N1LN hosted the M\/2 operation as NC4KW for both CW and SSB.\u00c2\u00a0 This years SSB team was N1LN, N4GU, N4YDU, and W4KAZ.<\/p>\n
N4YDU led off on the right hand station on 10m.\u00c2\u00a0 W4KAZ squatted on 20m a few minutes before contest kick off, and worked a few before the start of the contest.\u00c2\u00a0 When the contest started, it was off to the races.\u00c2\u00a0 The end of the first hour showed a nice total of around 170 Q’s.\u00c2\u00a0 10m was slower than 20m, but N4YDU scrounged a nice group of multipliers before dropping down to 15m.\u00c2\u00a0 Rates for the second hour took off, and stayed good for the next eight hours. Just lots of fun.<\/p>\n
20m conditions seemed very good, and that’s where I did the bulk of my operating.\u00c2\u00a0 The rates on 15m and 40m were also very steady – N4YDU and N4GU made the most of it.\u00c2\u00a0 They did a lot of the heavy lifting with band changes and mult hunting on the right hand station.\u00c2\u00a0 N1LN and I swapped off shifts on the left station, and spent the first six hours on 20m.\u00c2\u00a0 At the start of his second shift, 20m was really drying up.\u00c2\u00a0 N1LN dropped down to 80m.\u00c2\u00a0 80m was noisy, and the rates were slow at the beginning.\u00c2\u00a0 It warmed up towards the end of N1LN’s shift, and the rates soon were very good there.\u00c2\u00a0 N4GU and N4YDU had 40m smoking by then, and were keeping the rate meter busy.<\/p>\n
Towards the middle of the last shift, N4YDU on 40m and me on 80m, the 60 minute rate got close to 200.\u00c2\u00a0 Almost, but not quite there.<\/p>\n
The 80m results were good, but conditions there were fairly difficult.\u00c2\u00a0 There were loud static crashes to the south of our QTH.\u00c2\u00a0 It was difficult copy doing RX on the TX antenna.\u00c2\u00a0 Using the beverages, stations were calling from all directions, so it was difficult to copy the calls on the first try.\u00c2\u00a0 Towards the end of my last shift, it seemed the best compromise for my ears was to use the beverages for RX with the K3’s pre-amp on and the RF gain turned back, and a hand constantly riding the beverage selection knob and sometimes the RF gain.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Static crashes still made copy difficult on stations to the west. The west beverage was needed for copy on stations from TX to IA and all points beyond and between, but it was also getting a lot of the storm static from the south.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 VE stations were solid copy as long as the correct beverage was selected – which was seldom the case.<\/p>\n
The two shifts I pulled on 20m were very good, and probably the best I have had as an op at N1LN.\u00c2\u00a0 Signals were generally solid copy.\u00c2\u00a0 QRN was relatively low.\u00c2\u00a0 The QRM was manageable, probably because activity was spread out up to 10m.\u00c2\u00a0 Rates were very steady.\u00c2\u00a0 I did find that the occasional nudge to the antenna direction often produced a new flurry of Q’s to pop in for a visit to our log.\u00c2\u00a0 Swinging back and forth from TX to NNW was the plan of action.\u00c2\u00a0 The occasional NE station was often loud enough to copy easily off the edges, but pointing either of the antennas directly NE produced little.\u00c2\u00a0 20m did not seem to “go short” as it did for me when operating\u00c2\u00a0 NAQP CW from home.\u00c2\u00a0 It just seemed to die.<\/p>\n
The final tally shows a good spread of Q’s across the bands.<\/p>\n
Call: NC4KW Class: M\/2 LP\r\nOperator(s): N1LN, N4YDU, W4KAZ, N4GU\r\nStation: N1LN QTH: NC\r\n\r\nSummary:\r\n Band QSOs Mults\r\n-------------------\r\n 160: 107 33\r\n 80: 307 47\r\n 40: 528 58\r\n 20: 556 50\r\n 15: 260 41\r\n 10: 129 30\r\n-------------------\r\nTotal: 1887 259 Total Score = 488,733<\/pre>\n*<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DAMN that was a GOOD contest. <\/p>\n
N1LN hosted the M\/2 operation as NC4KW for both CW and SSB.\u00c2 This years SSB team was N1LN, N4GU, N4YDU, and W4KAZ.<\/p>\n
N4YDU led off on the right hand station on 10m.\u00c2 W4KAZ squatted on 20m a few minutes before contest kick off, and worked a few before the start of the contest.\u00c2 When the contest started, it was off to the races.\u00c2 The end of the first hour showed a nice total of around 170 Q’s.\u00c2 10m was slower than 20m, but N4YDU scrounged a nice group of multipliers before dropping down to 15m.\u00c2 Rates for the second hour took off, and stayed good for the next eight hours. Just lots of fun.<\/p>\n
20m conditions seemed very good, and that’s where I did the bulk of my operating.\u00c2 The rates on 15m and 40m were also very steady – N4YDU and N4GU made the most of it.\u00c2 They did a lot of the heavy lifting with band changes and mult hunting on the right hand station.\u00c2 N1LN and I swapped off shifts on the left station, and spent the first six hours on 20m.\u00c2 At the start of his second shift, 20m was really drying up.\u00c2 N1LN dropped down to 80m.\u00c2 80m was noisy, and the rates were slow at the beginning.\u00c2 It warmed up towards the end of N1LN’s shift, and the rates soon were very good there.\u00c2 N4GU and N4YDU had 40m smoking by then, and were keeping the rate meter […]<\/p>\n