SOAPBOX: November 2018 ARS Spartan Sprint

ND4K
This was my second sprint and I had a good time - with a significantly better score than last month. Thanks to everyone for the q's! Six q's each for 40 and 80 with 4 unique states on each and WB5BKL being the only station worked on both bands. Yaesu FT1000MP @ 5w to OCF at 70 ft.

K3RLL
Solar Storm pretty well obliterated 40 meters tonight and my chances of making a ton of contacts with the diminutive QCX-40 PCB transceiver.  Oh well, maybe in December.  Thanks to Dave for our contact this evening, keeping me from being totally skunked here. (Smile) - 72/73, Don K3RLL

AB9CA
Prop was awful! About the worst I have ever heard. Very few RBN spots. I hope it was better on 80 than it was on 40. I don't have an 80m antenna right now so this was a one band affair. SPC's were GA GA TX IA FL NH AL TX. But everyone was weak. Even those close and usually loud. Interestingly I did hear CO2BG calling CQ/QRP after it was over. He disappeared before I could get set up and give him a call. Maybe the band was long? Rig was IC7200 at 5w to an inv V. Thanks to all who stuck it out and completed a Q! 73 de dave, ab9ca

K4BAI
No signals on 20M. 40M seemed quite poor. I did hear ND4K about 120 miles east of me calling CQ SP, but he didn't hear me. No surprise that he didn't.  Signals usually strong from the North (IL and IN) were weak, but signals from TX were strong. 80M was quite good with QSOs up to NH and out to TX.  QSOs by band: 40M: 5.  80M: 11/  Hope for better conditions and more participation next month. In the meantime, look for me from Bonaire as PJ4/K4BAI Nov 18 to 27 and we will use PJ4A in CQ WW CW.  73, John, K4BAI

NK1N
It was fun digging out my KX1 from under the dust.  I'll have to have the lower strata of dust carbon dated to determine the last time I used my KX1 :-)  I was able to run 4 watts on 80 but was most surprised by the reports on 40 where I only had 2 watts.  I'll have to pull out my K1 and try the 1 watt challenge next month.  72, Glen, NK1N

WB9HFK
Icom 7300 @ 5W. Antenna: 40M - Hustler 6BTV Gnd Mtd with 60 Radials

KB1M
Very slow night, nothing heard south of NJ, and the two mid-west stations worked were extremely weak. Thanks for the QSO's 73, Walt

WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5W to a 40M extended double Zepp. Not many stations heard - and only 4 states. K4BAI had the best signal on both 40 and 80M. Removed two QRO stations - but had nice QSOs with Myron and Ray. Doubles with K4BAI, ND4K and WB9HFK. I continue to remind QRP folks via my email reflector subscriptions about the Spartan Sprint. I hope others will do the same. Had fun.

K9DRP
I spent most of the first hour calling CQ with no luck.  Wondering if I had the offset set correctly on the old Argosy, I found WB5BKL calling CQ and he came right back to me.  But still no joy for me calling "CQ SP" on 40. I later found K4BAI and ND4K on 80. During the evening I also heard WB4YHJ, WB9HFK, and WB8CAC. I hate asking for repeats, but I'm learning not to wait for QSB to improve if I hope to work more of the sprint stations before they give up on a frequency. 73, Don, K9DRP

W5QLF
Using a FlexRadio 6300 throttled down to 5 watts tied to a Butternut HF-9V vertical over 60 radials.  It was the first Spartan Sprint in Central Standard Time this winter so it was totally night time propagation.  I had worked everyone I could hear by 0235Z on 40 meters (5 stations plus those annoying continuous carriers clustered around 7040 kc).  I tuned down to 3560 kc to find that John, K4BAI was calling CQ dead on that frequency.  With the noise level I had on 80 meters, I wouldn’t have heard him had I not landed right smack on the QRP frequency.  In any event, I counted this as 2 Qs as I had worked John on 40m too. Thanks to WB9HFK, K4BAI, NK6A and AB9CA for adding to my recurring QRP contact list.  A special welcome to David, ND4K on his second adventurous sojourn into the Spartan Sprint. QRP during this era of propagation makes one humble. 72, Joe, W5QLF