Sorry all for missing the VOX on Zoom. I for one would encourage more meetings both on ZOOM and in person. Though the likelihood of me making an in person is low. Once my life settles down I would be quite willing to take up a position of organizing some kind of regular Zoom meeting. I think back in the middle ages I was the one who promoted online meeting and got squashed. But time will tell. I’m finally about to land in ME and begin station building. I will keep the club posted. Again my apologies for the open mic .

Best if 73 to all de John ko1h

ALERT – the CQ WW DX SSB Contest in NOT October 22 – 24, but the LAST FULL WEEKEND IN OCTOBER. This year that is October 30 – 31, 2021. Starts: 0000 UTC Saturday / Ends: 2359 UTC Sunday

https://www.cqww.com/

Almost had heart failure when I saw the dates on our website! Got antenna tuning & amplifier integration planned for this weekend!

Just a minimal effort here… a bit over 5 hours. Here is my result.

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

Class: SOAB HP
Class Overlay: Classic 
QTH: RI
Operating Time (hrs): 5.3

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  State/Prov  DX  Zones
-----------------------------------
   80:                           
   40:                           
   20:   80       4      37    10
   15:  104       0      43    11
   10:                           
-----------------------------------
Total:  184       4      80    21  Total Score = 56,595

Club: CT RI Contest Group

Thanks and a big tip of the hat to John, W1AN, for swapping the rotor in my tower yesterday.

73, Ken K3IU

Call: NG1M
Operator(s): NG1M
Station: NG1M

Class: SOABSSB LP
QTH: RI
Operating Time (hrs): 15
Location: USA

Summary:   Compare Scores
Band	CW Qs	Ph Qs	Zones	HQ Mults
160:				
80:		8	2	4
40:		53	10	19
20:		116	13	19
15:		77	7	14
10:		5	2	3
Total:	0	259	34	59	Total Score	57,567
 

Club: CT RI Contest Group

Big contest – AND I got 59 more Qs than last year! With a higher rate than last year – which is always a good thing!

But hard slog without an amplifier. Where were all the CTRI CW Wizards!?

New England QSO Party – 2021

Call: W1DX
Operator(s): W1XX W1AN K1DM
Station: W1DX

Class: M/S Mobile LP
QTH: CT/MA/RI
Operating Time (hrs): 4.9

Summary:
 Band  CW-Dig Qs  Ph Qs
------------------------
   80:      0        0
   40:    320       48
   20:     32        1
   15:      0        0
   10:      0        0
------------------------
Total:    352       49  Mults = 42  Total Score = 31,626

Club: CT RI Contest Group

Comments:

John W1XX scouted for potential sites on state and county lines and prepared the
route and stops for our mobile operation. In addition to several good sites and
backups he was able to locate one state line we could straddle and include three
counties. The prior week he secured permission from the property owner for
access. At this site and the others a light weight fiberglass telescopic mast on
a tripod with a 40M inverted Vee at 13M was quickly set up for use. It was
easily tuned for 20M with the K3 internal tuner.

For operation in Boston SUFMA, our white work van with roof racks and orange
traffic cones were setup on a side street. Our tripod for the antenna was setup
over an open manhole. We all had our hardhats, but the out of state
“ham” plates gave us away allowing only an hour or so operation before
we were chased.

Mike K1DM was CW operator and chief of tech support. We all welcomed the comaraderie and felt secure after having been vaccinated. Happy full faces please. Need normalcy ASAP! Good to see the CTRI participation.

We did most of our operation on 40M.

Counties and Qs
BRIMA 31
BRIRI 69
KENRI 77
PLYMA 128
PRORI 29
SUFMA 24
WINCT 43

NE Counties working us (21) were minimal due to band and operation times.
73, John W1AN

Hi All –

Hope most of you can make some Q’s for our annual NEQP effort this weekend!

I’ve proposed an 80m (+75m SSB) *RALLY* so members can work each other and many other New England stations during two periods of NEQP (which can be slower times typically) :
— Sat night, last hour, midnite to 1 am local: CW on the hour (04-0430z), SSB on the half-hour (0430-05z)
— Sun eve, last hour, 7 to 8 pm local: CW on the hour (23-2330z), SSB on the half-hour (2330-2359z)
Try 3.540 MHz and 3.850 MHz +/- . Call CQ, look for (and spot!) active CTRI members, work other close-by W1’s, and have fun! I will definitely be in there!! Hope to work many of you in this Activity Hour.

See the updated NEQP.org homepage for times of the other three concurrent QPs — 7QP, INQP & DEQP. Work the 7’s and IN stations Sat night as they won’t be active much on Sunday. Only the DEQP runs 24 hours. For DX mults work all the stations calling CQ ARI (CW and SSB) and just provide a serial # to them. Each unique DXCC worked in NEQP is a mult so it is worthwhile to chase some DX too!

Good luck to our intrepid rovers W1AN, K1DM and W1XX operating as W1DX/m from various CT/RI/MA county lines on both days. Hopefully most of their chosen locations will be free of powerline/other noise.

With the success of the State QSO Party Challenge (now in year #2) bringing hundreds of additional ops to the QSO party table many many non-W1 stations will be hunting for you, so call CQ and Run often. All participants may use spotting networks so use the cluster as a source for new mults. All categories are considered Mixed Mode so don’t neglect your less favorite mode(s) to maximize points.

Good luck / good contesting … 73,

Bill W1WBB
Chief Op @ AI1TT
NEWRI

ARRL DX Contest, CW - 2021

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

Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: USA
Operating Time (hrs): 12

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   90    39
   80:  156    50
   40:  238    73
   20:  202    81
   15:  114    46
   10:   13     7
-------------------
Total:  813   296  Total Score = 721,944

Club: CT RI Contest Group

Mostly S&P for a part time operation. All the antennas survived the last few storms.
KI1G tops so far in SO Unlimited HP!
73, John W1AN

Long overdue various upgrades of my 5/16 wavelength (~ 170 ft) 160m Inv L have been occuring throughout this month of January during some milder (and less windy) days! Hoping for improved transmit performance in CQWW 160 CW (and perhaps 160m SSB event in Feb?) after disappointing results in recent Stew Perry Topband Distance Challenge.

Primary upgrade: a newly installed *elevated* radial system to hopefully reduce existing ground losses…the menace of vertical attennas, esp. on 160m. Three non-resonant 1/8 wave (65 ft) elevated radials were installed, gullwing style, going from 4 ft at feedpoint up to about 10-12 above ground. NO attachment to the already existing on-earth radial system is made, although those radials (18 various length wires mostly shorter than 1/4 wavelength) help reduce the losses from the new elevated system!

Research has shown NON-resonant radials in an elevated position on verticals causes negligible current deviations amongst those radials, thus reduced losses. Due to our poor New England soil conductivity ( a “2” here whereas some Midwestern soils register a very good figure of “30”) l’m hoping the above ground radials will be even more effective in isolating the Inv L from ground losses. And typical for above ground radials, just 4 radials is typically required … I opted for 3 somewhat symmetrically placed wires with my limited 100′ x 200′ space.

In addition, the Inv L was adjusted for a more ideal approximately “up 80 ft/over 90 ft” length and a more robust near 2000 pF series matching capacitor installed. Only the use of an SWR Analyzer awaits for final tweaking (warmer months??)… but for now it requires very little in-shack tuning across the band. Multiple mechanical attachment improvements and relocated feedpoint at the DX Engineering lowband-specific Balun itself round out the system changes.

Six recent Eu contacts and Reverse Beacon Network test reports show the new system is getting out at distance with my 100 watts. Contesting will put it to an even better test of course!

Hope to work many of you on Topband this weekend … or in the near future!!

Good luck/73,
Bill W1WBB
Trustee of AI1TT

The CTRI Contesting Group will hold our regular meeting tonight at 7:00 via Zoom. You should have received an email containing a link to the meeting this morning. If you did not, please email me or any other member of the executive board.

73,
Charlie
K1ECU

2021  ARRL RTTY Roundup 

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

Class: SO(A) RTTY HP
QTH: CT
Operating Time (hrs): 10.2

Summary:
 Band  RTTY Qs  DXC
-----------------------
   80:   164     1   
   40:   319    28   
   20:   251    20    
   15:              
   10:              
-----------------------
Total:   734    State/Prov = 54  Countries = 49 
Total Score = 75,602

Club: CT RI Contest Group

Enjoyable start for the new year. Hope many members were active.
John W1AN

Once again, a minimal effort from K3IU. It was sure nice to have 15 open again. Every once in a while I would drop in the shack and work a few, then get on about with other things.

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

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: RI
Operating Time (hrs): 2:20

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:                    
   80:                    
   40:                    
   20:   13     4       11
   15:  104    11       44
   10:    3     2        2
------------------------------
Total:  120    17       57  Total Score = 25,826

Club: CT RI Contest Group