ARRL DX CW

[Charlie Ocker]

Hello, Contesters:

The Texas Instruments (Dallas) ARC station K5OJI competed in the m/s
category.  Operators were ND0P, N0IAT, KT5V, N5HD, and KD5PJ.  Our
approximate numbers were 1532/360 for 1.65 Meg.  I say approximate, as
our 2 computers got out of sync when one of them crashed early Sunday
morning.  We are a few q's and mults off, and haven't gotten around to
fixing the log yet.  This score is an improvement over 1991's 1664/281
for 1.4 Meg.

Our team used a new strategy this year that worked out well.  We had 2
complete KW stations set up and manned the whole 48 hours.  One station
had 160, 40, and 15; the other had 80, 20, and 10.  We would "bounce"
between stations every 10 minutes or so, longer if one of them had a
good run going.  When not on the air, the station would look for mults.

It was also nice to see our new "contest boxes" work.  These were relay
switched bandpass filters that went between the rig and amp.  The
filters would follow the rig's bandswitch, leaving one less knob to turn
to change bands.  With these boxes in line, interference between the 2
stations was virtually nil.

Outside, K5OJI sports two 70' self supporting commercial grade towers,
space about 40' apart.  One tower holds a 20+ year old TH6, the other
has a KT34 at 70' and a 402BA at 80'.  A few scattered wires completes
the picture.  The station is located on site at TI.  Lots and lots of
QRN from computers, rf plasma etchers, etc. as well as the usual crud
spewwing forth from industrial sites in general.

Murphy dropped in for a visit early Sunday morning.  40M rf caused the
+24vdc power supply that fed the bpf relays to shutdown.  One of our
computers hung in CT three times in a row after hitting F1 and keying CQ
TEST K5OJ (leaving off the "I").  This was also on 40.  We kicked 'ol
Murph out after a few hours, only to have him return.  Now he caused 15M
rf to shutdown our 2M rig, thereby leaving us "cluster-less".  This one
has a reasonable explanation, as our 2M Ringo Ranger just happens to
resonant on 15M.  We don't know why these problems appeared on Sunday.

We had a blast.

73,

Charlie Ocker  KD5PJ   ocker at dseg1.csc.ti.com
Texas Instruments, Dallas