W4EF SPDC SO/LP/UNASS

[Mike.Tope at Sciatl.COM]

          W4EF Stew Perry Distance Challenge
          
          Operator: Mike Tope, W4EF (ex AD4VH)
          Category: Single Operator/Low Power/Unassisted
          Location: EL-98 (Melbourne, Florida)
          
          Score: 80 QSOs for 288 QPoints X 2 Power Mult = 576 Points
          
          DX Worked: GM3POI (14pts)
          
          Total Operating Time: ~3 hours
          
          Rig: Ten-Tec Paragon - 100 watts output 
          
          Software: TRlog 5.80
          
          TX Antenna: Marconi @ 50' (133' horizontal, 50' vertical) 
          fed against 20 1/4 wave radials, mostly in the NW to NE 
          quadrant
          
          RX Antenna: TX Antenna/40 meter dipole phased using JPS 
          ANC-4
          
          Comments:
          Spent Saturday afternoon blanketing my 1/2 acre lot with 
          2000 feet of radial wire. Because of the location of my 
          antenna, my radials are laid asymetrically with the bulk of 
          them between in the sector between 330 deg and 30 deg 
          azimuth. This definitely improved my signal as I can now 
          work most of what I hear coming from the north. I am still 
          having trouble working the west coast, which is probably due 
          to the lack of radials in that direction. The JPS ANC-4 
          saved me from local noise, but made S&Ping a little 
          cumbersome due to the frequent renulling required when 
          changing frequency. Took me a while, to get used to the 
          quirks of TRlog 5.80 (just upgraded from 4.50). My apologies 
          for any strange emmanations, I was still reading the manual 
          while making qsos.
          
          Big signal awards go to N4AR, K8MK, and N2IC. Especially 
          Steve, who sounded like he had moved his station to Florida. 
          I guess K1ZM was running QRP, he was so much weaker than 
          usual that I asked him for a repeat on his callsign thinking 
          that it had to be somebody else. The band was very quiet 
          during my first two hours, ~2230 - 0030, but got much 
          noisier when I got back on from 0400 to 0500. Must have been 
          thunderstorm activity to the west. Activity seemed a little 
          on the low side, but all-in-all a great contest. See you all 
          next year!
          
          73 de Mike, W4EF      

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