Soapbox Comments: July '11 Spartan Sprint

KD2MX

Have not played in a sprint in too many months.  Broke out the K1 for a good time.  Not much on 20M but did ok on 40M.  Could not stay around for the entire two hours though.  Ran K1@4W to my zig-zaggy ~600' loop up about 25-30'.

KH6B

Worked WB5BKL on 20 at 0255 utc  He was 559 into Hilo HI. His signal was 589 just before the end of the SPRINT. WB5BKL was the only station I could read 0100-0300. Others were heard very weak 0230-0300 with much QSB. I was using my K2 at 5w

and a R5 vertical. Aloha.

WB5BKL

K3/10 @ 5W to a 20M wire delta loop or a 40M extended double Zepp. Called on 10, 15 and 80M but only made QSOs on 20 and 40.  Only worked K4BAI on both bands. Also had a QRO QSO, but didn't count that in the total.  Final contact was with Hawaii - that was pleasant.  No fireworks here due to the fire danger, so it was

a nice end to the 4th.  My thanks to all.  Had fun.

NQ2W

Went back to the homebrew Ten-Tec 1340 to a 40m inverted vee at 40 feet. This limits me to one band but reduces my weight by a factor of four. All in all, always a lot of satisfaction out of making contacts with a homebrew key, keyer, rig, antenna supports, and antenna. No complaints from this station. Thanks to everyone that made it into my log. Hope to see you all and more next month...maybe I'll have my OHR 100-A for 20 meters done by then.

K4ORD

Started on 20M had 8 qso's there from GA to WA, on 40M where the QRN was rough made 26 qso's with best dx AB0CD in CO. A few stations I was unable to copy in the QRN on 40M, nice to work John, K3WWP  in the closing seconds of the sprint.  looking forward to next month, tnx to all.

W5FBQ

4 contacts using HW-9  and 1 contact using FT-817  Butternut vertical w/radials.

K4BAI

FT1000MP, 5W, TH6DXX, dipole 40, inverted vee dipole 80.  Low bands were very noisy from local thunderstorms.  20M was fair, but needed more activity.  40 signals were strong with no skip zone. Worked two other stations in my state (GA). 80M: worked only N4DU on a QSY from 40M.  Hope for more activity next month. Thanks for all QSOs.  I will be W4AN in the IARU contest this weekend.

K1YAN

Thunderstorms, about 60 miles away, provided S9+ QRN on 80 and 40, limiting things to 20 meters. Propagation was not great but I managed to add 2 QSOs to my previous total. FT-817 @ 5 watts to a G5RV @ 30 ft.

W1PID

Operated about 20 minutes with HB-1A OCF dipole. Thanks all for the QSOs.

WB4MNK

20 was nice and quite but 40 was noisy so sorry if I was unable to copy you call but maybe next when 40 is not as noise. Had fun and was able to work K3RLL Don in PA who is responsible for getting me interested in this QRP CW stuff.

WD8KRV

Got in for the last 45 minutes on 20 meters.  Lots of local QRN due to storms.  Worked 1, but heard 3.

K3RLL

Limited time but nice to hear so many familiar calls tonight with pretty good conditions on 40 meters. Nothing heard here on 20 or 80.

K5JHP

K3 TO 20 METER EDZ  DIDN'T FIND TOO MANY STATIONS ON.  20 METERS WAS GOOD.  1 CTC ON 40 HERE ON THE TX COAST.

Results: June 2011 Spartan Sprint

Soapbox Comments: June 2011 Spartan Sprint

WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5 Watts to a 40M extended double-Zepp and a 20M wire delta loop.  Tried 15m with no luck.  Made 12 QSOs on 20M, 7 on 40M and 3 on 80M.  Worked N4BP on three bands and four others on two bands.  Nice to hear some new (to me) calls - Thanks to all.  Had fun.


NQ2W
Ended up going the tubby route this month. Used my Ten-Tec Jupiter at 5 watts with assorted accessories to a mini beam at 25 feet, an inverted vee for 40 meters at 40 feet and a ground mounted homebrew vertical antenna for 80 meters. The money band was 20 meters - I haven't operated 20 meters during a Spartan Sprint in a long time, if ever!!! Made a few Q's on 40 meters - about the same number as when I use my Ten-Tec 1340 homebrew. Was hoping to add some 80 meter Q's to the log but no SP'ers there - maybe next month. Thanks to everyone that participated and thanks to the organizers. The Spartan Sprint always makes for an enjoyable evening. Hope to hear you all next month. 


AA5CK
K1 at 5w into wire vertical. Too much fun!. Thanks to all!


AE7CG
Thanks to W5ESE for the QSO!


K1YAN
First Spartan Sprint. Only 5 Qs with a Yaesu FT-817 running 500 mW and a G5RV at 30ft. Lots of QSB on 20 and not many Sprint signals on 40.


W8YMO
Elecraft K3 near Cleveland.


N8WE
N4BP'S 20mtr signal was "BIG"!!! My power was 100 MW to outside dipole 12' high.


K9JWV
Ran 5 watts out of my ATS-4 to a new 43 foot vertical with an autotuner at the base.  Condx on 20 were the pits (2 Qs) but 40 kinda started kicking in about an hour into the event but it just wasn't that much fun the first hour with only 12 Qs so I pulled the plug.  Great to work Bob, N4BP, on 20 and 40, with the new antenna, especially getting a good report from him on 40!


W1PID
ATS-4 at 4W with an OCF dipole. Band conditions were pretty good. Best DX NK6A in CA and W7OM in WA. Highlight was working Bob N4BP on 3 bands. I miss the old spirit and the participation. Thanks all.


W5ESE
 Rig is a KD1JV AT Sprint 3 (@3W), with a 9.6V wall wart and Whiterook MK-44 paddles. Antenna is a 300' horizontal loop, fed with open wire line. 40m was the money band for me this evening. Was disappointed not to hear more activity on 80m. Will also submit my log to ARRL's 'Logbook of the World.'


WB8LZG
Operated 20m fer abt 1/2 hr of the sprint. Vy gud condx with good sigs. Even K1YAN wid 1/2 watt doing FB here in Michigan. I'm a bit on the "tubby" side this month, K2 powered by deep cycle marine battery, and solar charged. Not exactly portable, but getting ready for Field Day.


NK6A
K3 at 5W to a Force 12 and using a new to me Graciella Begalli paddle. A lot of QRN and marginal conditions in So. CA. tonight. A few Candians and one Hawaiian station from the back of the beam.


W5ACM
I started on 20M and stayed there with the exception of a single contact with WB5BKL on 40M and a single contact (once again) with WB5BKL on 80M. Conditions were not great, but acceptable. It was fun making contacts on 20M with NY, WA, CA, CO, OH, FL and LA. The antique vertical was working well and the 170 mAh LiPo cells did great, even with periods of calling CQ. The power output stayed around 3 Watts for the duration.


WT5RZ
Began the night with WB5BKL on 20M and he finished me up on 40M. In between, I had a contact with XE1MW, Carlos of Mexico, who I do not believe knew he was catching a sprinter, but who was nice enough to make the exchange. I hope he comes back and joins us.  Lots of noise at my QTH, everything seemed S7 or more, so passed many really faint signals, especially those ganged up in such a narrow range!


WØCH
It's been a while since I've worked the SP, but really enjoyed working the gang tonight.  Hope to participate more often in the future.


K4ORD
Worked FL,MN,CA on 20M, then to 40M where I had S7 to S9 QRN,best dx was WA, hope I got everyone that called. Thanks to all.


K6CSL
Surprised with KH6B in Hawaii on 15 meters.


KD6KC
Tough night.  20m yielded 2 contacts, 40m got me another 6, for 8 total.  My son has just decided that he is getting married, wonderful news. www.qrz.com/db/kc0wky.  He called on the phone and that took about 30 min. out of my time.  Still - the bands were rough.  I skipped over the stations running 100+ wpm and stuck to the guys around a sedate 15 wpm or so.  And I got to work my friend Jim in Utah.  Congrats to Ron WT5RZ - he beat me! Thanks to the eight who heard me.  Better luck next month, but I will be in Germany with an Alex-Loop.  I might give it a try - so listen for me at about 15 wpm.


WB4MNK
Had fun and 20 meters was working real good. Thanks to all that I made contact with and hope to see everyone next month.


NKØE
played for about an hour using my K1 w/internal lithium AAs running about 2W into a half-size G5RV along the side of the house. Used my mouse paddle and logged with GOLog on my Handspring Visor connected to a portable Targus keyboard. This is going to be my setup for FD this year and the Sprint gave me a chance to see how things would work. Condx didn't seem great but if I could hear 'em I could work 'em.


N4BP
20M was outstanding for the first 30 minutes.  QRN on 40M is getting potent as we approach summer in the SE, but many signals were well above the noise.  Even managed to squeak out a couple of QSOs on 80M.  Thanks for the Qs.

Results: May 2011 Spartan Sprint

Soapbox Comments: May 2011 Spartan Sprint

WB5BKL
K1 @ 5 Watts to a 40M extended double-Zepp and a 20M wire delta loop.  Since the K1's little tuner cannot get a good match on 40M, I operated only on 20M.  It appears that everyone migrated down after about 0145Z.  I only made two additional QRP QSOs in the last hour.  I did make several additional Qs with QRO stations (20 to 100W) but they are not 
included in my total.  The 20M delta loop has directivity NE/SW so it is nicely effective northeast of Texas.  Had fun.


WA8HSB
This month business took me to Forsyth, GA.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get my W3EDP up as high as I would have liked and I got started late but, it was fun playing with my ATS3 again!  Thanks to all who dug my 2W out of the noise.  See you next month.


K4ORD
Started on 20M,band was open but only made 2 qso's , then on to 40M where I made 21 more, then to 80M where I made 4. Heard a WA8??? on 40M but unable to get his call, had a noise level of S7 to S8 and about the same level on 80M. Until next month.


NQ2W
Ten Tec 1340 to an inverted vee at 40 feet. Seemed like quite a bit of actvitiy again this month. There were a lot of stations, not just ARS Sprinters, in our bit of the 40 meter spectrum. I seriously considered going tubby and firing up the Jupiter to take advantage of its fine filtering...maybe next month I'll run an experiment. That's what happened with KD9KC...he was calling and I responded...I didn't get his state and asked for a repeat...then the QRM. NIL ... Hopefully, next time we'll complete the QSO...I hope you're not the same station I said that to last month. Hi Hi Thanks for a great event. I look forward to it every month. Thanks to all the participants and thanks to the organizers.


AI3G
Icom 756 Pro II at 5 watts, Hustler mobile vertical in attic.   Band conditions seemed better tonight than in the recent past.   Still a fun contest for a limited amount of time.  See you next month.


W5ESE
Used my AT Sprint 3 and 300' HOHPL. Terrible QRN from power line noise in wet weather on 40m. All QSO's on 20m this month.


W5ACM
I started on 20M. Conditions were not great, but acceptable. The first half hour was good for contacts with NG7Z, K4BAI and W4VHH. Then things slowed down a lot. I checked out 80M and managed a contact with AB9CA, but had far too much noise to continue. Back on 20M conditions were still good, but I only found two more stations. The grand total was six QSOs - five on 20M, and one on 80M. The antique vertical was working well and the new 170 mAh LiPo cells did great, even with periods of calling CQ. The power output stayed around 3 Watts for the duration.


AB9CA
Rig was the K2 at 5w to either the OCF dipole (E/W) or the 100' center fed wire (N/S), used both at different times. A fun evening. 20 did not seem to be too active with only 4 Q's early and one additional later - 5 SPC's though. 40 was the workhorse with 25 Q's and 16 SPC's. On 80, which was rather noisy but not too bad, managed 6 Q's and 5 SPC's. Thanks to everyone that stopped by. Worked K3RLL, K4BAI, K4ORD, K8CV, NG7Z, WA8HSB on 2 bands but no one on three. Somehow John, K4BAI, managed to hear me, and me him, on 20. That band is getting better! See ya'all next month! Special thanks to Richard and Chris and any others that do the work to make these fun events possible.


VE3HNE
First time on this sprint and hope to be back for the next one. Spent all my time doing S and P. thanks to all the stations that I worked. The rig here is a Yaesu ft-920 tuned back to 5 watts. Antenna on 20m was a Jr tribander up 30 feet, on 40m a dipole up at 27 feet. Will be looking forward to the next spring.


WA5BUC
Boy, what a night! The bands were a mess. I thought I had the wrong night. Then I heard AB9CA calling on 40. Made the Q. Worked KD5GM. Strongest signal of the night. Struggled to find stations working the Sprint. Went up and down the bands. Nothing until I found K4BAI on 40 late in the Sprint. Also heard AB9CA continuing to call for contacts. Not sure what his success was tonight, but give him an A+ for effort!


K6CSL
The bands were very good this evening. I had lots of fun with this one.


KD9KC
Not a good night as far as the sprint goes.  I worked a 12 hour shift, got relieved 1 hour before the start.  Fought traffic to get home, slammed down dinner...  my station was still in the backpack from our last SOTA outing.  Fortunately, the Li-Fe-Po battery was still fully charged. Started about 30 seconds late.  Worked 5 stations on 20m, then nothing.  Got one call on 40m, but he was sending about 50 percent faster than I can copy so I gave up and started CQing again.  Tried 80m, not a single signal.  Then I caught WT5RZ on 40m again.  He is 15 miles away, 40m was great.  We tried 80m and it was good.  Tried 20 with no success, but surprisingly 15m worked! 10m and 6m were not successful.  We were just going for 160m when we ran outof time.  I heard F3ND calling CQ on 40m, so it was either my neighbor or DX
tonight on 40m. I will be off in June - looks good for the sprint.  July will see me in Germany activating SOTA - no sprint for me that month.


WT5RZ
Arrived home from work real late. Conditions were noisy. I broke out the fat radio and started punching filters and noise reduction wothout much luck. The few folks I heard, would come, and then disappear; chasing ghosts. Tagged KD9KC, local, 3X! No threat from a fat man!


NG7Z
Finally had time to give the SS a full time effort. Started on 20M and worked John K4BAI right off the bat. Used the second radio to CQ on 15M but nothing heard. By  0142Z 20 more Q's were in the log. When CQing produced no new contacts, I spun the dial looking for new calls but none heard. Out here on the west coast, 40M isn't quite ready but worked it for one hour and picked up 6 more. I listened on the second radio between CQ's on 20M and 80M hoping to find more stations. Picked up NU7T on 80M for the only contact on that band. Was hoping Randy K7TQ would show up on 80M because I worked him on 40M. CQ'd on 80M for the last 15 mins while listening on 40M. Picked up K4ORD there for the final contact. Overall, I felt like 40M was not in good shape here. Great time had and thanks for the Q's.


K4BAI
20M was good with some close in QSOs.  40M was quite good with no skip zone.  80M was a bit noisy but got three QSOs there. By band:  20M:  13.  40M: 26.  80M: 3. Thanks for all QSOs.  Look for me from Bonaire PJ4/K4BAI May 24-31 and in CQ WPX CW as PJ4A.


WB4MNK
Another fun night of QRP cw. Will see every one next month.


WA8PGE
I was using my Softrock 6.3 RXTX SDR with my laptop running Rocky and a 5 watt amp, most QSO's were on 40, a few on 20. Antenna is an inverted Vee at 30' I switched off my amp towards the end of the contest and ran 1 watt and made a few more qso's on 40. This was my first log submission for any contest, it was a lot of fun.


KD5GM
Had a great time on the air. I only ran 40 meters since it is my current antenna. One of my 3 contacts was from Mexico City. My qrp was 5 watts since it is as low as the radio will tune. FT 897 to a vee at 30'. I'll be back again.


K3RLL
Nice to hear so many familiar calls and some new ones.  Thanks for pulling me out of the noise.


KB5JO
Fun and simple.


N8WE
Used VE7SL Tini Tuna Xmitter at 100mw to an attic dipole. Longest SP contact was NG7Z, WA. for 1957 Miles. QRPP is fun! Receiver- IC 735.

Results: April '11 Spartan Sprint

Soapbox Comments: April '11 Spartan Sprint

NQ2W
TenTec 1340 to an inverted vee at 40 ft. Seemed like there was quite a bit of activity and there were some stations I heard but didn't work because I couldn't get through the mini pile ups. I tuned away from them and, when I came back, they were gone. There was one station who called me and I just couldn't get his call because of QRN and QSB. Hopefully, next time we'll complete the QSO. For the most part, signals were tough copy but NK9G and K4ORD were FB into Albany. My homebrew paddle was acting up and made my sending less than acceptable - I apologize and hopefully have it adjusted for next month. Thanks to all of the participants and thanks to the organizers. Hope to see you all next month.


K5GQ
Rig ATS-3; 5w; Force 12 C3SS; 40' ; dipole for 40M. Audio was low on 20M but OK on 40M not sure what could cause that. Did not hear many stations on 40M.


WB5BKL
K1 @ 5 Watts to a 40M extended double-Zepp and a 20M wire delta loop.  I knew it was not going to be a good night when the K3 cratered minutes before the start of the sprint.  I had to scramble to get the K1 wired and connected -it was evident that I need both more organization and standardization around here.  The K1 (a 2-bander) did well on 20m but it did not like the 40M ED-Zepp.  I made 7 Qs on 20M and 4 on 40M (with a big miss-match).  40M seemed on the noisy side to me.  Oh well.  Had fun.


W9CJS
Tough night.  I guess most of us were watching the NCAA Basketball finals.  The storm front east of us made receiving difficult even with DSP on and the narrow filter in ... But, as usual I had fun.   K4ORD and K4BAI had terrific signals into the Chicago area.  Other stations were typically 459.


WA8HSB
This month found me in northwestern MS near Clarksdale on business.  Rig was my KX-1 @ 3 watts to my BuddiStick.  Was only able to operate for a short period and there was quite a bit of QRN and wind in the area due to the storm that passed through a couple hours earlier.  Thanks to all for making this a fun event!


K5JHP
Was only able to work 45 minutes of the contest. K3 transceiver, 20 meter EDZ on 20 and 40. Did not work 80. Be back next month. Condx seem to be getting better.


KIØII
30 minutes to play. 40 very noisy, did not try 80.


K4ORD
Was good to hear 20M open in the sprint, the QRN on 40M was very bad here at least S9, I may have missed some calls because of it. Listened on 80M but only heard QRN. I worked VE3MO and thought he said 5W, but he made it clear through the QRN he was running 500MW, HI. I missed the spring last month as I was building my new K3, it seems to be working great, now I have to get used to all the features, it can go down to 100MW so i can still do QRP with it. Hope to see everybody next month.


NK6A
20M sounded great for the first hour. Many stations in the log at 3W. The weather has turned to Spring so it might be time to head outdoors next month.


W5ESE
High winds in my area created unbelievable QRN.Rig is a KD1JV AT Sprint 3 (@3W), with a 9.6V wall wart and Whiterook MK-44 paddles. Antenna is a 300' horizontal loop, fed with open wire line. Will also submit my log to ARRL's 'Logbook of the World.'


K4BAI
20M was quite good at the start with good signals from New England, WI, TX, WY, and points west.  Unfortunately, I had a logging problem at the start with the computer (my fault) and missed QSOs with K5JHP and K5GQ, who were calling me (very sorry guys).  10 QSOs on 20M.  That band began to close here and I went to 40M. Signals on 40 were quite strong, but QRN was terrible.  A line of strong thunderstorms was just west of us and passed through here an hour after the end of the Sprint.  Think I pulled out everyone who was calling, but may have missed a few under the QRN.  28 QSOs on 40 as close as NC, AL, TN and FL and out to CA and ME.  Only DX was VE3EDX on 20M.  Activity seemed pretty good. Called CQ for a few minutes on 80M in the last 20 minutes, but heard no Sprinters under the very heavy QRN.  Heard K6JSS/5 in NM on 20 and 40, but don't believe he was in the Sprint.  Please join in the GA QSO Party this weekend. There are QRN awards for CW, SSB, and mixed modes.  Click here for details. It is our 50th year of GQP and we expect activity from all 159 counties.  I will be operating the KU8E/M station with N4DU.  Our call will be W4R/M and we hope to operate in 35 GA counties.  Work special one-by-one calls to spell out G-E-O-R-G-I-A for a special certificate.  Also special recognitions for any who (like myself) operated in the first GQP in 1962 and in this year's event.


W1PID
ATS-4 at 3W with 8AA cells. OCF dipole. Operated for about 35 minutes. Best DX: NK6A in CA. 20M kept dying and coming back to life. Thanks all for the fun.


WT5RZ
Worked KD9KC on 40 and 80, we tried 20M early and late, but that was just a no go. WC7S, I worked twice but only once counts, thanks though because he is my first Wyoming CW contact, and that made the night worth it! WB6BKL, I am sorry, I seem to really have a hard time on your call sign. I guess I better work on that some.


W5ACM
My ATS-3a does not tune 15M, so I started on 20M. I heard someone working WA5BUC here in town. I heard and worked many regulars, but also some new ones in Wyoming, California and Florida. It was very good, but about 50 minutes into the event, the battery voltage began to sag. I checked out 40M and 80M, but got only noise with some unworkable signals buried in the QRN. The grand total was eight QSOs on 20M. It was GREAT to get back on 20M with the antique vertical. I checked the batteries and found that the recent 190 mAh replacement cell was puffing up. This is not a good sign for a Li-Po cell. Both cells have been retired - one to the trash, and the other (still hanging in there) to the Li-Po collection. I found two new 170 mAh, 3.7 V Li-Po cells in the shack and have installed them. First I cleaned out old epoxy, removed excess solder on the power leads, and got it all together without shorting anything out. It is important to keep the weight down! We will see if these new replacements can perform next month.


KD9KC
Yaesu FT-817 @ 5 watts. I was able to get my station weight a bit lower this contest.  First, I pulled the internal battery pack, and used 3 A-123 LIFEPO4 cells in series externally.  They have a really high power density, and only weigh 3 ounces each or 9 ounces total.  Next, I picked up a little key on E-bay that only weighs 1.44 ounces.  The old key was 3.73 ounces. 20m=5, 40m=6, 80m=1.  Once again 40m was the band.  I started off on 20m, and made only 4 contacts - K5GQ, K4BAI, NK6A and W5ACM.  Good start.  On 40m, I quickly worked WT5RZ, K4BAI, NK6A, W5ESE and WB5BKL.  Not bad for 40m.  After fruitlessly calling CQ on 40m a while, I went to 80m.  On 80m, I worked WT5RZ.  Now, WT5RZ is a good friend, and he lives about 15 miles away.  That was it for 80m.  I went back to 40m and caught KI0II, then back to 20m and really struggled to get K4ORD.  Thank you James for trying on that one - it was rough.  For the last 31 minutes I called CQ everywhere - no others heard. I am on day-shift next month, so I will just make it home in time.  CU-all then.


WC7S
Was great warm up and fun to hear lots of friends, K4BAI - John Mr. Ears of Ga, K6CSL - Bert, Mr Patience of Ca, W5AJD and W5HNS and all the other great ops too. The radio is an AT4 with a 9v battery, and 720 foot of wire on 40 and a lonely vertical on 20. C U next time, with a serious effort... and a little radio. Thanks for all the fun.


WB4MNK
Had fun on 20,40 but QRN on 40 kept me from working 4 other stations. Just could not pull them through.


WA5BUC
Bands were noisier than I expected tonight, especially 40 and 80. Heard some activity on 15 before the Sprint, so started there. No response to my CQ. Then on to 20. 5 Q's there. My remaining 2 were on 40. Heard no Sprint activity on 80 tonight. 72's to all. Hope next month is better for us all.


AI4SV
I was running 5W to a ground-mounted vertical, more or less resonant on 40m. I've only participated since the winter, so this was my first time have contacts on 20m -- three of them towards the beginning of the event, two of them in Texas. Forty should be my strong band given antenna resonance, but in addition to my local noise there was some strong QRN. I poked down to 80m at couple points, but only heard one station calling. I called for the last 15 minutes or so, but no bites. I'm really looking forward to the next few SSs and hopefully some nice weather. I'm keen to try out my TenTec 1320 and for once weigh in as a skinny.


AB9CA
Rig was K2 at 5w to OCF dp at 40'. Quit after 30 minutes. The storms were too close and too loud. There was someone, W9C??, calling at the end but he was nearly completely drowned out by the noise. Figured that was an omen. Thanks to those who stopped by. 9 contacts on 20 and 5 on 40. 20 sounded good but soon ran out of folks who could hear me. 40 was much too noisy. Fun, if to short of a time. See you next month.