[3830] VE7NTT IARU 97 H/P CW ONLY

[Gary Caldwell]

VE7NTT
IARU 1997
CW Only, High Power

Band    QSOs     Zones     HQ
 160      22         6      2
  80     101        17      5
  40     490        30     14
  20     800        40     16
  15     150        16      4
  10       5         3      1

Total   1568       112     42          911,372


       I decided to do this one from home--lots of fun.  Conditions were
surprising quite good from VE7.
       The set-up consists of a single tower with a 5 el Force-12 15M at
86 feet, 80M Force-12 rotary dipole at 79 feet, 4/4 Force-12 20 meter yagis at 73 and 39 
feet, 2 el Force-12 40 meter beam at 73 feet, 5 el W7XR-designed 10 meter beam at 22 
feet, and a poorly working 160M inverted vee with the apex at 73 feet and the ends at 
about ground level.  We're on a city lot location in the flat terrain of greater 
Vancouver, British Columbia, with a rather large mountain blocking us to the north.
      I used a pair of TS-830s, each with an amp.  It's very difficult to use the second 
radio to search for mults when most of the antennas are on the same mast!  This is much 
different from VE7SZ, where I do a lot of guest operating.  The antennas are spread out 
and rotate independently, making two-radio operation much easier.
     Also had a lot of interstation interference, so I suppose I need to get to work to 
solve some of the problems.
     Some notes of interest:

     1) I didn't hear a single station calling CQ Contest on 10 meters the entire 
weekend.  Every station I worked was passed from another band.
     2) Caught a nice 15-minute long opening to EU on 15 at 1630Z.  The seven EU 
stations are the first I've worked on this band from VE7 since 1993!
     3) Worked only a handful of JAs on 80 and 15, but lots on 40 and 20.
     4) The EU opening on 40 was interesting--logged 13 in a 20-minute period starting 
at 0325Z, about an hour before local sunset, all S&P.  By my sunset, they were long 
gone.

     It was nice to work those of you I met at WRTC 96!

73,

Gary Caldwell   VE7NTT

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