Soapbox comments: December '09 Spartan Sprint

K9UQN
Wouldn't be in this one if it weren't for W9CJS getting my interest up.

KS4L
Using ATS 3b.1, 5w, 80 dipole.  All Q's on 80m.  Couldn't find anyone on 40.  The QRN was painful!  My ears are ringing, what with no gain control on the ATS!

N0NBD
Only worked 80 meters for a short while but was fun to work a few guys Rig was OHR 400 at 5 watts dipole at 50 ft.

KK5NA
Just a short time on tonight. 40 Meters was noisy, K3 @5W,ANT = EDZ@55'

WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5w + 40M EDZepp. Most of my contacts were on 80M - nothing heard on 20M.  The second hour was more productive for me. Nice to work some new calls and hear old friends. Had fun.

W9CJS
Propagation terrible but QRP got through on 80m only.

WA9TZE
The bands were not good. 10-15-20 had no activity. 40m had just one qso with N4BP. Tried for 25 min and no qso' after that. Going to 80m had 12 qso's, very weak but got a little stronger after 1 hour-but with 30 min's left all disappeared. Had a good time-sorry for those I missed.--Best 72's to all and Happy Holiday and a New Year.

KF0N
Nice to see some familiar faces again after being gone for a while due to no antenna!

W5ESE
KD1JV AT Sprint 3, Whiterook MK-44 paddles, 9.6V wall wart. My antenna was a 100m Horizontal Loop, fed as a top-loaded vertical against radials. I struggled valiantly to make some contacts on 40m, but no luck. Finally gave up and went to 80m, where I made all 12 of my contacts in this month's
Sprint. Good to hear the calls of familiar friends, and some new faces, too.

K4BAI
Very little activity.  No signals on 20M.  No sprint signals on 40M at the start and no answers to my CQs on that band.  80M was in very good shape.  I worked 28 stations on 80 from WA to ME and TX to FL.  Went back to 40 at suggestion of N4BP at 0338Z and worked Bob and also Bill, K5JHP.  No further callers on 40M, so went back to 80M and got no more calls.  About 0350Z, I went to sleep in the chair with the computer on REPEAT sending CQ QRP TEST.  I woke up at 0410Z when a VE2 called me.  I assume I would have been awakened by any earlier callers.  First time that has happened to me in many years and the first time that the computer kept on sending while I was asleep.  Hope more sprinters will turn out in January to keep me and the others awake and alert.

W1PID
I operated for about a half hour. Pretty rough condx. I ran an IC-7000 at 5W to a Windom OCF dipole. Best DX was Larry KF0N in Iowa. I worked Bob, N4BP, on both 40 and 80. Thanks to all.

N4BP
Condx seemed quite poor on 40M. Made more QSOs than expected on 80M. Static not too bad for a change. Rig: K3  Ant: 40/80 Trap Dipole @ 62ft.

W5ACM
20M was DEAD and 40M was marginal - good for only 2 contacts. 80M was surprisingly usable. I had 12 contacts on 80M, and my ears still work! While I worked NG7Z on 40M, the best "DX" on 80M was Florida... The ATS-3a did very well, even with all of the "CQ'ing" I had to do. Power output eld at 3W. The antique 18AVQ antenna is still going strong. When it goes, I will refurb my 14AVQ and add an 80M mobile whip to the top. It was a fun event due to the surprise of 80M quality ops, but let's hope for some 20M activity next time!

KD9KC
An hour before the sprint the temp was 55º, and the winds were picking up.  We were expecting a storm from the Pacific Coast, with gusts of up to 70 mph and rain/snow mix.  Wind is nothing new to El Paso, but rain is rare and snow even more so.  I decided that working from the patio was not a good idea tonight.  So I went back inside the house.  After setting up my FT-817ND, I gave 20m a quick check.  It was DEAD!  So it was 40m and 80m or nothing. Using the indoor home location means I didn't need to use the headphones, which lowered my weight to 2.90 pounds.  I could also use the computer to log instead of the usual paper log.At 0201 UTC I worked NG7Z in WA on 40m 5-5-9.  26 minutes later I forced N4BP in FL to strain for our 40m contact.  That was all for 40m.  At 0259 N4BP was again forced to try me on 80m.  Thanks for struggling through it with me.  The static crashes were getting louder and I was ready to throw in the towel.  But signals started getting louder about this time too, so I hung in there.  At 0317 I snagged W5ESE, then at 0331 WA9TZE heard me.  N7RVD and W5ACM also got stronger and heard me.  My last contact was NG7Z at 0355 UTC, he was also my first contact two hours previously.  I was hoping to finally work my friend Fred - K6DGW - but I never heard him. So - 8 contacts / 2.9 pounds = 2.7586 points.  Not great - but the best I could do under the conditions. Thanks to all of you for slowing down and struggling to hear me. I have a NIB Hustler 6BTV - maybe its time to try a vertical.  I have lots of room for radials. Wow - an E-mail just came in from K6DGW.  Power out for 15 hours plus, 30º and dropping outside, 49º inside, and his wire antenna is down. This is the storm that is coming to us.  Global warming?  NOT!  Maybe next time, Fred.

NG7Z
I started out on 40 for 20 minutes until it dried up. Only five contacts there so switched to 80 and heard a few tiny signals and worked five more. Took a break to help the XYL trim the tree and came back at 0325Z. Tuff sledding this month and not much to show. I could hear signals at the ESP level but didn't dare try to work them. So I cq'd until the end of the sprint and worked eight more. Nice to hear Brian N7RVD way back in GA. Surprised we hooked up. Nice going Brian. The last Q was with Garie K8KFJ in WV which was a real bonus. See ya'll next month.

WA8HSB
My first Spartan Sprint in a good while.  Started listening on 20m (nothing heard), then to 40m (nothing heard there either), then to 80m where the activity appeared to be.  Noise level was very high here on all 3 bands.  18 Qs in 10 States with the best DX being WA.  Rig: TS-850S at 5 watts and 18AVQ Vertical.  Tnx to all.  Hope to be back next month!

K5JHP
Slow start and no sigs on 40.  Worked only 2 stations on 40.  80 was good tonight.  Be  back next year.

KB5JO
K2, 5W, 80M, 88' doublet

N7RVD
A Work-Fun contest tonight.  The more work you do, the more fun ya have!! Worked 80 meters exclusively from Georgia.  Lots of QRN. Had to turn all the filters down just to cut the noise.  I gave everybody a 55n report, but, truely just about everybody was 2-2-9 or worse.  Tnx. C U next month.