QSLing

[WJ2O at aol.com]

Hi friends,

Barry, W2UP wrote:

>I am fairly certain that a lot of stations will only work guys in the 
>contest they have gotten QSLs from. In the DX contests, there are some 
>Europeans that I consistently work year after year on Sunday, and they 
>give me a 1 or 2 digit serial number. I believe they actively look for
>those that they have gotten a card from.

I agree with Barry on this comment 100%.  Even though I don't go to very rare
places it seems that I have a number of "followers" who sit in my pile-up
willing to give me points. The least I can do is send them a QSL as I am very
greatful for their patience.

(Ok, now for the flame bait).  I cringe when I hear big name contesters
proudly state "I never QSL!"  It gives the rest of us a bad name and
contesters sure could use some good PR.  Every small town in America has a
ham who would be more than happy to manage your QSL requests for you.

You never know what is going to be considered rare to the guys you work.  In
all the places I've visited I had the most QSL requests from a place you
would never think possible . . . KP4!

73, Dave, WJ2O

P.S.: If you have time to flame me then you have time to fill your SASE's
with QSL's.




>From WEDGE, STEPHEN" <SWEDGE at pria.com  Mon Nov 13 21:47:00 1995
From: WEDGE, STEPHEN" <SWEDGE at pria.com (WEDGE, STEPHEN)
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 95 13:47:00 PST
Subject: SB 200 Amplifier
Message-ID: <30A7BD94 at msgate.pria.com>


Shawn-

Keep the power to 600W or less and you should be OK.  Like many Heathkit 
amps, the power supply is the weak link.  If you fry the transformer, you'll 
have an adventure finding a new one.  Keep a muffin fan over the power 
supply running half-speed, blowing upwards.  Watch the circuit board- it's 
made of phenolic and absorbs moisture, causing arc-over between the HV 
etches and the chassis.  I had to take a Dremel and cut a trench around the 
etches and fill the trenches with corona-dope to quell the arcing.  You 
could always re-build the board using perfboard if you have this problem. 
 Remember that 3200V can jump across small gaps.

I used an SB-200 for several contests and never had it blow up on me.  The 
572-B's were a bit dear in price, but now there are some BY and UA1-made 
replacements that are much more economical than the Cetron tubes.  When I 
had this amp, Cetron was the sole-source and the price for the bottles 
reflected this.  The tubes themselves are pretty rugged (in fact, they're 
extra-rugged 811A's with a higher plate voltage rating).

If you want to experiment, and only need 350W, you can modify the power 
supply by eliminating the voltage doubler to give you 1500V on the B+.  Then 
you can toss in a pair of 811A's with no other mods.  Nice thing about the 
811A's is they're dirt cheap.

Hope this helps-

 --- Steve, KT1O>>
 ----------
From: owner-cq-contest
To: cq-contest
Subject: SB 200 Amplifier
Date: Tuesday, 7 November, 1995 18:32

Hello fellow contesters.

I am planning to enter up and coming SS, but would like to run QRO this
year. The amplifier I have is an old Heathkit SB200. (If I had all the
money I wanted, as everyone...I would have an Alpha 87...but I don'
t!!)
I am curious if anyone has used this amp in contests (I'm sure they have
been used VERY often), and would like to know how they stand up...or if
they overheat at all....mine get hot just under regular operation....I
just don't care for excess heat I guess!!!!
I will have a new set of tubes in it...and it's fairly costly to drop a
new set of tubes in all the time...so I don't want to decimate them in
one single contest!!! (I can hardly afford this set!!!)\
Tnx in advance fer all info.
73 es GL de Shawn
VE6PV

>From beaton at wintermute.co.uk (Alastair Beaton)  Mon Nov 13 20:10:43 1995
From: beaton at wintermute.co.uk (Alastair Beaton) (Alastair Beaton)
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 1995 20:10:43 GMT
Subject: Bad QSLs?
Message-ID: <199511132010.UAA02677 at oberon.wintermute.co.uk>

Snip...Snip...Snip...

>A few years ago, W7RM hired my daughter to fill out 10,000 cards for old JA
>contest QSOs because they were showing up on his frequency and bitching
about >not getting a card. What I don't know is whether these cards ever
actually got >mailed or not. Stateside cards for SS or any other DX contest
cards for other >countries were not part of the project.
>
>I supervised the W7RM QSL project and when I asked for logs so the contacts
>could be verified, I was told to just take the QSO information directly off
>the received cards.  It was a waste of time to actually look them up!  Well,
>we did what we were asked to do, but I now have another view of the
>signifigance of a W7RM QSL.  I don't know if that is a widespread practice
>or not, but if it is, why are we bothering with QSLs at all?
>
>Stan  W7NI at teleport.com

Somewhat at a tangent from the "I always/never QSL" strand, but brought to
mind by Stan's comments; I wonder how many of you guys receive "dodgy" QSLs
on a regular basis? I have found this to be most acute on 160m, 80m and VHF.
QSLs arrive for QSOs which never took place. 

Whether I had been spotted on the Cluster, or whether details of some
operation or VHF opening appeared in a magazine, I usually find about 3% of
QSLs I receive are "bad". 

Maybe
- GM4 is rarer that W4, so I get more than most
- some are for "accidents" like two stations doubling
- some may be misheard/mislogged QSOs (at either end)
but some are clearly "consciously perpetrated terminological inexactitides".

It takes some determination NOT to reply to a "baddie" if it's from a
rare-ish country or square - fortunately I've so far managed to resist, but
if one happened to be the last card I needed for a DXCC or VUCC claim I'd
have to rip it up and burn it straight away or I couldn't sleep...

73
Al, GM4BAP

P.S. As really all my operating these days takes place during CONTESTS I
feel OK about posting this!


>From john.devoldere at eunet.be (John Devoldere)  Mon Nov 13 21:31:25 1995
From: john.devoldere at eunet.be (John Devoldere) (John Devoldere)
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 1995 21:31:25 +0000
Subject: Which LOW BAND in the CW Contest
Message-ID: <199511132131.WAA17875 at box.eunet.be>

During the CQ WW phone contest I found conditions on 40 in the middele of
the night quite mediocre. The strong stations are always there, of course,
but we never managed to work lot's of "small" stations. I was just wondering
why. 

I played a little with one of the propagation forcasting programs, and found
out (a little bit to my surprise) that with a sunspot number of approx. 22,
the MUF falls below 7 MHz  most of the night, both on the Europe-USA path as
on the Europe-Japan path. Under all circumstances 80 should be the better
band...

I was planning to go monoband 40m in the CW contest, but I think I should
change my plans and go monoband 80. Any comments from you "eminent" contesters? 

What do you see on your forcasting toys? Here, my toy tells me I can can do
well on 80, but certainly not put down a new record on 40... 

Please your comments.

BTW, I will be using my own call, ON4UN, in this test. We now have an
agreement with our PTT that we can use "normal" calls, also with our special
high-power licences. I guess, we will only use the OTxT call in the WPX
contest, and even then I don't think it is much of an advantage as there are
always more than one OT station (e.g. the multi-multi at OT5A) active.

73, and CU in the pile-up.

John
 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
john.devoldere at box.eunet.be  
Call us in all major 1995 contests: OT5T or ON4UN
John Devoldere (ON4UN-AA4OI)
POBOX 41
B-9000 Ghent (Belgium)


>From [user unknown]" <cmschonewaldcox at ucdavis.edu  Mon Nov 13 22:12:52 1995
From: [user unknown]" <cmschonewaldcox at ucdavis.edu (user unknown)
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 1995 14:12:52 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Mad River
Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.91.951113141119.27698A at chip.ucdavis.edu>

Can someone pass along the Email adr of KU8E or any other Mad River 
Contester? Thanks. Please reply directly to cmschonewaldcox at ucdavis.com
Tks
73 Bob K3EST
WRTC


>From mraz at maverick.aud.alcatel.com (Kris I. Mraz)  Mon Nov 13 22:40:25 1995
From: mraz at maverick.aud.alcatel.com (Kris I. Mraz) (Kris I. Mraz)
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 95 16:40:25 CST
Subject: Kenwood IF-10B
Message-ID: <9511132240.AA00616 at maverick.aud.alcatel.com>

Dan AB4RX tells us:
 
> I received a letter from Kenwood Service dated 11/2/95 stating due to recent 
> demand "we decided to re-manufacture a one time only limited supply" of the 
> IF-10B computer interface for the TS-940S.
> 
> You can order  using Part. No. ZIF-10B for approx. $79.95 plus tax and 
> shipping from:
> 
> Pacific Coast Parts    		800-262-1312
> 
> East Coast Transistor Parts Inc.	800-776-2626

I called Pacific Coast Parts and got this additional information:

The part is in stock.
The cost is $74.95 plus $6.50 for shipping. (Assumes no state tax).
Make check payable to Pacific Coast Parts.
Send it to
Pacific Coast Parts
15024 Staff Court
Gardena, CA 90248
Attention: Teri

Include the part number (ZIF-10B), name, address, etc.


73
Kris AA5UO
mraz at aud.alcatel.com

>From Fred Hopengarten" <k1vr at k1vr.jjm.com  Mon Nov 13 08:31:02 1995
From: Fred Hopengarten" <k1vr at k1vr.jjm.com (Fred Hopengarten)
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 1995 03:31:02 EST
Subject: Hint
Message-ID: <30a70248.k1vr at k1vr.jjm.com>

Here's a really small tip on how I keep my paddle put.

Take a standard mouse pad and punch or drill holes in the
pad to correspond with the three feet of your [Bencher,
Brown Brothers, Vibroplex, etc.] paddle.  The paddle feet
are now touching the table top, so the height of the plastic
your fingers touch is correct.  Yet there is a giant surface
area of rubber designed not to slide holding the paddle in
place.

A perfect use for those mouse pads you get free at computer
conventions, or for only $1 or $2 at computer shows.
-- 
                      Fred Hopengarten K1VR
           Six Willarch Road * Lincoln, MA 01773-5105
     home + office telephone:  617/259-0088 (FAX on demand)
                   internet:  k1vr at k1vr.jjm.com
            "Big antennas, high in the sky, are better
                       than small ones, low."