[3830] TBDC K1LT Single Op HP

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                    Stew Perry Topband Challenge - Spring

Call: K1LT
Operator(s): K1LT
Station: K1LT

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: EM89ps Ohio
Operating Time (hrs): 9:15
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 315  Total Score = 1,026

Club: Mad River Radio Club

Comments:

I spent the Saturday before the Sprint Stew Perry test trying to get
my south Beverage to wake up.  All of my Beverages are 2-wire
center-fed Beverages.  For the last few months the south direction has
very low output while the north direction works fine.  I've replaced
all of the parts involved (feedline, transformers, connections between
them, etc.), but there is no improvement.  I assume the wires are
intact because they look intact and have continuity.  The only thing
that remains is the ground itself.

My 2-wire Beverages generally use the scheme in which one wire is
grounded while the other wire floats.  The common mode current
representing the received signal reflects in-phase from the grounded
wire and reflects out-of-phase from the open wire producing a
differential mode current in the 2 wires.  Since I have replaced
everything else, I must conclude the ground is broken.

The ground consists of copper flashing wrapped around the bottom of
the 4x4 post that supports the north end of the Beverage.  I can
verify that the grounded wire conducts properly to the copper
flashing.  Apparently, the copper flashing must no longer make
adequate contact with the ground.  That would be surprising since my
ground is generally kind to buried metal things.  I didn't have time
to lay a counterpoise to test this theory.  Comments are welcome.

The annoying Beverage exercise was to have signals originating from
the south appear on the P3 while I used my ears for signals from the
east and west.  When I see a trace on the P3 that I don't hear, then I
know to switch antennas.  This method has proven to be somewhat more
reliable than remembering to switch antennas after every CQ.  Since
the south Beverage didn't work, I used the 150 degree Beverage.  I
worked OA4TT and lots of Florida stations with this method.

This contest was very noisy but differently noisy than a summertime
contest.  The static was not as strong as summer static, but it was
very thorough at destroying a CW signal.  Thus normally copiable
signals were very hard to decode while stronger signals were just
fine.

About half of my DX contacts and a few west coast stations were major
letter mining activities.  I probably busted several calls and grids.
On the other hand several DX stations that I usually have trouble
hearing came through easily.  KL7SB is a notable example.

I operated until about 0700Z and stopped after 20 minutes of CQing
without a QSO.  I took a 3 hour nap and it took a few more minutes to
get the next QSO logged, leaving a 4 hour gap in the log.

The morning bump brought a few more QSOs from all over.  First, my
apologies to XE3ARV.  I just could not mentally integrate the dits and
dahs to form a coherent message.  He was sending very slowly with a
lot of spacing between the dits and dahs which broke my brain (doesn't
take much).

I didn't expect to hear JA, VK or ZL, but JA7QVI called just at my
sunrise with a very strong signal and a 579 but no grid.  I guess he
wasn't in this contest unlike all of the other contests in which we
have QSOed.  By the old TBDC rules, I would still get 1 point for the
QSO, but I think that rule has been dropped.  I logged him anyway.

DX worked: DL (3), F (3), G (4), JA, KL7, LY, KV4 (2), OA, OK, PA, S5,
SM (2), UA, UR, XE (2), and YO not counting my known busted XE3ARV
QSO.  Most of these are probably broken, too.  Where was KH6?

Equipment: K3/100, P3, 8410 at 900 watts, K3/10, homebrew SO2R stuff,
2 phased array / SDR receiving systems, 12 Beverages (only 1 used),
'tee' antenna 65 feet tall over 75 radials.


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