch with
Weesie and our daughter and son-in-law (our son was in Bainbridge with
his mixed doubles combo tennis team winning the state title). That left
slightly more than 30 minutes for a final break for supper with Weesie.
Apparently, I slightly misfigured my time as the computer shows 23:55.
I guess I could have made another two QSOs or so if I had gone on
another five minutes!
The overall per hour rate for the entire contest was 45.8.
Just so everything will be together in this report, I'll repeat the
claimed score:
80 328
40 343
20 352
15 84
10 3
ALL 1110 x 80 = 177,600.
Hal, N4GG's score in the unlimited category was pretty close and N4PN's
score in 22.5 hours wasn't far behind. I'd be interested in their
observations and anyone else, as well. 80 M was much better (except for
Sunday night) and 40 M was much worse than I had expected. I had
thought that I would be monitoring 40 M almost all the time and that,
therefore, that would be the highest total band even without any
aluminum for that band. The long skip stopped that though. 20 M was
so-so. Skip was often pretty long and we didn't really have good skip
into WV, IN, southern IL, MO, AR, or even east TX for much of the
contest. 15 and 10 were pretty good considering the time of the sunspot
cycle.
I should note that I am still a General, so all contacts were made above
the 025 mark on 80-15 and I have no idea of what I missed in the Extra
bands.
I will post the claimed scores received so far tomorrow, so please let
me have any remaining claimed scores tonight if possible. I will be out
of town and unavailable to e-mail most of Thursday and Friday due to the
death of my uncle who lived in Atlanta. There will be a graveside
service for him Friday in Huntsville, AL, his wife's original home town.
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