Rick, N6RK wrote:
"From California, condx seemed to be excellent; there was just a dearth
of activity. The noise level was very low, and I had no trouble hearing
KH6AT when he came back to my CQ, even though I was listening on the East
beverage. All the KH6's were armchair copy on the West beverage. I only
worked a handful of JA's, but they were mostly armchair copy, and came
right back on the first call. East coast stations were a little easier
to copy than during the ARRL. W8JI was positively booming in when he
called me after his sunrise. KV4FZ (is this Herb's call again?) had a
nice signal for an easy 12 pointer. No other DX was heard."
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I started the contest at 0100Z Saturday evening, intending to put in the
14 hours of allowed operating time by 1500Z which happens to be exactly
at sunrise at my salt lake portable QTH. I agree with Rick that condx
appeared to be good and the noise level was very low.
The contest started well, with over 100 QSOs logged in the first 1-1/2
hours. One of the highlights was having KH6ND call me well before his
sunset. Another highlight was working friend K7BV in Newington, CT.
Many other east coast stations were worked and had good signals, and I
felt that condx might even improve as the night wore on.
Then Murphy struck in the worst possible way. After about 1-1/2 hours
into the contest, the SWR on the balloon-supported vertical went up to as
high as 3:1 (it normally is about 1.2:1). I took off the headphones and
the reason was obvious -- it was windy and the antenna was probably far
from vertical!
I logged a few more QSOs and then at 0243Z the receiver went dead. With
a flashlight, I went out to the base of the vertical and found the cause
-- the antenna was lying limply on the ground. No balloon was at its
end. The 50-lb test fishline I used as a top insulator at the balloon
had broken in the strong winds. For all I know, the balloon may have
gone up into the stratosphere before it burst, and came down in Colorado
(the winds were from the southwest).
I tied the "top" of the antenna to a short post about 5 feet high and was
only able to raise N7DD for my last QSO in the contest at 0357Z. I
called many other stations, but couldn't even get a "QRZ?" out of them,
so I gave up and went to bed.
I had planned to inflate another balloon when the winds subsided, but
they never did. In fact, it began to rain, which made it even more
unpleasant outside of the trailer. The wind continued to blow all night
long with gusts of at least 40 mph that made me worried that the
operating trailer would tip over (but it didn't).
Windy and rainy weather was predicted for the night of the Stew Perry,
and for a change the weatherman hit the nail on the head! During the day
saturday while I was setting up the trailer and the antenna, winds were
calm. The balloon flew with the antenna perfectly vertical. Just before
sunset (0048Z), the mostly cloudy skies cleared and it looked like it
would be a nice night. A couple of hours later, that all changed!
Final score was 114 QSOs for 782 points single-op running the FT-1000MP
barefoot.
Let's hope for calm nights in the CQ WW 160 CW contest!
73, de Earl, K6SE
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