Soapbox Comments: April '12 Spartan Sprint

W1PID

Operated for half an hour with an HB-1B at 4W. Bands very noisy but worked NK6A in CA on 20.Thanks everyone for the contacts.


K3RLL
Clock coming up near 9 PM ... Rig on .... Computer booted ... Antenna up (in dark) ... 8:58 PM ... Ready .... 8:59 PM ...  Set ....  9:00 PM ... ring ... ring ... ring 

...  and at exactly 9 PM EDT, the phone rings.  Ever happen to you? Oh well, another abbreviated session but still nice to work familiar and friendly Spartan Sprinters 

even if I didn't hear too many tonight. Thanks to KI6SN and those who put on the Sprints.  These are fun.

K7TQ
I was in Missoula, MT so I did the sprint from the motel parking lot using my K2 and a 7 AHr gel cell and logged with an old Palm and GOLog.  It was just as much fun 

as getting to the field for the Sprints like I used to do during the summer months.  The MT rather than ID caught some folks who recognized where I ought to have been. 

NK6A, K4BAI, and K4ORD caught me on both 20 and 40.  20 held up quite a while, for more than 45 minutes, a sure sign of spring.  Catch you all next month.

AI4SV
Hadn't been in the sprint for a while and felt like hopping back in. I had bad noise across the board, probably from a local source. 20 was clear, but started longish. 

40 was noisy but I made most of my contacts there -- thanks for heroic listening on the part of K3RLL. On 80, at first I heard a few calls, all on 3560.5. That spot 

later thinned to K4BAI, who sounded very echoey, so probably some weird multipath thing going on. A bit up the band, I could hear NQ2W well, but he couldn't hear me. 

I'm sure there are plenty of people who heard my CQs, but I couldn't hear their replies, so sorry! Looking forward to doing this again with skinnier equipment and 

better conditions.

K6CSL
I started about 10 minutes late this evening. Opened on 10M, nothing there. Went to 15M, nothing there. Moved to 20M and worked there for a 1/2 hour, working V

E3EUR/VE7 up in BC. Then moved to 40M for about 1/2 hour, working John, K4BAI and Don, NK6A, friends from the QRP Fox Hunts. Good to work you fellows in Spartan 

Sprint. As a note, where has all the info on ARS and specifically Spartan Sprint gone to. I tried to use the link from the WB7NBM Contest Calendar and the link is no l

onger good. Is a new link being established. (NOTE: The ARS Spartan Sprint Internet home is: < http://www.ARSqrp.blogspot.com >. - KI6SN)

NK6A
Noisy  static lousy conditions from Mar Vista tonight. Started om 20 and found K7TQ instantly from MT with a good signal.  Everyone else was in the noise. Sun was 

shining up until almost 0230 but 20M was giving up at 0200.  40 was not going to happen for me. Managed to snag a VE3 and a few stations from NH.  Great K3 filtering 

and antenna.


K4BAI
Started out with good rates, good signals, and fair skip on 20M.  Then 40M had fair signals and no long skip, but very high QRN.  Rates dropped dramatically.  Took out a few minutes for the state CW net at 0200Z.  80M had terrible QRN but worked GA, FL, and VA.  Think AI4SV called on 80, but couldn't hear his exchange on that band. Best DX was VE3EUR/VE7 on 20M.  Thanks for all QSOs and hope for better activity and better conditions next month.


W5ESE
KD1JV AT Sprint 3 @3W, with a 9.6V wall wart and Whiterook MK-44 paddles. Antenna is a 300' horizontal loop, fed with open wire line. First Sprint I've made since 

October. Hard to believe so many have slipped past. QRN was high on 40m. Will submit my log to ARRL's 'Logbook of the World'.

W5ACM
My ATS-3a is still on the workbench, so I continue to use the heavier ATS-3 in the Altoids box, but this month with three 300 mAh LiPo batteries. I had enough "juice" for some "CQ" ops, but should have started earlier with "CQ" via 20M. My "el-cheapo" earbuds have turned out to be the most sensitive of all tested, but they do have some distortion. For CW, that's not a problem! Conditions were excellent for almost the first hour via 20M. However, 40M and 80M conditions at my QTH were quite noisy 

- only two contacts on 40M this time, and none on 80M.

WB4MNK
Got in late but Enjoyed it. Thanks John K4bai for 80 meter contact.


NQ2W
K1 running 5W to a mini-beam at 25 ft for 20 meters, an inverted vee at 40 ft for 40 meters, and ground mounted, near bottom-loaded vertical for 80 meters. Made 11 Q's on 20 and 7 on 40. Switched filter boards to try 80 but didn't make any Q's there. I thought participation was pretty good again this month.  Some signals were strong, some not so strong. There was one station that called but I couldn't copy...maybe next month we'll make it. Thanks to all of the participants and thanks to the 

organizers. Hope to hear you all again and more next month.

AB1AV
Got a late start after traffic nets, but for once 20 meters was still alive.  Reached TX, MO, AL, and (barely) CA with my 4 Watt ATS3 feeding an 88 foot wire up about 

60 feet. Tried to switch to 40 or 80 but either my rig was acting up or we had no propagation, so called or quits after just a half hour.  Next month I'll try to stay 

in the chair... 

K4ORD
Conditions were fair on 20M worked TX, MT, & CA  and on 40M made 16 qso's and 80M only one, K4BAI. Signals on 40 were up and down a lot with plenty of QRN ( S8 TO S9 ) 

Turn out was down from last month maybe the QRN was wide spread? Until next month . . .