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Saturday, March 8, 2014
SOAPBOX: March 2014 ARS Spartan Sprint
K1SWL
What fun! My first Spartan Sprint. Best DX was NK6A in CA. 20M was the workhorse band. 40M was crowded below 7030 by a DX pileup. My only rig set up at the moment is an FT-840, so for now it's the 'Tubby' division. The antenna is a long-wire 105' long and up 45 feet, worked against ground. Conditions good overall, 10M openings earlier in the day to Europe, South America and JA. No Sprint activity heard 10M or 15M- too late in the evening local time.
NK6A
The days are getting longer and so is 20M. Nice to work stations on 20 for 45 minutes before going to 40.
W1PID
Nice to see some better conditions and more articipation. Best DX was Don NK6A in CA next was Larry KFØN in IA. Great to work Dave, K1SWL, on 2 bands. 20M was the best band for me. I operated for 45 minutes with the KX3 and Windom OCF dipole. Thanks all.
K3RLL
Short evening on 40 meters. Nice to once again hear some familiar Spartan Sprinters, but not many of them were heard down here into Florida this evening. Big signal of the evening was AB9CA but then Dave is always easy copy here. Then got to listening around after I had given up for the evening and was pleased to be able to work two more “SS Friends.” Thanks for the contacts.
N5EM
Good conditions. 20M started out strong with 6Qs. Rest on 40M. Next month I'll have something for 80M.
ADØBI
S7 QRN here in St. Louis. Heard a few stations but could only copy one.
WA4ZOF
Great crowd tonight and great fun.
KB2FCV
My setup Rockmite 600mw, power supply 20lbs, antenna tuner 15 lbs, keyer paddle 1 or 2 lbs - about 40 lbs total :( I had about an hour available to work the sprint. I originally tried calling CQ for about 45-50 minutes with a Pixie II, RJ1 key powered by a 9 volt battery. I had no replies (to date I have only made one QSO across town with the Pixie II). According to my wattmeter I was getting out around 250mw. In the last 5 or 10 minutes I decided to switch to the Rockmite. I worked KR4WI on my first CQ with about 600mw out. I am still determined to make an unscheduled qso with my Pixie II!
AB9CA
Good to see more activity! Rig was FT-857 at 5w to 100' wire. Condx on 20 seemed decent but not too many there - 7 Q's. 40 was the main band although it was fairly noisy - 27 Qs. And managed 6 Qs on 80 in spite of the noise level. Worked NQ2W, NK6A, KG3W, W1PID, N5GW, K4BAI, WA4ZOF, and K5JHP on two bands - hope I didn't leave out someone. No one on all three. Had someone whose call contained 'XM'answering me on 80 but I could not get the rest of the call. QSB kept getting it. Sorry about that. Hate to miss a good one. The bands were noisier than I had hoped. Guess we were hearing the lightning in TX and off the coast of SC. But fun never the less. Thanks to all who stopped by. See everyone next month.
W5ACM
Running the ATS-3 with three 300 mAh LiPo batteries, providing 5W out to my 18AVQ vertical and a final total of 15 QSOs this month. I had a GREAT TIME with excellent 40M conditions. This month however, I had ONE contact on 20M. The band sounded pretty good, but the QSB was a real problem. I parked on 40M for what was left of the first hour and a bit of the second, and had fun. It was good to find some local folks like N5EM. I made 11 contacts on 40M before moving on to 80M for a final three. Always hoping for more 20M ops!
KFØN
Great contest participation this evening. I worked many regulars and some new ops I had not heard before. NBØW had a great three watt signal the rare state of Nebraska. Twenty meters was open here for the first half hour of the contest. Forty meters went long shortly after nine pm local time so I packed it in early. I worked Jim, W1PID on both 20 and 40 which was a treat. 40 meters was a real mess here, between the SSB SA QRM and the digital stuff; I almost wish we could park the 40 meter calling frequency around 7106 kHz or so. It seems a lot less congested up there than our beloved 7040! I know I missed a few of you; between the jammer and the SA SSB QRM it was a real challenge to copy everyone. Thank to all who rang my doorbell! It made for an enjoyable contest. With more light on the Heavyside layers, better conditions should lay ahead.
K5JHP
Didn’t hear as many on the bands tonight. Maybe the cool weather?
KG3W
Set up is HB1B at 4 watts. Palm paddle, T1 tuner, and 850 mah lipo battery. Inverted V at 32 foot peak. Missed many of the stations that were search and pounce. Worked 7 stations on 20, including AL,MS,TX,KS,WA,UT,and CA. On 40 mtrs. worked IA,NY,NH,GA,AR, and AL again which was AB9CA. Tnx Dave! Went down to the lower part of 40 CW and heard a faint station calling CQ... 7X??? Sent my call twice and back comes Med; 7X4AN in Algeria. Only worked him on 20 in the daylight hours, and not for a long time. Over 1,000 miles per watt on 40 mtrs. Got a real kick out of that. Thanks for the fun evening. See ya next month.
WA5BUC
I fared better this month with 5 Qs. One on 20 and 4 on 40, including fellow HQRP-er N5EM. Went to 80 for a while, but no Spartan activity heard. Thanks, also, to K5JHP, K4BAI, AB9CA, and KH2AR/W4. Rig: Yaesu FT-817 @ 5 watts to my 33' end-fed wire.
K4BAI
Better activity this month. Total QSOs by band: 20M: 13. 40M: 25. 80M: 7. All three bands in good condition. A lot of digital QRM on 40M. 80M in good shape with QSOs out to NY, WI, and TX, but not many stations heard on that band. Thanks for all QSOs.
KS4L
First Spartan Sprint in a while. Only had about 45 minutes. Used my K3/100 at 5 w. with my 44' vertical dipole at about 50.' Contacts split between 20m and 40m. Tried 80m with my 80m inverted V, but nothing heard there. Good to work some old friends!
KD2MX
KX1, 600' loop. Made a few on 20m and a couple more
on 40m. Heard more but the paths weren't mutual.
NQ2W
K1 at 5W to a 2-element mini-beam at 25ft for 10, 15, and 20 meters, an inverted vee at 40ft for 40m, and a ground mounted, home-brewed, near bottom-loaded vertical for 80m. I apologize for the rough sending. I'm still getting used to my new homebrew paddle. It was privilege to make 8 QSOs on 20, 13 on 40, and 2 on 80. I missed one on 20. Too far into the noise to get the call. Hopefully, next time...Not much activity on 80 but my vertical isn't the best judge. Quite a bit of QRN on 40. 3-bander with K4BAI; 2-banders (20 and 40) with AB9CA, K4AHO, N5GW, and WB5BKL. Loads of fun. Looking forward to next month. Thanks for the opportunity!
WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5W to a 15M delta loop, a 20M delta loop, a 40M dipole or a 40M EDZepp. 16 states this time. Only one contact on 15M. Several doubles but no one on three bands here. Enough activity to keep things interesting for the whole two hours, but we can always use more! Best signal of the evening was N5GW @ 3w from MS. My thanks to all. Had fun.
What fun! My first Spartan Sprint. Best DX was NK6A in CA. 20M was the workhorse band. 40M was crowded below 7030 by a DX pileup. My only rig set up at the moment is an FT-840, so for now it's the 'Tubby' division. The antenna is a long-wire 105' long and up 45 feet, worked against ground. Conditions good overall, 10M openings earlier in the day to Europe, South America and JA. No Sprint activity heard 10M or 15M- too late in the evening local time.
NK6A
The days are getting longer and so is 20M. Nice to work stations on 20 for 45 minutes before going to 40.
W1PID
Nice to see some better conditions and more articipation. Best DX was Don NK6A in CA next was Larry KFØN in IA. Great to work Dave, K1SWL, on 2 bands. 20M was the best band for me. I operated for 45 minutes with the KX3 and Windom OCF dipole. Thanks all.
K3RLL
Short evening on 40 meters. Nice to once again hear some familiar Spartan Sprinters, but not many of them were heard down here into Florida this evening. Big signal of the evening was AB9CA but then Dave is always easy copy here. Then got to listening around after I had given up for the evening and was pleased to be able to work two more “SS Friends.” Thanks for the contacts.
N5EM
Good conditions. 20M started out strong with 6Qs. Rest on 40M. Next month I'll have something for 80M.
ADØBI
S7 QRN here in St. Louis. Heard a few stations but could only copy one.
WA4ZOF
Great crowd tonight and great fun.
KB2FCV
My setup Rockmite 600mw, power supply 20lbs, antenna tuner 15 lbs, keyer paddle 1 or 2 lbs - about 40 lbs total :( I had about an hour available to work the sprint. I originally tried calling CQ for about 45-50 minutes with a Pixie II, RJ1 key powered by a 9 volt battery. I had no replies (to date I have only made one QSO across town with the Pixie II). According to my wattmeter I was getting out around 250mw. In the last 5 or 10 minutes I decided to switch to the Rockmite. I worked KR4WI on my first CQ with about 600mw out. I am still determined to make an unscheduled qso with my Pixie II!
AB9CA
Good to see more activity! Rig was FT-857 at 5w to 100' wire. Condx on 20 seemed decent but not too many there - 7 Q's. 40 was the main band although it was fairly noisy - 27 Qs. And managed 6 Qs on 80 in spite of the noise level. Worked NQ2W, NK6A, KG3W, W1PID, N5GW, K4BAI, WA4ZOF, and K5JHP on two bands - hope I didn't leave out someone. No one on all three. Had someone whose call contained 'XM'answering me on 80 but I could not get the rest of the call. QSB kept getting it. Sorry about that. Hate to miss a good one. The bands were noisier than I had hoped. Guess we were hearing the lightning in TX and off the coast of SC. But fun never the less. Thanks to all who stopped by. See everyone next month.
W5ACM
Running the ATS-3 with three 300 mAh LiPo batteries, providing 5W out to my 18AVQ vertical and a final total of 15 QSOs this month. I had a GREAT TIME with excellent 40M conditions. This month however, I had ONE contact on 20M. The band sounded pretty good, but the QSB was a real problem. I parked on 40M for what was left of the first hour and a bit of the second, and had fun. It was good to find some local folks like N5EM. I made 11 contacts on 40M before moving on to 80M for a final three. Always hoping for more 20M ops!
KFØN
Great contest participation this evening. I worked many regulars and some new ops I had not heard before. NBØW had a great three watt signal the rare state of Nebraska. Twenty meters was open here for the first half hour of the contest. Forty meters went long shortly after nine pm local time so I packed it in early. I worked Jim, W1PID on both 20 and 40 which was a treat. 40 meters was a real mess here, between the SSB SA QRM and the digital stuff; I almost wish we could park the 40 meter calling frequency around 7106 kHz or so. It seems a lot less congested up there than our beloved 7040! I know I missed a few of you; between the jammer and the SA SSB QRM it was a real challenge to copy everyone. Thank to all who rang my doorbell! It made for an enjoyable contest. With more light on the Heavyside layers, better conditions should lay ahead.
K5JHP
Didn’t hear as many on the bands tonight. Maybe the cool weather?
KG3W
Set up is HB1B at 4 watts. Palm paddle, T1 tuner, and 850 mah lipo battery. Inverted V at 32 foot peak. Missed many of the stations that were search and pounce. Worked 7 stations on 20, including AL,MS,TX,KS,WA,UT,and CA. On 40 mtrs. worked IA,NY,NH,GA,AR, and AL again which was AB9CA. Tnx Dave! Went down to the lower part of 40 CW and heard a faint station calling CQ... 7X??? Sent my call twice and back comes Med; 7X4AN in Algeria. Only worked him on 20 in the daylight hours, and not for a long time. Over 1,000 miles per watt on 40 mtrs. Got a real kick out of that. Thanks for the fun evening. See ya next month.
WA5BUC
I fared better this month with 5 Qs. One on 20 and 4 on 40, including fellow HQRP-er N5EM. Went to 80 for a while, but no Spartan activity heard. Thanks, also, to K5JHP, K4BAI, AB9CA, and KH2AR/W4. Rig: Yaesu FT-817 @ 5 watts to my 33' end-fed wire.
K4BAI
Better activity this month. Total QSOs by band: 20M: 13. 40M: 25. 80M: 7. All three bands in good condition. A lot of digital QRM on 40M. 80M in good shape with QSOs out to NY, WI, and TX, but not many stations heard on that band. Thanks for all QSOs.
KS4L
First Spartan Sprint in a while. Only had about 45 minutes. Used my K3/100 at 5 w. with my 44' vertical dipole at about 50.' Contacts split between 20m and 40m. Tried 80m with my 80m inverted V, but nothing heard there. Good to work some old friends!
KD2MX
KX1, 600' loop. Made a few on 20m and a couple more
on 40m. Heard more but the paths weren't mutual.
NQ2W
K1 at 5W to a 2-element mini-beam at 25ft for 10, 15, and 20 meters, an inverted vee at 40ft for 40m, and a ground mounted, home-brewed, near bottom-loaded vertical for 80m. I apologize for the rough sending. I'm still getting used to my new homebrew paddle. It was privilege to make 8 QSOs on 20, 13 on 40, and 2 on 80. I missed one on 20. Too far into the noise to get the call. Hopefully, next time...Not much activity on 80 but my vertical isn't the best judge. Quite a bit of QRN on 40. 3-bander with K4BAI; 2-banders (20 and 40) with AB9CA, K4AHO, N5GW, and WB5BKL. Loads of fun. Looking forward to next month. Thanks for the opportunity!
WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5W to a 15M delta loop, a 20M delta loop, a 40M dipole or a 40M EDZepp. 16 states this time. Only one contact on 15M. Several doubles but no one on three bands here. Enough activity to keep things interesting for the whole two hours, but we can always use more! Best signal of the evening was N5GW @ 3w from MS. My thanks to all. Had fun.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Soapbox: February 2014 Spartan Sprint
W1PID
Darned near forgot the sprint! Operated for six minutes. 20 was dead.Worked W5ACM, K4BAI, N5GW and K3RLL on 40. Nothing on 80. No matter how bleak... it's still a lot of fun. Ran the Icom 7000 at 5W with an OCF dipole.
K3RLL
Lots of digital signals on 40 tonight but heard more Spartan Sprinters than heard me. Guess I’m going to have to turn that vertical in a different direction.
K5JHP
Prop was not good for this location. Hope for better next month.
AD4J
This was my first Spartan Sprint since 2002. This time, I operated in the Tubby category with K3 and a 67' doublet up 75, but look forward to making a Skinny category entry soon. Thanks to all who participated.
W5ACM
Still using the ATS-3 with three 300 mAh LiPo batteries, providing 5W out to my antique 18AVQ vertical and a final total of 16 QSOs this month. I had a GREAT TIME with excellent 40M conditions. Once again, however, I had ZERO contacts on 20M. The band was absolutely dead from Houston. I parked on 40M for the first hour and had fun, even with KillerWatt station W1AW/0. My ears and earbuds are still ringing! I made 11 contacts on 40M before moving on. Conditions on 80M were also acceptable, but I only managed five contacts there, finishing the event with folks like WB5BKL, K4BAI and K5JHP. I spent a lot of time calling CQ. The batteries survived the abuse, but it was close. When I got to less than 3 VDC per cell, I shut it down - about 10 minutes before the end of the event. Always hoping for more 20M ops!
KG3W
My regular G5RV is KAPUT do to sun damage and cold wx. The feedline just crumbled. Put up a temporary resonant dipole to 40 mtrs. SWR is 1.4 , so I went single band and ditched the 5 oz. T1 tuner I was using. HB1B @ 4 watts. Heard alot more than heard me. HI ! Only worked 5 stations. Worked Ga. Mn. Tx. Fl. and Ms. Couldn't work any locals on 40. Had a good time though. Thanks ! Always FUN.
WA5BUC
Tuned 20. Nothing. 80 was too noisy. Spent the night on a very quite (QRN- & QRM-wise) 40. Thanks to WB0SD, K4BAI, and AD4J. Band must have been somewhat long. Heard no other Texas stations. Rig: FT-817 5w to a 33' end fed wire. Best 72's de Houston.
K4BAI
20M seemed almost dead at the start and my antenna for that band is kaput, so I started on 40M. 25 QSOs in about 70 minutes. 10 QSOs on 80M in the last 50 minutes. Bands were in pretty good shape. Worked CA and NH on 40M and as close in as FL. On 80M, no west coast heard and the NY stations were weak, but closer in were quite strong and noise was low on both bands. Hope to work many of you as W1AW/4 in GA.
WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5W to a 40M dipole or a 40M EDZepp. Only 10 states this time. No luck on 15 or 20M. Curious, since the RBN showed me getting out OK on 20M. Worked only two stations on two bands: N5GW and K4BAI. Had trouble hearing Will, NQ2W who is usually strong on 80M - but got KB8F at 1W from OH! TX stations were pounding in here on 80M. WA8ZBT again had the best signal of the evening. My thanks to all. Had fun.
N5GW
K1 with internal ATU, micropaddles and Sony headphones on 800 mAh LiPO to 50' T and 80' vertical antennas. The K1 had been throttled back to 2W so as to allow the battery to last two hours. 40M sounded pretty good here for a change. After the first hour I moved to 80M which also was in good shape. I was able to work CA on both bands. My 29 QSO's are the most I can remember on SS. I hope to hear you all next month, maybe on 20M.
KFØN
The rig was an ATS-3 powered by a set of 8 AAA cells. The antenna here a random end-fed wire to a maple tree in the back yard. I am still battling a horrific line noise problem and if I missed any of you, that is probably the reason. Only six stations poked above the noise enough to be copied! N5GW had a nice 2-watt signal from Missippi. It was a fun night though; thanks to all who participated!
NQ2W
K1 at 5 W to an inverted vee at 40 ft for 40 m and a ground mounted, home-brewed, near bottom-loaded vertical for 80 m. I should have by-passed the tuner again this month because 20 m didn't produce any contacts...but I didn't, so my weight is back up. I did use a new paddle that I home-brewed from stuff I've been collecting. It uses magnetic repulsion to open the contacts - not too pretty but it seems to work okay. I ended up making 10 QSOs on 40 and 7 on 80. Signals weren't that strong except for AD4J - loud on both bands. Also worked N5GW on both bands. Looking forward to next month. Thanks for the opportunity!
W3KC
Band conditions were not very favorable here, but managed to make a few contacts on 40 and 80.
WA5RML
FlexRadio 1500 @5 wts to G5RV (80/40M); Weight of 15.2 lbs includes laptop, power supply, Vibroplex Code Warrior paddles, FlexControl knob, and AT-100 ATU. First Spartan Sprint this year! 13 QSOs included: (a) 40M – N5GW (Gene), NQ2W (Will), K4BAI (John), NK6A (Don), WB9G (Chris), AD4J (Jim), N8NA (Karl), and KF0N (Larry) and (b) 80M – WA8ZBT (Dennis), N5GW (Gene, again!), K5JHP (Bill), W5ACM (Andy) and WB5BKL (Nick). Seven (7) states - CA, DE, GA. IA, MS, NY and TX. Best signals of the evening goes to WA8ZBT and WB5BKL pounding into the Dallas/Ft. Worth area with true honest-to-goodness 599 signals on 80 mtrs! Most rewarding QSO – KF0N – Larry and I had to work very hard to complete the QSO – lots of repeats. It was neat to see the ebb and flow of signal levels near the noise level on that one! One that got away – Jim, AD4J. I worked him on 40M, and also heard him on 80M, but couldn’t work him! Hope to see everyone next month!
Darned near forgot the sprint! Operated for six minutes. 20 was dead.Worked W5ACM, K4BAI, N5GW and K3RLL on 40. Nothing on 80. No matter how bleak... it's still a lot of fun. Ran the Icom 7000 at 5W with an OCF dipole.
K3RLL
Lots of digital signals on 40 tonight but heard more Spartan Sprinters than heard me. Guess I’m going to have to turn that vertical in a different direction.
K5JHP
Prop was not good for this location. Hope for better next month.
AD4J
This was my first Spartan Sprint since 2002. This time, I operated in the Tubby category with K3 and a 67' doublet up 75, but look forward to making a Skinny category entry soon. Thanks to all who participated.
W5ACM
Still using the ATS-3 with three 300 mAh LiPo batteries, providing 5W out to my antique 18AVQ vertical and a final total of 16 QSOs this month. I had a GREAT TIME with excellent 40M conditions. Once again, however, I had ZERO contacts on 20M. The band was absolutely dead from Houston. I parked on 40M for the first hour and had fun, even with KillerWatt station W1AW/0. My ears and earbuds are still ringing! I made 11 contacts on 40M before moving on. Conditions on 80M were also acceptable, but I only managed five contacts there, finishing the event with folks like WB5BKL, K4BAI and K5JHP. I spent a lot of time calling CQ. The batteries survived the abuse, but it was close. When I got to less than 3 VDC per cell, I shut it down - about 10 minutes before the end of the event. Always hoping for more 20M ops!
KG3W
My regular G5RV is KAPUT do to sun damage and cold wx. The feedline just crumbled. Put up a temporary resonant dipole to 40 mtrs. SWR is 1.4 , so I went single band and ditched the 5 oz. T1 tuner I was using. HB1B @ 4 watts. Heard alot more than heard me. HI ! Only worked 5 stations. Worked Ga. Mn. Tx. Fl. and Ms. Couldn't work any locals on 40. Had a good time though. Thanks ! Always FUN.
WA5BUC
Tuned 20. Nothing. 80 was too noisy. Spent the night on a very quite (QRN- & QRM-wise) 40. Thanks to WB0SD, K4BAI, and AD4J. Band must have been somewhat long. Heard no other Texas stations. Rig: FT-817 5w to a 33' end fed wire. Best 72's de Houston.
K4BAI
20M seemed almost dead at the start and my antenna for that band is kaput, so I started on 40M. 25 QSOs in about 70 minutes. 10 QSOs on 80M in the last 50 minutes. Bands were in pretty good shape. Worked CA and NH on 40M and as close in as FL. On 80M, no west coast heard and the NY stations were weak, but closer in were quite strong and noise was low on both bands. Hope to work many of you as W1AW/4 in GA.
WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5W to a 40M dipole or a 40M EDZepp. Only 10 states this time. No luck on 15 or 20M. Curious, since the RBN showed me getting out OK on 20M. Worked only two stations on two bands: N5GW and K4BAI. Had trouble hearing Will, NQ2W who is usually strong on 80M - but got KB8F at 1W from OH! TX stations were pounding in here on 80M. WA8ZBT again had the best signal of the evening. My thanks to all. Had fun.
N5GW
K1 with internal ATU, micropaddles and Sony headphones on 800 mAh LiPO to 50' T and 80' vertical antennas. The K1 had been throttled back to 2W so as to allow the battery to last two hours. 40M sounded pretty good here for a change. After the first hour I moved to 80M which also was in good shape. I was able to work CA on both bands. My 29 QSO's are the most I can remember on SS. I hope to hear you all next month, maybe on 20M.
KFØN
The rig was an ATS-3 powered by a set of 8 AAA cells. The antenna here a random end-fed wire to a maple tree in the back yard. I am still battling a horrific line noise problem and if I missed any of you, that is probably the reason. Only six stations poked above the noise enough to be copied! N5GW had a nice 2-watt signal from Missippi. It was a fun night though; thanks to all who participated!
NQ2W
K1 at 5 W to an inverted vee at 40 ft for 40 m and a ground mounted, home-brewed, near bottom-loaded vertical for 80 m. I should have by-passed the tuner again this month because 20 m didn't produce any contacts...but I didn't, so my weight is back up. I did use a new paddle that I home-brewed from stuff I've been collecting. It uses magnetic repulsion to open the contacts - not too pretty but it seems to work okay. I ended up making 10 QSOs on 40 and 7 on 80. Signals weren't that strong except for AD4J - loud on both bands. Also worked N5GW on both bands. Looking forward to next month. Thanks for the opportunity!
W3KC
Band conditions were not very favorable here, but managed to make a few contacts on 40 and 80.
WA5RML
FlexRadio 1500 @5 wts to G5RV (80/40M); Weight of 15.2 lbs includes laptop, power supply, Vibroplex Code Warrior paddles, FlexControl knob, and AT-100 ATU. First Spartan Sprint this year! 13 QSOs included: (a) 40M – N5GW (Gene), NQ2W (Will), K4BAI (John), NK6A (Don), WB9G (Chris), AD4J (Jim), N8NA (Karl), and KF0N (Larry) and (b) 80M – WA8ZBT (Dennis), N5GW (Gene, again!), K5JHP (Bill), W5ACM (Andy) and WB5BKL (Nick). Seven (7) states - CA, DE, GA. IA, MS, NY and TX. Best signals of the evening goes to WA8ZBT and WB5BKL pounding into the Dallas/Ft. Worth area with true honest-to-goodness 599 signals on 80 mtrs! Most rewarding QSO – KF0N – Larry and I had to work very hard to complete the QSO – lots of repeats. It was neat to see the ebb and flow of signal levels near the noise level on that one! One that got away – Jim, AD4J. I worked him on 40M, and also heard him on 80M, but couldn’t work him! Hope to see everyone next month!
Sunday, January 12, 2014
January 2014 Spartan Sprint: Scoreboard
(For an enlarged view, please click on the Scoreboard image.)
January 2014 Spartan Sprint: Soapbox
KD5KC
A new year, a new call sign, and a new radio. I have been working on this radio for several months now. I think I can reduce the weight a little more still, but it was time to give it a go. Before the sprint, the radio only had 2 contacts on it. I was surprised that one 350 mah Li-Po lasted the whole contest! Sending with an itty-bitty straight key is tough. I started out on 20m, but there was nothing to hear, 20m was closed for my location. Switched to 40m at about 0215 UTC, and the first station I caught was W1AW/4 in NC calling CQ. Also caught a PV8 down low, and 4 Spartan Sprinters in MS, TX, MD and CA for 6 total before giving up on 40m. 80m was a little rough, but I was able to pull out 7 Spartan Sprinters in TX, TX, GA, CA, OK and TX before working all I could on 80m. With about 10 minutes left, I went back to 40m and caught one non-sprint station in KY calling CQ. I hope the bands are better next month.
NK9G
Just running the new KX3 through the paces. Wished there would have been more participation. Will try next month.
K3RLL
With amazing SFI tonight, I expected signals to be louder but happy for the contacts and the chance to work both old friends and new tonight.
NKØE
First sprint for me in a while, first with my new KX3.
Conditions didn't seem that great tonight--had to work to pull out some weak signals. Love the KX3 receiver, Though! Thanks to everyone on the air tonight!
W5IQS
First try at Spartan Sprint. Lots of fun. Rig was K2 at 5W to a wire fan dipole up 30 feet. Key used is an old Navy flame proof. Made 2 contacts on 20 meters, 8 on 40 meters and 12 on 80 meters. It was interesting to work several old friends. Counted K4BAI and WB5BKL on 20, 40 and 80 meters.
WVØH
SP was fun this month with signals up better than usual. I didn't try 20 but started a bit late (again), so I went to 40 and then down to 80 around 0300Z or so. Good signals from K4BAI on 80 considering all my local noise. W5ACM must have been running his negative two ounce rig suspended with helium balloons! I would like to get an ATAS someday. My 40/80 inverted L seems to be holding out but could use more radials. Never enough radials. I had 17 QSOs with a station weight of 2.2377 lbs.
K50T
I think it was 2006 or 2007 when I last was in a Spartan Sprint. Can it be that long ago? Nice to work some familiar calls along with some new ones too. Thanks for the QSOs.
K6XM
No one heard on 20. QSOs were pretty evenly split between 40 and 80 with several two banders. Many familiar calls and a few new ones. I always enjoy working the QRP fraternity. Thanks to all for a fun evening.
K4BAI
FT1000MP, 5W, dipole, inverted vee. 20M seemed dead at the start of the Sprint except for one Antarctic area station down the band. 40M was long at the start and went longer. Worked everyone I heard except W3KC. We called each other at different times, but made no QSO. Nice to work three CA stations on 40 and one (K6XM) on 80M. 80M was good to everywhere, but there was no activity heard there in the first hour and every one heard there was worked. Totals by band: 40: 12. 80: 14.
Thanks for all QSOs and Happy New Year to all.
N5GW
K1 at 3W with internal ATU and 80/40 board, 800 mAh LiPO battery, Sony headphones, micropaddles, CFZ over big oak limb apex at 50' in inverted vee config. Bands in fair shape, very quiet after big cold front. Battery went down after 1 hr 20 min - next time use 2W and H&P.
W3KC
Good night to be in the shack with wind howling and temps diving. Contacts about evenly distributed between 40 and 80 meter bands with nothing heard on 20. Using IC-703 and zs6bkw doublet.
W5ACM
Still using the ATS-3 with three 300 mAh LiPo batteries, providing 5W out to my antique 18AVQ vertical and a final total of 13 QSOs this month. I had a GREAT TIME but it wasn't easy. Once again, I had ZERO contacts on 20M. The band was absolutely dead from Houston. I found 40M conditions to be adequate and good for eight contacts. Conditions on 80M were also acceptable, but I only managed five contacts there, finishing the event with a very patient WV0H. I spent a lot of time calling CQ. The
batteries survived the abuse, but it was close. As I have noted before, there are no protection circuits on these batteries (extra weight). If you run them down below 2.2 VDC each, they die. I was down to 2.7 VDC per cell at the end. Always hoping for more 20M ops!
KFØN
Wow; an astonishing six QSO’s! I ‘m not sure if activity was this low or my local noise level of +10DB over S-9 covered up most of the guys! If I missed any of you, I am so sorry, but this was probably the reason. I guess from now on I’ll have to put ye old noise canceler ahead of the ATS-3 but I hope I don’t have to include the weight of the thing! Hi, Hi. Conditions seemed decent though. I was able to work both east coast (K3RLL, Florida) and west coast (K6XM, CA) with the 3-watt peanut whistle which surprised me. Thanks to both of you for pulling me out of your local front-end mud! It was a great contest, though, and I hope to see more the gang in February.
NK6A
I had a S5 noise level on all bands. Could only manage 7Q's and five states. I could only hear a few stations out here on the left coast. All on 40M.
NQ2W
K1 at 5 W to an inverted vee at 40 ft for 40 m and a ground mounted, home-brewed, near bottom-loaded vertical for 80 m. Realizing that 20 m would most likely be empty at the start of the sprint, I decided to by-pass my tuner and use the K1's internal keyer to more than halve my station weight. Definitely stepped outside my comfort zone. My homebrewed paddle acted up occasionally and the band conditions weren't that great so, needless to say, it was a challenging sprint. 6 Qs on 40 and 4 on 80 were completed. Had two-banders with N5GW and K5OT. Almost had a two-bander with K4BAI but I never heard him after my exchange on 80 so I don't know if he copied my info. Wish we could rattle up more activity...hope to see everyone next month ...invite a friend!
WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5W to a 20M wire delta loop, a 40M dipole or a 40M EDZepp. 11 states this time. Tried 15 but no luck there. Worked only two stations on 20, 40 and 80M: K5OT who is pretty close and W5IQS who is even closer. One station reported 80W (I didn't count him), another 4W and four others 3W. Best signal by far was WA8ZBT. My thanks and a HNY to all. Had fun.
KA6AIL
My first time on this sprint. Had a great time, and will try it again next month.
WB8LZG
FT 990 @ 7w to dipole @ 35ft.
A new year, a new call sign, and a new radio. I have been working on this radio for several months now. I think I can reduce the weight a little more still, but it was time to give it a go. Before the sprint, the radio only had 2 contacts on it. I was surprised that one 350 mah Li-Po lasted the whole contest! Sending with an itty-bitty straight key is tough. I started out on 20m, but there was nothing to hear, 20m was closed for my location. Switched to 40m at about 0215 UTC, and the first station I caught was W1AW/4 in NC calling CQ. Also caught a PV8 down low, and 4 Spartan Sprinters in MS, TX, MD and CA for 6 total before giving up on 40m. 80m was a little rough, but I was able to pull out 7 Spartan Sprinters in TX, TX, GA, CA, OK and TX before working all I could on 80m. With about 10 minutes left, I went back to 40m and caught one non-sprint station in KY calling CQ. I hope the bands are better next month.
NK9G
Just running the new KX3 through the paces. Wished there would have been more participation. Will try next month.
K3RLL
With amazing SFI tonight, I expected signals to be louder but happy for the contacts and the chance to work both old friends and new tonight.
NKØE
First sprint for me in a while, first with my new KX3.
Conditions didn't seem that great tonight--had to work to pull out some weak signals. Love the KX3 receiver, Though! Thanks to everyone on the air tonight!
W5IQS
First try at Spartan Sprint. Lots of fun. Rig was K2 at 5W to a wire fan dipole up 30 feet. Key used is an old Navy flame proof. Made 2 contacts on 20 meters, 8 on 40 meters and 12 on 80 meters. It was interesting to work several old friends. Counted K4BAI and WB5BKL on 20, 40 and 80 meters.
WVØH
SP was fun this month with signals up better than usual. I didn't try 20 but started a bit late (again), so I went to 40 and then down to 80 around 0300Z or so. Good signals from K4BAI on 80 considering all my local noise. W5ACM must have been running his negative two ounce rig suspended with helium balloons! I would like to get an ATAS someday. My 40/80 inverted L seems to be holding out but could use more radials. Never enough radials. I had 17 QSOs with a station weight of 2.2377 lbs.
K50T
I think it was 2006 or 2007 when I last was in a Spartan Sprint. Can it be that long ago? Nice to work some familiar calls along with some new ones too. Thanks for the QSOs.
K6XM
No one heard on 20. QSOs were pretty evenly split between 40 and 80 with several two banders. Many familiar calls and a few new ones. I always enjoy working the QRP fraternity. Thanks to all for a fun evening.
K4BAI
FT1000MP, 5W, dipole, inverted vee. 20M seemed dead at the start of the Sprint except for one Antarctic area station down the band. 40M was long at the start and went longer. Worked everyone I heard except W3KC. We called each other at different times, but made no QSO. Nice to work three CA stations on 40 and one (K6XM) on 80M. 80M was good to everywhere, but there was no activity heard there in the first hour and every one heard there was worked. Totals by band: 40: 12. 80: 14.
Thanks for all QSOs and Happy New Year to all.
N5GW
K1 at 3W with internal ATU and 80/40 board, 800 mAh LiPO battery, Sony headphones, micropaddles, CFZ over big oak limb apex at 50' in inverted vee config. Bands in fair shape, very quiet after big cold front. Battery went down after 1 hr 20 min - next time use 2W and H&P.
W3KC
Good night to be in the shack with wind howling and temps diving. Contacts about evenly distributed between 40 and 80 meter bands with nothing heard on 20. Using IC-703 and zs6bkw doublet.
W5ACM
Still using the ATS-3 with three 300 mAh LiPo batteries, providing 5W out to my antique 18AVQ vertical and a final total of 13 QSOs this month. I had a GREAT TIME but it wasn't easy. Once again, I had ZERO contacts on 20M. The band was absolutely dead from Houston. I found 40M conditions to be adequate and good for eight contacts. Conditions on 80M were also acceptable, but I only managed five contacts there, finishing the event with a very patient WV0H. I spent a lot of time calling CQ. The
batteries survived the abuse, but it was close. As I have noted before, there are no protection circuits on these batteries (extra weight). If you run them down below 2.2 VDC each, they die. I was down to 2.7 VDC per cell at the end. Always hoping for more 20M ops!
KFØN
Wow; an astonishing six QSO’s! I ‘m not sure if activity was this low or my local noise level of +10DB over S-9 covered up most of the guys! If I missed any of you, I am so sorry, but this was probably the reason. I guess from now on I’ll have to put ye old noise canceler ahead of the ATS-3 but I hope I don’t have to include the weight of the thing! Hi, Hi. Conditions seemed decent though. I was able to work both east coast (K3RLL, Florida) and west coast (K6XM, CA) with the 3-watt peanut whistle which surprised me. Thanks to both of you for pulling me out of your local front-end mud! It was a great contest, though, and I hope to see more the gang in February.
NK6A
I had a S5 noise level on all bands. Could only manage 7Q's and five states. I could only hear a few stations out here on the left coast. All on 40M.
NQ2W
K1 at 5 W to an inverted vee at 40 ft for 40 m and a ground mounted, home-brewed, near bottom-loaded vertical for 80 m. Realizing that 20 m would most likely be empty at the start of the sprint, I decided to by-pass my tuner and use the K1's internal keyer to more than halve my station weight. Definitely stepped outside my comfort zone. My homebrewed paddle acted up occasionally and the band conditions weren't that great so, needless to say, it was a challenging sprint. 6 Qs on 40 and 4 on 80 were completed. Had two-banders with N5GW and K5OT. Almost had a two-bander with K4BAI but I never heard him after my exchange on 80 so I don't know if he copied my info. Wish we could rattle up more activity...hope to see everyone next month ...invite a friend!
WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5W to a 20M wire delta loop, a 40M dipole or a 40M EDZepp. 11 states this time. Tried 15 but no luck there. Worked only two stations on 20, 40 and 80M: K5OT who is pretty close and W5IQS who is even closer. One station reported 80W (I didn't count him), another 4W and four others 3W. Best signal by far was WA8ZBT. My thanks and a HNY to all. Had fun.
KA6AIL
My first time on this sprint. Had a great time, and will try it again next month.
WB8LZG
FT 990 @ 7w to dipole @ 35ft.
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