[VHFcontesting] FW: CQWW VHF N8RA SOAB LP
chetsubaccount at snet.net
chetsubaccount at snet.net
Mon Jul 22 11:23:37 EDT 2024
CQ Worldwide VHF Contest - 2024
Call: N8RA
Operator(s): N8RA
Station: N8RA
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: FN31, CT
Operating Time (hrs): 8
OpMode: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
6: 104 35
2: 45 23
-------------------
Total: 149 58 Total Score = 11,252
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
After fixing the broken gear found during the ARRL Jun VHF, I thought I’d be good to go with this event, but it started out poorly.
At the start, SSB transmit audio levels were all out of whack and that took a bit of fussing to balance out. I have two antennas for 2M; one is fixed southwest, and the other is rotary. The rotary one had a very high swr, so that would be a big handicap for sure. Traced that problem to an intermittent coax relay in the A/B/Both switch at the base of the tower. Manually exercising that relay and plenty of contact spray lube/cleaner got it going again. By the time I got back to the shack it seemed there were no SSB stations to work. Maybe there never had been after the first couple, so I moved to FT-8 where I spent most of my time.
6M E’s were very spotty. The signal strengths of the few stations I worked varied from +5 to -22 or gone during the QSO. FT-4 would have been much better to use. I called CQ there a few times but got no replies and saw very little activity. When I took a few hours’ break mid-morning for Church, I left the 6M computer monitoring FT-4 but it did not record any activity. Too bad.
That 2M antenna switch acted up once more near the end of the contest but running it thru its paces from the shack got it going again. The rest of the station performed well, and I had a good time using it.
Tnx and 73,
Chet, N8RA
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