ARRL DX Contest, SSB
Call: N1IK
Operator(s): N1IK
Station: N1IK
Class: SOAB(A) HP
QTH: Windham, NH
Operating Time (hrs): 30
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 16 15
80: 89 57
40: 109 58
20: 264 82
15: 255 78
10: 73 27
-------------------
Total: 806 317 Total Score = 766,506
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
This was my first real, all-out attempt at a phone contest from home. I went ?to
the mattresses? to get this score. No-holds-barred.
I worked on antennas and the shack virtually every day from the CW contest to
this one. I managed to build, erect and tune a full sized, if not slightly bent
at the top, pine-tree-mounted 160M wire vertical, an 80M dipole cut for phone
and a 40M dipole cut for phone. I wanted to be on every band in one way, shape
or form, and I was.
I also moved the R8 into the woods with the help of N1IW to reduce noise pick-up
from the house.
I also added an amplifier.
I purchased an Ameritron AL-82 figuring that with my limited antennas, I would
need it to be heard.
At the last minute, however, I found that the amplifier would not load on 17M
(not meaningful for the contest, but annoying) and 160M!
Arrgh!
On 17M the VSWR at the rig was 3.8:1. On 160M it was infinite. God what a
bummer! The amp had worked FB in the 80M DX window all week!
I had N1IW come over to ensure that it wasn?t a ?bad user on device? error, and
we confirmed that the amp was not working.
Called Ameritron, spoke to someone who seemed heavily medicated, and wasn?t
really interested in my problem, and that was the end of QRO for the contest.
I thought I was going to KB, but it looked like I was going to have to go
barefoot. I didn't want to use the damn amp because I needed to return it and I
didn't want to run the risk of blowing it up with a mistake at 3:00 AM in the
morning or something.
Then I got lucky!
Malcolm, K1VZ, of HRO in Salem, NH offered to loan me his Alpha 99 for the
contest! I used to work at HRO, so Malcolm is a good friend, and he really went
out of his way to ensure that I would have a reliable amplifier for the contest.
Malcolm is my new hero!
(I can?t say enough about the Alpha 99, BTW. It?s awesome. A dream machine.
Tunes well in the heat of battle, and loafs along at legal-limit. The AL-82 is
going back today, and my order for an Alpha 99 has already been placed.)
Highpoints: Busting pileups for the first time ever. Sweet. What a rush to
hear a million stations tripping over themselves to work someone, and getting
heard using high-power and good timing. It?s a great combination.
Lowpoints: Sunday. All day. What a pain in the neck. Stations packed so close
on 20M and 15M that it was impossible to hear them. Every spot was pure crap.
Some seemed intentionally broken or misleading. Brand new spots for mults with
a W calling CQ on them? Huh? Every station that was found had already been
worked. Every PJ2T/9A1A-class station was splattering so wide that great mults
were impossible to hear.
Bottom Line: Nice experience that adds more fuel to the fire to get really good
at CW contesting. The CW contest was a lot more fun (I couldn?t believe I felt
that way at the end.)
Also, I need to get a LPDA or Yagi up this summer so I have some directivity.
Verticals are fun and cheap, but you hear everything.
73 de N1IK
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
---------------------------------------------------------------
The world's top contesters battle it out in Finland!
THE OFFICIAL FILM of WRTC 2002 now on professional DVD and VHS!
http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~jamesb/
---------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|