[NLRS] 10 GHz contest spreadsheet

[Dr. Gerald N. Johnson]

I sent in a paper log, and I used N0UK's web page for computing 
distances. Final score about 60,140 points, not enough to beat Gary but 
a pretty good showing. I'm working on the rig trying to find out why it 
seemed to quit working at Storm Lake on Saturday in September. Battery 
voltage was a bit low and I need to make sure the charging circuit 
charges. For that I have mounted a Radio City miniature digital meter in 
a box with long leads so I can hand that box at the front glass of the 
pickup topper and see it from the cab to see if the voltage rises while 
driving. I'm also testing the transverter, PA, and FT-857 at low 
voltage. While the 857 spec is 13.8 +/- 15% which puts a lower limit at 
11.7 volts it doesn't lose sensitivity or frequency control down to 9 
volts supply. And listening at 1136 MHz the transverter crystal still 
controls the frequency, moving about 1.4 kHz from the frequency with 12 
volts. That doesn't match my counter display a few years ago of moving 
100 kHz per 1 second counter gate. I suspect now that low supply is 
dropping the 9 volts to the multiplier MMICs and killing the transmit 
and receiver mixer LO drive and so its "gain" with a great deal more 
loss. Will have to do more sophisticated testing to see that. The 1136 
signal radiated to an external receiver stay up until the supply voltage 
got down under 7 volts. The multipliers all depend on a 78S09 that needs 
a couple volts of headroom. I think a low dropout regulator in its place 
could solve my problem, or a small battery booster if it doesn't create 
too much RF noise. I found some boost regulator boards rated at a couple 
amps from Marlin P Jones a few months ago. I bought AC line filters to 
clean up the input and output once I put one or two in a shielded box, 
if I go that way.

I did make a little test run of John's software that I downloaded and it 
seemed to work.

73, Jerry, K0CQ

On 10/26/2015 10:28 PM, John Toscano wrote:
>
>
> Folks, I sincerely apologize for not keeping up with my email, in
> particular, the requests for a current copy of my contest logging
> spreadsheet. My thanks go out to K0MHC and W9FZ for their efforts in
> getting copies out to people.
>
> Thank you also, Jerry, for trying your best to help, but the versions of
> the logging spreadsheet on my qsl.net web page are no longer the current
> one. Jim and Bruce connected people with a newer, improved version. I need
> to replace the obsolete versions of the file, and Jerry's posting will
> serve as a reminder to me that I need to clean up after myself.
>
> Since the submission deadline has already passed, I guess it's too late for
> me to be of any help for this year. Again, my apologies. I hope everyone
> who played in the 10 GHz and Up Cumulative Contest this year had a good
> time and did well. I'd cross my fingers hoping to re-join you folks next
> year, but unfortunately, I haven't recovered enough strength and
> coordination in my hands to do that simple thing. So I'll hope for it
> anyway, without relying on crossed fingers to increase the chance that the
> wish will come true.
>
> 73 de W0JT/5
> EL09vu (New Braunfels, TX) and EL09ro (San Antonio, TX)
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