[3830] ARRLDX SSB ED5T(EA5ON) SOSB/15 HP

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ARRL DX Contest, SSB

Call: ED5T
Operator(s): EA5ON
Station: ED5T

Class: SOSB/15 HP
QTH: Torrent
Operating Time (hrs): 19

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:           
   80:           
   40:           
   20:           
   15: 1408    60
   10:           
-------------------
Total: 1408    60  Total Score = 253,440

Club: 

Comments:

My original plan had been to test drive the new tower at EA5IKJ and see how the
6 element ultrabeam played in this kind of contest. However Paul was not at his
QTH so 10 days before the test I asked for permission to use the club station at
Torrent, which was duly granted. The Torrent Contest Club was disbanded last
year but some of the infrastructure remains at the EA5ELT site so I decided on
15m SOSB using the Optibeam tribander. I also planned on using our Ameritron
AL1200 which was still sitting on the bench, unused since last year’s ARRL. 

Saturday morning I woke up to find that the garage elevator at my home QTH was
broken so my car was trapped in the basement. Finally the technician came and
fixed it and I left 2 hours behind schedule. When I arrived I did a frantic
setup. I hadn’t done any audio tests on the K3 using the Yamaha 500 headset
and hadn’t ever set up the CAT control. N1MM refused to accept my first QSO
and I eventually pulled out the serial cable and after another 5 minutes of
cursing managed to get under way. Rate was slow but OK.

First murphy attack halfway through Saturday evening. All of a sudden the audio
is intermittently scratchy and then the keyboard starts playing up. After more
frustration and cursing, divine providence occurs. Paco EB5TC walks through the
gate and first thing he says, the amp is arcing. Of course I can’t hear it
with the headset on. We finally figure out it’s the PL259 on the antenna
lead, which I twisted round to read the wattmeter. So I stick the wattmeter
round the back and problem solved. 

8pm and the band is almost dead and I go for dinner. Then I hear ED7P working
guys and get back on. The band lasts another 3 hours, wow. I end Saturday
missing only WY and the usual Canadian ones. 

Sunday I arrive in good time and switch on the find Murphy attack 2. The K3
reads “ERR PA1” and is only putting out 10w. Urgent help call to the ED3X
team who say they have no idea but on the web it says try upgrading the
firmware. Yeah, just what I need in the middle of a contest. I pull my TS590
out the back of the car only to find I have no power cable. Arghhh. I plug the
K3 back in and hey presto, the problem solved itself. Loose connection maybe?
If on Saturday the noise made me lose a good number of QSOs, on Sunday it
turned into a major problem. Noise was normally S5 and in spite of using NB NR
and turning the beam to look for a sweet spot, there was no way to improve
things. Propagation was worse and it started getting really frustrating asking
for repeats. Seems we are now at the point in the cycle where big stations are
loud and weak stations are really weak, I suppose the takeoff angles are
starting to get lower again. 

Vic EA5KV came to visit Sunday evening and eventually we just decided to stop
for dinner, it was too exhausting to continue. After he left I stayed for
another hour, conditions picked up again after the solar disturbance and worked
a good number of guys with auroral flutter. 

Glad I did it but would have been such a different experience if we’d had a
lower noise floor. Thanks to all for the QSOs and sorry for those I couldn’t
manage to work.

Rig K3
Pwr 1kw (ameritron AL1200)
Optibeam OB11-3, 3 ele on 15 @24mh

Photos and video to follow later at https://www.facebook.com/EA5ON/ 

73 de Duncan EA5ON / ED5T


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