Stew Perry Topband Challenge
Call: W2GD
Operator(s): K2TW, N2HM, N2OO, W2CG, W2GD, W2NO, W2KP
Station: W2GD
Class: Multi-Op HP
QTH: FM29
Operating Time (hrs): 13.7
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 475 Total Score = 2,350
Club: Frankford Radio Club
Comments:
Location: Salt marsh adjacent to Barnagat Bay, 20 miles north of
Atlantic City, NJ. Former site of marine coast station WSC. Site features a
300 foot tower surrounded by salt water. This is a temporary station set up each
year specifically for the 160M contest season.
Equipment:
Run Station: IC756ProII, IC746, Alpha 99
Mult Station: IC781, AL1200
Antennas:
2 element sloping dipole vertical array fed against a delta loop reflector,
fires NE, SW or Omni @ 190 feet. Slopers fed seperately with 5/8 inch heliax.
Inverted L (67 feet vertical) with 4 elevated radials
2 ele 935' phased NE beveage array
2 ele staggered 580' West beverage array
580' unterminated beverages NW, East, South, and Southwest
K9AY loop 900 feet from TX antenna
Comments:
Did I mention the station is located at the end of MURPHY DRIVE?
We arrived at the station about noon. The plan was to have everything ready to
start operating at local sun down - 2130 UTC. Since we left much of the station
"wired" after the ARRL 160 two weeks earlier, putting it back together took W2CG
only about 2 hours this time. There were the normal little glitches like
remembering how to install our keying control system and getting the rigs and
computers talking. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Initial tests with low power indicated the TX antennas were still tuned
properly. No adjustments needed. Unfortunately this was not to be the case a
little later.......at a critical point in time.
It was another nice early winter's day, partly sunny, almost no wind, in the low
40s...more than anyone expects this time of year in SNJ. K2TW, W2KP and I
walked all of the beverages....looking for down branches, bad connections, etc.
Fortunately we found the wires intact, but had to remove several fallen
branches/larger trees. K2TW then measured the SWR of each beverage antenna and
recorded the results (to have a reference point in the event troubleshooting
was needed later). W2NO brought along some new high performance 9:1
transformers whice he installed on the NE phased beverage elements. So far so
good. We seem to be ready to go well before the bell.
About an hour before our scheduled start time, W2KP sat down and started calling
CQ running a full 1.5 KW. A few minutes later the Alpha 99 amplifier tripped
off, apparently due to an SWR spike. After the amp tripped off several more
times, it was obvious something was wrong with the big TX antenna. K2TW decided
to make the walk out into the marsh to have a look. We could see the SWR curve
on the NE sloper had changed since our low power tests earlier that afternoon.
When Tom found the sloper feedline connecton to the hardline clean and dry, the
only other possibility was the connection at the center insulator or the feed
line itself. I donned my boots and made my way out to assist TW. At this point
its approaching 2130 UTC and getting dark fast. With due haste we dropped the
NE sloper and found corrosion in the PL259 as well as some coax contaminiation.
Using a torch, a new connector was soldered on. As we raised the antenna, now
in the dark...of course it got snagged at about the 100 foot level on a tower
light. Several minutes of wiggling the wire finally got it loose. End of fire
drill #1.
Back in the shack W2CG and W2NO had started operating using the backup inverted
L. But with interuptions to test antennas as we made emergency repairs didn't
help the QSO rate. Once K2TW and I returned, we got in the chairs. But then
fire drill #2 started - someone with big feet stepped in the wrong place behind
the operating table and kicked off the power. When things came back on, the run
station computer lad stopped working properly - we later determined it lost a
COM port. After 20 minutes of diagnosing the problem and reconfiguring, we were
finally back up with both stations. The first hour of this year's Stew had been
a real mess.
It seemed activity was down somewhat from last year...probably due to the event
being so close to Christmas, and following 3 straight weekends of other major
contests. We had about 100 fewer QSOs than in 2003. It was never difficult to
find a place to call CQ and there was limited activity above 1850.
Conditions to EU were spotty - but the normal peak at EU sunrise was observed.
Most signals were not loud and deep QSB was a problem. It seemed midwest and
southern US stations were hearing EU better than we were at times. Fortunately
the terrible absorption that plagued us during the ARRL 160 did not return.
Our best DX to the east was 5B4AGN who was moderately loud - S7, cqing in the
window. Two KH6s called in from the west....out best DX overall. No VK/ZL/JA.
It seemed signals from the west coast were down and less numerous than in prior
years.
Continental breakdown:
North America CW 392 80.8
South America CW 3 0.6
Europe CW 87 17.9
Asia CW 1 0.2
Africa CW 0 0.0
Oceania CW 2 0.4
It will be interesting to find out how many QRPers we worked....there were many
signals just at the noise level we struggled to pull through.
Thanks again to members of the SJDXA for their support and WYRS-FM for use of
the facilities. See everyone in CQ160 CW next month.
73,
John W2GD (for the TEAM)
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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