Here is the updated CTRI Champions Leaderboard that is current with information received through the ARRL 10 Meter Contest last weekend. You should be able to download it by simply clicking on this link. It is a Microsoft Excel (97 – 2003) spreadsheet.

Updated 29 Dec 2012. Corrected dates of Jan 2013 VHF contest.

Dec 2012 Leaderboard

73,

Ken K3IU, Keeper of the Leaderboard

I am a very happy camper!  I just worked PJ5J on 80-m CW.  He’s working split, calling on 3510.98 and listening up the usual 1 to 3 kHz.  Since I got the Sub Receiver in my K3, I just turned on the SUB, set both VFOs equal, and tuned up with the main VFO until I started hearing what was going on, still listening to PJ5J on the Sub receiver.  With just a little patience, I found he was tuning up a bit after each QSO, so I listened for him to work one that I was hearing, turned up slightly, called with my 100 watts, and bingo!  He called me back!  Done!  So now I have a new one in the log on 80 CW.

I know none of this is new to you guys, but that’s the reason I bought the SUB receiver as part of the K3, and this is the first time I was able to make the contact.  There are other techniques, using SPLIT, but I like the two-receiver technique, since you can hear what’s going on at both ends.

So, enjoy the rest of your day!

73, Mike, K1DM

This morning I helped out Jim, N1WWE, check out his Cushcraft R7000 vertical prior to final installation.  This is a 40 -10 antenna that mounts on a mast.  The directions (TNX de K1DM) says if not mounted on a tower or structure, a 10 foot mast on the ground will do.  Well, prior to permanent installation on a mast in his back yard, I checked all the dimensions and propped it up against his deck to check the SWR on each band with my MFJ analyzer. Some of the dimensions were “off” from those given in the instrctions by about an inch…but the top section was over a foot longer than indicated in the instructions.  After making the lengths correct, what were the results? 

Horrible!  It was pretty flat at about 2:1 across 10 meters…just as the directions say.  12 meters the best point was about 2.6:1.  But there was no resonant point anywhere near 17 meters….15 and 20 meters were not much better…and 40 meters was resonant (that is around 2: 1 at best) below the band. I didn’t even attempt to tweak the antenna adjustments since there was really no place to even start on 17, 15, and 20 meters.  

This seemed to coincide with the reviews on eHam that for the most part concluded that this antenna is CRAP!!.  Some indicated that when you tweak it on one band, it then srews up the other bands.  Based on the comments, s-canning this antenna seemed to be the preferred route. Could this antenna be really that bad?  Or could it really make that much of a difference by getting it up in the air and off the ground?

Jim seemed to  remember that when originally set up some time ago at a previous location, that Cushcratf had sent him some addendum of instructions as there was a change made in its configuration….maybe the directions I have are for a different earlier (or later) version? 

Jim’s previous antenna at this location (before Sandy) was a coax fed 135 foot dipole that with a tuner he used successfully on all bands.  It goes from the peak of the house (about 40 feet) to a flagpole.  It seems that we will re-do this antenna with new wire and coax …and leave the R7000 on the garage floor.

Anyone have any thoughts or experience with the R7000 that would explain the results we got? 

— John, W1XX

 

 

     

To all…
Radio Ansonia needs to upgrade its RTTY/CW interface. I presently use a W3YY unit.

Presently our RTTY/CW interface is serial port driven. I purchased a serial to USB converter, but it doesn’t work for some reason.

I use the same serial to USB converter for rig control and it works fine, but NG on RTTY/CW.

So I would like to find a RTTY/CW interface that uses USB and retire the old technology.

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. I was in North Carolina over the Thanksgiving holiday and the following week looking for property for Radio Ansonia South.

73
Dave
W1CTN
Radio Ansonia

Good evening all.  As this was my FIRST contest that I was able to enter, I must say I had fun, even though it wasn’t booming like I thought it would have been.  Bill N1HRA said it was probably due to the band it was on.  But still, it was fun.  Looking forward to more, and definitely Puerto Rico.

Here are my results:

Band  Mode  QSOs   Pts  Mult

28     RTTY    96     192   39

Total  Both    96     192   39

Score : 7,488

73

Jay KB1LCQ

I recently met Jim, N1WWE, an 88 year young ham in Wakefield recently who I am trying to help with his antenna.  His wrie antenna came down in the storm.  But he has a Cushcraft R7000 vertical that may be a better bet.  Reviews are not very good…but we contemplate ground mounting it to a 10 to 12 ft HD mast section…like maybe 2 in diameter steel.  He could order it…but that’s too big for UPS-shippable.  Anyone got one lying around doing nothing that could be used….sell or donate…or whatever?  Also, he doesn’t have the manual for the R7000..so tuning it could be a problem.  Anyone happen to have the manual for  a R7000?  I know it can be ordered on line…so he may be doing that. He’s in a covenant restricted area…but his house seems to have enough tree/bush cover so that maybe no one will notice enough to complain. Please reply here with comments or e-mail me at w1xx [at]cox [dot] net.  TNX & 73!!

— John, W1XX  401-783-1588

 

Looks like Mike beat me to the punch and has posted a site to collect the results of the CW contest this past weekend. If everyone would post their results by adding a comment to Mike’s posting, it would simplify things.

The question of formatting (or preformatting) results so that the columns are aligned vertically keeps coming up. Looking at the template for New Post, there is actually a way to do this without resorting to the  HTML tags <pre> and </pre>. After you cut/paste the table from where ever you get it into the posting, select all of that text and then look above in the bottom tool bar for a pull down menu item that will say “Paragraph”, click the “down” arrow  and select “Preformatted”.  Then when you publish the post, it should show everything the way you want it.  OR… you can move the cursor to a new line (hit ENTER) and select “Preformatted” from the menu bar and then paste the table there. It works either way!

73, Ken K3IU

 

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
----------------------------------------
   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 just noted this on http://www.spaceweather.com .

I can already hear the affects on 20m. Could be a long weekend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHANCE OF STORMS: NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% to 65% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Nov. 23/24 when a pair of CMEs is expected to hit Earth’s magnetic field. The incoming clouds were propelled toward Earth by the recent eruptions of sunspot AR1618. Black Friday might be tinged red and green by the glow of high-latitude auroras.