Call: K4IQ =20
Location: VA
Power: 1500
Class: MultiOp (Single plus packet)
Affiliation: PVRC
QSOs: 811 Mults: 54/34 Pts: 206,008
Equipment: FT1000MP, Alpha, Inv Vee at 100ft, beverages at 60, 220, 300 =
degrees
Comments:
Had wanted to have the vertical project completed, but ran into bad =
weather and job commitments, so decided to treat myself to packet-assist =
for a change. The OH DX Summit internet reflector worked very well, as =
I still haven't gotten regular packet here. I was impressed with the =
rapid refresh, the laptop stayed logged on both nights except for one =
time each night when Worldnet dumped me off and I had to login again. =
The spots are perhaps not as fast as packet, but I was able to be on the =
scene fairly quickly when something of interest was posted. At 0300 on =
Friday and 0400 on Saturday there must have been a "high angle" peak =
from here to Europe as my run frequency got busy with DL's and other EU =
stations. The runs would last for maybe 15 minutes, then back to USA. =
Conditions to west coast seemed down from last year's contest, with only =
20 CA in the log this year. State QSO totals included PA with 61 (!), =
OH with 41, and TX and VA tied with 40. There were 26 VE3s, and in =
Europe, 13 DLs and 7 OKs out of 65 total EU. Really appreciate the =
patience of many operators when I had to ask for repeats to get the =
entire call, especially a couple of the EU folks. Nice to see plenty of =
activity and some decent conditions in this part of the solar cycle.
Murphy Report: Stumbled around in the basement an hour before the test =
throwing circuit breakers trying to isolate a recurring noise band that =
shifts around between 1820 and 1870. Threw the furnace breaker and it =
broke! Had to call emergency electrical repair at 4PM on Friday, then =
give up my run frequency 30 minutes into the contest to meet him and =
hold the flashlight while he replaced the breaker. Lesson learned: =
don't make last minute changes to ANYTHING; this is where Murphy creeps =
in. Also, at 6PM Saturday, XYL came down to report ice was steadily =
falling. Eyed reflected power for several hours, expecting to have to =
QRT with high swr, but just kept putting the power to it, hoping. It =
turned to snow, fortunately, which might have helped ground =
conductivity, HI.
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