SARTG WW RTTY Contest
Call: VA7ST
Operator(s): VA7ST
Station: VA7ST
Class: SOAB LP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 15.5
Summary:
Band QSOs Pts Mults
-------------------------
80: 21 210 14
40: 81 885 35
20: 228 2710 48
15: 8 90 5
10:
-------------------------
Total: 338 3895 112 Total Score = 436,240
Club: British Columbia DX Club
Comments:
* FT-2000
* N1MM Logger and MMTTY
* 3-el SteppIR @27'
* 40M SteppIR dipole @27'
* 40M twin half-square array (EU/ZLish)
* 80M dual 1/4-wave elevated verticals (E, W, or broadside N-S)
2010: SFI=77 | A=2 | K=0
2009: SFI=68 | A=3 | K=1
2008: SFI=66 | A=5 | K=2
Whew. 15.5 gruelling hours invested in setting a personal best with low power.
Actually had my best-ever low-power total score by the end of the first
session, then pressed on to edge past previous high-power scores, too.
Europe was in good shape over the pole at the start of session two and the end
of session three. Traded the last 6.5 hours of the second session for NAQP SSB,
sacrificing prime hours of the 20M European opening. Fortunately, the
all-nighter third session includes dawn, and a fairly strong 20M EU opening
before the end provided lots of mults from over the pole.
The segments of this contest offer a complete tour of the bands over a full
day's cycle without injuring anyone with sleep deprivation (though running
SARTG and NAQP makes for a groggy operator at 4 a.m.). I almost packed it in
several times in the final five hours, but each time "one more pass up the
band" perked me right up again. There was no real down-time, as when 80M was
played out, 40M was still providing Asia and domestic contacts. The slowest
time was just before dawn when 40M had been worked out and 20M wasn't yet open
to anywhere. There was an hour or so in which I was all dressed up with no
place to go.
Nice to see 20M and 40M bands in good shape. Was excited to work A65 and VU2
during the 20M polar path morning openings.
Special thanks to Rich VA1CHP for the 20M and 80M mults, and to Irek VA7RY (who
lives about 20 kms from me) for the VE7 mult in the final few minutes -- my
final mult of the contest and a complete surprise on 20M.
15M was dead throughout, except for the final half hour when a handful of SA
mults appeared. Only a few W4s were worked Stateside, so lots of mults left
untouched on that band.
The 80M vertical array -- two 1/4-wave wire verticals with elevated radials --
worked really well, providing 14 mults and much better performance than any
previous SARTG RTTY. Still, I couldn't find W9 and W0 mults on 80M from VE7. Go
figure.
The new 40M twin half-square array wasn't quite right, but I made a few Qs with
it including FO8RZ and one or two Europeans. Needs tweaking to compensate for
nearby objects (see 80M array, above :)
The SteppIR 40M dipole worked like a champ as the driver for a "hybrid" yagi.
Figured I'd try a rotatable dipole with a stationary wire reflector/director
element, and the contraption helped gather more mults than I've ever had,
including when I ran high power. Despite a pitifully low average height of 35',
the hybrid worked better than the new half-square array and boosted last year's
37 Qs/16 mults to 81 Qs/35 mults. That's a nice improvement. Exhibits some F/B
and modest forward gain where expected, which is more than I had before trying
it out -- pretty good for a $6 relay and 70' scrap of wire in the air between
trees at 40' or so.
40M performance...
Qs Pts Cty Sec Pwr
-------------------------
2010: 81 885 16 19 Low (SteppIR dipole w/ wire passive element)
2009: 33 335 5 11 Low (SteppIR dipole @40')
2008: 129 1445 10 23 High (twin reversible half-squares, E or W)
2007: 89 930 10 16 High (half-squares E-W, N-S)
2006: 37 355 4 12 Low (2-el wire yagi East @70')
Thanks to everyone for the contacts. Hope to catch you all in SCC RTTY next.
-- Bud VA7ST
http://www3.telus.net/va7st
Overall performance...
Year Qs Mult Score Class
---------------------------------
2010 338 112 436,240 AB low
2009 102 55 63,525 AB Low
2008 351 103 415,090 AB High
2007 346 103 423,330 AB High
2006 225 67 156,110 AB Low
2005 45 18 8,460 20 Low
2004 176 71 132,060 AB Low
2003 109 57 74,385 AB Low
2002 98 66 73,920 AB Low
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|