[3830] ARRLDX SSB EA5ON(@EA5ELT) SOSB/15 HP

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                    ARRL DX Contest, SSB

Call: EA5ON
Operator(s): EA5ON
Station: EA5ELT

Class: SOSB/15 HP
QTH: Torrent
Operating Time (hrs): 

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:           
   80:           
   40:           
   20:           
   15: 1366    59
   10:           
-------------------
Total: 1366    59  Total Score = 241,782

Club: Torrent Contest Club

Comments:

No multi-single this year from ED5T. When I put out the feelers, almost
everybody came back to say they could not commit, with just EA5KV and myself
able to do the whole weekend. We rejected doing M/S (although we’ve done it
before with just 2 ops) in favour of two SOSB entries. The bands were
eventually chosen just a couple of days before starting, Vic wanted to do 10
and I chose 15.

It’s the first time in a while I’ve done an SOSB and maybe the first time
ever from a “real” station. In this contest its pretty much a no-brainer.
The antenna has to move no more than 30 degrees, no band changes, no cluster
(hence no internet) so its basically do I run or do I s+p? With 2 VFOs on the
FT1000, I could do both, although in the end made very few 2nd VFO QSOs. 

Set up was reasonably painless, substituting the 2 stations that are in the
Torrent club bunker for everyday use, with our FT1000s. On my setup I had the
1000MP and the Ameritron AL1200. We changed the battery on one of the pcs so it
would tell the right time again (after the fiasco in ARRL CW!), then Juan EA5GIE
came round and we raised tower 2 to full height, using our new extendable guying
system which works great. We took the sixpak off, directly inserted the band
stubs in each antenna, and headed off to breakfast. 

The band opened at 1106 into NF but another half hour before I got my second
QSO in the log. Slow going most of the afternoon but little by little the
counter started creeping up and the holes in the mult sheet were getting filled
in. The band seemed all over the place, fading from east to west to north to
south in a matter of minutes, but very poor to the north west. Around 1900 it
seems I was on my own on the band and had a great 2 hour run, and when it dried
up around 2100, I could only hear a station in MT, W3LPL, and nobody else. I
went home pretty satisfied with 907 qsos in the log, worked all states, and
missing only 5 provinces. The downside is that I’m sure I could have worked
more if it hadn’t been for the QRN. We think that there is something amiss at
the cellphone repeater next door which gives us a lot of noise. It’s a choice
between taking the high tower for a lower angle but QRN, or the lower antenna
which is further away. Maybe time for us to do some investigation. Luckily we
finally managed to find a cable to plug in the ANC-4 noise canceller which
helped things.

Sunday was a different kettle of fish altogether. Given that Vic had had a very
boring Saturday on 10, I switched over to his station with the MKV with roofing
filters and the Acom 1000. Slow,slow and slow. I just couldn’t seem to get
any runs together, and I kept getting thrown off my frequency, either by local
EUs or by DX who couldn’t hear me. This got to be really frustrating and
again it wasn’t until late afternoon that I was finally able to find a
frequency and run again. But conditions were such that the east coast was
whalloping in, but who was calling was midwest and west, with really weak
signals. Is this what it sounds like if you live and contest in for example CA,
trying to get over this seemingly insurmountable wall?! I think I got very few
calls which I didn’t need a repeat on. Also there was very rapid QSB, a
significant number of QSOs did not make it in the log because they faded out
before I got the state. Sunday I only got one new mult, BC, missed out on LB,
NT, NU and YT. VE8GER sent me a mail afterwards from Inuvik to say he’d been
listening for me but no show. 

But all in all a great time, nice to play in a contest where we weren’t
pushed (stressed) for time, could sleep at home, and Murphy stayed on the
sideline. OK, propagation could have been better, but I’m not complaining.
Just sorry for all those guys who I couldn’t complete the QSO with, and those
who called that I couldn’t hear, between the QRM and the QRN, and a thousand
thanks for all those who stuck with me patiently until we completed the
exchange. 

Are we still having fun? YOU BET!

73 de Duncan EA5ON


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