North American QSO Party, SSB
Call: K0DXC
Operator(s): K0DXC
Station: K0DXC
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Jackson, OH
Operating Time (hrs): 5.2
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 87 31
80: 12 8
40: 215 37
20: 12 10
15: 0 0
10: 0 0
-------------------
Total: 326 86 Total Score = 28,036
Club: Society of Midwest Contesters
Team: SMC #3
Comments:
RIG: IC-756PROIII
Antennas: 6BTV, DX-B Sloper at 35 feet, SBOG RX antenna (Only used the RX
antenna to pull K5TR out of the noise on 75 meters.)
I used a hand microphone for the whole contest. I have been having problems
with my Heil headset and could not get it ready by the time the contest
started.
All I can say is.... WOW!
Conditions were HORRIBLE! (Or it might just be my antennas, hi!)
I could only put in a part time effort for this one. My room in the house is
right above my parents room so right when they went to bed (around 10:30 PM
local) I got yelled at for talking into the mic. :)
I got on right when the contest started, I was hoping to run on 20 meters. Of
course, as you can see by my Q totals on 20; that obviously didn't happen. In
addition to not being able to run, I couldn't hear much on 20 meters either. I
need to get a beam up for the NAQP's in August or I'm guessing my high band Q
and multiplier totals will continue to suffer.
After I gave up on 20 meters, I checked 15. It was dead.
Then I went to my new favorite band in the NAQP's; 40 METERS!!!
40 meters is the only band I have had consistent GOOD success on! Plus, I'm
getting that success with a 6BTV vertical! Right when I got to 40, I picked out
7.225.00 and called CQ. Immediately the rate meter started to soar and I held it
at 200/hour for a half hour. Then it fell down into the 100-120 range for the
next hour. K4BAI called in nice and loud. Later when my grandpa worked K4BAI he
told me that John had said I was the loudest signal on the band at one point in
time.
Then due to broadcast junk and QRM I finally lost my frequency. I wasn't very
enthused about this contest (Who gets enthused over SSB stuff?)so I decided to
take a break.
When I got back on I didn't hear much activity on 40, so I went to 80 meters. I
had really been looking forward to 80 meters in the NAQP SSB because in the NAQP
CW 80 was my best band! I thought I would be able to make over 200 Q's easily on
80 meters because of my DX-B's high angle radiation.
Upon switching bands, I thought immediately that something was wrong. I could
barely even hear any static!
I checked the antennas; yep, everything is plugged in correctly.
I checked the radio; yep, it's working.
I switched to the 6BTV to see if it was any different; Oh, problem figured
out.
The DX-B is a short sloper. It uses coils to make up for its short length. I
have the DX-B tuned so it is good for the CW portion of 80 meters. It simply
wasn't resonant at 3850 and there wasn't really anything I could do about it.
Yes, I could tune it with the PROIII's auto tuner. However, it still isn't
going to perform well.
Most stations I called on 80 CQ'd in my face. Even SMC guys! I had to call WW9R
4 times before he could pick me out of the noise! It was the same with most
stations. Congrats to K5TR's FB ears for being able to pull me out! Texas was a
new multipler! :)
Because of my disappointment from 80, I took another break which lasted about 2
hours.
Another project before next August will be to figure out what to do on 80
meters in the NAQP SSB.
I got back on 160 meters at about 9:00 PM local time. I was surprised at how
many stations were packed in from 1840 KHz to 1875 KHz. It took me a few
minutes to find a clear run frequency, and even with the PROIII's filters
narrowed, my QRM noise was still about S9! If you called me and I didn't hear
you on 160, sorry about that.
The rate on 160 was decent, but not good. I almost had the same problem on 160
that I did on 80 with my DX-B. Thankfully, my sloper worked fairly around 1840
KHz to 1855 KHz. I didn't run any higher up in the band then that because I
didn't want to push my luck.
HIGHLIGHTS -
-Even though propagation went long very early, I was still able to put a lot of
familiar calls into the log.
THE MOST EMBARASSING MOMENT..... Happened when I first went to 160 meters. I
found a clear frequency and started calling CQ. I called for 5 minutes and no
one came back to me! Then all of a sudden a station (I forgot his call) came
back to me and told me I was using the wrong sideband! When I hit the change
band from 20 to 160 (I was briefly checking 20) the sideband must have stayed
at USB! Once I switched sidebands the stations started calling in.
Thanks to everyone for the QSO(s). It was nice hearing so many familiar
callsigns.
73,
Cal "KID", K0DXC
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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