2019 SSCW Results @ K3IU [B 56 RI]

Not a huge effort here but that is becoming the norm for me. My BIC time was about 8 hours and I operated HP unassisted. My 80 M results reinforce my need to get my 80 dipole back up in the air. Not a clean sweep this year.

It is still my favorite contest. 73, Ken K3IU
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Operator Category : SINGLE-OP
Assisted Category : NON-ASSISTED
Band : ALL
Power : HIGH
Mode : CW
ARRL Section : RI
Club/Team : CTRI Contest Group

Band QSOs Pts Sec Pt/Q
3.5 37 74 11 2.0
7 103 206 24 2.0
14 87 174 30 2.0
21 28 56 11 2.0
Total 255 510 76 2.0

Score : 38,760

The Steam Up

The Museum of Wireless and Steam will hold its annual Steam Up on 5 October this year. I you haven’t attended, you are really missing a good time. You can get more details at…

<https://newsm.org/>

73, Ken K3IU

2019 NEQP Results

I put in a little over 5 hours on Sunday. I heard and worked several of the members. With the exception of about 4 Qs, I was running the whole time. This is a fun contest from here because everybody else wants to work you and you just need to invite them in. 🙂
73, Ken K3IU
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New England QSO Party – 2019

Call: K3IU/1
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: RI
Operating Time (hrs): 5.2

Summary:
Band CW-Dig Qs Ph Qs
————————
80: 27
40: 106
20: 183
15: 3
10: 0
————————
Total: 319 0 Mults = 52 Total Score = 33,176

Club: CT RI Contest Group
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CQWWDX – CW RESULTS

Here is the result of my minimal effort this weekend.I heard W1DX once on 15, but didn’t hear anyone else.

Call: K3IU
Operator(s): K3IU
Station: K3IU
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: USA - RI
Operating Time (hrs): 8.1

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:    0     0        0
   80:   21     8       17
   40:   64    13       33
   20:  181    14       51
   15:   50    12       35
   10:    0     0        0
------------------------------
Total:  316    47      136  Total Score = 163,602

CQWW RTTY — K3IU

 CQ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY
Call: K3IU
Operator(s): K3IU
Station: K3IU
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: RI
Operating Time (hrs): 2.5

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY

Call: K3IU
Operator(s): K3IU
Station: K3IU

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: USA
Operating Time (hrs): 2.5

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  State/Prov  DX  Zones
-----------------------------------
   80:                           
   40:  26       19       2     3
   20:  56        3      28     6
   15:  14        0      11     7
   10:                           
-----------------------------------
Total:  96       22      41    16  Total Score = 18,328

Club: CT RI Contest Group

Minimal effort from here. I just can't seem to keep my butt in the chair as long as I used to.

KE1S 2018 Field Day Log Analysis

KE1S 2018 Field Day Log Analysis

By John Lindholm, W1XX

Objective:  (1) Break down the log mathematically to see if there are things we can do better in the future. (2) Analyze the performance of the antennas.

Caveats:  (1) Since it is an objective of our Field Day to get everyone involved, there is a certain “training” aspect of the operation.  This has an effect on the “numbers.”  (2)  There are numerous “variables” that cannot readily be taken into account:  operator skill; nighttime operations which tend to slow down results; break times; propagation vagaries; cross station interference; radio and operator malfus; modal proficiency difference;  etc. (3) Nonetheless, there is sufficient data to draw some general conclusions.

 

Overall Numbers:

 (1) Total QSOs by KE1S = 1470 + 22 GOTA QSOs by W1DX = 1492 Total QSOs.  This analysis disregards QSOs by W1DX and 6 meter QSOs.  We consider only 2 stations; QSOs/hr are per station.

(2) Total hours on SSB = 22.8; total hours on CW = 17.2.  Total on-the-air time = 40.0 hours.  FD = 24 hours  x 2 stations = 48 hours.  Thus we “wasted” a total on 8 hours.

(3)  SSB QSOs/hr= 31.2.  CW QSOs/hr = 42.0.  Total QSOs/ hr = 35.3.

 

Total Per Band Numbers:

Band  QSOs  QSOs/hr

80       315     28.1

40       369     36.5

20       503     37.2

15       225     43.3

6          58       N/A

TOT    1470  35.3

 

Total Per Band/Mode Numbers:

Band  CW     QSOs/hr        SSB     QSOs/hr

80       55       45.8               260     26.0

40       303     37.4               66       33.0

20       207     40.5               296     35.2

15       158     56.4               67       27.9

 

Hex-Beam v. 20/40 Wire Performance:

Performance comparison of the Hex-Beam v. the 4-element 20 meter portion of the 40/20 wire (henceforth referred to as the “wire”) pertains only to 20 meters where both can operate.

  1. 20 meters SSB on the Hex from 2 PM start – 3: 50  = 1.8 hrs for 58 Qs @ 32.2 Qs/hr.  Wire was being repaired during this time.
  2. From 3:48 PM – 4:43 = .9 hrs.  20 CW on wire = 53 Qs/hr. 20 SSB on Hex = 22 Qs/hr.
  3. From 3:48 – 6:47 = 3 hrs. 20 CW on wire =34 Qs/hr. 20 meters SSB on Hex  from 2 PM start – 4:43 = 2.7 hrs = 28.8 Qs/hr.
  4. Difficult to draw any conclusions here as cross station interference was significant. More on this subject later.

 

First Time on 40 Meters CW:

First time on 40 CW on the “wire” was from 6:47 PM  — 12:18 AM  with 272 QSOs in 5.5 hrs = 49.5/hr.

 

More Hex v. Wire Comparison on 20 Meters During Sunday Daybreak

During the best run of the contest – from 7:20 AM to 8:37 – Pat NG1G  had 91 QSOs on 20 meter SSB on the Hex for a rate of 81/hr during the 1.12 hour span.

 

Because 15 meters was showing promise at this time, Pat was switched to the wire for 20 meter SSB while the Hex went to 15.  What was the effect and was it a good move?

 

20 SSB now operated on the wire.  Using the next 1.12 hour span for comparison to the previous 1.12 hour period on the hex = 55 Qs @ 49.0/hr.  Clearly a drop.  But meanwhile, the Hex now on 15 meter mostly CW for the same 1.12 time period = 67 QSOs @ 60/hr.

 

The Hex remained on 15 to the end at 2 PM (with two dead periods) for 4.7 hrs,

211 QSOs @ 44.9/hr.

 

Conclusions:

  • The Hex-Beam really works! It would take little extra effort to get it up another 10 – 15 feet where it might play even better.
  • On Sunday morning, we switched 20 SSB from the Hex to the wire. As a result, Pat felt that the hex played better than the wire. He’s right. The rate dropped from the off-the-charts 81 to 49. But was this caused by his initially being “fresh meat” as the band opened?  We’ll never know but obviously the subsequent 15 meter performance made it the right move.  And the wire rate of 49/ hr was still way more than the average SSB rate.
  • The 40/20 wire played really well on 40 CW a bread-n-butter band – lesser so on SSB. 40 SSB is a tough QRM band.  It may not have played quite as well on 20 as the Hex.
  • We had 260 QSOs on 80 meter SSB at a rate of only 26.0/hr. That was 10.0 hours of graveyard shift working hosts of “please copy” operators. Since the CW rate was 45.8/hr. in only 1.2 hours of operating, we could have used more CW operators on the graveyard shift. The 80 meter antenna did work very well.
  • While on the graveyard shift, we could have used a K3 and N1MM expert to better handle a couple of midnight malfus.
  • Fifteen meters really played well on the Hex. Maybe 10 meters next year?
  • There was a nice 6 meter E-skip run to the Midwest from about 3:15 – 3:45 Saturday afternoon. Only occasional stray groundwave Qs after that. 58 Total Qs. Luck plays an important role on this band.
  • To operate same band different modes – such as 20 CW and SSB at the start of the contest – we need band filters.
  • GOTA: Unless we have an overnight operator, the only antenna we need is for 20 and probably a better antenna if we are to make hay here. We may need a better transceiver here.

(10) Satellite:  Good effort this year.  Next year pay dirt.

Comments:  Comments are solicited here and at the next club meeting August 11.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Club’s New Portable Beam

I volunteered to assemble the new portable, foldable, 6 band wire beam when John, W1XX, asked for someone to assemble it, because of his storm related workload. Remind me not to volunteer again. 🙂  I have attached below some photos of this beam. It is not beautiful, but hopefully lack of physical beauty won’t adversely impact its performance. Right now with the tower only about 5 feet off the ground, the resonance/SWR indicates that it is indeed an antenna, but I don’t think I should attempt any adjustments because I can’t get it any higher in the air to provide more accurate readings.

This beam will require additional tweaking in the air before it is ready for Field Day but unfortunately I am unable to do it. I am going to copy and/or prepare some unpacking and repacking instructions and put them in plastic sleeves to be kept with the beam and the spare parts that were purchased with it. I will also do a practice “fold it up and put it away” and “unfold it and put it up” routines.

So I need to hand off this project to someone else who can get it higher in the air than I can and then see how the resonance and SWR look.

Here are the pictures. It is kinda tough to see any details of the antenna. I am not sure how this is going to work out on the web site, it’s worth a try..

73, Ken K3IU
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

P.S. (11:15AM, Sat 5/26) – It’s now Sat morning and I guess I was crying “wolf” yesterday when I wrote the above. I spent a couple of hours this morning (after a good night’s sleep) making adjustments to the driven elements to move the resonant freq up into the bottom portion of each band using the MFJ-259B first and then connecting the beam to my K3s and Diamond SX-200 SWR & Power meter. Both methods more or less agree and indicate lowest SWR near/at the bottom of all bands. Unless I am mistaken, and I could well be, I believe that raising the beam up in the air will move the resonant freq up a bit on all bands and perhaps move the SWR downwards as well. The internal ATU on the K3s easily handles the maximum SWR seen. I do not have a push-up mast I can not test this. The fiberglass spigot at the bottom of the center post that must be inserted into a mast with a 1 inch ID. There needs to be holes drilled in the mast-top and the fiberglass spigot for inserting a thru bolt to keep the antenna from free wheeling. This can’t be done until the push up mast is identified and available.

The plan this afternoon is to fold up the antenna, and pack it away. Then one day next week, I will try to set it up.

73, Ken K3IU

 

ARRL DX CW Contest Results

I’ll start a posting for the results….

I operated about 9.5 hours from home and intended to head for W1AN to help out, however, conditions were pretty poor and I didn’t think the hour + 15 min each way for 2-3 hours BIC time would be that productive. Anyway… here are my results. Feel free to post your results here as a comment. 73, Ken K3IU
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Call: K3IU

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: RI
Operating Time (hrs): 9.5

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:    0     0
   80:    3     3
   40:  107    50
   20:  282    75
   15:   46    25
   10:    0     0
-------------------
Total:  437   153  Total Score = 200,583

Club: CT RI Contest Group

2017 CQWW CW Contest Results

Guess I’ll start things rolling. Please report your contest results here. Don’t know how many operated, but I worked John, W1XX, on 80m at about 0600 local on Sunday morning. Didn’t hear/work any other club members. I kept my butt-in-chair for about 9 hours. Not my best ever effort, but I’ll take it! 73, Ken K3IU

       Band     QSOs     Pts   ZN  Cty  Pt/Q
         3.5      21      42    8   14   2.0
           7      73     205   15   39   2.8
          14     217     623   21   76   2.9
          21     117     324   17   61   2.8
          28       3       9    3    3   3.0
       Total     431    1203   64  193   2.8

Score : 309,171


 

2017 SSCW Contest Results

Don’t know if anyone besides me and XX operated in this contest. Didn’t hear you, John. Mid-level effort from here with about 9.6 hours BIC time. Managed to almost get a clean sweep, but missed NNY, VI, EWA and MB. Heard nothing on 10, 15 was open nicely on Sunday afternoon, but as usual for me, it was a 2 band contest… 40 meters and the rest of them. About half of my Qs were 40m.
73, Ken K3IU

K3IU SOAB HP
Band  QSOs Pts Sec Pt/Q
 3.5    5   10   0  2.0
   7  153  306  35  2.0
  14   95  190  24  2.0
  21   65  130  20  2.0
Total 318  636  79  2.0
 Score : 50,244