[SJDXA] CQWW 160 SSB

[Bob Schenck N2OO]

SJDXA members;

The CQWW 160 CW is history. Conditions were simply great. One surprise was
working GM3POI at 10:56 UTC! Think about that a bit..

Anyway, it's time to do a head count for those who plan to participate in
the SSB contest?

Dates are Feb 21 (start time 2200 UTC (5PM). The end time is Feb 24 at 2200
UTC (5PM) however with a 40 hour limit, we will run straight through 1400
UTC (9:00 AM) on Sunday morning. (with an all-day daytime operation on
Saturday)

We will gather at the site at 10:00 AM on Friday for setup. Fortunately,
everything is in place from the CW weekend except two radios. 

We will use the SJDXA K3 as well as N2OO and W2NO will bring their K3's. All
3 are fully loaded including DVK's (for F key voice keyer function). 

We should locate a 4th K3 as a backup. It does not need to be fully loaded
since it would only be used in the slave receive position. I am hoping we
can locate one nearby? Let me know. It won't be used unless we encounter an
issue with one of the other three.

 

As usual, we will need overnight ops as well as Saturday daytime ops. We
NEED at least 5 minimum for OVERNIGHT.

We will do some operating review at tomorrow's meeting as well as early
during Friday Feb 21. 

 

Improvements:

Tom K2TW has worked on a datafile from our previous contest log files that
creates an "auto fill" feature in Win Test that will pre-fill in the
state/province as per our past contest log files. This can be used as an
"aid" when trying to copy the state/province. (Especially used for the
state). If the op says something clearly different, then you will have to
change the entry which is easy. But most should track unless someone either
has moved or is operating from a different state for some reason. We did
find this on a handful of QSO's  but nearly all were right on. If the call
is in the special datafile that Tom creates, then the state will ALSO appear
in the the SPOT windows. The CW team found this to be a big plus. Saves a
lot of log entry function AND helps locate new state multipliers much more
easily and quickly. Will review before we start up.

 

At the site, we found that due to some "careful testing and
repairing/replacing" by the CW crew this year, the beverages sound better
than ever, and as long as they stay together for the next month, we should
benefit with some of the best RX capabilities we ever had. We of course also
still have the HI-Z receive antenna as an option. For CW we used diversity
mode with the beverages in one ear and the HI-Z in the other ear. For SSB we
usually include a 2 position coax switch so you can switch between the HI-Z
and the beverages if needed to pull in a weak one rather than have the
beverage in one ear and the HI-Z in the other ear. On CW using diversity is
extremely helpful but we found that on SSB it can be a bit annoying.
Sometimes the HI-Z works better but normally the beverages are the best
anyway. We have a total of 6 options for receive on the beverage boxes. NE,
N, NW, W, SW, E. We also have a low dipole. In addition to this, we have a
new backup WEST beverage on a switch. We found that the older WEST works
marginally better than the new WEST. But if we encounter any issues with the
old WEST we can switch in the new WEST. When using the HI-Z, it has 4
directions NE, NW, SW, SE and there is only one location where you can
switch directions. We usually just leave it NE, but we can switch to NW or
SW after European sunrise is over.

 

Transmit antennas (NE and W) both seemed to function just fine as usual. We
will run tests and tweak the amplifier with Danny during the setup on the
21st. The only thing we have learned is that it is best to leave everything
on the NE direction all evening until EU sunrise before switching to WEST.
We are being heard quite well to the WEST when using the NE antenna. Also,
using the OMNI position has not served any advantage and there is a bit of a
mismatch anyway. So, we will advise NOT to use OMNI. 

 

That's about it.

To those who can make tomorrow's meeting, see you there.

 

To those who can't, please arrive early on the 21st for some lessons on the
setup. 

 

 

 

See ya' in the Pileups!

73!

Bob Schenck, N2OO

President SJDXA

GO SJDXA!!! www.sjdxa.org

 

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