[3830] CaQP W6YX M/MSchool HP

webform at b4h.net webform at b4h.net
Mon Oct 5 21:54:07 EDT 2015


                    California QSO Party

Call: W6YX
Operator(s): K2YY AA6XV K6TJ W6LD N7MH
Station: W6YX

Class: M/MSchool HP
QTH: Stanford
Operating Time (hrs): 25.5

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs
--------------------
  160:             
   80:   203    139
   40:   304    422
   20:   627   1125
   15:   453    569
   10:   109     59
    6:             
    2:             
--------------------
Total:  1696   2314  Mults = 58  Total Score = 563,528

Club: Northern California Contest Club

Comments:

With just 3 operators full-time or almost, we decided that more fun would be had
by going M/M than splitting time in a single M/S transmitting position.

John/W6LD and I set up 5 operating positions.  W6YX has two antennas for each
band from 80 through 10 accessed through two SixPaks so we gave each operating
position one side of a SixPak.  The 160 positions on the SixPaks have
multi-band Yagis - a Force12 C31XR and a Mosley Pro67A.

Even though we had flexibility to be on any band or mode with any radio we
didn't have enough operators to take advantage of this.  Two of our K3s have
DVRs so we used those exclusively on Phone.  The 3 CW stations were arranged so
that one op could operate two of the radios using a simple audio switch to
handle SO2R without worrying about simultaneous transmission.  The 5 stations
were:

40/15 SSB:   K3/Alpha-9500, M2 4 el. 40, Telrex 6 el. 15
80/20 SSB:   K3/Alpha-86, 80 Inv. Vee, KLM 6 el. 20, Mosley Pro67A
40/15 CW:    FT1000MP Mark V/Alpha-78, 40 Inv. Vee, HyGain 155CA, C31XR
80/20/10 CW: FT1000MP/Alpha-9500, 80 Inv. Vee, HyGain 205CA, HyGain 105CA,
C31XR
40/10 CW/SSB: K3/KPA500, Telrex 6 el. 10, M2 4 el. 40

We started the contest with John/K2YY on 20 CW, John/W6LD on 20 SSB, Pete/K6TJ
on 15 SSB and Mike/N7MH on 15 CW.  Everyone arrived just minutes before the
contest start so all of the time I'd allocated to known last-minute tasks was
instead spent explaining the radio/antenna situation to everyone and getting
them started.

We had a few initial glitches - all bands but 15 SSB started a few minutes late
for various reasons.  I was 10 minutes late on 15 CW due to getting everyone
else settled and discovering that the cable near my CW paddle didn't actually
connect to it and that my amp hadn't been turned on.  20 SSB was
unintentionally using the Pro67 beaming South America for the first half hour
which we only realized when W6LD sent a gab message complaining of interference
from CW.  Switching to the 6 element monobander several hundred feet farther
away eliminated the interference and greatly improved his rate.

While operating on 15 CW I also CQed on 10 CW for a long time with no answer. 
This uninterrupted use caused the KPA500 to heat up and after a few minutes its
fan would turn on which was so loud that I couldn't hear the CW monitor tones
from either radio.  I stopped CQing on 10 to let the KPA500 cool down.  On 10
SSB I heard N6O CQing so I plugged in a headset mike and worked him.

I went through periodic cycles of CQing on 10, waiting for the KPA500 to cool
down, then CQing again (all with no answer).  Lengthening the Timed CQ interval
slowed the heating so I didn't have to deal with the noisy fan.

Finally N4DU in GA answered my 10m CQ at 1823, more than 2 hours into the
contest.  Over the next 2 hours I worked 70 more stations including NJ, NY, PA,
and most states in 4-land.  From 1920 to 1950 shorter skip allowed QSOs with LA,
TX, IN, and OH plus backscatter to WJ9B in ID and W7WA in WA.  Several South
Americans and Mexico were also worked.  I tried SSB for about 10 minutes and
made 10 Qs but the radio wasn't set up for voice keying and my rate on 15 CW
suffered while having to speak on 10 SSB.

K6TJ left at 1845 so we had no 15 SSB operator for several hours when the band
was open.  W6LD and I filled in some on 15 SSB but that left the 20 SSB or
15/10 CW seats vacant.  Then W6LD had to leave at 2145 for several hours.

With only 2 operators it was a challenge to choose what band/mode would
maximize our ultimate score.  K2YY stayed on 20 CW.  I roamed between the other
stations.  When K2YY left to get something to eat my best option was SO2R on 15
and 20 CW.

At around 0000 I was alone in the shack and noticed a man and his pre-teen son
peering in the window and knocking at the door.  They didn't see me and walked
away.  After completing the QSOs in progress I left the radios to go outside
and greet them.  The son announced that he was a newly minted ham with a KM6
call and commented that I must have noticed him hitting our repeater with his
HT.  I had to admit that I was unaware and then he uttered some
shack-on-the-belt jargon that was like a foreign language to me.

I told them about CQP and offered to let the son listen to an HF QSO on CW.  He
put on a headset and I proceeded to CQ and work a couple stations on 20 CW.  He
asked if the computer was both transmitting and receiving and I replied that it
was only transmitting but I was copying the Morse code.  I showed him how we
could also send with a paddle.  This prompted a question about whether a person
could copy digital transmissions at some baud rate (9600?).  After suggesting
that RTTY could probably be recognized and copied by some we tried a demo QSO
on 40 SSB.

K2YY returned about this time and started up again on 20 CW.  I continued the
tour of W6YX by offering to show them our EME array and dishes.  Fortunately
just as we arrived at the EME shelter our EME contesters drove up so I let them
take over and I returned to HF radio and CQP.

15 CW was very slow so I switched to 40 CW.  W6LD returned at 0045 and resumed
on 20 SSB.  I moved to 40 SSB and K2YY tried SO2R on 40/20 CW but ended up just
switching alternately between the two bands.

K2YY left early in the evening and W6LD and I worked our way down to the low
bands.  W6LD was more successful with CW SO2R.  Our 40 and 80 SSB numbers are
low because we had to spend much of the evening on only one of those bands.

At 0630 I was exhausted and both John and I decided to call it a night.  We
hadn't been on 160 but that required throwing a switch at the tower base and
neither of us was motivated enough to hike or drive over to do it.

As we were heading out Dave/AA6XV arrived, having spent the day in San Benito
county (SBEN) as K6N.  Dave stayed for two and a half hours and made 13 QSOs. 
I've done the late night shift before and with the low rates I'm very grateful
that Dave offered to help us.

I got back on the air at 1300 and was on 80 and 40 CW.  By 1330 20 meters was
open and I was on 40 and 20 CW.  At 1430 I switched to 20 SSB but the rate was
slow and I switched back to 20 CW at 1550.  K2YY arrived shortly after and
found my 20 SSB run frequency was still available.  15 CW began to see some
activity at 1600 but the rates were slow until 1730 when signals became much
stronger.  A few minutes later I tried 10 CW and it was open to the same areas
as on Saturday.  Many CA stations were worked on 10 CW, most on backscatter.

Using the Alpha-9500 instead of the KPA500 gave me more confidence in going to
10 SSB so I tried for a while but rates were slower than CW.  With the RBN
packet spots it was always easy to find someone to call on CW if I wasn't
getting responses to CQs.  On SSB it was necessary to tune the band as few
stations were being spotted.  I couldn't use 2 VFOs to both CQ and tune the
band because my other ear was on the 15 CW radio.

Shortly after 1900 I concluded 10 was no longer open and I'd worked all of the
backscatter CA stations that could hear me.  I switched to 20 CW and spent the
rest of the contest on 20/15 CW.  W6LD arrived at this time and spent the rest
of the contest on 15 SSB while K2YY remained on 20 SSB.

K6TJ returned for the final hour of the contest so we put him on 40 SSB using
the K3/KPA500.  Some local stations offered to move to 10 meters with us so
Pete went up to 10 meters and worked them.  He called CQ on 10 SSB and was
surprised to have a few Florida and South America stations call him in addition
to CA.

We had hoped to challenge N6O for the high M/M score but with our limited
operators we ended up with 400 fewer SSB Qs than N6O though CW was nearly the
same.  Congratulations to Ken and the team he assembled.

Thanks to everyone for the Qs and for moving to different bands/modes with us.

73,
-Mike, N7MH


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