ARRL 10-Meter Contest
Call: K1SE
Operator(s): K1SE, K4EU, K4ZW
Station: K4ZW
Class: Multi-Single HP
Operating Time (hrs): 35
Summary:
Mode QSOs Mults
----------------------
CW: 1351 140
SSB: 947 137
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Total: 2298 277 = 2,022,654
Comments:
Friday night's start was a little bizarre in that we worked a steady stream of
JA's from 23:45z until 00z. Once the contest started, we did not receive a
single call from JA for the rest of the evening. Several hours into the
contest, the rotator started acting very sluggish. In fact there were several
times where the antenna did not turn at all. At that point I had a sinking
feeling in my gut. Friday preceding CQWW CW, I found myself on the same tower
replacing the T2X because of a similar problem when moving the antenna between
60 and 90 degrees. Half way out the door to take a look at things, it was
apparent what was happening. It was extremely windy and the rotator was
loosing the battle. The high winds were also causing another problem we were
not yet aware of.
As Saturday morning rolls around we point the antenna at Europe and are
immediately greeted by S-9 power line noise. I was having a few problems with
the noise on 15 and talked to the power company on Wednesday. They've been
very good about dealing with problems as they crop up. However, with the end
of the year approaching, they had a busy schedule so I told them to wait until
the new year. After all, it hadn't been a problem on 10 meters. Apparently
the high wind loosened up a few things so we now had a big problem. We were
able to reduce the noise somewhat by turning the antenna a bit south and of
course by spending a majority of our time on CW . It was interesting to note
the low serial numbers many of the Europeans were giving out so late in their
day. Saturday night produced a nice opening to JA as well as a nice 2 hour run
to W5 land.
Sunday morning the noise still persisted however, it was now intermittent.
Before the sun came up, I decided to make a trip down the street to jar the
offending power poles by hand. Hey we were getting desperate. As things
warmed up, the noise was off more than it was on. We decided to take advantage
of the situation by spending some time on SSB catching up, especially on
multipliers. Sunday afternoon K4ZW heads to the airport and K1SE heads home
after spending the entire weekend. The station is left in the capable hands of
K4EU who has some good rates to close out the contest.
Wednesday I receive a call from the power company. They were called out
to the neighborhood because of some problems and found a set up burned up
bells. No doubt a large contributor to our problem. Nevertheless we had a
great time.
Ken K4ZW
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