[VHFcontesting] ARRL Jan VHF N8RA Single Op-All Modes LP

[chetsubaccount at snet.net]

                    ARRL January VHF Contest - 2026

Call: N8RA
Operator(s): N8RA
Station: N8RA

Class: Single Op-All Modes LP
QTH: FN31, CT
Operating Time (hrs): 7
OpMode: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
    6:   55    28
    2:   51    21
  222:    5     5
  432:   14     9
  -------------------
Total:  125    63  Total Score = 9,072

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Before a contest I usually repair or improve something that showed up in the last one, and then I look forward to trying them out. This time I was looking to see how the new shack computers and an update of WSJT-X to ver 3 RC1 would perform. 

The computers were hand-me-downs after upgrading MYL and my main computers to W11. Our former HP workstations were hand-me-downs deemed by MS to be unworthy of W11, but with the workaround suggestions made by WZ1V, they loaded W11 just fine.  Some of the contesting software then had to be installed and configured; had a few stumbles but were now FB.

The latest and improved version of FT-8 now does multithread decoding, uses a-priori algorithms from past decodes, and other magic to be capable of digging even deeper below the noise level. In monitoring signals over the last few months, I saw many decodes well below a -20dB S/N ratio, many with the AP tag.
My hope was that I would hear (see) more stations, and they would hear (see) my low power station. I believe that was the case. It is wonderful to see that the signal processing and communications theory courses I took decades ago during EE college are now here in amateur radio! 

Got off to a slow start on Saturday afternoon. Signals seemed unusually weak- and it seemed hard to work anyone. When my MYL returned home from her errands, she commented that our hill was being covered with heavy wet crunchy snow, yet 2 miles away she said there was none. Likely that was sticking to the antennas, detuning them, and spoiling their directivity. It continued to snow the wet stuff, enveloping us in an attenuator. A low-level line noise made its presence known as well. When I quit for the evening, I was bummed.

Enough whining! On Sunday afternoon when I got back on after snow cleaning, church service, and lunch, “things” had greatly improved and I was very busy playing radio in SO3R. A few weak E’s showed up on 6M but their infrequent appearances were short and fleeting. I logged only a handful of those. Trying
FT-4 produced nothing. After dinner I soon wore out my eyes (aka FT-8 ears) watching 3 decode windows every 15 seconds, mouse clicking, constantly switching antenna selectors, and turning the 2 rotators. Great fun in the end! 

Big Duh: I had checked out the station the week before and found it curious that I could not copy any beacons on 222 MHz. An analyzer said the antennas and feedlines were OK all the way up to the transverter, and it made the usual 4 watts when keyed. I incorrectly concluded that something may have failed inside the transverter, so I did not bother to power it up at the start. In the middle of sleeping Saturday night I vaguely remembered having messed with the K3’s transverter settings for 222 last spring. Taking a break from the action Sunday afternoon, I checked the K3 configuration, and sure enough, I had messed it up by assigning 221 MHz to a 28 MHz IF. OOPS! Corrected that and made a few calls on 222 that were soon rewarded by distant contacts with WN3A and K8GP. 


Thanks all and 73,
Chet, N8RA


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