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Jun 11, 2008 Straight Key/Bug Sprint (#44) Final Official Results: SWA Category - Eastern Division Call QSOs Mbrs Pts Mul Sco Bon Final 80-40-20 Antenna KA8MPT 26 23 49 16 784 x2 1568 G5RV @25' K3WWP 20 19 39 16 624 x2 1248 ~110' attic random wire *WB8LZG 22 21 43 12 516 x2 1032 450' long wire @??' VA3NR 30 25 55 16 880 880 20/40 dipole @35', 40/80 vert N4LK 15 14 29 11 319 x2 638 250' cf all band @??' KI4FIA 17 17 34 12 408 x1.5 612 130' Random Wire @25' *KB4QQJ 13 12 25 11 275 x2 550 NJQRP squirt @35' KB3AAG 15 14 29 9 261 x1.5 392 80M loop @35' KC2EGL 9 9 18 9 162 x2 324 Folded Dipole @35' NA4O 10 9 19 7 133 x2 266 Car. Wndm@45', Delta Loop@40' *N4FI 9 9 18 7 126 x2 252 40M hamstick W2SH 9 8 17 7 119 x2 238 80m dipole @35' K1YAN 8 8 16 7 112 x2 224 Hustler 6BTV gnd mounted *N2COD 9 8 17 6 102 x2 204 Hustler 40m. mobile stick NF8M 8 6 14 7 98 x2 196 80m OCF dipole @35' WA3ZBJ 10 8 18 8 144 144 G5RVjr @45' *KA2KGP 8 8 16 4 64 x2 128 5 band gnd mtd. vertical N1LU 6 6 12 5 60 x2 120 Cobra Ultralite @40' K9JWI 9 8 17 7 119 119 80m inverted vee @35' *W9ILF 5 5 10 5 50 x2 100 50' random wire @??' W2JEK 5 5 10 5 50 x2 100 40m dpl@25', 20M gp@20' K3OXG 8 6 14 7 98 98 ef 165' wire @45' WD5INA 7 7 14 6 84 84 dipole @40' W1OH 8 8 16 5 80 80 attic 40M doublet K4JPN 3 3 6 3 18 x2 36 40M Sloper@??', 80M CF Zepp@??' KD2MX 3 3 6 2 12 x2 24 600' loop @25' WY3H 2 2 4 1 4 x2 8 sagging random wire KU4A 2 2 4 2 8 8 40m sloping dipole, top@40' KD8HCT 1 1 2 1 2 x2 4 44' FDPL indoor AA8XX 1 1 2 1 2 2 loop @20' SWA Category - Central Division Call QSOs Mbrs Pts Mul Sco Bon Final 80-40-20 Antenna W5TM 48 43 91 23 2093 x2 4186 80m dipole at 80' K4NVJ 11 10 21 8 168 x2 336 88' dipole @35' *KD0V 7 7 14 6 84 x2 168 Buddistick @3' and counter poise NV4B 6 6 12 5 60 x2 120 G5RV @30' NV9X 5 5 10 4 40 x2 80 Dipole @30' N9QU 4 4 8 3 24 x2 48 115' random wire @20' N5SPE 2 2 4 2 8 x2 16 80m Full Wave loop @25' KF4KRV 2 2 4 2 8 x2 16 inverted-vee @20' N9WAY 1 1 2 1 2 x2 4 attic dipole WA8QFE 1 1 2 1 2 2 1/2 wv long wire @??' SWA Category - Mountain Division Call QSOs Mbrs Pts Mul Sco Bon Final 80-40-20 Antenna W0JFR 9 7 16 9 144 x2 288 StepIR BigIR Vertical NO2D 7 6 13 6 78 78 dpl@33',vert gp wire @12' *K7RE 3 3 6 3 18 x2 36 20M vert WY7N 3 1 4 3 12 x2 24 100' random wire @23' SWA Category - Pacific Division Call QSOs Mbrs Pts Mul Sco Bon Final 80-40-20 Antenna KA7SPS 3 3 6 3 18 x2 36 20m vert dpl@20' 40m dpl@40' KI6OFN 2 2 4 2 8 x1.5 12 ef 1/2wv inv L@55' GAIN ANTENNA Category Call QSOs Mbrs Pts Mul Sco Bon Final 80-40-20 Antenna K4BAI 32 29 61 18 1098 x2 2196 TH6DXX@55',40M dpl@40',cfzepp@50' K4CZ 45 39 84 21 1764 1764 20m yagi@50' 40M dpl@50' 80M vert NU7T 7 7 14 6 84 x2 168 small beam, 40M hor loop @20' * - Special Award contender (portable operation) Drawing entrants: KB4QQJ, KD0V, K7RE Drawing winner: KD0V CD (donated by K7QO) drawing entrants: WB8LZG, W5TM, NO2D, KA7SPS, K4CZ Drawing winner: NO2D AWARD WINNERS: 1st SWA Eastern: KA8MPT 1st SWA Central: W5TM 1st SWA Mountain: W0JFR 1st SWA Pacific: KA7SPS 1st Gain: K4BAI The following appeared 5 or more times in submitted logs, but did not submit a log themselves for whatever reason: K4JER, KC4OOO, N9AMW, W0IS We hope these folks will continue to participate AND submit their logs in the future. Remember your listing in the results shows the ham radio world you are a Morse Code supporter. STATS: Logs submitted: 49 Total participants found in cross-checking spreadsheet: 78 Total QSO's in master cross-checking spreadsheet: 498 States represented: 33 + ON + FO 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 - Instead of writing this soapbox just after the sprint, I'm writing it after reading several soapbox entries below, and looking at the 21 logs received so far besides mine. So I'm able to make some conclusions. First conditions were rather poor this month unless you had a 'white hole' as I seemed to have last month or a super high antenna (W5TM's at 80' - WOW! and K4BAI's at 40-55'). My own conditions here were the worst I've experienced in a sprint in several months now. Comparing this month to last, a lot of cliche's come to mind - From the penthouse to the outhouse - Sometimes you bite the bear and sometimes the bear bites you - What a difference a month makes. In the final 70 minutes I made all of 6 QSO's, 2 of them with Tom WY3H here in Kittanning. The bands were horrible the first 50 minutes, then got worse the final 70 minutes. If they are this bad next week for the mW sprint, my score will be ZERO, I'm sure. Let's hope July is more like May, conditions-wise. Incidentally I got so bored by the last half hour I practiced calling CQ left-handed and didn't do too badly at it. Even got a couple answers. HI. KD8HCT - I had no business answering that call. QRN was S5 but I tried anyway and sort of made contact. I couldn't believe I heard club number 2 on my first and only QSO. (Thanks very much Joe! - K3WWP) W9ILF - I was very excited to try out some new things and be involved using the special award rules. I operated outside! My antenna was a 50ft random wire held up by a 20ft fishing pole, connected to a UNUN that the autotuner of my IC-703 worked well with. I just built a NEScaf filter Sunday to give my rig more tuning flexability which seems to have worked well. I also just received a simple straight key kit from pastime projects Monday. I got that put together and used it on the sprint. The key isn't the quality of my normal straight key but it was good on the FUN factor. This was all set up in the back yard. Was it my antenna? My new filter??? or.... Were the bands just that bad??? Definitely the last choice Ivin - K3WWP) YIKES! I hope next month is better. W2SH - I knew from the previous day's weather forecast that conditions would be difficult. Just as predicted, a cold front arrived at the start of the sprint. Listened for a few minutes on 20m and heard two Club members whose calls were unreadable, but I managed to copy their numbers through the QRN. When the lightning flashes began, I went QRT. Later I could hear no signals on 80m, but worked a few stations on 40m with difficulty. Special thanks to W0IS who spent at least two minutes to pull out my callsign. K4BAI - Conditions good on 20 at the start, but not a lot of activity. 40M was OK, but QRN was pretty high. Went back to 20 at 0209Z and my CQ NA was answered by FO5RH in Tahiti, also running 5 watts. What a surprise! Then tried a very noisy 80M and got no response. Thanks for the QSOs. FT1000MP, 5 watts output, WM-2 QRP wattmeter, TH6DXX, 40M dipole, center fed 88' zepp. Hope for better conditions and more activity next month. 73/72, John WY7N - After a few CQs on 20M NO2D returned my call. I didn't hear anyone else. After many CQs and much searching (but no pouncing) I heard W6JL calling CQ. I worked him last month during the sprint. I just had to work him again. I spent 1/2 hour rag chewing before I decided to get back to the sprint. 40 was starting to have a few more signals, opening up a bit more. I heard NO2D working someone, but didn't get the chance work him on 40. A few minutes before the end of the sprint I heard AB7LK in WA calling CQ for a chat. I decided to work him for one more contact. I'll be sure to send an email to these guys and tell them about NAQCC. W6JL makes all his own equipment. He might enjoy the club. It would be nice to get another active station out here in the west. Fun as always! W5TM - My apologies to those I didn't hear, Lots of QRN here. First time I've used a straight key for this length of time...in a long time. Thanks for the QSO's. KI6OFN - I dusted off my bug and did some sending practice before the sprint. Condx on 40 meters were pretty good with abt QRN2. I did S&P for half hour intervals with CQ NA calls in the intervening half hours. I found KE7LKW at 7042, then heard WY7N (559), W7OM - trying to get KE7LKW, and W0JFR (579) all of whom I couldn't get. Then KA7SPS answered my call on 7045. Thereafter I just S&P'd until the end of the contest. I tried to get KA8MPT (559) - he almost heard me (I believe), and W5TM (549) but couldn't get them. Cheers & 72/3 KF4KRV - Wow!!! First time I ever tried to participate in a contest. We're having Vacation Bible School at our church and I managed to make it home to the radio with ten minutes left in the sprint. I managed to power up my Argo 509 on, find my printed out exchange sheet, and caught a couple of NA cq's!!! I hope I did things correctly so K4CZ and W5TM can get their points and I hope I didn't slow them down to much with my slow cpying and keying...both of 'em had gud ears, though!!! I'm just happy I made a couple of contacts! Hopefully I can be there from the git'go next sprint! Tnx fer the fun guys! Ed, KF4KRV KC2EGL - Yet another fun night of operating in a NAQCC sprint. Also had the (now expected) phone call from the YL. This is always good for 35 to 40 minutes of lost operating time. Hi-Hi!!! Thanks to all who came back to my CQ. I could not find John K3WWP tonight. This was the first sprint where I did not log a fellow Pa operator. CU on the radio during Field Day. I will be the CW operator for the F.A.W.A. (K3TTK) 73 Mike N5SPE - Just got in from washing the sailboat. Never even got the K1 warmed up all the way. It was short but sweet! :-) KD2MX - After missing last month's sprint, I was fired up for this one. I had the full two hours blocked out and had my KX1 all set, as it has been lying idle for too long. Mother Nature had other plans though. A wide line of thunderstorms was bearing down on my QTH at 0030. I started calling CQ on 20M but heard nothing but static crashes. Tuned around and could barely hear a few stations in the noise. Ditto on 40M. I thought I heard rumbles of thunder and figured I'd better disconnect the KX1 as it is especially sensitive. I fired up the trusty 897 to find the s-meter just about pegged from the approaching storms. A few more minutes of listening convinced me that I wasn't going to do anything more than get a headache so I powered down and disconnected the antenna. I went outside to watch an impressive display of cloud-to-cloud lightening before the downpour. Finally the storms cleared enough after 0200 to give a listen and I was able to put a few stations in the log. I missed most of the sprint but thankfully our late spring, four-day heat wave has been broken. KI4FIA - Had alot of fun for my second sprint contest. 20 mtrs was better than last contest but alot of noise on 40mtrs due to local thunderstorms. 40 was ruff cpy. Sorry to the couple stations that responded to me CQ and I just couldn't pull out of the static crashes. 80 meters was vry bad for noise tonight. I heard 1 station on 80 but couldn't make the call. N9QU - Conditions still a bit rough. Looking forward to more sunspots. Heard W0JFR but couldn't get through the QSB & QRN. KC2EGL had the biggest signal at my QTH at s7. Had fun. Ready to go again. N1LU - Lots of QRN here. S8 on 40m and s9 plus on 80m. At least I finally got a few points for the June Members Challenge. KB4QQJ - Didn't hear but one other portable station, ka2kgp. Had a fun sprint operating portable till the skeeters got stirred up. Strongest signal was VA3NR, a solid 579. Left the NJ squirt there till morning, too many skeeters!! Thanks to all for pulling me out, and sorry if I missed you. Next time. 73 WB8LZB - I just had to play field day style agn this month. When i arrived there was a baseball game in progress. Several of the dad's watched as i strung out my counterpoise es set up my gear. Good pr for the qrp crowd! I answered some of the q's and had someone snap my picture fer a newsletter. I loaded up the old baseball diamond lighting system, es fed it at abt 6 ft off the ground. There's alot of wire in the air so it works perty well. I started out on 20m and worked several stns from all over. 20m seemed to go abt 930 local. 40 was vy noisy but lots of stns. Only worked k3wwp on 80m rigt before pulling the plug. Lots of fun agn. Love this piece of wire! 73 gregg K1YAN - Thunderstorms to the west took care of 80M with QRN at S9+ and 20M did not seem to be open. 40M was the band of choice, with fairly light activity. N2COD - Unbelievable atmospheric QRN on 80m. squelched any activity there, I bearly heard my brother KA2KGP 5 miles away! I even mobiled out to a very rural hilltop to see if the QRN was local, but it was not. 40m. was noisey & 20m. was fair with a couple QSO's there. Rig: FT-857D mobile at 5 w. into a FC-40 ant. tuner & hustler 40m. stick. Mosquitos were bad, so I rolled up the windows & turned on the A/C! K9JWI - I used my HW-8 @ 1.5 watts. I found more signals on 20m than in any Sprint I've worked. Fair signals on 40m (W1AW is a problem using a direct conversion rx and only audio filtering). I heard and worked only K3WWP on 80m (no surprise this time of year). The Sprints are a FB operating activity. KD0V - QRN and mosquito's were not bad in Minnesota, hard many stations that did not respond. It was a nice evening for operating out of doors. W1OH - Had a good time tonight! W5TM in OK on 20M was quite strong for quite a while here on Cape Cod, but could barely hear anyone else on 20. Maybe more folks should give it a try! Good to run into K3WWP this month; [can't always hear you, John (and tonight you were half buried in some steady carrier (some European stuff??) but was able to pull you through anyway - love this Elecraft K2!] Condition were mediocre at best; didn't hear many regulars, especially to the south. See you next month. Since the collapse of the ARS sprints, this is definitely the Number One QRP sprint each month! Thanks, NAQCC! W0JFR - Tough night. Noisy and most signals weak and unreadable. Strongest signal: KA8MPT. K3 / Vertical / Gen Log. AA8XX - Noy much time but I was there hi hi, y loop start at about 30 feet at apex and goes down to 7 ft for most of the loop, I ran 5 watts ans 1 qso and still had fun 73 cul Tom KB3AAG - Wow what a bad nite! Lots of noise on the bands. Sorry to all for my horible cw but I was trying my fist with the bug! I guess I need more practice....I have been using it quite a bit but the heat of contesting got to me and it was bad! Even the guys with good signals were hard to dig out of the qrn. Still fun! antenna still 80 meter loop at 35 feet in trees. ran a bug. Not at all well I might add. K4CZ - TS-930 running 5w. In NC, conditions were very good on 20m at the start. I worked 20 stations (16 states) and then switched to 40m at 0120 UTC after 20m slowed down. I had S3/S5 QRN on 40m but managed to work another 20 stations (adding 4 states) and then switched to 80m at 0205 UTC. On 80m I had S7/S8 QRN so I was only able to work one station (VA3NR). I went back to 20m at 0215 UTC but it was quiet so I finished on 40m, adding another 4 Qs and 1 state. The NAQCC sprints are always fun and it amazes me to hear so many good straight key fists (while I still fumble with my paddle)! Thanks for the Qs. 73, Barry K7RE - Well I had really high hopes of using my newly acquired ATS3. Went out into a local pasture, found a nice tree and used my slingshot to tree my 1/2 wave wire vertical for 20M. The clouds rolled in, as I began at 00:30 Z. There was some distant lightening, so I kept a sharp eye out. In only about 15 minutes, the storm grew exponentially, so I was forced to call it quits. Nuts! I only managed 3 QSO's, through the massive QRN until I had to break down. Still, I enjoyed the experience. I take my ATS3 and HF Pack setup with me every day when I walk my dog for about an hour, so far only listening on 20M, so I was not too dejected. BTW, May has been the second wettest month ever recorded here, after 7 or so years of drought here in western SD. We have almost achieved our normal rainfall/snowfall for 1 year in only 6 months, and most of that was obtained in the last 3 months. No one ever complains out here when rain or snow messes up one's plans. I plan to be back for! next month's NA. See you all for the ARRL FD, I'll be QRP, but probably with my Sierra from special little hill in WY. KA2KGP - We should rename this sprint the "Mosquito Derby". Each bug kill should add 1 point to the score! Had too take my hand off the key mid-QSO to swat the critters. QRN was terrible on all bands here at camp WNY. Rig: Ten-Tec Argosy II at 5 watts into a 5 band gnd. mtd. vert. w/ MFJ tuner. Hope condx are better for the Mw Sprint! N4FI - Going mobile QRP with a MFJ 9040 and a Hamstick is not the ideal station for a sprint, but it worked out better than I thought it would. I thank the guys for trying to pull out my puny signal and those that spent lots of time trying, but not succeeding. lots of 599 sigs into the rcvr, but the stns could not pull me out. It was really fun sitting in a hot muggy smoky parking lot. 73 WA3ZBJ - Back in NAQCC's back yard here in PA for the summer but think the QRN is a lot lighter working from FL. Was back and forth with other rig when my little Ten-Tec 1340 was acting up, but it finally became a Sprint casualty. Well, the FT-817 was looking pretty good anyhow. K3OXG - Great sprint lots of fun. Dog chased the cat, extra kids in the house and 2 ringing telephones accompanied my sprint fun with my new K1. I worked 2 non-members one in Shreveport La and the other in Westport MA, both for nice rag chews. I copied kb4qqj at somewhere after 0100 utc but sent my information while I was on the phone so I did not hear his response - so did not count in the log. The K1 is new to me so I worked 4 new states with this radio. Keep pounding the brass. Godwilling will have a straight key wired for the millisprint. Thanks to all. lou W2JEK - band conditions were poor. then i qrt at 0124z due to thunderstorms with violent lightning and strong winds. had three power hits but power stayed on. as of Wednesday evening tv news reported that 87,000 customers were without power in n.j. hope next month is better. 72 and 73 don younger #1135 K4NVJ - I didn't/couldn't hear John. KU4A - Back to the Sprint for the June point. With the heat, I was pretty tired so just stuck around for a couple quick Qs. I believe this was the first time I had ever worked K3WWP. I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable summer. Keep cool! NO2D - Each month I enter the sprint with great optimism that I will do "really" well. Not this month. 20 meters died early here. 80 meters was S-9 noise and no signals. 40 meters salvaged what little success I had after walking the dogs mid-way through the sprint. Always fun. Always a challenge. Pete KA8MPT - Lots of new people welcome. Had some qrn on 40m that cover some stations up,not much on 80,20 was good at the start but I was getting into my wife tv hi hi that ended that. K4JPN - QRN and QSB very rough on 40M, I only heard and worked one station on 20M and no stations heard on 80M. WD5INA - Lots of atmospheric noise with bad weather systems moving through hampered reception but still had a great time. Tnx to all for putting up with me. hi See General Sprint Rules for rules common to every NAQCC sprint. RULES specific to this month's sprint: Date and time: Wednesday Jun 11, 0030-0230 UTC (Remember that's Tuesday evening here in the USA) Special Award: Since this is Field Day month, our special award is for portable operation away from your home QTH. It goes to the winner of a drawing among the highest scoring eligible station in each of our five sprint divisions. Autologger SA info: Eligible for the Special Award.......' box - Select Yes if you are competing for the award Special Award info.......' box - Nothing need to be put here, but describe your portable operation in your soapbox comments. Prize: A classic book in Morse on CD donated by Chuck Adams K7QO. It will be awarded to a drawing among the high scorers in each of our five sprint divisions. The drawing winner gets to choose one CD from those currently listed on Chuck's web site at http://www.k7qo.net/. Entry Deadline: All entries must be RECEIVED before 2400Z on Jun 17, 2008. 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. |