Gang,
Here is a summary of my attempt at SOAB(A) High Power for the CQ WW CW this past weekend.
Band QSOs Pts Zones Countries
----------------------------------------
1.8 0 0 0 0
3.5 81 226 15 36
7 209 595 21 68
14 51 137 17 35
21 239 684 23 81
28 33 88 13 20
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Total: 613 1730 89 240
Score: 569,170
Operating time: 26 hours (N1MM)
I did notice some issues with so many spotted stations.Apparently N1MM keeps track of
every spot, and reloads them each time you restart the program. There may be a way to
deal with this, but I don’t know what it is. I also need to investigate removing spots
from the band map that are old. It’s really annoying to have spots from Friday night cluttering the
band map on Sunday afternoon. This might be a good topic to discuss at the January
meeting.
For now, 73, Mike, K1DM
I fixed this for you, Mike.
Ken
Nice score Mike. I’m can’t figure out what I did to make it happen (it was a few years ago) but the spots in the “Available Mults and Qs” window only stay on mine for a couple of hours before they self-delete. So there’s a way to make that happen. But I think you can manually get rid of them by right-clicking in the Available Mults and Qs window, choosing “Packet Window Tools” and then choosing “Remove all spots”. I’ve never tried it but it looks like it should work.
Good luck and 73
Chris, KA1GEU
Here are my results for the CQWW DX CW contest this year. I didn’t do as well as last year, but I wasn’t able to keep at it for the same amount of time. I was amazed at how well my NVIS 80 meter dipole worked with the DX. Of course, the amp helped, too. I was SOAB(A) HP.
I am pretty sure I am mistaken, but someone must have hijacked Bill’s call sign (N1HRA) because I did hear it sending CW. Wonder who it was. 🙂 Also heard KS1J a couple of times, but I think they are the only ones I heard. However, my memory is getting shorter and shorter.
You can also right click on the bandmap and select “Packet Spot Timeout” to whatever you want. I have mine set for 30 minutes… I think.
73, Ken K3IU
I heard and worked Rick, KI1G, and I heard W1AN in the middle of a pileup. I also saw Jim, KS1J spotted once. That was it.
My 40-m dipole is only about 10 meters above ground and running NE/SW, which made it not so good for EU, SA. But, the big guns seem to hear pretty well.
Mike, K1DM
HAHAHAHAHA I can tell you I didn’t hijack N1HRA. I do not know CW, yet. Even the decoder he has, wasn’t decoding worth a darn. Dunno what’s out there. Any suggestions? Since I can do cw on 40m with my current license.
Jay KB1LCQ
Comments: Spent most of the weekend repairing antennas and testing briefly in the contest.
Fixed all the broken sections of the Beverages….got the 160 to work (tho not as well as previous to Sandy)..but it works. Something strange with the 40 meter 2-element on the tower. It moved down in frequency about 100 KHz. Works fine on CW with a resonant frequency now right at 7000…but the SWR on SSB is really high. The storm blew the elements pretty good in the storm…so something musta happened.
Since my on-the-air time was so limited I don’t think I heard any other CTRI’ers.
We’re coming in to possible JA prop on 160…so keep your ears open in the AM near SR. Worked some JAs on 80 during the contest…but so far too early for 160. 73!!
First night conditions seemed pretty good. Worked a bunch the first night and had a good number of Q’s before hitting the hay. Early in the morning did the usual process of starting low and working up the bands. But when hit 10 meters the band had tremendous QRN. But it was only 10 meters. 15 and below were fine. It did not sound like line noise but it could have been. On top of that, there was geomagnetic issues with an A of 13 or better for most of the contest. So because of my 10 meter issues, I didn’t stay long there. This affected strategy seeing as I have looked to 10 as my main band. And I had over 1000 Q’s there in the CQWW SSB a month earlier. Anyway I spent more time on 15 and 20.Went up to 10 from time to time for some action but never started any runs there for the entire weekend.
The 10 meter thing resulted in a slightly lower score than last year. Overall I was short
on Q’s by 23 and total mults by 7.
NOTE:
Lots of busted calls on KS1J when searching and pouncing. I heard AS1J, AI1J, KI1J and KA1J. I think I need to adjust the weighting on the dits and try that in a smaller contest. Any one want to help me with this?
For you other assisted guys, I would like to have a club session on how best to use spotting nets, VE7CC SKIMMER and the RBN net. What clusters do you use? Do you have to manually refresh your spotting lists from time to time? Do you filter your spots and what filters do you use?
Down scope and 73
Jim KS1J
Obviously not a cw operator, and yes Ken, it was me.
Band QSOs Pts ZN Cty 3.5 21 61 8 15 7 100 292 23 55 14 52 145 21 29 21 42 116 18 31 28 8 23 6 6 Total 223 637 76 136 Score : 135,04473
Bill N1HRA
Bill,
Way to go! Just get in there and keep working. Decoder or not, you will increase your speed with practice!
73, Mike, K1DM
Good going, Bill! I certainly hope that you know that my comment was intended to be a poke in the ribs and not a body slam. 🙂
Ken
Great effort, as usual, Jim! I noticed the busted calls here as well, both when S&P and running. In my case, it was K2IU, K3AU, K3IV, etc. In most cases, I was able to get it corrected OK, but not sure in others. Regarding using spotting nets, the only thing I use here is W1DX on telnet. I haven’t figured out how to use skimmer or RBN. I don’t recall ever manually refreshing the bandmap. Maybe I should, but for the most part, there were always spots there to be worked until nearing the end of the contest when most of the spots left unworked were busted calls or not hearable here (mainly SE Asia).
73, Ken K3IU
This being Thanksgiving week with a family activity weekend, I didn’t spend much time in the chair. I found conditions were good on all bands even 80 and 160 had low noise levels. Europeans were very strong Friday night on 160M. I only had four radials quickly thrown out for the 160M T vertical and had no problem working what I could hear. Time was split on all bands with mostly S&P with a few short runs late. I worked a total of 31 Zones missing 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 26, 28, 34, 39.
I see Mike K1DM had fun with his new amp. Its now time to focus on the tower work. Mike, let us know when we can lend a hand! There still may be a few decent work days ahead.
Congratulations to Jim KS1J on his terrific single band effort. (1.8MH-29MHz)
I see Bill N1HRA has built up the courage to take on a new digital mode. Now that was easy. Yes?
And Ken K3IU did nicely. Helps to be several miles closer to the DX.
John W1XX has only a little antenna fixing to do. Murphy must be slipping, but he did time it well, just slightly ahead of the prime tower work season.
I hope all had fun!
73,
John, W1AN
I stated earlier that I experienced some difficulties with N1MM during the contest. I found out why: It was me! I had the spot timeout set for 600 minutes – that’s 10 hours – no wonder I had so many old spots. I just changed it to 30 minutes by using the “RIGHT CLICK ON THE BAND MAP” trick. It’s amazing what you can learn by setting up N1MM a few days early!
With all this sunshine, I should be outside doing antenna work. Only problem is all the snow in the way! So, do I do 10-meter RTTY or 160 CW this weekend – maybe both! Split everything daytime/nighttime.
So many contests, so little time!:(
Mike, K1DM
You can also “Right Click” in the Telnet window and find that option… as well as the ability to set
“packet” filters and many other things.
Ken K3IU