Hey anyone going to the Yankee Steam-up. It’s scheduled for Oct 3 starting at 9:00 and going to 4:00. I may be going along with the junior op.

Jim KS1J

Not sure how to use the categories yet but thought I would try the listserve feature. I’ll post to the site later.

Like Ken I spent more time outside this great weekend than inside. Wanted to do better than last year and did. Conditions not bad for a declining cycle. Wkd K1SD, KI1G, W1DX

CQ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY

Call: KS1J

Operator(s): KS1J

Station: KS1J

Class: SOAB(A) LP

QTH:

Operating Time (hrs):

Summary:

Band QSOs State/Prov DX Zones

Just a test

Jim

Thanks to all for a great Field Day and especially to John, W1XX for getting this off the ground and coordinating it all, Ed W1PN for arranging the site, John W1AN for all the gear, Mike for the all the work in the commissary and to all the other participating club members. Personally I had a great time and I believe all will agree that we achieved the primary goal which was to work together on this project and have fun.

Again thanks to all. (Sorry if I missed anyone !!)

73

Jim KS1J

After postponing it to the last, I am finally upgrading to Windows 7. My trusty turtle beach is no longer so I wonder what the RTTY gang uses for sound cards and if there are any recommendations.

73

Jim KS1j

As many of you may know, I have been suffering from S9+ power line noise for about 4 or 5 months. Loud enough to keep me off the air. But this past weekend, John W1AN showed up to help locate the noise problem. My initial suspect pole turned out to be totally wrong but John and his handy ultrasonic detector nailed the real culprits. I called in the three pole numbers to National Grid yesterday. It was an effort getting through their automatic menu system to finally get a customer service rep. But when I did, she took down the information, frequencies where the noise occurred, strength and the equipment used to locate the poles. She also took my address and phone number but did not give me any idea as to when they might get back to me. I also did not get a case number.

But thanks to John I am finally making progress on this issue!!

I hope National Grid takes timely action but who knows. Watch this space for future announcements.

73

Jim KS1J

Results are official and there is a pretty interesting write up. So how come no one ever gets the name consistently correct? Good job all around.  I noticed not much mobile activity last year. Was anyone planning a big mobile effort in 2012?

73

 Jim KS1J

 

This contest was a blast. There was great activity and great band openings. However, I felt that 10 wasn’t quite as hot as it was for the SSB contest in October. The signals were there but seemed a bit weaker and it didn’t stay open as long. Did anyone else notice this or was it just me? Anyway, I shudda moved down from 10 earier on Saturday when things started slowing down but kept at it thinking the band would stay up. I learned my lesson and on Sunday I moved down to 15 then to 20 about an hour or so earlier than on Saturday.

Unlike the SSB contest, I got more balance by operating on the other bands more evenly. That helped in bringing up the mult total. So I guess the lesson here is that despite the great conditions on 10, staying there all day could actually hurt in the final score.

Ken, great job. When conditions are good like this, it is tough getting out of the chair. There is always another mult popping up or endless EU’s answering your CQ’s. When conditions are rotty, it is a lot easier to push the chair away and do something else. Lets hope things stay hot for at least the next several years.

I tried yet another 80 meter antenna and the jury is still out. I put up a two element phased job. I could pretty much work everything but I was expecting better results over the single element I had before. I still have some tinkering to do on it so time will tell.

Like Ken, I heard K1NEF, KI1G and heard Ken. We need more CW participation. So guys keep practicing with RUFZ and jump into the fray.

BTW I didn’t realize I was to prepare notes for the 10 meter contest!! But no problemo.. I will have something out this week. Don’t expect any great revelations. This is still largely a domestic contest and I am hardly the one to provide advice on racking up big scores in any of those (NAQP, NewEnglanQP or SS). With conditions the way they are, the 10 meter contest ought to be real fun.

 

 

 This was Single Op All Band Low Power (Assisted)

 

QSOs   QSO points   Zones   Countries   Multipliers   Score

160m:       0                           0             0

80m:     130            361        17            53

40m:     366           1043       25            92

 

20m:     451           1309       28            93

 

15m:     376           1087       29           104

10m:     695           2046       28            112

Totals: 2018           5846      127           454  581 3,396,526

Jim KS1J