De N2JDQ , will be qrv with extreeme limited power ( 50 w ) from fn13ee..
will be caling scater 1st and 3rd at .125 when activity is low... 50.200
when its busy.
-steve
n2jdq
fn13ee
----- Original Message -----
From: <vhfcontesting-request@contesting.com>
To: <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 11, 2002 12:01 PM
Subject: VHFcontesting digest, Vol 1 #251 - 1 msg
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> Today's Topics:
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> 1. VE7FO report on CQWW VHF from DN09 (Jim Smith)
>
> --__--__--
>
> Message: 1
To: <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
> Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2002 00:05:56 -0700
> From: Jim Smith <jimsmith@shaw.ca>
> To: vhfcontesting@contesting.com
> Subject: [VHFcontesting] VE7FO report on CQWW VHF from DN09
>
> DN09 DN09 VE7FO VE7FO TEST
>
> So, after all the encouragement, did he actually make it up the mountain
> without forgetting anything and hand out some DN09 Q's?
>
> My elmer, VE7IN, (I used to be his) keeps saying, "You always want to
> make it so complicated! You don't need a rotor for a beam that's only
> 10 ft off the ground!" So, I agree with him (it's his IC706 I'm using)
> and take the rotor anyway. As you will see later, I'm really glad I did.
>
> Others also recommended simplicity unless I could be really well
> organized. I didn't pay much attention to this as I consider
> "well-organized" to be a minor subset of my normal obsessive-compulsive
> anal behaviour. (My check list took 5 8.5x11 pages.)
>
> I am grateful to those who pointed out that using the vehicle battery
> could lead to an expensive jump start charge (when you're a mile above
> the valley floor services do start to get expensive) and to those who
> suggested that, for a first time effort, computer logging may not be
> adviseable. (Hah! What do they know? How am I going to track dupes at
> 100 Qs/hr without a computer?) As you will see, use of the laptop
> probably tripled my score if not more.
>
> I did pay attention to those who suggested that my estimated start time
> of 9-10 am local on Sun. might be a little late for any Es so set a
> target of 0700 local (1400Z) start.
>
> So, based on all the advice and my decisions to ignore some of it, I
> borrowed a laptop from our Field Day chairman (VE7CX), one of the ones
> we used on Field Day, which was convenient as TRLog was already
> installed on it, as well as a backup laptop from a long-standing buddy.
> I also borrowed a deep-cycle UPS battery from the same FD chairman
> (thanks Fred) and borrowed another regular car battery for backup from
> the guys who keep my car running. I made up an 11 ft tube with end caps
> from 4-1/2" or so plastic drain pipe, loosened the DB62 beam element to
> boom clamps, slid all the elements off the boom, stuffed them and the
> two halves of the boom into the tube, fastened the end caps with screws
> and tied it to the roof racks on the car along with the 10 ft mast and a
> step ladder for supporting the mast while I slide the beam onto it.
> Threw all the tools into a 5 gal bucket, put the bucket, the rotor with
> stub mast, rotor controller, rotor cable, patio umbrella base for the
> bottom end of the mast, batteries, laptops, great circle charts showing
> grids as viewed from DN09ec and the regular holiday gear. Did I mention
> that this is our annual vacation week we spend at the lake in the
> mountains? Because of all the ham gear there was no room left for
> certain things such as the blender usually used for making
> fresh-off-the-tree peach Daquiris. If you're going to compete at the
> higher levels sacrifices have to be made.
>
> When we arrived at the lakeside motel on Saturday afternoon, the owner,
> always dubious about my latest enthusiasm, enquired as to how a step
> ladder fit into my vacation plans. As always, ten minutes later with
> the explanation not yet complete, he was sorry he had asked. (Last year
> he was concerned about the 3.5" dia Maksutov telescope that was aimed
> down the beach looking, presumably, at carelessly covered
> pulchitrudity. I invited him to have a look, an invitation he nervously
> accepted. To his great disappointment he found himself looking at my
> grandchildren having fun on a slide a mile down the beach.)
>
> Sunday, 0430 local, dragged myself out of bed. Lack of the
> aforementioned blender made this easier than it might have been. On the
> road to the mountain at 0530. Arrive at the top at 0630. Was glad I'd
> brought my windbreaker. Although typical afternoon temperatures at the
> valley floor are 35-40 deg C (94-104 deg F) it was cold and windy at the
> top. Start pulling the beam/boom out of the tube. Hmmm.... When I put
> all that stuff in there each of the 10 elements had the boom to element
> clamps attached. i.e. I had loosened the hardware sufficiently to slide
> both halves of each element, still attached to the boom/element clamp,
> off the boom. Now, after a vertical mile of washboard road, I had a
> bunch of individual half-elements, a whole lot of 2-piece clamps which
> had separated, and 20-30 machine screws, lock washers and nuts, all
> scattered over the 12 ft length of the tube. Not exactly what I had in
> mind.
>
> Being a night owl, I don't move that quickly in the morning, especially
> during those hours I didn't realize were part of morning. I always
> thought they were just add-ons to late night contesting/DX hunting.
> Took me 3 hours to get everything set up so it's now 0930 local.
> Anyway, everything's functioning and I confidently call CQ on 144.2 SSB
> with the beam pointing at Vancouver/Seattle. Called a few more times.
> Nothing. Tried CW on the same freq. Nothing. Tuned around a bit. No
> SSB heard. No CW heard. Hmm... Well, the 706 MkII is only 10 W on 2,
> let's head for the big time stuff on 6 with 100W. Call CQ on 50.125 SSB
> wondering how well I'll be able to manage the pileup. Not a problem.
> Not a single answer. Try CQing a little more. Nothing. Try CW.
> "DN09 DN09 VE7FO VE7FO NST". Why NST? Well, TEST is a whole dit
> space longer and every contester knows you can't waste time sending
> spaces that don't convey any information. It could easily cost you
> several Qs/hr. Still no answer. Do it some more. Still no answer.
> Tune around a bit on 6 to see what I can hear. Nothing. Hmm....
>
> Got out my list of local repeaters and requested a signal check. Got a
> response. Made me very, very happy to know that there was someone else
> alive out there. Had him give me a long count while I turned the beam.
> Yep, there is a pattern so guess it's working. Thanks Vern.
>
> Here's where the benefits of the laptop and rotor start showing up. Set
> TRLog to Auto CQ with a listening time of 2 seconds until the next CQ.
> Fall asleep listening to perfect 23 wpm CW. Wake up... it's still
> going, but no fish on the line. Couldn't do that without the laptop.
> Amuse myself for an hour or so by checking that the rotor display of
> degrees with respect to True North is correct (Tower Talkians will know
> that there are many ways of determining True North, some involving owls
> and wasps) and just generally enjoy pointing it this way and that with
> my new and quiet rotor. At least an hour of pleasure I wouldn't have
> had without the rotor. Got tired of that and found something else
> exciting to do. Eat lunch. Think of packing up but remember many
> contests when the decision to stay in the chair paid off. Got serious,
> pointed the beam due N, called CQ (6m CW) a half dozen times, moved the
> beam 15 deg CCW and repeated. At around 270 deg or so I heard an
> unfamiliar sound! Someone is sending my call! It's VE7DXG in CN88! I
> work him crisply with us doing the standard exchange followed by TU
> VE7FO TEST. This seemed to me to be a rather abrupt way of dealing with
> the only other person alive on the planet but hey, that's contesting.
> Fortunately, he wasn't dismissed that easily and suggested we QSY to 2.
> The freq he suggested was right on one of the buzzes from the inverter
> running the laptop but I did hear him and we did the ESP thing. Wow! A
> short term (90 sec) rate of 90 Qs/hr! If I can maintain this I'm going
> to really clean up. Well, that's how it should have been, but there
> were 7 minutes between Qs.
>
> Encouraged, I auto-CQ some more. 15 min later I hear someone call a
> VE4. This 706 doesn't have a cw filter, otherwise I wouldn't have heard
> this. I move up to where this is happening and hear VE7SL attempting,
> successfully, to work the VE4. I turn the beam to VE4. Nothing. Oh
> well, I happen to know that SL has a noise problem. Whenever a prop
> driven aircraft flies through the pattern of his 6m beam, he hears
> ignition noise. Other than that, nothing. When they are finished I
> dump my call. Nothing. Maybe Steve thought I was calling the VE4.
> Back to auto-CQ on the calling frequency. After a while Steve calls
> me. We make the Q. A while later VE7DXG calls me again and suggests we
> try SSB. He wanted to tell me something and had made an accurate
> assessment of my cw capability outside the contest box. We established
> SSB contact and he told me that there were a bunch of guys who wanted to
> work me. Bring 'em on, I say. He makes a couple of calls and, lo and
> behold, there are 3 or 4 SSB W7s on the frequency. He tells them I'm
> QRV and they ask my QRG. He tells them I've been CQing on CW right on
> the calling frequency for the last half hour. In the meantime I turn
> the beam on them and call. They go back to DXG sounding rather bored
> and say they didn't and don't hear anything. Come on guys, this is DN09
> and I'm trying for that DXpedition feeling! Given that response,
> there's nothing else to do but CQ in their face. That'll fix 'em.
>
> Auto-CQ until the end and pack everything up, thinking that I made a
> mistake in the ham gear/blender trade off and vowing that I'll never do
> this again. I attribute the 3 Qs I made to the use of the laptop for
> auto-CQ and the rotor for making it easy to turn the beam in 15 degree
> increments.
>
> While taking down I realize that I had actually set up in a little bit
> of a hollow. Not much of one but my beam was only 10 ft. high. I found
> I could drive along the ridge to another location with a couple of
> towers on it where, had I set up there, I would have been sitting on a
> localized dome maybe 100 ft higher with nothing in the way in the
> foreground. Hmm..., maybe next year.
>
> A couple of days later, I consulted a topo map with back/forestry roads
> and found something called Mt. Baldy which is 1400 ft higher than Mt.
> Kobau. Through various subterfuges and inducements which will not be
> described here, I convinced my XYL that we should drive 75 miles East
> for lunch and, on the way back, explore a famous ski hill. When we got
> to the bottom of the ski lift, I looked heavenwards and saw the New
> Jerusalem. A large, bald dome at 7500 ft, bald save a couple of
> towers. Where there are towers, there are roads. "Hey, the view should
> be really good from up there." This is where I ran out of Brownie
> points so didn't get up there. Don't know if there is public access but
> looked like a killer QTH. Will I be there next year? If the test dates
> coincide with our vacation week, maybe. Don't know what I'll do for an
> antenna as the DB62 is going up on my tower in a couple of weeks and
> will be a real hassle to take down again.
>
> I had to give the 706 back to VE7IN. He won it a while back at the
> Pacific Northwest DX Convention. The next one is Aug 2-4 in Portland
> and I'm going to be there. The raffle prize is an HRO $US1000 gift
> certificate. I have already figured out that, if I win it, I'll get an
> FT847 so I can do this VHF stuff a little better. Now, if I've got an
> 847, it wouldn't be too hard to justify, on a percentage basis, another
> beam, especially for operation on Mt. Baldy. Maybe I'll buy my first
> tent. I guess a little generator wouldn't hurt either.
>
> I'm back from the convention. There were 4 VE7s there. They drew the
> raffle ticket. V......E......7......O......N. Damn. So, VHF contesting
> may be in my future but don't look for me any time soon. Well......,
> maybe someone can suggest a transverter solution whereby I could make
> use of my 1000MP MkV. I will have the DB62 mounted above the about to
> arrive Force 12 C4SXL and it would be nice to be able to plug the coax
> into something.
>
> Bottom line? It was an experience. Not a good one but a learning one.
> A surprisingly large number of people (12) came by while I was up
> there. They asked me what I was doing. I said, "I'm involved in a Ham
> Radio emergency preparedness exercise along with others all over the
> world. This is a test of my ability to, all on my own, set up a station
> in the field independent of commercial power supplies and then
> communicate effectively with others doing the same thing." I know, that
> sounds like Field Day, not CQ WW VHF but you have to tailor the message
> to the recipient.
>
> Would I do it again? The ham in me, while suppressing the "Not bloody
> likely" statement from the practical side of me wants to do it again.
> Don't know if I will or not but next year not too likely from
mountaintops.
>
> Thanks to everyone for your suggestions and advice.
>
> 73 de Jim Smith VE7FO
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --__--__--
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