So, for me 222 night was a bust. I did work one station on SSB, WA3EOQ
FM09. I heard no FT8 except one loud burst that did not decode. I also
heard parts of several CW calls but my CW is so bad I'd have trouble copying
my own callsign. I need to get on the air and get back up to a decent copy
speed again.
I did work most of the day getting the Larcan up and running. It works and
puts out around 750 watts with 25 watts drive. It will require some
refinement to make it better. I've got the relay power kind of kluged using
a separate power supply.
My goal for the last 2 months was to get everything done and ready for a
serious effort in the September contest. Putting up a tower, fixing 4
bent up 23cm loop yagis and building 12 new LFAs (4 for each of the other
bands) took more time than I had anticipated. Good thing I'm retired and
don't have to go to work. I got all of the antennas up and working on
Monday. I have several issues that still need attention. I need to get
my lightening protection done, and mast mounted preamps finished and
installed. The biggest issue I have to deal with is getting the elevation
to work on my Alfa Spid Big RAS. Apparently, I have both too much voltage
drop going up the tower and an unbalanced array. It will take a while
until I get that fixed. At least I can make it go around to work
terrestrial.
Tonight (Wednesday) I was working to resolve other in the shack issues and
had very little success. I have several computer interface issues with the
rigs and some RF getting into the 222 audio when using the Larcan. I did
manage to tune around and try without success to work any 432 or 222
contacts. I heard several partial CW and SSB stations on 432 and about 8
seconds of CW on 222. I worked a few on 2 meter FT8 in between the
computer dropping connection to the rig.
I have a lot of minor issues with rig/computer connections that still need
resolving to make it reliable and I haven't even started to get everything
working and interfacing with my contest software, Writelog. I've still got
2 days to slug through the problems, but I also have some other "homeowner"
things that need attention. My planned serious contest effort is going to
be more of an opportunity to work on resolving things as well as find other
issues that will undoubtedly pop up.
Look for me in FM07 on 50, 144, 222, 432 & 1296 this weekend. I may or may
not be there .
de K3SK
Dave Buckwalter
FM07 - Farmville VA
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