[NLRS] W0VTT Contest Report
Mike Cizek W0VTT
mgcizek at gmail.com
Mon Sep 13 17:26:38 EDT 2021
The contest was another learning experience for this VHF newbie. The good
news is that I didn't blow up anything this time! Let's start with the
bottom line:
6m - 40 Qs 16 grids FT8 = 14 Qs
2m - 45 Qs 22 grids CW = 19 Qs
222 - 25 Qs 11 grids SSB = 97 Qs
432 - 21 Qs 6 grids FM = 1 Q
TOTAL 131 Qs 55 grids Score = 9735 points
Many thanks to KA9VVQ and W9FZ for providing a new grid for my 222 VUCC.
Bruce & Jan (52 QSOs) plus Carol & Mel (14 QSOs) provided one half of my
total QSO count. Details (long-winded version) below for anyone interested.
----
73,
Mike Cizek W0VTT
At the St Charles Corner EN33xx
When I learned there would be three different rovers here at my local grid
corner (less than a mile away) I figured I should add 432 to the station so
I could give them all some more QSOs. I pulled the FT-100 out of my truck,
put it in the station in place of my 2m FM radio, and hooked it up to a dual
band vertical on top of my tower. I decided to hook it up to the computer
so I could log those QSOs "properly" in N1MM and that's where the trouble
started:
1. When trying to set up the FT-100 in SO2R, I get a "device not
recognized" error. No problem, get the device name & number and download
new drivers.
2. Find the new driver on line: "for Windows XP, 7, 8, and 10." We're
good. Nope, it still doesn't work.
3. Read the fine print on the download page and discover Windows 10 no
longer supports whatever device is used in the FT-100 radio control port.
No problem - dig out the old WIN7 laptop and network the two computers
together.
4. Still doesn't work. Update the drivers on the WIN7 laptop.
5. It works, but now I learn that the FT-100's interface device has a
STRONG dirty spur exactly on 144.200. Not only that, but the radio control
drops out every few minutes so it's not worth putting up with that noise.
Back to SO2R on the WIN10 laptop and use manual control on the FT-100.
6. I learn that the FT-100 is about 2.5 kHz low in freq on 432, but
that's easy enough to adjust for.
That's a lot of fuss and bother for those 21 QSOs on 432!
I spent Saturday afternoon bouncing back & forth between the BWQP and the
VHF test. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea. The VHF test really seemed
slow after running 100-150/Hr on HF CW. My best DX was EN80 on 2m FT8; EN60
on 222 CW. I heard bits of W3IP in FM19 on 6m CW but we couldn't complete a
QSO. Also saw a few FN stations on 2m FT8 but no QSOs there, either. I
didn't work anyone out of the EN field and didn't hear any of the Canadians.
Another thing I learned is that I really don't enjoy the digi modes in
contests. Like some of the other NLRS gang, I was disappointed have so many
unanswered CQs on CW and SSB, then switch to FT8 and see all the strong
locals signals calling CQ there. FT8 has given me a handful of new
countries on 160, 80, and 6 meters, but it just isn't much fun. Meteor
scatter on MSK144 is interesting and accounts for most of my grids on 6 & 2
meters, but taking 30 minutes or more to complete one 2m or 222 M/S QSO
during a contest seems counter-productive. I recognize the digi modes as
being useful, if not necessary, tools for the serious DXer and will keep
them in my "DX toolbox", but will probably only use them for new DXCC
countries or VUCC grids.
Complete contest & station details:
Band Mode Q Pts Grd Pt/Q
50 CW 5 5 4 1.0
50 FT8 3 3 3 1.0
50 USB 32 32 9 1.0
144 CW 5 5 3 1.0
144 FT8 11 11 6 1.0
144 USB 29 29 13 1.0
222 CW 4 8 3 2.0
222 USB 21 42 8 2.0
420 CW 5 10 1 2.0
420 FM 1 2 0 2.0
420 USB 15 30 5 2.0
Total 131 177 55 1.4 Score : 9,735
STATION:
6m: Elecraft K3s, KPA1500, 7L @ 132'
2m: Elecraft K3s, K144XV, RFC 2-117 (150w), 17L @ 35'
222: Elecraft K3s, XV222, TE 2210GN (100w), 15L @ 136'
70cm: Yaesu FT-100D (25w), X50 Vert @ 140'
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