NOTICE (FEB 8, 2012): There is a severe winter storm headed our way that may cause power outages in the area. While the DX cluster node is backed up adequately, if outages last longer than a few hours, I will turn the system offline. Thank you for your understanding.

Call: N1TA
Operator(s): N1TA
Station: N1TA

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: MA
Operating Time (hrs):

Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
——————-
160:
80: 4 3
40: 6 5
20:
15:
10:
——————-
Total: 10 8 Total Score = 80

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Jumped on briefly while working in the shack, about 20min. F5IN was very loud
here on 80 and 40, as was the West Coast. Thanks for the QSOs!

Start Date : 2012-11-30

CallSign Used : N1TA
Operator(s) : KB1FWM, N1TA

Operator Category : MULTI-OP
Band : ALL
Power : HIGH
Mode : CW
Default Exchange : WMA
Gridsquare : FN32PQ

Name : Mike DeChristopher
Country : USA

ARRL Section : WMA
Club/Team : Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Software : N1MM Logger V12.11.1

Band QSOs Pts Sec
1.8 171 345 44
Total 171 345 44

Score : 15,180

Call: N1TA
Operator(s): N1TA
Station: N1TA

Class: SO Mixed HP
QTH: MA
Operating Time (hrs): 12

Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
——————-
CW: 174 40
SSB: 74 25
——————-
Total: 248 65 Total Score = 54,600

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments: Always a fun weekend. Saturday was trying, although a very
loud JA called me in the later half of the morning. Did not manage to
log even a single EU on Saturday. Sunday was much better, and I had good
rate in the afternoon and decent DX. Good to work the regulars,
including back-to-back RM’s (K1RM and W1RM) on Saturday.

73
Mike N1TA

In the above photo, I started with the radio on 80m. The very strong, very clear signal on the left is the noise on 80. At around 0236, I changed down to 160. While the noise did fade on 160, it eventually made itself known again briefly before scattering and disappearing entirely (off screen to the right). After playing with some directional antennas, this seems to be coming from a direction that leads me to believe it is either the power lines, which would be a new noise here, or a known plasma TV problem. The plasma TV will be easier to fix (it is in my living room). I hope I do not have to deal with power line issues here, as this would be the first time in about a decade at this QTH. More to come.

Call: N1TA
Operator(s): N1TA
Station: N1TA

Class: SOAB(A) HP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 15

Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
——————————
160: 10 2 2
80: 22 7 16
40: 148 16 66
20: 149 18 65
15: 141 21 61
10: 41 11 27
——————————
Total: 511 75 237 Total Score = 438,672

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

Family commitments related to the holiday (and by holiday, I don’t mean
CQWW) as well as a lengthy power outage and sickness turned my effort
into a casual one very early. I also had a keyer failure about 11 QSOs
in. I did the next ~500 by wrist with the clunky rig keyer. I had
visions of the DX breaking down my door to shove my hand into a bowling
ball return (apologies to Woody Harrelson). In any case, lots of fun and
good condx. See y’all on 160. -Mike

Class: Multi-Op LP
QTH: WMA
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
Band QSOs
————
160: 0
80: 148
40: 204
20: 105
15: 100
10: 30
————
Total: 587 Sections = 83 Total Score = 97,442

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments:

This is the first year I’ve been free all weekend to operate this one. I
was glad to have Nick K1MAZ, new YCCC member, and it’s a good thing; we
ran into software trouble, the remedy for which on the reflector ended
with “if you don’t know how to do this, find someone who does.” Luckily,
Nick is a computer guru and got things back to normal. We had some
pleasant surprises (like the stoopid 80m vertical working much better
than it should have) and some unpleasant surprises (like 80m literally
turning the keyboard OFF). I also suspect a remote matching network on
some of the lowband wires is in order before the multi-mode contests
coming up — wide frequency changes usually required a quick re-tuning
in the shack.

It would have been nice to have lower antenna options on the high bands,
as we had trouble hearing 3′s and 2′s calling us on 10 and 15, even
late. I thought this would be the case prior to the weekend; it’s a
station flexibility issue that will eventually be addressed. We were
working the west coast on 15 long after nightfall, and that was another
pleasant surprise.

The last two sections for the sweep were MS and WV. I snagged MS thanks
to K2FF, but figured WV was a lost cause. The only stations we heard
from WV were very quiet and absolutely buried beneath late Sunday
pileups. Somehow, we managed to find one on his initial CQ while we were
tuning the band (with the radio knob — that means with no mouse!) and
it was quick work. Everything after that was just for fun.

We decided to enter this one low power, and that was an adjustment, but
we managed a few good runs — especially on 80. That means the amps will
be well-rested for this weekend. Speaking of which, pardon me while I
spin things back around.

73
Mike N1TA

• FT-1000MP MarkV
• Automated switching
• 2 new computers, (2 split monitors each!) – thanks to K1MAZ
• Almost all antennas are new or at least rebuilt

Having said all that, the big issue will be the performance of the antennas. We’ve always used lower -angle antennas, especially on the low bands. Last night (Monday) I was listening to a mobile station in Wyoming talking to a somewhat known DX’er in upstate NY. On the high 10m 3ele, the WY was 20 over and I couldn’t hear the NY. When I switched to other antennas (even antennas for different bands), I could hear him just fine. For the first time, we have to think about an NVIS approach so I’ll be building and hanging low wires this week. In any case, we’ll be loud.

Don’t forget to work WA1J this weekend.

-N1TA