The Joys of Old and New

KL1JP, WL7BDO, KL6C, and KL1AZ joined N1TX for ARRL DX Phone last weekend.  After the great conditions in the CW portion of the contest, hopes were very high.  In fact, operations started with a bang with some very satisfying rates: 

• The best 60 minute rate: 170/hour 
• The best 30 minute rate: 204/hour 
• The best 10 minute rate: 252/hour 

On Friday evening, we even caught some traction on 40m by running split, transmitting from about 7080 kHz and listening above 7200.  We were no match for fickle Mother Nature, though.  Rates soon vaporized, and even S&P became a challenge.  The Kp and aurora numbers were both headed up.  The final 24 hours were abysmal.  

Nevertheless, the team refused to cave and spirits remained high throughout the ups and downs of propagation. The 23.5 hours of "operating time" shown below does not reflect an additional 20 hours of tuning dead air.  Naturally, after hours of the doldrums on Sunday, we got a good run going 10 minutes before the finish to push us over the QSO count achieved in 2007. 

Contest         : ARRL International DX Contest
Callsign        : KL2R
Mode            : CW
Category        : Single Operator (SO)
Overlay         : ---
Band(s)         : All bands (AB)
Class           : High Power (HP)
Zone/State/...  : KW
Locator         : BP64KU
Operating time  : 20h48

 BAND   QSO S/P DUP  POINTS   AVG
----------------------------------
  160     0   0   0       0  0.00
   80    22  12   0      63  2.86
   40   225  46   0     675  3.00
   20   413  50   1    1236  2.99
   15   734  53   7    2199  3.00
   10   375  48   6    1125  3.00
----------------------------------
TOTAL  1769 209  14    5298  2.99
==================================
     TOTAL SCORE : 1 107 282

As it happened, KL1AZ's 12-year-old granddaughter Dale proved to be an incredible contester-in-the-making.  She quickly learned the ropes of running and S&P with Win-Test.  Her memory is like a steel trap, and she has that edgy, assertive personality required for effective contesting.  

Once she was basically comfortable with the exchange, we worked a system where one of us would type and key the transmitter while she talked.  It worked well.  Fred NA2U later commented by email, "I was very surprised to be called by a young girl with that callsign.  She did great on our 15m Q.  Best of luck to Dale!  Everyone knows we need new, young blood in the hobby."  In the photo below, Carl WL7BDO serves as control op while she scores another QSO with a big smile. 

Dale may end up being better suited for CW and RTTY contests, though, because her high-energy requires a lot of stoking.  Her eyes and hands were constantly on the prowl for power snacks.  A mouth full of sunflower seeds is incompatible with a phone contest.  Dale plans to take her license exam in April.  Look for more of her on-the-air adventures.

ARRL 10M Brings Joy to the Far North

Conditions on 10 meters in the latest ARRL contest were overall excellent from Alaska.  From the Fairbanks and Denali areas, KL1JP, KL6C, WL7BDO, and KL8DX reported spectacular results.  Although there were no true openings to Europe, A65BD did make a brief appearance at KL2R just after midnight on Sunday morning.  South of the Alaska Range, propagation was apparently excellent, too. JAs were plentiful when the eastern US died down.  A number of Asian and Pacific stations were loud but sporadic to appear.  Ten meters seemed to burst to life around 0830 local time and shut down quickly about eight hours later. Some UA9s and UN stations could be worked around 2100 local (0600 UTC).  During the final few hours on Sunday, the band became somewhat unstable, and signals came and went quickly.

Contest         : ARRL 10 Meter Contest
Callsign        : KL2R
Mode            : CW
Category        : Single Operator (SO)
Overlay         : ---
Band(s)         : Single band (SB) 10 m
Class           : High Power (HP)
Zone/State/...  : AK
Locator         : BP64KU
Operating time  : 15h28


 MODE   QSO DUP DXC MLTS  POINTS   AVG 
---------------------------------------
   CW  1271  22  26   67    5084  4.00 
  SSB     0   0   0    0       0  0.00 
---------------------------------------
TOTAL  1271  22  26   67    5084  4.00 
=======================================
         TOTAL SCORE : 472 812

Operators       : N1TX


Soapbox         : That was fun.  Too bad the band never opened to Europe.  Sunday night I heard A65BD at midnight  for about 2 minutes before he faded.  Dang.  A surprising number of dupes.  Hmmm...Thanks to all  who worked me, even if twice for good measure.  You made it a real pleasure.

How Was Your Thanksgiving Weekend?

After a pleasant Thanksgiving day with friends and family in Fairbanks, N1TX flew on Friday to Kenai to join Rich KL7RA, Tree N6TR, and Wigi AL7IF for an all-out M2 assault on CQWW.  Forty eight hours, 8000+ QSOs, and 13M points later, the team basked in the feeling of a job well done, celebrated with margaritas, and ended the evening with -- wait for it -- a turkey dinner.  Great times!

Sweepstakes SSB 2011

Now THAT was a real hoot!  The boys at Array Solutions returned the ACOM 1010 with a new tube late Friday before Sweepstakes SSB started.  A quick check, and we were ready for an all-out multi-single shakedown of the station.  KL1JP loaned a brand new FT-950 to augment the primary station for multipliers.  It paid off, because we snagged a clean sweep a couple of hours before the end when a VE2 station called us.  We worked many difficult sections early, as the operators had some incentive.  They all received $1 rewards for snagging the tough ones.  (Thanks to Elaine KL6C for the photos.)

Elaine KL6C showing off her "Delaware Dollar"

All systems running well. N1TX can breathe easy.

Carl WL7BDO squeezing the last Q's from 10m late Sunday.

A Clean Sweep!

Breakdown by bands:

 BAND   QSO DUP SECT  POINTS 

-----------------------------

  160     0   0    0       0 

   80     0   0    0       0 

   40    56   0    6     112 

   20    96   2    5     190 

   15   230   1   22     460 

   10   452   3   47     904 

-----------------------------

TOTAL   834   6   80    1666 

=============================

    TOTAL SCORE : 133 280

Hexx Beam Under the Aurora

More Field Day Photos

John Shadle W4PAH visited during Field Day, and he took some nice shots of the operation:

https://picasaweb.google.com/john.shadle/2011KL2RFieldDay?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKzQyqSs75KK1gE&feat=directlink 

It's the Power, Man

In November, KL2R purchased an ACOM 1010 amplifier from Array Solutions.  I really enjoy doing business with AS, and the ACOM line has a good reputation.  The 1010 fit the bill, as in budget.  Array Solutions cut us a break on shipping to Alaska to offset the "free shipping" benefit to Lower 48 hams.  I could not have been happier.

The amp remained idle until WPX CW, which was planned as a test run for Field Day using high power and generators.  Neal W7USB loaned a Generac 7 kW generator with 240 VAC output more than sufficient to drive the ACOM 1010.  After some fiddling to get the T/R delays set well for the FT950 and Microkeyer II driving it, we were off to the races.  The shack was quite hot, 85F, as a result of an extraordinary heat wave over Memorial Day.  As the ambient temperature increased, the G2 LED began to flash with more frequency.  The manual says it is an indication of overdriving or a need to adjust the amplifier tuning.  Neither was the case, and the error persisted even with 20 watts drive from the Yaesu. Oddly enough, switching to standby from operate while G2 flashed would trip the amp into fault mode. A number of causes are under investigation.  This remains a mystery, and the problem repeated itself during Field Day.  I need to complete testing on stable, commercial mains.