[NLRS] K0AWU Original Contest Report

Wed Sep 17 13:27:12 EDT 2008

Conditions were mostly rather poor during the time I was on.  After a
Saturday full of other commitments and a Sunday full of Hurricane Ike
downpour, I finally decided I had to do SOME contesting and went off
to set up as a QRP-Portable for the last three hours from EN50rl.  Got
rained on for a while but it was not like the downpour of earlier.

I was on 144 MHz only. Worked mostly local stuff but did work WA2KBZ/0
in EM38, KA0PQW in EN33 and N0PB in EM39 when they popped up for brief
periods.

Bob K2DRH has an antenna system anyone would be envious of. If I can't
work him from here I know I'm in trouble!

73, Zack W9SZ

On Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 9:18 PM, Bill Davis Jr <cqbilld at msn.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>  If you have seen the other simplified report and have seen enough about my contest weekend, "delete" :-]  Bruce and others have invested TIME in trying to determine WHY my two day and two hour attempt  to file the original post failed MANY times. I have some confidence that the reason has been determined ......
>
>  --- A R G H ---
>
>  Oh well, I have been told all my life that
> somehow things "even out". Given some of the fairly recent outstanding
> contest conditions (Sept 05, Jun 06 and Aug 08)  it was time for the
> propagation Gods to get "EVEN". THEY DID!!
>
>  Where  have
> all the VHF stations gone? It seems that the number of guys on from the
> MSP area in particular has plummeted in the last few years. The level
> of activity combined with the poorest VHF conditions that I can ever
> remember made for a very disappointing result from here. Do we have more people running lower power or small antennas than in the past or what? In visiting
> with others, it seemed to be a wide spread opinion.(However I have seen a couple reports today that farther south conditions were not all that bad?)  I made more than a
> casual trip to the yard to verify that the tower was still standing and
> that the array was pointing where the indicator stated. Very odd, Bob
> K2DRH was louder than many of the MSP area stations on many occasions
> over the weekend. About sunset here, the high pressure system arrived
> and replaced the drizzle with crystal blue cool air. Once that air mass
> arrived, the conditions to the west (and only the west) improved to
> really quite good conditions. NT0V was worked on 6,2,222 and 432 in the
> last 45min of the contest. Dennis was very nice copy through the high
> terrain on 6 and 432 in particular. I was able to work him on 222 SSB
> also, but NO margin there at all. Wally W0PHD "bubbled up" nicely on
> 432 SSB for an easy contact were earlier in the weekend I couldn't even
> detect him on 432 CW it was so bad.
>
>  Early Saturday I worked Eddie VE3KRP on 2 and 432 with no difficulty and that is not always the case. Bruce was really nice copy from EN57. So in that direction it was better that elsewhere on saturday.
>
>  Bob K2DRH was a struggle
> on 222 and 432 JT65B - WSJT on Sunday morning, the signals SO weak.
> Whats with that?? I also had many weak signals in the noise on 2m that
> required so many repeats. I am beginning to have some concern about my
> hearing. Headphones helps some, but those really weak ones seem to be
> more and more difficult for me to copy. I have played with receive
> audio equalization to a considerable degree trying to improve the
> readability of weak signals on the SDR1000 based 2m station.
>
>  1296 was a struggle and I do mean a struggle. Only KB0CIM and KI0LE were worked. Was it the drizzle???
>
>
> Hats off to the rovers ... WA0VPJ/R accounts for 12Qs, KA0IYT/R for 6Qs
> and W9FZ/R for 4Qs, totaling  18% of my QSOs.. On top of that Gary
> W0GHZ/R was worked in 3 grids on 10Ghz while he and his bride were on a road trip. EN37 stations contacts totaled 25 in number!! I
> think that has to be an all time high and accounted for 20% of my
> total.
>
>  Highlights:
>
>  (1)  EN57 QSOs with Bruce on 2m
> - 902MHz. I could see him on 1296, but conditions did not allow a QSO
> there. A new grid on 222,432,902.
>
>  (2)  Nice signals of NT0V Sunday late, especially the signals on 6,222 and 432.
>
>  (3)  Another sweep with Jim K0MHC including 10Ghz. So much for our "impossible" path :-]
>
>  (4)  KI0LE -- a sweep on all common bands, including 1296.
>
>  (5) Nice Qs with N9ISN on 6,2 and 432 Late Sunday
>
>  (6)  Any and all 10Ghz QSOs
>
>  (7)  Ed N8LIQ in EN56 appearing in the logbook again on 6 and 2m. The W9FZ/R operations helped with that I bet.
>
>  (8)  R O V E R S !!
>
>
>
>  Results:  (  Lowest Sept total since 2002!  )
>
>               50   --  30   --  17 Grids          2130 pts
>              144   --  47   --  20 Grids          3337 pts
>              222   --  12   --  10 Grids          1704 pts
>              432   --  25   --  14 Grids          3550 pts
>              902   --   2    --   2 Grids            426 pts
>            1296   --   3    --   3 Grids            639 pts
>            10GHz  --  5    --   5 Grids          1420 pts
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------
>
> Totals            -- 124  --   71 Grids   --   13,206 points
>
> 73 Bill K0AWU  EN37ed_______________________________________________
> NLRS mailing list
> NLRS at mailman.qth.net
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/nlrs
>