[SCCC] W6UFT in CQP02 (long de W1HIJ)
Radiodan W7RF
RFpower@radiodan.com
Mon, 7 Oct 2002 14:51:57 -0700
Hi Bill and the gang,
I just bought an 897 too and haven't had much time to play with it yet, but
your report was fun to read.
I had my troubles with RFI in my alarm system too. I almost pulled what
little hair I had left on my head out trying to solve it.
They were not easy to find, so I even went so far as to buy a few hundred
snap on RFI chokes and I use them EVERYWHERE!
Computer cables, telephone wires, speaker wires, alarm system (that has LOTS
of wires from all the covered "zones").
I have the excess chokes available on my website.
http://www.radiodan.com/Henry/parts/RF_chokes.htm
73, Dan Magro W7RF, (President WARC 1999, member SCDXC, SCCC)
Manufacturers Rep & Distributor for HENRY RF Power Amplifiers.
BIRD Power Measuring equipment, Still THE most accurate in the world!
Tohtsu coaxial relays, Samlex 25A power supply, IIX welded steel accys
www.radiodan.com <http://www.radiodan.com/> RFpower@radiodan.com
<mailto:RFpower@radiodan.com> A trip to our web site is worth the click!
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Subject: [SCCC] W6UFT in CQP02 (long de W1HIJ)
Hi all,
Thought I'd share some of the experience in the weekend's contest. This is
the first time I've done CQP seriously since 99 and since we're on "firsts"
I
thought I'd go all the way. So, the radio was a new one (Yaesu FT897); I was
using a new version of TRLog; this was the first time I'd ever done a
signifcant effort with QRP; and it was the first major effort from the new
QTH in Upland with the first contest using the Butternut HF6V which is
installed on the roof.
So here's the station setup:
Yaesu FT897 running at 5W powered by an Astron supply. Antenna is a
Butternut
HF6V mounted on the roof with its base about 28 feet above ground. One
radial
each for 40, 30, 20, and 10, with a single "radial" made of 3 inch wide
copper foil, 50 feet long that stands in for 80 meters. The computer is a
100
MHz Dell laptop interfaced to the radio for both radio control and for
keying. Software is version 6.70 (latest) of TRLog. There's a second
computer
that usually is connected to the internet for real time propagation numbers
(flux updated every minute), but I don't bother with packet since I find it
more of a distraction than anything else.
I got my hands on the new radio on Wednesday before the contest and spent
that evening and Thursday evening figuring out its quirks and setting up the
menu options (there are 91 of them!) to suit my style. I also got the latest
version of TRLog (v6.70) on Thursday, so I spent a bit of time that evening
checking out any new options, programming the CW memories and figuring out
the interface between the computer and the radio. (Since the 897 is so new,
Tree hasn't seen one yet, but the interface is the same as the FT817, more
or
less).
Saturday AM I had to take Emily (KF6SGV) to the airport for a trip to the
east coast and I was back home about 0800, rarin' to go. The solar numbers
were "OK", but with the flux between 150 and 160, a planetary A that was at
40 (with a K of 4) until 21Z on Saturday, dropping to 21 for the rest of the
weekend, and a K that varied between 2 and 3, I knew it was gg to be a bit
of
a struggle.
Conversations on the QRP issue with a few people in the week before the
contest had me convinced that I'd spend most of my time doing S&P, and I
wondered how well my concentration would hold up since I've become "rate
addicted". As it turns out, what everyone says about QRP being a mental game
is exactly right. Think that you can run and you can. Think that you're
"weak" and you will be. The only differences I found between QRP and QRO
were: be prepared to call several times if you're trying to get through to a
desirable mult; and don't even think about trying to hold a frequency
against
competition. There were several times when I'd be running (well, "walking"
is
more like it) and someone would appear on or within a couple of hundred
hertz
of me. Usually it was the likes of N6O who undoubtedly simply couldn't hear
me back scatter or short skip. The solution? --- move, and move now; staying
only wastes time and raises blood pressure.
I'd done some research and decided on a goal of 75,000 points for the
weekend. The number was chosen to give me a margin of a few thousand over
the
score needed to capture the 2nd place slot for all-time QRP records (1996
thru 2001) which was 72,748 set by N6WS in 99. There was no way with my
antenna set up that I could challenge N6MU's record of 144K set in 00.
So I started on 15 CW and had a pretty decent hour of 55 with 30 mults.
Around 17Z I went to 10 CW in the hopes that it might be usable (even with a
poor A & K) but the result was a second hour with only 30 Q's in the log.
Back to 15 CW at 18Z. Still gg pretty well and I put 32 Q's in the log in
about 35 minutes ... Then the totally unexpected happened ...
I heard a man's voice saying "Hello?" or something similar. Remember, I'm
here alone in the house. Thinking it's a neighbor (the back door to the
patio
is open), I call out "Just a minute, I'll be right there" and untangle
myself
from headphones and various coffee mugs and step out into the hall ... and
what do I see? HOLY HANDCUFFS, BATMAN!! It's a San Bernardino County
Sheriff's Deputy, 9mm drawn and pointing my way!
Well, my mama didn't raise no fool! I know when to freeze.
"Hands up", he says ... I do and right now.
"Lift your tee shirt", he says. (I'm wearing a long Chicago Bears shirt
that's outside my jeans)
"With which hand?" I ask, not wanting to make a wrong move.
"Doesn't matter" ... I comply.
"Turn around" I do.
Satisfied that I'm not armed, the 9mm goes back into the holster. WHEW! Then
we get on to matters of ID and the fact that I actually live here.
This is the ultimate in penalty for RFI. Turns out that on 10 meters,
somehow
even 5 watts was enough to turn on the alarm system, and THEN tell the
monitoring company that the garage door had been opened (it hadn't). They
had
called, but I couldn't get to the phone fast enough during my 10M adventure.
Naturally they aren't going to leave a message (the bad guys hate to be
interrupted with phone calls), so when I checked the machine and it was a
hang up, I just thought it was the usual solicitor. The alarm company also
has my cell phone number and they called that too, but of course I had
turned
it off because who wants to be interrupted with calls during a contest?
Naturally, my next call was to the alarm company to tell them to ignore any
alarms for the next 30 hours. "I'm testing some special communications
equipment" I tell them. Yeah right!!!
But in the best tradition of Murphy, I "just deal with it" and get back to
15M. Albeit I had now lost a half an hour of prime time.
So now it's a matter of slugging it out on 15. It sort of dries up and I go
up to 15 SSB at about 1930Z and spend a frustrating hour or so making 25
Q's.
I do pick up three new mults including NH and VE1, so it's not a total
loss.
Back to 15 CW, and a move to 20CW at 2130Z. I stay on 20 for an hour and
pick
up 4 more mults including AZ and NM on short skip.
Overall rate is not great. But then I don't really expect it to be. Running
5
watts to a vertical just "ain't the same" as 1500 watts to a log periodic at
130 feet!
Back to 15 CW at 2230 ... kinda worked out it seems, 10 CW ten minutes later
for few Q's then 20 SSB for some S&P. Talk about an exercise in futility ...
way too many big guys for me to be heard. 20 CW is a bit better, 18 Q's in
15
minutes. I skip to 15 CW to see if it's still there, one Q, it's not. 15
SSB,
NADA -- one mult and 5 Q's.
Down to 20 CW at 00Z ... Ah, that's better ... Stay there for 90 minutes and
add 70 Q's and 1 mult. Not a barn burner, but better than I expected given
the station setup.
But now, the stomach wins out. Time for something to eat. So I take an hour
off and settle down to some really good microwaved stuff! :>)
Back on at 0230Z. Listen to 20 CW ... pretty much gone. Up to 40 CW, my
favorite band. However, this is the first time that I've really tried to
exercise this antenna on 40 and I really don't know how it's going to play.
I
stay on 40 for a bit over 2 hours and pick up another 90 odd Q's. So I'm
averaging about 40 per hour. Since my "goal planning" said I need to average
around 26 or 27 per hour for 20 hours, I'm satisfied. In addition, I pick up
two new mults, VE4 and VE8 (thanks to J, VY1JA for hearing me and calling
in!) At 05Z I work WC7S in WY and decide to call it a day.
At bedtime then, I'm at 58.5K points with 400 Q's and 51 mults,
substantially
ahead of the plan to reach my goal.
Up again at 13Z and on the air at 1320. Now comes the slog ... As a quick
summary here are Score, Q's and mults at the beginning of each hour:
14Z 61880 415/52 (got UT)
15Z 67652 453/52
16Z 69524 465/52
17Z 71292 482/52
18Z 73476 497/52
19Z 77327 516/53 (got ND)
20Z 84425 545/55 (RI and finally MS)
I decided to quit at this point. Had just about 20 hours in and only two
more
hours left anyway.
Final breakdown was:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
160:
80: 2 0
40: 106 0
20: 159 12
15: 157 45
10: 48 16
6:
2:
--------------------
Total: 472 73 Mults = 55 Total Score = 84,425
Missed AK, HI, and NV (of all things!)
The end result??
1. More fun than I've had in a contest in a long while (except for FD in
Puerto Rico, but that's another whole story) and it re-energized my interest
in "solo" contesting.
2. The FT897 worked better than I expected. I'm glad that I bought one.
3. As always I discovered some things about the station and a new set up
that
need fixing, but that's always one of the side benefits.
4. I achieved my point goal (and then some). But I got beaten out of the 2nd
place all time QRP score by Wes, W3SE who also did QRP and posted a great
102K points. That's OK. If I'm going to get beat, I'm glad that it's by a
friend and a co-operator at N6ME.
Thanks to everyone for all the Q's. It was a blast!!
73 de Bill, W1HIJ
W6UFT for CQP02
FO8DX for CQ WPX CW in 2001
op at NP4A for FD 2002
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