IARU HF World Championship
Call: WC1M
Operator(s): WC1M
Station: WC1M
Class: SO CW HP
QTH: NH
Operating Time (hrs): 23
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Mults
---------------------------
160: 9 7
80: 112 28
40: 440 55
20: 784 67
15: 155 34
10: 2 2
---------------------------
Total: 1502 0 193 Total Score = 1,081,379
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
Antennas:
160M - trapped vee @65'
80M - delta loop @75', trapped vee @65'
40M - 40-2CD @75', 4-square
20M - 4-el @72', C3E @50'
15M - 5-el @50', C3E @50'
10M - C3E @50'
580' NE beverage
All yagis on separate tubular towers (no vertical stacks)
Equipment:
Orion + Alpha 87A, FT-1000D + Acom 2000A, Writelog, TopTen band decoders
and switches.
Not my best effort, and nowhere near last year's third-place finish. Aside from
much stiffer competition this year, the basic problem is that I don't have a
decent 10m antenna here. Just a C3E at 50 ft at the end of 450 feet of coax (no
hardline.) Only had 2 mults on 10, which accounts for much of the lag. Only had
about 155 Qs on 15 with about 35 mults on 15. Similar problem with a low antenna
and long coax run. I've changed the antenna configuration here almost every
year, and I think this setup is the worst I've had for 10 and 15!
It's certainly possible that I once again missed the brief openings on 10 and
15, but some of the reports suggest that I didn't have the antennas for it. For
example, W4PA said, "Lots of hours running only the top antenna on the high band
stacks - 15 meters had EU signals that were audible on the top antenna, less so
on the stack and not at all on the bottom antenna." My 15m antenna is probably
about equivalent to that bottom antenna. While running 20 in the morning I tuned
15 continuously on the second radio and heard only pw signals from EU -- nothing
suggesting a run would be possible.
Unfortunately, hopes for a 100-footer with a three-stack of 4-el SteppIRs got
derailed this year. The important spring planning time was obliterated by the
project of moving my mother from NYC to an assisted living facility in NH, and
the tower budget experienced a severe dent from the need to buy a new car to
replace my venerable old car of 12 years. Hopefully, I'll get it done next year.
Meanwhile, after the contest I started investigating what would happen if I put
a 4-el SteppIR on a 75-foot AB-577 near the 2-el 40 (the planned location for
the 100-footer.) According to HFTA, that would buy me 3 dB on 20, 4.5 dB on 15
and 6 dB on 10! While it seems incredible that so much could be gained by moving
the antennas a mere 200 feet, this actually makes some sense. I used to have a
C3E on a 50-foot AB-577 in the same spot and it performed amazingly well against
the TH-7 on the 72-foot crankup. When you eyeball it, the terrain doesn't look
all that different, but there's actually an elevation difference of about 25
feet between the two spots (I live on the side of a hill.)
I might be able to pull off the temporary setup described above before CQ WW CW.
That would entail taking down the two 50-foot AB-577s supporting the monobanders
for 10 and 15, then combining the parts to make a 75-footer. With the C3E and 15
monobander gone, I'd stick another 4-el SteppIR on the crankup. Both antennas
will eventually be needed for the big tower. I'd have to run a bunch of coax and
control lines, too, and this might be an opportunity to put down the hardline
and wiring needed for the big tower. HFTA shows the temporary setup to be far
superior to what I have now, though a full 3-stack on a 100-footer would add
another 3 dB on all three bands. Watch out if I get that configuration going!
Anyhow, I always enjoy IARU. The 24-hour format is much easier on the body and
allows a bit of time with the family over the weekend. I like the extra
dimension of chasing HQ stations, though it might be even more fun if countries
counted as mults. Congrats to N9RV, K3CR (LZ4AX), K4ZW and the other top-10
stations. Once again, K5ZD amazed us all by placing in the top 10 with only 16
hours of effort. He gives hope to those of us who will can only put up
relatively modest towers and antennas. Still, we're going to have to test his
stacks for steroids! ;-)
See you next year, hopefully with a better performance.
73, Dick WC1M
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|