“Storm Watch”

Newsletter of NZ1U – The Barnstormers Contest Group

 “The Barnstormers News”                                                                          Volume 6 No.5, August 28 2001

Just around the corner….

 

Well, October 27th and 28th are not too far away! After a really slow summer of progress, the ball has finally started to roll around here. As far as my own “honey” list you can see those accomplishments when you stop by.

 

How are we doing on the station’s list? Here is where we are:

 

The Upper 15 Meter rotor has been replaced with a rebuilt T2X. At the same time we also straightened the 6-meter beam.

 

The middle 15 Meter rotor on the side arm has been replaced with a new Yaesu rotor. This rotor has presets so we will be able to program beam headings like JA and Europe.  This was a chore. Tower time was Dave 3.5 hours and Dick 3.0 hours.

 

The 40 Meter beam was repaired this weekend.  Another 3 hours on the tower.

 

Finishing the 15 Meter Middle beam and the 40-meter beam were back-to-back days. I hope Dave feels better than me!

 

Between doing things on the ground for us, Kim and Frank worked on the new beverages. They have the approximately the first 200 feet cleared and holes dug for poles. You can see the termination point near the barn from way out. Nice job clearing the path.

 

Chris has been working on the cabling in the shack, which includes the networking coaxes. The network seems to work great and we should see a nice improvement in its performance this year.

 

The second T2X rotor is back from the repair shop and we now need to make a new rotor shelf for the 20-meter tower. We will swap out the existing rotor and with the new shelf hopefully correct the misalignment that exists now.

 

The RF Application SWR Detect Devices are in and I have built interrupt boxes for the PTT lines. These are really neat. Station #1 has the device installed and of course we have used NB1U’s on Station #3 already.

 

 

 

 

What’s left?

 

            Finishing the beverages.

 

            Changing the 20-meter rotor

 

            Internal cabling which includes the complete Station #2 coaxes.

 

            New Prop Pitch on the 40-meter tower

 

I’m really going to start the “Dallas” 40-meter beam soon. Can you believe the aluminum is still in the boxes after almost 5 years!

 

Repair of the Kenwood TL-922 Amp.

 

Maybe further repair on Mark’s amp. No 20-meters right now.

 

The Dunestar filters have been sent out for repair.

 

 

QSLs… Ugh!

 

I always like to start the new contest season with all the QSLs we receive answered. This past summer we processed close to 3000 cards. Three or four printer ribbons, boxes of labels, and almost $100 to the Outgoing QSL Bureau at ARRL later we are caught up. I know we have a pile waiting at the “H” sorter but for now we are OK. I have not received and cards from the “U” sorter yet for our NZ1U operations. We have 2000 cards waiting for them

 

Interesting QSO during the NAQP SSB while using NZ1U. I worked W1RE who said he would like a QSL. Seems as though his previous callsign was NZ1U.

 

 

Upcoming Weekends

 

With the work left, I plan on working around weather and of course everyone’s schedule. I believe the project that can make the most progress right now and really is not waiting for parts or fabrication is the beverages.  Rainy weekends or week nights can be used for the inside work upstairs.

 

Let’s hope everything works out and we can finish our list earlier than the weekend before CQWW SSB.

 

 

 

CQWW SSB October 27-28,2001

 

Just to briefly touch on the first contest. I am leaning towards running only three stations as a Multi/Multi. We have problems manning more than that and at times we cannot keep three seats full. With this approach there would be less preparation and we know we can set up three good stations with amps, filters, and grounding.

Maybe an ego issue for myself, but I am thinking about using KB1H for the four major contests. CQWW DX and ARRL DX. Hoping NZ1U is in everyone’s “Superpartial Check” does depend on how recent the station on the other end has downloaded the database. KB1H has been around for quite a few years. I know for a fact we are still having problems getting NZ1U across especially on SSB. Too many comebacks to “November Zero Uniform” Also there are many QSOs throughout the year where the other station remembers working KB1H many times during contests. What do you guys think?

 

 

I hope I get back on track to send more “Storm Watch” issues out now and up to the contest.

 

73 for now and lets keep the ball rolling…

 

Dick – KB1H