WA1VHT 1998 IARU HF Championship
Single Operator, All Band, Phone Only, High Power
ITU Zone 8 - Merrimack, NH USA
All reports sent were "59 08"
CW PHONE Total ZN HQ Mults
BAND QSOs Pts QSOs Pts QSOs Pts
160 0 0 2 2 2 2 1 1 2
80 0 0 30 48 30 48 5 5 10
40 0 0 36 98 36 98 11 12 23
20 0 0 297 943 297 943 26 20 46
15 0 0 136 452 136 452 20 19 39
10 0 0 13 49 13 49 6 2 8
Total: 0 0 514 1592 514 1592 69 59 128
HOURS OPERATED 23 (minus breaks for food input and output)
1592 X 128 = 203776
points multipliers score
Station Info:
Transceiver: Icom 751A
Amplifier: Amp Supply LK-500ZC
Tuner: Dentron MT-3000
Antenna: Radio Works Carolina Windom 160 Special
DSP: Timewave 599zx
Log S/W: Writelog v9.08
SOAPBOX (WARNING: My voice may be shot, but I can type forever!)
Started 1/2 hour late, finished 1/2 hour early. Didn't get enough
sleep the night before (the LK-500ZC arrived Friday night.)
Murphy's appearance was in the form of a tree branch that picked
this particular windy day to make intermittant contact with one side
of the Carolina Windom. The SWR meter got a workout!
The Carolina Windom is a great antenna, but I probably would have
changed bands more often if I'd had resonant antennas on each band.
Re-tuning for each band change was a bit time-consuming, since the
Murphy-branch made the tuning different each time I changed bands.
I only managed to get it to about 4:1 on 160 meters, so I had to
run <200 watts to keep the tuner from arcing. Of course, the branch
cleared at about 1100Z and I could get a nice 1:1 tuning on 160 then,
when the band was nearly useless. I also need to get this antenna
higher. The line isolator is only about 4 meters above the ground.
I should have run more. A voice keyer would probably have helped.
Every time that I ran on 20 meters, I got decent results for at least
15-20 minutes. Probably the best opportunity I had (wall-to-wall
signals on 20m) I couldn't find anything remotely resembling a clear
frequency to run, so I stuck to S&P. That probably cost me.
I almost packed it in at about 0630Z, but then I worked WB1GEX and
he informed me that he intended to keep me from repeating my section
win from last year. Of course I was now duty-bound to at least try
to give him a run for his money ;-) I haven't heard how he made out.
I expected a lot more Asian Russians. I hear them all the time, but
it looks like they weren't on during the contest. I missed most of
the Asian Russia zones. I took zero points for only 1 QSO: RK3AWL at
0409Z, because I was pretty sure he didn't copy my call or zone.
I wound up explaining what the contest was and how it worked several
times, and I heard quite a few others doing the same. Maybe we made
a few converts in the process! Time-consuming, though.
I couldn't seem to get through to a few (Singapore, Japan, S. Korea),
but I did manage to work a few countries I'd never worked: Turkey,
Malta, American Samoa, and Uganda. I never found all of the stations
from New Caledonia that I worked last year.
The longer I operated, the more I used the Timewave DSP. Mostly it
was for random noise reduction (especially on 80 and 160), but the
heterodyne killer and the variable high and low-pass filters came
in handy, too.
Wish List: A beam. A voice keyer (I'll probably use the cool
sound-card VK built into Writelog.) A computer monitor that isn't
S9+ on 15 and 10 meters (the XYL raised an eyebrow at the aluminium
screen bonnet it sprouted in the middle of the contest.) A way to
cut down that #$^%& branch! More antennas. Does anyone have any
info on slinky (or other short) beverages?
Fun as always!
--
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