ARRL UHF Contest
Call: W9SZ/R
Operator(s): W9SZ
Station: W9SZ/R
Class: Rover LP
QTH: Illinois
Operating Time (hrs): 10
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
222: 15 7
432: 17 7
903: 4 4
1.2: 6 4
2.3: 4 3
3.4: 4 3
5.7: 2 2
10G: 2 2
-------------------
Total: 55 32 Total Score = 10,302
Club: Society of Midwest Contesters
Comments:
Murphy seemed to be out to get me in this contest. Although I managed to
avert him at every turn, I have never had so much go wrong in a single
contest.
I decided to try being a Rover in this year's contest in a limited sense -
to operate from EN50 on Saturday and from EN60 on Sunday. To start out,
on Saturday I got to my favorite hill in EN50 a bit late. When I got all
the antennas out of the car, I found the last loop on both my 902 and 1296
loop Yagis had broken off. Too many times throwing them into the car took
its toll, I guess. Missing that one loop on each antenna didn't seem to
noticeably affect their performance, though. The power lead to the
feedthrough on my 432 MHz transverter broke off. I used a clip lead to
bypass that.
Conditions were not so great. 902 and 2304 MHz seemed particularly poor. I
did make quite a few microwave contacts, though. Right after sunset on
Saturday I worked W9SNR/R all the way through 10 GHz with signals getting
better on each new band up. I wish I'd taken 24 GHz (I forgot it!) because
we just might have made in on that band. I also forgot my headband light
and got the last of my equipment packed into the car on Saturday just as it
got too dark to see anything.
On Sunday I planned on operating from a hill in EN60af. When I got there, I
found I was completely surrounded by 8-foot tall corn. I decided to go
looking for a better spot. I finally found one an hour later, in EN60an.
When I got set up, I noticed my triband dish feed had developed a crack
where the center wire of the semirigid hardline supporting the feed
attached to the feed. By using some tape from the opposite side of the feed
to the bottom of the dish, pulling down slightly on the feed, I found it
would make contact enough to work for the moment. Then I got reports that
my signal on 2304 and above was chirping or swooping in frequency. That
indicated I was losing phase-lock on the LO. I found that the coax braid on
the SMA connector to my 10 MHz reference source had broken all the way
around. I managed to use a piece of wire to temporarily fix that.
Conditions were moderate again on Sunday. I was not running much power on
any band, with 10 watts or less on most. A lot of stations I could hear
couldn't hear me. But I did work several stations over again plus a few new
ones from that location. I made more microwave contacts with W9SNR/R and
K2DRH.
Finally, after the contest ended I got everything packed up and left the
site. I got about two miles when my right rear tire went "BANG!" and was
instantly flat. I couldn't get the jack to fit under the car. I managed to
improvise; I used a couple of my mast sections as a lever to pry the car up
a few inches to get the jack under it. I got the tire changed but had to
drive 45 miles on a donut tire.
I believe I worked most of the stations I worked last year in this contest.
I got to give them two grid squares instead of one. I was told by several
that they didn't work anyone else in EN60. At least the weather was just
about perfect. No rain and virtually no wind. Now I have to fix all the
broken equipment and hope Murphy is a little kinder to me next time.
73, Zack W9SZ
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