Vanity Call/Out of Area
RFPWR at aol.com
RFPWR at aol.com
Sun Jul 30 14:27:24 EDT 1995
Operating outside of the call area indicated by your call sign can also have
advantages.
As an 8 in 5 land, I sometimes can get through the W6/7/0 stations in a
pileup on 80M to the pacific or JA. I'll bet the 6/7 stations see the same
thing on the east coast to Europe. The 1/2/3/4 stations on the west coast
ditto. However, when trying to break a Europe pileup on 80M I sometimes sign
/5, which almost always works.
Moving to Louisiana from West Virginia solved one problem; I am now in CQ
zone 4 where most DX stations expect an 8 to be, rather than zone 5.
Truthfully, the biggest problem I have is people asking if the section is Los
Angeles or Louisiana. This happens countless times. I feel sorry for any 6
working in SS CW from Louisiana; he would have to sign /5 I'll bet or 50% of
his QSO's would log him as Los Angeles.
As for the vanity call, N8RR was my second choice, after N8DX. The calls were
chosen because I felt they would be effective in getting through pileups.
Despite the RR suffix being well utilized by many contesters and DX'ers (all
of them louder than me) I have not been disappointed. The success rate in
phone and CW pileups with the double R suffix has been extremely good, with
moderate to poor antennas. Occasionally someone will come back to N0RR or
N3RR (or one of the other multitude of RR's) but the problem has been
minimal; it is easy to straighten out the prefix after getting the DX stn's
attention.
To me, the ability to pick one's callsign is a tremendous advantage,
particularly for breaking DX pileups, if a good call is chosen.
73, Chas N8RR
>From Marijan Miletic <s56a at ljutcp.hamradio.si> Sun Jul 30 20:31:40 1995
From: Marijan Miletic <s56a at ljutcp.hamradio.si> (Marijan Miletic)
Date: Sun, 30 Jul 95 19:31:40 UTC
Subject: S50HQ late IARU breakdown
Message-ID: <66527 at ljutcp.hamradio.si>
9-July-1995 S50HQ IARU contest
Score =
Band QSOs Pnts Mult Zone
--------------------------
160M 265 4
80M 919 1993 18 25
40M 1
20M 26
15M 148
10M 66
All
Op's CW SSB Antennas
160M S58A alone 4xGP
80M 1OI,1IX-S5
40M S56A-S50A GP-4 el.
20M 9A,
15M 8AB,1ZO-2ZW 6+6,TH
10M S5
--------------------------
Logistics by S53M members:
S51DB, 1DM, 1RS, 2EZ, 5HH.
We are also proud members of:
Radioclub "Murska Sobota"
Slovenia Contest Club
Zveza Radioamaterjev Slovenije
>From Marijan Miletic <s56a at ljutcp.hamradio.si> Sun Jul 30 22:30:07 1995
From: Marijan Miletic <s56a at ljutcp.hamradio.si> (Marijan Miletic)
Date: Sun, 30 Jul 95 21:30:07 UTC
Subject: Second attempt with S50HQ IARU score
Message-ID: <66568 at ljutcp.hamradio.si>
Dear Contesters, I am sorry that my first message regarding late S50HQ IARU
score is badly distorted for unknown reasons (might be 2 decimal points in
7M score) so I'll try it again after successfull local Internet test.
9-July-1995 S50HQ IARU contest
Score = 7.022.966 points
Band QSOs Pnts Mult Zone
--------------------------
160M 265 475 13 10
80M 919 1993 18 25
40M 1773 4509 20 38
20M 2678 9906 20 52
15M 1487 4803 23 45
10M 667 1881 14 20
All 7789 23567 108 190
Op's CW SSB Antennas
160M S58A alone 4xGP
80M 1OI,1IX-S57O 4xGP
40M S56A-S50A GP-4 el.
20M 9A,7W-0R,8FA KT34
15M 8AB,1ZO-2ZW 6+6,TH
10M S57AL-S51AY 5el.TH
--------------------------
Logistics by S53M members:
S51DB, 1DM, 1RS, 2EZ, 5HH.
We are also proud members of:
Radioclub "Murska Sobota"
Slovenia Contest Club
Zveza Radioamaterjev Slovenije
73 de Mario, S56A, N1YU.
>From ke7gh at primenet.com (Brian Short) Sun Jul 30 23:21:24 1995
From: ke7gh at primenet.com (Brian Short) (Brian Short)
Date: Sun, 30 Jul 1995 22:21:24 +0000
Subject: Radio Select on LPT2
Message-ID: <199507302222.PAA19480 at mailhost.primenet.com>
Dave, I hope you are right, but the current situation is shown below to
the best of my ability. If LPT1/LPT2 are made identical, pin #2 becomes
a problem as this pin on LPT2 is used to control external devices for rig
selection.
Perhaps this rewiring is a small sacrifice for the larger gain. What will
happen to the Radio 1/2 selection signal?
73 de Brian
---------------------------------------------------------
LPT1 Pin Assignments
Pin 2......BAND DATA "A"
Pin 7......BAND DATA "B"
Pin 8......BAND DATA "C"
Pin 9......BAND DATA "D"
Pin 1......CW STROBE -EMITTER of NPN
Pin 17.....CW SLCT -thru 1k resistor to BASE
Pin 18.....GND -to radio
-COLLECTOR to radio
Pin 3......DVK SWITCH #1
Pin 4......DVK SWITCH #2
Pin 5......DVK SWITCH #3
Pin 6......DVK SWITCH #4
Pin 11/25..GND
Pin 12.....DOT PADDLE^
Pin 13.....DASH PADDLE
Pin 14.....PULLUP THRU 10K TO 12/13
Pin 1......PTT STROBE@ -EMITTER of NPN
Pin 16.....PTT SLCT -thru 1k resistor to BASE
Pin 18.....GND -to radio
-COLLECTOR to radio
---------------------------------------------------------
LPT2 Pin Assignments
Pin 2......RADIO 1/2 SELECT
Pin 1......CW STROBE*
Pin 17.....CW SLCT
Pin 18.....GND
Pin 3......DVK SWITCH #1
Pin 4......DVK SWITCH #2
Pin 5......DVK SWITCH #3
Pin 6......DVK SWITCH #4
Pin 11/25..GND
Pin 12.....DOT PADDLE^
Pin 13.....DASH PADDLE
Pin 14.....PULLUP THRU 10K TO 12/13
Pin 1......PTT STROBE@
Pin 16.....PTT SLCT
Pin 18.....GND
---------------------------------------------------------
LPT3 Pin Assignments
Pin 1......CW STROBE*
Pin 17.....CW SLCT
Pin 18.....GND
Pin 3......DVK SWITCH #1
Pin 4......DVK SWITCH #2
Pin 5......DVK SWITCH #3
Pin 6......DVK SWITCH #4
Pin 11/25..GND
Pin 12.....DOT PADDLE^
Pin 13.....DASH PADDLE
Pin 14.....PULLUP THRU 10K TO 12/13
Pin 1......PTT STROBE@
Pin 16.....PTT SLCT
Pin 18.....GND
---------------------------------------------------------
Use the -AC option to get BAND DATA on LPT1 (only) for
use with Top Ten Decoder etc.
Radio 1/2 Select is always on LPT2.
CW Port and DVK Control are subject to software setup to
enable the outputs.
* See the LPT1 CW Port description above for details.
^ Pins 12/13/14 are used by N6TR etc for CW paddle support.
@ Pin 16 is used by N6TR for rig PTT control. See LPT1.
---------------------------------------------------------
>There have been a couple of messages recently lamenting the fact that
>CT does not support Radio 2's band data on LPT2. It is my firm belief
>that Ken plans to rectify this deficiency. Based upon a conversation I
>had with him within the last two weeks, this mod will be available
>prior to fall contest season. The intent is that Band Data and Radio
>Select lines will be identical on LPT1/2 for Radio 1/2.
>
>Stay tuned.
>
>Dave N3RD
>Top Ten Devices
>
>--
>Submissions: ct-user at eng.pko.dec.com
>Administrative requests: ct-user-request at eng.pko.dec.com
>Problems: reisert at eng.pko.dec.com
>
>
>From jreid at aloha.net (Jim Reid) Mon Jul 31 00:46:19 1995
From: jreid at aloha.net (Jim Reid) (Jim Reid)
Date: Sun, 30 Jul 1995 13:46:19 -1000
Subject: Summary results: of Turn it off vs. Leave it on?
Message-ID: <199507302344.NAA05795 at hookomo.aloha.net>
Fifteen votes are in, and they are unanimous:
Turn everything OFF when finished for the day or the
present use, just as you shutt off the TV when finished
with the news, or whatever.
Computers at work--office types- are usually left
on thru the week to avoid the need to re-boot, etc
each morning, but most are turned off for the
weekends. Industrial data process and equipment
control computers are usually always left on; much
too much trouble and time to re-start them, even
each Monday AM! Also they are manufactured with
very heavy duty power supplis, etc and are intended
to stay on once installed at the site.
Laboratory test equipment includes animals of an
entirely different color from our ham rigs and PC's. Much
of it must be on for hours before it is ready to provide
high precision specification work, and must not be
turned off, to save the cost of a long start up time. That
stuff is designed to be on forever, ocnce installed in the
lab.
Our ham rigs should always be off when we are not
sitting there and using them, especially in lightning
prone states and areas (that is not a problem in
Hawaii, unless they accompany the occasional
hurricane, none came with Iniki a couple of years ago,
just hellish antenna eliminating wind!). Unplug the gear
when not in use, if lightning is frequent in your area at times
of the year.
Our rigs and PC's at home ought to be off when not in
use. This statement was made by several of you who
work in the computer and service tech business. Contrary
to the advice I had been given, hard drives now have up to
11 years of life before an average failurs might occur! That
seems amazing to me. Not sure how that number was gotten,
probably some statistical calculation.
Temperature build up in our home gear is the killer over time, not
on/off cycling per those in the know who have responded. Nor is
current in-rucsh a problem to solid-state electronics/PC's according to
a couple of responders. Go out of your way to make sure your
rig and computer boxes are supplied with good cooling air paths
for the vent holes, lots of clearance around them; area should not be
littered. Means I must spread out a bit, I have much stuff stacked
against, above and below: papers, manuals ,etc., etc., etc.!
Thanks to all who are in positions which allow you to speak from
real knowledge on this topic as you work with, and service humdreds
of PC's and other lab gear per year in you occupations. This info
is both helpful and useful to those of us who have been given
contraty pictures of what we should be doing.
My primary interest was a good long life for my rather high cost investment
in my hobby equipment. I believe the band- width used for this survey to
have been well worth the time and useage. I know it will also benefit others,
as I also received several requests for results posting when possible.
Aloha and 73,
Jim, AH6NB
jreid at alolha.net
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