[SCCC] CQWWSSB 2014 W4EF SOABHP
Michael Tope
W4EF at dellroy.com
Mon Nov 3 08:04:41 EST 2014
CQWWSSB Summary Sheet
Start Date : 2014-10-25
CallSign Used : W4EF
Operator(s) : W4EF
Operator Category : SINGLE-OP
Band : ALL
Power : HIGH
Mode : SSB
Default Exchange : 3
Gridsquare : DM04
Club/Team : Southern California Contest Club
Software : N1MM Logger V14.6.0
Band QSOs Pts ZN Cty
----------------------------------------
1.8 9 17 7 7
3.5 16 33 9 11
7 53 131 18 33
14 98 265 27 40
21 166 477 29 69
28 306 900 26 75
----------------------------------------
Total 648 1823 116 235
Score : 639,873
Rig : FT1000MP MKV + Drake L-7 Amp
Antennas : 10/15/20 Spiderbeam at 48ft
40M Inverted-V at 37ft
160/80 Top-loaded Vertical + lotsa radials
Soapbox : My FT1000MP MKV had been broken (very low RF output
power) since before the IARU Radiosport contest. I used it in that
contest to limp along with 400 to 700 watts output. I finally put it on
the workbench the weekend before the contest and was able to trace the
problem down to a bad $0.86 surface mount Schottky diode in the RF
Power/VSWR bridge circuit (the bad diode was fooling the rig into
thinking it was always looking into a super high VSWR). Unfortunately
you have to tear the radio apart to get at that diode, so diagnosing and
fixing the problem was a lot of work. I got the diodes in from Digi-Key
on Wednesday, but I didn't get around to replacing them until Thursday
night. Friday afternoon was spent testing the reworked VSWR bridge with
an external RF power source and then putting humpty-dumpty back together
again (PITA). I also got a chance to look into the failure on the Alpha
87A which went dead early in the IARU contest (possibly caused by RF
overshoot from the screwed up exciter). The fault code turned out to be
for "PIN diode bias out of range", so I have at least a little hope that
I didn't kill the tubes. That is as far as I got, however; I am going to
have to save the Alpha 87A fix for another weekend.
I wasn't feeling so well on Friday so I slept in on Saturday morning and
then spent the later morning and early afternoon cleaning up the garage
and getting packed for the remote site. At first I was toying with doing
a really serious 2nd day only effort, but when it got late Saturday
night, I decided that I didn't feel like paying the price of sleep
deprivation. I got started a little late Sunday morning since I didn't
even bother to set an alarm. Ten meters was already wide open to Europe
when I sat down in the operating chair (1520 UTC). I worked mostly
search and pounce during the contest, except for a couple of short runs
to JA. By the way, I am amazed how BY activity seems to increase each year.
My highest 10 minute rate in the contest was 126 and my best hour was
85. I even had the rate meter up to 240 for one whole minute (I guess
you have to be DX to sustain that for more than a minute). N1MM says I
put in 14:21 altogether. Overall it was a fun casual effort and a chance
to chase DX the old fashion way (no assistance). Cu all next time.
73, Mike W4EF..........
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