ARRL DX CW 2009

This was my second outing in the ARRL DX CW contest.  I was able to beat my last year's score and I did it spending less time "in the chair".  I'd estimate that I spent roughly 17 to 18 hours on the air making contacts, going off to fulfill other obligations and then returning every now and then to see how things were.

Some observations - 

Band Conditions

I started the contest on 20 meters, but after an hour or so the band shut down entirely.  After hearing several EU stations early about the only ones audible an hour later were some weak stations from the Caribbean and South America.  I switched to 40.

40 was in pretty good shape on Friday night/Saturday morning, I thought.  Lot's of EU - I guess they all moved from 20, too - and I worked several up until around midnight, when I took a glance at 80.  Even 80 seemed to be in fine shape, but my luck getting through to Europe was hit or miss.  Some stations heard me fine, others couldn't hear me at all.  I knew 160 was out of the question with my vertical.  That's something I need to remedy at some point.

Things slowed a great deal on 40 and 80, so I pulled the plug for some quick shuteye.  Saturday morning around 7 am Eastern was one of the best times for me on 20 - I probably had my best S&P of the entire contest.  The hex really did a fine job into EU and a little beyond.  By 10 am, however, it seemed to be thinning out and I took another break.  I kept checking 15 from time to time, worked a few, but nothing ever seemed to open up the entire contest from my location.

Saturday afternoon and night I camped on 40 after a brief period on 20 around 3 pm.  The JA's were rolling in nicely on 20 and I managed to snag a few before it quieted.  Saturday evening was probably the highlight of the contest for me, as I worked several new countries, mostly on 40 - let's just hope that they QSL via LOTW.

Sunday morning didn't prove as fruitful on 20, but I still was able to work many Europeans and keep the QSO total climbing.  Late afternoon was spent on 40 and, again, a couple of new ones popped up for me before the contest ended.

Radios and Peripherals

Try as I may to force myself to use the FT1000 MP, I just keep coming back to the K2 every time.  I only have the stock filters on the Yaesu, so that's probably a big factor why I find myself happier using the K2 for CW.  But I also love the QSK of the K2 compared to the Yaesu - no clicking relays to distract me.  Having the second receiver on the Yaesu is fantastic for DXing, but not so much for contesting - at least I'm not at the skill level yet where I can take advantage of it.  I've got to make a decision soon.  Do I add some filters to the Yaesu or put it on the market?

My WinKeyer USB continues to be problematic at times.  The latest oddity was whenever I'd resort to the paddle to resend my call or state, or to send a little slower, it would often jump upwards in speed - from my usual 25/26 wpm setting to 35 wpm or more.  Frustrating, very frustrating.  Sorry to those I worked who must've thought I'd lost my marbles.  I know a lot of people rave about it, but this is the second issue I've had with mine.  I need to check if there's firmware updates or workarounds available.  Of course, during the contest is NOT the time to think about that :)  It'll go on my list of things to do.

Hexbeam

Pardon me while I jump up and down for a few seconds about how well the hex performed on 20.  Both mornings I mostly left it parked at 40 degrees towards Europe, only spinning it southward a few times to work South American or African stations having trouble hearing me.  In the afternoons, I'd spin it westward to work JA's.  I couldn't even hear the JA's on my vertical.  A HUGE difference.

Operators

I continue to be amazed at how patient almost everyone is to dig out calls and make sure that the exchanges are right.  Several stations took the time for me to repeat my call and I heard them doing it for everyone.

There was an ugly side, however.  On Saturday afternoon I was working some stations on the upper part of 20 and a well-known station from the Southwest that has won several SSB contests decided to use brute force to make QSO's.  Maybe this is the way some guys do it at the top, I don't know.  But his actions were reprehensible.  I got the feeling that he sat at his radio thinking, "Let me show these folks how it's done."  Tromping over exchanges and sending his call 5 or 6 times repeatedly while the DX operator tried to get the calls of other stations.  He was relentless and rude.  Of course I won't go over the line and list the callsign of the LID but several stations were rather vocal in their displeasure of his actions.  And, unfortunately, I had the misfortune of running into him 4 or 5 times.

But that was by far and away the exception.  Otherwise, it was a really enjoyable contest for me and has become one of my favorites.  I hope everyone had fun.

FrostFest 2009

This past weekend I drove up to Richmond to attend their hamfest, which they call FrostFest. There was certainly no frost on the ground, as temperatures were easily in the 70's and clear, blue skies prevailed. It wouldn't have mattered if the wx was bad, the real excitement was inside.

This was my second visit to FrostFest, having attended last year's event as well. Judging from the crowd, which was pretty substantial when I arrived, I was surprised to see it thin out pretty quickly by noon time. By early afternoon, one could easily maneuver around without bumping into someone. I think attendance was down a little from last year, but not by much. There were definitely fewer tables occupied, but still some nice items.

Unlike last year, however, I didn't blow a bundle on something that I thought I needed at the time, but didn't. Last time, I walked away with a Yaesu FT-857D. And while that's a very nice radio, perfect for portable use and even as a second rig, I needed it like I needed another hole in the head. I had a bit more restraint this time and only bought some cables, an older IDE hard drive for a junker computer I have, and a few 8-pin mic connectors, and some other odds and ends. Saw some nice equipment, Yaesu had a booth again this year, and Elecraft had a small presence as well. Spoke with those guys a bit and got to see the K3 up close.

All in all, a nice way to spend a weekend.

Hexbeam Update

It's been a little over a month since I've had my multi-band Hexbeam installed. In that short time, I've learned a lot about how the antenna performs and I thought I'd post an update about how things have been going so far.

First of all, despite all of my great intentions, I've yet to raise the mast above the original installation height. Right now the mast is extended to about 20 feet and that puts the antenna itself at around 25 feet. I have the ability to raise the telescopic mast to a full height of approximately 40 feet above the ground, which would put the antenna at about 45 feet or so. However, I'm not real keen on raising it to the full height just yet. Instead I want to raise the mast up to 30 feet, placing the antenna at 35. That will still allow the antenna to clear the roofline of the house and effectively double-up the strength of the highest mast section by leaving the smallest section still within the third piece. Right now it's completely blocked in the eastern direction by the roof, although I don't seem to have any ill-effects contacting stations in that general direction.

SWR readings are as good as advertised. On 20, 17, and 15, I have not seen a reading above 1.5. On 12 and 10, a little higher at 1.7 in spots. Perfectly acceptable to me. I am not using a tuner with this antenna, by the way. By comparison, I MUST use a tuner on my ZeroFive vertical on any band I operate on. However, the tuner never has a problem finding a very good match, generally 1.3-1.4 or lower.

I'm going to backtrack on my initial observations that this antenna is noiser than my vertical (which sort of surprised me at the time). The longer I use it, the more I'm able to tell that the hex is indeed a quiet antenna. One thing that I have done is to tie all of my station grounds together, per Thom's (the manufacturer) recommendation, and also ensure that the hex is well connected to the substantial radial field that I have for the vertical. While I always had my equipment grounded, I had not paid as much attention to this as I should have. Shame on me.

Directivity is obvious and I'm pleased with this aspect. I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but I had failed to properly tighten the mast extension for the antenna to my rotor when I first put it up. Effectively the hex sometimes spun around in high winds and completely got out of 'calibration'. When I thought I was pointed in one direction, I was actually a good bit off. Again, my mistake. Whenever I did spot checks, it must have been total coincidence because it usually appeared to be pointed correctly. It wasn't until a few days later that I noticed that I was about 120 degrees off! No wonder I started to doubt the hex's performance.

And even though it spun around in high winds, the hex presents a really small profile in the wind and now that I've secured it, I notice very little movement, even when the wind is blowing hard. I have no concerns so far.

So, how does it work? Darn good. Compared to a 43 foot vertical it often pulls in stations that I simply cannot hear otherwise or that are way down in the noise. On a particularly poor day recently I could not hear the ladies at VP8 at all on my vertical or my G5RV, yet I could copy them easily (and worked them) on the hex. On 20-10 I have found that there is no comparison, the hex wins hands down in reception. As for transmitting, I'm quite pleased. One thing that's happened is that I've discovered a new means of communicating...SSB. That may sound like a joke, but I rarely could make a QSO on SSB to a distant DX station on 20-10 using the vertical. Now I feel like I have a shot at least. Do I get through on the first call? Not usually. Second, third, fourth? If there's a pileup, not usually. Am I receiving reports that I'm the loudest signal on the band (like you sometimes read on eHam)? Uh, not hardly. But I generally DO get through, if I'm patient and the DX hangs around long enough. And that makes it all worthwhile to me.

I'll keep making notes and hopefully I'll be able to raise it soon. I think that may help more than anything (Thom seemed to think so). In the next few days I hope to make and post some recordings of the differences between the hex and the vertical. For me this has been eye-opening. Lastly, I'll add this...for the past year and a half, give or take, I've played an expensive game of what I'll call 'radio roulette'. I shudder to think how much I've spent (although my wife could tell you to the penny) on 'upgrading' my radios. I'm now getting rid of some of them (finally) like I've been saying I was going to. The point is, each time that I bought a new or different rig, I only made very modest improvements to my station, if any. Sometimes I think I took a step backwards. It was a very expensive lesson. In the end, it's like all knowledgeable hams will tell you, it's not so much the radio, it's the operator and the antenna. I read and heard this adage, and yet I still went bullheaded down the wrong path. So for the next LONG period of time, it's all about the operating, and not the 'stuff'.