ARRL Sweepstakes 2007

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Watch and listen to VA2SG during SS CW 2007

The PLAN

Here are my goals for my 1st ever SS CW/PH. I have no good way to predict how well I will do. CW is a total conservative SWAG. Phone may be more real. As you can see my efforts will be minimal. I do not even qualify as a cap pistol.

CW Goals

Call	N6RNO
STATION	N6IJ	Operate	10hrs Saturday through 6am Sunday
QSO	75	Mults	10	Score	1,500
Situation	I have never had any QSO's on CW. I only know a handful of the codes. I will be relying on 100% machine decode. I will be using Digital Master 780. Only 100w (Maybe more if I find an AMP or get the SB220 to work with my rig). I am sharing the station with WA1QQK. I am choosing to defer to him on band choices. The upside is that by working the less crowded band my mechanical translation has it's best shot and so my rate will likely be it's best. I will be 99.99% S&P unless I find the situation so nice at N6IJ I can deal with minor pile-ups.

Phone Goals

Call	N6RNO
STATION	N6IJ	Operate	16-24hrs.
QSO	150	Mults	20	Score	6,000
Situation	Thanks to K6RM it will be another shared operation at N6IJ. So these numbers may be off. I am leaving them as the goal, but I think the mults will be larger. Definitely, less noise but I still have to share the airwaves. It will be a learning experience. Update: Having just completed SSCW I know these Phone numbers are off. They still are my official goal but I now think that 200/70 30K is achievable.

Luck is when opportunity meets prepartion

Need to review the ARRL 2007 Sweepstakes Rules? http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2007/novss.html

Need a quick refresher on the all-important 6-Part SS Exchange format? General format is:

His Call -- Your Number -- Precedence -- Your Call -- Check -- Section

His Call = his call

Your Number = your consecutive serial number (start with 001)

Precedence = operating status (Q, A, B, U, M, or S) (see next tip)

Your Call = your call

Check = last 2 digits of the year you were first licensed

Section = ARRL section

Example: NU1AW would respond to W1AW’s call by sending:

W1AW 123 B NU1AW 71 CT

which indicates QSO number 123,

B for Single Op High Power,

NU1AW, first licensed in 1971,

and in the Connecticut section.

Need to know the 6 possible SS precedences? Train your brain to listen carefully for these letters:

Q	for Single Op QRP (5 Watts output or less)
A	for Single Op Low Power (up to 150 W output)
B	for Single Op High Power (greater than 150 W output)
U	for Single Op Unlimited
M	for Multi-Op
S	for School Club

Want to practice copying callsigns to reduce CW logging errors? Try these free Morse trainers to improve your skills.

• http://justlearnmorsecode.com/
• http://www.dxatlas.com/MorseRunner/
• http://www.rufzxp.net/
• http://www.g4fon.net/CW%20Trainer.htm

Want to print out a copy of the 80 possible ARRL Section Multipliers? http://www.arrl.org/contests/sections.abv.html

Need to assign a set of CW Macros to your Function keys? Setup for a typical logging program:

F1	CQSS <Your Call>
F2	<His Call>
F3	Exchange (Your Number, Precedence, Call, Check, Section)
(Note: Hit F2 + F3 for the full exchange)
F4	Your Number
F5	Your Precedence
F6	Your Call
F7	Your Check
F8	Your Section
F9	? (or Agn ?)
F10	NR?
F11	CK?
F12	SEC?

The Results

CW

My CW Score (Claimed)

Band	QSOs	Pts	Sec
3.5	20	40	14
7	50	100	33
14	2	4	1
21	8	16	6
Total	80	160	54

Score : 8,640

My CW Score (Actual)

Band	QSOs	Error
3.5	15	25%
7	44	12%
14	2	0%
21	5	37.5%
Total	66	17.5%

Mults: 51 (Lost 6% of Mults)
Score : 6,732 (Lost 22% of claimed)

LCR Information

Error rate = 11.3%
1 Busted Call: KU1C instead of KU1CW
4 NILs ... including K9YC (ouch)
5 Penalty QSO's (double ouch on a small log)

Vahe's Score as W6AMM

Band	QSOs	Pts	Sec
3.5	2	4	1
7	21	42	7
14	53	106	32
Total	76	152	40

Score : 6,080

W6AMM Actual

Band	QSOs	Error
3.5	2	0%
7	19	9.5%
14	51	3.8%
Total	72	5.3%

Mults: 40 (Lost 0%)
Score : 5,760 (Lost 5.3%)

Jim's Score as N6IJ

Band	QSOs	Pts	Sec
3.5	57	114
7	89	178
14	345	690
21	28	56
Total	519	1038	78

Score: 80,964

N6IJ Actual

Band	QSOs	Error
3.5	55	3.5%
7	89	0%
14	337	2.3%
21	28	0%
Total	509	1.9%

Mults: 78 (Lost 0%)
Score: 79,404 (Lost 1.9%)

LCR Information

Error rate = 1.9%
Busted 1 call: VE3DF for VA3DF

Phone

My Phone Score

Operating Time (hrs): 18

Band	QSOs	Pts	Sec
160
80	68
40	29
20	60
15	18
10
Total	175	22,400	64

The Story

This one is likely to look like Tehama 2007. Mostly a last minute rush to get on the air and do something. Two different weekends, two different stations, two different stories.

CW

I have never made a contest CW QSO. I only understand a few codes.

'Tis Thursday

I still do not have N1MM, the Rigblaster USB PnP and my Icom 706-MKIIG doing CW together.

I talked to K9YC last night and I went to Halted Electronics to get some parts to roll my own parallel port CW interface. A DB-25 connector, a 2N2222 transistor, two 2K Ω 1/4W 5% resistors (I need one 1K Ω but Halted was out), some RJ-11(?) satin cord and a 1/4" stereo plug.

8pm PST, I still have not built an interface. Signal on the satin cord seems very weak. Maybe I reversed the emitter and collector. Maybe the parallel 2kΩ's are not right. Lot's of maybe's. My meter is dead. It needs a new battery. So it is off to Fry's.

Vahe calls me as I am looking for a better male DB25 connector. I do not like the modular plug ones that I got from Halted. Vahe is concerned with a lack of rig control for the station at N6IJ. Vahe asked the reflector for help.

Rusty (W6OAT) has offered a parallel to key interface so that we can at least use N1MM to key the rig.

Andy (call?) has an FT-990 that he is no longer using. Andy also has one of the old Yaesu rig control boxes. And Andy has a key interface that he built, except this combination of rig control stuff uses serial ports and neither of my latops have serial ports. So I pickup a USB to serial interface (Airlink).

While I was at Fry's there are several calls between Andy, Vahe and me. I get in line to pay for the odd assortment of parts and I call Vahe. I tell Vahe to get the interface Rusty is offering and to also pick up all the interface stuff Andy is offering. I tell Vahe to not pickup the Ft-990 as that is the same rig already at N6IJ.

Hopefully, between all of the stuff that is being lent to us and the parts that I bought today we can get both stations with full rig control. At a minimum, we should be able to use N1MM and parallel ports to key the rigs.

I get home a realize that the Acer laptop does not have a parallel port. All of the interfaces we are planning on using or building use the parallel port. I decide that I will bring my desktop system that is in my living room. I'll need to hook it to one of the existing monitors at N6IJ. At least this way we will have reasonable computers for logging. I'll also have to update the copy of N1MM on the desktop.

I relax for about an hour and then head back to the shack to build a proper parallel keyer interface. I have not built any electronics in about 10 years. I had bought one of those Cold-Heat soldering irons about a year ago. I had used it to tin the ground braid in the shack so that I could interconnect some sections with bolts. This soldering iron is interesting. For the ground braid it worked pretty well.

You can build simple electronics with the Cold-Heat iron. I bulled my way through this simple build. The male DB-25 connector was a solder type. I have used the modular and the put in only the pins you need types many years ago. I find that I prefer the solder type when you have to add electronics to the cable for interfacing non-computer stuff through computer ports.

The difficulties with a Cold-Heat are basically two fold and are related to how the Cold-Heat actually works. The Cold-Heat has a split tip. In order to solder you have to contact both sides of the tip to a conductive surface. If you do not touch enough surface current does not flow and the "arcing" across the tip gaps does not occur. It is this arc (hopefully contained in the conductive material) that causes the heat needed to solder. Keeping the tip in proper contact with many electronic surfaces can be hard. For most board type connections it is not that hard. For a free-space build like the parallel keyer interface I built it can be frustrating. Give me a Weller station any time. Even just a Weller pencil (which I do have but stubbornly refused to use on this project)

All that being said, I successfully got an interface build. I tested it out at low power on and empty part of 20 M.I do not have a dummy load and no other way to test, so I went live. All the while praying no one really heard me and tried to answer my CQSS N6RNO call that was sent at 8WPM that N1MM was set at. No one answered. I upped the speed to 30, how sweet. Then for a lark I pushed it to the max that N1MM would let me use which is 98. Man is 98 fast.

So the good news is that I now seem to have everything crudely ready. My eyes are very dry and tired. The station is torn down. In the morning I will have to pack it all up and get it into the RV. I hope I can be to N6IJ before 1pm.

Friday

The original plan was to arrive between 10am and 1pm. Having gone to bed about 3am that plan was in jeopardy. Actually, it was shot full of holes. I woke on Friday about 9am. I was still very tired and not quite awake.

By noon, I have the RV packed and I am ready to go. I drive the RV to Gilroy and stop by the Garlic Ranch Truck Stop and put $79 of gasoline into the tank. I also take the opportunity to have the RV washed. This is a one hour stop. So by 2:15pm I am back on the road to N6IJ.

The turn onto DX drive can not be made by the RV. Fortunately, the area is a collection of roads and I can easily turn the RV right and circle up the drive. This is the last time I ever take the RV up DX Drive. The road is too overgrown and I scraped the tops and side of the RV. Really, once you start up the road with a large vehicle like my Bounder you just have to keep pushing forward.

I unlock the gate about 3:30pm and I squeeze the Bounder through (about 6 inches of clearance). I can not go left as there is a tree that blocks progress in that direction. I try and take the drive right. I quickly decide to park outside of the fence. One issue, the tight gate through which I have to back up the Bounder. I manage this without any help. I drive over to the Army Corps of Engineers building and turn around. I park the Bounder blocking the gate open. In retrospect this was not a good idea. (See K9YC on Saturday)

Next for the hard labor part. I have to bring in three computers, a radio, power supply, one G5RV, 300ft of antennae feed cable and lots of rope in 100ft sections and one 500 ft spool. All of this takes about 30 minutes.

Surprise, the Yaesu FT-990 has rig control cables for the computer. There is a Yaesu RS232 interface powered from AC. This is a waste of power and space but it works.

Vahe calls, talks about the equipment and we cancel the stuff from Andy. Thanks for your offer of equipment Andy.

It had been suggested that I place the G5RV and the 10-15-20 fan dipole on the tower for the log periodic. From an interference viewpoint, this is an obvious choice. It offers the largest separation from all of the other HF antennae. Did I mention my silly thought about operating two radios on two bands without any band pass filters? There are several challenges with this location.

1. The power lines run between the tower and the station. We cannot place an antennae where it might fall onto power lines. This is an obvious safety issue and means that any antennae and feed lines have to be routed away from the power lines. Actually, the current feed lines for the log periodic run on the power poles.

2. The tower is fenced in and gate locked. (Is a key required, I never checked).

3. There are no convenient high points other than the tower to support the wire antennae.

4. This is the biggest issue, the log periodic is a very long way from the shack. I did not bring enough feed line for this location. N6IJ has a lot of hardline cable, but I am not going to try and run that without board approval and a lot of help.

OK, given the need to be close to the station but as far as possible from the other antennae, the only choice was to place the G5RV inside the 80/160m loop. In surveying how to support the G5RV I found a rope that was attached to the top of one of the support poles for the 80m discone. I decide to use that rope to support the center of the G5RV. Basically, I run a very long ridge line from the top of the pole to a tree on the other side of the station.

Thanks to K6VWO (Bill) I have an pneumatic tennis ball launcher to send lines to high places. This is the CSV19 from Antenna Launchers. This thing works great. It can be pressurized to 90 lbs. It will launch the tennis ball about 90 ft high. I actually only get about 80 psi and maybe 75 ft because I loose about 10 psi removing the air pump connector. Here at N6IJ 80 psi is enough. I am able to place lines high into the trees.

I send a line over the tall tree near pole F. There is a small telephone cross pole with holes. The line friction in the tree is pretty high. I tie off the line to the cross pole and place it on the ground in some loose soil. This seems to hold. Ideally, a more permanent solution is to actually run the line to pole F and tie it off properly. I have to add two 100 ft sections to the existing line I am using as a center line. If we are to consider this as a more permanent solution then we should get a single line to run from pole F to the pole on the 80m discone.

Next, I toss a rope over the tree near the shed to support one G5RV leg.

I tie a rope to the other leg and route it to the fence on the back of the property.

By 6pm, I am tired and the G5RV is only partially up. Adjustments to the setup have to wait until Saturday morning. I take a break and grab dinner in the RV. Refreshed I return to the station and work on setting up all of the computers and radio gear.

I use room 3 as my base for the weekend I setup my Icom 706MKIIG and the Compaq laptop (remember the Tehama story). I use the same LDG AT-200Pro I used in CQP. I temporarily wire the Pro 67C to room 3. Several months ago this room had two feed lines. Now there is only one. I also install the new keying cable. Power everything up. Voila! All of the equipment is working.

The network is working and I have internet access. I try and load the prefill data for N1MM. No good something is wrong. I look at the file in WordPad. It seems OK. If only I had read my emails, I would have learned I should have saved the stupid file from within WordPad. I did not see the email and I never got prefills working in N1MM for SS CW on either station.

Map of antennae at N6IJ. SS2007 temporary antennae are in green

Next I move to room 2 with the FT-990 and my desktop from home. I setup the computer plug in the rig interface and the existing keying cable. I power up the computer and start N1MM. I configure N1MM to talk to the FT-990. Simple, it works as advertised. Switching frequency and bands works from within N1MM and from the FT-990. We are golden.

Next I try and send some CW. Oh no, this is not working. DLPRTIO.dll is not present. OK, no big deal, just download the file from the internet. Wait, no internet connection, I can not see any computers at N6IJ. I play around with the various settings. No good. The Compaq in room 3 is happy. I try and set an explicit IP and DNS. No good. That's it. Time for bed. Look at this fiasco in the morning.

Overnight Chris (K6PIC) comes in and resets the routers. (This is important, I should have tried this first) Thank you Chris.

Saturday

At the end of the day Friday the G5RV was only partially up. It was not properly pulled tight. When I pull it tight Saturday morning, I find that I really need to move the center closer to the 80m discone. I lower the ridge line and move the center about 23 ft closer to the discone.

Richard(call?) shows up and helps when I reraise the ridge line. He keeps the antenna wire from catching in the small tree near the center. Part of the reason for moving the G5RV is to eliminate contact with the 40m delta beam that is laying in pieces around the station. Part of the center loop still remains and I have to route the G5RV so that it will not contact the wire from the loop.

Jim (K9YC) arrives and insists I move the Bounder. I was blocking the gate. I fully understand his need and I knew I had to move it when I parked it there Friday.

K9YC brought along his FT1000MP, TenTec Hercules II 500w amp, Drake MN2000 antenna tuner, and logging computer. Jim drove down Saturday morning to set up his station pre-tune the antennas, and work out any kinks.

Jim brought a 10-15-20 fan dipole that he has made. This should perform better than the G5RV if we can find a good spot to set it up.

Initially, I thought to suspend it between pole F and the 2m yagi. There is a pulley on pole F. When we try and pull a rope up it jumps the pulley. Vahe climbs the pole and resets the rope.

The location is closer to the Pro67-C. It would probably be subject to spurious emissions. On Jim's advice I reset my idea and focus on putting the 10-15-20m fan dipole in the front of the station.

There are two real issues with the location in front. One the power line is right there. This could result in power line noise. Two, the antenna has to cross the boundary fence. This makes for a tricky install.

I use the antennae launcher to send the ropes through the trees. Both are about 45 ft up as there is almost no rope left out of a 100 feet of rope. It takes only 30 minutes to put the fan dipole up. It is the same height as the power line. I hope there is no noise.

Jim's setup.

Yaesu on-line?

Vahe wanted to use a keyer and a paddle as backup to computer keying. Jim K9YC had brought a keyer for use on Sunday. Vahe tried to connect it into the Yaesu but could not get things to work. He returned the keyer to Jim's setup (did we get it right Jim?). Vahe tried several other keyers that were laying around the station but had no luck with them either.

Contest Starts

The initial startup was really tough. While my station in room 3 was ready to go, I still had to try and get Vahe working in room 2 with the FT-990. For whatever reason, I was unable to get the keyer interface to work. I did not hook the spare interface (from Rusty W6OAT) into the system. The contest had started, I was frustrated, Vahe was anxious and the station was unusable.

I worked a few minutes and gave up on getting a key, keyer and computer all keying the Yaesu. Vahe said he could just key everything. This put a lot of pressure on Vahe to operate, since it has been awhile since he has been in a contest. Rig control was working, so at least N1MM could spot and QSY the radio. Prefills did not work. (After the contest I got through my emails and learned how to fix the prefill issue)

About 30 minutes into the contest Vahe is on-line and making his first contacts. I stick around a few minutes to be sure he is OK with the logger and the setup.

Almost an hour into the contest and I make my first contact (W2LC in WNY on 15m). The keyer interface is actually working and DM780 is decoding very clean on 3 channels. Now I just need to get used to finding a frequency and tunning near to it. I am looking at almost 3kHz audio band in DM780. It's a lot like a PSK31 waterfall display. The main difference is that in the current setup, I have to manual QSY to the signal and then send. When I let DM780 have rig control, I simply make the channel of interest my main channel and transmit. The software automatically shifts the frequency into the right channel area.

Throughout the afternoon, I learn how to operate the setup better and better. By about 100Z (6pm local), I have learned how to use the 250Hz CW filter to my advantage. I know Locust I really should use a 500Hz filter. Give the software a break, a 250Hz CW filter works better for DM-780. It does help in the noisier situations.

I learn that since I have the CW tone set to 600Hz on the Icom that the transmit frequency is at 600Hz on the DM 780 display. I tune until the Main channel is at or near 600 in DM-780 and then I can pounce away.

Surprisingly, the fan dipole is quiet on 15m and 20m. I do not hear any line noise. Signals are loud. Checking against the G5RV, I find that the fan dipole is a better performer.

I also learn to watch the speed indicator in the DM-780 display and set N1MM to something in the range +/- 2wpm. Most everyone is running around 30. But I found several in the 38 range and one or two about 18. I did not worry as much matching the fast guys as I did slowing down for the guys under 28.

I realize that I have not eaten dinner. I am starting to loose it. I head out to the RV and have dinner. I relax a little.

Vahe packs it in

Vahe comes out to the RV about 30 minutes after I went out for dinner and says he is done. He is at 62 contacts with 37 mults. I suggest that he try for 75 contacts.

Finally at 77/40 Vahe says he is just too wrung out. He is messing up the keying and feels he is just frustrating anyone who is trying to contact him. He is done. Vahe says he really appreciates the advantages of using memory keyers and computers in contests. Having to actually hand key the entire exchange is very tiring.

Vahe leaves N6IJ about 0245Z.

On my own

After Vahe leaves, I cleanup his computer setup and then set back to working the contest. I have been off the air 2 hours.

Latter in the evening K6PIC (Chris) shows up. Thank Chris for reconfiguring the station so that I could try the 80m/160m loop in room 3. In trying to use the loop I learned that I needed a ferrite (had one handy) on my hastily assembled keyer cable. I quickly wrapped 6 turns (which is all that would fit) through the ferrite. My keying problems on 80m went away. I was then able to compare the G5RV side by side to the loop. At that time I could not hear a lot of difference so I went back to using the G5RV so that Chris could reconnect room 2 to the configuration that it started in. The loop may have actually been better but there were plenty of stations to work on 80m at the slow rate I operate.

Sunday

Overnight operations were a challenge. After about 1am local time the bands started to thin out and close out. I started on 80m about 0930Z and work it until 1130Z. Then I am back a forth on 80m/40m until 1340Z when I switch to 40m/20m until I finally make my last contact on 20m at 1450Z with NP2B from VI.

Locally for me, when 80m was gone, 40m was overrun with noise. All the 40m contacts at those wee hours were much harder and I had several "almost". I worked at a low rate and I have more patience in this my first CW contest. This meant that I was usually sure of everything in the exchange except the last digit of the serial number. On the "almost" exchanges, I would have to ask for the number fill (NR?) and then send my data. There were several exchanges were the contact was shaky. I got their information, but after 4 tries the other op would basically give up and say QRN/QRM LATTER but this came across as:

 Ste.*RY Q** LT*R

Or some jumble of letters that was impossible for DM780 to translate and even by ear they were probably not possible as I could not hear the tones. (I should get an example of this mess and post it here)

talk about trying 80-10 Vertical and 80/160 loop with PIC's help.

There is a Vertical at N6IJ that supposedly works on 80m. At one point during the night I step away from my station and hook up the Vertical and give a it a try. I do not make any contacts with it. The 80m/160m loop and the G5RV both seem better. The signals on the Vertical seem about 3db weaker (based on perception and memory and not from the meters).

In the early morning about 1130Z I started to see spots on 20m. I did not actually work anyone until 1422Z when I started to finally hear someone on 20m. I kept checking the spots as I was trying to work as many multipliers as I could.

K9YC Relief

Jim shows up a little before 8 am local time. He quickly gets settled and gets on the air. Even with the preparation Saturday, Murphy struck in the form of a non-functional keyer, so all incidental CW had to be sent from the Writelog keyboard. It was a bit QLF at times, but signing N6IJ, he made 520 Q's in about 11 hours.

Also, the local Ethernet is not working for him. I shut down my computer in room 2 where Jim is working. Then I bring up the station computer and get VE7CC software running. The network is up for the station computer. Not sure why it is not working for Jim. But he can use spot with the station computer.

I head out to the RV and get a couple of hours sleep. About 10:30am local, I get up and I start packing up all my stuff. I leave the G5RV and the 10-15-20m dipole up. I do roll up all the feedlines.

Finally, about 1PM local I hit the road and head home. I am tired. I really should have gotten a little more sleep before heading home. I manage to get home safe and I stayed in my lane. No one honked at me.

A shout out to Jim for letting me use the station until he arrived on Sunday morning.

I really enjoyed the operation at N6IJ.

Phone Operation

Wednesday 11/7

K6RM (Barry) and I are exchanging a lot of email in figuring out our strategy for N6IJ. K6RM has the station so his decisions will be final. I just input my limited experience about actual station operation from the recent SSCW effort. We are getting together at the Monday NCCC meeting to refine our strategy.

Barry has offered Sunday to K9YC. Jim will use N6IJ on Sunday unless he finds a better place to operate.

Chris (K6PIC) tells me that he has left pull cords at N6IJ. These cords are for pulling through the trees when I take down the 10-15-20 fan dipole and the G5RV.

Sunday 11/11

The current base plan is that I use the Yaesu FT-990 at N6IJ. The backup is I will use my own ICOM 706MKIIG. I have not prepared any equipment for this contest. I have also not prepared the software. Everything is already loaded and will work with the 706 and hopefully the FT-990. I hope going to N6IJ on Friday gives me enough time to get it all working. I think it should.

Monday 11/12

The monthly NCCC meeting. Pizza, salad, soda and Review of SS CW at TIBCO Software Incorporated.

Club wise the scores for SS CW look way too close. PVRC could take us in the SSB portion.

Rick (N6XI) and Ed (W0YK) gave a great review of their field test experiences with the new Elecraft K3. I gotta get me one of these babies. Better than the Icom 756 Pro III. A contesting configuration configures out to about $3K. Order today get in April? Long lead times as Elecraft ramps production up.

Talked to Ira (K2RD) about interfacing sound into the FT-990 at N6IJ. Looks like another last minute build project. Need to wire a 1K transformer into a cable to plug into the computer and the 8 pin din on the Yaesu. I can wire it like a Heil headset and use the headset adapter. This makes the interface a little more flexible.

Barry K6RM and I talked about operational plans for N6IJ. Jim (K9YC) has found another station to operate phone. This means that Barry and I will now have N6IJ completely to ourselves. I may have convinced Barry to operate with spotting under N1MM.

So rough plan of operation is:

• I will operate the FT-990 with the FL-7000 amp using the 10-15-20m fan dipole, the 40m dipole and the 80m/160m loop until about 9PM local. Then I will get some sleep.
• Barry will operate my Icom-706MKIIG using the Pro67C and the G5RV. He will sign N6IJ. He will work until he is tired. Probably until 1am local. Barry will then wake me. Barry will go home and get some sleep.
• I will get back on the air about 2am local. I will now have access to all antennae. I will operate as long and hard as I can.
• Barry will operate as K6RM at home on Sunday.
• If I can not get the FT-990 working to my satisfaction, I will fall back to my 706 and then Barry will not operate from home on Sunday.

Tuesday 11/13

I stopped by HRO to pick up another three sections of Flex-9913 (one at 150 feet and two 100 feet) to allow proper feeding of the 10-15-20m dipole and the G5RV. During SS CW I had feed both antennae with some sections of RG-8X. The 9913 will allow full power to be used on these antennae.

In total I now own 450 feet of 9913 and 100 feet of RG-213U. I can see that I am starting a collection of coax to go with my collection of rhinos. I am consciously trying to collect equipment needed to setup field days and county expeditions. Future coax will all be 9913 or LMR 400.

From my QTH any serious operation DX or contest requires that I setup some where else. N6IJ is one location. I want the freedom to setup at others as needed. I also need to start looking into some light weight portable (i.e. quick to assemble) HF antennae.

3830

Notes from the 3830 filing ... to be placed as proper in the blog above

Club: Northern California Contest Club

Comments:

K6RM and I both operated from N6IJ under our own calls. He officially had the station and so got band preference on Saturday.

I used the N6IJ FT-990 with the FL-7000 amp. The FL-7000 has issues with protection kicking in quickly. I lost a lot of calls when the FL-7000 went into protection mode. It was especially hard on 40m and 80m. I eventually got some of the QSO's back but I am sure I frustrated a few operators (Sorry fellas).

Saturday I was left with using only the wire antennae I had left setup from SSCW. The G5RV (which tuned OK on the FL-7000) and the 10m-15m-20m dipole from K9YC.

I got up at 4am local and was back on the air 45 minutes latter. These early hours were a little slow.

My rate was never high. I could not establish any run frequency as often my power was only 40w (according to the meter in-line with the radio and amp.). This was frustrating as I was looking forward to running. I had to resort to S&P and with limited power, I had to time it right to be on the right side of pile ups.

I took several stabs at VY1JA and final got NWT. I really should not have spent that much time. I should have left earlier than I did and just come back as I eventually did.

On Sunday I chased VVA around the spots. I was there ahead of him several times and he always got through before me. I worked VE6EX right after "The Locust" and got the next QSO number. I had tried three times before Rick showed up. He pops in once and gets the QSO.

Overall, it was fun. I need more practice to be a better operator and I really need to get a decent amp and tuner so that I can run power in these phone contests. Even a working SB-220 would be a major improvement.

Lessons Learned

Once you stop learning, it's just a short time till they pile the dirt on you