IARU Contest and Low Sunspots
Steven.M.London at att.com
Steven.M.London at att.com
Wed Jun 29 14:03:00 EDT 1994
Here comes a pep talk about the IARU RS contest - despite the lack of sunspots.
For the 1986 contest, the flux was 72 - just about the same as now. The
A-index was also quite low - around 5 if I recall correctly.
Despite the lack of sunspots, summertime QRN, summertime propagation, and
being geographically challenged, I had a GREAT time. 20 meters was fantastic -
the OH's were there for the entire 24 hours, and we had great EU runs, except
for about 4 hours during the middle of the day.
On 15, I worked all EU zones - probably
a combination of multi-hop sporadic-E and F layer, as well as JA, South Pacific,
and, of course, South America. 10 provided all the USA and Canadian zones,
as well as some Caribbean and Central America. Once the QRN died down
around 09Z, 40 meters was FB to JA. At sunrise, 80 provided JA, UA0, VK
and ZL QSO's. I ended up with around 1400 QSO's (all CW) and 110 zones.
Not bad for the bottom of the cycle !
Instead of whining about how bad the IARU RS contest will be, get on and have
some fun !
Steve London, N2IC/0
n2ic at longs.att.com
>From Joel B Levin <levin at BBN.COM> Wed Jun 29 20:27:34 1994
From: Joel B Levin <levin at BBN.COM> (Joel B Levin)
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 94 15:27:34 -0400
Subject: FW: what i did during field day
Message-ID: <16398.772918054 at bbn.com>
From: Trey Garlough <GARLOUGH at tgv.com>
|> However, I get so fed up with the
|> "hey there <hiccup> OM, please copy my uh, uh, uh, # Alpha,
|> zz section, gord head" type of exchanges.
|>
|> How do you guys/gals tolerate it? Just stoke more 807's on the
|> coals??
|
|This is not a problem limited to Field Day. Same thing is true if
|you operate a contest like ARRL SSB or CQWW SSB from Latin America --
|the lid patrol is out and about and they are part of the event.
Add to the list:
"CQ Contest this is KD1ON Contest"
"KD1ON from KBnXYZ"
"KBnXYZ, 59 New Hampshire"
"Hi, the name here is Dave. You're 57 here in downtown Podunk,
nice to meet you. How's the weather up there in New Hampshire?"
etc.
Maybe this will be a problem if I ever get to be a big gun, but for
the slow exchangers (I used to be one till I sat next to a real
contester at Field Day last year and worked 20 SSB) or the non-
contesters, I try to grin and bear it, and maybe encourage the nons
to listen to the contest and participate.
The equivalent to my scenario in CW happened a couple times when I
was operating in the novice bands before my upgrade. Waiting for
that kind of exchange to finish so I can explain politely as
possible that I'm in a contest, all at 5-10 wpm, is really
frustrating. But that's life.
/JBL KD1ON
>From Chris Gay" <KU4A at LEXVMK.VNET.IBM.COM Wed Jun 29 20:19:54 1994
From: Chris Gay" <KU4A at LEXVMK.VNET.IBM.COM (Chris Gay)
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 94 15:19:54 EDT
Subject: N4AR what is your call?
> QSL 2E Wisconsin we are 4A East New York could you give me your
> callsign please
I never remember this happening before but this year I heard it three or
four times in about 2 hours of SSB operating. Maybe since so many people
answer CQs with only part of their callsign, some people thought I was
calling CQ with a partial callsign :-).
Chris KU4A
N4AR Field Day team
Kentucky Contest Group
>From thompsos at cuug.ab.ca (Scott Thompson 974-2215) Wed Jun 29 20:37:27 1994
From: thompsos at cuug.ab.ca (Scott Thompson 974-2215) (Scott Thompson 974-2215)
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 13:37:27 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: Contest Rig of Choice?
Message-ID: <9406291937.AA28339 at sun>
> > [Rick/VE9HF] I am leaning in favor of a used TS-950 or a new TS-850.
>
> I've used three TS-850's at multi-op efforts in the past year. Two of
> them have crapped out during the contest. Not a good track record.
>
> Anybody else have similar or opposite experience with TS-850's? Three
> is not a very big sample size; it could just be a fluke. 73. --John/K2MM
>
I have used my TS850S in many contests over the past two years, without
any problem whatsoever Rick. (Again, not a large sample size :)) The 850
has a very good receiver. I have tested *just the receiver* against the
950S, Yaesu 1000, and Yaesu 990. It came out tops in straight receive,
although the 1000 was the better overall rig. From what I understand, the
950SDX has the 850's receiver now, which the 950S did not. Someone else
maybe able to confirm that info as I'm not positive.
73, Scott VE6CGY/VE6KTT/VE6MD
>From alan at dsd.es.com (Alan Brubaker) Wed Jun 29 20:58:40 1994
From: alan at dsd.es.com (Alan Brubaker) (Alan Brubaker)
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 94 13:58:40 MDT
Subject: FD Fone Fun...
Message-ID: <9406291958.AA20981 at dsd.ES.COM>
Particularly on Sunday, when things are slowing down a bit, I think
that this is what happens at many FD sites: One of the new ops sits
down at one of the phone stations and starts tuning around the band.
He finds a strong station calling CQ Field Day and answers it with
the last two letters of his club's FD call. He probably does not
even know who he is calling yet. The CQing station comes back with
the last two letters of the calling station and sends the exchange.
The new operator comes back and sends his exchange, but doesn't
send the rest of the club's call yet, but he asks for the CQing
station's call sign, even though (if he had thought about it) the
CQing station would likely call another CQ at the end of the QSO and
he could get the call at that time. The CQing station asks the
calling station what his call is. At this point, the CQing station
finds out that they worked the calling station Saturday afternoon.
Another dupe. An hour or so later, another new op sits down at the
rig and the whole process repeats itself. That is why George had
so many dupes, probably.
Alan, K6XO
alan at dsd.es.com
High solar fluxes are for wimps...
>From DAVE CASE - KA1NCN <CASEDA at ECSUC.CTSTATEU.EDU> Wed Jun 29 22:02:50 1994
From: DAVE CASE - KA1NCN <CASEDA at ECSUC.CTSTATEU.EDU> (DAVE CASE - KA1NCN)
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 17:02:50 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: FD exchange from hell
Message-ID: <940629170250.2020cc69 at ECSUC.CTSTATEU.EDU>
Because my reactions to people's behavior at FD (expecially at my site)
were too vulger to be posted to a gated reflector, I will print my favorite
exchanges.
exchanges
Me) Thanks (mycall)
Him) Chicken Little
I work another station calling, all the while
Him) Chicken Little, this is Chicken Little
-8 seconds later
Me) Thanks, Charlie Romeo, 3Alpha Connectiut
(silence)
Me) The Charlie Romeo statation where did you go
Him) Chicken Little
Me) Okay, Chicken Little Three Alpha Connecticut
Him) Three Alpha Connecticut this is Chicken Litte, (hiccup),
Me) What is your call, class and section
Him) xx4xx in Florida
Me) Please send your call in phonetics. Are you operating from home, and
what part of Florida are you in.
Him) No, there are probably about 20 of us out here. I am in Central
Florida. This is xx4 CHICKEN LITTLE! CHICKEN LITTLE!
Me (reconsidering my policy of strict vegetarinism): So what class are
you in, North or South Florida? And what is your designator. It
should be at the top of the page.
Him) Hold, on, I will check. Standby.
----LONG LIVE CW!-----
73
Dave/KA1NCN
>From Ronald D. Rossi" <rrossi at VNET.IBM.COM Wed Jun 29 21:12:51 1994
From: Ronald D. Rossi" <rrossi at VNET.IBM.COM (Ronald D. Rossi)
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 94 16:12:51 EDT
Subject: N4AR what is your call?
In a previous message, you wrote:
>> QSL 2E Wisconsin we are 4A East New York could you give me your
>> callsign please
>
>I never remember this happening before but this year I heard it three or
>four times in about 2 hours of SSB operating. Maybe since so many people
I have to admit that I did that once this weekend. I was relying
heavily on the guy logging to record the calls as they came in. At
0300 EDT my short term memory lasts about as long as it takes to say
a call once. After that I need to see it or hear it again. If he
missed it when the answer to the CQ came in (and I caught it) I would
repeat the call in my response so he could enter it. That failed once.
I was hard for the logger to hear me through the headset, but the
system generally worked.
This was my first "contest" experience where other amateurs were present,
and I learned a lot by being there. I am quite pumped to try another
on my own. How you use your voice is everything. I was amazed at the
difference attitude and tone made in bringing in the contacts.
73 de N1PBT...ron
Ron Rossi
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>From fhmoore at nemed.b11.ingr.com (frank moore) Wed Jun 29 22:13:34 1994
From: fhmoore at nemed.b11.ingr.com (frank moore) (frank moore)
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 94 16:13:34 CDT
Subject: FD Operating Practices
Message-ID: <199406292113.AA02579 at nemed.b11.ingr.com>
My best FD operating practice chuckle was when a station asked me to speak
slower. I wonder how many other Alabama stations got that request. :)
Frank, KE4GY
one of the 3 Maysville Musketeers @ KC4ZV
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