North American QSO Party, SSB - August
Call: W3MAM
Operator(s): W3MAM
Station: W3MAM
Class: Single Op Assisted LP
QTH: FM18vv
Operating Time (hrs): 8
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 0 0
80: 30 13
40: 146 40
20: 60 32
15: 17 9
10: 1 1
-------------------
Total: 254 95 Total Score = 24,130
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Team:
Comments:
This was my best effort in some time. My 40m wire has been out of whack all
year, with high SWR's, so I thought that this contest would be another casual,
points for the club, effort using only the beam for 10-15-20m. Two hours before
the start, Tom K3AJ convinced me to lower the 40m wire and make adjustments.
Sweating profusely in the high noon sun was not how I wanted to start a contest.
I saw nothing amiss; so wires were shortened a few inches. The analyzer showed
no improvement, so I wrote off operating on 40m and got ready for the contest.
Started on 10m per the Tim N3QE directive, and made only 1 QSO. Quickly switched
to 15m and starting working multi's. 15m was only marginally better. Then, I
spent the rest of the afternoon on 20m, S&P'ing, with focus on multi's.
Stopped for dinner, wondering what my evening strategy would be without 40m;
rather grim. Got back in the chair and moved to 40m. While I could hear others
fairly well, they could not hear me. Frustrated, I decided to lower the 40m wire
and shorten some more. 30 minutes out of the chair - sigh....
I returned to the shack. The MFJ-259B defiantly indicated no improvement. I was
getting defeated......then, I remembered that I used to employ an external tuner
before adding the amp. No amp for NAQP, so I grabbed the tuner off the shelf and
went to work.
On 40m, my minimum SWR was around 6.700, so my new stategy was to tune up as
much as possible and stay near the CW end of the band. After successfully
grabbing a few multi's, I attempted running for the first time in the contest.
Much to my surprise, the fish bit and I set the hook. My best rates of the test
began around 8 pm and were as high as 132.
Around 10 pm, deterioration set in. I slogged through the next hour, which
proved that it was time to call it a day.
Trials and tribulations,and a bit of fun thrown in. And, of importance for this
guy, a good stretch of running practice on SSB.
The 40m wire will be totally replaced and re-oriented next month.
73 Dave W3MAM
Icom 7300
LDG IT-100 Tuner (celebrity status)
6 El Tribander @ 50'
80/40 Inverted Wires @ 40'
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|