Thursday, April 5, 2012
Soapbox Comments: April '12 Spartan Sprint
W1PID
Operated for half an hour with an HB-1B at 4W. Bands very noisy but worked NK6A in CA on 20.Thanks everyone for the contacts.
K3RLL
Clock coming up near 9 PM ... Rig on .... Computer booted ... Antenna up (in dark) ... 8:58 PM ... Ready .... 8:59 PM ... Set .... 9:00 PM ... ring ... ring ... ring
... and at exactly 9 PM EDT, the phone rings. Ever happen to you? Oh well, another abbreviated session but still nice to work familiar and friendly Spartan Sprinters
even if I didn't hear too many tonight. Thanks to KI6SN and those who put on the Sprints. These are fun.
K7TQ
I was in Missoula, MT so I did the sprint from the motel parking lot using my K2 and a 7 AHr gel cell and logged with an old Palm and GOLog. It was just as much fun
as getting to the field for the Sprints like I used to do during the summer months. The MT rather than ID caught some folks who recognized where I ought to have been.
NK6A, K4BAI, and K4ORD caught me on both 20 and 40. 20 held up quite a while, for more than 45 minutes, a sure sign of spring. Catch you all next month.
AI4SV
Hadn't been in the sprint for a while and felt like hopping back in. I had bad noise across the board, probably from a local source. 20 was clear, but started longish.
40 was noisy but I made most of my contacts there -- thanks for heroic listening on the part of K3RLL. On 80, at first I heard a few calls, all on 3560.5. That spot
later thinned to K4BAI, who sounded very echoey, so probably some weird multipath thing going on. A bit up the band, I could hear NQ2W well, but he couldn't hear me.
I'm sure there are plenty of people who heard my CQs, but I couldn't hear their replies, so sorry! Looking forward to doing this again with skinnier equipment and
better conditions.
K6CSL
I started about 10 minutes late this evening. Opened on 10M, nothing there. Went to 15M, nothing there. Moved to 20M and worked there for a 1/2 hour, working V
E3EUR/VE7 up in BC. Then moved to 40M for about 1/2 hour, working John, K4BAI and Don, NK6A, friends from the QRP Fox Hunts. Good to work you fellows in Spartan
Sprint. As a note, where has all the info on ARS and specifically Spartan Sprint gone to. I tried to use the link from the WB7NBM Contest Calendar and the link is no l
onger good. Is a new link being established. (NOTE: The ARS Spartan Sprint Internet home is: < http://www.ARSqrp.blogspot.com >. - KI6SN)
NK6A
Noisy static lousy conditions from Mar Vista tonight. Started om 20 and found K7TQ instantly from MT with a good signal. Everyone else was in the noise. Sun was
shining up until almost 0230 but 20M was giving up at 0200. 40 was not going to happen for me. Managed to snag a VE3 and a few stations from NH. Great K3 filtering
and antenna.
K4BAI
Started out with good rates, good signals, and fair skip on 20M. Then 40M had fair signals and no long skip, but very high QRN. Rates dropped dramatically. Took out a few minutes for the state CW net at 0200Z. 80M had terrible QRN but worked GA, FL, and VA. Think AI4SV called on 80, but couldn't hear his exchange on that band. Best DX was VE3EUR/VE7 on 20M. Thanks for all QSOs and hope for better activity and better conditions next month.
W5ESE
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. First Sprint I've made since
October. Hard to believe so many have slipped past. QRN was high on 40m. Will submit my log to ARRL's 'Logbook of the World'.
W5ACM
My ATS-3a is still on the workbench, so I continue to use the heavier ATS-3 in the Altoids box, but this month with three 300 mAh LiPo batteries. I had enough "juice" for some "CQ" ops, but should have started earlier with "CQ" via 20M. My "el-cheapo" earbuds have turned out to be the most sensitive of all tested, but they do have some distortion. For CW, that's not a problem! Conditions were excellent for almost the first hour via 20M. However, 40M and 80M conditions at my QTH were quite noisy
- only two contacts on 40M this time, and none on 80M.
WB4MNK
Got in late but Enjoyed it. Thanks John K4bai for 80 meter contact.
NQ2W
K1 running 5W to a mini-beam at 25 ft for 20 meters, an inverted vee at 40 ft for 40 meters, and ground mounted, near bottom-loaded vertical for 80 meters. Made 11 Q's on 20 and 7 on 40. Switched filter boards to try 80 but didn't make any Q's there. I thought participation was pretty good again this month. Some signals were strong, some not so strong. There was one station that called but I couldn't copy...maybe next month we'll make it. Thanks to all of the participants and thanks to the
organizers. Hope to hear you all again and more next month.
AB1AV
Got a late start after traffic nets, but for once 20 meters was still alive. Reached TX, MO, AL, and (barely) CA with my 4 Watt ATS3 feeding an 88 foot wire up about
60 feet. Tried to switch to 40 or 80 but either my rig was acting up or we had no propagation, so called or quits after just a half hour. Next month I'll try to stay
in the chair...
K4ORD
Conditions were fair on 20M worked TX, MT, & CA and on 40M made 16 qso's and 80M only one, K4BAI. Signals on 40 were up and down a lot with plenty of QRN ( S8 TO S9 )
Turn out was down from last month maybe the QRN was wide spread? Until next month . . .
Friday, March 9, 2012
Soapbox Comments: March 2012 Spartan Sprint
VE3EDX
Had fun, best DX California.
NQ2W
K1 running 5W to a mini-beam at 25 ft for 20 meters, an inverted vee at 40 ft for 40 meters, and ground mounted, near bottom-loaded vertical for 80 meters. Made 9 Q's on 20, 11 on 40, and 2 on 80. Seemed like there was more participation this month. It was great working the west coast on 20. Signals on 40 were up and down - WA8PGE started out down in the mud but then his 100mW came through loud and clear. Was hoping for more 80 meter activity this month...got it...doubled the Q's there from 1 to 2...maybe next month 2 to 4...then 4 to 8...so on and so on. Thanks to all of the participants and thanks to the organizers. Hope to hear you all again and more next month.
NR7F
This was my first QRP contest in over 3 years after being QRT all that time. I made a snap decision Monday morning to do the sprint. So when I got home from work I dragged out the ATS3 which I had not used for years, threw together as light a weight rig as could, and went at it. 20M was pretty dead, and I don't have an 80M antenna up right now, so I was mostly confined to 40M with 3W using my dipole antenna. I think my farthest contacts were to K4BAI in GA and AB9OA in AL. It was fun to work you all. I really enjoy sprints, especially the Spartan Sprint with it's minimalist philosophy.
KG3W
First time at Spartan Sprint. Lots of FUN! Got back on air 2 months ago. Have been QRT since 1984. Lot's has changed but not my love of CW. Many QRP , 2 and 4 hour sprints to try. Qrp K3, 7 amp hour battery and dipole @ 24 feet. Strongest signal was W1PID, on 40 meters. Continue to be amazed what 5 watts and under can do.
K5JHP
Good outing for a change. Only got to work first 45 minutes. Looking fwd to next month.
K4BAI
FT1000MP, 5W, TH6DXX, dipole, inverted vee. Had traffic net skeds and lost about 15 minutes of the sprint to them. Much better participation on 40 and 20 than many recent sprints, but not much activity on 80 despite good conditions on that band. 20M was open from GA to W1 and VE3 to the north and W5/6/7 to the west. 10 QSOs on that band. 40M was open to VE3 and the west coast, but also as short as AL, NC, and FL. 37 QSOs on 40. 80M had good signals from PA and WI and closer in, but not many of them. Was surprised by a call from V31YN in Belize with a great signal. Only 5 QSOs on 80. Thanks for all QSOs and let's keep up the high activity in future months. Look for me as PJ4/K4BAI March 20-27 and we will use PJ4Z in CQ WPX SSB on that weekend.
W5ACM
I thought I had the problem with my My ATS-3a isolated, but NO! For this Spartan Sprint, I once again used the heavier ATS-3 in the Altoids box. I was experimenting with batteries and earbuds, so the weight ended up fractionally higher this month. Running only two LiPo's for more current, but less output power (3W) and longer operating time. I will likely go back to three smaller-capacity LiPos for the full 5W output. This coming weekend will be a good chance to check the results with the ARCI Grid-Square Sprint using the call W5MSQ - Houston QRP Club outing. I found 20M quite reasonable for the first half hour of the Spartan Sprint this month, but 40M gave a lot more contacts from GA to CA toVA to PA, and all points in between. Nice - 15 QSOs on two bands. Last month I was hoping for better conditions on 20M. I got them, but need more!
K6CSL
I started at 02:00UTC on 10M, found nothing on 10, went to 15, found nothing there, went to 20M and found nothing there, so went on to 40. There I found 4 QSO's. CU all for the next Spartan Sprint.
K4ORD
The turn out was much better this month made 36 on 40M, 4 on 20M & 3 on 80M for a total of 43 QSO'S this was double last months. Conditions were good with 40M a bit noisy. Nice to work WA8PGE @ 100MW from OH. Rig K3@ 5W antennas were 40M dipole up 40' & 80M dipole up 35', used my Bencher paddle. Thanks for all the contacts.
AB9CA
Rig was the usual K2 at 5w to one of 2 100' wires. Activity was moderate this month. I got a late start - must finish dinner! Managed 8 on 20, 2 on 80, and 23 on 40. Best DX was WA and CA. I had hoped for more activity on 80 but it was rather lonely down there. Thanks to everyone who stopped by. Thanks to the organizers who do the work to make these possible. See everyone next month.
KBØKFX
I was happy to come back after a year since my last Spartan Sprint. It was a quick last 30 minutes. I apologize to those who had to listen to be wrestle with my key as I was having technical difficulties. Mike, K7RVX, I tried my best to get your full exchange, but the band dropped out at a bad time. Gear: K1@5W into a Butternut Vertical, American Morse Dirt Cheap Key, and Winkeyer USB.
K7TQ
Pretty good turnout tonight. 20 m was good for about 1/2 hour. Got 1 on 80, AA5B, who was very strong. Lots of my CQs there went unanswered. Special thanks to K6CSL for his persistence in getting his call across to me. Several new calls for me. See you all next month.
WA8PGE
Decided to see what I could work with 100 milliwatts tonight. Started out on 20, heard a few stations but could not QSO anyone. Went to 40 and found the band in very good condition. Worked 9 stations, first one was a VE3, probably best DX from OH was WA8ZBT in TX. Rig was Softfock 6.3 cranked down to 100 mw, Software was Rocky, Antenna was fan inverted vee for 40,20,10. I had fun, thanks everyone for picking me out of the mud!
W1PID
Nice to see more participation. I only operated about 35 minutes.Best DX CA, WA and ID. 12 SPCs. HB-1B and OCF dipole 4 Watts. 7 QSOs on 20M and 7 on 40M. One on 80M. Thanks all for the contacts.
K3RLL
Both 20 and 40 sounded pretty good this evening and found the propagation interesting as I had the pleasure of working many of the same stations on both bands. 80 meters isn't really workable here in FL on my attic antenna so just happy to have had a good first hour. Thanks to those patient ops who pulled me out of the noise tonight.
Had fun, best DX California.
NQ2W
K1 running 5W to a mini-beam at 25 ft for 20 meters, an inverted vee at 40 ft for 40 meters, and ground mounted, near bottom-loaded vertical for 80 meters. Made 9 Q's on 20, 11 on 40, and 2 on 80. Seemed like there was more participation this month. It was great working the west coast on 20. Signals on 40 were up and down - WA8PGE started out down in the mud but then his 100mW came through loud and clear. Was hoping for more 80 meter activity this month...got it...doubled the Q's there from 1 to 2...maybe next month 2 to 4...then 4 to 8...so on and so on. Thanks to all of the participants and thanks to the organizers. Hope to hear you all again and more next month.
NR7F
This was my first QRP contest in over 3 years after being QRT all that time. I made a snap decision Monday morning to do the sprint. So when I got home from work I dragged out the ATS3 which I had not used for years, threw together as light a weight rig as could, and went at it. 20M was pretty dead, and I don't have an 80M antenna up right now, so I was mostly confined to 40M with 3W using my dipole antenna. I think my farthest contacts were to K4BAI in GA and AB9OA in AL. It was fun to work you all. I really enjoy sprints, especially the Spartan Sprint with it's minimalist philosophy.
KG3W
First time at Spartan Sprint. Lots of FUN! Got back on air 2 months ago. Have been QRT since 1984. Lot's has changed but not my love of CW. Many QRP , 2 and 4 hour sprints to try. Qrp K3, 7 amp hour battery and dipole @ 24 feet. Strongest signal was W1PID, on 40 meters. Continue to be amazed what 5 watts and under can do.
K5JHP
Good outing for a change. Only got to work first 45 minutes. Looking fwd to next month.
K4BAI
FT1000MP, 5W, TH6DXX, dipole, inverted vee. Had traffic net skeds and lost about 15 minutes of the sprint to them. Much better participation on 40 and 20 than many recent sprints, but not much activity on 80 despite good conditions on that band. 20M was open from GA to W1 and VE3 to the north and W5/6/7 to the west. 10 QSOs on that band. 40M was open to VE3 and the west coast, but also as short as AL, NC, and FL. 37 QSOs on 40. 80M had good signals from PA and WI and closer in, but not many of them. Was surprised by a call from V31YN in Belize with a great signal. Only 5 QSOs on 80. Thanks for all QSOs and let's keep up the high activity in future months. Look for me as PJ4/K4BAI March 20-27 and we will use PJ4Z in CQ WPX SSB on that weekend.
W5ACM
I thought I had the problem with my My ATS-3a isolated, but NO! For this Spartan Sprint, I once again used the heavier ATS-3 in the Altoids box. I was experimenting with batteries and earbuds, so the weight ended up fractionally higher this month. Running only two LiPo's for more current, but less output power (3W) and longer operating time. I will likely go back to three smaller-capacity LiPos for the full 5W output. This coming weekend will be a good chance to check the results with the ARCI Grid-Square Sprint using the call W5MSQ - Houston QRP Club outing. I found 20M quite reasonable for the first half hour of the Spartan Sprint this month, but 40M gave a lot more contacts from GA to CA toVA to PA, and all points in between. Nice - 15 QSOs on two bands. Last month I was hoping for better conditions on 20M. I got them, but need more!
K6CSL
I started at 02:00UTC on 10M, found nothing on 10, went to 15, found nothing there, went to 20M and found nothing there, so went on to 40. There I found 4 QSO's. CU all for the next Spartan Sprint.
K4ORD
The turn out was much better this month made 36 on 40M, 4 on 20M & 3 on 80M for a total of 43 QSO'S this was double last months. Conditions were good with 40M a bit noisy. Nice to work WA8PGE @ 100MW from OH. Rig K3@ 5W antennas were 40M dipole up 40' & 80M dipole up 35', used my Bencher paddle. Thanks for all the contacts.
AB9CA
Rig was the usual K2 at 5w to one of 2 100' wires. Activity was moderate this month. I got a late start - must finish dinner! Managed 8 on 20, 2 on 80, and 23 on 40. Best DX was WA and CA. I had hoped for more activity on 80 but it was rather lonely down there. Thanks to everyone who stopped by. Thanks to the organizers who do the work to make these possible. See everyone next month.
KBØKFX
I was happy to come back after a year since my last Spartan Sprint. It was a quick last 30 minutes. I apologize to those who had to listen to be wrestle with my key as I was having technical difficulties. Mike, K7RVX, I tried my best to get your full exchange, but the band dropped out at a bad time. Gear: K1@5W into a Butternut Vertical, American Morse Dirt Cheap Key, and Winkeyer USB.
K7TQ
Pretty good turnout tonight. 20 m was good for about 1/2 hour. Got 1 on 80, AA5B, who was very strong. Lots of my CQs there went unanswered. Special thanks to K6CSL for his persistence in getting his call across to me. Several new calls for me. See you all next month.
WA8PGE
Decided to see what I could work with 100 milliwatts tonight. Started out on 20, heard a few stations but could not QSO anyone. Went to 40 and found the band in very good condition. Worked 9 stations, first one was a VE3, probably best DX from OH was WA8ZBT in TX. Rig was Softfock 6.3 cranked down to 100 mw, Software was Rocky, Antenna was fan inverted vee for 40,20,10. I had fun, thanks everyone for picking me out of the mud!
W1PID
Nice to see more participation. I only operated about 35 minutes.Best DX CA, WA and ID. 12 SPCs. HB-1B and OCF dipole 4 Watts. 7 QSOs on 20M and 7 on 40M. One on 80M. Thanks all for the contacts.
K3RLL
Both 20 and 40 sounded pretty good this evening and found the propagation interesting as I had the pleasure of working many of the same stations on both bands. 80 meters isn't really workable here in FL on my attic antenna so just happy to have had a good first hour. Thanks to those patient ops who pulled me out of the noise tonight.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Soapbox: February 2012 Spartan Sprint
AB9CA
Rig was K2 to 100' wire at 40'. Kinda slow going early on. I began calling on 20 at 0200z but got no answers. Moved to 40, but got no answers there. Moved back to 20, but no answers. Then back to 40 and finally got the first answer at 0209 from Alan, KB7MBI, way out in WA. Could spend only an hour on the test and ended up with 10 contacts, all on 40. SPC's were WA, NY, VA, OH, IL, CA, PA, MA (2), WI. The band seemed to be in pretty good shape and noise was not bad. WA8PGE was running all of 750 mW but had a pretty darned good signal. If you did not get in you missed a good evening of playing radio!
WA8PGE
The evening started out with a bang then seemed to really die down for the last half hour. I decided to run QRPp, running Vectronics TX and Softrock RX, 750 mw to an inverted vee. Laptop was running Rocky. My TX was semi-rock bound (XCO), from about 7.039 to 7.040 so I couldn't work stations on the other side of 7.040. Thanks everyone that picked my signal out of the mud! Best DX from Ohio was WB5BKL, TX 1,077mi. Had lots of fun!, will try 500mw next time!
WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5W to a 40m extended double Zepp. Not one of my better outings. Tried 15m briefly. Most of my Qs were on 40m, but did work K4ORD and K4BAI on both 40 and 80m. Nothing after 0330z. My first QSO was with WA8PGE who was running 750 mW - that's better than 1,000 miles/Watt by my calculation. Worked another station at 1 Watt. All the other Stations were at the 5W level. Had fun.
K4ORD
Conditions were fair tonight, 40 was noisy with lots of digital noise the first hour. made 16 qso's on 40M and 5 on 80M. Thanks to all.
K4BAI
FT1000MP, 5W, TH6DXX, dipole, inverted vee. Band conditions pretty good on 20, 40, and 80. Activity almost NIL. I think some of the problem may be in log submission difficulties that must be running off participants. The link from the webpage for "log submission" no longer works and takes you instead to last month's results. 20M was wide open with very strong signals from W1AW, west Africa, Central America, and much of the US, but only NQ2W and I seemed to know it. One QSO on 20M. 40M was open to most of the country, with stations as close as VA readable in GA. Best DX was KD6L in CA. 15 QSOs on 40. Heard no activity around 7030 kHz this month. 80M was open to the whole country with best DX being W7GB in WA. 13 QSOs on 80. Hope for more activity in next month's Spartan Sprint.
NY4G
Could not find many sprinters tonight. Rig was a KX1 and AA batteries. Maybe my KX1 will have better luck next time.
WA5BUC
I was skunked. Started on 20m. Band was dead. Listened on 40, but could hear no Sprint activity. Went down to 80. The noisiest I've heard 80 in quite some time. Went back to 40. Still no Sprint station heard. Gave up and tried to work HU2DX. Called several times. Nada. Hurry up March!
W5ACM
My ATS-3a is STILL on the workbench, but I did find time after the event to isolate the problem in my favorite two-ounce radio. For this Spartan Sprint, I once again used the heavier ATS-3 in the Altoids box. I found 20M dead, but 40M sounded quiet, almost too quiet. I had a surprising number of contacts with NY and MA, with only one station to the west. QSOs from the Midwest and Southeast were typical, and greatly appreciated. The three 300 mAh LiPo batteries really took a beating as I parked on 7040 and called CQ. But it was worth it. I had to shut down half an hour early to avoid killing the new batteries, but it was nice to get a decent number of contacts - an even dozen! Hoping for better conditions on 20M next month!
KD2MX
I was mostly just listening on 40M while working on the build of my new G11 SDR. I heard WA8PGE with a great signal running 750mw so I had to jump in. FT897/5W to my all-purpose loop.
NQ2W
A newly built K1 running 5W to a mini-beam at 25 ft for 20 meters, an inverted vee at 40 ft for 40 meters, and ground mounted, near bottom-loaded vertical for 80 meters. Worked K4BAI on 20...only station I heard there. Went to 40 and worked K4BAI again whilst he was in a pile up...proceeded to work 13 more FB QRP stations on that band. Switched the filter board and went to 80 meters and worked K4ORD - second band - but the only sprinter I heard on that band. I was hopeful for more activity on 80 but it just wasn't there...maybe next month. The K1 performed well...the band conditions were up and down with QSB...thanks for all of the repeats...the filtering didn't get a real test or maybe it did because there wasn't a lot of QRM. Thanks to all of the participants and thanks to the organizers. Hope to hear you all again and more next month.
N5GW
Rig was a 40M HB one watt vxo tx from plans by W1FB (2N2222 vxo driving MPSU02 class A) into HB balanced Lnet tuner to CFZ. LIstened on an OMNI V. Band was quiet. It was fun.
K3RLL
40 meters sounded reasonably good with a minimum of digital QRM, but didn't hear many Sprinters. Oh well, someone has to come in last.
Rig was K2 to 100' wire at 40'. Kinda slow going early on. I began calling on 20 at 0200z but got no answers. Moved to 40, but got no answers there. Moved back to 20, but no answers. Then back to 40 and finally got the first answer at 0209 from Alan, KB7MBI, way out in WA. Could spend only an hour on the test and ended up with 10 contacts, all on 40. SPC's were WA, NY, VA, OH, IL, CA, PA, MA (2), WI. The band seemed to be in pretty good shape and noise was not bad. WA8PGE was running all of 750 mW but had a pretty darned good signal. If you did not get in you missed a good evening of playing radio!
WA8PGE
The evening started out with a bang then seemed to really die down for the last half hour. I decided to run QRPp, running Vectronics TX and Softrock RX, 750 mw to an inverted vee. Laptop was running Rocky. My TX was semi-rock bound (XCO), from about 7.039 to 7.040 so I couldn't work stations on the other side of 7.040. Thanks everyone that picked my signal out of the mud! Best DX from Ohio was WB5BKL, TX 1,077mi. Had lots of fun!, will try 500mw next time!
WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5W to a 40m extended double Zepp. Not one of my better outings. Tried 15m briefly. Most of my Qs were on 40m, but did work K4ORD and K4BAI on both 40 and 80m. Nothing after 0330z. My first QSO was with WA8PGE who was running 750 mW - that's better than 1,000 miles/Watt by my calculation. Worked another station at 1 Watt. All the other Stations were at the 5W level. Had fun.
K4ORD
Conditions were fair tonight, 40 was noisy with lots of digital noise the first hour. made 16 qso's on 40M and 5 on 80M. Thanks to all.
K4BAI
FT1000MP, 5W, TH6DXX, dipole, inverted vee. Band conditions pretty good on 20, 40, and 80. Activity almost NIL. I think some of the problem may be in log submission difficulties that must be running off participants. The link from the webpage for "log submission" no longer works and takes you instead to last month's results. 20M was wide open with very strong signals from W1AW, west Africa, Central America, and much of the US, but only NQ2W and I seemed to know it. One QSO on 20M. 40M was open to most of the country, with stations as close as VA readable in GA. Best DX was KD6L in CA. 15 QSOs on 40. Heard no activity around 7030 kHz this month. 80M was open to the whole country with best DX being W7GB in WA. 13 QSOs on 80. Hope for more activity in next month's Spartan Sprint.
NY4G
Could not find many sprinters tonight. Rig was a KX1 and AA batteries. Maybe my KX1 will have better luck next time.
WA5BUC
I was skunked. Started on 20m. Band was dead. Listened on 40, but could hear no Sprint activity. Went down to 80. The noisiest I've heard 80 in quite some time. Went back to 40. Still no Sprint station heard. Gave up and tried to work HU2DX. Called several times. Nada. Hurry up March!
W5ACM
My ATS-3a is STILL on the workbench, but I did find time after the event to isolate the problem in my favorite two-ounce radio. For this Spartan Sprint, I once again used the heavier ATS-3 in the Altoids box. I found 20M dead, but 40M sounded quiet, almost too quiet. I had a surprising number of contacts with NY and MA, with only one station to the west. QSOs from the Midwest and Southeast were typical, and greatly appreciated. The three 300 mAh LiPo batteries really took a beating as I parked on 7040 and called CQ. But it was worth it. I had to shut down half an hour early to avoid killing the new batteries, but it was nice to get a decent number of contacts - an even dozen! Hoping for better conditions on 20M next month!
KD2MX
I was mostly just listening on 40M while working on the build of my new G11 SDR. I heard WA8PGE with a great signal running 750mw so I had to jump in. FT897/5W to my all-purpose loop.
NQ2W
A newly built K1 running 5W to a mini-beam at 25 ft for 20 meters, an inverted vee at 40 ft for 40 meters, and ground mounted, near bottom-loaded vertical for 80 meters. Worked K4BAI on 20...only station I heard there. Went to 40 and worked K4BAI again whilst he was in a pile up...proceeded to work 13 more FB QRP stations on that band. Switched the filter board and went to 80 meters and worked K4ORD - second band - but the only sprinter I heard on that band. I was hopeful for more activity on 80 but it just wasn't there...maybe next month. The K1 performed well...the band conditions were up and down with QSB...thanks for all of the repeats...the filtering didn't get a real test or maybe it did because there wasn't a lot of QRM. Thanks to all of the participants and thanks to the organizers. Hope to hear you all again and more next month.
N5GW
Rig was a 40M HB one watt vxo tx from plans by W1FB (2N2222 vxo driving MPSU02 class A) into HB balanced Lnet tuner to CFZ. LIstened on an OMNI V. Band was quiet. It was fun.
K3RLL
40 meters sounded reasonably good with a minimum of digital QRM, but didn't hear many Sprinters. Oh well, someone has to come in last.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
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