“Storm Watch”
Newsletter of
NZ1U – The Barnstormers Contest Group
“The
Barnstomers News”
Volume 10 No.1, January 25,2005
9th
Annual Christmas Party Report
Well, despite the bitter cold and snow, the annual
event was well attended. A few of the regulars didn’t make it for various
reasons but all in all there were more than 14 Barnstormers to party on!
The menu was massive. The usual wings, chili, dips,
and some new additions like KA1MM famous kielbasa and N4XR’s homemade
cheesecake. KE1LI brought a tank of homemade Chocolate Porter beer amply named
“All Bloat No Float Chocolate Porter so there was plenty to drink as well.
Other beers, brown liquor, and even a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label.
We a name for the door prize which was graciously
donated by “The Q”, NX1Q. A great collection of three books that was won by
Walt, KA1MM. Walt then donated the books to the Barnstormer’s library and they
are here for all to read. The story of the Colvins, the VK0 DX-pedition, and an
RFI handbook. You may borrow them to read and bring back anytime.
My dilemma this year was who to give the “K1GX” award
to. To be honest I could not think of anyone (of course I won’t give it to
myself) so this year the trophy went unawarded. Like Dave said, maybe we need
to put a sign up “Four Contests without a major screw-up”. Kind of like the
safety boards in factories.
At 3AM I found myself talking basically to myself and
so I went into the house. The scotch caught hell that night!
Another great time and I think everyone survived.
January ARRL VHF Sweepstakes…
Plans were for a major effort. New
Elecraft
transverters, “The
ARRL VHF SWEEPSTAKES --
2005
Call:
KB1DFB
Category: Limited Multi
Power:
High Power
Band:
All Band
Mode:
Mixed Mode
State: CT
Band | QSO | QSO Pts. | Grids |
50 | 188 | 188 | 21 |
144 | 208 | 208 | 24 |
222 | 37 | 74 | 12 |
432 | 58 | 116 | 12 |
Total | 491 | 586 | 69 |
= 40,434 points
Operator List: KB1DFB, KB1H, KE1LI, W1MKM, N1ROZ
Comments:
We had planned a full contest effort with at least 3
more operators.
Then it snowed, and snowed, and snowed. The wind blew
making lots of
QRN. Two operators who did show had to leave to go
plow snow. One
had to get back to the Senior Home before the snow got
too deep.
Basically it was a two operator contest after 1:30 AM
Sunday morning
with no operating from then until after 12:00 PM
Sunday.
This was the first contest with the
Elecraft transverters
and also with
more than 100 watts on all bands. Lots of bugs to work
out before
June!
Sorry to all we could not pull through the QRN. We run
no preamps and
We are sure we get out better than we hear. Thanks to
all for the
QSOs, QSYs, and look for us in the Spring Sprints.
Kim - KB1DFB
Hopefully we will have better luck in June! At least
no snow to deal with.
Webcam
Project
The Barnstormer IT team has been working on the
addition of a webcam and live score update for the Website. We have decided
that because I have lots of space on my broadband ISP it will be better to keep
at least the webcam and pictures on that ISP with pointers on QSL.net. W1TJL
has supplied a PIII which needs some more memory and this will be the Station
#5 computer which will have the webcam. Also this computer will upload to the
ISP with live score updates (I hope). A few technical things to work out but we
are on it.
The live score addition should be nice. I know that I
sure kept my eye on the K1TTT webcam during the last contest and found it to be
quite an incentive.
Tower Work – HIGHEST
PRIORITY
During some recent tower work and also during the last
few storms we have found some very serious work that needs to be done. The 15M
antenna at the top of the tower is being held by only one clamp. The 40M prop
pitch system has some serious play in it and needs repining. In fact Kim found
the bottom bolts sheared off after our first storm and before the last one this
past weekend. The 220 antenna connection
is not waterproofed yet as when Dave and I re-installed this antenna it was too
darn cold to feel our fingers plus the coax seal was stiffer than a sailor’s
you know what!
These things need to be done as soon as possible. I will be talking to Dave and Paul and seeing if we can get this done maybe this weekend.
CQWW 160M CW Contest
This weekend (January 29-30) is the 160 CW contest. I
will be operating and need help. Anyone want to help?
ARRL CW February 19-20
This is the next contest we will be looking forward
to. Unfortunately I have found out that I will have to leave early Sunday
afternoon before the end of the contest. I have to go to
I will be setting up everything the week before and
will send out a message saying what we need for equipment.
Speaking of Equipment…..
After 20 years the era of the Alpha has ended. Al,
K1JCL, has taken back the amp which of course is his. He put a new blower in
($300) and I have heard since then the amp has moved on to another home. I have
offered for years to buy the amp but that never happened. I have to thank Al
for 20 years of being kind enough to let us having a kick ass signal with
little drive. Hey, there is a lot more room on the desk now and it has been the
antennas that made us loud, not the Alpha. I have moved the HF-2500 Commander
to Station #1 and hopefully someday I can buy another Commander to replace the
Alpha.
Enough for this the first issue of 2005, the tenth
year of our newsletter.
73, Dick – KB1H