[UK-CONTEST] AFS G4RCG Claimed Score

[Chris G3SJJ]

Well done John. Was going to post but got sidetracked by the general 
discussion. Yes great fun again, in some ways one of my best, in others 
not so good. Stats - 172 with no dupes.

I had a fabulous and really relaxed first hour with 120 Qs which is I 
think is my personal best for CW AFS. Vista, N1MM and mHam Keyer were 
very stable but the winner was the K3. Closing down the DSP width to 
300Hz brings the 8 pole 400Hz roofing filter in. There was no noise, no 
QRM, no IMD, nothing just the stations that called. That continued into 
the 2nd hour but the rate slowed down such that I finished with 72 Qs to 
make 192. I had been alternating my vision on the time and then the 
serial number to keep my brain focused. I think I lost a little 
motivation in not achieving that target and spent most of the 3rd hour 
S&P for a further 53 Qs. I was fascinated with the new sub band limits 
and spent the 1st half of H4 S&P either around 3510-20 or above 3550 but 
eventually settled on 3544 for a little run in the last 25 mins hauling 
in a disappointing 27 Qs for the hour. Creeps, another 15 Qs in the last 
hour would have put me up there!

The main disappointment was that I had not really mastered the K3 2nd rx 
ergonomics. Performance wise you cannot tell any difference to the main 
rx. I switched it in several times but couldn't get it to work hence the 
over-emphasis on S&P. I have now found out that the 500hz roofing filter 
doesn't appear to be working so it wasn't finger trouble, but I should 
have checked before the contest!

Some obs -

1- I did occasionally "feel" the presence of close in signals, say 320Hz 
away, and was surprised anyone could get so close! I guessed that the 
clean signal from the K3 helped them. Closing down the DSP further 
usually negated the problem. There were some clicky FT1kDs or ummodded 
MPs around though!

2 - Like Dave BUO, I really do hate the variable speed messages. I can 
see an advantage if say we were looking to maintain 150/H for the whole 
4 hours. In that case anything to save a few uS/Q might results in a 
couple of Qs advantage. Otherwise it is horrible and useless! I 
experimented with the Wintest style Dit Dit instead of TU on a few 
unsuspecting victims in last week's 80m CC. It sounded awful and I won't 
bother again! Mind you, if it helps to disrupt the opposition who are 
using clicky radios and sending variable messages then maybe ......!

3 - A further point on the K3, prompted by a comment from one of my team 
members who said he had 12 dB attenuation in. At no time did I feel the 
need to switch the attenutaor in on the K3 even though many signals were 
indicating 50-60 DB over. After almost a year, I am still continually 
impressed with the performance.

I thought I had other obs but I think that is enough!  Chris G3SJJ

John Muzyka wrote:
> Have not seen anyone posting their claimed score so let me be the first, had great fun and managed to hold my run freq' until 17.30 when I forced myself to go S&P to mop up a few I knew were on but I had not worked. Worked a few M3's and 2E's which was encouraging, also noted the mails about keyboard sending and excess speeds for the slower op's I always try and slow down to get near to the other ops speed (if noticably slower) and have a Winkey with speed pot and a key ready just in case.
> 288 qso's 1 Dupe (my fault)
> Ten Tec Orion II (Worked beutifully even with all the HUGE WIDE signals that came close to me) Inverted V at 60' Best DX was an RM9 that called and Bob 5B4AGN of course
> Look forward to seeing the results
> Cheers
> John G4RCG
>