[3830] CQ160 CW VE3FU SO LP
ve3fu@rac.ca
ve3fu@rac.ca
Mon, 4 Feb 2002 00:36:29 -0500 (EST)
CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW
Call: VE3FU
Operator(s): VE3FU
Station: VE3FU
Class: SO LP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs):
QSOs: 447 States/Provinces: 48 Countries: 12 Score: 132,420
Comments:
Rig: TS-850 (Tnx VE2ZP!)
TX: Balloon supported vertical, shunt-fed tower
RX: 4 Beverages, NE, SE, SW - 580', NW - 200'
119 fewer QSOs + 8 fewer Countries + 6 fewer States/Provinces = 77,370 fewer
points than last year.
Pre-Contest:
About a week before the start of the contest, my rig decided to stop
transmitting. I took it apart several times, but couldn't see anything
obvious. Dave VE2ZP offered to loan me his TS-850. Thanks Dave! Maybe this
will be the push I need to finally get a new rig.
TX Antennas:
It took 2 years, but I've finally figured out that a balloon supported vertical
won't work at my QTH. Last year the wind kept blowing the balloons into the
trees, so this year I tried guying it with 30lb fishing line. About a half
hour before the contest started, I released the balloons, the fishing line kept
the balloons and wire out of the trees, so I sat down at the rig and checked it
out. The TS-850 showed that the SWR was less than 1.5:1 from about 1800 to
1850 and stations were louder on the vertical than on the shunt-fed tower. I
figured I would use the SWR as an indicator of the state of balloons: if the
SWR went up, there was a problem, if the SWR stayed the same, I'd keep
operating on the vertical. I operated the whole first night on the vertical,
occasionally comparing signals to the shunt-fed tower. When I checked the
balloons in the morning before going to bed, I found the fishing line tangled
in the trees, preventing the balloons from pulling the wire to it's full
length. About half the wire was on the ground or draped over the roof of the
house. The other half went up at about a 45 degree angle from the peak of the
house. I have no idea how long it was like that, but judging by the marks left
by the wire in the snow, it was quite a while. The odd thing was that the
TS-850 still showed the SWR to be less than 1.5:1. Before releasing the
balloons for the second night, I cut the fishing line and took my chances with
the balloons getting caught in the trees, since I had the shunt-fed tower as a
back up. Although the SWR was fine, I kept checking on the balloons throughout
the night. By around midnight, the balloons were tangled in the trees and I
switched to the shunt-fed tower. I've given up on the balloon supported
vertical idea and I'm hoping to relace the shunt-fed tower with an inverted-L
over the summer.
RX Antennas:
Some time after the 2001 Contest, I noticed that my two 580 foot Beverages (NE
& SW) were not hearing like they should. When the snow finally melted, I
discovered that over the winter, the deer/mice/racoons/porcupines had chewed
through the coax in several places. So, over the summer I put the coax and
control wire in some plastic tubing and added two more Beverages: 580 feet SE
and about 200 feet NW.
I heard at least 14 more countries than I managed to work, including: OK1, OM7,
EA8 (x2), PY0F, ZX5, V47, 9A7, VP5, VK, XE2, F, TA, EA6, and OZ. I also heard
4 more states and 2 more provinces that got away. So it seems like receiving
is not a problem.
Operating:
My first mistake: Spending TOO much time in a frequency fight with a HP station
from Texas, starting about 1.25 hours into the contest.. We were making QSO's
through each other's QRM, but he was making about 3 QSO's to my 1. Many times
I thought he had QSY'd, as the frequency was clear for about 15-20 seconds at a
time before he returned. Once, he disappeared for about 2 minutes before
returning to start Cqing again.
I stayed on one frequency and CQ'd for the first 4 hours or so before looking
for multipliers. I figured I'd go looking for the EU multipliers, with an
occasional CQ, and concentrate on the states/provinces & NA/SA multipliers
after EU sunrise. I had no problems hearing the multipliers: they just
couldn't hear me (See TX & RX Ants above).
The second night, unlike others have mentioned, I didn't hear nearly as many EU
as the first night, so I spent more time Cqing on the shunt-fed tower.
Both nights, I called many stations, without getting a response, even if I was
the only one calling. Many times, by the time I finished sending my call, they
would be part way through a CQ. At the same time, I could hear a local HP
station running EU. Through some combination of QRM, QRN, QSB, my LP and TX
antenna, no matter how many times I called, I just could not be heard by
VP5/G4RCG, V47KP, S50A, EA8ZS, EA8AH, 9A7A, XE2AC, or F6BEE.
Most of the multipliers that I heard were outside the DX window. It seems like
once a multipliers shows up in the DX window everyone crowds inside, while
tuning up or down the band you could find a station from the same country Cqing
with few, if any, calling.
Anyway, that's my excuse/story. Hopefully, my score will be included in the
results this year. I finished #4 in the world and #2 in Canada & North America
last year and was left out of the results completely. I won't even come close
to that this year.
73,
Chris VE3FU
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