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Dec 12, 2007 Straight Key/Bug Sprint (#38) Final Official Results: SWA Category Call QSOs Mbrs Pts Mul Sco Bon Final 80-40-20 Antenna *AJ1M 39 35 74 19 1406 x2 2812 Carolina Windom @45' *N4LK 25 25 50 16 800 x2 1600 cf ab 250' wire @??' KA8MPT 24 23 47 14 658 x2 1316 G5RV @25' *K4BAI 22 20 42 15 630 x2 1260 zepp, dipoles @ 35-40' *AF3Z 23 21 44 12 528 x2 1056 80m inv vee @15' *K8BTD 20 18 38 13 494 x2 988 160M windom@60', 80m wire vert W4QO 18 18 36 12 432 x2 864 80 loop@50',40 edz@60',gap vrt *KD0V 17 16 33 13 429 x2 858 G5RV @50' W2SH 21 20 41 11 451 x2 902 80m horiz bisquare @75' *K3WWP 17 16 33 12 396 x2 792 ~110' attic rnd wire *KI4GLH 18 18 36 11 396 x2 792 G5RV @45' KB3AAG 25 21 46 17 782 782 80M loop @35' N4FI 16 16 32 12 384 x2 768 G5RV, 115' rnd wire @20' *N1LU 18 18 36 9 324 x2 648 Cobra Ultralite @40' *K5BGB 14 14 28 11 308 x2 616 Half-G5RV @ 30' *AE5BH 13 11 24 12 288 x2 576 inv vee @20' K4PBY 20 19 39 14 546 546 80 mtr inv vee-apex @35' AF4LQ 12 12 24 11 264 x2 528 40m EFHW @30' *KC2EGL 12 11 23 11 253 x2 506 folded dipole @35' *W9ILF 11 11 22 11 242 x2 484 G5RV @20' *W9CC 12 11 23 10 230 x2 460 80M loop @15' *K4JPN 12 12 24 9 216 x2 432 80M cf zepp @32' *W5TVW 10 9 19 10 190 x2 380 135' dipole @50' *K0MDS 11 11 22 8 176 x2 352 windom @30' *KD2MX 10 10 20 8 160 x2 320 ~600' loop @??' *W2JEK 10 10 20 8 160 x2 320 dpl @25', ef hz @25' *N9AKF 9 9 18 8 144 x2 288 rnd wire @20' *N1VWD 8 8 16 8 128 x2 256 windom @30' N4NI 11 9 20 10 200 200 G5RV @30' WA2WUH 8 8 16 6 96 x2 192 40M dpl @50',80M inv v @??' KB9BVN 7 6 13 7 91 x2 182 1/2 Wave 40m Dipole in Attic KA2L 12 12 24 8 192 192 80m loop @??' *WA8QFE 7 7 14 6 84 x2 168 66' ef wire @20' KB4QQJ 7 7 14 6 84 x2 168 TAKtenna@20', gnd mtd vert WB8LZG 7 7 14 6 84 x2 168 5BTV vert on deck *KA2KGP 9 8 17 4 68 x2 136 5 band gnd mtd. vert *WY7N 7 6 13 5 65 x2 130 100' random wire @23' *AA9L 6 6 12 5 60 x2 120 160, 80, 40 trap dipole @50' K4NVJ 6 6 12 5 60 x2 120 88' dipole @35' NT9K 5 5 10 5 50 x2 100 inv v @40' *KD2JC 6 6 12 4 48 x2 96 G5RV @30' *WB8ENE 5 4 9 5 45 x2 90 40M double zepp @15' N8CX 7 7 14 6 84 84 sloping dipole @??' *WA3FIR 5 5 10 4 40 x2 80 Inverted L 35' *K2MEN 8 8 16 5 80 80 G5RV @ 35' *NU7T 5 4 9 4 36 x2 72 220' delta loop @50' *NK1N 5 5 10 3 30 x2 60 Hustler vert out apt window WY3H 3 3 6 3 18 x2 36 ~85' @30' W0GSQ 3 3 6 3 18 x2 36 44' dipole @15' W6SQQ 3 3 6 3 18 x2 36 80M Doublet VE3GNU 3 3 6 3 18 x2 36 G5RV @35' KD2MU 4 4 8 4 32 32 dipole @12' K8AZT 4 4 8 3 24 24 6BTV VA3RKM 3 3 6 3 18 18 dipole @20' VE3HUR 2 2 4 1 4 x2 8 40m dipole @??' WD8KRV 1 0 1 1 1 x2 2 cf zepp @40' KS4DU 1 1 2 1 2 2 G5RV Shorty @25' GAIN ANTENNA Category Call QSOs Mbrs Pts Mul Sco Bon Final 80-40-20 Antenna Special Award (earliest and latest licensed) entrants: N4LK - Apr/1951 W5TVW - Sep/1951 W2JEK - Dec/1951 AA9L - 1953 K8BTD - 1954 K4BAI - 1954 K5BGB - 1955 KD2JC - 1957 W9CC - 1958 K4JPN - 1962 K3WWP - 4/3/1963 WA8QFE - 1963 N1LU - 1964 K2MEN - 1964 WA3FIR - 1965 AF3Z - 1967 KD2MX - 1968 KD0V - 1968 WB8ENE - 1969 NK1N - 1974 KI4GLH - 1975 N9AKF - 1976 WY7N - 1978 NU7T - 1979 KA2KGP - 1980 N1VWD - 1995 KC2EGL - 1998 AE5BH - 2001 K0MDS - 2001 AJ1M - 2002 W9ILF - 2005 AWARD WINNERS: 1st SWA: AJ1M 2nd SWA: N4LK 1st Gain: n/a Top score from a previous non-winner: AF3Z Special Award (earliest and latest licensed): Earliest - N4LK (Apr/1951) Latest - W9ILF (2005) CW Books on CD (donated by Chuck K7QO & determined by drawing): N4FI The following appeared 5 or more times in submitted logs, but did not submit a log themselves for whatever reason: K7ZYV - 18 AG4ZZ - 14 W0JFR - 14 WA3ZBJ - 8 K9IS - 7 W1PID - 6 AE4DT - 5 We hope these folks will continue to participate AND submit their logs in the future. If anyone wishes a list of errors found in cross-checking their log, email K3WWP. If any errors cause a scoring change, you will be notified automatically.SOAPBOX: K3WWP - REVISED After reading all the soapbox comments and examining the results received so far, I'm not nearly as disgusted and disappointed as I was right after the sprint ended. Maybe my noise was not any worse than usual and it was just conditions keeping sigs below my normal high noise level. Still I predict this will be one of my worst showings in one of our sprints. I think my streak of never having been beaten by another indoor antenna user will continue though. 12th in last year's December sprint is my worst finishing position. Conditions were similar then. In fact 3 of the 4 December sprints we've had so far have showed the 'black hole' syndrome here in the NE USA. I wonder how many answers to my CQ's I missed tonight. I suspect a lot, and I apologize to all who fit in that category. I'm absolutely amazed at AJ1M's results. He must live on top of one of those WV mountains with virtually no local noise to contend with. Plus the black hole seems to have only been in existence above the Mason-Dixon line. I was just talking to Tom WY3H on the phone and we thought we should call this the Civil War sprint. The rebels did well, but the Yankees didn't in this case though. KB9BVN - WOW SF was 92 but A was 13 and K was 2 - 40m was DEAD as a doornail here...so I loaded the attic dipole up on 80m and managed to work a few anyway...QSB was fierce, and band was very noisy here. We have lots of rain, but no ice...YAY. Great fun as always...thanks to all the NAQCC folks for putting on such a awesome event every month...I hope to make it more regular. God bless and Merry Christmas to everyone! 73 AJ1M - Had a lot of fun. First NAQCC sprint using key, so the first time I get to claim the 2X bonus. Thanks to all for the qso's. 80M here seemed to be in great shape. SRI to the few I couldn't pull out. WD8KRV - One contact in my first sprint after lots of CQs. Rig is a Pixie 2 at 300 mW output with J-38 straight key and wire antenna. Great fun! KS4DU - These were the worst band conditions I've ever experienced in 15 years of hamming. (Amen - K3WWP) 20 meters was absolutely dead. 40 wasn't much better. Thanks to KC2EGL and his great ears for my one QSO. Other stations heard here in Idaho but did not hear me were: KD2MX, AF4LQ, AE5BH, WA3ZBJ, W4QO & N5EBD. I think I'm at a distinct disadvantage being way up here in the middle of nowhere! N8CX - Very noisy again, but got contacts by CQ'ing. See you next month N4NI - Busy night on 80m! Could hardly find a clear spot to call cq. I had a great time and thanks to those who were patient with me when needed. N1LU - Lots of QRN and QRM on 80, but no trouble finding contacts. Fun as usual. W5TVW - Very slim pickings at first. QSOed an old friend for about a half hour! The old Wesclox straight key kinda tired me out! Nothing heard much on 40 so stayed on 80. This my first event in a few mon ths. My XYL had a stroke so I've been busy and away from ham radio for better than 3 months. She is walking and talking again and making good recovery. Used my Elecraft K1 and T1 tuner on batteries. AE5BH - Conditions were not so great here in Texas. It was a slow night with only a handful of stations coming back. With the exception of a lone 100W Texas station, no QRP heard west of the Mississippi heard here. Was using my newly built K1 (#2448) with the J-38 key. I was in a new arm chair this sprint and couldn't quite get comfortable sending tonight, so I appologize for the horendous fist. It's frustrating to hear it as you send it, knowing that you just can't seem to fix it. ARGH!!! I did enjoy having a FB Q with John K3WWP. The one and only time before this was months ago with really bad QSB... tonight it was easy breezy (Yes, but that was after I called a few times b4 without you hearing me. HI - K3WWP)... 73, Scott KI4GLH - Really got off to a slow start by staying on 40 meters too long. Boy! 80 was hopping. Many good signals and lots of noise, of course. Heard some that couldn't hear me which is always disappointing but had quite a good time after things started to pick up. My big signal award goes to K7ZYV. What were you running? Cheers to all! KC2EGL - Had a blast as usual. I would have had more QSO's if it were not for the bloody phone ringing every 5 minutes. It never fails, I am on the radio and everyone wants to call. If I am sitting watching the tube, nobody wants to call. Go figure. 20M was dead. 40M was barely alive (4 QSO's). 80M was jumping. Of course I could not find John K3WWP anywere. We are skipping right over each other. Looks like I will have to settle for another eyeball QSO with my dear friend. I heard NU7T in Nevada but he could not hear me. There was a KA2 station out there that was interupted by said phone calls. Sorry OM. Maybe next time. Can't wait for the next sprint. They are the best way to spend a rainy night. Matter of fact they are the best way to spend any night. 73 Michael K4BAI - Started almost 30 minutes late. Took time out to work the two Foxes in the 80M QRP Fox Hunt. Band conditions seemed pretty good on 40 and 80. No signals heard on 20. Glad to work some new members and two non-members. 73/72, John, K4BAI, NAQCC # 644. W0GSQ - My first Sprint as a new member, only had a few minutes free before going to work. Heard lots of stations. Steve W9ILF - I got a late start and found 40M in bad shape. I used a new straight key I got as a kit and had a lot of fun giving it a work out with the sprint. I had a good time this evening. W6SQQ - My first QRP Sprint. Lots of fun. Condx not great, but better luck next time. Using an IC-703 and a Navy Flame-proof key. Thanks to Rich, K8UV for putting the info up on the SKCC Yahoo Group. Thanks to all who participated. 73, Al K8BTD - Best one yet. 40 appeared to go long early. Moved to 80. Lots of calls, not enough time. Had a lot of fun. See you all next month. K8BTD, Gil. Retired in the hills in South East Ohio, raising antennas. WA8QFE - Lost my Antenna in our ice storm, just hours before the sprint. The wire I tossed over the tree limb seemed to work. Rig is Wilderness Radio Sierra 3w KB4QQJ - Seems everybody was on 3.560...at once! 150hz filter couldn't sort them out hi. Band started dead then picked up for a little while and faded again. Not many contacts this time but had plenty of fun! Thanks to all whose ears I taxed! TU es 73 KB4QQJ KD2MX - I was looking forward to some fun after a not unexpectedly disappointing 10-meter contest this past weekend. But what a difference a month makes. This wasn't the November sprint by a long shot. Band conditions here were exceptionally awful. I had a very slow start on 40M. Signals were weak. Much QSB made the exchanges long and difficult. Compiled a list of stations I heard but who could not hear me which included WB8LZG, K7ZYV and AJ1M plus somebody in CO. After 30 minutes I went to 80M. I figured it had to better there...wrong! Mind-numbing noise, even weaker signals, more stations who couldn't hear me. Thankfully my daughter called to say hello and distract me for a bit. Then back to CQing. A few nearly ESP contacts. Then I found myself nearly falling asleep at the key and called it a night just before 0300. WA3FIR - Condx were strange in SE PA. Some signals were 58/59 and the rest were in the noise (S6). I could only work a few of the strong signals. I could hear alot of activity below the noise level but conditions kept changing so quickly that I couldn't work any. 40 was the "deadest" I remember experiencing. I could hear one cw signal on the whole cw band down around 7.020. The rest was dead or noise. Still had fun! WB8ENE - Had a lot of fun again, but shut down at 10:00 EST. Had to get up at 5:45 for work. Using a straight key is a challenge. KA2KGP - Another lousy propagation nite on all bands here in WNY. QSB & fading signals prevailed & QSO's were few. A cold nite in the shack with little warmth from my TenTec Argosy made a cold fist on the straight key! Better luck next time. 73 & Merry Christmas to all. NT9K - Thanks to all who struggled to hear me. For 80 meters I was tuning my tower leg and the chain link fence. The key I used was a Navy Flameproof. Lots of fun. 73, Bill NT9K. NK1N - This was my first NAQCC Sprint and first real use of my new Palm Porta-Key! Wow, is my wrist tired. Special thanks to AG4ZZ for working so hard to complete my first QSO. 72, Glen VA3RKM - K2. Signals on 80m were quite weak in Ottawa, with a few exceptions, and the band shut down here suddenly at 0250. WB8LZG - Used K2 at 5w to vertical. 40 meters was vy noisy here in Mich. last night. I could barely hear any sigs above the noise. after 1/2 hour of trying es getting only busted calls i went to 80m. 80 seemed in much better shape, but still had trouble making QSO's. Seemed as though i just didn't have any OMPAH with the vertical. Last hour of the contest the band got a bit better. Sorry for all the calls i only got half of. Sure wasn't the condx i was hoping for on the last sprint of the year. Hope all of u have a gud Christmas, es hope to work many off u on Straight Key Night. I'll be operating SKN portable this year from Geiger Key, in the Florida Keys while on vacation. Bringing along my K1 es a wire vertical for HF, es FT817 fer satellite QSO's. 73 Gregg K4JPN - Conditions were rough here in GA with Heavy QRN, no contest stations heard on 40M even though I tried 40M several times. 72, Steve KD0V - MUCH BETTER BAND CONDITIONS THAN LAST MONTH. (Not here - K3WWP) GREAT SPRINT. WAS USING K2 AND KENT KT-1 PRO STRAIGHT KEY. W9CC - The 80 meter band seemed to get better and better and then it was over -- drat! Had lots of fun. N1VWD - Icom 736 @ 5W Windom @ 30' Bencher RJ-1 Key QTH Waltham, VT 73 es Happy Holidays to all! Brad K5BGB - Single-band 40 as always. Propagation during the first 30 minutes was great; second 30 minutes a bit less great; third 30 minutes far less great; final 30 minutes was all but nonexistent! Still lots of fun and challenging like all NAQCC sprints. W2JEK - got on late. band conditions not good, especially 80m. had to dig to hear many stations.also many repeats. hope for better propagation soon. 72/73 don younger w2jek #1135 happy holidays N9AKF - My comments read like most everyone elses. Twenty mtrs dead, 40 nearly dead, 80 had lots of activity, but many signals were very weak. There were a couple of stations who called me, but I couldn't pull them out of the background noise. Had lots of fun and still using the stir stick key. Happy holidays! Bart AA9L - Not much on 40 meters and week signals on 80. Still, a great sprint. See you next year K4PBY - I just recently installed a new inv vee antenna for 80 meters and this gave me a good chance to see how well it was working. I just operated 80 mtrs for the entire evening and it was the first time I worked that band for a NAQCC sprint. Propagation was pretty good but I found the QRN to be extremely high. Some of the noise was atmospheric but a large part came from power line interference and it was very difficult to copy weak signals through it.There is a happy ending to the story though. The next morning I reported the problem to the power company and within a few hours they located and fixed the problem! 73--Chuck AF3Z - This was my first sprint -- I had a blast... tnx! KD2MU - Thank you all for pulling my sig out; fun as usual. I think I'm missing the fun on 80M. Happy and safe Holidays to all! 73 KB3AAG - Great sprint. Almost nothing on fourty but lots on eighty! Sorry to all the fellows I could not dig out...lots of fun trying though. Frank WA2WUH - Had fun with this unexpected contest. Now have #2136 for the next one. K8AZT - 20M - No signals at all 40M - Band condx terrible Must get 80M QRP capability up and running. Couldn't even make minium of 5 QSO's. Frustrating, but will be back next month. John/K8AZT KA8MPT - WOW was 80 meters hot (Not here in the 'black hole' - K3WWP), full of contacts the band was in good shape all night. My problem was dups sorry to all of them. 20m dead and so was 40m. Nice to see new people at the top good work to all. John WY7N - I'm too busy right now for much of a soapbox. This is my best score so far. (I wonder how many times I will get to say that.) I was amazed to hear many East Coast stations on 80M, even PA. I didn't work any of them though. Perhaps the black hole was mono-directional. It might be the same hole that hit us out west last month. I had fun, as always. W2SH - To benefit from the half hour before the 80m fox hunt began I opened up on that band. As it turned out I never experienced any fox hunt QRM. Results suggest that my transmitted signal was being attenuated by the quarter inch of ice coating my antenna and homebrewed open-wire feedline. KA8MPT with his usual very strong signal could never hear me. Two stations in CO and KS had good signals to northern NJ, but my calls went unanswered. Switched to 40m at the end and there were only two stations heard. They were calling CQ NA and very loud. I worked both, and they were in TX. WY3H - I put up with horrible conditions like almost everybody else, but you gotta take the bad with the good. That's radio. KA2L - While this was my first SPRINT and did not know what to expect, I worked all of the contest and found it was just the right amount of time. Despite the static clashes I had a great time and joined the NAQCC, #2141. Burt See General Sprint Rules for rules common to every NAQCC sprint. RULES specific to this month's sprint: Date and time: Wednesday Dec. 12, 0130-0330 UTC (Remember that's Tuesday evening here in the USA) Special Award: Our special award this month is a simple one. One certificate goes to the longest licensed ham and one to the most recently licensed. The year of your FIRST ham license is the determining factor. You need not have kept the license active continuously. You must also make at least 5 QSO's in the sprint to be considered for the SA. Autologger SA info: Eligible for the Special Award.......' box - Select Yes Special Award info.......' box - Put the year of your first ham license Prize: Continuing this month we are giving away a set of CD's to one participant according to the following rules: NOTE: Step 2 below applies this month. Everyone making 5 or more QSO's is entered into a drawing for the CD's. 1. The participant meeting the requirements below and posting the highest score will be the winner of a set of CD's in the following months: July, August, September, October, November, January, February, March, April, and May. A. Requirements: The participant must be a NAQCC member and can not have won a CD set previously. Previous winners are: K4BAI (Jul 07) K1EV (Aug 07) KI4GLH (Sep 07) N1LU (N3A/1)(Oct 07) KD2JC,KB4QQJ - tie (Nov 07) B. If the highest scorer does not meet the requirements, then the CD set winner will be the next highest scorer who does meet the requirements. 2. Twice a year - in the December and June sprints, the winner will be a participant drawn at random who meets the requirements in 1A and who makes at least 5 QSO's in the sprint. 3. Club Officers - WY3H (ex-KB3LFC), K3WWP, W2LJ, K5DUZ, KD2MX - are not eligible. The set of CD's features K7QO, Chuck Adams' code course designed to increase code speed - to paraphrase Chuck's own description: At the present time I have a set of CDs that I call Books in Morse on CD. Each CD (there are 12 at the present time) is a classic book in Morse that gives an individual a complete book to listen to for practice receiving plain text. This gives one much more practice receiving plain text for times from 24 hours to over 3 days depending upon the text and speeds chosen. Titles include Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz at 10-17WPM, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland at 17WPM, The Time Machine at 20-25WPM, The War of the Worlds at 20-26WPM and 30-36WPM for the two different CDs, Desert Gold at 20-25WPM, and others that you can find at http://www.k7qo.net/ Value of the set is over $100. The books were created to replace the old practice of copying plain text from news sources at HF frequencies in the 50s and 60s before such transmissions were replaced by modern digital means for ships at sea. I'm sure you all know of Chuck and his work in promoting CW/QRP. Chuck has generously donated the CD's for this prize. We hope that all our CD winners and non-winners as well will thank Chuck for his generosity. In case of a tie, duplicate prizes will be awarded again thanks to Chuck's generosity. Entry Deadline: All entries must be RECEIVED before 2400Z on Dec 18, 2007. So submit as soon as possible, especially regular mail entries. Preferred method of submitting your log and report is now our new on-line autologger. For other methods see the General Sprint Rules. |