Contesting

Things to do

Thanks to everyone who helped setup our stations, operated phone and CW, fed the troops, or just stopped in to support the cause! Over the course of the day, we had around 30 people on-site including visitors. It was great to see several new members operating. Congratulations to Rob KE8QPI and Alex N8QL for their DX contact to Latvia! It is always fun to see our seasoned operators at work. However, Craig W8CR may have been overly seasoned - and cooked! That Camo Ham really needs A/C. We definitely have an ongoing problem with CW interference to our other stations. Field day primarily saw interference from the 40CW station. This time the 80CW station was also causing interference. This gave us more data points on the issue. I remain hopeful that we can narrow down the problem and make significant improvements for future events. Whether we operate multi-station contest events at the ARC, or not, we do need to make sure the radio room can support emergency operations. I hope all other members working OQP in the field (Ed K8MEJ, Tom N4HAI) or from home (Donn K8AOK, Wally W8WLK) had fun as well. Special thanks to Shawn KE8IZX for feeding the troops, to George WD8KNC for his computer networking help, to Dale W8KTQ for training new operators, Craig W8CR and Stan N8BHL for bringing their trailers and gear. - Mike W8MDC The score’s been tallied, the ARC returned to its normal condition, the trailers have been stowed, and recognitions have been given. It’s time for ground truth! Here is the (instantly returned!!) profile from our “EOC Category” submission for the 2021 Ohio QSO Party. General, non-scientific opinion- the bands sucked. Not only did we have light response during the day, I have to think others did also. In fact, the following day, Sunday, the Hurricane Watch Net had an even harder time – sun activity caused HF blackouts all weekend. So we’ll have to see how the scores turn out. We continue, as Dale and Mike reported, to have significant interference from CW stations with each other and with SSB stations. We have band-pass filters on each CW station, and a brand new filter on 40 phone, but the problem persisted. There was much gnashing of teeth and head-knocking as we deliberate over whether anything will fix this. As Mike noted, we need to be able to function in a real emergency as well as contests, so we’ll keep striving for a solution. Maybe foil-wrapping operator’s heads??? Kudo’s to Mike for setting up his DX Commander. Should we start a “go fund me” to replace the AC in Camo ham? I get to investigate a new battery for Canned Ham… the good news there is redundant power supplies allowed continued operation. Specials to George who spent time Sunday returning the computer network to ‘way better than it was. Never mind the issues, it was a really fun time! Just like DELARA to have fun together as a group! Thanks to all! We worked 54 different counties in Ohio (plus numerous states). Hi K8ES thanks for submitting your log with 640 raw QSO's. QSO CW: 444 PH: 196 Mults CW: 88 PH: 66 Score: 166936 CW Mults: CHAM MI DELA IN WV LORA GEAU IL CARR NY WI TN HURO FRAN ON KS CT KY OK TRUM PA MS AL SCIO MO COLU NC MEDI CUYA VA SENE STAR LICK ERIE DARK WASH SUMM FL GA UT MD TX MA AZ QC CO CA NE MN VT PORT MEIG AR PIKE MARI NH SC OR WA FAIR ID WAYN RI HAMI DX NJ JACK BUTL DE ME CLIN PERR PREB LAKE UNIO LOGA GREE IA MONT MT OTTA JEFF BC ASHT WY ALLE WYAN ASHL PH Mults: KS TX MO PA PUTN LOGA MONT LICK SCIO CLIN DELA DEFI SENE FAYE MEDI JEFF PORT SUMM WOOD IN STAR AR GEAU GA KY CUYA TRUM CT IL NC VA NJ AL WV KNOX MN TN WI FL MD NY ON MI MAHO PIKE LORA CLAR HAMI PERR OK HIGH BUTL SC DX VT MADI IA LAWR PREB OTTA MS NB MA DE AZ R