RESULTS: September 2019 ARS Spartan Sprint

SOAPBOX: September 2019 ARS Spartan Sprint

K3RLL

Slow start on 40m but things picked up pretty steadily until another contest had the nerve to intrude upon the frequencies we paid for! (GRIN)  Conditions weren’t great but sure better than watching TV. My thanks to the A.R.S. and the skilled and patient ops that pulled me out of the noise tonight. 72/73 … Don

NØTA

Not sure if the activity was low, or I wasn't hearing well. Quit after the first hour. Thanks for the Q's. K3 @5w, Vertical, GenLog.

WB9HFK

Part time. Poor conditions or not much activity. Hopefully, better next month! 72, Mark, WB9HFK

K9DRP

QSB, QRN, and HPM made conditions tough!  TNX KB1M fer the 20 contact!  K3RLL had the best sig on 40, but he quit before I got him in the log. Was able to connect with NØTA, K3JZD, and KFØN on 40. Next month has to be better! 72, Don, K9DRP

K4BAI

Lot of competition from high power stations in the HPM event. But signals on 40 and 80 were quite good. Could use some more activity next month. 73/72. John, K4BAI

KB1M

Better luck than last month, managed 8 Qs for 7 states. One contact on 20 the rest on 40. Short opening to GA. Gave K4BAI best signal of the evening. Thanks for the QSOs.  72/73, Walt

K3JZD

40 meters only. Used a bare QCX-40 with a mini 12v Li-Ion battery pack and earbuds. 2 watts into a 40m Dipole. This month I used a Mini-Mini 3D Printed Straight Key that was designed and built by K0MBT – smaller than his Mini Key that I used last month. Tough sledding due to the waning solar storm. Battery ran down to the shutoff point after 1.5 hours of calling CQ a whole lot. See yunz next month.  Jody - K3JZD

WB5BKL

K3/10 @ 5W to a 40M extended double Zepp. RBN could hear me well on 20, 40 and 80M. Too bad that doesn't count.  My thanks to John for the only Spartan Sprint contact. Five QRO QSOs omitted – worked several Hiram Percy Maxim stations during the lull. Had fun.

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RESULTS: The August 2019 ARS Spartan Sprint

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SOAPBOX: The August 2019 ARS Spartan Sprint

KI4MZC
this was my first Spartan Sprint. I only worked the last half-hour or so, but it was pretty good for me. I heard a few other stations and almost got one DX. Oh well!  Things seemed to be a little noisy as they have been all weekend. I did get my friend, John, K4BAI, down in Columbus, Georgia, whom I rarely hear these days. Used a KX3 with computer logging and a straight key.  Antenna is a multi-band dipole. QTH is Cleveland, GA, about 90 miles north-east of you-know-where! I’ll see y’all next month!

K3RLL
Tried the QCX-40 tonight. When QRZ.Com showed all bands ‘poor’ (in red), they weren’t kidding. Best RBN report, of the few that heard me, was in Portugal ! Go figure? Terrible conditions here in PA tonight. Gave up early. Just not fun talking with the QRN crashes. HIHI. See you next month.  72/73 … Don
  
W5QLF
Nothing heard on 20 or 80 meters. Pickings were even sparse on 40 meters into South Texas. Signals came up a bit by 0130z with K4BAI coming in at his usual arm chair signal strength. Other stations who were patient enough to stick with me until the contact was complete included WB9HFK, N9GVP and W4VHH. 72, Joe, W5QLF

K3JZD
40 meters only. Used a bare QCX-40 with a mini 12v Li-Ion battery pack and earbuds.  2 watts into a 40m Dipole.  Used a 3D Printed straight key that was designed and built by K0MBT this time.  Solar Storm?  RF hole? Yes. Paid extra, but it took 35 minutes for me to get a RBN Spot while calling CQ. But no replies. Finally heard Mark - WB9HFK coming in just above the noise level and worked him.   After that, I could not get any more RBN Spots - guess I used up all of my credits.   Saw that some other regulars were getting some RBN Spots, but I was not able to hear any of them. Gave up after an hour - see yunz next month.  Jody - K3JZD

K4BAI
QSOs per band: 40M: 9, 80M: 3. Was about 20 minutes late in starting.?? Heard a MO station on 20M not in the sprint and a SOTA station. 40M was pretty good from IL north to PA, MN and NH and out to TX to the west. No 4 area stations heard. Worked GA, FL, and TX on 80M. See you all next month. 73/72, John, K4BAI

K9DRP
It was a tough night!  Very few sigs heard.  TNX to WB5BKL for half of my contacts (1 on 20, 1 on 40)! 73, Don, K9DRP

KB1M
Only 3 stations worked out of 4 heard on 40. IL was the hot state with 2 QSOs and GA got second place with 1. 20 was silent except for my own sidetone. Better days are coming, I'm sure. 72/73, Walt

WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5W to a 40M extended double Zepp. Actually 12 QSOs but fully 1/3 were QRO. I guess I sounded really needy. 8 states this time. Best QRP signals:  20M - KØITT, 40M - K9DRP, 80M - K4BAI.  I try to remember to publicize the Spartan Sprint on the local QRP email groups. I hope you guys do also. The more the merrier. Had fun.

RESULTS: July 2019 Spartan Sprint

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SOAPBOX: July 2019 ARS Spartan Sprint

K3ESE
not much to be heard on 20 or 80. skinny rig was ATS4A, T1 tuner, 3Ah Bioenno battery, Whiterook cootie, light headphones...1.5 lbs. antennas were the 20m EDZ at 50' and the 80m dipole at 70'.

K3RLL
Lots of activity on 40m this evening but not that many were Spartan Sprinters. Something was going on and apparently I didn’t get the memo. (SMILE)  Signals not too strong but the two best ones were KB1M in NH and KØZK in ME.  My G5RVjr has been beaming NE this evening. Thanks for the nice hour of enjoyable contacts.  72/73 … Don

K4EES
My first Spartan Spring. Enjoyed it.  13 Colonies seemed to be monopolizing the bands to an extent.  Lots for QRN. Only made one contact and he wasn’t participating in the contest, so not sure if it really counts? (Non-contest contacts count as long as the non-contester provides you with the standard information exchanged in the Spartan Sprint. - KI6SN)
K9DRP
Rough night working around the K2x QRO+ stations.  Worked 4 on 20, 4 on 40, and 1 on 80. K3JZD sure put forth a great effort calling on 40. Hope to catch everyone on FOBB this month!

K6CSL
Station is a Yaesu-FT-450 running 5 watts to 3 wire antennas and 1 vertical antenna.

K4BAI
A little confusing with the Firefly QRP having an one hour overlap with the Spartan Sprint. I have suggested to that club that they avoid a direct conflict in scheduling future sprints. Activity was pretty high during that hour, but I was unable to get three of the Fireflies to give
me their power, so I didn't count them in my QSO total. Thanks for all QSOs. 73, John, K4BAI

KB1M
6 Qs for 6 states. Sprint did not get my full attention as was also looking for 13-colony stations. Thanks for the QSOs. 72, Walt

WB9HFK
Icom 7300 at 5W, OCF dipole for 40M, and 150 Ft. random wire for 80M. Weight - 25 lbs. 72, Mark

WB5BKL
K3/10 @ 5W to a 40M extended double Zepp. 8 states this time. Best signals:  20M - N9NK, 40M - K4BAI, 80M - W5ACM. 20M was OK, 40M was so-so and 80M had a constant S-8 noise level.  Nice to
work both Bert and Arn in the same Sprint - both coasts! Had fun.

W5ACM
It was a difficult event for me this month. I could hear many stations “weakly”, but few could hear me. Many thanks to WB9HFK, K4BAI and WB5BKL for their patience so that we could at least get a few contacts during the event. All contacts were on 40M or 80M. I also have a few mechanical issues with the ATS-3a enclosure that need to be cured, but the batteries are holding in there! 72 de Andy, W5ACM, Houston, Texas.

K3JZD
40 meters only. Used a bare QCX-40 with a mini 12v Li-Ion battery pack and earbuds. 2 watts into a 40m Dipole. Used the 'straight key' on the QCX Board. 73, Jody - K3JZD

W5QLF
The normal QRP bandwidth that we have to ourselves was loaded with signals from the 13 Colonies Special Event and the Fireflies QRP Sprint. It was a chore to pick out the "SP" signals. Kudos to John, K4BAI for sending an exchange that worked for both the Fireflies Sprint and The Spartan Sprint. - Joe