North American QSO Party, RTTY
Call: VA7ST
Operator(s): VA7ST
Station: VA7ST
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 9.5
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
80: 50 12
40: 113 41
20: 172 44
15: 14 6
10: 1 1
-------------------
Total: 350 104 Total Score = 36,400
Club:
Team: Aurora Busters
Comments:
Had a lot of fun, despite missing all the 10M and 15M action everyone else seems
to have had.
Any way you slice it, this NAQP saw cruddy conditions out west. SFI=66, A=16,
K=3. That's not propagation weather. Didn't expect much here at 50 N, 119 W.,
but hoped for better than we got.
Best thing I can say about RF conditions was that power line noise wasn't so
bad in the morning due to heavy, heavy rains for the previous two days. The
noise was a killer in the afternoon and evening. Fortunately, running low power
lets me use the MFJ-1026 box to knock it down to S0 (all right, you got me. S1)
and I could hear remarkably well for a change.
10M -- dead except for KI5XP. I went there at 19:50z to see what was about
(third trip up there), found one station and pulled the plug for a two-hour
snooze. That's dedication for you. Got back on at 2156z after taking all my
off-time at once, hoping 20M, 40M and 80M would produce for me in the afternoon
and evening.
15M -- may as well have been dead. Stations were either 20-over or blending
into the noise floor.
20M -- With 10M dead and 15M comatose, I put more time in on 20M so my Q and
mult totals are higher there this year. For most of the day, beaming across NA
I felt like a cork bobbing on the ocean. Seemed few stations could hear me, as
CQing produced only modest runs. I assume it's a function of all those beams
aiming east and south, away from the Pacific Northwest. I could definitely hear
marginal callers turning their beams when I had to send "AGN AGN." Thanks for
the spin.
40M -- I now conclude that my half-square setup beats the snot out of the delta
loop pairs from 2005, and the low-ish 2 ele. inverted-V yagi I used last July. I
had more Qs and mults in less time with the half-square. It feels strong,
produced some good runs, and is about the simplest antenna I've ever put up
(easier than a dipole, even, as it's fed at a rope-supported corner).
80M -- delta loop gave me a creditable performance in IARU CW last weekend, but
wouldn't play well in the RTTY subband this weekend. I shortened it a little,
but still no joy. Ended up making all contacts on the ground-mounted vertical.
It was horrible (only about 8 random radials on the ground, plus a bunch of
corroded aluminum fence wire of questionable merit that last summer had been a
36-radial layout).
Wasn't till the final half hour (0530z) that I started working stations from
the midwest and east (still, the only "DX" I worked were NY, AL, IA and MI).
80M mults were a real disappointment.
I invited a bunch of guys to join the Aurora Busters team on Friday night and
Saturday morning. Way too late to organize a team effort, but I figured "what
the heck" and sent out an invitation. Next time, I'll do that a week ahead of
time.
Only VA1CHP was able to jump in, so we're a two-man crew, book-ending North
America from NS and BC. I feel bad that I wasn't able to squeeze much out of
the bands. Looks like Rich found good openings on 10M and 15M, and has a great
score at 78,800.
Here's my year-over-year comparison for July NAQP RTTY:
July 2006 July 2007
---------- ----------
Band QSOs Sec QSOs Sec
3.5 65 27 50 12
7 110 38 113 41
14 115 38 172 44
21 74 30 14 6
28 54 20 1 1
Total 418 153 350 104
Score : 63,954 36,400
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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