We met at Roosters as
usual on Saturday and nine of the ops and visitors enjoyed our
traditional lunch there. Operators for the contest were Kim
WG8S, Bill KI4US, Jerry W5TDY, Ryan W4RLW, Brad KM4QHI, Kos
N4SDK, Bob K4VBM, Jim W4KXY and Bob W4ZST. We had visitors:
Mike KC4RI, Don KK4E, Jeff WB8LYJ and first time visitor Ed
WA4YIH who we met at the TechFest the weekend before and lives
quite close. The visitors were here for Saturday afternoon and
dinner. Two of our regular ops who had planned to come ended up
having to cancel due to possible illness and we did miss them.
Bill stayed four nights, Kim two, Kos and Jim one. Brad and Jerry commuted.
Jerry's meals were great as usual. Here is the menu that we all enjoyed so much.
The moon was up for two complete passes during the contest for us. I made only one Q on 144 and we had 7 on 432 EME. I think there may be some problem with the 2m station on EME and I will start troubleshooting that but it appears to be normal on terrestrial. 432 was pretty normal. Didn't hear of anyone on 222 to try with. Any grids are good though. Some good grids on Meteor Scatter on both 6 and 2 in the late hours. We had a short opening out to California and western states on 6 for several new grids and a number of Q's into Mexico and Central America. We did not see the Australian and New Zealand stations on but a number of US stations got them.
Very few minor problems this time compared to some we've had before. Maybe Murphy was frozen out!! Just a couple of times we had lost CAT and had to reboot but by and large no real problems other than with the microwave stations. Got one 2304 rig (out of 3) working after much finagling with it but I think it did not have good RX sensitivity. Never could get all of 902 working even though I had good RX copy on the beacon. I did put a preamp on 1296 in front of the 9700 and that made a lot of difference on RX of the beacon. I only worked KC4JD who is not far away but later there was a chattering relay problem that I haven't figured out yet and didn't want to damage something worse than it already was.
Our visitor Ed came with his IC 905's for us to see and drool over and also gave us Q's on 1296, 2304 and 5760. I had planned to try with others but failed to make a reminder list and with so much going on here I just missed out on that. Also forgot to check with some other friends who had wanted to work us but that happens. I need to spend more time on getting the microwave gear settled in.
Special thanks to our NC and BRMS friends who worked us and the great North Alabama Rovers who braved the very cold weather to be out and give us Q's. Another special thanks to Super Rover Andrea K2EZ/R who gave us 13 Q's and 5 grids as she was driving home to Texas and came by our area. We even did a number of CW Q's with her and she was mobile. Surely a record for us for Q's with a single rover. Thanks again Andrea.
We also made 7 local FM simplex Q's with our Cleveland GA Gateway Amateur Radio Club friends after their weekly Sunday night net and we thank them too. They have gotten on with us before too. Several W4NH ops are also GARC members.
Thanks to all who worked us, operated, came to visit and otherwise supported the Fourlanders
73, Bob W4ZST
Bill stayed four nights, Kim two, Kos and Jim one. Brad and Jerry commuted.
Jerry's meals were great as usual. Here is the menu that we all enjoyed so much.
Saturday: Smoked Beef
Brisket, Smoked Kielbasa Sausage, Pinto Beans, Cole Slaw,
Potato Saled and Texas Toast 9 here for dinner
Sunday
Breakfast: Egg, Hash
brown, Cheese and Sausage Casserole
Lunch: Hamburgers,
Chips, Left over Cole slaw, Potato Salad and pickles and
some brisket and beans too.
Dinner: Plenty of the
leftovers for us to enjoy another meal
All the food was fantastic. Thanks again as usual Jerry for feeding us so fine.
Here is our score summary. Bill will submit our entry to ARRL and I will post on 3830. This is our third highest score for a January contest here from EM84. We have had a nationwide second place and third place before from here. We'll have to wait and see how this one ends up for us.
All the food was fantastic. Thanks again as usual Jerry for feeding us so fine.
Here is our score summary. Bill will submit our entry to ARRL and I will post on 3830. This is our third highest score for a January contest here from EM84. We have had a nationwide second place and third place before from here. We'll have to wait and see how this one ends up for us.
The moon was up for two complete passes during the contest for us. I made only one Q on 144 and we had 7 on 432 EME. I think there may be some problem with the 2m station on EME and I will start troubleshooting that but it appears to be normal on terrestrial. 432 was pretty normal. Didn't hear of anyone on 222 to try with. Any grids are good though. Some good grids on Meteor Scatter on both 6 and 2 in the late hours. We had a short opening out to California and western states on 6 for several new grids and a number of Q's into Mexico and Central America. We did not see the Australian and New Zealand stations on but a number of US stations got them.
Very few minor problems this time compared to some we've had before. Maybe Murphy was frozen out!! Just a couple of times we had lost CAT and had to reboot but by and large no real problems other than with the microwave stations. Got one 2304 rig (out of 3) working after much finagling with it but I think it did not have good RX sensitivity. Never could get all of 902 working even though I had good RX copy on the beacon. I did put a preamp on 1296 in front of the 9700 and that made a lot of difference on RX of the beacon. I only worked KC4JD who is not far away but later there was a chattering relay problem that I haven't figured out yet and didn't want to damage something worse than it already was.
Our visitor Ed came with his IC 905's for us to see and drool over and also gave us Q's on 1296, 2304 and 5760. I had planned to try with others but failed to make a reminder list and with so much going on here I just missed out on that. Also forgot to check with some other friends who had wanted to work us but that happens. I need to spend more time on getting the microwave gear settled in.
Special thanks to our NC and BRMS friends who worked us and the great North Alabama Rovers who braved the very cold weather to be out and give us Q's. Another special thanks to Super Rover Andrea K2EZ/R who gave us 13 Q's and 5 grids as she was driving home to Texas and came by our area. We even did a number of CW Q's with her and she was mobile. Surely a record for us for Q's with a single rover. Thanks again Andrea.
We also made 7 local FM simplex Q's with our Cleveland GA Gateway Amateur Radio Club friends after their weekly Sunday night net and we thank them too. They have gotten on with us before too. Several W4NH ops are also GARC members.
Thanks to all who worked us, operated, came to visit and otherwise supported the Fourlanders
73, Bob W4ZST