[Fourlanders] W4NH September VHF Contest Summary
Paul Yeager
pyeager56 at gmail.com
Fri Sep 17 23:31:33 EDT 2021
Sorry I had to miss it!
A ski industry conference coincided with Jennifer's long-scheduled vacation
week.
So we bought her a ticket and left a few days early to your western Montana.
Before the conference, we got to drive the Going to the Sun Road in
Glacier National Park and see some of Yellowstone.
Due to work I probably won't be able to make the January contest, but look
forward to seeing y'all in the future.
73 de W4SKI
On Fri, Sep 17, 2021, 5:39 PM Bill Pence <pence.bill at gmail.com> wrote:
> I think we did really well!
>
> Category: Unlimited Multioperator
> Band: ALL
> Transmitter: UNLIMITED
> Station: FIXED
> Location: GA
> Club: Fourlanders Contest Team - Created from club question
> E-mail: ki4us at arrl.net
> QSOs in Log: 347
> Confirmation: 22ywauqu.arrl-vhf-sep
>
> Raw Score: 359 Qpts x 156 Mults = 56,004 - Note: The raw score, QSO points
> and mult totals are estimates based solely on the individual log contents
> and are not used during subsequent log checking.
>
> Log received at: 2021-09-17 23:06:09 UTC
>
> On Fri, Sep 17, 2021, 5:35 PM Bob Lear <w4zst at windstream.net> wrote:
>
>> We were finally back on the air with W4NH for this contest from the
>> W4ZST shack. I think we did better than we expected and actually a
>> higher score than 3 of the past 6 contests in Septembe,r even from NC.
>> We had some openings, there was much more activity than usual on 2m FT8
>> and Brian made 3 EME Q's on 222 for some good multipliers there. Meteor
>> Scatter made may good mults for us also.
>>
>> Operators were Brian NX9O, Kim WG8S, Bill KI4US, Bob W4ZST, Jerry W5TDY
>> and Bob K4VBM. Same crew we had in June and were the volunteers that
>> signed up this time. Brian, Kim and Bill came Friday afternoon and gave
>> much needed help in getting all the stations going and software
>> coordinated. I was still working on the 222 antenna problem and finally
>> got it done before supper after replacing 3 N-connectors on the 222 RX
>> and TX lines out to the preamp box. First time we've had that problem
>> occur. The other major problem with 222 that took me many days of
>> testing to find was one of the driven elements on the M2 222XP30
>> antennas went bad with a 4:1 SWR. Had to bring the antennas down and
>> disconnect each place possible to finally find the problem. Ashton
>> KJ4AMA came over and helped set up the scaffolding to get to the
>> antennas easily and helped with the initial testing, eliminating some
>> connections the week before. We've used the scaffolds several times now
>> working on the 2m EME antennas and they were just as handy for the 222
>> set up. One of the other problems with 222 was caused by me several
>> weeks ago when on 222 EME I accidentally hot switched the relay box,
>> taking out the main T/R relay and the preamp. Put in a new relay and
>> FET in the preamp and had the box OK but still was the problem with the
>> DE that I later found. Likely not related to my mistake. I'm going to
>> have to try to figure our a way to make sure that if the amp kicks off,
>> that I can't reset it while JT is still transmitting a sequence. We
>> have lockout to keep from changing polarity while transmitting but this
>> is the first time anyone (me!) has made this mistake. Just wasn't
>> paying enough attention.
>>
>> We went over to Cafe Cancun in Cleveland for Friday night dinner. We met
>> for lunch Saturday as Rooster's which has become the tradition where Bob
>> and Jerry met up with us. Of course, Jerry did the cooking and we had
>> fine charcoal grilled steaks, baked potato, green beans and salad
>> Saturday night. Jerry made egg and sausage casseroles again and
>> biscuits for Sunday morning, sandwiches and chips for Lunch and grilled
>> salmon fillets for us Sunday evening along with mac & cheese and salad.
>> As always, "Never Hungry" in the Fourlanders long time tradition.
>> Special thanks to Jerry for cooking and Buck KC4GCK for bringing the
>> fresh salmon and some nice smoked salmon too, that had just been shipped
>> in from Alaska a few days before and he joined us for Sunday dinner.
>> There were no left overs, so don't ask!! Our other visitor came Sunday
>> morning to see the operation (mayhem!) going on. Gary K4SUV (ex WA4IOB,
>> proprietor of the beacons for so many years) came up from Snellville to
>> check things out. He had been with the Fourlanders back before my time
>> and wanted to see what we do now.
>>
>> The stations were the same as have been set up here for the last year
>> and a half at least. Pix and details on the W4ZST QRZ page for those
>> interested. Antennas the same too. We did have the obligatory visit
>> from Murphy with software problems mostly. Not as bad as previous
>> contests but some strange things did happen. Some attributed to RF but
>> came and went so not definitive. I had a time with that as I was left
>> alone in the shack after midnight and was trying to reboot, reboot and
>> reboot to solve the problems on 2m that would work for a short while and
>> then go out again. Of course, I would make a couple of Q's when it was
>> working and at the same time trying to keep up with MS which was jumping
>> on 6m. Brian can work two stations at a time but it's really not good
>> for me to try it!! He came out about 4:30 Sunday morning and worked much
>> MS on 6 and 2 for lots of good mults. Bob VBM came out later to help.
>> Everybody else showed up for breakfast time!
>>
>> Down to the nitty-gritty.
>> Band Mode Q's Grids
>> 50 FT8 120 47
>> 50 MSK 30 24
>> 50 USB 10 4
>> 144 FT8 93 40
>> 144 MSK 4 4
>> 144 USB 10 6
>> 222 FM 1 1
>> 222 FT8 10 8
>> 222 JT65 3 3
>> 222 USB 6 2
>> 432 FT8 23 14
>> 432 USB 3 3
>> Tot 313 156 For a total score of 56,004
>>
>> So another contest in the log for W4NH. We will continue next with the
>> January 2022 contest, again here as usual. Put it on your calendars.
>>
>> BTW, I have talked to the campground and our spaces were already
>> reserved by others for next year too. So much for giving them the
>> contest dates for several years in advance and trying to make
>> reservations. In case you didn't know, we had confirmed reservations
>> and a deposit for this past contest and they had rented our needed
>> spaces to summer long campers and wouldn't make it right. We can't go
>> if we can't have the specific spaces we've always had for the past 22
>> years. It appears that our days of going there are over. Some of the
>> club members are investigating other portable location possibilities.
>>
>> 73, Bob W4ZST
>>
>>
>>
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>> Sent to: pence.bill at gmail.com
>>
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