[3830] BARTG Sprint K4GMH SO Expert HP

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                    BARTG RTTY Sprint

Call: K4GMH
Operator(s): K4GMH
Station: K4GMH

Class: SO Expert HP
QTH: VA
Operating Time (hrs): 13
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
   80:   77
   40:  250
   20:  300
   15:  362
   10:  184
------------
Total: 1173  Mults = 81  Continents = 6  Total Score = 570,078

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

Thanks BARTG for sponsoring the Contest.  Also, thanks to all who were kind
enough to work me.  Fun Contest until...  (see below)

Bands were good although 80 meters was noisy, probably more local due to
weather.  Still the propagation was good on 80 m.  Ten meters was good both in
propagation and rate - good activity on 10 meters.  15, 20 and 40 meters were
as good as they have been for the last year or two.  

VU2NKS was as loud as I've ever heard him on 20m, This was at 1724Z and later
on 40 m at 0156Z he, again, had a very outstanding signal.  New antennas or
amp. Nand?

A number of QSOs with the same station on five bands was accomplished. 
Thanks.

Now for the bad....  The blower used for both amps. showed up with a bad
bearing or a damaged bearing surface at the start of the Contest.  (The blower
is mounted on the garage side of the wall that separates the garage from the
shack. The blower's output is sent through PVC pipe to each of the two homemade
GS-35B amps.)  The blower was okay day before the Contest when checking out the
amps'. bands set-up.  So it was a surprise when the noise started when the amps
(blower) was turned on about 15 minutes before the start of the Contest.  The
noise subsided after about 30 minutes (yeah, I was going to operate until the
blower froze up as there isn't any means to lubricate it), but came back louder
after an hour.  The noise gradually kept getting worse throughout my time in the
Contest.  Unfortunately, when my wife came in the shack around 0145Z and asked
about the noise she was hearing in the other rooms in the house, I knew the
blower had become too bad to continue operating.  Did give the blower a cursory
examination and didn't find any hot spots (motor) or rotation hesitation with
the blower's rotor wheel.  

The blower was a "freebie" with an unknown pedigree.  As guys have
told me, I've got my money's worth out of it for over 15 years of contest
use:>)  Still debating with my self on whether to break down and get a new
blower or scrounge around at hamfests to see if a quasi replacement can be
found.  

By the time I decided to (had to?!) stop, Khrystyne, K1SFA, was still ~300 QSOs
ahead and Fabi, VA2UP, was nearly overtaking me.  The BARTG Sprint exchange,
just the QSO number, is short and you can tell how the competition is doing. 
Again, thanks BARTG for sponsoring the Sprint with a sensible sprint exchange.

Hope to see you in the next one.

  73,
  Mike, K4GMH


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