[SECC] NAQP SSB AA4LR Single Op LP

[Bill Coleman]

                   North American QSO Party, SSB - August

Call: AA4LR
Operator(s): AA4LR
Station: AA4LR

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: GA
Operating Time (hrs): 4

Summary:
Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
 160:    0     0
  80:    6     3
  40:  101    32
  20:   32    19
  15:    7     4
  10:           
-------------------
Total:  146    58  Total Score = 8,468

Club: South East Contest Club

Team: Georgia Contest Group Team #5

Comments:

Antennas:
R7000 at 3m high (40-10m)
80/40m trap dipole at 3-5m high (80/40m)

Equipment:
Kenwoon TS-430S running 100 watts to AT-250
Heil Pro Headset

Comments:

Only a part-time effort here. Missed the start completely due to another event earlier in the day. While I finally got the parts to fix my K2/100, I didn't have the time or the equipment in Floyd County to do the re-alignment necessary to the KPA100, so that will have to wait until later in the week.

So, it's back to the venerable TS-430S. Only downside is there's no computer control, so every band change has to be entered manually. 

Got started at 1930z. Nothing on 10 or 15m at that time. That's pretty darn awful. Usually you expect to hear the west coast stations running on 15m until at least 2200z. A quick scan of 20m, and then down to 40m at 2000z. Finally found some rate there. Pop to 15m at 2044z, and find WP4OLB -- a lighthouse special event station. I wondered if that might be my only 15m contact, but I managed to find a handful of west-coast stations two hours later.

40m was definitely the money band, with a good run around 2300z and again at 0130z. QRN was bad, though. The TS-430S AGC has a really slow time constant, so the static crashes attenuated many signals. About 0220z, I tried 80m, but the QRN was even worse there with lots of storm-induced static crashes. 

By 0240z, I was out of gas, my voice barely hanging on. Next time, I'll have to use my K1KP-style voice keyer, which wasn't at the Floyd County shack. 

All in all, a fun time, considering the compromise antennas and improvised equipment. Need to work on the antenna farm in the woods for this fall.


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Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr at mac.com
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