[SCCC] CQ160 CW K0XP Single Op HP

[Tree]

Steve -

Congrats on getting your new station on the air - sounds like you are
hearing some great stuff!

You are right - CQ 160 doesn't have the ability to deal with paper logs.

This allows the log checking process to be mostly automated and we can make
sure all of
the logs are "looked at" equally.  It would be unfair to mix paper logs
into the mix since they would not
be scrutinized to the same level as electronic ones.

You can always log the contest on paper and enter the data afterwards -
much like having to manually
dupe your log.

The CQ 160 contest is run by two volunteers and the one that would probably
enter your paper log just has one
working eye left (me).  So - entering a paper log is just "doing your part"
to help out the volunteers.

73 Tree N6TR (ex WB6ZVC)

PS: Never did get BI4SSB to even send a question mark.  I did manage to
make a QSO with BY4SZ just
before my sunrise - but that was after trying a bunch of times both
mornings without success at first.

On Mon, Jan 30, 2023 at 3:32 PM Steve Harrison <k0xp at k0xp.com> wrote:

>                      CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW - 2023
>
> Call: K0XP
> Operator(s): K0XP
> Station: K0XP
>
> Class: Single Op HP
> QTH: CA
> Operating Time (hrs): <15
>
> Summary:
> Total:  QSOs = 302  State/Prov = 52  Countries = 15  Total Score = 53,533
>
> Club: Southern California Contest Club
>
> Comments:
>
> I had forgotten how much fun the CQWW160CW contest is. I had technical
> issues
> with both my trailer as well as the radio and computer setup, so was not
> able to
> get on until Saturday night. Imagine my surprise when several Europeans
> popped
> up later during their gray line at 0430, and I was even able to work them
> with
> my make-shift, low inverted L, from the SoCal desert! Worked 48 states:
> never
> heard ND or SD, nor DC. My battery State Of Charge dropped to less than
> 40% with
> four hours left before Sunday's sunrise, so I stopped CQing so I would have
> enough battery power left by sunrise to chase whatever DX showed up then.
> Unfortunately, other than totally-deaf BI4SSB and BY4SZ, none did. But the
> Plan
> C Orion Antler Ranch is finally on the air and contesting!
>
> Several additions just for the SCCC:
> I had technical issues with both my trailer and getting N1MM+ to work on
> my laptop
> that can't (yet) connect to the internet from the ranch, and couldn't get
> on until
> after 5 pm Saturday night (more about this at the bottom).
>
> I never heard BI4SSB answer any W/K's, nor the several KH6s who also
> called, just
> several of the JAs and there were plenty of them also calling that he never
> answered (I could hear a small pileup of them calling). BY4SZ did,
> however, at
> least work W6YI but I'm not sure whether he worked any other W/Ks or VEs,
> possibly
> also N7KU. Last year, in the ARRL 160 test in December '21 from AZ, I
> worked
> BI4SSB easily (first call); but I was still setting up the ranch this year
> for the
> ARRL 160 so didn't participate. His noise level must have gone up
> dramatically
> since then as I'm certain I'm just a peanut whistle to the DX.
>
> I bought this 10 acre desert-land spread, located some 11 miles east of
> the old
> W6ANN/W6BA spread (which is still there, complete with at least 5 towers,
> owned by
> his granddaughter now), last March. It has a dilapidated doublewide
> manufactured
> home in the center of the property that I'm hoping to fix up and move into
> before
> I become too old and my kids have to tear me away from here and toss me in
> a nursing
> home to live out my last days 8-/  Meanwhile, I have a 26 ft. trailer to
> live in;
> and for AC power, have built up my own solar system complete with
> batteries (the
> closest power pole is a quarter mile away). My solar power system is still
> under
> construction but to date, I have four 250W panels up, charging six 105
> A-Hr LiFEPhO4
> batteries through a pair of Victron 100/50 Smart controllers, and a 2700W
> "pure
> sinewave" Magnum inverter. The inverter is greedy for battery power, so I
> don't run
> it too often; but it does great on RFI. To date, the only RFI I've
> identified seems
> to be generated by my two Victron solar controllers; and for the most
> part, this
> noise has been an apparent clock oscillator on some subharmonic of 3.5
> MHz. There
> is also an intermittent sweeping signal that runs across the bottom of 28
> MHz but
> only lasts a few seconds before it dies out. When the sun goes down and
> the panels
> stop generating power, the Victrons seem to go into a sleep mode and the
> only RFI I
> can find is a very weak wideband noise right on 7 MHz, not even strong
> enough to
> cover weak Europeans.
>
> Otherwise, you just have to be out here to fully appreciate the almost
> total lack
> of man-made noise; I could hear schtuff during the contest that other
> sixes were
> requesting many repeats for. 40m DXing is a dream; you can hear Europeans
> working
> one another, just like we W/Ks do here. VU2GSM comes through on 7004 just
> about
> every day, always Q5 until the grayline goes away with his sunrise. The
> other day,
> I ran across A75GC on 7003, also obviously on his grayline; and not
> believing my
> ears at first, didn't even call him at first. Then a feather coulda
> knocked me
> over when he responded... while I was only running 100 watts, yet...
>
> Solar panels generate DC; and so they DO NOT cause RFI by theirselves.
> However,
> their controllers do. There are several types of controllers in use today:
> Pulse
> Width Modulated, and MPPT. The PWM controllers are really nasty with RFI;
> you
> don't want to use those at a ham station. The only MPPTs I've had
> experience with
> are the Victron 100/50 models that I'm presently using; and that
> experience is
> talked about above. Otherwise, such a battery-backed system also has an
> inverter
> running from your batteries in systems like mine, and that inverter can
> be noisier than all getout, especially the quasi-sinewave types that
> generate
> shortened rectangular waves at a 60 Hz rate to simulate a sine wave; you
> don't want
> to use on of those near a ham station, particularly under load when they
> open up and
> cover the entire HF spectrum. The inverter I'm using now generates "pure
> sine waves"
> and incorporates an iron transformer; at a rated continuous output power
> of 2700
> watts, this thing weighs 80 pounds!! Unfortunatly, it's an older model,
> first
> marketed in 2005, as the Magnum RS3000, and I don't know whether the later
> models
> that replaced it, such as the XC-series, are as RFI-quiet.
>
> So the bottom line is pay attention to the devices that actually compute
> and/or
> switch: they are going to be the big RFI generators, NOT the pure DC
> generators
> such as solar panels.
>
> Finally: part of my "technical issue" Saturday night was realizing that
> unless I wanted
> to type into N1MM+  my hand-written log after the contest, I would not be
> able to
> submit a log to CQ AT ALL, since the rules now completely prohibit any but
> computer-
> generated Cabrillo logs. Since the last time I've contested (December,
> 2021), my old
> logging laptop has lost its cooling fan, so I can't use it for logging. My
> replacement
> laptop had not had N1MM+ installed and configured yet. Since I don't yet
> have internet
> out on the Plan C ranch, I had downloaded and installed N1MM+ during a
> grocery-shopping
> trip into 29 Palms last week but had not filled out any of the
> configuration files, nor
> set the laptop up to work with my keyer and radio. As I listened to
> everybody having so
> much fun in the contest Saturday afternoon, I finally said "forget
> that.... let's just
> get it configured and running, using the manual keyer but at least
> logging/duping on
> the laptop,". So that's what I did. My point here is that now, CQ has
> prohibited people
> from submitting paper logs at all, which is a HUGE turnoff for those who
> are unable, for
> one reason or another, to use a logging program or computer while
> contesting (unless
> you want to type your handwritten log later... NOT!!). This discourages
> those people, and
> also casual operators who might want to submit a log but don't use a
> contest logging
> program, from entering the contest at all. I understand the sentiment
> behind the
> requirement for Cabrillo logs, but feel that it may be causing some casual
> operators
> not to enter the contest at all. Often, those "casual operators" might be
> in out-
> of-the way locations such as North Dakota, South Dakota, Yukon, Prince
> Edward, etc..
> I vote a hearty "NO" on this requirement; there can't be all that many
> paper logs any
> longer, can there??
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