ARRL DX Contest, CW - 2021
Call: N2NT
Operator(s): N2NT
Station: W1/JONESPORT
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: ME
Operating Time (hrs): 47.5
Radios: SO2R
Remote Operation
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 340 45
80: 757 61
40: 1056 78
20: 2023 92
15: 190 52
10: 20 14
-------------------
Total: 4386 342 Total Score = 4,495,932
Club: Frankford Radio Club
Comments:
What an experience this was for an old timer like myself.
About 2 weeks ago, I called my old friend Ray Higgins W2RE (most everyone knows
he is the man behind Remote Ham Radio). Having no real plan to operate this
contest, I asked if he was doing any sort of multi operation. I had always
wanted to enter the world of remote contesting, but had never done it before.
Ray said they had no plans, and we kind of left it at that. Until the next day
when he called me back and asked if I wanted to try a single op., He offered the
use of the signature Jamesport station in Maine. The station has multiple big
towers with stacks on the high bands and 4 squares on the low bands. I suggest
checking it out on the RHR website, it is quite amazing. Ray said he could only
offer it as is, with the existing user interfaces etc. With that, I could not
pass up this opportunity so we forged ahead.
To make a long story a bit shorter, I would need quite a bit of help to set this
up with any usable contest software. DXLog is my preferred logger for DX
Contests and especially for 2BSIQ. A few of the guys had already done this
before and I enlisted the help of Nate N4YDU and Marty NN1C. I quickly realized
I would need 3 computers to do it right, and a lot of special networking.
Without Nate and Marty's expertise, there was no way I could have operated
successfully. Once the setup was done, I did not dare to shut it off. I tested
it in the CWT on Wednesday and did not use the computers for anything else until
the contest.
Marty NN1C is quite prolific at this stuff, I think he supported ZF1A, ZF5T,
K1IR and my operation all at the same time! He even managed to send me a
modified version of DXLOG so I would have RIT control from the local K3 to the
Remote Flex 6600.
Thanks Marty!
The station up in Jamesport is an absolute beast. I felt very loud on every
band, and was only using about 900W avg output from the Expert 1K-FA amps.
Since the station interface is not really designed for contesting, changing
bands and antennas was a bit cumbersome. But that was only a minor
inconvenience.
No matter what antenna I used, I felt very loud. There was absolutely no band to
band interference, only some noise when turning rotors.
Using the Flex 6600s was also a pleasure. I loved the spectrum scope and the
ability to tune on the appropriate signals by a single click. The audio latency
is quite high though, and it was noticeable when trying to answer the faster
ops. I had a slight delay to contend with and there were a lot of repeats.
It was also difficult to adjust the RX bandwidth as well, so I just left the
receiver set at the default. I could hear most all callers with no problem, and
limited QRM.
Operating without a paddle was also weird for me. Especially in frequency
fights. I could not get peoples' attention without messing with the DXLOG Alt K
keyboard. By that time it was too late... Only one major fight all weekend, so
not big deal. I mostly missed being able to say hi to my friends with their
names etc. I just sent a programmed "73"!
I was not sure I could put a full effort in, as I have been very busy with my
job. My phone rang only once during the contest and it was not an emergency.
Thanks to my secretary who covered for me over the weekend,all worked out fine.
I was planning to get some sleep the second night, but the callers never stopped
on 40M. Next thing I knew it was 0900 and time to go to 20M. So I operated
almost the whole contest with a few short breaks.
Another first for me (maybe a first anywhere)is that there were 2 complete
single op unassisted efforts from my shack at the same time. WW2Y was sitting
next to me, operating my station in the classic "on site" traditional
way. He had a laptop, IC7800 and an ACOM 2000A. One radio single op.
I had 2 K3's and 3 computers operating remotely. The K3's were just glorified
VFO knobs, and didn't get much use at all.
Every once in a while Peter would glance over at my logger and ask why I was
beating him by so much :) It was a lot of fun, and nice to have someone else in
the shack so I didn't get lonely. Of course we didn't share any band
information. It was very revealing though to see the difference in propagation
between ME and NJ in real time; he could not start running until at least an
hour after I could on the remote.
There is a lot more to this story, but I've probably already put you to sleep.
So again if you've made it this far, I want to thank Ray, Nate and Marty for
their help and the chance to do this contest from a great station. As well as
the inspiration from N6MJ and KL9A who have supported Unassisted Single Op
contesting and remote operating at the very top level. Thanks also to the entire
crew of RHR who stood by if I needed any help all weekend as well. I did not
have a single issue with the station which is remarkable. Ray just kept texting
me to see how I was doing. I had disabled the scoreboard reporting during
network setup, and did not want to go back into setup for fear of breaking
something!
I hope I didn't sound like too much of a Lid as I struggled at times with the
timing of the transmit signal. Another surprise was that very few ops asked for
a repeat of my state. I will bet there are hundreds of logs with N2NT in NJ
though :)
Thanks for all the Q'a, it was a great experience for me.
It is unfortunate that according to ARRL rules I cannot count this score for the
FRC even though Ray and I are both members. The station is well outside the club
circle. At least WW2Y will count for the club aggregate.
73, Andy N2NT
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