The plan is now posted.  Look to the right.  See you all at the Crandall House on the 15th.

Mike, K1DM (El President)

Are we going to reserve a table at the Friday evening banquet (DX speaker K1DG?)?

If you will be there and want to attend, I can order the table for 8 if we have enough people.  Otherwise, I guess we’re each on our own.  We still have time to get a reservation, but we need to act soon.

If you are planning on attending Boxboro, please indicate the times you will be there and let Pat, NG1G, know when you will help with the parking or ticket selling.

Time is getting short.

Mike, K1DM

Gang,

If you are planning on attending the meeting on Saturday, please make sure you let Ed, W1PN know right away.  If you have not signed up for the meeting, then there will be no lunch for you should happen to show up.  Let’s please be courtious about this so our hostess doesn’t have to react to our lack of RSVP.

Thanks.  Mike, K1DM, president.

Here is the URL for the fiberglass flag pole that I demonstrated at Saturday’s meeting.  There are lengths from 16-ft to 28-ft.  Those who saw it know how light it was.  When I ordered it (from Ontario, CA which is east of Los Angeles about 20 miles) it was shipped UPS and arrived in less than one week.

The URL: http://www.flagsimporter.com/american/product_info.php/pName/28ft-fiberglass-telescoping-pole//

This one will take you to the flag pole page: http://www.flagsimporter.com/american/index.php/cName/flag-poles-accessories

Scroll down to page 3 and you can see all the possible lengths with prices ($40.00 to $70.00).  With shipping, mine was about $ 95.00.  I included a trailer hitch mount with mine that was heavier than the flag pole so it might be cheaper.  They accept Pay Pal!

I am going to order two more.  If someone else wants to order, let me know this week, and we can take advantage of the quantity discount!

73, Mike, K1DM

CTRI Contest Group;

     This  coming weekend is a great opportunity to get some more RTTY practice using N1MM.  This contest is 12 hours only, and is limited to 100 Watts.  This means every one is “high power” and sleep will not be a problem.  I suggest you give it a try.  The CQ WW 160 SSB is the same weekend, but since the noise has been an issue with this warm winter, maybe the NAQP RTTY would be more fun and less pain!

    GL and 73, Mike, K1DM

Gang,

     Here are the results from the K1DM/W1AN Multi-Single layed back effort this weekend.  We wanted to have fun and still spend some time on the air.  I think we met both goals.  It was too much fun to hear and work prefixes that I didn’t even recognize.  Many times the stations would come back to me first (that’s the High-power category at work I am sure).  On 40 meters, I had to get used to having the beam – an added decibel advantage over my normal wire antenna.

     I didn’t hear any of the CTRI CG gang, but that’s probably because I was mostly shooting the fish rather than trying to reel them in.  I was amazed at the rates I could get going by pointing and clicking on the band map or multiplier list.  Neither John or I tried much “running.”  When I did, the rate dropped, but remember, we were looking to have fun and not get burned out.

     Here is our summary:

<pre>
Contest:  CQWW CW 2011
Call:  K1DM
Club:  CTRI Contest Group
Band  QSOs  Pts  Zones  DXC

 1.8   11    26    9   6
 3.5   32    88   32  11
 7.0  195   566   71  17
14.0  197   567   93  28
21.0  121   335   61  20
28.0  147   393   79  25
– – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Tot   703  1980  345 107
– – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Score:  894,960
</pre>

     We’ll see if the formatting works here.  I will figure out how much time we spend next time I open N1MM

(I am the forgetful professor, remember:)

73, Mike, K1DM

Fellow CTRI’ers,

     Due to it being summer, the meeting scheduled for July 23, 2011 is cancelled, and we will meet in August at the regularly sheduled time and place.  Keep checking the web site  for updates in the latest news.

73’s,

Mike, K1DM

W1XX has posted a suggestion for a club “LIMO” on the Yahoo site.  I think this is an interesting concept.  It certainly sounds more fiscally feasible than acquiring several acres of land and erecting several towers adorned with aluminum Christmas Trees.

Perhaps we should discuss this at the upcoming meeting.

Mike, K1DM

Well gang, that was fun.  I was involved with the Angel Ride Fund raising bicycle tour this weekend, so I didn’t have lots of time to throw at the contest.  My goal was to advance my DXCC entity list for 40 meters.  I spent some time operating on Friday evening, Saturday evening, and Sunday afternoon after I got home.  I managed to get in just under 11 hours in the chair (10.8 hour).   I used assisted category, and also was running about 500 watts using my refurbished SB-201 that I got from Ernie’s estate.  He would be proud.  I also have got my QSK working the way I want it.  So in my view it was a fun effort, and I think I am much closer to DXCC CW on 40 now.  I will find that out in the next few days.

Here’s how it come out:

To: 3830@nullcontesting.com
cc: k1dm@nullarrl.net
From: k1dm@nullarrl.net
Subject: WPX CW K1DM SO(A)AB HP

                    CQWW WPX Contest, CW

Call: K1DM
Operator(s): K1DM
Station: K1DM

Class: SO(A)AB HP
QTH: Connecticut
Operating Time (hrs): 10.8

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  160:    0
   80:    0
   40:  259
   20:  111
   15:   59
   10:    0
------------
Total:  429  Prefixes = 303  Total Score = 411,777

Club: CT RI Contest Group

73, Mike, K1DM

Well, Gang, here’s my results. I ended up with one less Q than last year, but the multipliers were up substantially, so I bettered last years low-power winning score for New London County! That’s the good news.

The bad news was I didn’t get everything set up the way I had wanted, so I ran unassisted on low power. The refurbished SB-200 is now sitting on the operating table waiting for me to figure out the QSK box and the correct timing.  Additionally, the TS-930 is sitting in the other room waiting for some serious trouble shooting. Fortunately, the mobile rig, TS-480SAT was pressed into service, and did a great job. I put just over six hours in the chair, but only three of them were worth much of anything. I finally settled down on 40 CW with about 2 hours to go, and went to town.

The really bad news is that N1MM was definitely not my friend this weekend. At first it wouldn’t key the radio, and then, for a reason that I have not yet discovered, it would not key the radio on 80 or 20. I also had trouble with KS1J’s call and exchange. The program would not permit me to log Jim’s call until I finally discovered that you have to use the five-letter exchange for any county that has a duplicate in another New England state. I thought that had been fixed. At any rate, a paper and pencil helped solve that problem.

It was great to work so many CTRI stations. I never remember working so many.  The best part of that is that each QSO between club members counts twice for our club score!:)

Anyway, it was a blast to sit here at home at my station running stations on 40 meters CW. It should be ever better when I get the Amp running – and then the new antennas – and then a new set of ears.

Mike, K1DM

Call: K1DM
Operator(s): K1DM
Station: K1DM

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs): 7

Summary:
Band CW-Dig Qs Ph Qs
————————
80:     1        5
40: 139    28
20:      3       3
15:    51       1
10:     0       0
————————
Total: 194     37       Mults = 64         Total Score = 27,200

Club: CT RI Contest Group

In thinking about how I can maximize my productivity for the upcoming NEQP, I have come up with a question.

CW contacts are worth twice as much as phone contacts.  There will probably be more phone operators in the contest than CW ops.  What’s the best strategy to switch between CW and phone and make maximum use of the operating time?

For the  multi-single stations, I think this decision is VERY important.  Given that there are 6 or 10 band changes per clock hour, does a mode change count as a band change?

I suggest that we spend some time this Saturday discussing these ideas, and others that we’ve already hashed over some.  These are the things that will boost the club score, and get us to our goal.

Mike, K1DM