- Joined
- Jun 13, 2018
- Messages
- 869
Did anyone try their hand at the CQ 160-Meter CW contest this weekend ?
I and an old friend did, and what a circus !
Ah, 160 quite a specialty band that attracts a certain type of operator -ones that likes digging signals out of noise and static- and huge antennas - which makes the pool of participants shrinks rapidly. For the two of us, we were talking doing this contest in 'old thyme' CW - no FT8 or computer generated/decoded Morse Code for us
My friend came to visit last week saying she thought it would be a fun thing to try this event. I haven't touch any of my radios in over 2 years; nothing was set up which I tried to explain, plus I had no antenna for 160,- All that didn't deter her.
"Wait a minute, when did you get interested in code ?" I asked (She is an Extra Class, but a no-code Extra.)
"I have been practicing it and I even did some CW on that Straight Key Night thing" she said, "I had a blast- besides you are the old code guru (Advanced Class from the bye-gone days of code exams)... You can handle what I miss- we'll do it together, it will be fun."
But my "those days are long gone and besides, and I don't like code" still didn't work.
"So,-------- what do we do for an antenna ?"
We ended up with a 300 foot long terminated folded dipole, strung from the top of a hill, passing over my house to the roof of a nearby barn. The mammoth kilowatt terminating resistor was provided by my friend, and it was suspended directly over the house-
"That resistor can handle high power ?" I asked
"Of course it can, its rated at thousand watts !. who do take me for?" she said
OK !... All set and ready to go, the antenna tuned fine on low power. Then this terminated dipole was was fed to a Collins Amp- with legal-limit-plus-some power. We were going to kick some A** !
Neither of us could use anything but than a old straight key, and receiving by ear alone would limit our contact - yes, you read that correctly- a single contact- a single slow speed CW contact.
Half way thru this first contact there was a loud snapping noise outside, like rifle shots. Blue streaks of burning somethings rain outside a window, landing in a snow bank with sizzling sounds.
"Wow ! what the hell was That ?"
We hastened outside just in time to see the flaming remains of that terminating resistor separate --and, ---wires and all, fall to the ground.
My friend stammered out "How much power were we running !?"
_______________________________
Post Script:
1. Don't look for our log entry in the contest results.
2. But we should be better prepared for the phone contest come next month.
Lauri
I and an old friend did, and what a circus !
Ah, 160 quite a specialty band that attracts a certain type of operator -ones that likes digging signals out of noise and static- and huge antennas - which makes the pool of participants shrinks rapidly. For the two of us, we were talking doing this contest in 'old thyme' CW - no FT8 or computer generated/decoded Morse Code for us
My friend came to visit last week saying she thought it would be a fun thing to try this event. I haven't touch any of my radios in over 2 years; nothing was set up which I tried to explain, plus I had no antenna for 160,- All that didn't deter her.
"Wait a minute, when did you get interested in code ?" I asked (She is an Extra Class, but a no-code Extra.)
"I have been practicing it and I even did some CW on that Straight Key Night thing" she said, "I had a blast- besides you are the old code guru (Advanced Class from the bye-gone days of code exams)... You can handle what I miss- we'll do it together, it will be fun."
But my "those days are long gone and besides, and I don't like code" still didn't work.
"So,-------- what do we do for an antenna ?"
We ended up with a 300 foot long terminated folded dipole, strung from the top of a hill, passing over my house to the roof of a nearby barn. The mammoth kilowatt terminating resistor was provided by my friend, and it was suspended directly over the house-
"That resistor can handle high power ?" I asked
"Of course it can, its rated at thousand watts !. who do take me for?" she said
OK !... All set and ready to go, the antenna tuned fine on low power. Then this terminated dipole was was fed to a Collins Amp- with legal-limit-plus-some power. We were going to kick some A** !
Neither of us could use anything but than a old straight key, and receiving by ear alone would limit our contact - yes, you read that correctly- a single contact- a single slow speed CW contact.
Half way thru this first contact there was a loud snapping noise outside, like rifle shots. Blue streaks of burning somethings rain outside a window, landing in a snow bank with sizzling sounds.
"Wow ! what the hell was That ?"
We hastened outside just in time to see the flaming remains of that terminating resistor separate --and, ---wires and all, fall to the ground.
My friend stammered out "How much power were we running !?"
_______________________________
Post Script:
1. Don't look for our log entry in the contest results.
2. But we should be better prepared for the phone contest come next month.
Lauri
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