Soapbox: April 2010 Spartan Sprint

K5GQ
ATS3  5w  dipole up 18 feet. Low audio 20M (ATS-3 problem) New stations worked: K4ORD, WD9F, KFØN, KF7ADV, K8CV.

K4PQC
2 Watts using ATS-3 with AC power supply and 160 Meter horizontal loop at 30.' Band conditions were fairly noisy on 80 where I only made one contact the rest were on 40 meters.

K9FO
Rig,  Icom IC 703 @ 5 watts.  dipole antennas  80 very noisy but 40 OK. Just learning to run the IC 703 I got at an estate sale.  Added a 500 Hz filter and it works great.

W5ACM
Like March, I was hoping for some 20M activity, but the band was dead. Conditions on 40M were reasonable but noisy. I stayed on 40M for the complete sprint. The ATS-3a and backyard vertical did well, even with some above-average CQ-calling ops. The two LiPo, 200 mAh batteries held up well, but they were dropping fast near the end of the event. Come on 20M!

W5ESE
Was busy fiddling with my old Ten-Tec Argonaut 509 when I realized the Spartan Sprint was half over. Decided to just use the Argonaut in the Sprint. I understand that in the "olde days," some folks actually did backpack with this rig (which weighs about 6 lbs)! Also used my J-37 straight key.

K5JHP
5 Watts with a K3 to 20mtr EDZ.  Worked only first 30 minutes and last 10 minutes.

WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5w + 40M EDZepp.  I made an effort on 10m, 15m and 20m with zip results.  Even a long series of CQs on 80m yielded nothing.  40m was all that worked for me and most were faint - with two exceptions:  K4BAI @ 5w from GA and K4PQC @ 2w (also GA). Both had outstanding signals - John's was 599+.  A curious evening.  Had fun.

WA9TZE
Kenwood TS-870 @ 5W. Antenna is two Alpha Delta-DX'-A'S - Counterpoise through tower and beam capacative hat. No QSOs on 20M after 15 minutes of calling CQ. Went to 40M and picked up 18 QSOs with heavy static. At 0200Z went to 80M and got two QSOs when a line of lightning and thunder came through South Milwaukee. Went QRT - Could hardly hear a station. Thanks to everyone. CU next month.

WA8MTI
My first Spartan Sprint.  Two TX stations:  WB5BKL and W5ACM on 40.  WX was not my friend tonight with rain and static so stayed in and used the FT-2000 @ 5w.  Could only hear the loudest stations through the noise.  Next month look for me on my FT817 @ 1w w/solar-charged batteries. WA8MTI (mighty tiny input).

AB1AV
ATS-3 to 88' doublet up 40'.  Using a bigger battery, called CQ and got a short run going.  All contacts on 40m, and more than half to 5-land. Wonder if that geomagnetic storm is responsible?  Called it quits about 0300z.

KF7ADB
Rig was my new K1 @ 5W to EFHW up about 30.’  Nothing heard on 20. Spent the rest of the contest on 40.  Best signals were KFØN and K5JHP.  Got lots of practice pulling out weak signals – it’s usually the other way around.  It got lonely on 40 after the first hour – most everyone must have moved to 80.  I’ll be back next month with an 80m antenna.  Thanks for all the fun!

K4BAI
20M was dead from about 2300Z on Monday.  40M was great for about 20 minutes.   Then, activity dropped off and QRN came up.  Made about half of my QSOs on 40M in the first 20 minutes.  Then the second half on 80 and 40 during the next 100 minutes. Thanks for the QSOs.  Looking forard to next month.  FT1000MP at 5W, WM-2 QRP wattmeter, dipole, zepp, inverted vee. Best DX on 40:  VE3MO, W7WA, NG7Z.  And great to work Doc, KØEVZ.  Best DX on 80M:  WGØAT in CO.  Please look for me and KU8E as K4BAI/M in many GA counties in the Ga QSO Party this weekend, April 10 and 11.

W1PID
This was one of the strangest sprints ever. A large geomagnetic storm shut down 20. The only station I could work on 40 was K4BAI. I managed to work 2 stations on 80 ... K4ORD and W1JSB (who is 3 miles away). There was VERY heavy auroral flutter between W1JSB and me. I would have thought we would be ground wave?! I was running an IC-703 at 5 watts to a Windom OCF dipole. Thanks all.

wGØAT
Strong dry winds ragging over the Colorado Rockies the last few days created major QRN for the SP event tonight. Tonight I was really excited to try out a new rig ... a K2. But first the story behind this K2. A good ham friend John-KA9I recently went SK. John was a neat guy, always had great stories to share or a funny joke to keep you smiling. He was an avid QRPer and his enthusiasm for ham radio  was very contagious! He led a local slow speed on 10m for his club and was the kinda person that knows everyone even if he's never meet them! Basically a fun guy to be around ! Well he'll be missed but John's K2 lives on! So with John's K2 and my CFZepp at 55' I started on 20m but nay a signal to be heard! Headed for 40m but QRN made for rough copy with lots of repeats! 30-minutes of torturous QRN was about all I could handle before I bolted for 80m! WA8REI's DC40 1-watter somehow made it through my noise ...quite amazing! Good work Ken! Tubby 40m-log: N5WG, K5JHP,  WA8REI,  K9FO,  K8CV  WA9TZE,  K4BAI,  AD5VC , K3RLL,  WDØK. But 80m wasn't any better in fact it was worse. K2's DSP, AF filters and IF filters were no competition for the 30db over 9 QRN ... finally after pulling out 2-Qs I said GN to the April SP! Tubby 80m-log: K4BAI, WD4MSM. Still better than watching Dancing with the Stars! (Rooster and Peanut meanwhile watched Animal Planet.)

W2VV
QTH was a bench in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. I spent the first hour cutting a new antenna wire, raising it into a tree, and trying to get a new multi-band tuner to work that I had just built from a kit. The tuner was completely nonfunctional so I eventually went back to my trusty EndFedz EF-40 matchbox, which worked great.  Rig was an FT-817nd, with porta-paddle 2 key. I'm a novice CW op and so most of the QSOs were going too fast for me to follow. I found an empty spot near 7.030 and called CQ SP for a bit and got one reply: N5OBC running 1W in Oklahoma.  Another station tried responding later but I couldn't dig him out of the noise. Even though I only logged one QSO it was fun, and I need all the CW practice I can get.  I'll be back.

NG7Z
Started off right at the bell on 20M but didn't hear any sprinters. Called CQ for five minutes with no replies. Switched to 40M on 7040 and then 7030 but the sun is still up. I could hear a couple of SP CQs but no one could hear me. Still too early here so I did some chores and came back at 0200Z hoping that condx would be better. Called CQ and made 5 contacts. I could barely make out the ones I worked and still heard callers but it was no use. The atmospheric noise was abominable so called it quits at 0218Z. Thanks to John K4BAI who held in there until I could get his call. Same for WA5ZBT at 1W and W5ESE at 2W both of whom were in TX. The other two I got were Doc KØEVZ who was booming as usual and W5ACM with his 3W in TX. Had to move a few hz down because some PSK clown started up zero beat with me. 7040 is becoming unusable. I did notice during the ARCI contest this weekend that most everyone was using 7030 but that was probably due to the EA RTTY contest. Nevertheless, the 7040 watering hole is fast becoming a digital haven. 72 and see you next month.

N5OBC
OK, this was my first sprint in maybe two years as I fixed up one house, sold it moved to a new one, fixed it up and finally put hamming on the board.  New house is a no antenna place so I'm learning to adapt.  Wit h15 minutes left I got on and the slinky in the attic is much better than the shorter wire was.  Its also better than the gutter ... Dave W2VV had a great signal into my one watt SST fed by 10 nicads to the slinky.  This proves there is hope for hamming here at the new diggs. Thanks for the sprints they are still great fun.

WA5BUC
Once again 20 meters was dead.  I had hoped for better as I had made several 0100Z contacts just last week. Also, once again heard a week station at the start.  Rig: RockMite 20.  Ant: 66'7" end-fed wire.

K4ORD
Rig was K2 @ 5W Antennas: 160M and 40M dipoles. Nothing heard on 20M. 40M was very odd at first signals were strong, then very weak and most of what I heard were from the south. 80M had S9+ QRN, only able to get W1PID and K4BAI.  2 QSOS on 80M and 9 on 40M. Hope next month is better.

KFØN
Rig: ATS-3 @ 3-watts to a 240 foot loop antenna. Wow, what a difference a month makes!  Only 10 contacts this month compared to 39 a month ago.  The QRN was murder here due to local thunderstorms roaming through Iowa and points east.  Only had a half an hour before a check of the local radar on the PC showed that the whole area was lightning up like a Christmas tree (!) and it was time to put the QRP toys away for the night.  Only 40M was usable here.  I checked 80M but, as I thought, it was a lost cause.  My poor little ATS-3 receiver was in saturation due to the lightning in the area!  Let's hope that things quiet down a bit for May's contest.  Rod, W7OM, had a great signal from Washington state which was my best DX for the evening. Thanks to all who called in.  I hope we can make a go of it again next month.

WD4MSM
What an awful night; the bands were frightful. I'm shocked to have made 5 contacts! These guys have really good ears. And just when I though the bands were getting better ...

K3RLL
Only had a short time  to play this evening, but finally, finally had the good fortune to make contact with wGØAT.  That's a successful Sprint for me, indoor antenna or not!

Results: March 2010 Spartan Sprint

Soapbox: March 2010 Spartan Sprint

W1PID
Operated for half and hour. 6 QSOs on 40. 3 QSOs on 80.I ran an ATS-2 with 8 AA cells (solar charged). I think I had about 3 watts out. Thanks all.

K5GQ
Using ATS3  5w  dipole up 18 feet. Having problems on 20M and not sure how to look for problem. No antenna for 80M, so make the best of 40M. New stations worked: K9UQN, NØAR, NI8N, AB1AV, K4ORD, KD9KC, K3RLL, KFØN, W9CJS, W1NB, WS4AN. Thanks.

KK5NA
Forty and eighty were both pretty good. Rig = K3 @ 5W; ANT = EDZ @ 55ft.

K5JHP
K3 to 20 mtr EDZ. 8Qs on 80. 11Qs on 40. Neither band was in good shape.

N4BP
40M seemed to go long very early.  Signals were strong on 80M, but so was power line noise.

K6CSL
Home station: 5W-Yaesu FT-450-3. Single element wire antennas.

NØAR
Good to work so many familiar calls. Twenty was zip, so stayed on 40 & 80. Big signal goes to KFØN with that NVIS magic, 40+! Rig: K2 antenna half wave end fed wire up 35 feet. Tried the netbook and N1MM, works!

KD9KC
Wow - my ears got a workout.  Started out on 20m, worked K7TQ-ID and N6EU-CA right at the start, but 20m wasn't doing well.  Gave a few CQs on 20m and then moved to 40m at 0205Z. 40m was active.  I spent an hour plus on 40m, working N4BP-FL, K5GQ-TX, NØAR-MN, KFØN-IA, WB5BKL-TX, K7TQ-ID, W7OM-WA, K4BAI-GA, WA9TZE-WI, and KEØG-MN.  Put about 10 minutes into calling CQ with no luck. Switched to 80m at 0315Z.  80m had an S-8+ noise.  I worked N4BP-FL, AB9CA-AL, WA9TZE-WI, K7TQ-ID, NØAR-MN, WB5BKL-TX, KEØG-MN before I ran out of contacts.  Started calling CQ at 0350Z and snagged K4ORD-VA for my final contact. Thanks to all the folks who slowed for me - it is much appreciated.  See you all next month.

K3RLL
Tough digging signals out of digital din. Thanks to those skilled and patient ops who copied me.

AB9CA
Seemed to be a pretty good Sprint tonight. Rig was ATS-3 with an 8 pack of AA batteries, White Rook paddles, and ear buds. Output was about 3w. 40 seemed to be in good shape but crowded. Had to move a few times. Tried down by 7030 but no one found me there. Had some success up around 7048. Ended up with 19 contacts on 40 including one dupe. 80 was pretty good. The noise was not as bad as I had feared given that we had thunderstorms in the early evening. Made 21 contacts there. Thanks to all who stopped by . . . and a special thanks to those who do the work to make these possible!

W5ACM
I started with K4ORD on 40M, and finished with K4ORD on 80M. It was a pleasure to have contacts with so many regulars, and a few new ops! I was hoping for some 20M activity, but the band was dead. Conditions on 40M were good and the ATS-3a and backyard vertical did well, even with some above-average CQ-calling ops. The two LiPo, 200 mAh batteries held up well. The home-brew, built-in keyer paddle was a bit intermittent, but thanks to some patient operators, I got through it. Come on 20M!

VE3MO
Once again, 80m was the producer for me tonight. There was nothing heard on 20m and only 1 station picked up on 40. I managed 10 contacts in the 1st hour and 6 more in the final hour. My thanks to those stations who I requested to send their info more then once, especially KF7ADB who was riding the noise floor - with the QRN and the QSB you were barely there. My Sierra, at 4 watts, and the windom were pushed to their limits tonight with full use of the abx filter, the RF gain and turning the AGC between fast and slow to drag out every call that I heard. See ya in the spring... what a beautiful thought!

WA5BUC
Rig: Rockmite 20 and EFHWA. Sent CQs every 5 minutes for the first hour and then from time-to-time thereafter.  No takers.  Thought I heard a faint signal at the beginning, but too weak to copy.

KFØN
The rig was an ATS-3 running between 3 and 4 watts to a 240 foot loop strung between two trees on the city lot. Conditions seemed very good with many stations participating.  It is nice to see the skip shortening up with the longer days and higher flux numbers we are enjoying now.  40M stays open well into the evening hours while the skip on 80M lets us have QSOs with neighboring states all evening.  Dan, KEØG, reported that my four watts was S9 +15 DB in Minnesota!  I have been wondering where all my RF was going!  There were a few stations that I simply could not pull out of the background sizzle and I regret missing several of you.  Maybe we can make it next month.  The QRN from some storms in the southlands were strong here at times; signs of approaching Spring for sure.  Many thanks to all who stopped by.

KF7ADB
My first Spartan Sprint.  What a great time.  IC-718 @ 5W to an end-fed 40M dipole (sloper) with one end up about 40.'  I had 21 QSOs total, but three were same-band dupes.  Worked both 40M & 80M.  Thanks to everyone who pulled me out of the noise, especially on 80M.  See you next month.

AB1AV
ATS-3 with touchkeyer running 4 watts to an 88' doublet up 40', at home.  Back in the SS after a long break, kept it simple with search&pounce.  20m was dead here, 40m was hopping but long, and I made a few contacts on 80m before deciding it was bedtime around 0315z.

K4BAI
20M was open at the beginning of the contest period to W7, UAØ, and JT1.  I had just increased power to call (unsuccessfully JT1BH).  I forgot to lower it and worked K7TQ while running about 75W. Couldn't get Randy to answer me again with only 5W.  So, that QSO counts for him, but not for me, and is not included in my total.  Only other SP signal heard on 20M was some station in AZ.  No one answered my CQs there.  So, on to 40, which was very good beyond the skip zone, but the closest QSOs possible were in OH.  I heard briefly, but missed W9CJS in IL on 40, but worked him later on 80.  Best DX QSOs were NK6A in CA and W7OM in WA (very loud).  80M had some QRN, but I was able to work everyone I heard there except K7TQ, WGØAT, and KG1W, who couldn't hear me calling them.  Best DX on 80 were VE3MO and AB1AV in NH.  QSOs were about even between 40 and 80.  This is a fun event, but would benefit from more stations being active for the entire 2-hour period.  See you all next month.

W8YMO
Harry, near Cleveland, OH.

WA9TZE
20m - Worked 5 QSOs- with 3 CA-,1 AZ-and 1 VA-and band died here after 15 min. 40m ran 23 stations in 55 minutes and then no QSOs. Went to 80m and made 20 QSOs till the end.  Seemed like the bands were weak and high QRN on 80m. Last month was much better. Rig here is Kenwood TS-870 at 5w to twin Alpha-Delta DX-A's[n/s-e/w switchable] at 40 ft and ends up 12ft. This is a counterpoise setup on a 50ft tower with 34 radials at base with 4ft grd rods on each one, also four 8ft rods at base of tower all  with heavy Epson Salts on everything. The beam at top is a Hygain EX-14[40-10m] acts as a capacitive hat. Had fun and look forward to next month.

WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5w + 40M EDZepp.  One QSO on 20m, the rest on 40 and 80. Best DX was K7TQ - also the most miles/watt (296).  Closest was WA5RML (147 miles to my NNE), and that was the least miles/watt.  Georgia was the most popular state in my log.  Lotsa familiar calls and a few new ones.  Had fun.

KEØG
Ran a K-3 at 5 watts, 35 A-H gell cell.  Ant is two switchable 74' dipoles with balanced feedlines and a Johnson Matchbox.  On 80M run one of them as a T-top vertical.  Big Sigs hr in MN:  80M:  WA9TZE at 20 dB over, 40M:  K4ORD booming in at 10 dB over.  Thanks for all the fun !

K7TQ
20 m was open to TX and GA from ID at beginning of contest.  Most of the activity was on 40 m where I caught KL7CW in AK. About 40 minutes into the contest, I thought 40 started to fade so on to 80 m.  Took a while before it warmed up, but last hour or so it, too, was good. Great signals from WB5BKL on 20 and KF0N on 80.  See you all next month.

K4ORD
K2 @ 5W, 160M & 40M dipoles and 20M wire vee beam. Made 16 QSOs on 80M and 15 on 40M,  heard nothing on 20M. Conditions were good here and the noise was low, even on 80M. Look forward to next month.

W9CJS
Didn't do as well as last month, but had a good time.  I run a 703 with battery power for the entire 2 hours. Works well.

N5GW
HW-9 with mods (SWR meter, keyer, 250 Hz xtal filter, improved muting circuit) - fellow ham said it's an HW-9 PLUS - hi. It still drifts, but a Band-aid approach is to warm it up for 30 minutes before using. I hear that trying to improve the short term drift creates more problems than it solves. Anyway the set up here was in a cabin on the Tennessee Cumberland plateau at elevation 2K ft.using a homebrew balanced L-network tuner to an inverted V config.CFZ with apex at 50 ft. in an oak tree. The antenna covers 80 thru 6 meters. 40 meters was QRN here with snow, so I gave up soon.

K4PQC
3 watts using  KD1JV’s ATS-3 and lightweight AC power supply. 160+ Meter loop at 30 feet, Homebrew paddles.  Great band conditions on 40 and 80 and didn’t hear any stations on 20.

K4AVX
Not as much activity as usual on 80, little on 40.

Results: February 2010 Spartan Sprint

  

 

For an enlarged view of the scoreboards, please click on the images.

Soapbox: February 2010 Spartan Sprint

NG7Z
Elecraft K-1 @5W, 2L yagi for 40M, 80M loop at 90ft. Missed last month so was determined to make this month. Great conditions coast to coast and it's been a long time coming. A rather slow start but q's came more quickly as time rolled on. 25 q's and 17 states on 40 in one hour. Had to break it off at 0300Z but got back at 0330Z and hit 80M. IA MI GA WI NV and TX. Best DX on 80M was John K4BAI. As usual, Jim WA9TZE was pounding in S-9. Nice to see Alan KO7X in the mix. Wonder where N6RO went? Thanks for the q's and cu next month.

KK5NA
Started a bit late Monday night. Ran a K3 @ 5W. ANT = EDZ @ 55'

WBØOEW
Stayed on 40m, good sigs, low QRN. K1 @ 5W into EF dipole. N5GW's 1W booming into AZ from MS all evening. Sri for confusion, W9CJS. TNX everyone!

KFØN
WOW!  What a contest!  There were more stations on the air than I have heard in quite a long time.  Amazing what a little more sunshine on the old "F" layer plus some new sunspots can do for the HF spectrum.  Conditions on 40M were wonderful.  So many guys were calling at times that I know I missed some of you and I apologize for that! I spent the past month  repackaging the old ATS-3 rig and building a new "finger tapper" key from some ABS plastic stock in the work shop here.  The key turned out great but the operator definitely cannot send for sour apples with the new key!  What a disaster as many of my friends out there who tried to copy me can attest!  I guess that project will require some more work or a new key design for future Sprints! Many thanks to all of the gang who made this contest a memorable one indeed.  Lots of old faces and some new ones as well.  It looks like QRP is alive and well.  Thanks to ARS for a wonderful evening.  I hope to see all of you folks again next month.

AB9CA
Well I sure enjoyed it from this end - not sure how much fun you guys had digging me out!  Station was an ATS-3 with White Rook paddles and power was 4 AA alkaline cells so power out was maybe 1w at the beginning but it fell as the evening went along. Using the Elecraft dummy load I measured it when the sprint was over and got 0.9w on 80, 0.75 on 40, and 0.68 on 20. So if you pulled me out give yourself a big 'ataboy!  40 was the main band with 15 Q's, then 4 on 20, and 3 on 80. QSB was not too bad and the noise level was fairly low. Most stations were fairly easy copy but I guess they would be since ya'all were a few dB stronger than me. Only actually lost one, WA7OJY, and there I got everything but the state and then he disappeared. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and struggled to hear me. And thanks to the guys who do all the work to put these on. Always fun! See ya' next month!

K4ORD
I ran my K2 @ 5W ant's were 160M & 40M dipoles and 20M wire vee beam. Made 13 QSOs on 80m, 14 on 40M and 6 on 20M. Conditions seemed pretty good, 20m went dead and then had to go down to 40 & 80.Have a copy of the schedule of this sprint now so maybe I won't forget it next time.

K5JHP
K3 to 20mtr EDZ: 13 Qs on 40; 7Qs on 80.

KO7X
Just got on for a half hour to hand out some QSOs.

N4BP
K3 @ 5W, Sewper Armadillo 40/80 Coax Trap Dipole, N1MM Logger.  Right out of the gate on 40M, Randy, K7TQ, called at about the loudest I've ever heard him.  Further CQs produced nothing and scanning 40M found only Randy calling CQ.  Signals started trickling in shortly and made 37 Qs (including my one DX, NP4KT) before switching to 80M. Loudest on 80M were K4ORD and K4BAI with booming sigs.  Another 11 Qs on 80 made a total of 48, exactly what I had last month!

K4BAI
20M was wide open at the beginning of the Sprint, but few knew it.  40 and 80M were very good with strong signals from all over and skip not too long.  Easily worked AZ, CA, and WA on 40 and best DX was NG7Z in WA on 80M.  Activity is still low and hope that will improve next month.  Thanks for all QSOs.  Especially for three bands from WA9TZE and W5ESE.

W1PID
Operated about a half hour. K4ORD was 10 over S9 here! Best DX was WA9TZE in WI. Thanks to all for the fun.

NI8N
What fun!  Who would have thought you could 'run' with 5 watts.  Worked  1 watt stations over quite a distance.   Lots of GL's and TU's.  Good bunch of guys.

AI3G
Conditions certainly seemed a lot better this month. First time I have heard anyone on 20 meters at night in a long time.   40 Meters seemed pretty good until near the end of the sprint. See everyone next month.

KA8LLE
K-2, 110 ft doublet, 5  watts. Only worked 1 hour, all but 2 contacts on 40, had one on 80, and one on 20. Did not hear much activity on either of those bands. Out of the 12 contacts I had 10 states. Thanks for another fine Spartan Sprint, this was my first in several months and my CW has gotten rusty.

VE3MO
80m was quite noisey last night which was ever so noticable when I removed my headphones after 2 hours of "hash" - "my lord, I've gone deaf!" Anyway, it was a good evening although 40m only gave up 1 contact. I was using my sierra to a windom at 30 feet.

WA9TZE
Rig: Kenwood TS-870. Antennas: two Apha Delta DX-A's at 40 ft with 32 radials at base and 4-8 foot ground rods plus 4-foot ground rod at end of each radial, on 50 ft tower. On top is the Hy gain EX-14 beam at 50 ft acting as a capactive top hat all fed with RG-213 cable. 20m: 16 QSOs, but band ran out after half hour; 40m: 36 QSOs, and lasted for 45 minutes; 80m: 22 QSOs to finish the night. Signals were weak and QRN. Missed 6-10 stations - sorry. Enjoyed the night. Look forward to next month. K4BAI, thanks for 3 band QSOs.

WA5RML
Omni VI at 5 wts to 80M/40M dipole; Vibroplex bug. Missed the first hour, but had fun anyway. Glad to make QSOs on both 40M and 80M. Thanks to KFØN, KK5NA, WB5BKL, WBØOEW, NG7Z, NU7T, W5ESE, and K4BAI!

W5ESE
KD1JV AT Sprint 3, Whiterook MK-44 paddles, 9.6V wall wart.My antenna was a 100m Horizontal Loop. 20 meters was fading
fast at the start of the contest, but was able to snatch a couple QSOs before it petered out. The propagation seemed quite good on 40m. The atmospheric noise was pretty high here on 80m, but the band was open. Participation was outstanding! The 32 contacts I was able to complete may be the most I have ever made in this event. It was good to hear many new participants, as well as old friends.

N8WE
No contacts. Was able to copy N5GW, at 1 watt, from ms on my Softrock Lite 40 receiver using the attic dipole. What a really sensitive receiver.

K8KFJ
Rig = FT-817nd; Power = 5w; Ants = 80m dipole, 40-10m ground mounted vertical.

WB8ZOM
All on 40 m band in and out in Mi. Rig is QRP Spirit II at 5 watts. Hope to do better next time. Worked: KFØN,NI8H, WA9TZE.

WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5w + 40M EDZepp.  One QSO on 20m, the rest on 40 and 80m. Worked 4 stations on 2 bands:  KF0N, W5ESE, K4BAI and AB9CA (Actually, I worked AB9CA 3 times on 2 bands - I had a senior moment).  Conditions seemed better to me this month.Had fun.

W8YMO
It's Harry, near Cleveland, OH.

AA9KH
All QSOs were on 80 metres at 5 watts output. A li'l more publicity about your events, please. Ops calling "CQ SP" didn't give me ANY clue. Will come up with a better rig before next time.

WA7OJY
K1/88' Doublet @ 30 feet. Nice to have some better condx.  From Southern California I was able to work most regions of the country except the north east states.  AB9CA's 1 watt from Alabama was also workable from here.  NG7Z had a great signal from Washington state.  I'm looking forward to the next one!

W9CJS
Blessings and 73.

K5GQ
5W  ATS-3  dipole. Had trouble hearing stations on 20m; maybe a rig problem. 40M seemed closer to normal. I had low noise.

K7TQ
Good to get back in a Sprint. Always a good sign when you can make a QSO in the first 30 seconds, especially when it is with N4BP. WA9TZE had a great signal. Noteworthy was N5GW at 1 Watt. Could only get half an hour in, but great time on 40 m. Hope to catch many of you in FYBO this Saturday.

KI4FW
Lots of fun on 80m. TUBBY: 16 QSOs, 14 states / provinces. About 10 lbs. worth of radio + dipole + coax. 

Results: January 2010 Spartan Sprint

 

Soapbox: January 2010 Spartan Sprint

W1PID
I operated for about 45 minutes and stayed on 80m the whole time using an MFJ Cub at 2W to a Windom OCF dipole. I used a 750 ma lithium ion battery. What a hoot! There were quite a few stations on 80. Best DX was KO7X in WY! Thanks all and HNY!

K9IS
12 QSO'S: 4 on 40 METERS; 8 on 80 METERS; 10 SPCs

N7RVD
Worked 80 meters tonight from Florala State Park - right on the border between Florida and Alabama. Wouldn't ya think this far south it would be higher than 25 F? Can't do anything. Might as well play on the radio. Condx poor. Lots of noise. Worked up and down the east coast, a few Midwest and Texas stations, and nothing from the west coast. Tnx. See you next month.

KB5JO
All contacts on 80M using SW+80 / 2W / 88' doublet.

KFØN
I started out on 40M but the skip was very long so QSY'ed to 80M which proved to be the band to be on tonight. Thanks to all of you who participated. There were not too many strong signals on 80M tonight but managed to work a few of you. I have a rather high local power line noise level so I am sorry for the few I heard under the sizzle of Alliant Power Company lines that I just couldn't pull through the ear buds! Maybe next month. WD4MSM had a great signal from Indiana with 2 watts and so did Jim, W1PID from New Hampshire. Congratulations to both of you! Not many stations heard west of here except KO7X from my old home state of Wyoming. Nice to work you! A fun contest for the middle of Winter. See you fellas next month.

NØAR
Good to hear so many familiar calls. 20 and 40 were dead, only worked 80 with an S-7 noise level, Yikes! Kind of ironic 5 watts RF and 500 watt heater to keep warm. It was fun!


WD4MSM
All of my contacts were on 80 meters. Our local operators were clogging up 40 meters and that made 40 meters unusable for Sprint purposes for me. What a great group of operators took part. They must be great operators because they were able to drag my puny signal out of the mud. I had contacts from Maine to the state of Washington, but most of the contacts were close by in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, etc. (I'm located in northern Indiana). I tried 160 meters but nary a signal was heard. After just an hour and a half the signals disappeared (or maybe the operators disappeared) and I did not have a single contact in the last half hour! Thanks to the Adventure Radio Society for putting on the Sprint.

K8KFJ
Got on the air late but picked up a quick 10 contacts on 80m. My thanks to KB2FEL, W4VHH, KD2MX, KFØN, VE3MO, K4BAI, K4AVX, N7RVD, NØAR and KEØG for the QSOs and points. The band sounded in good shape here on my end. Many thanks for the sponsorship.

KD9KC
Things were not going well at work today - typical for a Monday following a holiday weekend. But I managed to get home with enough time to get the radio and tuner set up and checked out. Working from inside the house again - no headphones, so my station weight is 2.90 pounds. Glass of tea, pad and
pencil... 20m is dead. WOW - nothing but heterodynes on 30m - looks like 40m it is but it might be another rough one. Worked 40m the first hour plus - averaged 4 Qs an hour, got GA, FL, AL, GA. Switched to 80m at 0310Z. 80M was worse than 40m. At first I thought there was no hope, I had an S-8 noise level. But the band started to get better, and I struggled through 4 more Qs with MN, WI, MN and TX for 8 Qs total. About 0350 I started calling CQ - thought I heard a W9C-something calling me, but it just was not to be. Sorry, we ran out of time. THANKS to all for slowing to my speed - and Happy New Year.

N4BP
Wow, condx on 80M must have been fantastic for me to be able to copy 21 stations through the noise - and some of them were quite strong! Even worked my first Spartan Sprint DX in many moons, NP4KT with a good signal also on 80M. I probably missed a few due to the noise, but condx seemed much better on 80M than usual. But 40M, another story, and 20M dead from the start as expected.

WA8HSB
Got a late start so I missed any activity on 40 or 20m. Used my TS-850S at 5 watts and 18AVQ vertical again. Tnx to all! Hope to be on next month from PA (business trip) with my KX1. See you then.

K5JHP
K3 running 5 watts to 20mtr EDZ; 6 Qs on 40; 16 Qs on 80.

KO7X
It's been a long time since I participated in one of these. Heard some familiar calls and worked some unfamiliar calls. Mostly 5W stations but a couple of 2W and one 1W station. One station gave me 200W. I had one duplicate QSO so I did not count it. I did not hear anyone on 20M and did not even listen on 10 or 15. Both 80 and 40 were fair. I run 5 watts output from an FT1000. The antennas are: 80 - 1/2 wavelength sloper; 40 - inverted V dipole hanging off a 66' tower. I operated for about one hour. QTH is Carpenter, Wyoming - about 20 miles east of Cheyenne.


K4BAI
FT1000MP, 5W, WM-2 QRP Wattmeter, dipole, zepp, inverted vee. 20 was dead as expected. 40 was pretty good, but activity was light (but better than last month). 12 QSOs on 40 from PA and OH to FL and from as far west as TX and NM (Doc, KØEVZ). Sorry couldn't raise WØMHS. 80M was OK, but signals from outside the 4th call area were generally much weaker than last month. 28 QSOs from ME to FL and from MN, IA, WY, to TX. I thought once I heard N9BT calling, but couldn't hear a response. Sorry if I missed any callers. Thanks for all the QSOs and Happy New Year to everyone. Hope to work you all in NAQP CW this Saturday.

KD2MX
Conditions were decent for a change on both 40 & 80. 80M was interesting. KB2FEL in WV had a huge signal here in NJ. I meant to give him 599 but sent the more traditional 559. 1PID is usually very strong from NH but I could barely copy his signal in the Sprint.


WA9TZE
Seemed like slim pickings on 40m but made 14 qso's in one hour-most med-weak. Ran out at 00300z. Went to 80m and slightly more activity getting 20 qso's in the final hour. Last 30 min was very weak with qrn/qsb and may have missed a few-sorry. Had a good time as always and look forward to next month. [had 19 states from MA to WA-6 from TX] Happy New year to all.

AI3G
First Spartan Sprint in quite a while. Rig - FT857 @ 5 watts; Antenna - random wire in garage. Not great results but still fun to try. Too cold to go outside (26 degrees) and try to work it. See you again next month.

KØZK
It's been a year or two since my last Spartan Sprint. I just happened upon it at 0255Z so I missed the first hour. I stayed on 80 metres since propagation seemed pretty good. QTH is Kennebunkport, Maine.

K4AVX
Worked the sprint with ATS-3. May go back to tubby since holding the little plastic paddles down to have half a chance to send with them was a pain. Don't have the knack of loading the memories in the little rig yet, and my sending was horrific. Recent snow storm took one end of my doublet down, so it's at 8 feet now.

W8YMO
Some strong 80 meter signals with QRS. QTH is Ohio. K3 running 5W.

W5ACM
That has got to be one of the most difficult Spartan Sprints for me! I had six contacts on 40M and five on 80M. My ears were ringing from the noise on 80M when the batteries in my ATS-3A finally started sagging. I can't wait for some 20M ops! Come on sunspots!

VE3MO
Real tough conditions last night with very fast qsb. I was using a K2 at 5 watts to a windom antenna up 30 feet. Almost quit in the first 15 minutes but persevered until just after 2200 local time.

K4JPN
40M seemed dead and worked only one station, 80M was the band to be on.

AB9CA
Station was K2 @ 5w to Inv Vee draped over an oak tree. Made 12 contacts on 40 and 12 on 80. Worked for about 70 minutes. No activity on 20 at all and 40 was kinda slow. Better on 80 and the noise was not too bad. Enjoyable evening, as always. Thanks to everyone who stopped by. See ya' next month!


KB2FEL
Worked my FT 817 at one watt on internal battery into a G5RV up about 55 ft. Lots of QSB but had a great time.


KG4FXG
Sorry, I would have made more but late start because I had to run GTN 3549 slow CW net and I have a 4 year old. I was at 5 watts in Lawrenceville, GA.

WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5w + 40M EDZepp. Updated the firmware (and corrected a pilot error) on the K3, which made for much easier listening. Just 2 QSOs on 40M - all others on 80M. The 'patience of Job' award goes to the WA8?H? station who tried valiantly to get me to pull him out of the mud - without any luck. Had fun.

NØEAX
I enjoyed the event with my OHR-400 and 80 meter inverted vee operating from Missouri. All contacts were on 80 meters. I ran 5 watts but several I contacted ran less power. It is interesting to learn just how well 1 or 2 watts can perform. Also, I listened and found that many, if not most of the S&P operators, repeat the call of the station calling CQ rather than just their own call. I continue to learn more with each QRP event.

KEØG
QTH MN. Ran a K-3 at 5 watts to a switchable pair of 74' dipoles up about 50' fed with balanced lines and a Matchbox. Also connected one dipole as a vertical with a 74' top hat "T" with the best luck. All QSO's on 80M. Big Signal was N0EAX from MO. QSO's included FL, GA, AL, to TX, ME, WV, and WA.