CQ Worldwide VHF Contest
Call: K2DRH
Operator(s): K2DRH
Station: K2DRH
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: EN41vr IL
Operating Time (hrs):
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
6: 421 152
2: 104 37
-------------------
Total: 525 189 Total Score = 118,881
Club: Society of Midwest Contesters
Comments:
The weekend before the contest the Henry 3006 6M amplifier failed. Luckily it
turned out to be relatively simple, the relay power supply transformer opened
up after the parallel load resistor shorted. Henry still had parts available
but in the meantime I wired in an external supply and was back on the air. But
that seemed to initiate a chain of vexing failures. Luckily none of them
involved climbing the tower.
With thunderstorms predicted I went to disconnect the 2M coax from the Byrd
wattmeter and the pin came out of the wattmeter with the cable connector. It
had been arcing inside and the two pins had welded together. After replacing
the Byrd quick connect and the coax connectors there were no other issues so it
was evident that I had not screwed it in tight enough the last time I used it
and had caused the problem myself.
In QSO with N0URW comparing signals with the old 2x11els and the new 4 bay 6M
array with 8x7el yagis, I noticed the tower with the 2x11el 6M and 2x18XXX 2M
beams was not pointing in the right directions. Something had caused the M2
controller to reset to the default setting and the pulse counter ratio was way
off. I’d not changed those settings since it was installed it over 10 years
ago and it was an easy fix once I found the manual with the previous settings
written in it. Not sure why it reverted after all this time however, so I need
to keep an eye on that.
Next it was the 6M 4 position AlphaDelta coax switch that went intermittent.
The warning label on the bottom not to open it because there were no user
serviceable items inside was ignored, and once open it was pretty obvious that
I had hot switched it a time or three in the heat of battle. Luckily it’s a
pretty rugged design and a little burnishing and gentle filing of the buss bars
did the trick.
The 4 different 6M antenna systems all checked out fine from the switch after
that repair but the 5el rotary just didn’t “sound” right when I selected
it. It also had a much higher SWR than normal. It’s just up 20 feet on a
guyed push-up mast so it was easy to lay over. Coax checked out normal so I
took apart the gamma match on the old reliable 5el CC. There was nothing
obviously wrong so I cleaned and tightened everything up, stood it back up and
it worked better.
6M has not had the best Es season this year and the contest opened up to a dead
band. Luckily I was able to take advantage of a lot of stations hoping 6M would
open and had a really good first hour working them tropo. 2M was also pretty
flat so by the second hour the QSO rate tapered off considerably. There were a
few spotty Es bursts to the west, but for the most part it was pretty slow going
and there was not a lot on 2M. Later in the afternoon I started hearing a few
stations in W1 and W5 popping and out and could see that they were working an
Es cloud that seemed to be pretty much directly over my head. In this
situation only the more competitive stations tend to come through consistently.
I could hear K1TEO and W1XX on either side of me as they were pounding away at
it while I was just getting a few callers here and there as the cloud shifted.
This went on all afternoon with very short lived W4, W5 and W7 bursts thrown in.
With a fixed 5el CC at 20’ on FL since it is usually a big Es player, and
three rotary antennas it’s easy to switch around as these smaller openings
ebb and flow. In between I had time to chase rovers and look for local
activity. The power company was scheduled to fix the singing insulators to the
east the week before the contest but that obviously had not happened. My noise
levels to the west were low, but few stations were there to work.
After teasing me for a long time 6M finally opened really well at 0000Z or 7PM,
usually when I like to get off 6M and look for the after dinner local operators
who want to play in the contest for a while. But there was no time for that.
For the next two plus hours the rates soared. It was what I’ve come to
realize as a typical mid-July opening, where everything is coming in from all
directions at once and is chaotically shifting the narrow footprints around
like crazy. It even extended a few times on double hop out the west coast.
Unfortunately all the openings to W1/2 during this time were never really
strong or long lived and the small footprints ensured that not a single FN42 or
43 station went in the log! It wasn’t until well after 9PM after I missed the
rovers in a few spots that I was able to get back on 2M to call CQ.
Unfortunately it was a vast wasteland. I guess everyone went to bed right
after working 6M or I stayed there too long since my antenna systems can still
hear after many others have already lost prop.
When the Es fades a little for them the locals will call me in with the pileup.
They are often off the side or back and noticeably weaker so I make an effort to
pull them out. I also know to QSY them immediately to 2M or risk never hearing
them again. Most guys realize I need to work them quickly when we QSY to 2M,
but a few just don’t get it and will keep me waiting or want to “visit”.
Doesn’t take long to lose a run frequency on 6M! Often I’m forced to take
the time to turn directly on them before they will acknowledge despite my
hearing them just fine off the back or side, and as Murphy would have it it’s
almost never close to the direction I’m already pointed. This makes some
sense when I’m low power but I’m running a KW and almost 10 db louder in
this contest, so they really should hear me well enough to make the QSO too.
Been contemplating putting a 2M omni on the array tower but I doubt even that
would help much as most of those who can’t seem to hear me until I’m aimed
right at them are 150 to 250 miles out and the majority the closer ones can
already hear me off the sides. It slows down my rate, but at two for one
scoring with potentially new grid mults it’s still a good tradeoff. Somehow
I manage to retain my 6M run frequency most of the time despite constantly
shifting conditions and frequent QSYs that often take longer than they should.
This contest a single OP can log into the propagation loggers and chats and
passively watch as long as he doesn’t interact or post a spot unless it’s
to announce a CQ frequency for EME or meteor scatter. This seems pretty
specific so the only thing I do is post a CQ frequency and when comments are
directed to me I do not reply to any of them. Hopefully those of you who
don’t take the contest as seriously as I do understand and don’t get
offended by this. It is also frustrating to see that an Es cloud is right over
me and I can’t do anything about it or note good prop for other areas and
worry about it. It’s a different experience for a single OP for sure! It
did bag me EA8CQS on Saturday afternoon. I never would have thought to look
for him on 50.205 otherwise.
I only made WSJT skeds with two stations ahead of time and was successful on
both. I announced a few CQs and responded to a few others but unlike last year
there was not lot of stations on that I had not already worked on 6M and few 2M
opportunities. I saw a lot of station that I would have liked to work but
most did not announce a CQ frequency nor respond to any of mine. Instead they
would solicit QSOs the normal way by setting up an on-the-spot online sked
which is prohibited by the rules for me. So with no local activity and limited
WSJT opportunities I got 4 hours of sleep. Even in the morning the allowable
announcements for a CQ were few and a lot were the same stations I’d already
worked. There did not to seem to be many multis either. Tropo was pretty good
but I called and called on 2M in every direction to mostly silence. Very
unusual to be on early Sunday morning and get no replies at all! I heard a few
stations 100-200 miles to the east of me working into the FN grids on 2M but did
not have the enhancement to hear what they were working.
Sunday was pretty slow as the 6M Es came in small bursts and was very spotty to
the same areas over and over again. But tracking the rovers and calling CQ on
6M to mostly depleted areas like FL slowly put QSOs in the log. I worked
K9JK/R in most of the grids he visited and he was motivated to circle a grid
corner just for me since unlike the amended ARRL rules it was a multiplier for
him in each grid. One of the short openings to FL was really strong and I had
K0AWU in EN37 400 miles away call me on backscatter. When I turned around to
him on 2M he was an S2-3, so 2M was in pretty good shape. It’s makes you
wonder if you are top of someone else to hear 20 over stations from the target
area next to you while calling CQ and not getting a good run going, but several
stations told me I was very loud and in the clear. That’s about par with
repeat small footprint openings unless it’s into FN42. HI3/W3XS called me
and I worked N2CEI/R in three different multiplier grids so persistence did pay
off. The last time I worked Steve I was just about to stop CQ after not getting
any replies. I suddenly had the thought pop in my head that he should be in a
new grid by now, called CQ again and he called in from EM90 as if on cue! The
activity on 2M remained low and the contest ended with whimper when the spotty
6M openings petered out.
73 de Bob2
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