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By w4kaz, created on 2009.04.24 at 07:44:49 | last changed on 2009.04.25 at 09:37:37 | Ed, N4EMG stirred the mental pot with his recent post about S&P contesting. Since I really have not met a lot of contesters that prefer S&P to running stations, it is difficult to address some of the questions Ed raises.
As luck would have it, contesting S&P with modest antennas is almost the only sort of contesting experience I have. Only in the last year have I begun to mix in runs with my more typical S&P operating. A quick glance at my scores by year page show only a couple of contests with 500+ QSO’s. 2006 Sweeps is a good sample of my best mostly S&P effort. It’s also one of the few contests I have kept my BIC for most of the duration.
Beyond that, there is not a lot of information you can use as a comparison. Unless you know the type of station someone uses, it is difficult to make comparisons. Even then, the differences in geographic location, amount of time operated in the contest, antenna height and quality, and operator skill level all come into play. Operator skill level is a tremendous factor. A good operator will run rings around a less experienced op. “Butt In Chair” factor is therefore not limited to the current contest, but is also a cumulative factor. There is no substitute for experience, and that is not unique to contesting.
Contesters seem to migrate away from all S&P fairly rapidly. Many begin that way when first discovering radiosport, although I suppose some jump in and start running right away. Folks come to the point where they realize(as Ed has) that running is the best way to increase rate. Some of the good operators will do all S&P when they are time limited, but even then most folks seem to prefer running. So the data on “all S&P” operating would be further limited if it were available at all.
Power level matters. Running with low power is a challenge. But if you want proof that good scores can be done successfully with low power and modest antennas, I’d refer anyone to look up some of the scores posted by N4YDU. Nate is a run operator, S&P’ing less often, but he is a great op and can rack up QSO’s. He has operated HP a few times, but most of his scores are in the LP category. There are also no tall towers at N4YDU. Nate has a tri-bander at about 30 feet, and a lot of various wire antennas. “Various wire antennas” because Nate likes to try out different things, including dipoles, doublets, loops, half squares, etc.
For low power, CW is the mode to concentrate on. A LP op will have more punch on CW, and better luck holding a run. But don’t expect to be able to hold a run forever with LP and modest wire antennas. There are a lot of HP stations that will see you spotted and squat only 100hz above you to poach your run fq. There are some who won’t even allow the dignity of the 100hz offset. (I have a name for those sort, but it is not suitable for refined company;) Sometimes it is worth dueling, sometimes it is just time to move along.
I personally enjoy S&P operating more than running stations. S&P is fun because it keeps me focused. My best single hour rates are just under 60 QSOS/hr on SSB, and 49 Qsos/hr on CW. The ten minute rate can and does often go higher, but I find it hard to tune, copy, and dupe check much faster than that. Better ops can S&P at higher rates, but their time is better spent running. This is probably why So2R has appeal. When runs slow down the second radio keeps one from dying of boredom in a rate productive manner. Reading a magazine seldom translates into QSOs.
I also find that rate is easier on SSB, when conditions are good. Better CW ops may find just the opposite. Probably everyone would agree that good conditions make S&P a real blast. Except for those that hate S&P.
S&P is really fun when three or four bands are open at the same time. 10m is also fun when it opens. On 10m SSB the bandwidth is so large that by the time you have finished the first S&P pass across the band and start a second pass, all of the run stations might be new ones. That is fun, and I sure hope it happens again. The sooner the better!
Other ways to improve S&P rate are by using packet spots and making use of the temporary memories, if your logging software supports them. I use the memories for those juicy mults/DX. Writelog has three. I generally load two stations needed in the first two memories, and the current frequency into the last. Then I can toggle back and forth between then using mouse clicks as if they were spots.
Even when not connected to packet, using the band map window to load Q’s is useful. By loading a station into the band map, I get to see a “preview” of who might be there when I scan through the second and third times.
A lot of the QRP and LP stations have good antenna systems. QRP is a challenge of a different sort for them. Great antennas are better than QRO, because they work on receive too.
Just some ideas, some of which you already have probably either used or seen elsewhere before. However you choose to do it, concentrate on the fun first. That’s the motivator for everything else.
By w4kaz, created on 2009.04.17 at 06:57:44 | last changed on 2019.04.19 at 17:13:28 | The current plan is to incorporate a SixPak into the antenna switching scheme here in the KazShack. The SixPak is to help enable an exploratory foray into SO2R operating.
It would also be useful to have the ability to use more than one resonant antenna on a given band. For example, the station is currently limited to a single dipole on 40 meters. It would possibly be helpful to have another dipole at right angles to the first. This would likely help bring up stations that are off the ends of the current dipole. It might be even more helpful on 20m where the antennas are higher relative to the percentage of the bands wavelength.
So a quickie two antenna remote switch is in order.
 Two Position Switch  W4KAZ Switch
The requirements are not critical for my low power application. It is simple enough. The relay is the P&B RTB14012F, a SPDT relay rated at 12A in its normal general purpose AC applications. This series of relays has been in use in my seven position switch for a couple of years now, and is in the same series of relays used in several high power switch project articles from NCJ. In this specific switch there are no losses that are measurable up through 6m. This was tested only with an ordinary watt meter into a dummy load, and applies to either output port of the switch. So far so good.
The only other components are a clamping diode, a 10nf bypass capacitor, a few bits of hook-up wire, and three coax connectors. The diode and the cap go across the coil on the relay to suppress nasty RF side-effects on the DC side of the circuit. The enclosure was easily the most expensive item. Total cost is about $12 USD. The 12v control cables are potted with hot glue. The enclosure is not water tight, but the switch will be mounted in or under a rain shield. The relay itself is sealed, so insects might be the only issue should they infiltrate the enclosure.
The switching controls are going to be in a yet to be determined integrated panel. That will add to the cost by the amount of the switch which will be mounted in the control panel. Cat5e will be used for all control cable runs.
I expect to place this puppy between the SixPak and the 40m antennas. Coax stubs for 40m will connect the SixPak to the two position switch. The default position(switch off) will be the primary antenna facing NE/SW. There will not be a grounded or unused position, as lightning protection will be added at the “radio A/radio B” positions of the SixPak. That arrangement will keep the radios isolated from one another via the SixPak, and unable to simultaneously select antennas resonant on the same band. (maybe….depends on the antennas used for the other bands, aina?)
With the addition of one relay and one extra control wire, it is easy to make a similar three or four position switch.
Sometimes simplicity is good, or as in this case, “good enough”.
By w4kaz, created on 2009.04.10 at 06:12:02 | last changed on 2009.04.10 at 09:28:50 | Scores for the 2008 CW Sweepstakes have been published on the Web. The Sweepstakes LCR report is always worth looking over, since my error rate is still far too high on CW. For 2008, it looks like 44% of my errors were on the check number. The errors on the exchange was about 45%, and I busted only four callsigns. The score suffered dramatically, but I showed some incremental improvement over the 2007 Sweepstakes. I didn’t match the improvement in error rates I managed in the 2007 IARU, but it was better than the error rate of the 2007 CWSweeps.
The callsign copy needs to be 100%, but I made progress in that area over 2007.
The big problem seems to be busts on 7&8 and 2&3. Not a surprise. That mistake is accounting for the bulk of the cross check number busts. It is also the biggest problem in the exchange busts, where the year license is busted because of 7&8 or 2&3 busts. By correcting this copy error I will clean up almost 80 percent of my over all bust rate.
The other remaining errors are a mixed bag. There are several transposed digits in year licensed(e.g., where I logged 67 instead of the correct 76). This is a typing dyslexia that I often can catch as it is happening. So more attention to detail is needed when typing.
The rest are just generic inexusable errors. The callsign busts are fixable. “agn? ?”
Overall, I’m disappointed in the lack of overall improvement in clean copy. The score suffered mightily. But it still holds up as my best ever CW score, despite the inadequate copy. Besides, it was a blast.
K8AC, AA4NC, and N4AF all won their categories here in the Roanoke Division. Cool.
By w4kaz, created on 2009.04.09 at 06:22:12 | last changed on 2015.03.17 at 09:48:32 | Engineer the possible. The “best” is too often the enemy of “good enough”. Â If you wait until you have “The Best”, you may miss out on a lot of operating. Â Â Better to aim for “the best POSSIBLE”, i.e., what can be accomplished within the constraints of resources and time frame available.
The recently completed W4KAZ SO2R box is going to be something “New” in the KazShack. But the choices made in building it are all “old” technology. It is a case of engineering the possible.
This has been a project that I have flipped and flopped on. The choice made was based on practicality rather than “the best” approach. The best approach would have been to utilize a new computer and the USB rather than the LPT port. That choice implies using some of the newer CW keying technologies(Winkeyer or Microham). O’course, that would also entail blowing a couple of thousand dollars on the new off-the-shelf hardware, none of which is currently on hand. This approach I characterize as “New Hotness”, per Agent K from MIB. So, where do I get a couple thousand dollars I can divert to this frivolity? (Answer: convince Number One Son to join the Navy rather than go to college? Didn’t work…)
The alternative is to see what can be accomplished using “Old and Busted”.
It turns out that practically speaking, “Old and Busted” is perfectly serviceable, even if it is not quite so much fun as “New Hotness”. New Hotness certainly has an advantage in the effectiveness of generating the CW in a seperate piece of dedicated hardware. Nice, but not essential. New Hotness also uses current technology. Also nice, and also not essential.
The fact is that Old and Busted can be designed to competently and reliably perform the essential basic tasks required:
- Key the CW
- Control the radio TX focus
- Provide the band data or pass it along
- Be easily home brewed [!!!!!the most important criteria!!!!!]
- Be easily modified as needed/wanted/for experimentation
Even better yet, “Old and Busted” can be cobbled together very inexpensively relative to New Hotness. For my own part, the cobbling together is tremendously more satisfying than waiting for the postman or UPS truck for delivery.
O’course, price is also a big factor. But I have not found any home brew solutions utilizing USB. A hybrid solution could be derived by using the PIEXX SO2RXLAT device to convert USB to LPT type data. That seems like a workable bridge between old SO2R hardware and new computer tech. Possibly not ideal, but very plausible, and very attractive for those with money already invested in LPT hardware.
So, “Old and Busted” wins. Since I don’t like N1MM logging software, I don’t NEED a better shack computer. I can get by with a clunky old Win 98 box running good ole Writelog. Relying on an old CPU could be a reliability issue, but old CPU’s are free for the taking, and I already have several backup boxes on hand. The old boxes all have LPT ports, which is the approach that seems simplest for home brew of an SO2R box. A single LPT port can be configured to carry the CW, PTT, radio A/B switching, and also carries the band data for one of the radios.
So, Old and Busted wins out, at least for now.
Besides, I just can’t get my head wrapped around “needing” the latest-n-greatest technology for CW contesting. Really? Because CW is so cutting edge? Really?
It may all be moot. I may get the whole kit assembled and decide I don’t want to operate SO2R after trying it out. By going the old an busted route I have at the very least learned a lot by cobbling together several design ideas into a custom solution. That hands on education has more value to me than the cost of the New Hotness hardware. So even if I put the new toys aside after light usage, I win.
Engineer the possible. If you wait until you have “The Best”, you may miss out on a lot of operating.
By w4kaz, created on 2009.02.24 at 05:51:15 | last changed on 2010.10.27 at 13:15:47 | Okay, it is pretty minor, but in listening to the K5D pileups last week, I figured out that the K2 is less user friendly for chasing splits than the FT-920. Even though the second VFO on the 920 is not a genuine second receiver, it is a lot simpler to use than the K2 for hunting down the guy the DX is working. So the 920 is definitely the first choice for hunting DX. The close in capability of the K2 is not as important when the DX is working split. But the ergonomics of using the 920 is so much easier for split DX hunting, it will take a lot of effort to adjust to the K2 ergonomics.
🙁
I guess the solution is to buy a second K2. 🙂
But that’s not going to happen with the first college tuition check for the eldest only months away. Until that is behind us, I’ll just need to use the 920 for SWL’ing and some DX’ing. And SO2R, if I ever get geared up to practice that.
And of course, the K2 can’t get WWL during LSU football season. We won’t count that as a demerit since it was not designed for that purpose.
– more – at the K2 Impressions page
By w4kaz, created on 2009.02.08 at 20:32:44 | last changed on 2021.05.06 at 21:16:43 | Obtained a third hand Array Soultions SixPak from N4YDU. The control box needed a wee bit of refurb. The LED indicators were not all working, although the switch itself is functioning well. One LED was cracked, three others blown, along with four of the resistors.
So, heating up the soldering iron and pulling a few parts was needed. This was more trouble than expected. The board is very well done, and it is simple to remove from the box. But I didn’t anticipate the minor fly in the ointment. The holes are ‘plated through’. The LED’s were simple enough to replace, and I had close match replacement LEDs in the parts bin. The four bad resistors were a bit less cooperative. It was difficult to remove enough solder with the solder wick.
The new resistors were difficult to install, because the plated through holes were a close fit even when clean. Downright difficult with a coat of solder in them. I resorted to alternately heating the holes and pushing each lead through a couple of millimeters at a time. Once I had enough fed through, I was able to grab the leads with forceps. Then I was able to hold both leads, apply hot iron, and pull the part down flush with the PCB.
So what should have taken 15 minutes tops probably took almost 90 minutes. Grrrr. Not difficult, just frustrating. The LEDs I had on hand are not exact color matches, but very close when lit. The red matches better than the greens, but I didn’t want to chance messing something up – if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. I’ll replace them if they blow up.
The SixPak is probably overkill here, but will be a good thing if a certain SB-1000 ever migrates into the KazShack. It could happen.
Now I just need to figure out the best way to re-configure the station. The idea is to allow SO2R experimentation at some point. That will require some alternate antennas and a set of filters on each. I’m not there yet. Then maybe a W9XT band decoder board for auto band switching.
Coming along, slow but sure. Sure to slow down that is, because the first tuition check for the college bound eldest is due in three months.
EeeeK!
By w4kaz, created on 2009.01.25 at 15:14:41 | last changed on 2009.01.25 at 22:38:03 | Totally unexpected results. This was nowhere near a serious attempt to maximize the score, but rather have fun playing with the K2 on160m. It turned out to be a lot more fun than I really expected.
I did not operate long Friday. I was just too tired. But I was on long enough to realize the conditions were very good. The noise level was very low on the transmit antenna. It was possible to turn on the pre-amp for the weak signals. The big surprise was that most of the weak stations could hear me. Yikes.
But it just got better. I planned the day better on Saturday, and was more prepared to stay up a bit later to play more radio. Conditions did not seem quite as good as Friday, but the noise level was still low. I worked some new states for 160. Even more unusual, I also worked 14 European stations. Their signals seemed to come up with their sunrise. I knew I could hear them, as I had been listening to a couple of run stations, and I could copy most of their EU QSO’s. Tuning around with the K2, I was able to find several EU stations calling. The booming US signals made some of them too hard to copy, but several others were easy copy.
Low and behold, a handful of those were also able to hear the 100 watt tin whistle. Way fun. Apologies for the guys that really had to struggle to copy my weak signal, but I sure do appreciate the effort! Some of those guys must have really good RX antennas, because they didn’t miss a beat, and got it on the first try.
So I spent the last hour digging through the US QRM for the EU pearls. The K2 is really an S&P operators friend. With the filters cranked down to 200hz, it was easy to find the stations. Not so easy for them to find me, but that is an antenna/ERP problem unlikely to change soon.
The Good: The antenna repairs worked. The extra radials on the 160-L probably didn’t hurt either. Currently 18 radials, between 16 and 45 ft long. The K2 really shines for S&P. Conditions seemed as good as I have ever heard on 160m, but my experience down on 160m is very limited. K2 is generally much better at keeping NT4D out of the front end than the FT-920(exception below). Worked RK2FWA…on 160m! Finally worked ON4UN on 160!
The Bad: Missed a golden opportunity by not planning to operate more. Discovered that NT4D causes a mild overload when listening on the xmit antenna with the K2 pre-amp turned on. Discovered an NT4D image 20kc below his run frequency. Gotta get with Jay and do some testing to see if it is an artifact generated in the K2, or if I can hear the same image in my FT-920. (NT4D is a nearby neighbor, close enough to be inside a 500 meter multi circle. We’re gonna pull the trigger on that one day)
The Ugly: Nothing found – yet.
Station:
- Rig: Elecraft K2, 100 watts
- TX Antenna: 160 ft Inv-L
- RX Antennas: Homebrew K9AY, 20m dipole
- Homebrew antenna tuner
- Logging: Writelog
Station: W4KAZ
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: NC
Operating Time (hrs): ~9
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 203 State/Prov = 38 Countries = 17
Total Score = 33,220
By w4kaz, created on 2009.01.23 at 14:10:30 | last changed on 2009.02.14 at 10:57:05 | The 160m-L has been “on the fritz” (i.e., broken) since the ARRL 160m contest. It went crazy when it started raining during the contest. The SWR went high, and it became deaf.
The ground was still covered with snow from our very rare in central NC five inch snowfall. Old XYL tales relate that antennas work best when installed/repaired in inclement weather, so the time seemed right.
It turns out there was a bad connection on one of the jumpers. I took a bit of time to find the problem, and only about 30 seconds to fix. To debug it I plugged the dummy load into the feedline system out at the antenna end. The high SWR into the dummy load told me the problem was in the line and not the antenna. Fixing the line solved the immediate issue.
That whole antenna system needs closer scrutiny. It was intended to be ‘temporary’ when it was hauled up three years back, and the feed line is a hodgepodge of jumpers which were available around the KazShack at the time. If it stays up, the matching network needs to be corrected. At last count, it now has 18 elevated radials. The feed point is about 8 feet off the ground mounted atop the kid’s wooden swing set. The radials are all of different lengths, tied off to trees. The distance of the tree from the antenna center determines the radial length. It seemed to be playing much better with 18 radials than it did in the original four radial configuration.
I suppose I’ll play around in CQ 160 CW, but I expect it will be an all US contest here in the KazShack. 100 watts is effectively QRP when run into a poorly matched inv-L. I’ll find out if I feel like trying to run stations.
The heavy winds from a couple of weeks back knocked loose a rather large branch, which clipped the nested rectangular loop for 15m and 10m. That simplifies the job of fixing it, something that has been much lower on the radio project list.
But without sunspots, I’m still in no rush to get 10m fixed. 15m either, unfortuneatly.
By w4kaz, created on 2008.10.28 at 06:12:48 | last changed on 2013.04.18 at 17:58:38 | This was the first crack at operating N1LN for a DX contest and a 48 hour event. Bruce has the station set up for Multi-2, and that’s the way we operated. Murphy appeared before and during the contest. N1LN was in a car accident the week before, and NT4D was out recovering from an operation. Murphy took out one of the K3’s with an AGC problem at 5:00am Sunday morning.
Beyond that, everything seems to be working according to N1LN’s expectations. It was a lot of fun running stations, but I’ve decided the most difficult thing about running stations is the boredom when things are slow. I also need to figure out how to find good run frequencies. It was very difficult at times to get a run established, especially on 20m.
I’ve also decided the CW ops are right – SSB contesting stinks! (Well, sometimes.)
It is amazing to hear stations that are normally not heard on the low wire antennas. I saw a spot for an HS0 on 20m, and sure enough I was able to hear him. I also heard the huge pileup of west coast stations calling him. Since the contest was about rate, I tried only as couple of calls before moving on.
It was fun to be able to run EU stations on 40m just after their sunrise. I was called by a ZL, and I’m still not sure if it was off the rear of the beam or a long path gray-line contact. The timing was right for gray-line. After turning the beam 180 degrees, I was able to work a couple of ZL’s and VK’s. I put the 40m yagi back towards Europe after a few minutes, not wanting to lose the mostly clear frequency into EU.
Operating is a far different proposition from such a station. There’s a lot to learn.
A lot of fun too.
By w4kaz, created on 2008.10.12 at 08:44:15 | last changed on 2010.10.27 at 13:13:39 | Finally got around to the K2 to assemble and install the 160m module. I’m not sure why they chose to make 160m a separate add-in, unless it seemed superfluous for a QRP rig in its original form. So maybe it was added as an afterthought. Anyway, after a lot of procrastination on my part caused by too many things to do, I decided to squeeze out an hour or two here and there to give it a go.
The 160m board itself has only a handful of components. These went together easily enough, but I would recommend changing the instructions to install C6 after installing the 14 pin header. It was very difficult to solder the end pins on the header with C6 already in place. I may have spent more time on those two pins than on the rest of the board. Maybe it only seemed that way.
Before beginning, my only real concern was the mechanical dis-assembly of the bottom of the K2. That turned out to be less difficult than I anticipated, but it does require a bit of patience. Since I had not done the original assembly of the kit, I didn’t really know what to expect after reading the instructions on disassembling the heat sink. This was fairly tedious, but not as complicated as it first seemed. Someone who had assembled the kit from scratch would not have had a problem.
The project took about three hours from start to final tune-up. I split that over three sessions, so it seemed like less. I have not really been on the air with it yet, but I’m looking forward to trying out the RX antenna input. Thats a bit of an issue, as the RX input uses a BNC jack. This really begs for a BNC to UHF jumper cable, because an adapter adds too much length and puts too much physical stress on the rear of the radio for my preferences.
Even if I were not to operate on 160m, the RX antenna jack is adesirableaddition to the K2 for my methods of operation on 80m. Here in the KAZshack the separate RX antenna is used frequently on 80m, and I expect to add another RX antenna soon.
Maybe today…….
-more- at the K2 Impressions page.
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