Soapbox: February 2013 Spartan Sprint

N4SX
Well this was the first Sprint I've worked in many moons, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Indeed.  I turned my K2 down to 1 watt and commenced to having fun!  Worked stations as far as TX, MN, and NH from here in GA.  A number I could not make it to though, as you might expect.  Did I mention it's been a looooong time since I've participated in a Sprint? :)  K4BAI had the strongest signal, (can you say BOOMING?) being only a couple hours away, and K4ORD was the next in order.  I plan to be back next month, and wish you all....excuse me........all y'all.....Happy QRP!

K3RLL
Still working with my MTR and tiny LiPo battery (that was dying) but not hearing many stations here on 40 tonight.  Thanks for those who pulled me out of the noise.

W3KC
Good fun with 11 Qs on 80 and 4 Qs on 40.

K4ORD
Was busy and almost forgot about the Sprint, but got in the last 30 minutes all on 80M and made 10 QSOs.conditions seemed good here in VA all were good copy after I got some tuned in my narrow filter on the K3, antenna was 80M dipole up 35.'  We need more activity!

K4BAI
20M was long and only one QSO there (NK6A).  40M was poor at first, but improved later on.  8 QSOs on 40.  80M was quite good, but there was little activity.  14 QSOs on 80.  Worked NK6A on all three bands.  Let's try to have more activity in Spartan Sprints so it will be interesting to work the whole 2-hour period.

W1PID
I operated for a little less than an hour. 20 meters was dead. I had 7 QSOs on 40M and 2 QSOs on 80M. I ran the Icom 7000 at 5W to an OCf dipole. Nice to work Larry W2LJ.

NK6A
S5 noise level on all bands.  Couldn't hear a lot of activity for some reason.  Did manage to work K4BAI on three bands.  80M for me is a real challenge.  John has got very good ears.

W5ACM
Still using the ATS-3. It is now over eight years old and continues to perform quite well with three new 300 mAh LiPo batteries, providing 5W out and a final total of 11 QSOs this month. 20M was OK into California (NK6A), but then went absolutely dead. I made six contacts on 40M, and worked four on 80M. The noise level wasn't too bad on 80M. My backyard vertical uses a resonator at the top for any very narrow piece of 80M that you wish to work. Mine is peaked at 3560, and it's nice when conditions cooperate. Hoping for more 20M ops next time!

WB4MNK
Bands seem down a bit but still had a blast. Thanks to all the stations that hung in there with me.

WA8MTI
FT817nd, T1 to 80m doublet. 20 was dead so started on 40 with three contacts.  Slow going with lots of QRO QRM. Switched to 80 and added 5 more. Thanks to those wit the great ears that pulled out my 2.5w sig.

NQ2W
K1 running 5W to a mini-beam at 25ft for 20m, an inverted V at 40ft for 40m, and a ground mounted, near bottom-loaded vertical for 80m. Started out on 20 - nuthin'. Went to 40 and was able to make 10 Qs with QRPers in FL, TX, IL, GA, AL, CO, and ON. Changed the filter board and made 6 more Q's on 80 with stations in GA, MD, NY, MI, VA, and ON. Logged K4BAI on both bands. Both 40 and 80 were noisy here. If you called and I didn't hear you it probably was because of the QRN here in Albany ... always a challenge on the lower bands. Thanks to all of the participants and thanks to the organizers. Always a pleasure and a privilege to have the opportunity ... until next time ... dit dit.