ARRL DX Contest, SSB
Call: W4NF
Operator(s): W4NF
Station: W4NF
Class: SOAB(A) HP
QTH: VA
Operating Time (hrs): 37
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 23 21
80: 109 54
40: 182 72
20: 631 109
15: 603 101
10: 367 94
-------------------
Total: 1915 451 Total Score = 2,590,995
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
I started real slow on Friday night and after 5 hours only had 215 Qs. I was
hoping that the Eu run on Saturday morning would be good to make up for it but
when 10 meter EU signals were weak I had to go to 15 and 20 for any good runs.
When I first went to 20 on Saturady morning the SO2R DX Doubler failed and was
trying to key both rigs at the same time, so had to disconnect everything and
reconfigure for the single radio. This was the second time that I got up out of
the chair and decided that I would go do something else (like balance the check
book and pay bills). I came to my senses quickly as I realized the chores I had
to do where much less fun than playing on the radio. So I sat back down and
started having fun again.
15 and 20 had some good hours and this was the first time that I decided to try
and run on 40 during a phone contest. It worked just fine with rates in the 50
Q/hr range. The trouble was trying to find any freq to listen on.
I made a big error this year by not going to chruch on Saturday evening and that
meant that I had to go on Sunday morning. Of course that is when the bands
really came alive, so I missed 2 hours on Sunday morning during the best run
time. I know if I had skipped Mass my tower would have fallen down or my amp
would have blown up or something like that so that was not an option so I'll
plan go to Mass on Saturday evening during this contest next year.
I had a good time and now its time to fix up the station for next contest
season. I have to fix the SO2R box and I'm going to mount the middle C3E on a
swing gate so I can point it to places other than EU. 73 and Thanks for the
Qs.
Antennas
Force 12 C3E @ 87? (rotatable)
Cushcraft 40-2CD @ 75? (rotatable)
Force 12 C3E @ 58? (fixed on Europe Northeast)
Cushcraft A3S @ 35? (fixed Southeast)
80 Meter Vertical running up the side of the tower (with 64 ground radials)
160 Meter Inverted L also running up the side of the tower (both verticals use
the same feedpoint and ground radials)
80 Meter Dipole @ 60?
Unterminated 580? long Beverage NE/SW
Tower
Rohn 25G 75?
Guyed with 1/4? EHS at 3 places on the tower
Rotor ? Ham IV
(2) 700? long runs of Hardline (3/4? 75 ohm and 7/8? 50 ohm)
24? Chrome Molly Steel Mast
Antenna Switching and Stacking
6 x 2 Array Solutions SixPak
Stack Match (all 3 tribanders are connected to the Stack Match)
Dual Feedline Option (allows second radio to use top antenna in the stack)
Station
Rig FT 1000MP
2nd Rig IC 751
Amp Alpha 374A (160 ? 10 Meters)
Keyer Logikey K-3/Bencher Paddle
Mic Heil Proset
Computer Pentium 100
Logging Software DX4WIN
Contesting Software WriteLog
Band Switching Top Ten Devices Band Decoder
DVK MFJ 434
CW Keying Top Ten Devices DX Doubler
SO2R Switching Top Ten Devices DX Doubler
Antenna Switch WX0B Array Solutions SixPak
Stack Switch WX0B Array Solutions Stack Match
Bandpass Filters ICE Multiband filters
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