CQ Worldwide VHF Contest - 2020
Call: N8RA
Operator(s): N8RA
Station: N8RA
Class: SOSB/2 LP
QTH: FN31TL
Operating Time (hrs): 6
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
2: 71 29
-------------------
Total: 71 29 Total Score = 4,118
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments: Limited time and NRG- just played with FT8.
The rest of the story:
It is amazing what one forgets when away from the radio for a while.
I forgot how to set the PTT handshake setting between N1MM+ and WSJT-X. Why
did this need to be reset anyway- it worked before? N1MM+ forgot how to
retain my transceiver offset freq if I went into it to change a PTT delay
setting. Sorry to the stations that I duped when N1MM+ thought I was then
back on 28 MHz instead of 144 MHz.
My MYL was in an intense 11AM thru 8PM online convention from Tuesday thru
Saturday. As her chief technology tech, I stayed on call to get her thru the
live videos and Zoom breakout rooms. (Uh-oh? Am I allowed to use the word
"chief"? Will the football team name vigilantes get after me and topple my
towers?)
The 2M repeater next door to me is now operating. Its tower is 230 feet from
mine, and its transmit antenna is about 40' higher. I have an Elecraft 2M
transverter to an Orion IF radio and have noticed my noise floor (on the
s-meter) to increase by 1-2 s-units when the repeater is on. That increase
does not seem to change if my AGC is on or not. What does that mean?? The
dB noise level in WSJT-X also does not seem affected. Why is that?? But I
can hear a change in the speaker. Given limited time for this event, I was
curious to see primarily what effect this would have on my 2M operating. I
was on FT8 the entire weekend trying to notice a change when the repeater
was on. This was inconclusive since that repeater was not very active this
weekend.
Conditions seemed average with some instant bright spots here and there.
At one point there were a couple of W4 decodes from 900 miles away, but they
were gone in a flash. 2M e-skip?
Some "locals" called CQ with strong signals, but never came back to my
answer. The strength of one KC1 in a nearby grid would vary between +5 dB
and -27dB sequence to sequence. Never did work him (her? them?) after many
many tries throughout the days.
AA4ZZ was calling CQ with no takers Sunday afternoon with a reasonable
signal but my humble 150-200 watts could not get their attention. All part
of the game.Maybe next time.
Having two antennas with an A-B-both switch again worked well, but I think I
need to go clean the relay contacts on the tower box since I hot switched it
a few times in the rush to answer someone and give them the most signal.
As always in retrospect: it was a fun contest!
73,
Chet, N8RA
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