(Several weeks ago, my weekends were spent engaged in another kind of contest activity;
namely, ToasTmasTers Speech Contests. ([CLICK HERE] to read more about this.)
The only radiosport event of note for the 2nd weekend in June is the South American - SACW
(aka GACW) GiG. The actual RULES (in English) can be found HERE.
The original idea was to run QRP from the KN6NBT station in Ramona for which I setup N1MM+ w/those parameters in mind. Propagation was so poor and Space-WX severe enough, the QRP
idea was abandoned in favor of 93-watts, [almost] wishing I had access to a medium amplifier.
Client commitments kept me out of the operator chair until 21:14z. 10-meters was already gone
(or never opened at all for the day) and 15-meters barely made a showing.
idea was abandoned in favor of 93-watts, [almost] wishing I had access to a medium amplifier.
Client commitments kept me out of the operator chair until 21:14z. 10-meters was already gone
(or never opened at all for the day) and 15-meters barely made a showing.
Running a 3-el Stepp-IR on the high bands, most of the operating occurred on 20-meters
(both day and night). Of the 84 QSOs made 27 (28%) were 0-point USA contacts. I was happy
to work them as they provided an adjunct (or confirmation) of the RBN stats.
(both day and night). Of the 84 QSOs made 27 (28%) were 0-point USA contacts. I was happy
to work them as they provided an adjunct (or confirmation) of the RBN stats.
I ALWAYS say that. Hope for 40-meter salvage, for the most part never occurred, requiring multiple returns to 20-meters to find meaning from the OP time. While it surely was profitable (pointwise) and double-mult wise) to work EU, South American QSOs were worth 5-points (compared to 2 & 3 points otherwise). I ended the SACW contest an hour early, finding no new stations for the log.
The rest of Sunday was spent cleaning up the audio and power wiring hidden well behind the
morass of filter units which make up the Stereo Audio configuration, undergoing continuous
evolution as I explore various audio filter combinations.
morass of filter units which make up the Stereo Audio configuration, undergoing continuous
evolution as I explore various audio filter combinations.
One of the filter combinations blendable via CHANNEL-4 of a Rockville audio mixer unit brings
in audio from a JPS NIR-10 and/or JPS NIR-12 DSP units. While these devices can certainly make
a difference, this 30-year-old DSP technology introduces a not-insignificant latency into the resultant audio. After a number of unsuccessful attempts to resolve this situation, I happened on to a little
unit known as an AV "Lip-synch Corrector".
in audio from a JPS NIR-10 and/or JPS NIR-12 DSP units. While these devices can certainly make
a difference, this 30-year-old DSP technology introduces a not-insignificant latency into the resultant audio. After a number of unsuccessful attempts to resolve this situation, I happened on to a little
unit known as an AV "Lip-synch Corrector".
The idea is to purposely introduce a 125ms to 250ms time delay into the "fast" audio,
delaying it long enough to match the DSP latency in the slower channel. Because the unit
utilizes RCA jacks, I had to use cable conversion blocks to split the 1/8" stereo plugs to match
the AV configuration.
Eventually, I came came up with the approach shown above. Unfortunately, the AP-411 would load down the audio line on that side, making it nearly unhearable.
The solution was to feed the output of the circuit in one of the stereo channels of a NADY MM-242 Mini mixer, which contains a modicum of audio amplification to overcome the insertion loss.
An advantage to this approach is that additional audio sources can be mixed in on channels #1 to #3.
As you can see, there are many ways to make an off-contest weekend into a successful time spent.
What do YOU do with an off-contest weekend?
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