The satellite presentation by Bob Beatty, WB4SON, made at our April 20th meeting have been posted. See Documents menu –> Meeting Minutes & Reports.

Just when we were getting a handle on FT8 contest mode (and wishing it was faster)–

http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/FT4_Protocol.pdf

“FT4 is a special-purpose mode designed for rapid-fire
contest QSOs. ” If you listened to my rants on the topic, I predicted there would be a 5-second cycle time version of FT8 within a year or two. I was only off by a second! Now my next crystal ball prediction–This will take HF by storm, never mind the slight sacrifice of sensitivity. I’ll be checking it out–
Dave K1SX

The next regular meeting of the CTRI Contest Group:
Saturday April 20 @ 0900
N. Kingstown Library, 100 Boone Street, N. Kingstown, 02852
Presentation: Satellite Communications by Bob Beatty, WB4SON

Members: a new message regarding vintage radio gear for sale has been posted on our club web site, CTRI.Club

Contact Terry O’Rourke (401)378-3325 if interested. He is selling his father’s (SK) vintage radio collection. There may be more than two pieces. The BC-610 is complete and working.

Attendees: K1HSY (Dean); W1XX (John); NA1CN (Chuck); NG1M (Mike); NG1G (Pat); K1DM (Mike); W1AN (John); K1JSM (John); KA1J (Gary); K1MD (Rich); AA1AC (Mark); K3IU (Ken); KS1J (Jim)

Treasurer’s Report (NG1M) – As of Date, $10,151.84 balance
We are all set with Insurance. Thanks Mike!

Contest Manager Report (K1ECU)
Charlie said that he had looked back three years to see club participation in some of the key contests. Basically considering membership, there hasn’t been a ton of logs submitted. However the ARRL DX CW 2019 did have seven logs and total score of 10Meg. Note that Rick KI1G was the largest contributor.

Some discussion followed on the old intra-club competition. Ken K3IU updated everyone on how tracking had become painful and John W1XX commented that this initiative, although initially effective, had run its course.

John W1XX did say he would provide Charlie with a list of those contests that generated the greatest CTRI participation. These mostly include RTTY (ARRL and CQ) and SSB tests.

Charlie encouraged all members to post contest scores to 3830. That site makes it easy to summarize by club. It also allows one to see how they did against the competition.

It was mentioned that the Russian Contest (March 16) and CQ WPX SSB (3/26) are coming up this month. The Russian contest is everyone work everyone with bonus for Russian oblasts and calls. The WPX SSB contest is always popular and John (W1AN) said that his station would be open for that one.

Charlie reminded all to check the website since upcoming contests are also posted there.

YOTA Committee (K1ECU, W1WBB and W1MBF) – No report since Bill couldn’t make the meeting.

Field Day
W1XX first asked if there was interest in 2019 participation. There was enthusiastic endorsement! Following this, John accepted the position of Field Day Chair. This was followed by some preliminary discussions mostly about antennas. Pat wondered if the club should get a second Hex Beam because of the superior performance he experienced with the first one last year. John W1XX said he wasn’t convinced about the performance edge. Further discussion raised the issue at to whether the rather substantial effort to raise the Mega Wire antenna was also worth it. Other specialized antennas for the low bands were discussed as possibilities considering the lack of high band propagation now. Because of these various alternatives, an ad-hoc Antenna Committee was organized consisting of KS1J, KA1J, and K3IU. Jim will reach out to the other members and target a report out by the next meeting. A decision on the antenna portfolio is needed fairly soon because if we were to get another hex beam ($700), the lead time from Folding Antennas is about 4 weeks, construction and testing another 4 weeks. W1XX said he would forward info on the Mega Wire antenna to KS1J. All pretty much agreed that the TH-3 was not a real alternative.

Also discussed was the possibility of trying different modes, especially Satellite, FT8(6 meters) and other digital modes.

John W1XX then covered the upcoming meetings and mentioned that a number of great presentations were on tap.

4/20 – Meet at North Kingstown Library. Bob WB1SON will talk about Satellite communication.
5/11 – Meet at North Kingstown Library. John K1JSM will talk about US Islands on Air activation. At this meeting we also will decide if a special 6/1 meeting be held to finalize Field Day preparation.
6/8 – Meet at North Kingstown Library. W1XX was especially enthused about the scheduled presentation by NM1Y (Jeff). Jeff is an experienced DXpeditioner (K1N, 3Y0Z) and will discuss his experiences. Because of the general interest in this, John has contact Bob W1YRC to see if other clubs might want to attend this presentation. Related to his visit, it was agreed that a $100 contribution to a DX foundation would be made as an expression of the club’s appreciation of NM1Y’s visit.
6/22- 6/23 FIELD DAY!
W1XX listed other possible forums (no dates yet): Portable Antenna (W1MBF); FT8 (K1SX); 6W (AA1C); Station Renovation (K1MD)

Chuck mentioned that on 6/23 at Norwich Free Academy there would be a presentation on robotics plus a VE session.

Chuck then delivered his presentation on Fox Hunting. He described how these events are organized and what challenges they present the participants. He described a number of different directional antennas and passed around a couple including a three element tape measure job. He mentioned how attenuation plays a role in zeroing in on the fox and how TDOA (time difference of arrival) antennas can also help.
It was a super presentation!

Next meeting 4/20!

Saturday March 9th at 0900.
Venue: Homeowners Association Club House, 191 Tablerock Road, Wakefield, RI
Guests welcome.

I’m preparing for this weekend for the ARRL SSB DX contest. If you need to up the total in your DXCC stats this is a good one to work. The DX is looking for you! Chair time available.
73, John W1AN

Very excited to have made my second ever qso with the frozen continent. My first was to DP1POL using the JT9 digital mode as a freshly licensed extra just over three years ago. LOTW confirmed, this one brings my CW DXCC count to 95! I’m hoping to close in on the 100 mark as the ARRL DX CW confirmations keep trickling in. Thanks to CTRI members for all your support and encouragement with my CW. 73, Charlie K1ECU

Call: W1AN
Operator(s): W1AN
Station: W1AN

Class: Single Op Assisted HP
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs): 12

Summary:
Total: QSOs = 420 State/Prov = 50 Countries = 30 Total Score = 103,040

Club: CT RI Contest Group

Conditions were disappointing. The band was a little noisy and signals were down quite a bit from the CW contest a week ago. This required many repeats for fills. Goal was to equal last years score. Barely made it. Good to see the club activity.

73, John W1AN

Is there some sort of a database for members scores posted to contests?

Bob W1IG

Not to distract from the contest results, but late last week I could hear V84SAA at our sunset, near the noise but readable. I’ve done very little on 160, but It just seemed so freakish to me. That had to be long path, and my inv-L is pretty noisy. He was calling NA but despite the huge pileup, hearing no one unfortunately. Is that as extraordinary as I think it is?

2019 ARRL DX Contest, CW - 2019

Call: W1DX
Operator(s): W1AN
Station: W1AN

Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs): ~30~

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:  173    68
   80:  311    84
   40:  469   100
   20:  542   106
   15:  302    80
   10:           
-------------------
Total: 1797   438  Total Score = 2,354,688

Club: CT RI Contest Group

Comments:
I ended up running Single Op Unlimited. Loved every bit. I was even able to get out of bed before dawn both mornings to check on Pacific and Asian possibilities on 160M. Sixty-two countries on 160 the first night! I hope some of you enjoyed the experience. Low bands were great. Virtually no noise. I was surprised to catch a great 15M opening to EU on Sunday. I never checked 10M so, if I didn’t know better I would say sunspots have returned. Amazing number of QRP stations. Even a couple on 160. Check out Q-Machine KI1G results on 3830. He is still in his prime! I don’t know how he does it. Congrats Rick. Heard briefly W1XX and KS1J.

73, John W1AN

I worked the Russian Naval Cruiser AURORA this morning on 20M. Call is RF1A/MM. Interesting. Supposedly a museum ship in tow for repairs. Anybody remember amateur radio operating on a US Navy vessel during routine sea missions? Probably a no-no for Russia as well. So I had to google the AURORA. to see what was up. “Some” of our club members may want to pass on making contact, in any case.
73, John W1AN