Since I was not at Bob’s place for the contest because of illness I wanted to hold off on comments until I had a chance to talk to Sherman.  He and I had lunch today with Mike Stipick, KC4RI.  We have a weekly lunch bunch going on Wednesdays 1 PM at the Mad Italian off of I-285 in Chamblee.  It is a great opportunity for three retired Georgia Tech engineers to get together and talk about the rest of you.  We haven’t started exchanging recipes yet but who knows.  Anyway, see below for my comments in red.  One final thing.  Sherman mentioned to me that there was some issue with the 6 meter antennas and high SWR.  After talking about it, it sounded like water/moisture in the relay box.  We have been using that setup for several years so probably time for an overhaul.  Maybe try to find some newer sealed relays and even do a PCB.  Mike Stipick has a way to design and get PCBs at a very reasonable price.  Sherman also suggested that while we are at it we add the capability to reverse the phase on the beams.  This raises the takeoff angle for short E Skip.  Bob built the setup we are using now but he has plenty of his own projects so Sherman and I are going to take this on with the help of Mike Stipick.  Certainly three experienced Georgia Tech engineers with nothing else better to do can figure this out!  That’s all I have for now.

 

73

Jim, W4KXY

I experienced the focus problem at least 2 times which affected QSO entry. I also hit the power button on the laptop 2 times during the contest due to the fact that the power button was next to the escape key. I would prefer using the Maestro to fix the focus problem and use an external keyboard to avoid hitting the power key on the laptop.

 

 

Bob,

• MSK144 - worked well on 6m and I had several requests to go to 2m for MSK144.  Suggest on both 6m and 2m we need to be prepared to go to MSK144 general release V.1.7.0 any time day or night if the bands are slow,  It does need to be the general release version as some of the beta's of 1.7.0 did not have contest mode fully implemented

• For antennas suggest we swap the places for Blackhaxk and Radio Flyer.  2m goes on Blackhawk in its new location and 6m goes on Radio Flyer down by the generator.

• If we can haul Scott's old trailer, suggest it goes down the hill in the vicinity of Radio Flyer (not quite sure where) as the supply trailer and the antenna location for 222.  The goal is to try and get some increased separation between 222 and 432 and see if that helps with the 432 interference with 222.

• Suggest if we have bandpass filters we use them.  Might help,

• As far as FM goes it all depends on the band.  6m no.  1.25m - current setup but advertise more aggressively that we will be on the top and bottom of each hour for five minutes during "normal business hours" - not 2:00AM etc!. - unless there is band opening.  2m same as 222 adding a small rear mount vertical Yagi to the 2m stack.  70 cm is a good question and I suggest we at least try it on Saturday, same schedule as 222.  May need to changed to a stacked pair of Yagi's  with a rear mount vertical in the middle of the stack like 1.25m and 2m to accommodate.  The goal of FM is more Q's not necessarily more grids.  If SSB and Cw can knock off the grids and FM Q could be worth 30, 40 50 points.  On 1.25 and 70cm they are double the value to begin with and we need more 222 and 432 Q's.

No major attachment to any of these ideas.  Sometimes it is fun to switch things around just to see if we can do a little better than the time before.  And it is something different - keeps us on our toes!

Some good ideas Johnny!  Already getting excited about June.  Especially now that it looks like I will not be traveling out of the country this summer to do a DXpedition on 6.

---

_______________________________________________
Fourlanders mailing list
Fourlanders@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/fourlanders