ARRL 222 MHz and Up Distance Contest - 2020
Call: K2DRH
Operator(s): K2DRH
Station: K2DRH
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: EN41vr IL
Operating Time (hrs):
Summary:
Band QSOs
------------
222: 37
432: 39
903: 12
1.2: 20
2.3: 9
3.4: 13
5.7:
10G:
24G:
------------
Total: 130 Total Score = 107,679
Club: Society of Midwest Contesters
Team:
Comments:
Seems that Murphy makes sure something has to be broken before or during a
contest and this was no exception. 2304 was unresponsive and a trip up the
tower confirmed that a rotor loop connector was the culprit. For all the things
I don’t like about FSJ4-50 superflex at least the connectors are relatively
easy to replace on the tower even when you have to cut back and re-prep the
line. The replacement power supply for the 28VDC microwave tower relays and the
2304 amp does not have as much headroom and sags a bit when you key down the amp
but is still adequate for the job. A few last minute connections had to be
transferred from a failed (again) 12VDC power supply for 902 preamp and
sequencer. The 902 tower preamp failed again mid contest but turns out one of
the soldered connections to a relay in the shack had broken due to agitation
from the hurried last minute swap. 902 failed to transmit one time with W0ZQ/R
and I lost a high point Q. It later proved to be a control line from the
sequencer that went intermittent for no discernable good reason after years of
fine service. Luckily I found it while attempting another Q with W0ZQ/R!
Getting so I hate to disturb stuff!
As these contests go it started out slow and tapered off from there. All the
nice enhancement from the weeks before was pretty much gone. When this contest
was the old format lots of rovers made it more fun but rover mania seems to be a
thing of the past here in the MW as many long time participants age out and are
not being replaced. At one time I could track 7 or 8 rovers with multiple bands
and if not for W0ZQ/R, K9PW/R and K9JK/R it would have been a lot slower even
than it was! Even a lot of the home stations are off the air or in disrepair
and it was great to hear old timers like WW8M and K3SIW even though some of
their stuff wasn’t what it used to be. I got a few Qs from solicitation on
the ON4KST page and the PJ page.
WSJT played a small part as some stations got on 222 and 432 FT8 using the
European contest mode for 6 digit grid exchanges, but some compatibility issues
arose from some using pre 2.2.0 versions as well as a failure to decode TX2 and
3 issue using MSK144 with the revised message protocol. My two 222 Ms contacts
(which were both very high points) were done with FSK-441 and edited 6 digit
grid macros since the TX protocol is less rigid. Rox are good during the Aug
UHF since there are a few minor showers as well as being on the ramp up to the
Perseids. Many have found this older WSJT-10 program much better for the short,
light pings and huge Doppler on 222 (and even on 2M). While the new MSK144 with
FEC is more robust and the auto sequencing is convenient, it often does not
decode audible pings. The ability of FSK-441 to manually tease decodes with at
least some partial information from every ping and full calls or entire ST
sequences from pings almost 4 times as short as required for MSK144 really makes
a big difference. The 400hz frequency tolerance doesn’t hurt either.
73 de Bob2
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