ARRL June VHF Contest - 2019
Call: K7XC
Operator(s): K7XC, K7CAN
Station: K7XC
Class: Limited Multi-Op LP
QTH: DM09jh - N NV
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
6: 107 78
2: 16 7
222: 5 5
432: 5 3
903:
1.2:
2.3:
3.4:
5.7:
10G:
24G:
-------------------
Total: 133 93 Total Score = 13,299
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Comments:
4 Band, Low Power, Limited Multi Op, Tim- K7XC & Dan- K7CAN, K7XC Station-
DM09jh.
Operating Conditions: 6M - Flex3000, 2M - IC-746, 222 - IC-706gmkIIg
Ukrainian
Xvtr Mil Surplus Amp Module, 432 - IC706mkIIg Mil Surplus Amp Module.
Antennas 6M - 6ele 24ft Boom DK7ZB Home-brew @ 27ft, 2M - 16ele 30Ft Boom
M2
@23ft, 222 - 16ele 18ft Boom K1FO Home-brew, 432 - 29ele 21ft boom K1FO.
The winds on Thursday & Friday were fierce so we didn't have the
time/opportunity to mount the 6M yagi on its own mast. Instead we punted and
left it on the same stack with the other antennas but swung it around 180
degrees so one person could be operating the usual 6M E/NE paths while the
second operator could be on 2, 222, & 432 to the typical paths of W/SW. It
worked out great as we were low power, & the interactions were manageable.
I was very surprised at the beginning that 6M was weakly open, it
lingered in there for hours, often barely usable. Great conditions on the
upper
bands & the new 222 Xvtr and Home-brew 4WL yagi played well. The effort to
install a run of 7/8" Heliax on 432 helped tremendously as no one was very
weak. The connectors for the second run of 7/8" for 222 didn't arrive in
time so it managed using a mixed bag of 3 shorter runs of low loss CQ-106
RG-8 style coax, kluged together with adapters in 4 places.
It was Dan's first time participating in a multi-op, which he enjoyed
greatly.
Up early Sunday Morning starting at 6AM the Rocks Were Fierce! Huge MS
burns on
6M for over 3 hours allowing me to work anyone in any direction well past
700
miles or more. By not having any real Es it forced everyone out West to
work the
closer in grids on MS, Kudos to K1JT as the latest release of WSJT-X was
flawless on FT8 & MSK144. With about 3 1/2 hours left, in desperation I
swung the 6M antenna out East... Poof! within 3 minutes the band went from
limping along to wide open! Soon the second hop was in to the East Coast
and the
FT8 spectrum was completely packed past 3000 cycles! Here the adjustable SDR
waterfall display extended out past 4500 cycles was a huge advantage. I
hopped
from FT8, to SSB, to CW, and back 3 or four times always finding new
stations to
work... Then BOOM, it was 0300Z and the band very quickly became extremely
quiet.
All in all it was a rewarding experience. We didn't get everything on the
to-do
list done in time but what was up played very well. Back in the 90s, for
10years
straight my buddy W7KK (ex NR6E) and myself chased the top W7 score as a 2
man
limited multi op from some most awesome central Nevada Mountaintop
locations. We
took grids with no residential activity like DM17, DM18, DM19, DM27, DM28,
DN00,
DN10, etc and made them available using KW amps and large antennas. Between
us,
NW7O(sk), W7TVF(sk), and a few others, most of Nevada wasn't all that rare
when FFMA was born. Fast forward 29 yrs and those same grids are back in
high demand again. It was pure joy to see folks like AG6EE/R, and other
ROVERs
put those very grids back on the air again with KW amps and huge antennas!
Never
before (Since I started in 1990) have so many rare NV grids been available
at
the same time over a 48 hr period! LOTW FFMA totals should explode in a
couple
of days to be sure! Thanks to all that pulled our signals out of the noise!
Still amazes me what 100W, large antennas, and some persistence can achieve
on
VHF/UHF.
Below is the final score per mode/band.
Band Mode QSOs Pts Grd Pt/Q
50 CW 10 10 9 1.0
50 FT8 56 56 42 1.0
50 MSK 23 23 17 1.0
50 USB 18 18 10 1.0
144 FM 6 6 1 1.0
144 USB 10 10 6 1.0
222 CW 1 2 1 2.0
222 USB 4 8 4 2.0
420 CW 2 4 1 2.0
420 USB 3 6 2 2.0
Total Both 133 143 93 1.1
Score: 13,299
1 Mult = 1.4 Q's
The tower trailer is 50 ft due North of the shack.
6M - Flex3000, 100W, 6ele 24ft boom at 27' Fed with
100ft run of low loss CQ-106 RG8 by "The Wireman"
2M - IC746, 100W, 16ele 30ft boom at 23', 45ft run of
1/2"Heliax across the backyard with CQ-106 each end.
222 - Ukrainian Transverter, IC-706mkIIg IF, Mil Surplus
100W 28V SS Amp Module, Temp 100ft run of CQ-106.
Have a 45ft run of 7/8" waiting for connectors installed.
432 - IC-706mkIIg, 100W Mil surplus 100W 28V SS Amp
Module, 60ft Run of 7/8" Heliax with CQ-106 each end.
The 706 is dying and will need to be repaired/replaced
sometime soon. Has an unstable mixer that becomes
non-linear & is common to all bands.
Time for lunch...
73s and GL de Tim - K7XC & Dan - K7CAN, DM09jgh... sk
Adapt, Overcome, Succeed!
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