Oregon CONTEST Stn takes a lickin'...
John D. Nicholson
jnichols at ednet1.osl.or.gov
Wed Dec 13 12:08:21 EST 1995
...but still keeps tickin' ! Watching the ol' quad jerk around in
100 mph was entertaining yesterday. I took the day off from
work to monitor 2 meters and be of help around the neighborhood
as carports and roofs blew off, not too mention numerous doug
firs laying across roads, cars and houses up and down the
coast...
...my 60' Aluma tower was nested to 30' and guyed 7 ways with
770# dacron black rope...Cubex 3 el quad on 20' foot boom was
unharmed except for the fact the boom started to twist a little
where it was U-bolted to the mast...no big prob. All fiberglass
and wire elements withstood a major blow...107+ mphs! I will
admit a couple of times as I watched it dance, I couldn't
believe it didn't break something as it bounced around in the
heaviest gusts...
...power at this QTH won't be back for at least 3 days
according the the latest reports...
73s...John K7FD
Seal Rock, Oregon
--
>From Jim Stafford-W4QO <w4qo at america.net> Wed Dec 13 20:32:24 1995
From: Jim Stafford-W4QO <w4qo at america.net> (Jim Stafford-W4QO)
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 1995 15:32:24 -0500 (EST)
Subject: CT Countries needed
Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.91.951213153112.10105B-100000 at atl1>
Need the countries file (latest) for CT. I had a server that used to
provide this but now it comes back - no such address. Can someone help
me with where I can get CQWW.CTY file?
73/72/jim/w4qo
>From jreid at aloha.net (Jim Reid) Wed Dec 13 20:35:33 1995
From: jreid at aloha.net (Jim Reid) (Jim Reid)
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 1995 10:35:33 -1000
Subject: WPX Categories
Message-ID: <199512132035.KAA17716 at hookomo.aloha.net>
Aloha Hans,
I agree with you, in fact, I will surely seriously begin to enter
these events now, using my 4-el tribndr, and all my inv-Vee
dipoles on 30-40-80 and 160, all fed via the same coax to a
5kW Radio Works balun. The V apex and balun are only up
about 40 feet or so, suspended by a nylon rope flung over
the boom of the rotating tri bander! The far ends of each dipole
are run via egg insulators with rope going on to various tie
points either on the roof, or to palm, guava or papya trees either
on or off our lot. Fortunately, the neighbor lady doesn't mind
allowing me to run the 160 roughly North running 140 foot leg
over to a Norfolk Pine tree in her front yard!
This setup makes for interesting operating, as
I must keep an eye on the rope when rotating the beam.
Darn rope keeps working its' way out away from the cemter
of rotation, have no idea why, or how to stop it. Must lower
the whole contraption every few days, and push the rope back
towards the tower (telescoping tubular MA-550). The balun hangs
down from the rope about 15 feet below the boom of the beam.
Propogation from KH6 land with inverted Vees is a bit
challenging, but it does work, or at least the Vees do,
some of the 87A's energy gets away even after warming up
the clouds a bit here over Kauai.
73, Jim, AH6NB
73 and Aloha,
Jim Reid, AH6NB (Happily retired on the Island of Kauai)
Hawaii, USA Email: jreid at aloha.net
>From Pete Soper <psoper at encore.com> Wed Dec 13 21:23:42 1995
From: Pete Soper <psoper at encore.com> (Pete Soper)
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 1995 16:23:42 EST
Subject: antenna questions
Message-ID: <5054.9512132123 at earl.encore.com>
(Folks outside the Southeast US may want to skip down a couple
paragraphs, but thanks for any and all input).
If you could put up one or two sets of wire antennas for 10, 15 and
20m with 72 degree horizontal beamwidths (and good F/B), pointing each
set in just one direction from 55-70 feet (17-21m) above the ground, what
would be your bearing priorities for DX contesting? I'm leaning toward
these (from a Southeast US location, 35.7N, 78.8W):
1. Toward Europe, centered on Northern Italy, with 3db points approx at
Madagascar and Eastern India and covering the bulk of the former Soviet
Union. I could sacrifice part of this and a slice of Canada in return
for almost full coverage of Africa. Would this be a bad tradeoff or
a rich source of multipliers?
2. Toward South America, covering all of it and over to the southern
tip of Africa,
OR:
Northwest, covering East Asia/Japan and the rest of Canada not covered
by antenna set #1.
I'll have some coverage of the rest of the map: not as good as the above
areas to start with, better than the above later on. So if I point to
South America with my second set of fixed antennas I'd get to Canada
with a dipole or something for the short term and forgo the Asian
contacts. (Putting out 100 watts by the way, so not sure I can get there
anyway with this setup until the sunspots come back up)
For all of you who have towers only in your dreams (or still remember
the before-tower adventure):
The fixed antennas I'm considering putting up are the "Field Day Special"
type described in June, '84 "QST". They look like two element yagis but
with the two elements connected by a phasing line and made out of 300
ohm twinlead for broad tuning. I can get three of these in line for the
three bands, with 5-10 foot gaps in between between my trees. I'm hoping
that if I use light/stiff materials I can keep the weight down and avoid
too much of a catenary. If the weight or spacing is a problem I'll forgo
the 10m antenna and spread the 15 and 20 ones further apart.
So, my next question is: what do you current or former tower-challenged
contesters like for wire antennas for 20-10m? And if any of you have
used the "Field Day Special" antenna I'd especially appreciate your comments.
If the first two sets of antennas don't use up all the space in the right
orientation I'm considering a double extended Zepp up around 65 feet for
40 meters, pointed at Europe with one lobe and New Zealand with the other.
I can't arrange the proper ground planes needed for vertical antennas but
have been exploring the "half square" type antenna as an alternative.
(Halfsquare is two 1/4 wave verticals connected at tops by 1/2 wave phasing
line, fed at the top of one of the 1/4 wave elements. Roughly 50-60 ohm feed)
For 80 meters, I'm at a loss. Probably can't get the height for the 1/4
wave elements of a halfsquare (and all the good trees are used up by now!) I
might manage a "squashed" delta loop and feed it a quarter wave from the
top to get vertical polarization, but it seems the launch angle would still
be pretty bad. Any ideas or should I just put up a couple of dipoles and
not worry about this band until I can build some ground systems?
Non-DX, but contest question: Could somebody with right reference materials
tell me the optimum takeoff angles for 40 and 80 meter band signals to be
received at a 300-500 mile distance? Would a near-vertical angle really be
called for?
Finally, I recently read a guy expressing disappointment in Brian Beezly's
receiving loop design that was in "QST" a few months back. I was planning to
build one of these and a preamp for 80 meters, as Beverage antennas aren't
practical for me. Anybody compared these two antennas? The Usenet poster
claimed his loop was worthless for DX reception. On the other hand, he
didn't mention a preamp and made the antenna smaller than Brian's specs.
I suspect I've mistaken the real intent of this design. Is it a worthwhile
DX receiving antenna, or just effective for combating line noise with
local reception? (The Usenet poster did report very good results on the
noise front). Comments?
Thanks for reading my questions. I'll summarize all direct email back to the
reflector in a couple weeks.
Regards,
Pete
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pete Soper (psoper at encore.com) KS4XG 1+ 919 481 3730, 481 3868/FAX
Encore Computer Corp 901 Kildaire Farm Rd Cary, NC 27511 USA grid FM05oq
>From aa4lr at radio.org (Bill Coleman AA4LR) Wed Dec 13 20:23:34 1995
From: aa4lr at radio.org (Bill Coleman AA4LR) (Bill Coleman AA4LR)
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 1995 16:23:34 -0400
Subject: New Categories - Why not a new contest?
Message-ID: <v01520d04acf4e446700e@[206.28.194.40]>
>These are great ideas. Here is another.
>
>Did you ever wonder what Sweepstakes would be like if you could work the guy
>6 times? In my opinion, that would really be a contest.
Sure it would. It would be a contest of big guns working each other over
and over on 6 bands. I don't think it would be an improvement.
> How about if the
>Sweepstakes exchange was changed to something shorter. Repeating that
>exchange 2000 times is a chore.
A shorter exchange would be detrimental to the spirit of the contest. The
long exchange is what gives the contest its character! And it is also why
making 2000qs is such an acheivement.
>Did you find yourself screaming "59 New Mexico (insert ur QTH here), give me
>your call again PLEASE" over and over last weekend during the 10 meter
>contest? Is "59" totally useless? Probally. Throw in something like your
>station setup (see above).
I truely believe all contests should completely and utterly do away with
all signal report exchanges. Replace them with a sequential serial number
or a power level. The 59 or 5NN is completely redundant.
>What does it really take to put on a new "super contest"?
That depends on what you define as "super".
> Would DX count?
DX contests are some of the most popular.
>Phone or CW or both?
Gee, how about RTTY? Or SSTV?
>How about the WARC bands?
ABSOLUTELY NOT! The WARC bands are, and should remain entirely CONTEST FREE!
>Do the NAQPs & RadioSports fulfill this super contest desire?
I don't think so.
>Are there too many contests?
There's a lot of contests in the fall, but not too many in the late spring
and summer.
>Or are there
>just too many categories? Perhaps all the log checkers out there could
>provide info on what a nightmare it would be to sponsor ANOTHER contest.
Quite a few contests have appeared in recent years. It doesn't seem to be a
problem.
>Well, get to the point.
>
>Maybe could CQ Magazine invent a Stateside/Sweepstakes type contest. Did I
>just insult the entire DX population?
Since I have difficulty competing in a pure-DX contest, and SS is my
favorite, another domestic/SS-like contest would seem to be a good idea to
me.
Perhaps in April or May?
Bill Coleman, AA4LR Mail: aa4lr at radio.org
Quote: "The same light shines on vineyards that makes deserts." -- Steve
Hackett
>From Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TCP) <lyndon at ve7tcp.ampr.org> Wed Dec 13 21:47:17 1995
From: Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TCP) <lyndon at ve7tcp.ampr.org> (Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TCP))
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 1995 13:47:17 -0800
Subject: New Categories - there goes the neighborhood
Message-ID: <199512132147.NAA08591 at ve7tcp.ampr.org>
>>>>> "RUSSELL" == RUSSELL S RINN <miltex at bga.com> writes:
RUSSELL> It seems as if folks want to win a category (they keep
RUSSELL> asking for new ones) but they want it done by having a
RUSSELL> category that so limits (in quantity) those entered that
RUSSELL> everyone winds up "in the box". Is that achieving
RUSSELL> anything?
It seems to me that this new category "limits" itself to well over
80% of the entrants in WPX and WW. Under the new scheme the monster
stations are now the minority that have their own category in which to
compete outside the realm of the masses. Sounds like the pot calling the
kettle black, if you ask me.
Lets do a fair comparison for the pusposes of checking out your
argument. I will compare two local stations: my own (VE7TCP) and
the local contest megasite (VE7ZZZ).
VE7TCP
------
Drake Twins (C line). 120 watts on a good day. CW filters to
250 Hz.
TenTec Century/21. CW only. Filters to 250 Hz.
Butternut HF9 vertical (80-6m), ground mounted. About 30
much-to-short radials.
Located on a city lot, nice and close to power lines, small-engine
repair shops, and a place with a fairly big arc welder.
VE7ZZZ
------
Radios? Yes. FT990's, FT1000's, TS930's, etc.
Amplifiers? Yes. 2.25KW monobanders for each band.
Antennas? Sure. 4-square on 80m. Soon-to-be 4-square on 160m.
3el at ~55 feet on 40m, plus assorted loops strung up *high* in
the trees. 20m: 5el at 48 feet, plus 4 el fixed aimed at Europe,
plus 4el fixed to SE. 15m: 8el on a 62 foot boom at 60 feet, plus
some 4el fixed stuff for Europe and South Pacific. 10m: four
fixed 4-6el pointed various places. Next summer we install a
full-size 2el quad for 80, and a pair of 6el for 20 (top at about
150 feet, second one lambda below, phased). Just about all of this
is fed with .75 inch or larger hardline.
No power lines within roughly four miles.
And this doesn't even begin to compete with the likes of W3LPL
or VE6JY.
Comparing the two, ZZZ has a 12.7 dB output power advantage, with an
additional 3-6 dB (roughly) from the antennas (applicable to both
transmit and receive). Feedline loss is about the same in both cases.
The noise floor on 80m is typically 3-5 S units lower at ZZZ, 1-2 S units
lower on 20m, and the same on 10m.
While you claim that a small station (such as VE7TCP) with an excellent
operator can do as well as a megastation (such as VE7ZZZ) with an average
operator, that isn't a valid comparison. The correct comparison is
done with excellent operators at *both* stations. In this scenario you're
going to have a tough time convincing me that the new category is
meaningless.
--lyndon
>From RUSSELL S. RINN" <miltex at bga.com Wed Dec 13 22:30:07 1995
From: RUSSELL S. RINN" <miltex at bga.com (RUSSELL S. RINN)
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 1995 16:30:07 -0600 (CST)
Subject: WPX Categories
Message-ID: <199512132230.QAA10798 at zoom.bga.com>
Hi Hans. I don't care that you shared my PRIVATE response to you with
the reflector, but if you're going to quote, please quote everything.
There is a theme that appears in my response to you and I think you
needed include everything. Maybe you didn't see that I only posted to
you and not the reflector, if so that's cool.
If you want to reply further please do so directly to me unless you feel
what you have to say is really important to everyone.
FYI...
I've gotten just as many positive responses to my comments as i have
negative. (Perhaps more positive). The only difference is that they
come PRIVATELY and I don't repost for all to see.
Thanks!
73 Russ--
AA5RB
>
> Hans said:
>
> >> Meanwhile, I'm sure that the "real
> >> winner" does not feel his accomplishment diminished or
> >> devalued because somebody's Grandma won in the "over 65
> >> female" category.
>
> Russ AA5RB said:
>
> >You're right, the #1 overall probably doesn't care at all about grandma.
> >But, grandma cares about the #1 overall.
>
> Only if #1 is her grandson!
>
> She's just proud of her accomplishment against her peers.
> Maybe next year she'll try to beat the best of the "over 65 male"
> group, but she knows she's not equipped to make the "top ten"
> overall.
>
> Then Russ AA5RB said:
>
> >Didn't anyone ever play sports??<
>
> Yes, I played high school football in the Six-Man League
> (because our small town didn't have enough students to
> compete against the large city schools). We won our
> class, got the trophy, and were proud of it, but we never
> pretended we could beat the winners in the Nine- or
> Eleven-Man league.)
>
> 73, de Hans, K0HB
>
>
>From mai at iquest.net (Pat Croft) Wed Dec 13 22:42:00 1995
From: mai at iquest.net (Pat Croft) (Pat Croft)
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 95 17:42 EST
Subject: Multi Post/Bouncing Post
Message-ID: <m0tPzt3-00033WC at iquest.net>
The attached msg has been hitting about every ten min. since Sunday. Our
provider asks if you could insert an ID msg in the header so they can tell
what or where things are going wrong. I appreciate your assistance.
>Return-Path: <owner-cq-contest at tgv.com>
>X-ListName: Amateur Radio Contester's discussion list <CQ-Contest at tgv.com>
>Warnings-To: <>
>Errors-To: owner-cq-contest at tgv.com
>Sender: owner-cq-contest at tgv.com
>Date: Sun, 10 Dec 95 14:07:48 PST
>From: "Robert A. Wilson" <n6tv at VNET.IBM.COM>
>Reply-To: "Robert A. Wilson" <n6tv at VNET.IBM.COM>
>To: CQ-CONTEST at TGV.COM
>X-UIDL: 818697597.002
>
> ARRL SWEEPSTAKES -- 1995
>
>
> Call: N6TV Section: Santa Clara Valley (SCV)
> Mode: CW Category: Single Operator
>
> BAND QSO QSO PTS SECTIONS
>
>
> 160 0 0 -
> 80 86 172 -
> 40 517 1034 -
> 20 693 1386 -
> 15 83 166 -
> 10 0 0 -
> -----------------------------------
>
> Totals 1379 2758 76
>
> Score: 209,608
>
>
>WARNING: The remainder of this message has not been transferred. Turn off
the 'Skip Big Messages' switch and check mail again to get the whole thing.
>
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