Sunday, June 13, 2010

Results: June 2010 Spartan Sprint

Soapbox Comments: June 2010 Spartan Sprint

K4PQC
Two watts using an A T S -3 and 160 Meter horizontal loop at 30.'  Band conditions were fairly good on 20 meters (9 contacts) and just fair on 40 (6 contacts.) 15 total contacts with 8 different States including WA. Even though band conditions were good I was not able to start until just before the beginning of the second hour.  Are the Spartan Sprints fun or what? Thanks to all who make them happen!

WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5w with 40M EDZepp + delta loops for 20, 15 & 10M. Nice to have Qs with the four corners:  ME, WA, CA and FL.  Most were on 20M with a few on 40M and one each on 10 and 15M - thanks to K4BAI.  Worked John on 10, 15, and 40M, but never heard him on 20M.  80M yielded zip here.  I tried to publicize the sprint locally (HLARC, AQRP, QRPadillos), but only worked one other Texan, W5ACM.  I could hear folks working Scott, W5ESE, but I never even heard a whisper of his signal. Had fun.

K4ORD
The bands were in great shape, worked K4BAI on 5 bands and WA8ZBT on 3 20m,15m and 10m pays to check the higher bands this time of year you never know, HI. 80m, 1 QSO; 40m, 15 QSOs; 20m, 15 QSOs; 15m, 2 QSOs; and 10m, 1 QSO. Rig: K2 @ 5W. ANTs: 80m and 160m dipoles and 20m vee. Thanks to all and looking forward to the July sprint.

W5ESE
I used an AT Sprint 3 and a 300' Horizontal Loop this month. All contacts were on 20 meters. Conditions seems to be okay. Thanks everyone for the contacts.

K7TQ
Good time on 20 for first 1/2 hour. My 40 m antenna was down so that was end of this month's Spartan Sprint.

KD2MX
Not much time tonight but enjoyed what time I had to spend.  Conditions on 20M were pretty good and signals were strong.  Managed one QSO on 15m.  40M was very noisy and I didn't want to play there.  Just used my FT-897 @5watts into the home big loop.

K5GQ
Dipole for both 20 & 40m. Signals were up and down on 20M. Just could not get a good run started. On 40 M there were thunder storms in the area; just enough static to make it hard to work stations. Then the rig developed a keying problem. It was an open on one of the legs in the SM connector. (Just when I was starting to work a few calls.) Worked three stations on both bands.

NQ2W
Started out with my Ten Tec 1340 but no one heard me - gotta check the alignment. In desperation I switched to the ole Icom-745 and made three Q's. Unfortunately, my weight more than tripled. Hopefully, next month will be better - most likely will be using a new rig hooked up to antennas that are actually outside.

AE4TC
Using a FT817 at 5w into a ground mounted Hustler 6BTV with 40 ground radials. 7 Q's on 40m and 6 Q's on 20m. I heard someone on 15 but not long enough to make a contact. Had a great time.

K4BAI
FT1000MP, 5W output, TH6DXX stuck south, 88' center fed zepp, 40M half wave dipole, 80M inverted vee dipole.  Took 20 minutes out at 0200Z for a CW traffic net.  All five bands were open. Thanks to K4ORD for the tip on 10 and 15M.  QSOs per band:  80: 2; 40: 27; 20: 9; 15: 3; 10: 3.  There didn't seem to be much of a skip zone and I was able to work NC, TN and FL on 20M and another GA station, AL, TN, NC, and FL on 40M.  40 and 80 had a lot of QRN and could find only K4ORD and WA8ZBT there.  Had five band QSOs with K4ORD and WA8ZBT and also worked WB5BKL on 10 and 15M. Still could use more activity.  Thanks for all QSOs and CU next month.

N4BP
Good opening on 20M.  40M very noisy with local thunderstorms.

W1PID
I ran an icom 7000 at 5W and an OCF dipole. Six QSOs on 20M, six QSOs on 40M and two QSOs on 80m. I operated for about half an hour. The bands aren't great, but the real issue is lack of participation. Thanks all.

W5ACM
Like so many previous months, I was hoping for some 20M activity, and I got it! Conditions on 20M were curious. I started on 20M, made some contacts, thought it was gone, went to 40M, got tired of the noise, and went back to 20M. MORE contacts! Finally, about 90 minutes into the event, I gave up, relented, and headed back to 40M. A VERY patient NF0R tried hard to get my call, but the batteries were headed south... I was down to 1W, and knew that if I kept trying, one or both of the LiPo's would die. That was it! Thanks to all! The ATS-3a and backyard vertical did well, even with some above-average CQ-calling ops. The two LiPo, 200 mAh batteries, held up well. The good news is that they survived, and will be good to go in July.

K5JHP
Bad night, lots of noise and only a few stations on, maybe better next month.

K6CSL
Bands 20 and 40 in very poor shape for this one. Almost every station heard here was weak and unstable with severe QSB.