2013 Illinois QSO Party. A Gravel Road Less Traveled. AH6EZ/W9 October 20, 2013

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1 2013 Illinois QSO Party A Gravel Road Less Traveled AH6EZ/W9 October 20, 2013

2 What is the Illinois QSO Party? October contest focused on Illinois One of many state QSO Parties IL QSO Party is a single day 8 hour event Illinois counties contacting anyone else 160m to 2m, except 60,30,17,12m Mostly 20-80m SSB and CW

3 AH6EZ Plan for 2013 Find a 3 corner site Rare, RF quiet, no power lines, space to set up Could not verify land ownership or get permission Had contingencies in case permission was denied Maximize CW operations for maximum points Use newly built Winkeyer integrated with N3FJP Focus on 20, 40, 80m 20m PH > 20m CW > 40m PH > 40m CW > 80m CW Single person setup and knockdown (fun to plan) Maximum transmitter power possible (1KW) NVIS antennas for 40 and 80m (fun to design) Operate all 8 hours, non-stop (no home distractions)

4 193 miles 4.5 hours This site was selected using Google Earth (I reserved it early on the ILQP reflector)

5 Setup issues Did get full permission from passing farmer 90 min setup time almost too short (left home 5:30am) Getting generators away from antennas Not entirely successful, some noise Needed longer power cord (had 50, thought it was 100 ) Getting antennas away from radio Coax cables not long enough Had RFI to Heil headset, had not tested, nothing grounded Glad to have 40m gathering on for audio reports Getting antennas close enough to vehicle 40/80m dipole feed point limiting factor Ventilation without letting in bugs Not entirely successful, yellow jacket buzzed me > QRX! Opened car door to cool down occasionally (45F outside) Did not want the dome light on much (must restart car)

6 Operating Position Rear passenger seat in Saturn SUV Winkeyer Icom IC-706mkIIg about 25 watts with ALC Expert 1K-FA 1KW Amplifier AC power and RF cables running out bottom of front passenger door Labeled F keys Pad of paper out of picture (multi-counties) Typing with only left hand on laptop Hand Mic (Heil headset had RFI problems) CW Paddle tied to arm rest

7 Operational issues Had pileups on all bands and modes, slowed down my rate I was desirable because of being on rare 3 county line Hardest to pick out CW call signs CW filter in IC706 is ok, IF shift useful Everyone transmitting on the same frequency Everyone transmitting at the same time IC706 had finite TX to RX time Many people transmitted immediately after my QRZ Caused truncated first character, QRZ? > same problem Made more errors towards the end of the contest Alternating phone and CW operations helped However most IL counties on 80m CW at the end Logging multiple county QSOs takes time, slows QSO rate IC706 ran cool the whole time at low power Amplifier cool although sometimes saved gas at half power Switched 40m antenna to 80m just at dusk

8 Knockdown issues It was DARK (although nice full moon rise) It was getting cold (~40F) Hard to hold flashlight and work fast I was tired I was hungry Bugs were discovering me I knew I had a 4.5 hour drive ahead of me But I had lots of left over contest adrenalin Quite a mess to sort out after I got home

9 Self support 16 mast (2x20lb bird seed bags) Dead end dirt road 40m/80m drooping dipole 16 mast 2 back guys 20m Inverted V (also guys) 10 miles from pavement Feedpoint 6 off ground Two Honda 2KW Generators 6 gal external tank Backup buddipole Backup IC706 w/atas120

10 18 16 Telescopic Mast 2 Rear Guys NVIS Droopy Dipole Details Hook (Single person setup/knockdown) 3 outer PVC tube Mast inside PVC tube 18 internal metal pipe Two 20lb bags of bird seed Metal pipe flange Plywood platform Lower Antenna, then twist wires together for 40m to 80m transition RG8X Hook Drooping helps NVIS and does not require too much tension on lightweight 24 AWG wire 16 Telescopic Mast 20m Inverted Vee (guys) RG8X

11 40m Droopy Dipole (PH+CW) EZ-NEC Modeling closely matched field results CW PH

12 80m Drooping Dipole for CW EZ-NEC Modeling I was not planning to operate 80m PH Based on previous years few QSOs CW PH

13 Why a low droopy dipole? I did not want to deal with high wire tension for 80m length I reserved 20m for DX and states (separate Inverted Vee) I wanted to use 40m and 80m for IL counties I needed to work miles Ground wave won t work that far Angle of ionospheric reflection very large Needed NVIS (Near Vertical Incidence Skywave) A low dipole will do this Need to manage Maximum Usable Frequency timing Don t switch to 40m too soon, switch to 80m at dusk Contest only lasts until 8pm local time

14

15 80m Droopy Dipole for NVIS Most radiation straight up Little wasted radiation at the horizon

16 80m Droopy Dipole azimuth at 45 deg elevation Close to omnidirectional North South

17 Broadside End of Antenna

18 My Results My three counties were in high demand Have had several last county QSL card requests Licensed hams: Jasper=23, Clark=58, Crawford=74 43% more points than any previous ILQP effort Only my second time as county line portable (last 01) Pileups challenged my CW skills Equipment and antennas all performed well 80m PH RF froze track pad on laptop I was running out of gas but my generators did not I got home safely at 1am

19 Post Contest Editing 08:00:00 Catching up on missed multiple county QSOs

20 Mode 20m 40m 80m Total Phone CW Total of 102 IL Counties 39 of 50 States 3 of 14 Canadian Provinces Operating Sequence 20m PH 20m CW 40m PH 40m CW 80m PH 80m CW 2013 ILQP Summary (32 counties predicted to be activated by roving mobiles)

21 2012 Logs Submitted Clubs 20 Fixed (Home) Stations 79 Rover (multi-site portable) Stations 2 Mobile (In-motion or Stationary) Stations 4 Portable (1,2,3,or 4 County Line) Stations 15 Outside Illinois 88 DX Stations 9 QRP Stations 11

22 What s GOOD about the IL QSO Party Can be a miniature Field Day It is only 8 hours long, concentrated effort You can dabble if you want You can operate from home if you want You as an IL station are desired (notice lots outside IL) Great opportunity to easily work HF Challenge entities Fulfillment of propagation strategy DX vs Stateside vs Illinois FRRL can receive group recognition 20 clubs participated last year 8 members submitted logs this year Jump in next year and enjoy the PARTY October 19, 2014

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