01/08/2010 | K4EME/AD4TJ The K4EME/AD4TJ team report: This year K4EME's 432 operation was assisted by KR4V and W4TJ. The Oct. leg was about average with 15 Q's and 13 M's collected. The 1st night of the Dec. leg found weak signals; high winds of the day before had misaligned the main array. I used SM4IVE's signal to peak the array and note the difference in AZ/EL readings as the moon was not visible to use my camera to help. We managed 6 Q's and 6 M's before my help had to leave. I worked a few more more hours, then fell asleep, missing most of the VK/JA window. Snow and ice began before the 2nd night's pass started. Echoes were very weak, and the SWR was way up. As can be seen from the pictures the accumulation did not help the effort. I climbed the icy tower with trusty leaf blower in hand and did my best to remove some of the snow/ice junk. It did improve the SWR, but no new stations were heard or worked. 432 totals: 21 Q's and 19 M's.
144 report by AD4TJ: The 1st leg went very well, with lots of stations answering my CQ's and no equipment issues, allowing 64 Q's and 35 M's to go into the log, a 50% increase over last year's 1st leg! But, then, the 2nd leg, and man, what a difference! Few new stations were heard, few replies to CQ's. The 1st night's effort produced only 6 Q's and 4 M's! The 2nd night only 7 Q's and 4 M's were pulled out of the abyss. I was hoping to break the 100 Q barrier based on the 1st leg result, but lack of activity took care of that hope. 2 meter totals: 77 Q's and 43 M's. Only 1 JA was worked and no VK's.
Totals: 98 Q's x 62 M's x 100 = 607,600 claimed points; a slim increase over last year, but an improvement nevertheless!
73, from AD4TJ David -- AD4TJ