ARRL 160 METER CONTEST -- 1996
Call: NA2N Country: United States
Mode: CW Category: Single Operator, Low
Power
QSO QSO PTS PTS/QSO SECTIONS COUNTRIES
Totals 850 1787 2.10 68 19 = 155,469
20 hours of operation
Equipment Description: FT-1000D, Elevated-Z (inverted-L with elevated
radial,
about 50' vertical component), 500' Beverages N, NE, W unterminated.
Club Affiliation: Hudson Valley Contesters & DXrs
Saga:
Comes the day of the contest, and the only thing ready is the Beverage
system. Radio in box from UPS. Never put power to the transmit antenna
until
45 minutes before the contest. Fire up the Alpha, and.....
Fire alarm activates, intrusion alarm also, furnace goes off on safety,
microwave starts beeping, and the fridge starts spewing ice cubes onto
the
kitchen floor. <Many Expletives Deleted>. Guess feed point 4 feet above
the
roof, over the living room, is not going to work with full power. Guess
lower
power multi-op with packet for club score. Hook up TNC to computer. Try
amp one
more time. More ice cubes, and smell of smoke, which is curling up from
TNC -
guess mucho RF into it via ???. Anyway, it's dead. Ice cube cut-off is
180 watts.
Looks like SO/LP effort in the big snowstorm.
Contest starts, great guns. 11:30pm eastern, Fri nite - lights go out.
<MED>
Miss EU sunrise. Plug in and switch on a vacuum cleaner next to my bed
to awaken me
when the power comes back on. Vacuum comes on at 8am Sat. Miss MY
sunrise. Saturday
will be better. Go out and plow.
Saturday afternoon. Much more ice & snow. Beverages and Z antenna
sagging.
Bang on them with stick. Helps. Back on the air. Condx are much poorer
than
Friday - figures. 11:45 pm - lights go out. <MED> Miss EU sunrise.
Vacuum comes
on at 4am.
Pretty disappointed in lack of cooperation from power company and
weather.
Snow static, even with insulated wire on Beverages, was horrendous.Need
to extend
the EU beverage, or put up a longer one and leave the NE one for SW
(can't run one SW). Need to put up better transmit antenna(s), and in a
better spot.
Looking forward to... something.
73,
--
Greg Becker NA2N na2n@ifam.com
Ideas For American Manufacturers / Rock Temple Entertainment
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