(If you just want the numbers go to the end of the message)
.....wow, unfortunately, the log is on the hard drive at the station...the
floppy I made on Sunday night did not carry the info here
successfully....gulp....hopefully I will have success making another copy
this week and then will extract rates info etc.....
but first, the saga
LOGISTICS 101.10
Teresa, the wife, left on a trip on Sunday of the weekend before the 10
meter contest. Whenever she goes out of town I don't sleep worth a damn
and invariably come down with a cold.
Guess what - it happened again!
The week before the contest was a real "B" at my job...all week long I was
tested and finally on Thursday night I was going to go over to my folks
place to get the station set up so there would be no last minute rush on
Friday evening.
As I left work on Thursday and drove across I-4 the truck sputtered and I
looked down at the dash to see the temperature gauge pegged...at the same
instant I saw this the truck stalled...I coasted down the right side of the
highway and fell short of a trouper who was pulled over assisting another
motorist about a half mile down the road.
I was going to meet my daughter and her son for dinner at the Denny's near
my folks place, and after dinner I was going to suggest she bring Ohmar
(great spelling, huh?) over to see great grandma and grandpa [AKA W1YL &
W1CW]. NOT.
Well....I walked down the highway and asked the trouper to hail me a tow
truck - I had never seen a temperature gauge pinned and hope to never see
one pinned again! The wrecker towed the truck to the dealership which is
about two or three miles from my house. I called the restaurant and got a
hold of Patty (daughter), and suggested a rain check was in order.
The dealer said he would look at the truck tomorrow and give me a call. I
then walked home - remembering that there was a TON of un-done laundry. I
did not want my wife to come home to find it, so I walked to the
neighborhood grocery store and bought laundry detergent, a 2-litre bottle
of Mountain Dew (I have been doing a lot of fluid replenishing) and a Cuban
sandwich (which actually was very good). Then I walked home. I plopped
myself down on the couch in the empty house and analyzed what I had to do.
My boss had already started his weekend at noon on Thursday so I absolutely
positively had to be at work on Friday. With Teresa out of town at least I
would have her car for transportation.
I started doing laundry and started running all of the scenarios through my
mind as to what would have to be done if the engine in the truck was blown.
Occasionally I reminded myself of the coming out party for the Floirda
Contesters, which was less than a day away. With all of these thoughts
going through my mind I hardly slept on Thursday night...did I mention the
cold?
Friday afternoon I finally couldn't wait any longer and called the
dealer...he replied there did not appear to be anything wrong with the
truck and he had been running it and it stayed nice and cool...only problem
was low level of coolant in the radiator. Come on by and pick it up. I
told him I did not know when I could get it (the contest was starting in a
few hours) and he was kinda p.o.'d.....at which point my co-worker chimed
in and said heah I can drop you off. Rather than p.o. the dealer I decided
to drive home, drop off the wife's car, catch a ride with my co-worker to
the dealer, and then drive the truck over to the station...mind you I had
all of this in my mind as a positive experience, i.e. there would be no
problem with the truck and I would be able to go straight over. I could
not think of a negative, the past week had been such a downer I had to
start thinking positively.
The truck started up great and ran cool all the way over to the station.
Including when I sat stopped on I-4 due to an accident....yes, I did have
one eyeball on the temp gauge CONSTANTLY!
It was about a half hour until the contest started.
Since I had not been able to go to the station prior to the contest I could
not set up the computers and the second rig, but heah no problem I had done
this so many times it would be duck soup..........yeah, right.
Those of you who attended the multi-multi for CQ WW CW will remember that I
trashed a computer keyboard by spilling a cup of coffee into it.....good,
you did better than I did - I FORGOT ABOUT IT AND HAD NOT BOUGHT A
REPLACEMENT! What was that about logistics?
Think fast......okay, the second computer is available but not the
first...I can do this contest with one computer, I would prefer two so I
could use the second keyboard to check for new calls......but could live
without one....okay simple just take the second computer keyboard and use
it on the main computer, right?
WRONG
The main computer uses the fatter plugged keyboard, and the second one has
that smaller diameter plug. NOW WHAT.
OKAY, use the second computer as the main computer... yeah, that will work.
So, I proceeded to unplug the monitor from the main computer, plug it into
the second computer......whoops, cable not long enough, move the
computer.....and plug in the keying interface...in general I successfully
cluge together a computer for the contest......
OKAY, by now there is about 15 minutes before the contest starts....time to
plug in the TS430 and get it going on the tribander......I plugged
everything in and WHAT, no output......what NO RECEIVED SIGNALS???????
Must be on the wrong antenna......nope......the rig is fried. NOT ONLY IS
THERE NO SECOND SIGNAL BUT IT IS NOT WORKING ON RECEIVE - I WILL BE WITHOUT
A SECOND SET OF SIGNALS TO LISTEN TO!
Keeping score???????? truck, computer, TS430......
I resign myself to doing it the olde fashioned way and will SO1R it this
weekend. I have not done a contest with only one radio in several
years....saying I felt uncomfortable without a second rig is putting it
VERY mildly, indeed. The lack of knowing what is possible by tuning around
while holding a run frequency was lost.....for example, with the second
radio you can know when the band opens to JA by listening to K1TO (just an
example) and hearing when he starts running JA....so to speak!
By now it is two minutes of, boot the software, use CT since it is on the
second computer's hard drive and NA is not...just bought the computer prior
to the CQWW...had loaded CT on it for the MM effort.....hadn't got around
to NA yet.....
Set time, date start CT and it is less than minute til the contest
starts....no problem, I am ready.....
......stressed, moi?
All Friday night I look southeast occasionally waiting for the traditional
Florida 10 meter contest propagation - scatter and E stuff......nothing,
the only E that I hear has a WC4 in the front of it.
The contest starts off great, while the log is still on the computer at the
other station...as I recall there were well over a hundred QSOs the first
night - mebbe 200......including DX! Not just W3, W5 QSOs but JA and other
juicy stuff....when I go to bed on Friday night I am pleased at how things
have settled despite the hectic start. I anxiously await Saturday
morning's EU opening, after what I heard in the WW it could be a hoot.
I was right. The EU opening was a blast.....despite spitting up phlegm and
coughing I managed to make the rate meter hit 200 several times during the
morning.....I am wondering what QRATE will show as my peak....it was
great.... undoubtedly a personal and possible station best....as stations
were working me I was hitting alt F10 to speed up my exchange, CW RATE was
at 44 WPM for a while, there were a couple of minutes where I had 5 QSOs
per minute...without doubt, rate is a drug....and the rate meter and I were
both very high!
Suddenly, the combination of such a sprint coupled with the propagation
changing as the sun lit up Florida caused the phenomenal rates I enjoy on
the 140 foot high yagi to plummet....sure it was still triple digit, but
there were only a coupla QSOs per minute now.....rough, huh?
This incredible rush fueled the rest of the weekend for me, even when
things were bad and I felt like hell, I knew that something I felt was
possible could mebbe be accomplished this past weekend.
Several weeks ago I talked with Mr. Ten Meters, WC4E about how I felt 2000
CW QSOs might be possible for the 10 meter contest.....Jeff didn't think
so, he felt 1800 or 18 somthin somethin mebbe but not 2,000.
On Saturday I had equaled last years winning score for a whole weekend
work, at 24 hours into the contest I had last years total number of QSOs
plus two....(1299 QSOs last year total, 1301 at 24 hours in this
year)......I thought for sure that I could hit 2000 QSOs for the weekend
when I went to bed Saturday night, despite my taking off time during the
day to take a nap....those who worked W1CW on Saturday mid-day know when
that was!
After I got back on the air on Saturday Europe was long gone - but the
W-rates were great, some excellent runs of all kinds of W's - it seemed
like they were calling in from all parts of the country.
Sunday was not nearly as hot into Europe.....as always the second day is
never as good....but I just don't feel the condx were as good -
still....compared to all the other 10 Meter contests I have done they were
great 10 meter condx from FL! I never really got stomping on
Sunday.....but it did have its moments.
I felt the highlight on Sunday was the final two hours...the opening into
JA was the best of the three days...... unfortunately, unlike when you run
Europe a CQ results in mebbe one JA calling...there is never those times
when you have a half dozen calling you....mebbe next year?
Summary:
DX Mult = 86
I worked all states and most of the Canadians.....domestic mult = 58
(including three DC QSOs - K3VOA duped me!)
I worked 2001 QSOs gross....1927 NET after dupes. Had I been healthy and
had the second station yes this would have been a 2K weekend....as we all
know by now, K1TO actually disproved WC4E's no-way-2K theorem. Congrats,
Dan - great job.
K4OJ 1927 X 144 = 1.1M
This is a little more than double my score of last year.
...what will next year bring? Well...lemme see.....if I can get some more
antennas up (K1TO has five Ten Meter beams) and I have the second station
running.
...Heah Dan, what do you think...2250 QSOs on code? You pretty much so
took off Friday this year!
I have seen some excellent scores from other Floridians, looks like the new
marriage of FCC and FCG had quite the honeymoon!
Nice job Florida Contesters!
Thanks to W1CW and W1YL for putting up with me, I was really in a lousy
mood for some reason(s)! To W1CW, sorry to keep you out of the chair, I
know you were having some fun.....nice brass, OM!
Oh yeah...when I left work today there was a puddle under my truck, looked
like Mountain Dew....but I know it was antifreeze (I mean coolant)
........I hope its just a hose!
73,
Jim, K4OJ
k4oj@ij.net
Proud member of the Florida Contest Group - visit our website at:
http://www.4w.com/deemer/fcg.htm
The Florida Contest Group sponsors the Florida QSO Party, check out the FQP
website@:
http://home1.gte.net/wd4ahz/fcg/ssqp.htm
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