CQWW CW Contest Call Used: N2FF Category: Multi-Single
Location:
United States (NY)
1016 QSOs, 120 Zones, 364 Countries, 1,336,324 points
Breakdown:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
160 4 3 3
80 73 15 54
40 197 28 91
20 596 30 96
15 113 27 90
10 33 17 30
----- ------- ------ ---------
total 1016 120 364 = 1,336,324
Operators: N2FF, N2GA, KG2HV, K2KV, AA2VG
Club Affiliation: Order of Boiled Owls (NY)
Equipment Used: Yaesu FT1000MP, ARD amplifier, 10/15/20 Quad @ 50 feet
40m dipole, 80m dipole, 160m inverted L
mult: Kenwood TS940s barefoot, 15 delta loop fixed on
Europe @ 25 ft
20m sloper, 40m inverted V, 80m dipole
Comments: We did considerably worse than last year because of major
equipment failures. Frank and I decided that we would win first place in
the excuses category! We did have our multiplier amplifier die before the
contest with a filament fault which we could not track down, so had to go
barefoot there. The Quad at the run station wasn't working right, we lowered
the tower and diagnosed a bad remote coax switch. As it was at the top of
the tower, we had to build three new feedlines and attach them to the
separate elements and run them down the tower to be manually switched at the
bottom! Our bandpass filter then wasn't working so we unplugged it. Frank
put up the above ground radials for the 160m antenna on Saturday and we
immediately got RF feedback in the shack when running on the Quad! Had to
lower run station output power to 100w. After making a few 160m contacts,
Frank went out to cut the radials off the antenna. He go an RF shock and saw
large blue sparks! Came back in and asked us to shut down while he cut the
wires! RF feedback still limited us to 800w. On Sunday, we were hearing
less and less on 20m. Finally realized the relay on the run station amp
failed. We bypassed the amp and the band came alive! Had to run the
remainder (7 hours) of the contest barefoot on the run station! Even with
all these problems, we were happy to finish. With one new contest operator
(AA2VG) and a 13 year old (KG2HV) operating for the second year, it was a
good learning experience for all of us. Contesting is the true acid test of
equipment and adaptability! CU all next year!
Thanks again to Frank Fallon N2FF for the use of his station and (great CW)
call!
73, George Tranos, N2GA
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