Friday, May 7, 2010
Soapbox Comments: May 2010 Spartan Sprint
WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5w + 40M EDZepp + 20 delta loop. My son helped me hang a 20m wire delta loop which worked well once I remembered to switch to it. Most of my Qs were on 20M. 40 and 80m were not as productive here.I had one late Q (not included in my total) and two that were "odd." Worked K4BAI on three bands. Had fun.
K4PQC
Two watts using an ATS-3 and 160 Meter horizontal loop at 30'. Band conditions were fairly good on 40 meters (18 contacts) and just fair on 80 (4 contacts.) I apologize to K9VIY for failing to make contact, we tried 5 or 6 times calling each other never making an exchange....
W5ACM
Two days before the event, the key paddle on my ATS-3A micro-weight transceiver broke off. Since this 1/32"-thick plywood paddle is integral to the case, it was not something to be replaced, but repaired. A straight pin, some super glue and five-minute epoxy did the job. It was also a good opportunity to clean the copper-sheet key contacts and redo the alignment and spacing. Hopefully my CW sounded a bit cleaner for this Spartan Sprint. It was nice to make a few contacts on 20M prior to the obligatory move to 40M. Power out at the beginning of the two-hour period was 3W, and only declined to 2.5W by the end. The 200 mAh LiPo's are doing well. Four of the 12 stations worked were running less than 5W. That was good to hear!
W9CJS
Used the IC-703 on battery power. The low battery indicator came on just as the contest period ended. I surely enjoy the Spartan Sprints ... thanks to all.
K4ORD
Started on 20M made 11 qso''s in first 22 minutes then seemed to run out of new stations, on 40M made 12 contacts & on 80M made 8. Rig K2 @ 5w ants 160M & 40M dipoles and 20M wire vee beam. Thanks for all the QSOs.
NQ2W
I listened and called. I called and listened. Heard some stations but no one heard me. One station answered my CQ but I couldn't pull him out of the mud. Using a Ten Tec 1340 at 3W to a dipole in the attic wasn't cuttin' the mustard this time - antenna work is in process - maybe next month. Keep listenin.'
W2SH
This was my first sprint in quite a while. Only nine QSOs, but they comprised seven SPCs. Got a late start and 20m had already gone to bed. 40m was noisy but do-able. I managed three QSOs on 80m, but the noise was so bad that my ears hurt. Returning to 40m I found that the band had gone very long. There was Doc, KØEVZ, in NM, a very readable 559. I switched from my 80m dipole to the inverted L (85' up and 85' out, hung from a tall tree) I use on 160m and nailed him. It took me 20 minutes to bag my last contact. I could hear N6VOH in CA fairly well, but stations much closer to him, and not me, were getting answered. I kept calling, struggled through a couple of his QRZs, heard him sending pieces of my callsign, and finally, two minutes before the party ended, the QSO occurred. A big thank-you to Barry for hanging in with me. I went to bed a happy camper after getting my 5 Watts across those 2,428 miles.
K7RE
I used my ATS IIIB and 8 NIMH AA cells. Antenna on 20M was my triband beam up 30 feet. I cranked it down due to our high winds (55 MPH). On 40M I used a simple dipole inverted V up 40 feet at the center. Power out was about 3W. I haven't done this event in many months, and I was really happy getting back into the SP. If you need a QRP SD QSL, please send an SASE, or use LOTW.
KFØN
Rig: ATS-3B at 3 watts to a vertical 240' loop up 35 to 50 feet. The contest started out with some fairly bleak signal strengths on 20 Meters. Signal strengths varied during a single exchange from 579 to just below the noise much of the time and that caused some interesting conditions! I know I missed some guys who I simply could not copy. After a handful of contacts on 20M I QSY'ed to 40M which was the most productive watering hole for the evening. The QRN wasn't bad for May and gave 21 QSO's. My best DX for the evening was WA7OJY and N6VOH in California. Thanks for pulling my tiny signal out of the noise guys; I know it was more like ESP than a contest exchange! NU7T had a great 1-watt signal from Nevada and K7RE had a good 3-watt signal from South Dakota, both very rare states for QRPer's! All in all, a very enjoyable evening. Thanks so much to all who stopped by and made it a great contest. I hope we can do it again in June.
KF7ADB
K1 to EFHW up about 40’. Worked 20/40/80. Biggest signals were K4BAI, K4PQC, and K4ORD. Best DX was ABØCD in CO. Thanks for the QSOs. See you next month.
K4BAI
FT1000MP, 5W output, TH6DXX, zepp, inverted vee, dipole. 20 meters seemed almost dead before 0100Z, but it came alive around 14060 when the contest period started with good signals from New England west to MN, CO and TX. Stations as close as NC were workable, but most sprinters apparently skipped 20M. 8 QSOs in 18 mins on 20. 40 was pretty good all over with little discernable skip zone. QSOs made as far away as ON, NH, MN. CO. 31 QSOs in about one hour on 40M. 80M was noisy, but signals were pretty good. Worked from NJ to MN, IA, and TX. If more sprinters checked 80M, more QSOs would have been possible. 8 QSOs in about 45 minutes. Thanks for all QSOs and look forward to next month's sprint. Hope to meet many of you at Dayton.
W1PID
I operated for a half hour with an IC-7000 at 5 watts to an OCF dipole. Made 3 Qs on 20 meters and 4 Qs on 40 meters. Best DX was Brian K7RE in SD. Thanks to all.
K9UQN
7030 - 7040 filled with PSK-31 signals at my QTH. Makes for a tough sprint.
NG7Z
Got on for a few minutes near the end on 40M and worked K7RE, K6CSL, W7DFO, WB4YZA and VE7DSN. See you next month.
K6CSL
Bands are starting to be in a little better condition. I started out on 10M after hearing an Arizona Beacon there. I thought I might hear something on 15 when I checked there. Then I moved to 20 and worked MN and TX, then moved on to 40 and worked NV and WA. I was very surprized at the solid signal from NU7T in NV with 1W. I'll look forward to the next Spartan Sprint.
ABØCD
Great fun. 7Qs on 20 and 13Qs on 40. Glad to work Doc, KØEVZ. K-2 (S/N #00070) into homebrew 88-foot doublet at 25-feet fed with 300 ohm twin-lead/LDG 4:1 balun.
K3RLL
GA was loud down here tonight in FL, but heard little else.
WA8HSB
Business travel took me and my KX-1 to Elkton, MD this month. Both 20 & 40 were sketchy with a lot of QSB on 40. Thought I had a couple of contacts and then the signals went to ESP levels before we could complete the exchange. Next month will be better. Enjoyed the Sprint!
KB7MBI
Station was a Ten Tec Paragon II, 5 watts, GAP Titan vertical and Bencher straight key. KFØN was strongest station at a 579 most of the sprint. The few stations I heard were at or near the noise floor.
AB9CA/5
Was camped on the beach at South Padre Island National Seashore near Corpus Christi, TX. About 100' from the water. Great place to spend a few days so long as the wind does not get too strong! The little Sony earbuds did a good job of blocking the never ending roar of the surf. You may have peace and solitude there, but you will not have quiet! Station was an ATS-3 at about 3w powered by an 8 pack of AA NiMH. Ant was elevated 20m vert. Did not have an antenna for any other band so stayed on 20 the whole time. The band was long but in fair shape. Ended up with 11 contacts and 11 SPC's. Don't recall ever having no dupes in the SPC list. Thanks to everyone who stopped by. Worked everyone I could hear except one. KD6L/5 was copyable but never heard me. Closest was John, K4BAI, in GA. Did get both ME and CA. Obviously no pesky Texans from that QTH on 20. See ya' next month!
K3/10 @ 5w + 40M EDZepp + 20 delta loop. My son helped me hang a 20m wire delta loop which worked well once I remembered to switch to it. Most of my Qs were on 20M. 40 and 80m were not as productive here.I had one late Q (not included in my total) and two that were "odd." Worked K4BAI on three bands. Had fun.
K4PQC
Two watts using an ATS-3 and 160 Meter horizontal loop at 30'. Band conditions were fairly good on 40 meters (18 contacts) and just fair on 80 (4 contacts.) I apologize to K9VIY for failing to make contact, we tried 5 or 6 times calling each other never making an exchange....
W5ACM
Two days before the event, the key paddle on my ATS-3A micro-weight transceiver broke off. Since this 1/32"-thick plywood paddle is integral to the case, it was not something to be replaced, but repaired. A straight pin, some super glue and five-minute epoxy did the job. It was also a good opportunity to clean the copper-sheet key contacts and redo the alignment and spacing. Hopefully my CW sounded a bit cleaner for this Spartan Sprint. It was nice to make a few contacts on 20M prior to the obligatory move to 40M. Power out at the beginning of the two-hour period was 3W, and only declined to 2.5W by the end. The 200 mAh LiPo's are doing well. Four of the 12 stations worked were running less than 5W. That was good to hear!
W9CJS
Used the IC-703 on battery power. The low battery indicator came on just as the contest period ended. I surely enjoy the Spartan Sprints ... thanks to all.
K4ORD
Started on 20M made 11 qso''s in first 22 minutes then seemed to run out of new stations, on 40M made 12 contacts & on 80M made 8. Rig K2 @ 5w ants 160M & 40M dipoles and 20M wire vee beam. Thanks for all the QSOs.
NQ2W
I listened and called. I called and listened. Heard some stations but no one heard me. One station answered my CQ but I couldn't pull him out of the mud. Using a Ten Tec 1340 at 3W to a dipole in the attic wasn't cuttin' the mustard this time - antenna work is in process - maybe next month. Keep listenin.'
W2SH
This was my first sprint in quite a while. Only nine QSOs, but they comprised seven SPCs. Got a late start and 20m had already gone to bed. 40m was noisy but do-able. I managed three QSOs on 80m, but the noise was so bad that my ears hurt. Returning to 40m I found that the band had gone very long. There was Doc, KØEVZ, in NM, a very readable 559. I switched from my 80m dipole to the inverted L (85' up and 85' out, hung from a tall tree) I use on 160m and nailed him. It took me 20 minutes to bag my last contact. I could hear N6VOH in CA fairly well, but stations much closer to him, and not me, were getting answered. I kept calling, struggled through a couple of his QRZs, heard him sending pieces of my callsign, and finally, two minutes before the party ended, the QSO occurred. A big thank-you to Barry for hanging in with me. I went to bed a happy camper after getting my 5 Watts across those 2,428 miles.
K7RE
I used my ATS IIIB and 8 NIMH AA cells. Antenna on 20M was my triband beam up 30 feet. I cranked it down due to our high winds (55 MPH). On 40M I used a simple dipole inverted V up 40 feet at the center. Power out was about 3W. I haven't done this event in many months, and I was really happy getting back into the SP. If you need a QRP SD QSL, please send an SASE, or use LOTW.
KFØN
Rig: ATS-3B at 3 watts to a vertical 240' loop up 35 to 50 feet. The contest started out with some fairly bleak signal strengths on 20 Meters. Signal strengths varied during a single exchange from 579 to just below the noise much of the time and that caused some interesting conditions! I know I missed some guys who I simply could not copy. After a handful of contacts on 20M I QSY'ed to 40M which was the most productive watering hole for the evening. The QRN wasn't bad for May and gave 21 QSO's. My best DX for the evening was WA7OJY and N6VOH in California. Thanks for pulling my tiny signal out of the noise guys; I know it was more like ESP than a contest exchange! NU7T had a great 1-watt signal from Nevada and K7RE had a good 3-watt signal from South Dakota, both very rare states for QRPer's! All in all, a very enjoyable evening. Thanks so much to all who stopped by and made it a great contest. I hope we can do it again in June.
KF7ADB
K1 to EFHW up about 40’. Worked 20/40/80. Biggest signals were K4BAI, K4PQC, and K4ORD. Best DX was ABØCD in CO. Thanks for the QSOs. See you next month.
K4BAI
FT1000MP, 5W output, TH6DXX, zepp, inverted vee, dipole. 20 meters seemed almost dead before 0100Z, but it came alive around 14060 when the contest period started with good signals from New England west to MN, CO and TX. Stations as close as NC were workable, but most sprinters apparently skipped 20M. 8 QSOs in 18 mins on 20. 40 was pretty good all over with little discernable skip zone. QSOs made as far away as ON, NH, MN. CO. 31 QSOs in about one hour on 40M. 80M was noisy, but signals were pretty good. Worked from NJ to MN, IA, and TX. If more sprinters checked 80M, more QSOs would have been possible. 8 QSOs in about 45 minutes. Thanks for all QSOs and look forward to next month's sprint. Hope to meet many of you at Dayton.
W1PID
I operated for a half hour with an IC-7000 at 5 watts to an OCF dipole. Made 3 Qs on 20 meters and 4 Qs on 40 meters. Best DX was Brian K7RE in SD. Thanks to all.
K9UQN
7030 - 7040 filled with PSK-31 signals at my QTH. Makes for a tough sprint.
NG7Z
Got on for a few minutes near the end on 40M and worked K7RE, K6CSL, W7DFO, WB4YZA and VE7DSN. See you next month.
K6CSL
Bands are starting to be in a little better condition. I started out on 10M after hearing an Arizona Beacon there. I thought I might hear something on 15 when I checked there. Then I moved to 20 and worked MN and TX, then moved on to 40 and worked NV and WA. I was very surprized at the solid signal from NU7T in NV with 1W. I'll look forward to the next Spartan Sprint.
ABØCD
Great fun. 7Qs on 20 and 13Qs on 40. Glad to work Doc, KØEVZ. K-2 (S/N #00070) into homebrew 88-foot doublet at 25-feet fed with 300 ohm twin-lead/LDG 4:1 balun.
K3RLL
GA was loud down here tonight in FL, but heard little else.
WA8HSB
Business travel took me and my KX-1 to Elkton, MD this month. Both 20 & 40 were sketchy with a lot of QSB on 40. Thought I had a couple of contacts and then the signals went to ESP levels before we could complete the exchange. Next month will be better. Enjoyed the Sprint!
KB7MBI
Station was a Ten Tec Paragon II, 5 watts, GAP Titan vertical and Bencher straight key. KFØN was strongest station at a 579 most of the sprint. The few stations I heard were at or near the noise floor.
AB9CA/5
Was camped on the beach at South Padre Island National Seashore near Corpus Christi, TX. About 100' from the water. Great place to spend a few days so long as the wind does not get too strong! The little Sony earbuds did a good job of blocking the never ending roar of the surf. You may have peace and solitude there, but you will not have quiet! Station was an ATS-3 at about 3w powered by an 8 pack of AA NiMH. Ant was elevated 20m vert. Did not have an antenna for any other band so stayed on 20 the whole time. The band was long but in fair shape. Ended up with 11 contacts and 11 SPC's. Don't recall ever having no dupes in the SPC list. Thanks to everyone who stopped by. Worked everyone I could hear except one. KD6L/5 was copyable but never heard me. Closest was John, K4BAI, in GA. Did get both ME and CA. Obviously no pesky Texans from that QTH on 20. See ya' next month!
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