Florida QSO Party - 2023
Call: NE8P
Operator(s): NE8P
Station: NE8P
Class: SOAB(A)SSB HP
QTH: FL
Operating Time (hrs): 13.0
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
40: 48
20: 936
15: 150
10: 3
--------------------
Total: 0 1137 CW Mults = 0 Ph Mults = 77 Total Score = 87,549
Club: Florida Contest Group
Comments:
Ed, KQ4R, planned on doing a full CW only effort this weekend, and we live less
than half a mile from each other. So to eliminate us hearing each other's phase
noise over relatively large swaths of the band, I opted to do SSB only.
Saturday was rough. 20 was the only productive band. There was virtually
nobody on 15 the few times I checked. Then there was the thunderstorms. Had to
shut down around 5:00 PM, and once shut down, I decided to stay shut down and
watch the Tampa Bay Lightning try to stay alive in the Stanley Cup Playoffs,
which they didn't.... So no operating Saturday evening.
I actually made quite a more contacts Sunday than Saturday owing to more BIC
time and better band conditions. I managed a couple intense but short lived
runs on 15, but there didn't seem to be many on that band despite decent
propagation. So, again, 20 was the money band. I tried 40 both the morning and
evening for the near in stuff, but it wasn't very productive. (It doesn't help
that I have a vertical antenna for 40 meters..)
I've been troubled with power line RFI since last fall. It affects all bands
with decreasing severity with increasing frequency, but it's loud enough on 20
to cover up a lot of the weaker signals. However, I discovered that I could use
the rotatable dipole like a loop antenna and null out most of the noise. The
antenna has to be "pointed" NNE/SSW to accomplish this, but in the end
all received signals are easier to hear, and the dipole is broad enough that I
can still work all over the country. Don't know why I didn't think of this
earlier... (Doesn't work for chasing rare DX though.)
I was pleased to work quite a few mobile, portable and QRP stations. Thanks for
calling in! It was also nice to hear many of the folks I've worked in other
state QSO parties call in as well!
Thanks to all the callers!! This was fun.
73,
Mike, NE8P
Port Orange, FL
TS-590SG, SB-221, 20/15/10 rotatable dipole @ 32 feet, 40 meter vertical
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|