TenTec
[Top] [All Lists]

[TenTec] BIG THANKS TO JOHN HENRY

To: <TenTec_Eagle@yahoogroups.com>, "'Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment'" <tentec@contesting.com>
Subject: [TenTec] BIG THANKS TO JOHN HENRY
From: "Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP" <Rick@DJ0IP.de>
Reply-to: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 23:36:39 +0100
List-post: <tentec@contesting.com">mailto:tentec@contesting.com>
IF YOU ARE NOT A CONTESTER AND NOT INTERESTED IN OPERATING IN CONTESTS, EXIT
NOW AND DELETE THIS MESSAGE.

 

 

This past weekend I did what I once swore I would never do again:  I worked
an SSB contest.

THE BIG ONE:  CQWW DX SSB

 

First of all, the only one in our group whom I worked (that I know of) was
once again Barry, N1EU.

Nice to work one of the members!

 

I used my Eagle, and Heathkit SB-1000 amp. Ran 750w, max legal power in DL.

 

I do not have a voice memory box or even a headset with mic.

It is all manual here, picking up the mic to talk, then laying it down to
type.

AND NO, I am not interested in suggestions for improvement because I swear I
will never work another SSB contest again!

 

In the past, in CW contests I set up the radio and never touch it, except
for VFO and RF gain. - well that is normally, except in the past it didn't
quite work right; when I double clicked a call sign in the bandmap, I had to
hit the mode switch once or twice to put it back into CW mode because it was
jumping to LSB mode.

 

So for CW contests, I never touched the bandwidth (left it at 100 Hz), nor
the Bandpass. which did not work anyway when running the logging software
(Win-Test) in "Orion2" mode.  It had no Eagle mode due to no OmniRig
support.

 

John Henry fixed the OmniRig support.

Now everything works.

 

I could not have survived the SSB contest without using the Passband Tuning
often.

In the past it never worked; now it does.

 

RESULTS:  Well all things are relative.  A lot depends on the location and
the antennas.  At my QTH I have only an 80m Windom and a 160m Inverted-L.
Although I have several beam and vertical antennas, they simply do not work
from this location, which is in a valley, on a 40% incline up the mountain.
The only thing that works is a high angle (low) dipole.

 

845 QSOs and 500k points in 20 hours operating.

 

Breakdown by band:

 

 BAND     QSO    CQ    DXC   DUP  POINTS   AVG

------------------------------------------------

  160      52     4     27    1      51   0.98

   80     123     8     44    1     140   1.14

   40     177    13     61    1     255   1.44

   20     188    17     65    0     274   1.46

   15     151    16     61    0     238   1.58

   10     154    21     55    0     329   2.14

------------------------------------------------

TOTAL:    845    79    313    3    1287   1.52 

================================================

        TOTAL SCORE :     504 504

 

The interesting column is "DXC" which shows number of countries worked by
band.

 

OK, this doesn't break any records, but considering the QTH, I am happy with
the results.

 

I worked 100% search and pounce (S&P).

Operating was different than many would expect.

 

My setup had the Eagle pulled right up next to the keyboard on the left.

I tuned mostly with the mouse, simply clicking on the station (shown in the
bandmap) that I wanted to work.

A double-click jumped the Eagle's frequency to that stations QRG.  This now
works properly thanks to John Henry's efforts.

Occasionally I tuned the Eagle's VFO with my left hand, which is easy after
an hour or two.  In the past the radio has been on the right and I used my
right hand.

 

I navigated the band with the scroll wheel of the mouse, double clicking on
the juicy ones.

This of course was with the right hand.

 

ONE SORE POINT REMAINS:  The procedure to shift VFO tuning from 10 Hz tuning
to 1 Hz tuning is painful.  It requires pushing the step button 4 times.  It
needs to be a "toggle" function - up one level, or down one level.  Easy
fix:  short push to go up (as it is now), long push to go back down.

 

I really look forward to CQWW CW in 4 weeks.

Hope to work more of the gang in that one.

 

I'll finish like I started with a BIG THANKS TO JOHN HENRY!

 

73 - Rick, DJ0IP

(Nr. Frankfurt am Main)

 

_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>