Total: 761 QSOs x 34 Zones x 126 Countries = 317,760
Operating Time (hrs): 24.5
Equipment: TS-850SAT (100W), TH-7 @ 55'
We finally got my new TH-7 up last Sunday (thanks to Rick KC5AJX for
his assistance throughout the project and to W5WW and N5QQ for their
help a few weeks ago). I'm not much of a phone operator, but I
wanted to try out the performance of the new antenna. I should not
have entered the assisted category running 100W. I beat the old W5
assisted record by Saturday night, but looking at the early reports
on 3830 I got killed by the W5's running high power in this category.
My experience shows that packet is not that much of an advantage if
you're only running 100W. Within 5-10 seconds of every spot on the
cluster (I was using telnet so I got my spots as quickly as possible)
there was a huge pileup of big guns and MM's on the freq.-my 100W
just didn't cut it.
I also think I made some bad choices in trying to establish a
frequency and run stations instead of searching and pouncing more. I
did have some 60 and 70 an hour rates on Saturday morning, but
probably could have had just as good a rate and more mults. if I had
been S&Ping, particularly considering my power level. I did use the
second VFO to S&P some, but should have made that the main focus.
The clouds were swirling and the sky was pretty ominous Saturday
afternoon so I cranked the tower down to 22 foot around 2200Z. I was
still able to work lots of South Americans. In fact, I think I
worked more South Americans (particularly LU's) than JA's.
I had to shut down and disconnect around 0000Z due to thunderstorms.
I didn't get back on until around 1400Z when the weather passed.
Lost lot's of JA contacts Saturday night and the first 2 good hours
of EU Sunday.
All in all I had a lot of fun, which was the real goal. The TH-7
performs really well, especially considering that I was using an MFJ
loop before this. I can't wait to try it out next weekend in SS-still
haven't decided if I'm going to go low power or QRP. I can still
talk this morning, but I am definitely going to get a voice keyer
before SS phone.
I missed zones 17,18,21,22,24 and 26. I heard zones 21,22,24 and 26
but couldn't get through the pile.
