RAC Winter Contest - 2020
Call: WB0TEV
Operator(s): WB0TEV
Station: WB0TEV
Class: SO SSB HP
QTH: NTX
Operating Time (hrs): 13:02
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs CW Mults Ph Mults
----------------------------------------
160: 9 5
80: 90 8
40: 102 9
20: 229 12
15: 69 8
10: 3 1
6: 0 0
2: 0 0
----------------------------------------
Total: 0 502 0 43 Total Score = 163,400
Club: DFW Contest Group
Comments:
My score this year was down from 2019. Mults were up by 5, but I only managed a
little over half as many QSOs. Losing a couple hours in the first 5 hours of
the contest and being relegated to only 100 watts after 0400Z didn't help. The
two reversible beverages I put in this summer helped boost the multiplier count
on the low bands, but having a couple of amps die from underneath me kept me
from what could have been my best showing yet.
If I manage to again take the top score in the SO SSB HP category it won't have
been without its misadventures, but what do expect? It's 2020!
4 minutes into the contest my aged Dentron MLA 2500 amp had a thunder and
lightning storm within as the pair of low value resistors between the B+ and the
plate choke (which the manual calls "resistor fuse") exploded. The
same thing happened earlier this year, so I knew where to look for where the
magic smoke had escaped.
I do however, have a 2nd Dentron MLA2500, so I dragged it up from the workshop,
swapped it out with the failed one and 15 minutes later was back in action....
for a while.
At 0159 the backup amp did much the same thing. One of the resistors didn't
completely burn through but put on a quite a lightning storm as I finished a QSO
with VE4EV for a needed mult on 80m. The light show in the amp tracking the
modulation along with the sounds of arcing brought the XYL to the shack from
down the hall upon which she reared back in horror at the pyrotechnics.
I pulled out the backup amp and spent the next hour slinging a screwdriver and
soldering iron with a third hand from the XYL to replace the obliterated
resistors in the first amp. About an hour later, the repairs were done and the
first amp was back in action at 0302Z.... until it wasn't. At 0356Z it simply
stopped amplifying. Again I went QRT and dragged its 50 lb carcass down stairs
and opened it up. Nothing was visually amiss. Not wanting to miss anymore time
on the air, after an hour of stewing I resigned myself to being an S unit or so
weaker for the rest of the contest and just running the TS590SG barefoot which I
did starting at 0457Z. The contest had only been going for 5 hours and I'd been
missing in action for 2 of them. UGH. I hung it up for the night at 0514Z
after working VA2RF barefoot on 160m to snag one of 5 mults on Top Band. He
obviously has good ears.
After the woes of the previous evening I allowed myself the luxury of getting
close to 8 hours of sleep and went back at it at 1310Z the next morning.
Thankfully much of the rest of the contest was going to be a 20m/15m affair when
QRO isn't nearly as necessary for success.
In the multiplier department I managed to almost get them all on 20m. I worked
two in the Yukon as I stumbled across VY1MB at 2035 while searching up around
the top of the band and then 4 minutes later found VY1RAC at the other end of
the dial. Finally logged NT when VE8NSD called in to my 20m run with a booming
signal at 2236Z, and even got and second one less than 20 minutes later when the
run petered out and I started trolling the band again and found VE8RAC. As to
how much of my good luck with mults extended to finding the rare and elusive
VY0, well, Nun-of-it. VY2's were rare as well. Only worked VY2OM on 40m and
VY2GF on 20.
15m opened up just before 1700Z where I found VA2RF(QC), VE9XX(NB) and VE3WG(ON)
in just minutes. On 15 I managed to find all the easy ones: BC, AB, SK, ON,
QC, NB, and NL but not MB. I tried moving several VE4's from 20m but without
success. As MB is straight north of me, I think its just not far away enough to
escape the skip zone on 15. Naturally didn't find any PE, NT, YT or NU on 15
either.
I did manage one mult on 10m. I'd attempted to move a station from 15m to
28400 and put out a CQ. There wasn't propagation for the station I'd tried to
move, but VE7WF answered so I at least got a BC in the 10m mults column, thanks
likely to some fortuitous sporadic E.
AB, BC, ON, QC and SK were all worked on all bands 160-15 and BC was worked on
160-10.
Of the 502 QSOs, 327 were with Canada so that helped in the points per QSO
department. Being situated in North Texas offers good propagation into all of
Canada on all the HF bands, making the two RAC contests among my favorites.
Thanks for all the QSOs.
All the contest QSOs were recorded with K3IT's nifty Qsorder program and I
should have them uploaded shortly after the log submission deadline. If you
want to hear what your (or anyone else's) QSO sounded like on my end, go to the
WB0TEV page on qrz.com and follow the instructions, assuming its not broken...
which it seems to be at the moment. I'll drop K3IT a note if its still kaput
later.
You can also listen at
https://qsorder.hamradiomap.com/
I need to go figure out if there is something killing my amps or if they are
finally showing their age at 40 years+. Maybe its time to go shopping for a new
amp. Tube or solid state?
73,
Victor - WB0TEV
Greenville, Texas
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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