Perceptions: November 2017

Last year CQWW, I had discovered value of low bands during the contest and wanted to improvise one band at least this year. Well, there was great news on propagation with improved Solar Flux with new sunspot appearing on Sun's plate. So hope for higher bands as well. However,it is "the" contest time :)! So...

40mtr authority!

After much of background work talking to many hams in VU and reading some DX articles, I thought of settling on 40mtr vertical. However, I was having issue with listening. VU Contest group member VU2PTT extended his help by providing me a kit of N6RK loop components. Few weeks before the contest I started experimenting with this combo first with only vertical and then fixing N6RK loop. I could hear EU very well, however, W6 stations reported deaf on cluster during our grey line period. I was really amazed at the same time by one another ham from Bangalore working W stations (update Jan 15 2018: Topband reflector discussions on some using NA based SDR for RX and making QSOs from VU. It was no surprise then for me that I could not hear anything on my antennas!). Also there were hams in Kerala (they have location advantage and some use large beams) working US on 40mtr without much difficulty. So there is lot to improvise to dig out layers of callers in future as well. For now N6RK loop was great booster to me on getting that 2nd tier stations.

W6PQL amp got extra breathing space!

Now with one additional band in relatively good condition, I was happy and prepared. During final station check on Friday evening around 10 UT, I got a shocker with Spiderbeam behaving badly with varying SWR. Panic rush to terrace and tightening balun and wire lug contact nuts seemed to resolve the matter.

American pan cakes to celebrate morning Caribbean Qs

Contest day morning provided good start on 40mtr and then after around 5UT, turned to 15mtr to buzz that for next few hours putting more than 350 Qs by 10UT. There was no sign of 10mtr having any signal which limited any possibility of big runs. By this time, I was hoping to switch to 20mtr and try to put another 300 before switching to 40mtr at night. The problem with Spiderbeam SWR contacts surfaced again and had to suspend the 20mtr operation till next morning as our apartment security would not allow us to enter terrace after dark!. Bit disappointing, but hope lingered around 40mtr to make most of it. And, sure it did so running for next few hours till late night around 20UTC. By this time, QSO count had crossed 700. I could make clear difference from operating with only dipole last time vs with vertical + loop combo this time. Stations which used to be in shadow of noise earlier emerged in clear this time.

Desi Chinese Soup
kept me going for mults!

Second day, I went and fixed contact issues around balun where there was some residue of rubber around the washer and nut. I had planned outing with family rest of the morning hours. I may not have missed any openings, as when I returned around 9UT, there was no sign of 10mtr opening. 15mtr and 20mtr SnP started on slow pace. Did not get much response to running other than K3LR, W3LPL, ZF9CW and few other North Americans coming back. However the signals were not strong. Partially, the new high rise building which has comeup north west to north east might be the cause as well. As per HFTA software, high rise is cutting down low angle elevation signals which are crucial for NA shortpath from here. Finally, I made some drag towards the end on 40mtr before closing early at around 19UTC after crossing 1000 mark.

There are lessons each time.

1. Use of UP and Down arrow functions to control RIT during Run pileups. This is very nice feature of N1MM logger to dig out stations from the pile.

2. Improve reception to the max before turning the power to max - many low power and QRP stations located in quieter locations (and probably with good RX antennas) can hear and call you.

3. Better yourself at usage of SDR waterfall and spectrum in assisted mode. Anchoring for the run or to identify weak multipliers it can be a good tool. Also if you are using SDR, try SO2V function, i tried to make it work but did not take it much further. Unlike SO2R, SO2V does not require second amplifier if you are making jump on the same band or have amplifier with auto band switching for the multipliers.

However much one is prepared, expect some issues. Low bands are really rulers in these times. Hopefully, I can add another band - 80mtr next and even better receiving capability.

Thanks all for the QSOs.

73s

VU2XE Kiran

Following are the detailed count from contest log:

Band QSOs ZN Cty
7 475 24 71

14 150 17 46
21 370 23 63
28 8 2 2
Total 1003 66 182

Score: 632,896

Link to last year’s blog post: http://kiranpadiyar.blogspot.in/2016/11/what-got-me-here-will-not-take-me-there.html