[3830] ARRL 10 W1UJ SO Mixed HP

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                    ARRL 10-Meter Contest

Call: W1UJ
Operator(s): W1UJ
Station: W1UJ

Class: SO Mixed HP
QTH: MA
Operating Time (hrs): 17

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
   CW:  836   112
  SSB:  244    73
-------------------
Total: 1080   185  Total Score = 708,920

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

It all started when fellow Barnstormer, NR1X started building a 10m monobander
for the event.  Allan was the motivator for this one for sure! 

I had an old 105ba (The 'Leo')in the aluminum pile that was re-assembled during
the week preceding the contest.  That left Friday for the installation.   Took
the much needed day from work and installed the 5el at ~28' fixed South.  

At the top of the tower is a 4el Steppir at 75'.  The 4el I had popped 2 of the
driver chips in the controller so swapped in a spare 3el controller - BUT - the
driver chips arrived from Mouser on Friday also, for the first time 4el Steppir
is in action!  With the freshly repaired controller.  

Now the contest starts....  Turning the top antenna to.. somewhere (45 mins in)
and not looking at the TIC ring controller, it 'took off' and spun the antenna
all the way to a stop, and yanking out the controls for 3 of the 4 motors on
the Steppir!   So now, was stuck high in the band (28500) and I dont know if
180/Dual direction was engaged, and I couldn't determine where it was
pointing.

Sunrise in W1 was a brisk, refreshing climb to the Steppir around 0700EST,
better than coffee!  Here is the problem, after I climbed and repaired the
Steppir connections and re-flowed the wire, I found the TIC ring stuck at 120
degrees, no turning the rest of the contest... 120 degrees, not much that
way... thank goodness motors were working FB with 180 and dual direction
back-in-action.

Sunday was a wash, having a great time with My Dad in the AM and then
Brother-In-Law graduation party in the afternoon killed any productive action,
but I returned home with <2 hours left and exceeded the goal of 1000 QSOs but
fell short on 1mil point goal.

Great to work many YCCCers, Thursday NSers, and CWOps

Jay W1UJ


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