K4TMC - ARRL DX SSB SOSB10 LP

[Henry Pollock - K4TMC]

 Call: K4TMC
Operator(s): K4TMC
Station: K4TMC

Class: SOSB10 LP
QTH: NC
Operating Time (hrs): 14

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:    0     0
   80:    0     0
   40:    0     0
   20:    0     0
   15:    0     0
   10:  287    72
-------------------
Total:  287    72  Total Score = 61,992

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

I’m back after a 3-month hiatus from contesting due to my suffering from a
lingering October - December respiratory illness and my wife’s fall back in
mid-January.  And this past week, I came down with something that left my
voice alternating between nasal and raspy most of the time. So, no trip to
the beach site. It did leave me with time to catch up on some antenna
design ideas.  Of special interest were the AG5FE spiral counterpoise
articles from QST May 2022 and QEX March/April 2024, and some 10M yagi
design information from K8AZ. Now, on to the contest…

For the last month I have been monitoring 10M with a K2 on my work desk
connected to the nearby 12 ft vertical gutter on the NE corner of the house.
When the band opens, I hear lots of weak stations and a few very loud ones.
So, I thought…what would a Moxon in the attic of the second floor do?

On Friday night, I realized that there was a spare MFJ-1890 10M Moxon in
the garage.  I quickly got it unpacked and ready for assembly on Saturday
morning. After several precarious ascensions up and down those flimsy
folding attic access staircases, I had a 10M Moxon hanging in the attic at
around 26 ft pointed to Europe. The coax (80 ft of RG8X) was fished through
the attic door, down the stair railing, around behind the china/curio glass
cabinet, across the foyer floor and under the office/shack door to the K3.  I
was really surprised at the low noise level from being inside the house.
Maybe it helped that the neighbors on both sides of our home were away for
the weekend. I started with the K3 at only 50 watts to avoid any
interference with the home’s electronics but finally settled on 75 watts
after a couple of hours operating.  Starting at 1619 I worked V31XX
followed by PJ4 and TI1 before the first Europeans made it into the log. I
S&P’ed (unassisted) up and down the band working some new and rare DX
stations.  Worked my first 10M JA in over 10 years at 2204, which was
followed by 10 more in 30 minutes and KL7 after a slight turn of the Moxon
to North.  The band stayed open to JA for a long time, first guy was still
there after 2 hours.  Ended the evening at 2315 with 104 QSOs and 50
countries.

On Sunday I was able to start early, picking new fruit from Europe and the
Caribbean. Sadly I never heard VP5M. Worked KH7M with the antenna still
pointed to Europe! Later in the day after the European opening faded, I
made it back to the attic and rotated the Moxon to S. America.  Worked a
bunch of 100 watt S. Americans. Interesting that NP4Z was using a power of
73, and someone I heard working a US station used 99.

I was pleased with the effort even though I missed Friday night’s start,
got a late start Saturday morning and missed some of Sunday’s mid-day and
late afternoon opportunities. My wife had decided that we needed to make a
trip to Home Depot and the grocery store, and have my daughter over for
dinner.

Now that my wife is getting around better, I hope to be back at the beach
for the CQ WPX SSB.

73,

Henry – K4TMC

Elecraft K3+ at 50 – 75W with Heil HC-4 mic  element

MFJ-1890 Moxon at 26 ft in attic