WRTC

[PEMS_ST_DK at noeca.ohio.gov]

THIS was fun!  In the spirit of the test I used 100 watts and a3 at 40 ft. and
40 DP at 55. (really it was too hot to run the amp-no AC!)
I lucked out with a sweep and AH3C,D on 20. 40 was well 40 and it was tough
to pull out sigs. I was amazed timw and again at the high calibre of cw
and even with my signal at their threshold they almost always pulled it
out. 
My wife made me go back to the radio-said she the deck of cards. Now if I can 
nly win a T-shirt!!
total of 150, swweeeeppp on 20 and a few ssb contacts.
Dan W8CAR


>From kg5u at hal-pc.org (Dale Martin)  Mon Jul 15 22:03:03 1996
From: kg5u at hal-pc.org (Dale Martin) (Dale Martin)
Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 16:03:03 -0500
Subject: The Great Pizza Challenge: K1ZX Takes The Pie
Message-ID: <01BB7279.995DEF20 at pm0-46.hal-pc.org>


Walter, AC1O said:
>In my opinion, the two AH3 "wild card" teams" were right up
there with the leaders in terms of operating skills.  


I agree.  I know I threw them a curve t least once each when I (my NA,
actually) would send AH3C (or D)/W6 as my part of the exchange to them.  
I found that NA would log the AH3C or D as a mult even after typing in zone
06.  /W6 seemed to satisfy NA and me, but probably disrupted the 
concentration of the AH3C and D ops!  

Good going, guys!

Dale, KG5U 

By the way, sorry you may have had a hard time with me among the big sigs...I was QRP throughout! 


>From kg5u at hal-pc.org (Dale Martin)  Tue Jul 16 00:30:12 1996
From: kg5u at hal-pc.org (Dale Martin) (Dale Martin)
Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 18:30:12 -0500
Subject: KG5U's IARU/WRTC Playtime Report
Message-ID: <01BB727B.B3171980 at pm0-46.hal-pc.org>



Great job by everyone associated in any way with WRTC.
What a wonderful addition to the IARU.  I know it took
away a lot of the interest from the HQ stations (I know
I spent more than a little time trying to work a WRTC
station for what? 3 points, while I could/should have=20
been looking for the next mult and/or more Q's.  Well,
it was fun, nonetheless.  Thanks for a great weekend.
=20
What a great contest.  I only wish I didn't have to
work at the Houston Zoo on Sunday, otherwise I
would have gone the full 24 hours. =20

I ended up with 454 QSO's, 1384 QSO points, 46 zones,
18 HQ stations, for 88,576.  I was running two radios
(Omni VI and TS-130S).  Antennas were an A3 at 70',=20
40m inv vee, 80m half-sloper (did not get on 80m). =20

I also made a somewhat half-hearted attempt at two
station operation. It was interesting and I can see=20
that a computer interface radio is needed for the=20
second radio.  Like KM9P says in his tutorial on 2=20
station operation, a lot of time is required to get
used to listening to both radios at the same time.=20
I did manage a few contacts using the second radio,=20
but still have a long way to go before it gets anywhere
near comfortable. =20

I built a switch box to handle the keying switching,
the headphone switching, and the antenna switching.
The antenna switch is a homebrew remote control=20
switch located out in the garage.  The switch consists
of a dual bank of relays (one for Omni VI; the other=20
for TS-130S).  The controller has two rows of LEDs=20
which show clearly which antenna is on which radio.
The switch matrix is set up so that an antenna in use
by the Omni will not be available for use by the 130.=20
All switches worked great. =20

What I did notice is that there seems to be one great
big ground loop when I rotate the beam now.  The hum
in the radios was so great as to wipe out all but the=20
strongest signals while I was turning the antenna. =20
Bad news.  Also, my plan is to acquire a second
tribander, so most of the time consumed rotating the
antenna can be better applied elsewhere, like increasing
the rate a bit.  The addition of the second tribander
will also allow switching between the 10, 15, and 20
meter bands with the two radios, something not now=20
available. =20

My NA 9.29 on the computer bombed out on the 1st QSO
at 1202Z.  I scrambled and found the original diskette,
but found that it was still warped from the postal=20
delivery person rolling the envelope and placing it in
the mailbox out in the hot Texas sun.  Needless to say,
the diskette is less than perfect, but it still works,
even though I have to use needlenose pliers to pull it
out of the drive.  Anyway, I got it loaded in another
subdirectory and it failed to load.  I tried another
subdirectory and that worked.  I booted it and pressed
on into the contest.=20

I started out on 40m, but went to 20 at 1308.  I picked
up a few mults (11, 45, 29, 66, among others).  Then
15m started opening and then 10m began to open.  Wow!
What fun!  Then around 2100Z, I went back to 20 and
worked Europe and most of the HQ stations.  It was
a challenge to work Europe and the east coast while
still trying to pick off the WRTC stations.  It was=20
a great time.  Then I went to 40 around 0200Z and=20
picked up a number of the HQ and WRTC stations. =20
Then at 0452Z, I went back to 20m to see if anything
was there.  Picked up a couple of mults (ARRL and zone
34) and a WRTC. and a few JA's.  It was great fun!

Sadly, I was tiring, I had work to do Sunday, so rather
than face 80m and 40m for the rest of the night, I=20
bailed.  I failed to do a few things before the contest
began: check out the computer; completely check out
the equipment systems, and; get some sleep before the
contest--I was up until 0600Z before the contest.=20

However, I had accomplished much more than I thought=20
I  could.  Unfortunately, one of the things I didn't do during
the contest was to keep track the K6/W6 WRTC stations=20
I worked.  It turns out I worked all but K6E and W6T. =20
Oh well... next time. =20

When I first worked AH3C (one of the wildcard WRTC=20
stations), NA software told me it was a mult even=20
though I had typed in zone 6.  So, I added "/W6" to=20
the call.  That fixed that.  But the next time I=20
worked AH3x, I automatically appended the "/W6" and=20
when my part of the exchange was sent, I am sure the=20
"/W6" threw the AH3x operator for a second.  There=20
was a significant pause the next few times I worked=20
him.  I like to think they were in the shack in shorts,
flowered Hawaiian shirts, barefoot, and sipping a tall,
cool pi=F1a colada, picturing themselves operating on a=20
remote Pacific Ocean island, then BANG!  I send them=20
"/W6" reminding them that they are only in California!
What fun!

I even beat out a couple of stations calling a couple
of the european HQ stations.  Neat!

It was a great contest and I look forward to getting
in to it next year.=20

By the way, I was QRP throughout the contest.=20

73,

Dale, KG5U

P.S.  I apologize for being so weak, but do thank all
who had the tenacity to stay with me through the QSO.
Thanks and see you next year.=20



>From cshinn at connect.net (charles d. shinn)  Tue Jul 16 03:43:29 1996
From: cshinn at connect.net (charles d. shinn) (charles d. shinn)
Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 19:43:29 -0700
Subject: WRTC
Message-ID: <01BB7285.EB637040 at a1p01.connect.net>

Just a brief note of thanks to all the organizers and participants of =
the WRTC. I cannot remember when I had so much fun. No 10 meters or 15 =
here as I am vertically impaired. 40 and 20 were very good. No sweep but =
close enuff fer me! 48 CW only uniques! Had a ball - THANKS folks.
                                                          de Chuck W7MAP