IARU HF World Championship
Call: AA4LR
Operator(s): AA4LR
Station: AA4LR
Class: SO Mixed LP
QTH: GA
Operating Time (hrs): 8.5
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Mults
---------------------------
160: 0 0 0
80: 20 0 4
40: 94 0 22
20: 44 99 35
15: 51 29 29
10: 13 11 11
---------------------------
Total: 222 139 101 Total Score = 103,121
Club: South East Contest Club
Team:
Comments:
Equipment:
K2/100 / KAT100 running 100 watts
Jury-rigged Power Supply (more on this)
N1MM Contest software
Antennas:
A3S at 15m (10m, 15m, 20m)
Sloper at 12m (40m)
Shunt feed 15m tower (80m)
Comments:
This is just a casual effort, operating off and on as the family time
permitted.
Got on about an hour after the start and got off about an hour and a
half later.
Managed to work a fair amount in the late afternoon and evening.
Didn't manage
to spend too much time on the low bands, other than 40m CW.
Had planned to do almost even amount of CW and phone - switching back
and forth
about every half hour. While this was a mostly S & P effort, I did
manage a good
run on phone on 20m, and a couple of very nice runs on 40m and 15m CW.
There was one particularly odd moment on 40m. Just before 0240z, I
tuned to
7008.5 to hear K9DX calling CQ. So I called him, and he called CQ.
This ensued
for a minute or more -- K9DX was clearly calling CQ for the contest,
and I and a
few others tried to answer him, and he'd just call CQ again. Finally,
he stopped
CQing. I called QRL?, heard no answer, and then proceeded to call CQ
with a very
nice run for 15m minutes.
Surprised to end up with so many CQ QSOs vs Phone. I was just having
too much
fun on CW to switch. It was really satisfying on 40m to be running CW
and not
have to ask for repeats (well, not too often). My practise with
MorseRunner and
also FD must have helped.
I did waste some time during the contest. I heard 9K9HQ on 14220
around 2105z
with a HUGE pileup. I stayed in there and called for 20 minutes before I
realised he was really working east europe. I finally moved on and
kept checking
back every couple of minutes. Finally, just before 2200z, I got
through the pile
to work him -- since propagation had shifted to my advantage. I must
say that
the operator at 9K9HQ was very effective and efficient in managing
the pileup.
Enjoyed it thoroughly. Can't wait until the next 'test.
PS - Oh darn, I forgot to say something about the Power Supply.
During FD, I got several reports of poor tone, especially on 80m.
I've finally narrowed down the culprit -- excessive ripple in the 12v
power supply that runs the K2/100. When the K2/100 would draw more
than about 16 amps, the power supply output would get considerable
hum (1.5-2 volts of ripple).
I didn't have time to fix this before the contest, but I did track
down the source -- the unregulated supply is filtered by five 4700 uF
35 volt caps. Evidentially, something happened to one or more of
these 16 year old caps on the trip to FD. They were not doing their
job. At 16 amps of current draw, there was 10 volts (!) of ripple on
the unregulated side.
I found I could fix this problem by putting a few uF of cap across
the unregulated side. I ended up using a 50000 uF 60 volt cap I had
in my junk box. I jumpered it into the guts of the power supply,
whose top had to come off to make this adjustment. This cap is from
some antique computer equipment I tore apart for parts 30 years ago
-- it is about the size of a can of Foster's Lager. Huge.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/
3830score/
Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
-- Wilbur Wright, 1901
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