CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB
Call: VE3MGY
Operator(s): VE3MGY
Station: VE3MGY
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: Ontario
Operating Time (hrs):
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
------------------------------
160: 150 5 6
80: 302 7 11
40: 172 14 28
20: 154 11 25
15: 102 13 41
10: 154 17 56
------------------------------
Total: 1034 67 167 Total Score = 528,138
Club: Contest Club Ontario
Comments:
IT WAS THE FIRST BIG CONTEST IN THE NEW QTH - WITH ALL NEW ANTENNAS TO BOOT - NO
BEAMS OR ANYTHING EXOTIC HERE JUST "WIRES IN THE TREES" - FIELDDAY STYLE AS
USUAL. BUT WHERE TO START?? FIRST OF ALL MY PRESET GOAL OF A PERSONAL BEST
SCORE WAS MET AND I HAD A BLAST â?" WHICH WAS REALLY THE ONLY GOAL THAT
COUNTS!! UNFORTUNATELY THE ONLY ANTENNA THAT ACTUALLY LOADED AND/OR WORKED AS
DESIGNED WAS THE 160M INVERTED L!! AND I WAS CALLED BY KH7X, VP9I AND VP5T
WHILE RUNNING. HIT 146/HR AT MAX ON 160M - NOT BAD FOR 100W SSB.
UNFORTUNATELY THE 80M VERTICAL DIDNâ??T SEEM TO WORK â?" AT ALL!! AND THERE WAS
NOT EVEN ANY BAND NOISE ON IT WHEN I LOADED IT ALTHOUGH IT DID LOAD 1:1 BUT THE
SWR CURVE WAS ONLY A FEW KHZ WIDE AT BEST SO SOMETHING IS DEFINITELY WRONG...
FIGURES... SO I WAS FORCED TO USE THE INVERTED V'S. HOWEVER THE INVERTED Vâ??S
WERE SMOKING ON 80 AND I FELT REALLY LOUD, AT LEAST IN NORTH AMERICA ANYWAY (
BUT NOT SO MUCH IN DXLAND ) DUE TO THE 90 DEGREE TAKEOFF ANGLE. I ALSO HAD THE
BEST RATES ON THE METER IN THE WHOLE CONTEST â?" 324/HR!! THEY WILL DEFINITELY
BE THE GO TO ANTENNAS FOR THE ARRL SS FOR SURE - BUT NOT THE ARRL DX HI.
BOTH OF THE INVERTED Vâ??S SEEMED TO WORK FAIRLY WELL FOR 20M AND NEITHER WAS
OBVIOUSLY LOUDER THAN THE OTHER.
AND THEN THE SUN ROSE.... AND ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE... ON 15 AND 10 THE INVERTED
Vâ??S IMMEDIATELY STARTED LOCKING UP THE LAPTOP AND CAUSED IT TO FREEZE EVERY
TIME I TXâ??D(!!) SO I HAD TO REBOOT IT ALL THE TIME!! AND THE SOFTWARE CLOCK
HAD TO BE MANUALLY SET EVERY TIME AS IT DEFAULTED TO SYSTEM TIME, AND MOST
IMPORTANTLY OF ALL IT ALWAYS RAN SLOW SO I WAS CONSTATNLY RESETTING IT ( WHEN I
NOTICED ) AHEAD A FEW MINUTES EVERY FEW HOURS â?" UNFORTUNATELY I MISSED A LOT
OF QSOâ??S BEFORE I INITIALLY NOTICED THIS AND SOME WERE UP TO 6 â?" 7
MINUTES(??) SLOW. NOT SURE HOW THE LOG CHECKERS WILL VIEW THIS TIME LAPSE.
SO... I HAD TO USE THE INVERTED L FOR 10 AND 15... AND NEVER GOT A RUN GOING...
AND SUNDAY I COULDNâ??T EVEN LOAD THE INVERTED L ON 15M TILL THE LAST 1/2 HOUR
THAT I COULD OPERATE!! IT JUST WOULDNâ??T LOAD FOR SOME REASON â?" ( LIKE IT
WASNâ??T DESIGNED TO HI HI â?" ALTHOUGH IT DID LOAD FINE ON 10 BUT WHO KNOWS
WHAT THE PATTERN WAS ).
AND THEN THERE WAS THE NOISE S3 â?" S7 AT TIMES ON 15 AND 20 â?" ( 10 WAS S0 )
NOT TS NOISE BUT WHITE NOISE. I MAY HAVE TO HUNT SOME EMI SOURCES IN THE
NEIGHBOURHOOD BEFORE THE NEXT CONTEST.
SO OVERALL I AM VERY MUCH CONTENT AT MY CONTEST WEEKEND BUT GIVEN THE NUMBER OF
QSO'S VS MULTS THAT I HAD I AM NOT EVEN REMOTELY COMPETITIVE WITH THE LOW SCORE.
NEVER THE LESS I ENDED UP JUST GOING WITH THE FLOW AND WENT FOR QSO QUANTITY NOT
QSO QUALITY ( MEANING DX ) THIS TIME OUT AND TURNED IT INTO MORE OF A NORTH
AMERICAN EVENT THAN A DX ONE HERE. ALSO GOT TO PRACTICE SO2R AT TIMES AS WELL
BUT OBVIOUSLY I HAVE SOME ISSUES TO LOOK AFTER ON 10, 15 AND 80 BEFORE THE NEXT
ONE.
FYI WHILE RUNNING QRP ( 1 WATT ) IN THE ARCI QRP FALL QSO PARTY TWO WEEKS AGO
"EVERYTHING" WORKED PERFECTLY - JUST ANOTHER REASON TO STAY WITH QRP...
THANKS FOR ALL THE QSO'S
73
BRIAN
VE3MGY
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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