N4BP
Quick three QSOs on 20M, then nothing. 40M condx were good, but sparse activity. Finished with K4BAI 2nd band QSO on 80M. Happy New Year to all!
K3RLL
K2 to indoor dipole - Tough sledding tonight with all the digital noise on 40 and didn't hear anyone on 80, but it was all fun. C.U. next month.
KS4L
ATS-4a at 3w, 11.1v, 1320 mah LiPo battery, 80m inv. vee. 2 contacts on 40m, rest on 80m. Best DX was VE3EDX and AA5B (NM on both 40 & 80). Sigs ranged from real 599 to almost ESP!
WBØOEW
2W to 3 ft mag loop
WB4MNK
The little KX1 got a good work out to night. Band was good here in FL and I had another great time working the Spartan Sprint. Thanks to the stations I worked tonight and hope you had as much fun as I did. See you next month.
NY4G
Good Sprint tonight. Rig was a pared and stripped down K2 (without internal battery and autotuner) - connected to a small external SLA and Palm Paddle. 20m was dead and 40m and 80m had the only signals. Tough operating under the QRM of PSK and other digital signals although 80 was trouble free. Antenna was a G5RV up 40 ft. Happy New Year to all.
W5ACM
My ATS-3a is still on the workbench, so I continue to use the heavier ATS-3 in the Altoids box (with a new lid). The two 650 mAh LiPo batteries in the ATS-3 were replaced (getting "puffy") 90 minutes prior to the event with three 300 mAh LiPo batteries. I got a reasonable charge on them and had 5W out this time! I even had enough "juice" for some "CQ" ops. The new pair of earbuds (JVC RIPTIDZ model HA-FX8-A) seem to be doing well. They fit in the ears, are sensitive and were inexpensive. TNX to KI0I for contacts on both 40 & 80. Hoping for better conditions next month!
KB1OOO
K1 running 5W into ZS6BKW. All contacts on 40m. Thanks to all for putting up with my sloppiness. I was forgetting to give pwr for the first few contacts.
AB9CA
Rig was K2 at 5w to 100' dipole. Could only spend 30 minutes. 2 Q's on 20 and 17 on 40. 20 seemed to be very long and 40 seemed to be in good shape. Was a fun evening. Thanks to all who stopped by and see you next month.
NQ2W
An OHR 100-A running 5W to a mini-beam at 25 ft for 3 Q's on 20 meters and a Ten-Tec 1340 at 5W to an inverted vee at 40 ft for 10 Q's. Things quieted down quickly on 20 meters but was able to work from FL to TX to CA. 40 was crowded...am looking forward to getting my K1 done, up, and running...from what I understand the filtering will be much tighter than the 1340's...I'll comment on that after I put it on the air...but was able to work stations as close as NH and as far away as NM. Overall a FB sprint. Worked N4BP on two bands. K4ORD was loud on 40. Thanks to all that participated and thanks to the organizers. Hope to hear you all next month. Happy New Year!
K4BAI
FT1000MP, 5W, dipole, inverted vee. No sprint signals heard on 20M. 40M was great for the first hour. 37 QSOs on that band. Only 12 QSOs on 80M. 80M seemed good with QSOs from TX to PA and NY, but very little activity. Great to hear so many sprinters on 40 at the beginning. Thanks for all QSOs and Happy New Year to all.
W1PID
Wow... not much heard, not much worked.
AA5B
I keep thinking that I'm going to catch this event on a night when I have enough time to operate the whole thing, but I guess that'll have to wait. Spent the first few minutes on 20 meters, calling CQ and searching for anyone, but made exactly zero QSOs. Moved to 40 meters and had 29 contacts in the next 37 minutes. Then had to run some errands. Came back for 10 minutes near the end and worked several more, including my sole 80-mtr Q with KS4L.
K4ORD
I made 31 contacts in the Spartan Sprint 21 on 40M and 10 on 80M conditions were pretty good on both bands except they were a bit noisy. My rig was K3@5w ant's were 40 & 80M dipoles. The weight of my station was 30 pounds.
WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5w to a 20m wire delta loop or a 40m extended double Zepp. Most of my Qs were on 40M. Tried 15m briefly. No three-banders, but worked K4ORD, NY4G and K4BAI on two. WB0OEW was the lowest power station I heard. HNY to all. Had fun.
VE3EDX
1 QSO on 20, 3 each on 40 and 80.
K5JHP
K3 with a 20mtr edz. All contacts on 40mtrs. Got in late - not much activity. Hope more next month - HNY to all.
VE3XT
First SS in a long time and had a great time, used my K1. Need to go and find my ATS3 and Bulldog paddle to make a try next month.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Soapbox Comments: December '11 Spartan Sprint
W1PID
ATS-2 at 3W with OCF dipole. Operated 30 minutes.
K3RLL
Bad QSB and weak signals here tonight. Tnx to all who pulled me through the noise.
WA5BUC
Glad to hear some Sprint activity on 40 and 80. Worked K4BAI twice (40 & 80), N4BP on 40, and K5JHP on 80. Then moved down to the low end of 40 and worked 4O3A Montenegro. Guess the band was long tonight. Usual setup: FT-817 to a 66' end-fed inverted "L" at about 25'. Merry Christmas to all and best wishes for a better 2012.
KB1OOO
Elecraft K1 Running 5W into a ZS6BKW up 60ft From N. Conway NH. All contacts on 40m.
W5DPT
40 meters sounded strong. worked WB0GKH AND K4BAI. Running into a ladder line fed doublet through the 989D tuner from the yeasu 897d. early to bed for work but had fun for 40 minutes.
N4BP
Single-band 40M for about 30 mins. Started with sked with K6JSS/7 (op AC7A, AZ) to fill in 49th state in ARCI Jubilee. Couple of QSOs later, UR2 called me with big signal. Condx were outstanding, those few that I did work had tremendous sigs, most an honest S9!
K4BAI
FT1000MP, 5W, TH6DXX, dipole, inverted vee. 15 and 10M seemed dead. 20M was long with very loud signals from Asiatic Russia over the pole. Worked NK6A on 20M and heard no other sprinters there. 40M was relatively short for a few minutes and then went long. Nice to work the QRPARCI anniversary station K6JSS/7 in AZ (AC7A operating). 80M was quite good and I worked KE7LKW in AZ there. Only DX was VE3EDX on 40M. QSOs by band: 20: 1. 40: 20. 80: 8. Thanks for all QSOs. Happy Holidays to all and hope for more activity in January.
KK5NA
Forty and eighty were both pretty good. Rig = K3 @ 5W; ANT = EDZ @ 55ft.
WB4MNK
Enjoyed the sprint and hearing some nice signals in the clear. Used the KX1 at 4 watts to a S9 31’ vertical. Band seemed to be in good shape here in FL. Thanks to all the stations that we made contact with. I heard a few in there but not well enough to copy so maybe we will be able to work you next time. Thanks for trying.
W5ACM
My ATS-3a is still on the workbench, so I continue to use the heavier ATS-3 in the Altoids box. Two minutes into the event my noise level on 40M went to S9+20 and 20M was almost dead. All THREE of my contacts were on 80M. Thanks to K4BAI, WB5BKL and a patient AB8CA. The two 650 mAh LiPo batteries in the ATS-3 need replacement (getting "puffy"), but provided 2.5-3 Watts even with plenty of "CQ" ops. I did get a chance to try a new pair of earbuds though. They are JVC RIPTIDZ model HA-FX8-A. They fit in the ears very well, are sensitive and were inexpensive. It's time to get serious with upkeep on my mini-rigs! Hoping for better conditions next month!
AB9CA
Rig was the usual K2 @ 5w to one of two 100' wires. Condx seemed to be fairly good. Neither QRN nor QSB was too bad. Tried 20 for a few minutes with no answers. Did hear K7TQ and NK6A calling but they could not hear me. Went to 40 and it was the workhorse - 20 contacts there. From NH to WA and CA. The band seemed to be in good shape. Made 6 contacts on 80 but it was noisy so that was tough. I want to thank K6DGW for hanging around while I had some difficulty. Just as I started sending to him my dit paddle decided to become intermittent. He hung around for a few seconds while I cleaned it a bit. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and hope to see all of you, plus a few more, next month.
KD2MX
Condx seemed kind of lousy. K1/5W to my all-purpose loop.
NQ2W
An OHR 100-A running 5W to a mini-beam at 25 ft for 2 Q's on 20 meters and a Ten-Tec 1340 at 5W to an inverted vee at 40 ft for 5 Q's. Signals weren't that strong in NY's capital region for this sprint. Seemed like a little bit more activity but the signals just weren't there. Heard AB9CA on 40 a few times but he couldn't hear me. Hoping for better conditions and/or more participation next month. Thanks to everyone who gave it a go. Have a happy holiday season. C u all in 2012!
KB7MBI
In spite of the high 40-meter noise level East Coast stations had good signals into Seattle area. Rig used was Ten Tec Paragon II (1.8 KHz filter) running 5 watts and GAP Titan vertical.
WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5w to a 20m wire delta loop or the 40m extended double Zepp. At least I did better than last month. 1 Q on 20M, 9 Qs on 40M and 4 Qs on 80M for 10 states. Worked AB9CA and K4BAI on two bands. AB9CA had the strongest signal. Thanks to all. Had fun.
K7TQ
December Spartan Sprints always seem tough to me. I have had 0 Qs in December in more than one year. This year was a bit better, but it still followed the pattern. 20 was good for a short period of time, about 10 minutes. It was good for ID to OK, NY, MI, and OH. Then it took a while before I could get things going on 40 and by then it too seemed void of calls. All I could scare up was FL. There is always next month.
N5GW
Rig is 15 yr old HB one watt xcvr for 40M by W1FB-xtal tx, dc rx (I call it the "kilomilliwatt") to HB tuner and CFZ. Expected QRN after recent rain front but band was quiet.
ATS-2 at 3W with OCF dipole. Operated 30 minutes.
K3RLL
Bad QSB and weak signals here tonight. Tnx to all who pulled me through the noise.
WA5BUC
Glad to hear some Sprint activity on 40 and 80. Worked K4BAI twice (40 & 80), N4BP on 40, and K5JHP on 80. Then moved down to the low end of 40 and worked 4O3A Montenegro. Guess the band was long tonight. Usual setup: FT-817 to a 66' end-fed inverted "L" at about 25'. Merry Christmas to all and best wishes for a better 2012.
KB1OOO
Elecraft K1 Running 5W into a ZS6BKW up 60ft From N. Conway NH. All contacts on 40m.
W5DPT
40 meters sounded strong. worked WB0GKH AND K4BAI. Running into a ladder line fed doublet through the 989D tuner from the yeasu 897d. early to bed for work but had fun for 40 minutes.
N4BP
Single-band 40M for about 30 mins. Started with sked with K6JSS/7 (op AC7A, AZ) to fill in 49th state in ARCI Jubilee. Couple of QSOs later, UR2 called me with big signal. Condx were outstanding, those few that I did work had tremendous sigs, most an honest S9!
K4BAI
FT1000MP, 5W, TH6DXX, dipole, inverted vee. 15 and 10M seemed dead. 20M was long with very loud signals from Asiatic Russia over the pole. Worked NK6A on 20M and heard no other sprinters there. 40M was relatively short for a few minutes and then went long. Nice to work the QRPARCI anniversary station K6JSS/7 in AZ (AC7A operating). 80M was quite good and I worked KE7LKW in AZ there. Only DX was VE3EDX on 40M. QSOs by band: 20: 1. 40: 20. 80: 8. Thanks for all QSOs. Happy Holidays to all and hope for more activity in January.
KK5NA
Forty and eighty were both pretty good. Rig = K3 @ 5W; ANT = EDZ @ 55ft.
WB4MNK
Enjoyed the sprint and hearing some nice signals in the clear. Used the KX1 at 4 watts to a S9 31’ vertical. Band seemed to be in good shape here in FL. Thanks to all the stations that we made contact with. I heard a few in there but not well enough to copy so maybe we will be able to work you next time. Thanks for trying.
W5ACM
My ATS-3a is still on the workbench, so I continue to use the heavier ATS-3 in the Altoids box. Two minutes into the event my noise level on 40M went to S9+20 and 20M was almost dead. All THREE of my contacts were on 80M. Thanks to K4BAI, WB5BKL and a patient AB8CA. The two 650 mAh LiPo batteries in the ATS-3 need replacement (getting "puffy"), but provided 2.5-3 Watts even with plenty of "CQ" ops. I did get a chance to try a new pair of earbuds though. They are JVC RIPTIDZ model HA-FX8-A. They fit in the ears very well, are sensitive and were inexpensive. It's time to get serious with upkeep on my mini-rigs! Hoping for better conditions next month!
AB9CA
Rig was the usual K2 @ 5w to one of two 100' wires. Condx seemed to be fairly good. Neither QRN nor QSB was too bad. Tried 20 for a few minutes with no answers. Did hear K7TQ and NK6A calling but they could not hear me. Went to 40 and it was the workhorse - 20 contacts there. From NH to WA and CA. The band seemed to be in good shape. Made 6 contacts on 80 but it was noisy so that was tough. I want to thank K6DGW for hanging around while I had some difficulty. Just as I started sending to him my dit paddle decided to become intermittent. He hung around for a few seconds while I cleaned it a bit. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and hope to see all of you, plus a few more, next month.
KD2MX
Condx seemed kind of lousy. K1/5W to my all-purpose loop.
NQ2W
An OHR 100-A running 5W to a mini-beam at 25 ft for 2 Q's on 20 meters and a Ten-Tec 1340 at 5W to an inverted vee at 40 ft for 5 Q's. Signals weren't that strong in NY's capital region for this sprint. Seemed like a little bit more activity but the signals just weren't there. Heard AB9CA on 40 a few times but he couldn't hear me. Hoping for better conditions and/or more participation next month. Thanks to everyone who gave it a go. Have a happy holiday season. C u all in 2012!
KB7MBI
In spite of the high 40-meter noise level East Coast stations had good signals into Seattle area. Rig used was Ten Tec Paragon II (1.8 KHz filter) running 5 watts and GAP Titan vertical.
WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5w to a 20m wire delta loop or the 40m extended double Zepp. At least I did better than last month. 1 Q on 20M, 9 Qs on 40M and 4 Qs on 80M for 10 states. Worked AB9CA and K4BAI on two bands. AB9CA had the strongest signal. Thanks to all. Had fun.
K7TQ
December Spartan Sprints always seem tough to me. I have had 0 Qs in December in more than one year. This year was a bit better, but it still followed the pattern. 20 was good for a short period of time, about 10 minutes. It was good for ID to OK, NY, MI, and OH. Then it took a while before I could get things going on 40 and by then it too seemed void of calls. All I could scare up was FL. There is always next month.
N5GW
Rig is 15 yr old HB one watt xcvr for 40M by W1FB-xtal tx, dc rx (I call it the "kilomilliwatt") to HB tuner and CFZ. Expected QRN after recent rain front but band was quiet.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Soapbox Comments: November '11 Spartan Sprint
K7TQ
Started out on 15 m and worked TX and OH in 2 minutes then no one else seemed to be around. On 20 m K4BAI found me, worked him, and moved him to 15 where he was weak, but readable. So for the first 10 minutes, 15 m was open. Went back to 20 m and had good time until 0225. After that I could raise no one on either 20 or 40. Finally, gave up at 0245. Got K4BAI and WB5BKL on both 20 and 15. A good, but short, time in the Nov. SP.
WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5w to a 20m wire delta loop or the 40m extended double Zepp. Not a good night here. 7 Qs on 20m and 2 on 40m. Worked WB4MNK and K7TQ on both bands. K7TQ had the strongest signal on 20m by far. Nothing heard on 80m. Thanks to all. Had fun.
AB1AV
ATS-3 to 88' doublet up 55'. Fun to get back into the Sprints, though participation seemed very light this time. 3 contacts on 40m, 1 on 80m.
WA5BUC
10 and 15 were dead at the start. Cruised 20 and 40, but heard no SP station. Called CQ on 20 a couple of times. Nada. Oh, well . . .
K4BAI
Not much activity this month. 15M was open at least to K7TQ in ID. 20M was long and I worked only MT and ID. 40M was also long. 80M was relatively quiet and open everywhere, but very little SP activity. W5ACM couldn't hear me on 40M. Heard AB1AV on 80M, but he was QRL and we had no QSO. Worked everyone I heard in the Sprint and got several calls from others not really in the contest. Thanks for all QSOs and let's have more activity next month!
NQ2W
An OHR 100-A running 5W to a mini-beam at 25 ft for 1 Q on 20 meters and a Ten-Tec 1340 at 5W to an inverted vee at 40 ft for 4 Q's. Worked WB5BKL on 20 and WA8PGE, W4VHH, K3RLL, and WB4MNK on 40. Heard K4BAI on 40 a few times but he couldn't hear me. Hoping for better conditions and/or more participation next month. Thanks to everyone who gave it a go.
WB4MNK
Didn't hear many sprinters but still had some fun. Lots of DX on 40.
NY4G
I thought I would try the KX1 for a change. It seems like there was not as may of us Spartans out there, I did better in August with the K2. The band noise was really terrible on 80m but I heard K4BAI calling CQ. 7030 was full of stations trying to call out to a DX station and so half my contacts were on 20m. I thought the KX1 held its own - though wiithout a separate spot tone - zero beating was a chore but doable. Thanks to all who participated.
K3RLL
Where was everybody? 40 Meters was hot but only heard 5 Sprinters. Running early K2 to indoor dipole.
Started out on 15 m and worked TX and OH in 2 minutes then no one else seemed to be around. On 20 m K4BAI found me, worked him, and moved him to 15 where he was weak, but readable. So for the first 10 minutes, 15 m was open. Went back to 20 m and had good time until 0225. After that I could raise no one on either 20 or 40. Finally, gave up at 0245. Got K4BAI and WB5BKL on both 20 and 15. A good, but short, time in the Nov. SP.
WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5w to a 20m wire delta loop or the 40m extended double Zepp. Not a good night here. 7 Qs on 20m and 2 on 40m. Worked WB4MNK and K7TQ on both bands. K7TQ had the strongest signal on 20m by far. Nothing heard on 80m. Thanks to all. Had fun.
AB1AV
ATS-3 to 88' doublet up 55'. Fun to get back into the Sprints, though participation seemed very light this time. 3 contacts on 40m, 1 on 80m.
WA5BUC
10 and 15 were dead at the start. Cruised 20 and 40, but heard no SP station. Called CQ on 20 a couple of times. Nada. Oh, well . . .
K4BAI
Not much activity this month. 15M was open at least to K7TQ in ID. 20M was long and I worked only MT and ID. 40M was also long. 80M was relatively quiet and open everywhere, but very little SP activity. W5ACM couldn't hear me on 40M. Heard AB1AV on 80M, but he was QRL and we had no QSO. Worked everyone I heard in the Sprint and got several calls from others not really in the contest. Thanks for all QSOs and let's have more activity next month!
NQ2W
An OHR 100-A running 5W to a mini-beam at 25 ft for 1 Q on 20 meters and a Ten-Tec 1340 at 5W to an inverted vee at 40 ft for 4 Q's. Worked WB5BKL on 20 and WA8PGE, W4VHH, K3RLL, and WB4MNK on 40. Heard K4BAI on 40 a few times but he couldn't hear me. Hoping for better conditions and/or more participation next month. Thanks to everyone who gave it a go.
WB4MNK
Didn't hear many sprinters but still had some fun. Lots of DX on 40.
NY4G
I thought I would try the KX1 for a change. It seems like there was not as may of us Spartans out there, I did better in August with the K2. The band noise was really terrible on 80m but I heard K4BAI calling CQ. 7030 was full of stations trying to call out to a DX station and so half my contacts were on 20m. I thought the KX1 held its own - though wiithout a separate spot tone - zero beating was a chore but doable. Thanks to all who participated.
K3RLL
Where was everybody? 40 Meters was hot but only heard 5 Sprinters. Running early K2 to indoor dipole.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Soapbox Comments: October '11 Spartan Sprint
K7TQ
Had not been able to participate in an SP for too long. Started on 15 m and got 3 Qs in short order. GA and TX were the states. Moved to 20 m after about 10 minutes on 15 and had a nice time working stations there until around 0130 Z. 20 was still open, but seemed most folks had already moved to 40 m. I gave 80 m a couple of tries, but quite noisy here in ID. Worked K4BAI, John, and WB5BKL, Nick, on 3 bands and several others on 2 bands. Lots of good strong Signals and a few weak ones as well went into the log. Thanks to all who stopped by.
NK6A
could only put in an hour this time.
WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5w to a 15m 2-element delta loop, a 20m wire delta loop or the 40m extended double Zepp. 15m was open (apparently to the west) when I started, but I could only work K7TQ. Tried to work K6CSL but he was almost exactly zero-beat with K7TQ and impossible copy for my old ears. Sorry Bert. Also made 11 Qs on 20m, 11 Qs on 40m and 4 on 80m. Did end up working K7TQ on 3 bands. Nice to hear increasing activity and some new (to me) calls. Thanks to all. Had fun.
WB5MNK
I want to apologize to the stations I could not copy but I had my filter set up wrong and did not realize it. I will do better next sprint. I had fun but was not very productive. Thanks to all the stations that I worked and the ones that called me but I was not able to copy.
NQ2W
An OHR 100-A running 5W to a mini-beam at 25 ft for 9 Q's on 20 meters and a Ten-Tec 1340 at 5W to an inverted vee at 40 ft for 4 Q's. I thought I was gonna break a record...the first few minutes on 20 were the best I've experienced in a quite a while...then reality settled in and the Q's became much more infrequent. Oh well, maybe next month. 40 was lousy, QRM and intermittent line noise made it very difficult copy (except K4ORD...he was loud). I'm thinking of adding some filtering to the 1340 and converting the main tuning knob to a 10 turn pot...we'll see if that's possible ... can't hurt. Thanks to everyone that heard me and thanks to the organizers. Hope to see you all next month.
AE7CG
Thanks to Randy K7TQ, Bob N4BP, Scott W5ESE, and Nick WB5BKL for QSOs. I ran 2 watts to a 10-foot high dipole. The Spartan Sprint was great fun. See everyone next month!
KD2MX
just had a few minutes to spend. Nothing heard on 20, 40 was pretty good.
AB9CA
Fun, as always. The bands seems little punk but not too much noise. That was kinda nice. Rig was K2 at 5w to 100' dp. Worked NQ2W, NK6A, WT5RZ, W5ACM, W5ESE, and WB5BKL on 2 bands but no 3-banders. 20 seemed to be OK but few there, only worked 6. 40 was the workhorse with 26. And only 5 on 80. But it was good to hear Jay, AJ4AY, over in Mobile on there. We are so close it is hard for us to hear each other. Thanks go to the folks who do the work to make these happen. And thanks to all who stopped by . . . and hope to hear ya'all next month.
N4BP
Started on 20M, but band went belly up almost immediately! 40M was good, but not much participation. With that fall nip in the air (only getting to the upper 80's now), 80M is almost usable and managed one easy QSO there with K5JHP. Sure wish participation would pick up so I could sit in the chair for two hours instead of only one.
K4BAI
QSOs by band: 21: 1 (K7TQ); 14: 7; 7: 22; 3.5: 7. We could have used more activity. Band conditions were pretty good on 80 through 15. Thanks for all QSOs.
W5ESE
KD1JV AT Sprint 3 (@3W 80m/40m, @2W 20m), with a 9.6V wall wart and Whiterook MK-44 paddles. Antenna is a 300' horizontal loop, fed with open wire line. Good activity and conditions this month, although the QRN was pretty high on 80m. Will submit my log to ARRL's 'Logbook of the World.'
WA1ZCQ
Bands in poor shape during the times of this month's sprint. 40 was the only place I hear other station here in 1 land. Started late, 30 minutes into the sprint. First station heard was Jim - K4ORD-VA, RST 559, I received a 449. Listened around on 80 & 20 as well but no signals. Hung in there for about 60 minutes, no stations calling CQSP. Called on 7033.5 and 7044 with no luck. Station: 703 @ 5W with 60' indoor wire, inverted "L" configuration (approx: 22' flat-topped, 38' vertical) Total station weight: 703 + NiMH battery pack + Whiterook paddle + associated wiring/cabling = 5 lbs.
WT5RZ
Wow, what a fun night. 20 started out jumping with 6 quick contacts. @0 seemed to get quiet very quick so I shifted to 40 for another 14 contacts. I tried 80M a couple of times, but only logged 1 lone contact there, W5ESE. Somehow W5ESE and I managed to contact one another on the 3 bands. Had a good time!
WØPQ
K1 (5 WATTS) G5RV
W5ACM
I started on 20M with six excellent contacts, and would have liked to stay there, but the crowd thinned out early. There was still plenty of activity on other parts of the band, and conditions were reasonable. For me, 40M sounded very noisy and I only got one QSO - AB9CA. Surprisingly, 80M was better and I had some good contacts with AB9CA, WB5BKL and W5ESE. Overall, it was a fun event! My ATS-3A is still on the workbench - so once again, the ATS-3 that I built in 2004 was pressed into service. Since it has MUCH larger (and heavier) batteries, I can call CQ as much as I can stand, so I did! Using this antique, Altoids entombed rig doubles my weight, but it is a great performer, and the keyer paddle - made from relay parts - is much easier to tame than the ultra-light-weight spruce paddle on the ATS-3A. I am getting to like this rig! C U next month!
K4ORD
Made 5 qso's on 20M, best dx WA, CA, 20 qso's on40m, best dx ID, MT, WA and 2 on 80M. The QRN was back on 40M, S7 TO S9 , some signals were strong and some weak. Rig K3@5W ant's 40M and 160M dipoles. Thanks to all.
NØAR
Well this old "ham from Heath" got hooked on the GORC Heathkit Nostalgia Event, so out came the HW-8. Haven't used it in 5 years so was impressed that it fired right up. If you worked me it was on the old rig at a whooping 2 watts out. Nice to be able to hear most all of the contesters at one time. :) Seriously it was just a blast working so many familiar calls. I hung in there until my ears hurt. See you all in the next event with my trusty K2.
AI4SV
Finally, a chance to shed some pounds -- Tonight the rig was my well-traveled TenTec 1320, a 2Ah battery, and Palm Paddles. The antenna was attic dipole. Almost all the calls came in the first hour.
K5JHP
Bands seemed long with SSB stations on 40. Hope for better prop condx next month.
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