The 3rd weekend in April brings us a collage of radiosport GiGs, all worth 1-point on my 3830 Scores List. There are actually TWICE as many events as I can actually find time for - many are but a couple of hours in length. Looking back to the BLOG I wrote about this weekend last year ([CLICK HERE]
to read it), it would seem that both weekends were nearly identical:
to read it), it would seem that both weekends were nearly identical:
- BOTH were run QRP whenever the rules allowed it.
- BOTH weekends scheduled several poorly participated QSO Parties.
- BOTH weekends were LITTERED with geomagnetic storm activity.
Unfortunately, similar to last year, a horribly noisy Geomagnetosphere, along with a suddenly
creaky Step-IR Yagi made the weekend quite a challenge, to be sure. Short-term, running QRP,
the solution was to engage the K3's ATU, tuning out any SWR discrepancies. During the middle
of the night (Sunday morning), the masked station engineer stealthfully slipped in and recalibrated
the Stepp-IR, good as new. While the Shorty-40 had no problems, RF in the shack was making the
power meter register as 10+ watts instead of the QRP-5.
creaky Step-IR Yagi made the weekend quite a challenge, to be sure. Short-term, running QRP,
the solution was to engage the K3's ATU, tuning out any SWR discrepancies. During the middle
of the night (Sunday morning), the masked station engineer stealthfully slipped in and recalibrated
the Stepp-IR, good as new. While the Shorty-40 had no problems, RF in the shack was making the
power meter register as 10+ watts instead of the QRP-5.
Throughout the weekend, the notable events in addition to the CQMM Cw contest included:
MIQP - NEQP - ONQP - QCQP. Unfortunately, the geomagnetic storm noise all but obliterated the weaker QSO party rover stations. Because the internet SPOTS were so sparse, if they were there,
I certainly didn't know about them. For the ONQP, 7-QSOs were made, but with only 3-stations
on multiple bands. The NEQP produced one 40-meter QSO and then NOTHING.
MIQP - NEQP - ONQP - QCQP. Unfortunately, the geomagnetic storm noise all but obliterated the weaker QSO party rover stations. Because the internet SPOTS were so sparse, if they were there,
I certainly didn't know about them. For the ONQP, 7-QSOs were made, but with only 3-stations
on multiple bands. The NEQP produced one 40-meter QSO and then NOTHING.
With continuously horrible Space-WX and only 10-hours to make it all happen, no QSOs
made it into the log, much less, spotted or heard. Ending a QSO party at 22:00z means that
we have no 40- or 80-meter opportunities to work Quebec - the best bands to make that happen.
Running QRP in a world-wide contest is largely incompatible with horrible space WX.
For that reason, 152 QSOs in the log is, for m, a considerable achievement - nearly twice
the QSO count of last year's 1st QRP CQMM GiG. Because contacts with QRP stations
are worth 10-points, my goal was to call CQ a lot to attract S&P'ers looking to make 10-point
QSOs (with QRP stations & YL's OPs).
For that reason, 152 QSOs in the log is, for m, a considerable achievement - nearly twice
the QSO count of last year's 1st QRP CQMM GiG. Because contacts with QRP stations
are worth 10-points, my goal was to call CQ a lot to attract S&P'ers looking to make 10-point
QSOs (with QRP stations & YL's OPs).
that WQ6X's QRP signal was being heard thousands away. If WQ6X calls CQ and only the SDR receivers hear it, am I wasting my time?
When it was all over, it would seem that WQ6X running QRP took 3rd-place for USA - not bad,
when you consider that limited resources I had access to.
when you consider that limited resources I had access to.
DiD YOU work the CQMM Cw Contest?
Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?
No comments:
Post a Comment