ARRL September VHF Contest
Call: N8RA
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: CT FN31
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
6: 105 31
2: 68 21
222: 28 14
432: 31 12
-------------------
Total: 232 78 Total Score = 22,698
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
Flat conditions plus lower activity required a lot of BIC to make only slow
progress. 350 miles seemed to be the max range this year with only a few and
fleeting openings. The “old modes” were still quite effective for making these
longer haul contacts. FT8 provided a nice source of Q’s and some new mults when
the SSB or CW contacts ran out.
Thankfully the new liberalized rules did not seem to take away the fun and
satisfaction of finding and working weak signals on my own, which to me is the
most rewarding facet of this contest. The other fun for me is station building.
What was changed or added since June was:
Improved the 432MHz setup.
For June I used an FT897 on this band with about 5 watts PEP and a deaf
receiver. Last week I unpacked the sequencer and preamp which also allowed for
the 60-watt amplifier to be used. This got the band up to where it is quite
effective again. Unfortunately, an operator error early in the contest resulted
in the 897 putting its 5 watts into the output of the preamp. RIP…
Added another 6M antenna.
The huge 6M line noise source a few miles away has not re-appeared since the
utility company reworked the poles there, so the little 3el yagi mounted low
and vertically on the tower as a noise pickup antenna for the canceller is no
longer needed. Feedlines had been run to the second tower this spring, so I
lengthened this yagi’s boom beyond the reflector and fixed mounted it pointing
northeast and added it into the homebrew stackmatch system that allows instant
direction switching or combos of antennas to be used when CQing or searching.
Fixed the tower top mounted coaxial relay.
This relay is used to connect either the 222 or 432 MH yagi to a low loss
feedline and had been intermittent since June. The problem was traced to one of
the relay coil wires that had broken off right at its solder lug and was making
intermittent contact. It is a low voltage AC relay so perhaps the slight
vibration when energized had caused this failure.
Prepared to mitigate line noise.
Now that the 6M noise pickup yagi has been re-purposed elsewhere, what if the
utility pole right in front of the house raises its ugly head again like it did
for a few hours in June? I’ve not heard any huge line noise since June, but you
know how Murphy lurks and works. I soldered a PL259 on the end of a long piece
of coax to be ready to roll it out the shack window to the base of that pole
with a clip lead dipole in the bushes as a noise pickup antenna if needed.
But, it was not needed, hooray!
Thanks to the contest sponsor, the N1MM+ team, and all of you for the Q’s.
Chet, N8RA
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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