FALL 432 SPRINT 2017
SINGLE OPERATOR CATEGORY (hilltop portable FN22)








ANTENNA SYSTEM









RADIO EQUIPMENT

    Icom IC-7000 mobile
    8 watts
    RF Concepts amplifier at 60 watts out









DESCRIPTION

My apologies to anyone I should have heard better and didn't. I forgot that the 432 preamp died in the September VHF Contest and I hadn't got it fixed yet. Compounding the issue is the new tower installed within the past 3 years on the eastern FN22 hilltop where I was set up. When pointed in that direction I get loud, intermittent QRN on 432 MHz even with my $400 Telewave bandpass filter inline, so the preamp would likely have made it even worse. But that was all part of the reason for trying out the hilltop again with the new rover van. Now I know to use my other hilltops when 432 is involved. The 70 cm band is under attack by other entities, what else is new?

Unfortunately, the tropo that I enjoyed earlier in the day at my home station had moved too far south to help at my portable location during the Sprint. Nonetheless, I had fun and did surprisingly well for all the challenges. Just like the 222 Sprint the week before, I worked Maine station K1DY FN54 to the northeast (315 mi / 506 km) for a best DX, and W8ZN FM09 to the southwest (296 mi / 477 km). My roving sidekick Tom KC2SFU got on the air and provided the only contact with my home grid. He used CW to make the contact on a vertically polarized 2m Yagi. VE3CRU/R provided my only contacts with FN04 and FN03, and Long Island station N2GHR FN30 was my farthest contact in the other direction. After working 4 stations in the 10:00 hour, the winds had picked up to the point where they were battering the antenna system pretty badly on the exposed hilltop--the cold front was pushing into the area as forecast. So that, combined with the threat of rain, caused me to tear down early.









POINTS SUMMARY



BAND   QSOs   UNIQUE
              GRIDS
---------------------------
432     22      15


--- Claimed score = 330 ---









LOG


MD  TIME  CALLSIGN  GRID  OTHER
--------------------------------
PH  2315  N2GHR     FN30  5x1
PH  2316  K1TEO     FN31  5x5
PH  2319  W8ZN      FM09  5x3
CW  2325  K3TUF     FN10  5x2
CW  2351  K1DY      FN54
CW  2357  W1ZC      FN42
CW  0000  K1PXE     FN31
CW  0001  WZ1V      FN31
PH  0018  KC2SFU    FN22
PH  0019  VE3YCU    FN02
PH  0021  VE3CRU/R  FN04
PH  0025  K3MD      FN10
PH  0056  VE3CRU/R  FN03
PH  0059  K1TR      FN42
PH  0125  WB2RVX    FM29
PH  0133  N1DPM     FN32
CW  0150  K1RZ      FM19
CW  0200  WW2Y      FN20
CW  0201  W2KV      FN20
PH  0205  W2SJ      FM29
PH  0206  K2EZ/R    FN31