Call used: KA9EKJ Location: AL
Category: Single Op All Band Mode: CW Power: Low
Callsign of Operator(s): KA9EKJ
Exchanged Information: KA9EKJ RST AL
band QSOs points
-------------------------
160 604 1229
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TOTAL 604 1229 X 80 multipliers = 98,320
That's about the best way to explain this year's 160M contest at the KA9EKJ
permanent Field Day site. Greg, K4NO loaned his K9AY box for the test and I
tried to wire it into my 830s with a N4KG voltage protection circuit. Being
a part of the "plug -n-play" generation, my interpretive skills dealing with
theory are about nil. If I could at least get the loop box direct-wired to
the rig, I could then focus on the voltage protection circuit. After
attempting numerous combinations of direct wiring the K9AY loop box to the
x-verter plug on the rig, I had no success (2 wires, 8 pins should be simple
math, right??!). Well, Greg saved the day by loaning his FT1000MP. (Look,
there's a phono jack in the back of the rig that says "Rx in." The K9AY box
has a phono jack to the receiver. Plug-n-play, man!!!)
Now that I had something to transmit and receive with, all I needed was
something to log and key with. I "borrowed" an old hard and floppy drive
from work, so all I had to do was "plug" them in to an old chassis I had,
reformat the hard drive from NT to WIN98 and I would be ready to "play."
Um, Greg, do you have a computer I can borrow for the test?
Finally as the test rolled in I was smoking. I used the K9AY box
exclusively for rx and was picking up calls I never would have heard by my
inverted L alone. At the turn, I had 479 Qs and 73 mults. I had 611 x 77
for the entire test last year. In fact, I should have had 80 - 100 more Qs
Friday, but #2 son shredded a rear tire near Huntsville and I had to run a
spare to him 25 miles away. I worked XE, VP2E (1st call through the pile!!)
6Y, ON, and DL for 5 pointers the first night. With a first night's score
like that, I could possibly reach 1000 Qs by the end of the contest.
Wrong-oh!!!
I don't know what happened, but it was as if someone threw a wet blanket
over the band on Saturday. I couldn't get anything going at all for
Saturday. Ga and Tn stations were weak, atmospherics got bad with the
coming storm front, I couldn't hear anything and couldn't get any runs going
at all. I don't know if I had too much fun Friday and was too tired to
fight through the band Saturday, but I squeaked out only 125 more Qs in 7
hours of effort. I shut everything down and threw in the owel at midnight
local time. My only 5 pointers were ZF, and P4. Domestically, I missed RI,
MB, SK, NWT, and SJV.
I thought I would wake up early and try again at 5am. I was awake long
enough to look at the clock once at 5am, then again a few seconds later at
... well, football pregame shows were on. Turns out a passing storm
separated the feedpoint from the radials on the inverted L, so I didn't miss
anything.
Oh, well. Time to start thinking about NAQP.
Everyone have a great holiday season.
Roger ...
KA9EKJ
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