IARU HF World Championship
Call: NI6W
Operator(s): W4EF
Station: W4EF
Class: SO CW HP
QTH: CA
Operating Time (hrs): 20.4
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Zones HQ Mults
-------------------------------------
160: 2 1 1
80: 58 8 3
40: 349 21 11
20: 366 30 31
15: 373 25 29
10: 32 13 6
-------------------------------------
Total: 1180 0 98 81 Total Score = 680,558
Club: Southern California Contest Club
Comments:
Rig: FT1000MP MKV
Amp: Drake L-7
Antennas: 10/15/20M: Spiderbeam @ 48'
40M: Inverted-V at 37'
40M: 1/4 wave ground mounted vertical w/lots of radials (~5000ft)
80M: 56ft ground mounted vertical w/same radial field as 40M
vertical
160M: 56ft Top-loaded vertical w/same radial field as 40M/80M
verticals
I wore myself out on Friday taking down the AB-577 mast to repair the broken
rotator that turns my Spiderbeam. Then I discovered my FT1000MP MKV had a high
VSWR problem that was folding back the output power. The fault was inside the
radio. Output power was just enough to drive the Alpha 87A to a decent level
and on-the-air reports were good so I figured I could run it as-is. Fifteen
minutes into the contest, however, the Alpha 87A faulted and wouldn't clear
(power cycling didn't help). Frustrated and exhausted, I said eff-it and went
to bed.
I woke up around 1530 UTC somewhat refreshed and decided to give it a go using
my Drank L-7 back-up amplifier. With the low drive from the FT1000MP MKV, I
could only get 350 to 650 watts depending on band. Fortunately, the higher
bands were generally better for power output.
I stayed in the chair from 1551UTC until the end with a few short breaks along
the way. I am glad I got back on the saddle and stuck this one out in spite of
the false start. It turned out to be a lot of lot of fun, especially 20 meters
Saturday night and 40 meters early on Sunday morning. I wasn't keeping track
during the contest, but I still managed to work 56 of the 59 WRTC stations. I
was amazed by how consistent their signals were.
Most of the time during this contest, I was frustrated by the feeling that I
needed to be in at least two places at once. I really need to get some sort of
SO2R system setup, so I can search for multipliers while running. First,
however, I have a broken rig and amplifier that need fixing (sigh).
73, Mike W4EF................
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