[3830] NA7ID ARRL SSB SOHP

[K7ZO, Scott Tuthill]

                 ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX CONTEST -- 1999


      Call: NA7ID (Operator K7ZO @ NK7U) State: Oregon
      Mode: SSB                       Category: Single Op/High Power
                                                Unassisted
      BAND     QSO    QSO PTS PTS/Q COUNTRIES
      160        0        0   0.0        0
       80        0        0   0.0        0
       40        4       12   3.0        4
       20      209      627   3.0       45
       15      240      720   3.0       49
       10      242      726   3.0       28
     --------------------------------------
     Totals    695     2085   3.0      126  =   262,710

All reports sent were "59 Oregon" unless otherwise noted.

Soapbox:
========
Was able to squeeze in about 7 hours of operating over at NK7U’s place in
Baker, OR. I went over primarily to upgrade the PC’s and network to CT 9.39
in anticipation of a M/M in WPX SSB later this month. But, managed to find a
few hours to operate before having to head home for a dinner party Saturday
night.

For the time I was on 00:00-06:00 and 14:15-18:30 Saturday (with a few small
off periods in there) the bands sure seemed great. 10M was wide open to JA
at the start and I settled in on 28.427 about 15 minutes before the start.
When 00:00 rolled around the band seemed to explode! I thought I was going
to have my first ever 200 hour. However, I had one of those deadly 2-3
minute lulls and a later phone call which killed that. Still a 152 hour is
enough to keep the juices running. Was surprised when HS0/G3NOM called in at
00:40. He must have been calling for some time through the JA’s when I
finally heard a, “This is Thailand calling” coming through the din. About
01:15 I got squeezed off the frequency. Tuning up the band I caught V73UX.
Also, I heard one JA complaining how bad the local QRM was from 10M AM
stations coming out of China. This does not sound like a good trend. Perhaps
one of the JA contesting community can comment more fully. I then settled in
at 28.523 where I stayed until the band starting dying about 01:45.  Tuning
around a little allowed me to find ZL1AA, AH8A, and WH6CYK for mults.

At 02:00 I went to 15M and immediately found HC1HC at 21.218 off the back of
the JA 4 stack. I kept moving up, working what I found, and then settled in
on 21.246. During the next 10 minutes I had a quick run of 30 QSO’s until I
took a break for dinner and try to figure out why the 20M 6/6 stack was not
working since I knew I would want it later. (Problem – a fried relay in the
remote coax switch. Solution – move it to a different port. Luckily Joe has
4 port switches.) Back on at 03:25 I found 21.322 clear and stayed there for
30 minutes making 63 QSO’s. During the run 9M6AAC, BD4EG, BV4ME, VR2BG, and
RZ0SR called in for mults.

At 04:10 I went to 20M and casually tuned around working what I found. UA4RC
at 04:23 was unique though not unexpected. 20M is often open to that area in
the evening if propagation is just a little bit better. At 4:50 I found
14.160 empty and settled in to run for a while making 80Q’s in the next 40
minutes. A quick spin up the dial found LO0D for probably my favorite
callsign. It is just close enough to LOUD that you just have to chuckle a
bit. I then made a quick trip to 40M to and found GW3GBZ and venerable RW2F
though not much else from Europe. I then hit the sack.

I got up well before dawn and puttered around the shack. I tried a few more
fixes on a PC that was/is giving me problems then gave up. Made some coffee
and listened to 20M before the band opened to Europe. At 13:30 I ran across
K9NS who was throwing splatter 15 kc up and down the band. It was without a
doubt the worst signal and/or the most blatant abuse of hardware I have ever
experienced. Several stations broke in on the operator (I sounded like a
multi something operation so I don’t know if it was K9NS or someone else.)
and tried to inform him of the situation. At one point a VY2 engaged in a
conversation with the operator to try to get him to fix it. At his place he
said the splatter was 20 kc wide. The operator at K9NS basically said:
“There ain’t nothin I am doing wrong, so go away.” This situation kept up
for maybe 20 minutes more and then there must have been an operator change
as I noticed a different voice and a clean signal. A couple of lessons for
those who run muli-ops out there:
  1.) Make sure those guest operators not familiar with big gun stations
      know how to operate the equipment
  2.) Make sure they do so within accepted operating practices – it is
      your name going out over the airways.

Enough said.

20M opened to Europe right at dawn and I made my first Q at 14:16 with
YU1JW. I immediately and shockingly found 14186 clear and started a run. I
had a fun 100 hour thanks to Joe’s 5/5/5/5 and 6/6. This early the 5/5/5/5
seemed to have a distinct advantage with the top beam at 180’. Later in the
morning the 6/6 sometimes is better, I think in part because it’s somewhat
narrower beam reduces the QRM from Europe. During this period I was really
surprised by the number of UA9’s that were coming in. I don’t remember this
from past years but looking at some propagation programs later confirmed
this opening. I will have to plan on it. I was also surprised to work a
couple of JA’s – and again this opening is to be expected. On the other hand
I worked very few Western Europe stations; G, GM, GW, EI, ON, PA, F, EA, CT,
DL, HB, etc. This pattern was observed in CQWW last all and I am not sure
why. Propagation programs suggest the opening should be there. I may need to
do something more sophisticated as this hole in the pattern is not a good
one to have.

I took a break for awhile to test out the CT network more and investigate
more fully a problem I noticed with the serial number display in CT 9.39 in
a multi-op WPX setup. Then, with time drawing close it was time to jump to
15M. I went to the band at 16:20 and this time started at the top and worked
down. I found a hole at 21.408 and managed to work 71 Q’s in the next 44
minutes. After losing that frequency I roamed around a while and stopped on
21.290 where I worked another 41 Q’s in 26 minutes. This may not sound like
much but getting a high rate into Europe from the Northwest is not an easy
thing to do, and I invite anyone to come out and give it a try. Even with
the 6/6/6/6 on 15M for EU it is hard. You know you are loud into Europe and
I had many 59++ reports. It is just that there are very few stations who’s
signal stands out of the crowd. Most of the time all you hear is something
akin to a buzz that you know is a couple dozen “100W and a dipole” stations
coming back to you. At best you can get a letter or two. And, I have been
known to just guess a letter and call it out in an effort to thin out the
crowd. Luckily this is a hobby and I was having fun. Otherwise I could get
frustrated.

At one point I remember hearing a very clear “Gulf” come though and nothing
else. I went back to him with no response and then went on to work a couple
of other stations. Then I heard clearly “Gulf” #AB. It seems the gent
transmitted into his amp on the wrong band setting and it kicked off line
after the first letter. I commented that I thought I was the only one who
did that and we both had a good laugh.

By now the witching hour was approaching and I took a quick spin to catch
any mults. I found 3V8BB with the huge pileup. Broke it on the first call.
As they say – “Loud is good”. Then on to 10M to work the Caribbean mults,
pack up and head home. Wish I could have put in a whole operation as the
bands were certainly better than in the past few years. There is always next
time.

               Scott Tuthill  K7ZO/NA7ID
               4403 Keldoon Ave.
               Boise ID, ID 83702

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