2007 ARRL November Sweepstakes (Phone)
11/19/2007 |
N4KIT
Well, this year's edition of 'Phone sweeps had it's ups and downs. On the plus side, my son Alex, KI4UNO decided he wanted to join in the fun, so we entered as a multi-op station. Nothing much has changed station wise at N4KIT, we are still running the FT-920 barefoot into a multi-band windom antenna, which I guess at this point of the solar cycle would count as a down!
As I got into the shack at 2030Z to warm things up, I found Jay, VY1JA warming up on 20 meters. The signal was pretty good and I thought I might just have a chance to work him. But as the gun went off, the band dropped out and J was, for all intents and purposes, gone. Oh, well.
Since I couldn't seem to find a spot to run without having my 100 watts elbowed out of the way by stations that I presume just couldn't hear me, we worked mostly S&P until about 0730Z, when I crashed. The plan was for Alex to set up on 80 and get a run going with his young voice, but when I went to get him at about 0230Z, he had gone to bed!
Sunday brought more S&P, looking for mults. When we finally shut down, we had 77 sections, the most we have ever worked. We spent the last 2 hours of East coast daylight plying 20 meters for BC, NT and AK. We heard all three, very light, but just as we got the rig set to be able to pull them out, someone would fire up the big gun 0.5 to 1 kHz away, flooding the pass band with rf and drowning out the needed mult!
So my request to the guys running M and U and big power, please watch the spots and be sensitive to where the rare ones are trying to work! The conditions in NT, BC and AK are tough enough as it is!
On the upside, I had the pleasure of working W1AW and Dave K1ZZ. Thanks guys.
So the list for next year:
1. Inrad filter mod for the FT-920
2. Get the tower up and put a 10-15-20 tribander on it
3. Put up resonant wires for 40 and 80
4. Make sure Alex doesn't go to bed early!
Thanks to all who made the N4KIT log and CUAGN next year.
Oh, and BTW, look for us in the VA QSO party in March. Isle of Wight county is a rare one and I am usually the only one operating from IOW!
73!
N4KIT Chris & KI4UNO Alex -- N4KIT
As I got into the shack at 2030Z to warm things up, I found Jay, VY1JA warming up on 20 meters. The signal was pretty good and I thought I might just have a chance to work him. But as the gun went off, the band dropped out and J was, for all intents and purposes, gone. Oh, well.
Since I couldn't seem to find a spot to run without having my 100 watts elbowed out of the way by stations that I presume just couldn't hear me, we worked mostly S&P until about 0730Z, when I crashed. The plan was for Alex to set up on 80 and get a run going with his young voice, but when I went to get him at about 0230Z, he had gone to bed!
Sunday brought more S&P, looking for mults. When we finally shut down, we had 77 sections, the most we have ever worked. We spent the last 2 hours of East coast daylight plying 20 meters for BC, NT and AK. We heard all three, very light, but just as we got the rig set to be able to pull them out, someone would fire up the big gun 0.5 to 1 kHz away, flooding the pass band with rf and drowning out the needed mult!
So my request to the guys running M and U and big power, please watch the spots and be sensitive to where the rare ones are trying to work! The conditions in NT, BC and AK are tough enough as it is!
On the upside, I had the pleasure of working W1AW and Dave K1ZZ. Thanks guys.
So the list for next year:
1. Inrad filter mod for the FT-920
2. Get the tower up and put a 10-15-20 tribander on it
3. Put up resonant wires for 40 and 80
4. Make sure Alex doesn't go to bed early!
Thanks to all who made the N4KIT log and CUAGN next year.
Oh, and BTW, look for us in the VA QSO party in March. Isle of Wight county is a rare one and I am usually the only one operating from IOW!
73!
N4KIT Chris & KI4UNO Alex -- N4KIT
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