[SCCC] W4EF ARRL DX CW SOAB-Assisted

[Michael Tope]

                  ARRLDXCW Summary Sheet

        Start Date : 2019-02-16

     CallSign Used : W4EF
       Operator(s) : W4EF

Operator Category : SINGLE-OP
Assisted Category : ASSISTED
              Band : ALL
             Power : HIGH
              Mode : CW
  Default Exchange : 5nn CA

              Name : Michael Tope
           Address : 11018 Cardamine Dr
    City/State/Zip : Tujunga  CA  91042
           Country : UNITED STATES

         Club/Team : Southern California Contest Club
          Software : N1MM Logger+ 1.0.7532.0

         Band     QSOs     Pts  Cty  Pt/Q
          1.8      30      90   23   3.0
          3.5       6      18    6   3.0
           14      49     147   29   3.0
        Total      85     255   58   3.0


             Score : 14,790
               Rig : Elecraft K3 & KPA500 (Alpha 87A on Sunday afternoon)

          Antennas : 20 meters -> inverted-v at 37ft
                     160/80 meters -> 55ft top-loaded Vertical


I was mostly just fooling around trolling for new DXCC countries on 160 
meters. While operating remotely from my home in LA, I had an almost QSO 
with PJ6A early on Saturday, but a combination of QSB and my lack of Rx 
antennas killed it. I was also stalking MI0SLE who I heard briefly with 
Q5 signals early in the evening (I think it was around 0500 UTC), but he 
wasn't above the noise long enough to make a QSO possible.

I've also been smarting for the last week or so over a missed 
opportunity to work XX9D in Macau on 160. They were very loud on the 
morning of Tuesday February 12, but they couldn't hear worth a darn (I 
understand they have horrendous QRM at the hotel where they are setup). 
As a result only a few loud west coast stations were able to punch 
through (K6NA was among them). That was the last straw for me. I fixed 
my Alpha 87A many months ago, but it has been sitting on my workbench 
ever since. I love my Elecraft KPA500, but it operates at a 4 to 5 dB 
deficit compared to the Alpha 87A, so I decided it was time to bring the 
Alpha out of retirement.

After my failure to connect with PJ6A and MI0SLE Saturday night, I 
loaded the Alpha into the car a drove it up to my remote station, so I 
would have that extra S-unit just in case the XX9 showed up Sunday 
morning. Actually being at the station has the added advantage that I 
can actually tweak the settings on my MFJ-1026 noise canceller 
(something that I can't do remotely). I figured that might help me pull 
out QSOs with the PJ6 and the MI0.

As it turned out, conditions to the Caribbean had improved significantly 
by the time I reached the remote site around 0730 UTC Saturday night, so 
hearing PJ6A was no longer a problem. I wasn't so lucky with MI0SLE. The 
sunrise peak I had been hoping for didn't materialize. I spent the next 
few hours handing out QSOs on 160 muxed in with watching "Shetland" on 
Netflix. Sunday morning I swapped out the KPA500 for the Alpha 87A and 
then took a long nap after an extended struggle with an uncooperative 
Windows driver for the USB-to-serial adapter that I use to talk to the 
serial port of the Alpha 87A. After the nap, I finished up my (non) 
effort with some S&P on 20 meters.


73, Mike W4EF.............