[NLRS] June 2013 VHF Contest for W0JT

[tosca005 at umn.edu]

Short story:

W0JT SOLP EN34js

Band   QSO's   Points   Grids   Best DX
  50    89        89      39   2000.9 Km 
 144    27        27       9    273.6 Km
 222    11        22       6    352.6 Km
 432    14        28       4    145.3 Km
 902     2         6       1     26.6 Km
1296     3         9       2    145.3 Km
-----  ------  --------  ----  ----------
Total  146       181      61   Score = 181x61 = 11,041
Subject to re-checking my log for transcription or calculation errors. I 
used an Excel spreadsheet of my own design for logging, since my favorite 
logging program, VHF-DX, does not work with Windows Vista or Windows 7.

The long story:

Most of my radio gear survived the trip from Texas to Minnesota. The 
exception was both of my microphones for the IC-706MkII, one plain and one 
DTMF. On both of them, the little clip on the bottom of the RJ-45 connector 
that helps keep the plug in the socket broke off, so I had to operate the 
whole contest with my left hand forcing the plug to stay in the socket for 
all QSO's on 144 and 222. I do have RJ-45 crimp connectors and a crimper, 
but figured that if I cut off the bad plug right before the contest that 
Murphy would see to it that I would be unable to crimp on a new connector 
in time, and I'd have no mic instead of a crippled mic.

Unfortunately, not all the gear survived the actual contest. About midway 
through the contest, the 1296 transverter or PA pooped out (technical term) 
with zero watts coming out on transmit. I suppose I might get lucky and 
find out that it's only a bad T/R relay but haven't had time to 
troubleshoot it yet. Since the 902 transverter is on the same IF radio, I 
know that everything from the IF radio in the basement shack to the relay 
box up in the garage attic is working right at least on the 902 side. Time 
will tell. While I was up there in the attic trying to see what was (not) 
happening with the 1296 transverter, I also noticed that the 902 
transverter was only putting out 5 watts instead of 20 but I think that is 
an IF drive level problem that I keep vowing to fix one of these days. And 
I also have an external 902 MHz amplifier that needs a little big of 
modification to get on the air, and it's been sitting in a corner of my 
shack for years calling out to me, "mod me, mod me" and getting no 
attention from me.

Also, it appears that my 222 amplifier has pooped out (that technical term 
again). I saw the power output going down (have an inline power meter right 
here in the shack on each of the 4 lower bands), and initially assumed it 
was a recurring problem with the ALC switchbox I built to throttle back the 
IF drive levels. But when I switched to the 25 watt position (which turns 
off the external PA), I got about 22 watts (pretty typical, directly out 
from the transverter) and when I turned the switch to the 50 or 100 watt 
positions (which turns down the IF drive and turns on the external PA) I 
got less than 5 watts out. Ouch. So I finished the contest at the 22 watt 
level instead of the 100 watt level on 222. Maybe I will get lucky and find 
that the ALC switchbox is in worse shape than I thought, or maybe not. 
Maybe my luck has just run out. The IF radio has 100 watts of output that 
is being throttled back to the milliwatt range via ALC and the transverter 
has 20-25 watts of output that is being throttled back to 2 watts to drive 
the PA, and chances are that somewhere along the way the amp got 
over-driven and one or more transistors have given up.

About midway into the contest, the antenna rotator started to turn VERY 
slowly. I don't know what's up with that, but by the end of the contest it 
seemed to be back to its usual speed. I know that the weather has been 
"cool" lately, but this rotator has worked properly at -40F in Januarys 
past, so I can't blame the 50-70 degree weather. I'll have to keep an eye 
on it. I'd really rather not have to replace or repair the rotator if I can 
avoid it.

Finally, my external keyer started acting flaky. I was using it, as I often 
do, with an external PC keyboard to send much better CW than I can do with 
the paddles. It started inserting a dit between each instance of my 
callsign when I sent my callsign several times in a row: W0JT E W0JT E W0JT 
-- kind of weird. And it would occasionally jump from 14 WPM to 25 WPM for 
no apparent reason. Weird also. Oh well, at least I am reasonably good at 
sending MY callsign and grid with the paddles. Now the straight key on the 
902/1296 IF radio is another matter altogether. If you have had to work me 
on CW on those bands you know what I mean by shaky CW sending. One of these 
days I will get that radio working with the keyer so I can at least use the 
paddles if not the PC keyboard, or I will finally get the Flex-1500 to take 
over all the IF duties and be done with the problem. (That would also solve 
the problem of my overly-sensitive 222 transverter and PA, assuming that 
the PA is resuscitated.)

Conditions seemed pretty bad most of the contest. I could barely get K0AWU 
in EN37 to hear me on 50 MHz CW when I can usually work him on SSB on 50 
and 144 and only have to resort to CW on 222 and 432. On the higher bands, 
I was able to work W0ZQ and W0GHZ in my own grid on 902 & 1296, but was 
able to work W0UC in EN44 (145 miles) on 1296 (before it failed) but not on 
902.

Thankfully, 6 meters opened up on Sunday from 09:23 CDT (14:23 UTC) to 
13:24 CDT (18:24 UTC). (There were a few spurts of activity before then, 
but I only worked a couple of distant stations on Saturday.) I worked 61 
stations in 32 grids on 6 meters during those 4 hours. At the time, I 
mainly just kept my antennas pointing pretty much south and assumed that 
all of the 5 calls were coming from Texas, but afterwards I looked up the 
individual callsigns on QRZ.COM and found that the stations were in 
multiple states, from Colorado to Utah to New Mexico to Texas to Oklahoma 
to Louisiana. So the opening was pretty widespread. I mostly operated 
Search and Pounce, because when I tried to run a frequency myself I tended 
to not attract very many takers. Oh well, I guess that's partly the 
difference between 100 watts and 1500 watts. I also have to mention that it 
was neat to work some of the guys down in Texas that I have met through the 
Roadrunners Microwave Group. Having a face to put with the callsign is fun.

As far as rovers go, I was surprised at how few contacts I managed with the 
rovers. Only 19 of 146 QSO's were with rovers this time around for me, and 
not because I didn't try calling them when & where they planned to be. But 
naturally, I have to express my appreciation for those folks who did go out 
roving, since I know what kind of effort it takes. I know that several of 
them had equipment problems or matters that prevented them from going out 
as they had hoped. Murphy seems to be the patron saint of rovers.

I didn't have the stamina to work all 33 hours of the contest this time. I 
kept at it from 1 PM Saturday to shortly past midnight, and got some sleep. 
I got up again at 6:30 AM on Sunday, put on a pot of coffee, and was making 
Q's by 7:11 AM. But by about 7:30 PM on Sunday, I was too pooped out 
(there's that technical term yet again) and packed it in, even though I 
expect that there was probably a flurry of activity at the close of the 
contest that I missed. Oh well, I guess it's partly that I'm getting old 
(although I remember how vigorous W0AUS was right up to the end, so I guess 
that's a lame excuse), and partly that I was out of practice.

Anyway, I had a pretty good time, and now have to recharge my "batteries" 
(self) in preparation for Field Day in a couple of weeks.

I will be submitting the points naming NLRS as the club. At least I think I 
will, since the rules say I have to reside within the club region, and 
don't specify what "reside" means. My legal address is in San Antonio these 
days, but I reside in my own house in Apple Valley MN during the summer 
months... Probably it's better to submit the score under NLRS and ask for 
forgiveness if that's wrong than to ask for permission in advance...

73 de W0JT
EN34js June-September
EL09ro October-May