[3830] NAQP CW VE7F0 SOAB LP
jimsmith at shaw.ca
jimsmith at shaw.ca
Mon Jan 14 20:06:18 EST 2002
North America QSO Party - CW
Call: VE7F0
Operator(s):
Station:
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 10
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
----------------------
160:
80: 15 10
40: 52 25
20: 150 50
15: 129 46
10: 123 43
----------------------
Total: 469 174 = 81,606
Club/Team:
Comments:
CURRENT STATUS:
Reinstalled Windows over itself in hopes of curing sound card problem. Got
pretty excited when a message told me that the Registry was being initialized!
Visions of reinstalling a ton of software. However, no problem, Win didn't
forget about my software and the Sound Card now works! Well, did have one
problem. When I originally got TRLog working in a win98 DOS box I didn't
really know what I was doing and ended up modifying the MS-DOS prompt shortcut
in the Start Menu. So, whenever I clicked on the MS-DOS prompt icon TRLog
started up. When I rebooted after the re-install the MS-DOS prompt was
restored to its original function. i.e. command.com instead of TR. Had a
little fun getting TR back but all OK now and have 2 DOS prompts in Start menu,
one for DOS and one for TR.
I took advantage of the Inrad New Year's Day sale and bought an 8 MHz 250 Hz
xtal filter for the MkV. Spent a couple of hours trying to decipher the MkV
manual info on filters. What a disgusting example of technical documentation.
Anyway, the filter arrived 2 days before the test so opened up the MkV on
Friday and installed it. While I had the rig open I thought I would try to
find out why the 500 Hz filter in the sub-rx wasn't working. I thought I would
put a scope on the input and output to see if the problem was the filter or
not. When I went to do it I couldn't find the filter, just a blank space where
it is supposed to be! This was very troublesome as the person who installed
the filter was me. Where could it have gone? I know I put it in. Did someone
steal it? Say, here's a 500 Hz filter installed in the main rx Lo IF.
Hmmm.... I've been wondering why MP Filters program showed 2 500 Hz filters in
the main rx when the rig came with only one. Oh well, pull it out and install
it in the sub rx. Hey, sub rx is now useful for cw. This means I'll be able
to try out my SO1.5R technique in NAQP. More on this below.
PREPARATION:
I vowed that this time I would actually be ready to go at the start of the
test. I have a bunch of config files I have made for TR, one for each contest,
so I can have the F Keys set up the way I want them. One of the most important
is F7 which now says, "PSE QRS". So I went through the NAQP config file and
made sure that it was how I want it and that it works. Also set up TR for NAQP
so I'll be ready at the starting gun.
Some time ago I devised a method of using the programmable F Keys in TR to
simulate SO2R with one MkV. It isn't real SO2R as, of course, you can't hear
while transmitting. Even so, it is of some use and certainly enables you to
practise the fundamental SO2R skill of reading 2 audio streams with one brain.
I've had others try it out and, based on their comments, made the appropriate
revisions. I just about had the documentation complete when Tree upgraded
TRLog. So, test it again and revise the documentation. Just about ready for
release when Tree does it again. Start thinking about testing with new version
of TRLog and he upgrades it again! However, two changes he made have greatly
improved the functionality of my SO1.5R system, so I'm sure not complaining.
Going to try to make a concerted effort to get it finished this week. It will
be available from an as yet unknown web site. If you are interested, watch for
announcement on TRLog and 1000 MP reflectors.
Anyway, I installed the latest version of TR on Friday night and turned on the
MkV to see if SO1.5R still works. (I know, the conventional wisdom is that you
never install a new version of a logging program the day before a contest, but
this is TR so I have lots of confidence.) Tune around 40 a bit to find a
couple of frequencies to play Run and Mult find with. What's all this CQ test
I'm hearing? Don't tell me I misread the NAQP start time! Why are they all
JAs? Oh, JIDX test. Perfect opportunity to try SO1.5R so quickly set up TR
for JIDX. Hmm.. JAs on 40 at 2345 local time?
Well, SO1.5R system works. Didn't test all parts of it but did get some 2 ear
1 brain practice. Worked as many JAs as I could, thinking that maybe JAs don't
support our contests as much as they did because, if my understanding is
correct, we don't support theirs very much. Not used to hearing numerous JAs
on 40 with my low dipole so had fun chasing them. Oh, oh, I've worked 16 of
them and it's 3 am local time. NAQP starts in 7 hours. Damn, I've done it
again.
WHAT HAPPENED:
Got up at 9:15 am. NAQP starts in 45 min. Make my first Q at 10:06 while
drinking my orange juice. If I had read the rules properly last night, I would
have realized that I can work only 10 of the 12 hours and got up at 10 am.
Then again, didn't seem to be all that much happening in the final hour.
Probably because my low band antennas aren't that great.
All times are local (PST).
1006 Start on 10. My cw skills seem to have improved so set default speed to
23 wpm.
1100 54 Qs, 29 mults. Not too shabby. Way too busy to try SO1.5R
1200 102 Qs, 39 mults. Still on 10.
1223 Stop for lunch. Back at 1255.
1259 116 Qs, 43 mults. Still on 10.
1308 123 Qs, 43 mults. Rate still pretty good for me but not a lot of mults
left and want to get the 15 and 20 mults so switch to 15.
1359 162 Qs, 70 mults. Did some S&P then Run. S&P rates were higher than I
have previously experienced.
1459 231 Qs, 82 mults. Still on 15. A 69 hour. Good for me on cw.
1523 244 Qs, 86 mults. Beats my total Qs from NAQP CW this time last year.
Won't be #121/139 this time around! Heck, I might even make #10 for VE7. Then
again, I only heard one, well, actually 2, my former elmee and now elmer called
me once and I heard him one other time, so maybe I got a chance at #5.
1540 250 Qs, 90 mults. Rate is dropping. Got 47 mults on 15. Better move to
20.
Been trying SO1.5R. I run auto cq on VFO B and tune around with VFO A. I can
just about make it work when the 10 minute rate is around 40/hr. If someone
calls on the Run ear with a good sig I find that, to my delight, I can actually
work him without needing to shut off the racket in the Mult ear. But, when
someone calls who is not really strong or is QRQ or QSD (euphemism for bad
fist), I'm still trying to figure out his call and enter it when auto cq starts
up again. Frantic scramble to hit something on the keyboard to stop the cq and
then hit ALT-F2 to switch the main rx from the mult frequency to the run
frequency so that the caller is heard in both ears and the new (it is to die
for) 250 Hz filter can be brought into play if needed. "VE7FO is 10 over 9
here and I must be the same there. What's with the ? he sent when I answered
his cq? The QRM can't be that bad. Must be some kind of lid. Maybe I should
send him the last two letters of his call. Oh well, he's a Q and a VE7 at
that, so send my call again. Maybe half speed will help, but I doubt it." Do
you see yourself here? Now you know what you were dealing with.
Trivia Question #1: (You probably don't want to read this)
Q: How can you visually identify an SO2R op?
A: His left, or multiplier, ear is working on a mathematical problem and his
right ear is running.
1559 271 Qs, 102 mults. As always, it's harder to find a place to run on 20
than on the higher bands so started with S&P. As I gain experience, S&P and
run rates are improving. However, I generally figure that an S&P 10 minute
rate of 30-40/hr is pretty good. If I find run rate is dropping below that, I
start S&P. So here we got 21 S&P Qs in 19 minutes. At 1557 the S&P 10 minute
rate was a never before experienced 96/hr. Incredible fun that I wouldn't have
believed possible a year ago, particularly on cw. One thing I was trying with
S&P was to work harder at getting the call as I tuned into it and hitting the
de VE7FO button as opposed to waiting while someone else answered to make sure
I got the call right, so maybe this helped. Signals were generally strong
enough that fills took very little time.
When I got back into contesting 18 months or so ago, I concentrated on mults
as, a few decades ago, rate wasn't something you could get, at least, not as we
understand it now. After several tongue lashings from my new elmer and much
reading on various reflectors, I now know that rate is king.
Trivia Question #2.
Q: What is the difference between Canadian hams and American hams?
A: The Canadians are so polite that they don't like to cq because they might
bother someone.
1603 N5TJ asks me to QSY to 40. I agree.
Those who have been following my stories may remember that, when I moved the
shack from the 2nd floor to the basement, the rotor control box was still on
the 2nd floor until I eventually dropped its cable through the conduit that
runs from the roof, through the 2nd floor shack and into the basement, where it
comes out just above the clothes drier at the opposite corner of the basement
to the shack. As the cable wasn't long enough to reach the basement shack, the
rotor box sat for a while on the clothes drier. Finally, I got it into the
shack where it belongs. In the meantime, there were several humorous episodes
involving beam turning. (A certain KH6 told me he had a guest op for, I think,
the ARRL 10. The guest op was heard to mutter, "There's VE7FO. I wonder if he
had to run out to the drier to turn the beam our way." No, Arnie, I worked you
off the back.)
What does this have to do with NAQP? Well, I have 1 tri-bander and 2 dipoles,
each with their own coax. The tri-bander is plugged into the Ant A jack on the
MkV. When I am on 10, 15, or 20, the MkV is smart enough to use Ant A. The
only other jack is Ant B. I've told the MkV to use Ant B for 40 and 80. When
I was in the 2nd floor shack I plugged the 40 and 80 dipole feeds into an old
Dow 5 position manual coax switch left over from my last ham incarnation the
feed from which was plugged into the Ant B jack. Well, they are still plugged
into the Dow switch but the feeds were long enough to reach the basement. You
guessed it, just long enough to reach the drier. So the Dow switch is screwed
to the basement ceiling just above the drier and, to meet N5TJ, I have to run
out of the shack to the opposite corner of the basement to switch dipoles. Oh,
and do it again when Q is finished. Guess I need more coax.
1622 293 Qs, 117 mults. Rate is pretty good and have 27 mults on 20 but
starting to worry about close in mults on 40, so switch to 40.
1635 300 Qs, 124 mults. 7 Qs, 7 mults. Hard to complain about but the mults
were Va, In, Tn, Pa, Sc, Co and Fl. Not exactly close in, I was expecting
these a little later. While doing wierd things might as well check out 15.
1643 3 Qs, and no mults here. Switch to 20.
1655 314 Qs, 127 mults. Beats my total mults from NAQP CW this time last year.
1838 411 Qs, 147 mults. Alternated between 40 and 80 until the end. Kept
checking for 80 to open up but it never did. Finished up on 40, although it
wasn't that great either.
2038 469 Qs, 174 mults. The end.
GENERAL COMMENTS:
Felt really good about this one. Beat my last year's score by 51,000 points.
CW is improving. Did some running at 26 wpm and getting better at the
keyboard. I don't think I ever forgot a call before I got it all entered.
Only had to hit the PSE QRS button once, and that was to get a QSY frequency.
Didn't accomplish much with SO1.5R as run rates were generally too good. I
think I'll practise it in REF cw. High rates won't be a problem for me there!
Thanks for the Qs, everyone and Happy New Year
Jim VE7FO
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