[SJDXA] N2CW CQWW 160 SSB preliminary overview
John Crovelli
w2gd at hotmail.com
Mon Feb 27 11:35:54 EST 2012
CONGRATULATIONS guys....you really did terrific given the poor conditions this past weekend. Great country total.....the TX antenna is working great.
73,
John W2GD
From: n2oo at comcast.net
To: sjdxa at mailman.qth.net
Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2012 09:58:44 -0500
Subject: [SJDXA] N2CW CQWW 160 SSB preliminary overview
SJDXA members;
This year we had our best set up ever. Two K3’s (TNX N2OO and KB2M!) and our FT1000MP MKV. And the Alpha 87A amp (TNX N2OZ!).
The new Acom 2S1 communtator worked like a charm making operation a breeze with the 87A.
Conditions were “iffy” at best.
Everything was “ready for operation” at the start of the contest on Friday at 2200 UTC thanks to W2ARP, W2USF and W2RDM who joined me (N2OO) at the site at 930 AM for set up, and a call to W2CG who was in NC this year got us squared away with the computers and the telnet setups. All antennas are tested and looked OK. The beverages were tested and also sounded quiet and OK. We got on the air promptly at 2200 UTC! After 6 QSO’s and a whole TWO minutes of operation, at 2202 UTC we were forced to take our first “off time” due to a heavy storm with lightning approaching. After torrential rains and heavy almost continuous lightning and thunder for almost an hour, we got back on the air. W2ARP headed home. We ran through enormously heavy static crashes for several hours at a rate of around 120/hour. By 0500 UTC (midnight) we logged 500 QSO’s (half of the overall total). We even managed to log a few EU’s. Things were looking up.
For our first overnight (Friday) we had 3 ops. N2OO, W2RDM and W2USF. N2OO “crashed and burned” at around 2:30 AM leaving Steve and Randy to handle the chores until 6:30 AM relief arrived (W2ARP and W2OB) who took over for the day shift. A decision was made at this time to run most of the day on Saturday and opt out for staying late on Sunday. So, the total off time during Saturday daytime was minimal, and there was even 2 hours of no QSO’s at all. For the Saturday evening shift, our operators were N2OZ, W2RDM, K2SZ and N2OO. Jim K2SZ left around 11PM leaving OO, OZ and RDM for the overnight operations. OO took one for the team by staying up all night while OZ and RDM took turns on the couch. Saturday evening conditions were much better to EU. But most EU’s were WEAK. We scoured the bands as best as we could in order to grab as many 10 pointers as possible. Also, conditions WEST were far better on Saturday than on Friday. But we heard NO KH6, KL7, VK, ZL, etc at all. KE2OI and W2ARP arrived around 6:00 AM or so and relieved for the Sunday morning grunt run. We went QRT at 15:10 UTC (10:10 AM).
We watched the K1LZ score on live log and realized that giving them a head start cost us dearly. However, we had been slowly gaining on them. At one point we were within about 6,000- 7,000 points. But later on Saturday evening, their score started to grow way beyond any chance of catching them. What was unsettling to us was the fact that WE were nearly always ahead on QSO’s by as much as 80 or so… even though we missed the start of the contest. This was encouraging. And, we were also always ahead on mults by as many as 3-4. But, they must have had MANY more 10 point QSO’s. By the end, we matched them for QSO’s and MULTS, but they opened up a 40,000 – 50,000 point advantage over us. Meaning that they must have had a huge number of 10 point QSO’s. Perplexing, but no other explanation.
OVERVIEW: To our disadvantage this year was our “stutter start” due to the thunderstorm, and a relatively light number of ops this year. Those who participated, had a great time! But we REALLY needed at least 1 – 2 more ops each evening. Let’s hope that next year we can organize some extra help.
DIVERSITY: We tried to utilize diversity Friday evening. This is where we utilize both K3’s full sub receivers by connecting one to our beverage array, and the other to a remote vertical located about 2,000 ft down the driveway. Each antenna/receiver is fed to separate ears via stereo headphones, and a balance control allows functionality. It seemed to work well the first night. But gradually deteriorated as a line noise became apparent (and strong) on the remote vertical sub receiver. We can only assume that it came in from the AC feed down Murphy Drive somewhere. So, for Saturday night we disconnected the remote vertical and opted to listen solely on the beverages. On Saturday evening, we also developed a VERY heavy line noise on the NE beverage (as strong as S9). Luckily, we were able to adjust our noise blankers and noise reduction to reduce it enough to hear reasonably well. But it was definitely annoying. Again, since the proximity of the AC feedline down the driveway is nearest to the NE (and the remote vertical) we assume that this was the source of the line noise. Must have had to do with the heavy downpours we had on Friday evening since the noise was not there before the rain. Also, the other beverages seemed very clear for the most part.
After QRT, we completely packed up the shack and made it decent looking since there will be a HAM CRAM starting there next weekend and the “shack” will be used for demonstrations. The two fold down table tops were folded away and almost all cables were stowed in the trough.
Score (PRELIMINARY)
Contest : CQ World Wide 160-meter Contest
Callsign : N2CW
Mode : PHONE
Category : Multi Operator - Single Transmitter (MS)
Overlay : ---
Band(s) : Single band (SB) 160 m
Class : High Power (HP)
Zone/State/... : NJ
Locator : FM29LL
Operating time : 32h12
BAND QSO DUP DXC S/P POINTS AVG
--------------------------------------
160 942 17 47 58 2892 3.07
--------------------------------------
TOTAL 942 17 47 58 2892 3.07
======================================
TOTAL SCORE : 303 660
Dupes are not included in QSO counts neither avg calculations
Operators : N2OO, W2RDM, W2ARP, W2OB, K2SZ, W2USF, N2OZ, KE2OI,
Soapbox :
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See ya' in the Pileups!
73!
Bob Schenck, N2OO
President SJDXA
GO SJDXA!!! www.sjdxa.org
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