NAQCC Aug 2007 Sprint

SWA Category
Call   QSOs Mbrs Pts  Mul  Sco Bon Final  80-40-20 Antenna
*K3WWP  41   39   80   24 1920  x2  3840  attic rnd wire-attic dipole
K1EV    44   43   87   22 1914  x2  3828  40/80 Dipole @50'
*KD2MX  35   34   69   22 1518  x2  3036  ~600' LOOP @25'
*W2JEK  34   33   67   22 1474  x2  2948  20m gp-40m dpl@25'-80m efhz@25'
*W2SH   31   30   61   20 1220  x2  2440  80m horiz bisquare @75'
KI4GLH  27   26   53   18  954  x2  1908  g5rv-inv vee @??'
W5TVW   29   27   56   15  840  x2  1680  135' dpl @50'
AA4W    34   32   66   20 1320      1320  40M Inv V-80M Perverted V
N4LK    21   21   42   14  588  x2  1176  250' cf wire @25'
AF4LQ   20   20   40   13  520  x2  1040  77' endfed-V @30'
NS9I    23   22   45   14  630 x1.5  945  ?? @??'
K4PBY   19   18   37   17  629 x1.5  944  40M inv vee@35'-20M zepp@35'
K7ZYV   18   18   36   11  396  x2   792  ??' @??'
K8KFJ   17   17   34   11  374  x2   748  40M gnd mtd vert-80M shrt dpl @30'
*AE5BH  16   16   32   11  352  x2   704  inv vee @20'
N3ZL    26   24   50   13  650       650  ??' @??'
AB8FJ   14   14   28   11  308  x2   616  random wire @15'
K4CA    21   20   41   15  615       615  20M dpl@40', 40/80 vert
*K5JHP  17   17   34   16  544       544  20M ex dbl zepp @45'
W3EQ    13   13   26   10  260  x2   520  80m dipole @60'
WI0S    13    9   22   11  242  x2   484  40M delta loop @50'
*WB8LZG 12   12   24   10  240  x2   480  40m dipole- 300' long wire 
*NJ1W   11   11   22    9  198  x2   396  G5RV @35'
*KL7V   11   11   22    9  198  x2   396  20M dipole @20'
VE3HUR   9    9   18    9  162  x2   324  dipole on 40, endfed on 80
KB5JO   10    9   19    8  152  x2   304  88' cf zepp @20'
KA2KGP  10   10   22    6  132  x2   264  5b gnd mtd vert
NO2D     9    7   16    8  128  x2   256  dpl @34'
W7JWA    9    8   17    7  119  x2   238  20M Dipole @55'
W9CC     8    8   16    7  112  x2   224  Fan InvV's for 160,80,40 @35'
K4NVJ    8    8   16    7  112  x2   224  88' dpl @35'
NG0K     7    7   14    7   98  x2   196  gnd mtd vert
WA1ZCQ  12   10   22    8  176       176  190' 3/4 square @60'
KS4L     7    6   13    6   78  x2   156  88' Inverted Vee @45'
W5RCP    6    6   12    6   72  x2   144  inv vee @30'
N2YHQ    8    7   15    8  120       120  ?? @??'
AB4QL    7    7   14    6   84        84  80M loop @25'
AA9WP    5    5   10    4   40  x2    80  Indoor dipole 35 feet
WU7F     4    4    8    4   32  x2    64  66' G5RV @??'
WA3RML   5    5   10    4   40 x1.5   60  40M inv vee @25'
VA3RJ    5    5   10    3   30  x2    60  20m whip on apt balcony@45'
WA9NPS   6    6   12    4   48        48  Dipole(tuned) @??'
KC9EHQ   4    4    8    3   24        24  G5RV Jr. @22'
WY3H     2    2    4    2    8  x2    16  ~50' rnd wire @17'

GAIN ANTENNA Category
Call   QSOs Mbrs Pts  Mul  Sco Bon Final  80-40-20 Antenna
K4BAI   46   44   90   23 2070  x2  4140  TH6DXX,40m dpl@40'-80M iv@35'
N4PJ    35   33   68   24 1632      1632  4el beam@65'-rotary dpl@65'
VA3RKM  22   22   44   12  528  x2  1056  20 vert w/reflector-40 vert-80 dpl
*NT9K   15   14   29   14  406  x2   812  MA5B @40',Inv V @40'
*K5GQ   12   10   22    8  176       176  tribander @40'
NU7T     8    7   15    5   75  x2   150  4 el 5 band uagi @30'

NOTE: Due to the increased number of logs and other reasons,
I am no longer sending a list of log corrections to each participant.
However you may email me and request such a list if you wish, and
I will be glad to oblige. - K3WWP

* - Special Award (working an A,K,N, & W station) entrant

AWARD WINNERS:
1st SWA: K3WWP
2nd SWA: N/A
1st Gain: K4BAI
Top score from a previous non-winner: KI4GLH 
Special Award (high scorer who worked an A,K,N, & W station): K3WWP
CW Books on CD (donated by K7QO): K1EV

The following appeared 5 or more times in submitted logs, but
did not submit a log themselves for whatever reason:

KA8MPT - 24
KB3AAG - 18
VE3KQN - 12
N5KIP - 11
W2IX - 10
N8ELR - 9
WB9FMC - 7
N9JXY - 7
VE3DJX - 7
N8RN - 6
KH6G - 6
N4FI - 6
W9UQB - 5
AK5D - 5

We hope these folks will continue to participate AND
submit their logs in the future.

SOAPBOX:
K3WWP - Gee it's great to be wrong once in a while. HI. When this sprint started, the bands sounded horrible, and I figured this was going to be one of those sprints where I struggle to get 20 QSO's. But after a few minutes I started working southern stations on 40M (20M was dead), and then 40 just kind of opened up everywhere and I think I worked my record number of multipliers in a sprint with a total of 24. 41 QSO's may be a record for me also. I haven't checked yet as the sprint just ended a couple minutes ago. Participation seemed top notch tonight with a nice mix of regulars and some new fists as well. I don't think I'll get my 'fivepeat' though. I think my winning streak is over at 4. But we'll see. It would be nice to be wrong yet again. HI.

W5RCP - It was a bit noisy here at my QTH in Houston tonight, but I managed to get through to a few people. Was happy to work Scott #1876 the newest member of HQRP... Houston QRP club. See ya'll next month.

AA9WP - Pleasure to start the contest with a QSO with K3WWP. Weird conditons however and stayed on 40m all evening. Heard everyone during the first hour, with a lot of noise, but they did could not hear me until the second hour. Even then a strong signal could suddenly fade away. All in all a very good time with elecraft K-1

KD2MX - I had a good feeling about tonight and it turned out to be a personal best. Hope everybody had half as good a time as I did tonight. Conditions weren't great but there was lots of activity and the bands were good enough to work all corners of the country. I started out with the KX1 but local noise conditions were terrible and I had to go to the FT897 to take advantage of the noise blanker. Nice to hear many new calls and a couple that I haven't heard in awhile, especially NU7T. Thanks to all for participating.

NS9I - Storms moving thru, lots of qrn on 40, terrible on 80. Had fun with the ol' bug. Tnx to all for the contacts!

AE5BH - Had a great time tonight. A definate improvement over my first 2 NAQCC Sprints. 20M had lots of signals, but were faint and QSB made it hard to copy so went to 40. 40 Wasn't much better for the first 30 minutes as I had zero Q's in the first 25 minutes. My Q rate steadily picked up as folks started coming down to 40. It was nice to get another state (NE - Thanks to NG0K!) during the contest. One of the best Q's of the night came before the contest when Steve NU7T and I met up 10 minutes beforehand up on 20m. We were both pretty faint and QSB, but we were able to exhange NRs and RPT and 73s to get each other in our logs. That makes 2 new states! It was also fun working Mbr #1999 N4PJ - Welcome to NAQCC!!! And of course it wouldn't be a QRP sprint if I didn't have good ol' John, K4BAI in my log! CU in the next one!

NU7T - I used my bright red "Know Code" straight key from Vibroplex for the first time. Steve

VE3HUR - S9+10 noise on all bands made it tough to work stations. Conditions improved towards the end.

N4PJ - Just joined NAQCC the afternoon prior to the contest. Made a lot of new friends and rediscovered some old ones. Lots more challenge running 5W. Had fun despite the relatively poor conditions.

NT9K - Great fun in the sprint. My first Hawaii qrp contact ever. I heard some very good fists too. 20 meters was great at the start here in FL. Worked 20 with my Cushcraft MA5B mini beam, worked the 2nd hour on 40 with my inv vee. 72 Bill

AA4W - Well, I finally got an antenna up for 80 and only made 2 contacts. But it's still summer. Just wait until this winter. It was good to run into some of the guys that I send newsletter notifications to and as always it's great hearing the officers participating.

K1EV - Heard quite a few stations on 20m but could snag only a few, so I guess I'm going to have to break down and put up a real 20m antenna. Went down to 40 and found a lot of action there. It was very lively with lots of sprinters among the QRM. Eighty was noisy here, but provided a few more contacts. Another fun sprint; thanks to all for the contacts. Looks like I needed just one more QSO to get past John - maybe if I move my antenna indoors like his! Great job John - just how big and tall is that house anyway? Rig was a K2 at 5w and 40/80 dipole at 50 feet. 73, Bill

WB8LZG - Great contest tonight! As luck would have it 20m was just closing down here at the start of the test, so 40 was the band tonight. Lot's of noise, but lots of sigs too. Seemed to get better as the contest went on,but I only got to play fer abt an hour so didn't get to take full advantage of this. Got to work the A,K,N,W, stns so that was added fun to the mix.AGN this evening it seemed like the southern stations were really booming in. 599's from the southland. See u all next month, 73 Gregg

K4PBY - 20 mtrs had good long propagation here in Central Florida. 40 mtrs was very QRN. Recently did some ant work to help with problem areas and it appears to have helped. Enjoyed operating the sprint.

VA3RKM - K2. Great to have so many QRPers in so little spectrum space. Very efficient! And good condx on all 3 bands. Lost N4FI and K4BAI in the noise and QRM. The new Bencher straight key works well.

W7JWA - Way back when I was a teenager my right hand and a J38 Key made music of morse code.Oh how times and bodies have changed. I apologize to any or all that had trouble with my fist. It will improve and rapidly I hope.It sure was fun. Thanks

K5JHP - My first sprint, but it won't be the last.....really fun.. Used a K2 with the battery option....had a geneal power fialure and lost the AC but the K2 continued on it's battery. Nice option. Got out my LCD flashlite to log. Heard many "hand keys" last evening and it reminded me of WWII airborn ops sending position reports, really brought back memories.....

KL7V - Great fun with meager antenna. Band conditions about the same as they have been recently.

KC9EHQ - This was my first ever QRP sprint! I am relatively new to QRP. I have tried it a couple times over the last two years, but to no degree of success. I had a blast last night, and I was delighted to hear how well QRP does. Some stations were 559/599, others were very faint, but I could hear them! Now all I need to do is keep working on my code speed... I was using my Elecraft K1-4 (built myself) and a G5RV Jr. up about 22' in the back yard. I'm already looking forward to next time and making more than 4 contacts. 73 --David

W9CC - 40 meters seemed in fair shape.

W5TVW - 20 meters was active for a little while before band went flat here. QSYed to 40 and got many QSO's fairly rapidly. Conditions seemed good. This played out at about 0145 here so changed RF boards in K1 and went to 80 meters. Although band was somewhat noisy, managed four contacts. Heard others below the noise, but unable to copy good enough to make a valid QSO. Had a lot of fun and wore out my arm! Rather than exchanging signal reports, how about names instead of RST? Several people called me by name, but my memory is getting rusty! Was logging by hand. 72, Sandy

K4CA - Very much QRN and QSB but enjoyed it.

AF4LQ - As always, the sprint was a lot of fun. Worked 40m only and the band was in fair shape here in KY with most signals on par as usual, though towards the S-SE it seemd a bit less favorable. Lost a couple of stations to very quick QSB in those directions. Thanks for the Q's and for the ones I missed, thanks for trying. Rig was a K2 @5w, endfed inv-V, Speed-X straight key, operated about 70 minutes. C'yall next time, GB.

KA2KGP - The bands have been better, but still had fun anyway. Had to chase a few thru the mud to hook up. QRN nade it tough here in WNY.

KS4L - Fun! First time I've had my J-38 out in a LONG time! Can't wait for conditions to be better though. 73, Randy

WI0S - This was fun, to bad I bumped the vfo and was up higher than the recommended 40 meter freq.!! Didn't have the freq counter on for a bit and had a noticeable dry spell. HW8 worked great running off of the battery. Will do better in September. 72 de Kieth

NO2D - Perhaps I should have moved to 40 meters instead of sticking with 20 the whole contest. But, I was rewarded when, about an hour later, I worked VK4TT with 5 watts to my dipole. From the East Coast to Hawaii to Australia in one night was most rewarding. Enjoyed the contest. Look forward to the next one. Pete

KB5JO - USED MY OLD ARGONAUT 509 WITH A J-38, 2 WATTS TO 88' ZEPP. HEARD KH6G 599, BUT HE COULDN�?TT HEAR ME. BIG DISAPPOINTMENT, WOULD HAVE BEEN FIRST KH6 THIS CYCLE. I�?TLL TRY AGAIN NEXT SPRINT.

K5GQ - Tried auto log but it crashed when I hit submit; not sure if it was accepted or lost. "Started 30 minutes late; stations were in the noise and difficult to unreadable. Did not try 40M

WA3RML - Ten Tec Argonaut V, 1968 Vibroplex Original Std bug (used a Vibroplex straight key for 2 QSOs), 40M dipole. Didn't get started until late and could only work 30 minutes. Stayed off of 20M because a neighbor, KK5NA, was operating there and didn't want to interfere. Seemed like poor band conditions at my QTH. Still enjoyed it - next time I'll try to start on time and run for the whole contest.

W2SH - Started on 20m with nine QSOs, all to the south. On 40m my antenna radiates at a low angle, so I just shorted the feeders at the shack and operated it as a top-loaded, slanted wire. That band was satisfactory until KA8MPT opened up with his usual bone-crushing signal, which pretty much collapsed the receiver in my old TenTec Scout. I fled to 80m for the final 20 minutes and was surprised to find the band fairly quiet with no QSB. With the antenna restored to its cloud-warming bisquare configuration, nine QSOs were netted. Overall activity level seemed very good, and of the 2,000 listed members, I was cheered to work three of the latest four.

NG0K - Fun sprint tonight! Lots of static crashes and noise on the band made it a real challenge. 73, de Doug.

W2JEK - eked out 2 qso on 20 and then went to 40 for most of the night and got on 80 for 15 minutes and got 2 mults there. a great contest and i had the full two hours this time. most times i just get on at the end.

AB8FJ - Very enjoyable sprint especially on 40 meters.

WA1ZCQ/1 - Rig: IC-703 @ 5W Ant: 190' wire in 3/4 square configuration top @ 60' Whiterook iambic paddle Operated 'portable 1' from Harvard MA

See General Sprint Rules for rules common to every NAQCC sprint.

RULES specific to this month's sprint:

Date and time:
Wednesday Aug 15, 0030-0230 UTC
(Remember that's Tuesday evening here in the USA)

Special Award:
The purpose of having a special award is to perhaps award a certificate to someone who knows they can't win one of the regular 1st/2nd/TNW certificates, but would still like one of our beautiful NAQCC certificates to display in the shack. Our special award this month goes to the one with the highest score who has in his log a station starting with A,K,N, and W.

Prize:
Continuing this month we are giving away a set of CD's to one participant according to the following rules:

1. The participant meeting the requirements below and posting the highest score will be the winner of a set of CD's in the following months: July, August, September, October, November, January, February, March, April, and May.
A. Requirements: The participant must be a NAQCC member and can not have won a CD set previously. Previous winners are:
K4BAI (Jul 07),
B. If the highest scorer does not meet the requirements, then the CD set winner will be the next highest scorer who does meet the requirements.

2. Twice a year - in the December and June sprints, the winner will be a participant drawn at random who meets the requirements in 1A and who makes at least 5 QSO's in the sprint.

3. Club Officers (WY3H (ex-KB3LFC), K3WWP, W2LJ, K5DUZ, KD2MX) are not eligible.

The set of CD's features K7QO, Chuck Adams' code course designed to increase code speed - in Chuck's words:

"At the present time I have a set of CDs that I call Books in Morse on CD. Each CD (there are 8 at the present time) is a classic book in Morse that gives an individual a complete book to listen to for practice receiving plain text. This gives one much more practice receiving plain text for times from 24 hours to 3 days depending upon the text and speeds chosen. Titles include Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz at 10-17WPM, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland at 17WPM, The Time Machine at 20-25WPM, The War of the Worlds at 20-26WPM and 30-36WPM for the two different CDs, Desert Gold at 20-25WPM, and others that you can find at http://www.k7qo.net/
Each month I will give a complete set of the CDs including my code course to the winner chosen by NAQCC determined by the given criteria setup by the contest group. Value of the set nearly $80. The books were created to replace the old practice of copying plain text from news sources at HF frequencies in the 50s and 60s before such transmissions were replaced by modern digital means for ships at sea."

I'm sure you all know of Chuck and his work in promoting CW/QRP. Chuck has generously donated the CD's for this prize. We hope that all our CD winners and non-winners as well will thank Chuck for his generosity.

In case of a tie, the winner will be determined by the following tiebreakers:
1. Most QSO's
2. Most 40 meter QSO's
3. Most 20 meter QSO's
4. Most 80 meter QSO's
4. A coin flip

Entry Deadline:
All entries must be RECEIVED before 2400Z on Aug 21, 2007. So submit as soon as possible, especially regular mail entries.

Try our new on-line autologger.