432 SPRING SPRINT 2017
SINGLE OPERATOR LOW POWER (hilltop portable)
ANTENNA SYSTEM
2-stack of Directive Systems and Engineering DSFO432-15RS "rover special" 15-el yagis
RADIO EQUIPMENT
Icom IC-7000 mobile
8 watts
external ARR preamp
TE Systems 4410G amplifier, preamp turned off
DESCRIPTION
The main amplifier died sometime during the January VHF Contest or during testing afterward. I am still waiting for the new
200w TE Systems amplifier that I already ordered in 2015. So my choices were to operate in the QRP category with transceiver
power, or temporarily re-install the spare amplifier and get 50 watts. Since I had the time, I wired up the spare amp. It
was a good move, since conditions at the start of the sprint showed heavy QSB and skewed paths, and later I noticed there
was no east/west propagation beyond adjacent grids. The north/south propagation was good, though, as evidenced by
working 337 miles / 542 km to Virginia station WA4LM in FM27. That would be the best DX of the sprint (by 100 miles over the
second place best DX). The other notable contact was working NC1I, a callsign I haven't heard since the late 1990's through
early 2000's when NC1I multi-op was on the air with big signals from the Massachusetts portion of FN32. I also worked one of
their operators--Ron, WZ1V. Unfortunately, the possibility exists that the callsign was NZ1I and I copied it wrong.
All the time spent calling CQ to the east and west resulted in zero QSOs in those
directions.
POINTS SUMMARY
BAND QSOs GRIDS
-----------------------------
432 12 9
--- claimed score = 108 ---
LOG
MD UTC CALLSIGN GRID
--------------------------------
PH 2313 K1TEO FN31
CW 2339 KA2LIM/R FN12
CW 0001 K1PXE FN31
PH 0053 NC1I FN32
PH 0100 AA2UK FM29
PH 0101 WZ1V FN31
CW 0120 WA4LM FM27
CW 0125 K3MD FN10
CW 0127 K3TUF FN10
CW 0131 WA2FGK FN21
PH 0203 WA2LTM FN20
CW 0242 K1RZ FM19