Washington State Salmon Run
Call: N9ADG/7
Operator(s): N9ADG
Station: N9ADG
Class: Cnty ExpedMixed LP
QTH: KITSAP/KING
Operating Time (hrs): 8
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
160:
80:
40:
20:
15:
10:
6:
--------------------
Total: 70 60 Mults = 43 Total Score = 17,700
Club: Western Washington DX Club
Comments:
It was the best of tests, it was the worst of tests. I
worked what seemed like two (or three) different
contests -- one as a "washington dxpedition" from a
beach house in Kitsap county, the other from my home
in King county late in the contest.
The Plan:
My wife planned a "post starting school family
weekend" at a rented beach house in Kitsap county, of
course w/o consulting me as to whether it fit into the
contest schedule :-). So, the choice was to pack some
gear and try to work a few stations, or earn big
points by leaving it all at home... guess I'll have to
earn the points another way.
Thought I'd leave the key/computer/extras at home, and
bring the following:
- NEW 756PROII won at the NW DX convention (thank you
ICOM for your donation) being used for the first time
(been working on the honey-do's all summer, have been
admiring the cardboard box since July 19th).
- MFJ portable tuner, the one with no SWR meter
- MFJ 259B antenna analyzer, to tune the setup
- coax jumper, 50' of rg8x with pl259's
- 10g ground wire
- headphones (ALMOST forgot those)
- soldering iron, solder, electrical tape
- Spool of 32g wire, spool of 28g wire
- 8lb monofilament line
- PVC "dipole" center with SO-239 splitting to eyelets
and lugs
- bungee cords
- magmount antenna with whips for all bands (just in
case I needed to use the minivan as a ground plane)
- Gerber multi-tool
Arrived at the house near Seabeck Friday at about
6:30pm, and proceeded to scout out the situation for a
stealth antenna setup. Found a convenient place to
hang the "dipole" center, from a flower-pot hanger
under an eve. I Ran one leg (shield) down to the beach
abt 30', another leg (center) to the beach about 55'
with an angle of about 30 degrees. Soldered it all up
(that big Weller soldering iron sure looks suspicious
from the distance of the neighbor's house), and found
I had an s7 noise level on all bands. Started looking
for the noise source (vcr? tv? thermostat?) but I
never did find it. Tried the vertical mounted on a
large piece of cast iron normally used for a beach
umbrella. Only s5 noise level on that, but the sigs
were down 3 or more s-units on that set up. Bummer.
Think I need some more vertical -- Went to the seabeck
general store ("Dear, I'm taking the kids to the
store. That okay with you?"), where I was able to find
some egg-shaped 1/2 oz sinkers. Perfect for getting up
some monofilament into a tree. Dark by the time we got
back, so no sinker-flinging that night.
Listened alot, didn't really work anything on Friday
night. After the kids were off to bed at 8:30pm, I
think I fell asleep about 9:15pm on the couch,
probably in the middle of a conversation. My wife
decided that "I looked really restful", so left me on
the couch until I woke up until 2:30am. Crawled into
bed until the early shift began -- Our youngest wakes
up consistently at 5:45am local no matter what time
zone he happens to be in, so had some time to try out
the setup on Saturday AM.
I heard activity on 40m, 20m, including the JW0 guys.
Perhaps if I had heard them sooner I would have had a
chance. First contact on Saturday morning was with
W7ASU, before the contest. He was BOOMING in. He was
gracious enough to provide a 57 for me.
Added about 35' of sagging semi-vertical into a maple
tree. This brought the signals up a bit, the noise
stayed constant. Tuned it all up with the MFJ259 and
the MFJ tuner. Noted settings for later, but didn't
really touch them -- the ATU in the 756ProII seemed to
like the settings for most bands. In hindsight, I bet
I was losing a lot of power as heat in the tuner
itself.
At contest start, was able to work a few stations,
mostly out of state -- 20m was the best band, although
was getting clobbered on SSB. K7QQ was the loudest at
59+20 or 30dB, but he was about 1200' away on Misery
point :-). Asked him about whether he had noise -- he
said S1 was his noise level. So, the noise was
definitely related to my location. Heard W7DX a few
times on Saturday, but they could never hear me.
I like CW, lamented that I didn't bring a key. But
remembered that most rigs had a feature to use a mic
button. Why not try that?. After puzzling throught the
IC756 manual, I was able to turn the MIC button into a
key, and probably sent the worst CW in the contest.
BUT, I WAS MAKING CONTACTS. CW contacts were made at
about 4x the rate of phone contacts.
My wife thought that this was quite amusing. Think
that's the first time I've seen her actually smile to
see me on the radio, ever. She didn't even roll her
eyes. I'm thinking after this I'm going to install a
"butt-key" to get ready for Visalia.
I stopped (or perhaps it's more accurate to say that I
"was stopped") in the middle of the day to explore the
"scenic state park", go for a walk, visit the general
store (again) for ice cream for the kids, etc. Then
back for the youngest's nap time, beach exploration,
etc.
In the afternoon, got on the radio for a bit, heard
V63MZ simplex. Spent a long time trying for him,
again, with the mic-button-key. Forty minutes later he
announced he was going to run split -- most of the
crowd wasn't able to track him quickly enough-- guess
they should listen harder. Got him on about his third
QSO after splitting.
Had some time at about 4pm local to get on again, then
20m really came alive at 0000z -- forgot it was SSB
Sprint Weekend. Handed out about 5 contacts, thought
that was a good way to up the state multiplier... gee,
do those count for the salmon run? Think I handed out
two "005, Brian, Washington, N9ADG"'s, sorry. Better
save the sprint for when I have a computer or at least
a real paper log.
Ah, dinner time. Turn off the radio, eat, get the kids
bathed, then back on at about 0142. Worked a few more
sprint stations on 20m and a couple on 40m. Then after
torturing a few more stations with CW, I closed down
at about 9pm (but not before working about three OH's
in some other contest), to spend some quality time
talking with my wife. She made a point to "remind" me
how she didn't say anything while I was on the radio
for as much time as I was during the "family" weekend.
Was able to stay awake until at least 9:30pm on
Saturday before succumbing to the couch and warm fire,
so she took pity and the early shift on Sunday and let
me sleep until 7:00am (darn, missed my favorite 40m
operating time to pacific rim).
Broke down the station immediately on Sunday AM,
didn't even turn it on (BIG POINTS), cleaned up all
external evidence of radiation devices, packed the
car, to catch the 10:30am ferry back to Seattle.
Conversation in the car:
Me: Hey, the contest runs until 5pm Sunday.
Wife: Hadn't I shown enough appropriate club spirit by
my participation so far, or was I going to have to
participate some more?
Me: (thought) I love those rhetorical questions.
Me: (voice) Uh, to "qualify for an award" I have to
make at least 100 contacts.
Wife: How many to you have?
Me: About 20 I would imagine.
Wife: Can't you make 100 in an hour from home?
Me: (voice) I hope so. (thought) I've done it
before...
Wife: Well, I think you have to set some boundaries.
Me: Well, the contest does end at 5pm.
Wife: (silence)
Dropped the daughter off at a birthday party, snuck
back onto the radio at about 2:30pm local time -- 2.5
hours more for the contest! Racked up a few SSB
contacts, but noticed that SSB activity had dropped
off. It was difficult to find an empty spot among some
other locals on SSB running power. Found the most/best
activity on CW -- 20m, 15m, and 40m. Ran a few strings
of contacts, moved around a bit. Finally worked some
of the locals (pierce, snohomish,
wah-wah-wah-wahiakum?) and thanks w7dx for calling ME.
Thankfully the contest ended just before dinner. Think
I racked up about 130 contacts between the two
operating locations. Now, how to score this?
Think I worked N2CU the most. K7PP was loudest from my
home QTH. K7QQ for sure from the beach. Appreciated
the JA3 that called me. Tried to work all of the
barely readable stations I heard on 20m, mostly from
King county :-).
Lessons learned: Scout location BEFORE going there.
Always bring extra stuff. Schedule the SR weekend
with the family about 2 years in advance. Bring a key
- It's too painful to CQ with a mic button. Buy gifts
for wife in ADVANCE of the contest (no, she doesn't
need a 5 band vertical!) The Scope feature on the 756
is really useful to find stations when your local
noise level is S7. Phone is a bad mode to use when
your kids are taunting each other.
Respectfully submitted,
-Brian N9ADG
PS: I'm hereby volunteering to personally sponsor a
special award for the best story to go along with a
Salmon Run entry for next year. It's not the number of
contacts for some of us, it's savoring the experience
of setting up, overcoming the challenges, and staying
married until the next one.
PPS: Sorry for the rotten CW on Saturday.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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