SOAPBOX: Sept. 2016 ARS Spartan Sprint

K3RLL
Nothing heard on 20m  this evening and feel very fortunate that some of our best ops were able to dig me out of the noise tonight to make a grand total of (let’s see, … add the first one to the second two, carry the last one) of FOUR contacts.  While our better ops strive and achieve ever higher scores, I think I’m working my way down the sunspot cycle. (SMILE)  72/37 … Don

K7TQ
I used my 1 Watter on 20 for the first 45 minutes. Six folks were able to work my 1 W in spite of what looked like poor solar numbers. Four were in TX, one in OK which was a two-way 1W, and one in IN.  Pretty good for 1 W from ID. Switched to the big rig and 5W, K3, for 40 m and made 14 Qs with several two band folks. Tried 80 m, but heard nothing.

K4BAI
FT1000MP, 5W, zepp, inverted V. Only operated the second hour this month. QSOs by band: 40: 8; 80: 4. Hope for more activity next month.  15M was dead here. 20M was almost dead and no answers to CQs and no sprinters heard on that band this month. 40 and 80 were both OK.  73/72, John, K4BAI.

WJ9B
Contacts: 20m: WB5BKL, WB4BKR, WA8ZBT; 40m: NK6A, K4BAI, WA8ZBT, K7TQ, WB5BKL, AF7M. Total weight of Station (KX1, internal tuner, light headset) was 1.5 pounds. Total number of contacts during Sprint: 9. I used the KX1ON on an AC power supply at just under 5 watts output. No 80 meters on it! The antenna was an 80m inverted V fed with ladder line, the apex at about 90 feet. I'm sure I would do better with a regular dipole; precious loss in just 5 watts with the inverted V ends at about 30 feet, HI. I was surprised that John, K4BAI, could hear me as he was very weak compared to the August SP. I called CQ often with only two replies. Four stations calling CQ didn't hear my call: N7DQ/KL7, W5ACM, K5OPB, and K9QV. It was fun to work fellow Idaho station K7TQ, Randy. He sent an email to me right after SP was over. For a second straight month I would  say participation in SP is down compared to what I recall from an increasingly distant past! Why the low participation in SP when there seems to be a resurgence of straight keys and qrp? See you next month!  73, Will, WJ9B

AB9CA
Icom 7200 to 100' wire. Things were kinda slow. Maybe that was due to it being the Labor Day holiday? But could stick around for only about an hour. Had to do some other stuff. Came back once or twice and found a quick new one. Condx did not seem to be very good. Very little was heard on 20m. I had started an hour earlier with the MI Labor Day QRP Sprint and had worked no one on 20 even then. I did get more spots during the SP than during the MI event. Maybe the band improved as the evening went along? 40m seemed to be in pretty good shape but had quite a bit of QRN. Heard only K4BAI on 80. Band breakdown is 1/14/2 on 80/40/20. Don't think I had any 2-banders. Thanks for the Q's and see everyone next month. 73 de Dave, AB9CA/4

WB9BKL
K3/10 @ 5W to a 20 wire delta loop, a 40M dipole or a 40M extended double Zepp. Got the K3 back in service. 9 states this time - and all signals seemed relatively weak with deep QSB. Best signals:  20M - WJ9B, 40M - NK6A, 80M - WA8ZBT. Also worked a Cuban, but did not include him in the total. I worked several Spartan Sprinters in the CWOpen on Saturday. My thanks to all. Had fun.

W5WIL
Used an MTR-3 with a 9V battery regulated to 6V gave me 1W QRPp. Used the palm paddle and ear buds to keep the weight down. Setup in the yard with a portable 40M dipole at 15'. Only two contacts; K7TQ and AB9CA as I had some confusion with a competing sprint and 40M had bad QRN. 73 and Thanks, Dennis, W5WIL

W5ACM
Wow! That was a serious strain! Can the bands get any worse? Although both 170 mAh LiPo batts were topped off, the bands were very difficult. I called CQ on 20 and 40M with marginal results. Let’s hope for better results next month! 72 de Andy W5ACM Houston, TX EL29eq