Inside the NCCC Sprint Grid (Week 10)

The night belonged to Dayton but stadium Earth belonged to NS Sprint. The Super Bowl of Amateur Radio moves into the post game show meanwhile, the official Northern California Contest Club (NCCC) NS Sprint results hit the net, yesterday. Certainly, given the Super Bowl, some photon powered sprinters opted for Morse code and radio frequency while the event of the year spun up in Ohio.

One operator called time out on the party and keyed from his mobile. Sportsman of the Week goes out to W9WI/m8 who scored 98 from Daaaayton. Outstanding!

The picture developed like this in the East of the Mississippi Division. The -Q maker, N4OGW, posted 1,798 as N4AF scored 1,590 followed by K9BGL who scored 1,377. The buzz this week is in the middle of the photon powered sprint pack. A Rochester DX Association member N2ZN and VA3NR Canada's operator in Ontario posted the first NS Sprint international tie. Both scored 792, respectively. Watch the inside lane as KY4F from Kentucky just missed a personal record.

While we wait for Dan Patrick and the Big Show... The West of Mississippi Division split resistors and boiled capacitors. The great northerner, K7SS tagged 1,456 on the grid board and big signal N5DX followed with 1,288 while W0BH keyed his way to 936. The buzz in this division is NG7Z and W0ETT both making their first run. A stellar welcome for NG7Z (364) and Grand Mesa Contesters of Colorado member W0ETT (252). Meanwhile, VA7ST ran his third straight continuing to provide the British Columbia multiplier for other sprinters. Right on.

The picture within the picture looks like this... the NCCC CA/NV division radiated the home run -Q over the propagation wall. CQ Hall of Famer N6RO captured the number one position on the Grid Series Leader Board scoring 1,860 this week. K6VVA sponsor of the 3,000 point 'X' Prize posted 798 and K6UFO returned after a week off scoring 495.

The standings:

Record Sprint Scores
1. W9RE, East, 2574 2nd consecutive week
2. N4AF, East, 2280 2nd consecutive week
3. N4OGW, East, 2255 5th consecutive week

Grid Series Leader's Week 10
1. N6RO, NCCC CA/NV, 1860
2. N4OGW, East, 1798
3. N4AF, East, 1590

East of the Mississippi Division
1. N4OGW, 1798, 9 of 10
2. N4AF, 1590, 9 of 10
3. K9BGL, 1377, 5 of 10

West of the Mississippi Division
1. K7SS, 1456, 4 of 10
2. N5DX, 1288, 6 of 10
3. W0BH, 936, 10 of 10

NCCC CA/NV
1. N6RO, 1860, 10 of 10
2. K6VVA, 798, 10 of 10
3. K6UFO, 495, 8 of 10

The lights on amateur radio's Super Bowl festivities magnetized many while intrepid sprinters raced the ionospheric track such is the NS Sprint. Welcome to NG7Z and W0ETT as well as a thank you to W9WI/m8 who put Dayton on the grid. A good time enjoyed by all and until week 11, GO NS!

73 from the shack.

Reference:
Northern California Contest Club (n.d.). NS Results Retrieved on June 1, 2006 from http://www.ncccsprint.com/results.htm.

The Journey to DXCC and WAS (2 of 2)

My American Radio Relay League (ARRL) membership application is in as step one toward DXCC and WAS. I look forward to be counted as a member of the ARRL in the very near future.

I reviewed my mission and goal statement which is the first blog posting. One continually strives to improve their operating skills, technical understanding and station design. They are essential ingredients, from my perspective, that put the fun into amateur radio activity. The cornerstone being the radio followed by one's antenna. What is not visible to the neighborhood is the radio. It is the antenna that becomes problematic within the rules and regulations of one's home owner association (HOA).

The purpose of my mission and goal statement is focus. I want the S9 signal but now is not the place for such an endeavor. Project vertical, after further review, given my location for the antenna, operating focus and HOA rules is not practical. The S9 signal is a goal for the future and can wait till then. Simply, I'm operating, working DX and having a good time doing so running 25-watts with a random wire.

My journey to DXCC and WAS is underway and I wanted to share the statistics thus far. Officially, October 2006 counts as my re-entry month and since then KA3DRR worked approximately 199 stations while contesting and casually operating.

QSO's per Band:
160 (1)
80 (6)
40 (66)
30 (4)
20 (91)
17 (1)
15 (30)
Total: 199 QSO's since October 2006

What about WAS? Currently, KA3DRR worked 25 states and confirmed four. My WAS journey is 50% worked and less than 5% confirmed.

What about DXCC? I have worked 29 different countries according to my software program and confirmed five utilizing the services of eQSL. My next step is Log of The World sponsored by the ARRL followed by hard copy QSL cards.

Ninety-nine point nine percent of my QSO's are a direct result of contesting to include DXCC worked (n = 29) and WAS worked (n = 25).

Overall, I'm having a good time operating at the bottom of the cycle using a radio designed for mobile operation and a random wire antenna. Sometimes, I just need to keep my mission and goal statement in mind. One day in the future KA3DRR will go S9 and till then.

73 from the shack.

2007 CQ World Wide WPX CW Results

No typhoon, no tropical storm or hurricane but space weather conditions seemed gloomy and gray. KA3DRR followed the solar flux indice (SFI), A- and K-index days prior to the '07 running of CQ WPX CW. It was like watching the Weather Channel on the 8s that signaled bottom of the cycle operating. If only the A-index dropped, a lot. The SFI indicated zero spots rolling in at sixty-eight. The K-index remained a consistent three just not enough oomph in propagation for 2007.

The motto is practice, practice and practice. The force of the propagation numbers impacted my low-power, low-profile station design and operating. My random wire and 25-watts in a DX contest meant lots of time utilizing the search and pounce (SP) method. Additionally, I programmed the FT100 dual variable frequency oscillator (VFO) function in order to listen between bands like 20- and 15-meters for golden multipliers. However the high A-index and gloomy space weather haunted KA3DRR.

The first two stations in the contest log? Hawaii. There is a clear shot to the Pacific from my QTH. I worked one Hawaiian station on three separate bands; 15, 20, and 40-meters. One can establish fun goals within respective contest for example, 1.) Work stations on multiple bands, and 2). Find stations just above the noise floor and call. The excitement of completing our exchange improved my listening skill and built further operating confidence.

KA3DRR is grateful to those operators who went the extra mile to copy my callsign and serial number. I noted serial number repeats throughout my 24-hours of operating and listening. Space weather created less than ideal conditions for those operating beneath the ionospheric ceiling of stadium Earth. The fade factor perhaps increased sportsmanship. Additionally, KA3DRR pumped up the words per minute (WPM) resulting in unsatisfactory keyer coordination. I need more practice at less WPM before gunning for stratospheric code speed. It was like the clutch missed resulting in sloppy code. Lesson gained.

Notable moments? KA3DRR worked FO/N6JA (20-mtrs), ZM1A (20-mtrs), 6I2MX (40-mtrs), and NT5C (20- and 40-mtrs). Exciting moment goes to AD6E on 20-mtrs mid-Saturday afternoon. Likewise, I enjoyed watching score postings on Live Scores because of the 'read' on band production from the east. Twenty and 40-meters produced the bulk of my -Qs. On the other hand, 15-meters remained in the bullpen never delivering any relief from the bench. Ten meters remains on injured reserve for the time being.

The Results:

Band (Raw QSOs) Valid QSOs (QSO Pts) Pts/Q (Prefixes)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
10 -- -- -- ---- --
15 (3 ) 3 (7) 2.33 (2)
20 (18) 18 (26) 1.44 (16)
40 (12) 12 (23) 1.92 (9)
80 -- -- -- ---- --
160 -- -- -- ---- --
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals 33 33 56 1.70 27

Final Score = 1,512

The bulk of KA3DRR's -Qs clustered around North American stations for this season. However, 15-meters produced -Qs into the Pacific and South America just like the '07 running of the ARRL International DX CW. The -Q tally is substantially down on 15-meters as well.

The conclusion of CQ WPX CW 2007 taught KA3DRR valuable lessons from further code speed practice to the development of an antenna patch next to our condo unit. Likewise, what is my radiosport focus? Is it national events such as the Sweepstakes, North American QSO Party, Northern California Contest Club NS Sprint and California QSO Party, and the National Contest Journal CW sprint or DX contests such as CQ WW or the ARRL Internationals?

My thanks to those who worked KA3DRR's low-power, low-profile station at 25-watts. I enjoyed the '07 running of CQ WPX CW and look forward to better space weather next year.

73 from the shack.