2 <title>CODE Rover Report - 1999-04.2m </title>
5 <center><h1> April 1999 2m Sprint </h1></center>
7 <h2> Bdale's Report </h2>
9 John was on a plane headed for Taiwan on business as the contest opened, so I
10 managed to convince a non-ham friend from work, Stephen Moraco, to come out and
11 help with this contest. I think we just might have him hooked!
15 This was my first Sprint. After the way things went in January, I had decided
16 that for a single-band contest, I wanted more antenna than the 4-element 2m
17 yagi we've been using. So, I splurged and bought a Directive Systems
19 <a href="http://www.downeastmicrowave.com/"> Down East Microwave </a>. As with
20 the other K1FO-style antennas I've put together in the past, this went together
21 pretty easily. Steve came up to the house on Saturday afternoon before the
22 contest to help me get it put together and checked out.
26 I also decided that since my satellite antennas are still down from the house
27 remodel, there was no reason not to snag the Landwehr preamps from the tower
28 section so that we'd have as much receive performance as we could get.
32 Since rover rules were not part of the contest announcement, we didn't actually
34 drive out to "our spot" in the southwest corner of DM89. We couldn't
35 have asked for better weather conditions. We had plenty of sunlight to get
36 setup, and it was clear and the stars were beautiful in the lulls between
37 bursts of contacts. The wind picked up a bit towards the end of the contest,
38 chilling us a bit, but it wasn't bad at all! Since we weren't sure what the
39 wind was going to do, we took the top two sections off the portapole, and put
40 the antenna up maybe 20 feet, with the preamp on the mast as far down as the
41 coax jumper from the antenna would allow.
45 For the first time in N3EUA contest history, we were ready to go
46 at the start of the contest! We even took time to call CQ for a signal check
47 before the contest started... Can't let this get habit-forming...
51 The highlights this time were probably the signal reports from our friends in
52 New Mexico, and over in central Colorado... they all reported that we were
53 much much stronger than in previous contests, which was gratifying since I
54 spent money on the antenna to achieve precisely that result. There were only
55 a few stations we heard but didn't work, so I have to feel pretty good about
56 our setup this time. An amplifier would have been nice when I was shouting
57 away the last of my voice trying to raise K7TNT near the end of the sprint...
61 Here it is two days later, and I still don't have my voice back... we must have
66 I'm glad I took time to make up a cable to power the light in the SWR/Power
67 meter. It was very reassuring to know what was going on. I'm sorry we
68 mashed the top of the Porapole with over-zealous tightening of the U-bolts
69 on the antenna, but we'll fix that. Otherwise, things just worked!
75 <h2> No Photos This Time - Sorry! </h2>
79 All the contacts were manually entered into VHF DX after the contest, so some
80 times may be only approximate.
84 N3EUA CONTEST LOG FOR: ARRL VHF SPRINTS
85 ===============================================================================
86 Name of Contest: ARRL VHF Sprints
89 Call of Operator: N3EUA
92 Grid(s) Activated: DM89
93 Location Name: Eastern Colorado
94 ARRL Section: Colorado
96 Entry Type: Single Operator
97 ===============================================================================
99 QSOs Pts/QSO QSO Pts Mult Score
100 144 MHz 30 1 30 14 420
101 ===============================================================================
102 I have observed all competition rules as well as all regulations
103 for Amateur Radio in my country. My report is correct and true
104 to the best of my knowledge. I agree to be bound by the decisions
105 of the Awards Committee.
107 Bdale Garbee N3EUA 13.04.1999
109 Black Forest, CO 80908
111 ===============================================================================
112 N3EUA CONTEST LOG FOLLOWS:
114 column 1: frequency (MHz) column 6: complete exchange sent
115 column 2: mode column 7: complete exchange received
116 column 3: date (dd/mm/yy, UTC) column 8: indication of new multiplier '*'
117 column 4: time (UTC) column 9: points claimed
118 column 5: call of station worked
120 note: Incomplete & Dupe QSO's in the log are listed with - 0 - points.
126 N3EUA CONTEST LOG FOR: ARRL VHF SPRINTS
128 144 SSB 13/04/99 0102 W6OAL DM89 DM79 * 1
129 144 SSB 13/04/99 0105 K0GU DM89 DN70 * 1
130 144 SSB 13/04/99 0115 K0RP DM89 DM88 * 1
131 144 SSB 13/04/99 0116 N0KQY DM89 DM98 * 1
132 144 SSB 13/04/99 0117 N0NKG DM89 DM78 * 1
133 144 SSB 13/04/99 0119 N0POH DM89 DM79 1
134 144 SSB 13/04/99 0120 W0KVA DM89 DM79 1
135 144 SSB 13/04/99 0124 K5RHR DM89 DM65 * 1
136 144 SSB 13/04/99 0125 N9KUW DM89 DM65 1
137 144 SSB 13/04/99 0130 N0KE DM89 DM69 * 1
138 144 SSB 13/04/99 0131 N0SWV DM89 DM79 1
139 144 SSB 13/04/99 0131 N0VSB DM89 DM79 1
140 144 SSB 13/04/99 0142 N0LL DM89 EM09 * 1
141 144 SSB 13/04/99 0146 KF4GMH DM89 DM78 1
142 144 SSB 13/04/99 0153 KA0ULN/R DM89 DM89 * 1
143 144 SSB 13/04/99 0155 KK5YY DM89 DM66 * 1
144 144 SSB 13/04/99 0213 W0LD DM89 DM78 1
145 144 SSB 13/04/99 0214 N9KC/R DM89 DM79 1
146 144 SSB 13/04/99 0230 KC5SFV DM89 DM65 1
147 144 SSB 13/04/99 0257 W0ETT DM89 DM79 1
148 144 SSB 13/04/99 0301 KA0ULN/R DM89 DN80 * 1
149 144 SSB 13/04/99 0313 NA0US DM89 DN70 1
150 144 SSB 13/04/99 0314 W0AVV DM89 DN70 1
151 144 SSB 13/04/99 0322 KC0ADT DM89 DM79 1
152 144 SSB 13/04/99 0333 WD0BQM DM89 DN81 * 1
153 144 SSB 13/04/99 0340 KC0FGK DM89 DM67 * 1
154 144 SSB 13/04/99 0404 K0CL DM89 DM69 1
155 144 SSB 13/04/99 0416 AB0GD DM89 DN71 * 1
156 144 SSB 13/04/99 0425 KA0ULN/R DM89 DN70 1
157 144 SSB 13/04/99 0456 KC0COU DM89 DN70 1
162 We ran my Kenwood TS-790A barefoot (about 40 watts) through a Diamond SWR/Power
164 preamp into a 12-element K1FO-style yagi at about 20' above ground. The
165 feedline was about 10 feet of RG-214 from the antenna to the preamp,
166 then about a 50 foot run of 9913 to the meter, plus another short 9913 jumper
167 to the rig. All this ran off my deep-cycle battery quite happily.
171 <a href="http://www.gag.com/~bdale/">Bdale Garbee</A>,
172 $Id: index.html,v 1.4 1999/04/14 18:41:22 bdale Exp $