[3830] ARRLDX SSB VE7FO SOAB LP
jimsmith at home.com
jimsmith at home.com
Thu Mar 8 02:28:18 EST 2001
ARRL DX Contest, SSB
Call: VE7FO
Operator(s): VE7FO
Station: VE7FO
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 33
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
----------------------
160:
80: 15 9
40: 2 1
20: 162 50
15: 145 45
10: 181 44
----------------------
Total: 505 149 = 225,288
Club:
Comments:
Some of you who read my "Check out the lids" story which accompanied my ARRL CW
score submission may be wondering, "Was he ready this time?" This being ham
radio, the answer should be obvious. My two major items were to get the 40m
dipole working (how hard could that be?) and voice keyer operational using
sbdvp.exe with my computer.
The same folks may be wondering, "Did KH0Y call him?" No.
There is a long and complex story about the 40m dipole that seems to need 3 or
4 paragraphs to explain. The end result can be summarized by my "I'd like to
but I've got an SWR of 16:1" response to a request to QSY to 40. Probably cost
me 50 Qs and 20 mults, about 20% of my score. Gotta fix this before WPX. Why
didn't I fix it before the 'test? I only got it up 20 min before 0000. Why
didn't I start on it sooner? I was working on the voice keyer.
I got sbdvp.exe and TRLog working fine together. Not hard at all. However,
trying to record from the mic through the patch output on the MkV into the mic
in on the SB AWE64 resulted in very poor recordings. I built a little 30 dB
gain amp (yes, I also used the AWE64 volume controls to turn the mic and output
level controls to max) and now get decent recordings. I tried playing the
recording thru the rig via the same patch output but got very little output
from the rig. At the same time I could hear the recording from somewhere.
While the sound appeared to be coming from the headphones lying right by the
computer monitor, when I put them on I heard nothing. Wasn't coming from the
computer speakers either. Could I be getting some wierd RFI causing the
speakerless monitor itself to emit sound? No, it was coming from the boom mic!
It turns out there is only a 1K resistor between the mic and patch connectors.
Sure glad I didn't fry the mic just before a phone 'test. I then tried using
the packet connector, but that appears to only do sound I/O if PKT mode is
selected on the radio. I looked at the DVS connector for using Yaesu's voice
keyer but it appears that sound I/O requires activity on certain control lines.
At this point I gave up because I was running out of time to get the 40 dipole
up. (One day, I swear I will have SoundBlaster voice keyer working with TRLog
thru the DVS connector. Watch the 1000MP site.)
I actually was on the air at 0000, so, while I wasn't really "ready", I was
there.
After 20 died and I sat there sulking while listening to 40 I started thinking,
"Why not use my old phone patch to isolate the mic and patch lines?" After I
hauled it out and started figuring out what connectors I would need and how I
was going to do it I said to myself, "To heck with it. (Well, what I actually
said required fewer words.) I'll probably just make another dumb mistake.
Let's have a beer and see what I can do on 80."
80 wasn't as good as the during the cw 'test. 9 mults instead of 17. However,
one of them was T32RD, which was pretty exciting for me. Worked him on all 4
bands (see 40m dipole, above).
This time I didn't get depressed by the much lower rates than I had hoped for.
Resignation would better describe it. Didn't call CQ as much as I wanted to
because my throat was a little scratchy. (See voice keyer, above.) It was a
little comical near the end hearing people croaking out their calls. I vow
that I won't work another phone contest without a voice keyer.
Why is it that when I do call CQ I attract mostly guys running 5W that take me
forever to complete the QSO? (This isn't a knock against you QRP guys. Hey,
if you insist on trying to catch tuna on dental floss you're going to develop
skills that I will never have. Besides, at my rate, better a Q that takes 2
min than no Q at all.) However, some of the QRP JAs were s9+.
Several times, while tuning the band looking for a quiet spot to call CQ, I
found I had drifted into a trance where I was just tuning back and forth
without even listening to the calls to see if there was someone I hadn't
worked.
>From this location, I expect to be able to run lots of JAs. While I worked 178
of you I never got any kind of a run going. (See voice keyer, above?) I think
we should start some kind of separatist movement in JA land to cause it to
break up into, say, 50 countries so we can give the East coast guys a run for
their money. Then again, it might be easier to cause Europe to coalesce into,
say, 5 countries
Not too many dumb mistakes with logging program. Harder to make them on phone.
It was kind of nice when working one of the Caribbean SHOP stations ("Super"
Hot Operator) on the fourth and last band (see 40m dipole, above) to hear him
say, "There you are." Made me feel accepted in this looney subset of the ham
radio fraternity known as contesters.
Worked VQ9IO again. This time he was calling CQ and sounding lonely. He was
even resorting to adding, "In Chagos Island" after his call. I simply don't
understand how he could be calling CQ over and over without attracting any
attention.
About an hour before the end I worked NP4A on 10. I used to think I was a
pretty good op (typical youthful disconnect from reality) but I was awestruck
by this guy. Big pileup. He works someone. Says "NP4A". All the hounds start
baying again. In what seems like no time at all, he has a call picked out,
calls him, completes the exchange, works the other 2 calls he has stacked up in
his head, says "NP4A" again, and repeats the cycle. I didn't ever hear him get
a call suffix backwards or wrong. And this at the end of the test.
This is a totally different world from my last contesting days 40 yrs ago.
(See below.) It used to be that you tried to pick the signals out of the noise
as opposed to trying to get the noise out of the signals on intermod alley.
Mults were king. Rate wasn't much of an issue except, perhaps, for the
multi-multis, as there just weren't that many stations on. For example, in the
1958 CW test, there were just 9 W0 and 5 K0 stations. N0 didn't exist. (N0NI,
where were you?)
So, here I am, with a lowly SOABLP 505 Qs and 149 (total for all bands)
countries. When I was active decades ago I had DXCC worked but not confirmed.
I am astonished to find that in just the last ARRL CW & SSB weekends I have
managed to work 119 countries.
I'm in the process of cleaning 40 years worth of junk out of the old ham shack
in the basement so I can move the rig from the 2nd floor (where the ground wire
is 1/4 wavelength on 20) back down there where the ground wire is about 2 feet
long. Today I ran across the results from the 1958 CQ WW phone & cw 'tests
and, while they aren't directly comparable with ARRL DX, I looked up my scores
then. For you young whippersnappers out there, here's what it used to be like.
In the CW 'test, SOAB category, operating as VE8FO when I was on the DEWLine, I
made 303 Qs, 60 zones and 96 countries for 96,408 points. This got me first in
VE8 and 2nd in Canada. Winners were determined by total score, regardless of
power level. Here's a list of how the same score would have done in the US
call areas.
W1 6th place
W2 16th place
W3 5th place
W4 3rd place
W5 3rd place
W6 9th place
W7 3rd place
W8 6th place
W9 7th place
W0 3rd place
The total listing of US entrants took up about three and a half columns of 1
page in CQ magazine.
In the Phone 'test, SOSB category (20m) I made 160 Qs, 29 zones and 49
countries for 33,774 points. This got me first in Canada for my category. The
same score in the US call areas entered as SOAB (not just 20 m) would have
placed as follows:
W1 2nd place
W2 4th place
W3 2nd place
W4 4th place
W5 1st place
W6 3rd place
W7 2nd place
W8 3rd place
W9 4th place
W0 1st place
The total listing of US entrants took up less than one and a half columns of 1
page in CQ magazine.
I may have overdone it, but I am trying to illustrate just how different
contesting was then.
Sorry for the verbosity. Next one will be shorter.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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