Category: Operating

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2019 CQ WW CW M/S HP

First time every for a Multi-Op of any major CW contest. We had fun, and wished for more operators to share the fun and BIC time.

As always, thanks to WM5H for pre-contest work getting the station ready and for good food.

Very glad to have my elmer, Jim W5LA, BIC for the majority of the run workload. We are going to make a serious contester out of him!

Band QSOs Zones Countries
160: 67 14 41
80: 168 24 82
40: 256 31 110
20: 775 34 133
15: 89 23 75
10: 39 11 21
Total: 1394 137 462 Total Score 2,210,909

During a post-contest phone call with K8AZ, Tom remarked that a country count more than 400 in the M/S category is a serious competitive effort.

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2019 ARRL NOV SS SSB M/S

Once again, a group of LCC members tackled the M/S HP category. Jim W5LA, Bobby WM5H and Scott W5WZ were on hand for the event. Prior obligations took all 3 way on Sunday morning for about 4 hours. Consequently, QSO count was down, but we still had fun!

Band QSOs
160: 0
80: 241
40: 689
20: 532
15: 6
10: 0
Total: 1468 Sections 83 Total Score 243,688

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2019-CQ WW SSB @ K8AZ

I made my 7th trip to Chesterland, Ohio to the fantastic station of Tom, K8AZ for the 2019-CQ WW SSB contest. Yes, it is a long drive – 16 hours or so. But the camaraderie with the gang makes it all the better!

As usual, I spend some time on Friday helping Tom with various maintenance, repairs, or installations of new items. This trip was no exception. Many hands do indeed make light work!

Tom takes a pre-contest walk around the antenna farm. This time, we found the rope supporting the SW element of the 80-meter transmit 4-square had broken, and the result was a rope tangled up in the elements of several yagis on a rotating tower.

In waning day light, we worked to free the rope from the tower such that the 80-m antenna would be usable. The rotating tower is 15 and 20 meters, so we parked it toward Africa for the night. Once the rope was free, we managed to get it positioned such that the 80-m antenna functioned for the overnight operating period.

The next morning, it was raining. The forecast called for increasing winds throughout the day and into the night. K8AZ and I ventured with bow and arrow to get a string over the appropriate tree. First challenge was using a sling blade to clear walking paths and work areas in the raspberry thicket, then cross a creek to find the loose end of the rope. Second challenge was to place the string. First shot success! Then pulled a larger string, and at last the final rope. With the antenna repaired, back to the house for shower and then operating time again.

Near sunset on Sunday night, suddenly 80-meter 4-square SWR went really high. Upon inspection, we found the NE element had broken loose from the feed point. Hauled a ladder out and worked beyond sunset to complete the repair with 20 minutes left in the contest.

Highlights of this contest: seeing my friends K8AZ, K8NZ, W8CAR, WT8C, AA8OY, K8RR, W8WWV, K8BL; riding in and driving a dual motor Tesla Model 3; meeting KE3X and talking contest strategy; and working CN3A on 160m with my own call!

CQ Magazine included this blog post in their official post-contest writeup!

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Jan 2019 NAQP SSB – 10 minute audio clip

Here’s a 10-minute audio clip of W5WZ running 20 meters during the Jan 2019 NAQP SSB. The rate was 264 QSOs per hour, or 4.4 QSOs per minute.  Keep in mind this is a 100-watt maximum power contest.

Here is the audio clip

View the 10 minute period, which pretty much coincides with the audio file.

Recording made using QSORDER by K3IT
https://qsorder.hamradiomap.com/

I use SH5 to generate analytical reports about each contest. Link to reports on yesterday’s NAQP SSB contest:
https://www.w5wz.com/sh5/w5wz/2019/2019-01_naqp-ssb_w5wz/

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November Sweepstakes, Fourteen Years Ago

11/24/2004 | W5WZ Our family was on a camping trip to Daisy State Park on Lake Greeson in Arkansas. I had hoped to spend a significant amount of time in the contest. However, as my first solo portable operation, it wasn’t as successful as desired.

W5WZ operating 2004 Nov SS SSB at Lake Daisy State Park in Arkansas (Photo by KW5MOM)

I brought an fan dipole for 80/20, and also a trap dipole for 40/15. But, I didn’t bring any soldering irons or antenna analyzers. The 80/20 antenna was up about 25 feet, on the east side of a steep slope near the edge of the lake. The 40/15 dipole had an unknown problem; it wouldn’t tune up anywhere. So I gave it a shot with only the 80/20 antenna.

My station was an IC-756 ProII, a laptop with NA by K8CC for logging and rig control, with the requisite Heil proset and footswitch, all on the picnic table at the campsite.

My family had other plans for the camping trip; as much rain was expected, during the non-rainy periods I was expected to be with them. The first evening, the temperature was falling quickly ahead of the rain, which soon followed, so I packed up and went to bed  in the RV. With 4 kids under age 7 in the RV, indoor operating was not going to happen on this trip.

The next morning, it was very damp and windy, so I decided to set up in the cab of the truck. With the 756 on the dash, laptop in my lap, the passenger seat was mighty comfortable. The kids provided plenty of interruptions, along with the nature hike and my turn at cooking for the family, so once again operating was not the priority. After all, this was my vacation! I did learn that an automobile bucket seat should be considered for an operating chair.

My operating position had one heck of a great view! And the rest of the trip was beautiful, too! — W5WZ

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QSO with W7IFG Yield Unexpected Surprise!

A late Sunday afternoon QSO with W7IFG on 2018-10-08 via 20M USB yielded an unexpected surprise!  I had just completed a previous QSO with intentions to QRT for supper.  W7IFG asked for a quick QSO, and I obliged.

Scott told me (his name is also Scott) that he had a QSL card from W1AW/5 that listed me as an operator during the ARRL Centennial QSO Party, and he also knew that the two QSOs on the card were made with me, because he had asked for my home call sign.  We briefly discussed how much fun the Centennial QSO Party was for all the participants, then signed off.

The following Friday, Oct 12, I received an envelope in the mail from W7IFG.  I was quite surprised to find not only a QSL card for the recent QSO, as well as the original W1AW/5 card!

QSL from W7IFG for QSO with W5WZ on 2018-10-08 20M USB, and QSL from W1AW/5 for QSO with W7IFG on 2014-11-xx on 17m USB, with W5WZ as the W1AW/5 operator. 

Thank you very much W7IFG!

73, Scott W5WZ

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Special Event Commemorating the Louisiana Purchase – April 21 to 28, 2018

A special event commemorating the Louisiana Purchase will take place from April 21 to April 28, 2018.  Sponsored by the NorthEast Louisiana Amateur Radio Club, the event will use the call sign W5L.

A commemorative full-color QSL card has been created for the event.

Operators will be from locations across Louisiana, activating the HF bands in CW, Phone and RTTY modes.

A schedule of the on-air times and more details are available at https://W5WZ.com/W5L 

 

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DXer’s tool: ClubLog

DXing is enjoyed by many hams.  There are countless tools available to assist.  One very popular online tool is ClubLog.  There is nothing to install on your computer.  Just browse to https://clublog.org/

Club Log is an online database with a suite of powerful tools supporting active DXers.  Club Log was designed to enable, in fact to encourage club activity and friendly competition between club members through its league tables and charts.

Once you have registered on Club Log and uploaded your log, you will be able to:

Generate personal reports, showing which DXCC countries you have worked and/or confirmed, when you first worked them, which ones you still need, and which are the most likely to QSL (Club Log’s reports are both comprehensive and flexible);

See how you stand relative to your peers in various league tables and challenges (again, the reports are very flexible – for example with a few clicks you can generate a specific league table listing how many DXCC countries or CQ zones have been worked by various African hams on 20m CW in the past year almost as easily as a global league table covering all bands, all modes and all years since 1945);

Analyze your log for possible/likely errors in the DXCC allocations (Club Log’s painstakingly-researched DXCC database is a tremendously useful resource supporting the DX community);

Predict the bands and times on which you are most likely to work almost any DX station, based on actual QSOs in the logs uploaded to Club Log, and draw great circle maps;

Set up a personal DX Cluster feed that filters out the DXCCs you have already worked, leaving just the ones you still need …

… and much more.  This is just a taste of things to come!

73, W5WZ

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No radio activity

05/23/11 — Back home after the annual trek to Dayton Hamvention.  I was an invited presenter at the Hamvention Contest Forum. That was a lot of fun. As all SSB contesters know, a microphone and a large captive audience is a good time!  As always, it was great to see friends!

Aquired an AL-1200 at the flea market.  It is a real power house!

  

05/04/11–  Wow!  What a spring we’ve had!  I’ve not done much ham radio since February.  A family vacation to Washington DC during spring break, a couple of rounds of severe storms, and lots of work have consumed my time.  Counting down to the annual trek to Dayton in a couple of weeks.  See you there!