[3830] ARRLDX CW K8IA SOAB LP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: K8IA
Operator(s): K8IA
Station: K8IA

Class: SOAB LP
QTH: AZ
Operating Time (hrs): 36

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   13    10
   80:   70    41
   40:  278    70
   20:  366    83
   15:  162    63
   10:   24    13
-------------------
Total:  913   280  Total Score = 766,920

Club: Central Arizona DX Association

Comments:

Ten-Tec Orion 2 (100 watts), 3 el SteppIR at 78', 3 el M2 40M3L yagi at 71', 80m
sloper, Shunt fed 72' tower for 160m, K9AY Rx Loops.

Its nice to be able to go into a contest with nothing to prove except for
getting our local DX Club some points. This change happened when my brand new
Orion 2 was delivered a day before the contest! (Now this is a big deal for me.
I have been in ham radio for 49 years now and have had many radios but only a
very few have been "brand new" !!)

The confusing thing was that I wasnt expecting delivery for at least another 2
weeks! Yes, it most certainly caused a dilemma, as who wants to use a new,
unfamiliar, radio for a serious contest? Especially one as complex as this one.
Not me. Or so I thought.

I let it sit in the box until the devil got to me (hummm) and caused me to take
it out of the box and set it on the workbench. Well, that lasted about 2 quick
cups of coffee. I just HAD to get into the manual and then see what this radio
could do.

I cobbled together some coax lines from the main main op position and had some
fun for a few hrs. Cool box, but use it for a major contest when I dont know
squat about it? Nada....that would be a dumb move, right?

I justified my reluctance with others in my club (CADXA.org) and I was comfy
with my decision to just let it sit for the weekend. Several of my club friends
(guys very well known in the contest and DXPedition world) thought I should
really give it a go. I remained steadfast (or is "stubborn" a better word?)

My xyl came in the shack while I was twiddling my thumbs and said, "you ARE
going to use your new radio this weekend, right?" I just looked at her and shook
my head. She was surprised. After all, when she took delivery on a brand new
commercial embroidery machine last month, she was up for 20 hrs straight playing
with it.Gawd. I just wanted to be left alone with my old, comfy radio!

About 30 minutes later, and with four hrs before the start of the contest, I
made the rig swap decision. All the time I was saying, "This is a dumb move. I
am giving up the comfort of a radio I know EVERYTHING about, contest-wise, and
am putting a big question mark in front of me." 

Well, this story is getting long, so here's the scoop. I put in about 36 hrs in
the contest and IMO this radio is the real deal. I have never been a shil for a
manuafacturer, but Ten-Tec has done well with this one. Having all seven
available roofing filters and the flexibility of fully programaable AGC
parameters makes one smile, and there are many other operational features as
well. This is a real tool for the contester and low band DXer.

Oh, my contest score. Who cares? Not me, not this time anyway. Decent enough for
another one of my "kick yourself in the teeth" Low Power efforts that I
regularly do, but the highlight of this contest wasnt the contest, per se. 

The highlight was messing with the filters, the AGC parameters in many different
scenarios this weekend. I figure I probably lost 150 qso's while I played with
the Orion 2. It was a great experience. ;-)

Hope you all have a chance to play with one of these sometime. 

CU all in ARRL Phone Contest!

73, Bob K8IA
Arizona USA


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