2005
2005 September VHF QSO Party
KZ9O SOLP @ K9MU
This one was for the young contesters out there.
|
2005 September VHF QSO Party
|
| Band |
QSO's |
Grids |
| 50 |
110 |
65 |
| 144 |
51 |
20 |
| 222 |
8 |
3 |
| 432 |
10 |
2 |
| Total |
179 |
80 |
|
Claimed Score 17,730
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2005 June VHF QSO Party
K9MU SOLP @ W0UC
* Results update - 3rd in nation SOLP! *There was a reduction in my final score, 5.2% to be exact
(164,802 to 156,247). Yes, I may have made a couple mistakes, but to
lose 11 qso's and 4 grids on 6m and 8 qso's and 2 grids on 2m seems
"out-of-line". This reduction cost me the June record. I'm sure I had
no dupes in my log and I'm certain callsigns were copied correctly. I
would like to see the data responsible for my point reductions. Is it
really my copying skills or just a log infraction? I want to know the
actual errors. Log checking reports
should be made available for the VHF contests.
I Guess I'll have to set the record in 2006.
I again operated from the W0AIH/W0UC contest site in Fall Creek, WI (EN44hr).
Since the W0UC station was torn down many of the antennae have fallen apart and
coax has deteriorated thus developing poor SWR on almost all bands. W0AIH
and I spent many hours this spring repairing antennae and fixing SWR problems.
Although we made some progress there are still plenty of things to fix. The 6M
and 2M stacks are useless, the microwave dishes are nonexistent, and the 432
stack still has a 3:1 SWR. W0AIH put up a small 30 foot tower so I could utilize
my 432/902/1296 yagis. A week before the contest I started transporting
all my radio equipment from my house to the new VHF chalet at W0UC. I ran the
bands with KB9PJL, proving all my equipment in working order!! Since KB9PJL was going
to be on a rove to the U.P. of Michigan he gave me his 10 Ghz portable equipment to use.
My goal for June was to finally break that 100k barrier. The contest started
slow with little activity and strong lightning static crashes. I found K0MHC/R
in EN26 right away and swept him through 1296 with good signals! My 902/1296
was working great! I swept both KC0IYT/R and KF0Q/R from several grids. K0AWU,
KM0T, W0JT, N0KP, W0GHZ, W9GA, KB0ZKX, K2YAZ, K2DRH, W9FZ/R, and W0ZQ/R all had
nice signals on 1296! I was very impressed! Things were finally looking good.
A severe thunderstorm blew over forcing me to disconnect equipment. It passed
with no equipment casualties. Six meters opened at 23:15z to W5 and it never
really completely ended. QSO machines like K5 "texas radio", W5PR, and
W5KFT were always in. The 'ol Wilson yagi got a work out. A real highlight was having
VP5/N4VHF FL31 call me while pointed at Texas. I ran some 6M and 2M WSJT skeds
Sunday morning with good success.
The rovers and all the crazy EN44'ers kept me busy until the BIG aurora
opening!! At 1905z, I was pointing south and heard K0KP cq'ing with almost a
hashy note to his signal. I swung the beam around to the NE and Rex was booming
in 59A!! All hell broke loose! 6M and 2M were packed full of strong sigs.
Signals on 6M were peaking at 070 QTF. The highlight of 6M aurora was having
VE4EE EO10, WB8BZK/VE3 EO40, VA6AN EO42, and VE3KRP EN58 call me in a row! What
could be better than working three EO grids in a row! W9FZ/R and W0ZQ/R were
also worked via aurora with their dipoles. Several aurora QSO's were made on 144
and 222. I also heard K9NS and a couple others on 432 aurora.
144 Aurora:
1910 N2PA FN12
1935 WZ8T EN72
1949 W9FZ/R EN54
1955 W4IY FM08
2006 W3SO FN00
2009 W2KVK FN20
2011 K8CC EN82
2012 K8MD EN82
2012 K8MR EN91
2013 K9ZO EN50
2138 K1TEO FN31
2149 WA3LTB EN92
2149 W4RX FM19
2153 K9MRI EN70
2155 WA8WOQ EN82
2236 W0FY EM48
2258 K2ERG FN13
2302 KC9GRF EN44
2345 WQ0A EN34
2348 VE3KRP EN58
2355 N4GN EM78
2356 W8DN EN70
222 Aurora:
1937 WZ8T EN72
1947 N2PA FN12
2141 W4IY FM08
2146 K8GP FM08
2158 N9LR EN50
When the aurora slowed down, N0AKC and I attempted a 10 Ghz sked. I took the 10
Ghz tripod outside and found a clear view though the trees and proceeded to work
N0AKC and his sons on 10GHZ CW/SSB! Those QSO's put me over the 140k hump!
With my personal goal already smoked I now had my eyes set on the WI record, set by
W0UC in 2000 at 160k. With only an hour and a half remaining, I needed to
haul. I put on some old school Limp Bizkit, turned the operating skill knob up a
notch, and continued to kick some ass. W9FZ/R was on full force, cranking out
the Q's from EN45. During the last minutes of the test, KF0Q/R pulled over for
us EN44'ers and ran us though the bands from EN35, giving me a much needed new
one on 902! The contest ended with the usual… K2DRH "the shark" on a feeding frenzy!
Overall the contest was a blast! Setting both my personal goal and the WI SOLP
record! My thanks goes out to W0AIH for all his tower/antenna knowledge, W0UC
for using his antennae, and all the BC'ers, NLRS'ers, and CVVHF'ers for the
hundreds of QSO's!
|
2005 June QSO Party
|
| Band |
QSO's |
Points |
Grids |
| 50 |
270 |
270 |
104 |
| 144 |
110 |
110 |
47 |
| 222 |
45 |
90 |
25 |
| 432 |
54 |
108 |
23 |
| 902 |
20 |
60 |
13 |
| 1296 |
24 |
72 |
14 |
| 10 Ghz |
4 |
16 |
1 |
| Total |
527 |
726 |
227 |
Claimed Score 164,802
New claimed WI SOLP section record!
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|
|
Who to top |
|
TOTAL |
FINAL |
50 |
144 |
222 |
432 |
902 |
1296 |
2304 |
3456 |
5760 |
10000 |
24000 |
47 GHz+ |
|
CALL |
GRID |
|
Q |
G |
SCORE |
Q |
G |
Q |
G |
Q |
G |
Q |
G |
Q |
G |
Q |
G |
Q |
G |
Q |
G |
Q |
G |
Q |
G |
Q |
G |
Q |
G |
|
W0UC |
EN44 |
SOLP |
552 |
222 |
160,824 |
315 |
130 |
108 |
32 |
37 |
18 |
57 |
22 |
8 |
5 |
21 |
10 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
|
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2005 January VHF Sweepstakes
K9MU SOLP @ W0UC
Hmm... where to start? First off, a week before the contest my main
radio IC-746 blew up. I had a backup FT-736 but only 20w on six and
two. With a limited amount of power I wasn't too enthusiastic about
sitting through the whole contest. I broadcasted my need for
assistance and thankfully many people from the Eau Claire area
volunteered to help me out. Bob, KB9PJL, loaned me his spare FT-100d
(100w on 6m), Charlie, N0AKC, loaned me his RF concepts 170w 2M amp,
and Chris, W9CDL, spared his RF concepts 432 brick and radio interface
(for WSJT). Thanks guys!!! With all the help, I decided to Op from the
the W0UC station in Fall Creek. We received about 10 inches of snow
the night before the contest. I called Paul, W0AIH, to get a snow
report and he stated that the roads and his driveway had not been
plowed yet. He said he would give me a call when the plow truck comes
through. Paul called around 10:30am and I didn't get out there until
after 11:30am. The typical contest rush was in full swing! The heavy
amount of snow we received prevented me from erecting my portable mast
for the 902 and 1296 yagis. So right away I was out of two bands. At
W0UC's, the 6m beams and rotors where not working properly and the 432
and 144 stacks developed a poor SWR since the Sept. contest. Once it
got dark I could not see where the yagis were pointing. My equipment
started to malfunction and I accidentally fired too much power into
Charlie's 2M amp and smoked it. I was fed up with my unfortunate luck
and around 8pm Sat. night I decided to pack everything up and head
back home. Once home, I reset-up my station again and made only a few
more QSO's. Hopefully by June everything will be up and running
smoothly again.
Highlights:
Hearing KC0IYT/R on 50-432 in both EN24 and 25!! (The only rover I heard).
Working K8EB EN73 on 2m with 20w and 10 element beam
Working NT0V EN08 on 6M aurora (also heard K0AWU and K0KP on aurora)
Huge amount of activity from EN44 again!
Lowlights:
Only one rover
Little activity from Milwaukee/Chicago areas
Too much damn snow
(See above... :-( )
|
|
2005 January VHF Sweestakes
|
| Band |
QSO's |
Points |
Grids |
| 50 |
65 |
65 |
21 |
| 144 |
61 |
61 |
21 |
| 222 |
15 |
30 |
6 |
| 432 |
33 |
66 |
10 |
| Total |
174 |
222 |
58 |
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Claimed Score 12,876
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.-.-.
