RAC Winter Contest
Call: VE7FO
Operator(s): VE7FO VA7ALK VA7AAC VE7HUE
Station: VE7FO
Class: M/M HP
QTH: Vancouver
Operating Time (hrs): 10
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs CW Mults Ph Mults
----------------------------------------
160: 17 3 3 3
80: 4 20 2 3
40: 1 6 1 3
20: 25 29 9 7
15: 3 2
10:
6:
2:
----------------------------------------
Total: 50 58 17 16 Total Score = 31,152
Club: British Columbia DX Club
Comments:
Another hard-to-beat entry from the VE7FO Multi/Multi Super Station running a
crushing 200W from the 33 x 120 ft city lot with the low dipoles and the 40 yr
old TH3 tribander.
This was another newbie training session for the VECTOR club Basic licence class
students and any other VECTOR members who wanted to participate. The difference
this time is that the class is over and the ops now have call signs.
Initially 5 people signed up for the event but the 2 YL's had to cancel. Look
for them in NAQP SSB in Jan. Of the 3 who showed up, 2 were total newbies who
made their first Q during the contest and 1 has had his ticket for a while but
has very little contest experience.
As is my custom, I read whatever I might have written in the past about the
contest du jour. Damn, I forgot again that one can use 6 and 2, just like in my
story from last year. The 6/2m beam is still disassembled and stored in the 4"
sewer pipe from Field Day. When the beam is up it's on a 10 ft length of 2" EMT
with the bottom end in a patio umbrella base on the flat roof. The coax and
rotator cable run across the roof and up the EMT. Well, like I said, the beam
is in it's storage tube and, although I didn't say this, the coax is frozen to
the roof. This is not something a Vancouverite would like to admit, considering
that we often go for walks on Christmas Day to admire the roses (well, I did
that once and it was in Victoria), but right now it's a punishing -1 degree C
and I'm sure it might have been as low as -5, judging by the rime frost that's
been hanging around for several days. It's amazing that cars can even move.
Everyone's asking, "What's that weird white stuff on the ground and on
everything else, what's that bright yellow light in the sky, why do I see blue
instead of grey when I look up and how come, when I go outside, I don't get
soaked by all that water that keeps coming down at this time of year?"
As two of the potential ops are YL's, I thought it would be better to tidy up
and vacuum the shack and forget the 6/2m Qs. Sadly, other things got in the way
and I didn't even do that. The YL's had to cancel and I don't think the guys
noticed the mess so I didn't feel too bad about that.
The first vict.... er newbie arrived Fri evening at 5pm local time. We spent
the first hour at the Spotting position where I went through all the stuff on
what the contest is about, how to tune in SSB, contest contact protocol, use of
phonetics, etc. and sent a bunch of spots over the network to the Run position.
No Run op yet, as I can only deal with one newbie at a time. We then moved over
to the Run position and he made the first Q of his life at 5:58pm. 20 had died
by then and heard absolutely nothing on 40 so we were on 75. By the time he
left around 8pm he had made 13 Qs. I was disappointed that cndx prevented him
from doing better but he said he really enjoyed it. His best DX was VE3, W9RE
and TX. During this time he ran into a couple of local guys doing a M/S. Turns
out that one of them came here for the newbie training a couple of years ago.
You better believe that it made me feel good to learn that someone who came here
as a no-ticket newbie was now on the air and contesting in his own right.
The next person was supposed to arrive at 7pm but this was one of the YLs who
had to cancel. Just as well as cndx were so poor that I don't think she would
have made many Qs. I stayed on for another 4 hours and only made 30 more, most
of which were on CW.
I was surprised by 160. Usually I can make a few mults in a domestic contest
and that's about it. This time there was quite a bit of activity and people
could hear me on phone as well as on CW. Worked a few VE5s, a number of VE6s, a
bunch of VE7s and WX5S in Houston. Of the 43 Qs I had when I went to bed, 20
were on 160. I thought that was pretty neat. Maybe I should try to get my
inverted L up from 30 ft to 50 ft. It would be difficult but not impossible.
Next newbie was scheduled for 10am Sat. This was the other YL who had to cancel
so I got on and made a bunch of CW Qs plus the odd phone one when I saw an East
coast mult spotted.
Next newbie arrived at noon. We did the usual Spotting position stuff. While
he was practising tuning in SSB on 20 he ran into VY1RAC. I figured that this
would be a really appropriate time to show him how a Q is made. Hah!! VY1 in
the bag and a 20 pointer to boot. Back to the Spotting position stuff. Once we
got to the Run position we were a little slow getting to the making of Qs as he
was a little overwhelmed by all the stuff packed into my small space and asked a
zillion questions. First Q for him was at 1320 which meant he didn't have a lot
of time until the next op showed up at 1400. He made 7 Qs and managed to knock
off the VE2, VE3, VE5 and VE7 mults. He was pretty impressed that we were able
to communicate over such long distances without repeaters. Well, VECTOR's an
emergency comms club and the members operate mostly on VHF so I guess he's been
brainwashed.
Conditions were pretty good on 20 during this time. I was amazed by the
strength and number of signals from VO1, VE1 and VE9. Ive been contesting for a
few years now and never found them to be such easy pickings in the past.
Last op arrived at 1400. He's been licensed for several years and has some HF
gear of his own. No contest experience, though. Before coming, he got on from
home and made some Qs so it was clear we didn't need to spend much time at the
Spotting position learning how to tune in SSB, etc. I did show him how to send
spots to the Run position so he spent a little time filling up the band map. He
operated to the end, making 28 Qs. One was a PY which pleased him as the only
DX he's ever worked is a couple of JA's. I suggested he try running, which he
did. I did the logging as he has no experience with logging programs.
I think that, in the future, if things work out such that a newbie can op for
more than the one hour allocated, I'll do the same thing. Get him running while
I log. That could be a lot of fun if cndx are decent.
Signals on 20 pretty much vanished half an hour before the end so was forced to
go to 40 and 75, neither of which are good bands for me with my dipoles at about
40 ft. Still, I was pretty tickled when he worked VO1MP on 40 along with a
couple of VE3s.
All in all, I'm pretty happy with this. Score is the pits but 3 people had a
good time and learned something about contest operating. I discovered that, if
the band is quiet, people can hear me on 160. Well, some people. I also
discovered that one of my past newbies is now doing some contesting. Given that
I've decided that my mission for the years remaining to me is to make more
contesters, this was very gratifying. How am I doing? So far, two that I know
of in my present ham incarnation. Several in the early 60's but that wasn't
planned, just a bunch of guys getting together and having radio fun.
I was deeply touched to receive an e-mail before the contest from W1YL/4, K4OJ's
mom, in which she encouraged me to keep up the newbie training that I'm doing.
Tnx "ln". OJ
If you're interested in finding out more about VECTOR, go here.
http://www.vector.comm.sfu.ca/
73, MX es HNY de Jim VE7FO
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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