Inside the NCCC Sprint Grid (Week 18)

True grit and Morse code for all operators across North America who participated in the Northern California Contest Club (NCCC) NS Sprint. Eighteen weeks of good natured competition underscores the fastest 30-minutes in radiosport. This weekday, family friendly event is on-going and provides an excellent opportunity to improve one's skill set in a supportive contesting environment.

Stadium earth is quiet now as photon powered sprinters rest weary keyers for a moment.

The overall champions based on High-12 scores are --

NS Sprint Champions
1. W9RE, SMC, 24569
2. N6RO, NCCC CA/NV, 19756
3. K7SS, WWDXC, 19696

Congratulations from the RadioSport Blogsphere to the new NS Sprint Champions! Well done.

K7SS (Western Washington DX Club) known as SS from the West scored 2418 and first place on the Grid Series Leader Board. N4AF (Potomac Valley Radio Club) keyed his way to second scoring 2124 while N4OGW tallied 1908 and third place in week eighteen.

Grid Series Leader's Week 18
1. K7SS, West, 2418
2. N4AF, East, 2124
3. N4OGW, East, 1908

Sprint Records
1. W9RE, East, 2574 10th consecutive week
2. K7SS, West, 2418
3. K7SS, West, 2409 7th consecutive week

The East of the Mississippi Division spectrum analyzer revealed N4AF in first, N4OGW second, and W9RE who scored 1782 for a third place finish. K0XP maintained his perfect 18-consecutive practice sessions, outstanding!

W9RE (Society of Midwest Contesters) reigns as the High-12 champion in the division and overall. N4AF and N9CK ran a photo photon finish in the High-12 tally but, N9CK prevailed against the one who is strong with the electromagnetic force.

East of the Mississippi High-12 Champions
1. W9RE, SMC, 24569
2. N4OGW, 21829
3. N9CK, SMC, 20768

East of the Mississippi Division Week 18
1. N4AF, 2124
2. N4OGW, 1908
3. W9RE, 1782

K7SS who surged in the waning weeks of competition now rules as Best in the West. N3BB (Central Texas DX and Contest Club) who looms larger than a 100-foot tower wins second place in the High-12 competition within the West of the Mississippi Division followed by W0BH in Kansas. BH also maintained a perfect 18. Right on. W5JAW keyed his way to a second place finish in the weekly competition and a big welcome goes out to K5NA from the fans and groupies of NS Sprint.

West of the Mississippi High-12 Champions
1. K7SS, WWDXC, 19696
2. N3BB, CTDXCC, 15585
3. W0BH, 14411

West of the Mississippi Division Week 18
1. K7SS, 2418
2. W5JAW, 1512
3. N5DO, 1176

CQ Hall of Famer N6RO is the High-12 Champion in the NCCC CA/NV division. RO maintained a steady pace throughout the competition while taking second in the overall High-12 Champion category. Meanwhile, the banter between K7NV and K6VVA in the NCCC locker room focused on High-12 second position. NV plucked VVA's home run ball denying the grand slam. Maybe the next one for VVA? In addition, the sponsor of the 3,000 point 'X' prize, kept the streak of 18 consecutive sessions alive and well. Nice work VVA. N6TV is back in action posting 1829 for a first place finish in week 18. W0YK breaks a personal best in the 18th scoring 1426 and third place in the weekly competition.

NCCC CA/NV High-12 Champions
1. N6RO, 19756
2. K7NV, 12967
3. K6VVA, 12307

NCCC CA/NV Week 18
1. N6TV, 1829
2. N6RO, 1566
3. W0YK, 1426

Let's look at the Top Three Clubs in the NS Sprint.

Top Three All-Weeks
1. Northern California Contest Club, 81566
2. Society of Midwest Contesters, 75104
3. Central Texas DX and Contest Club, 55559

The field is ready for more Thursday Night Madness. Until then, GO NS!

Reference:
Northern California Contest Club, (n.d.). NS Results Retrieved on August 3, 2007 from http://www.ncccsprint.com/results.htm.

P.S. It's the fastest 30-minutes in RadioSport!

NCCC Thursday Night Madness (18 of 18)

I've worked on this post for three straight mornings. Writer's block? Radio frequency interfering with this radiosport blogger? Do I need a low-pass filter or what? Anyway. I'm up before the sun and that counts for something, maybe. I have my sturdy coffee cup made from a far and distant land for the final edit.

My zero-point score in week 18 solidified that practice is important and further improvements are needed at KA3DRR Low-power, Low-profile. Points and multipliers will follow but first the fundamentals. It is true for any sport. Practice and fundamentals leads to future success.

I learned about the influence of propagation such as how A- and K-index relate and what to expect when the 'numbers' are high or low. Propagation is important but an efficient antenna system i.e. radiator and feed-line is everything. I've looked over our property and its available antenna space. There are no trees to support center-fed dipoles. In contrast, I have a flag pole holder at 20-feet and a 33-foot fiberglass mast. Perhaps inverted V for the high-bands and a Delta Loop for the low-bands? Stay tuned.

There is a distinctive operational definition between transmatch and tuner. My MFJ949E functions as a tuner because my random wire is directly fed into KA3DRR's shack and the 949E is the feed point. According to DeMaw (1979) when tuning an antenna system i.e. radiator and feeder to resonance which is defined as transmitter matched to feed-line; transmatch is an appropriate definition. Additionally, DeMaw suggested that a transmatch network corrects a mismatched antenna i.e. feed-line and radiator from the point-of-view of transmitter. One will discover in DeMaw's article the dangers of a mismatched feed-line as well.

The next phase of development is an appropriately matched antenna system to transmitter. The goal is 50-ohm vision between the feed-line and my Yaesu FT100. Why? Because a mismatch between feed-line and transmitter denies KA3DRR critical output at low-power, low-profile. Every watt counts in radiosport competition. Overall, I want a transmitter with 50-ohm vision versus a happy operator with 1:1 standing wave ratio through a mismatch.

73 from the shack.

Reference:
DeMaw, D. (1979). Antenna Accessories for the Beginner. QST. pp. 15 - 18.

NS Sprint Newcomer's Division (Week 17)

Paul Bear Bryant said, "There's no subsitute for guts."

Who is more determined than a rookie? The saying goes the proof is in the voltage and it's nothing less than raw rookie voltage in week seventeen. K5NZ a member of the Central Texas DX and Contest Club (CTDXCC) is the number one draft choice coming out of this division. No pine or the minor's farm for NZ'd. It's all Morse code hustle on the ionospheric field. Perhaps an ESPY in the future. His polished operating style scored 1870 for the division leader's board and first place. Let's add NZ'd toppled N6TV's all-time Rookie sprint record as well.

N5DX as a free agent rookie scored 1300 points after several weeks off. It's a second place finish for the DX-man. He is a Morse code machine with a strong sense for propagation. It takes processing power to manage the heat of the pile-up and in the crunch N5DX delivered. The fans in stadium Earth are looking for the DX signature keyer.

K9BGL a member of the Society of Midwest Contesters (SMC) continued impressing the coaches with his stellar talent for Morse code. BGL's proven grid record, 5 first place finishes and a sprint record, may create the first ever -- first round draft choice tie with K5NZ. It's a tough one to call but one more week remains before the telling moment. BGL posted 1200 points and a third place finish.

W7OM fell a little short of a personal best thus far scoring 1160 points. OM positioned as number four in the top five. N9NB a member of CTDXCC staked out a personal best with 1053 and the number five position.

The Standings:

Newcomer's Division Leader's Week 17
1. K5NZ, CTDXCC, 1870
2. N5DX, 1300
3. K9BGL, SMC, 1200
4. W7OM, 1160
5. N9NB, CTDXCC, 1053

Newcomer Sprint Records
1. K5NZ, CTDXCC, 1870
2. N6TV, NCCC, 1682 6th consecutive week
3. K9BGL, SMC, 1568 6th consecutive week

Reference:
Northern California Contest Club (n.d.). NS Results Retrieved on July 31, 2007 from http://www.ncccsprint.com/results.htm.

Sports Quotes (n.d.). Retrieved on July 31, 2007 from http://www.indianchild.com/sports_quotes_quotations.htm.

Inside the NCCC Sprint Grid (Week 17)

Photon powered sprint shoes are near their lifespan as the finish line approaches. Seventeen straight weeks of guts, glory and Morse code competing against the god's of propagation and the hand of Mother Nature. Yet each Thursday evening the intrepid, the bold, and courageous from across North America continue the Northern California Contest Club's NS Sprint tradition.

This week K7SS (Western Washington DX Club) gained momentum and scored top honor as Grid Series Leader (GSL). SS from the West posted 2108 while N4AF (Potomac Valley Radio Club) who remains strong with electromagnetic force tallied 2014 and second on the GSL board. The one who-looms-larger than a 100-foot tower, N3BB (Central Texas DX and Contest Club), keyed 1914 and a third place finish.

Tight races emerged within the East of the Mississippi Division. Mortal CW combat between W9RE (Society of Midwest Contesters) and N4OGW as the -Q maker OGW posted 1792 versus RE's 1767 tally. A classic match-up developed between OGW and RE who tamed the photon during the early weeks of sprint competition. K9BGL and W4NZ spurred on by superconducting dits and dahs raced -Q for -Q (BGL 1200) and (NZ 1288). WW9R posted 150 and AJ1M from West Virginia tallied 180 points. Right on telegraphed to W1UE/VE1 for his second consecutive week as a rare multiplier in the fastest 30-minutes in radiosport. K0XP keeps it 17-consecutive beneath stadium Earth's ionospheric dome.

Sportsman of the week followed W0BH/m in the West of the Mississippi Division. Dedication, spirit, and very cool describe BH who keyed 522 in one for the NCCC NS Sprint. Additionally, BH maintained his string of 17 consecutive as well. K5NZ roared into competition after a week off and posted 1870 finishing third in the wild west division. The best in the west goes to K7SS (WWDXC) in week seventeen. K6UFO goes portable seven scoring 672 from Washington state. UFO is another operator going that extra mile for the NS Sprint tradition. Welcome back goes to KU5B and NO5W both members of CTDXCC.

Keeping tabs on 3830 Score Rumors? K6VVA takes a score scratch this week in a photon to photon race against K7NV. The talk in the locker room heated the capacitors. VVA and NV are locked in a close one for second in the NCCC CA/NV division. However top slot honors goes to NV who tallied 1200 points and first place this week. K6TD keyed his way to third and scored 63 points this evening.

The Standings:

Record Sprint Scores
1. W9RE, East, 2574 9th consecutive week
2. K7SS, West, 2409 6th consecutive week
3. W9RE, East, 2301 7th consecutive week

Grid Series Leader's Week 17
1. K7SS, West, 2108
2. N4AF, East, 2014
3. N3BB, West, 1914

East of the Mississippi Division
1. N4AF, 2014, 14 of 17
2. N4OGW, 1792, 15 of 17
3. W9RE, 1767, 14 of 17

West of the Mississippi Division
1. K7SS, 2108, 10 of 17
2. N3BB, 1914, 9 of 17
3. K5NZ, 1870, 8 of 17

NCCC CA/NV Division
1. K7NV, 1200, 14 of 17
2. K6VVA, 512, 17 of 17
3. K6TD, 63, 12 of 17

All scores to be settled next week. The sneak peek is available on 3830 Score Rumors just click Contesting dot com in the multiplier section. The 18th story of the intrepid, the courageous and the bold awaits the official NCCC score post until then fans and groupies, GO NS!

73 from the shack.

Reference:
Northern California Contest Club (n.d.). NS Results Retrieved on July 30, 2007 from http://www.ncccsprint.com/results.htm.

Off the Random Wire (Week 11)

I'm exhausted in a good-kind-of-exhausted way. This is what happened in and around the KA3DRR shack.

First, my antenna was incorrectly connected to the MFJ949E antenna tuner. There is a good reason why WIRE is capitalized on the back of the tuner. I corrected the counterpoise problem because, no counterpoise existed until this morning. I experimented with various lengths of 1/4 wave wire at tuner ground. I discovered the random wire malfunction after shorting a PL259 connector. My soldering attempt would not pass basic high school electronic examination. Perhaps, my blog is becoming the misadventures of KA3DRR Low-power, Low-profile contesting at 35-watts?

Conversely, this is my learning curve where Mr. Murphy rules the shack more times than not. I visualize Mr. Murphy as the cranky twin brother of W.C. Fields. He's the guy who likes to hurl waded paper at my head behind the teacher's back. I have reached the roof of my understanding and Mr. Murphy is taking advantage of my situation. However, a type of antenna existed at KA3DRR maybe a hybrid between a lightbulb filament and a random wire. It radiated perhaps in the milliwatt range.

Does one see that cranky, twin brother of W.C. Fields smiling in the shadows?

There is room enough for wire antennas with gain within the property of our condo unit. I have north to south in our back yard and east to west in the front of the unit facing the Pacific ocean.
Several excellent ideas followed from the collective experience and wisdom of the Northern California Contest Club email reflector.

I'm researching the following antenna types while looking at our property from different angles. Antenna ideas are 1). Delta Loop, 2). Bi Square, 3). 40-meter dipole fed with a 1/4 wave of 450-ohm ladder line, 4). Par end fed random wire and, 5). G5RV. I googled each and downloaded additional portable document files from the American Radio Relay League. Impedance, reactance, matching transmission line, feed line, balanced to unbalanced (BALUN), and load are new terms being digested. This is back to school and I'm enjoying myself even if it is exhausting.

It's worth the gain.

On the other hand, I uploaded my dot tq8 file to the Logbook of the World (LoTW) after converting my DX Lab Suite DX Keeper log into an exportable adif this weekend and confirmed 50-plus QSLs. I logged a few Flight of the Bumble Bee -Qs on 40-meter CW running 5-watts as well. This accomplishment after getting my random wire and counterpoise properly configured.

What's going on around the blogsphere? NE1RD 100 pound Dxpedition ran a series of excellent how-to LoTW articles. Meanwhile, KE9V's Long Delayed Echoes podcast flashback discussed a 1957 DXpedition to Pago Pago, it's highly informative. Jeff -- thank you for your great podcasting. K9ZW's With Varying Frequency chats about improving reception and receive antennas. One will find an excellent guide to RFI, ferrites, baluns etc. written by Jim Brown, K9YC at K9JY's Ham Radio Blog. K3OQ's Adventures in Radio--he is in the field as a registered Bumble Bee in the Flight of the Bumble Bee's contest. All the best to K3OQ this afternoon and John, W6ZIP/5 in New Mexico.

We went to the Paso Robles State Fair on Saturday evening. I enjoyed corn dogs, corn on the cob, a shredded barbecue pork sandwich, homemade lemonade, and a sugar brick called cinnamon bun with cream cheese. Good time for all.

I'll follow up with a few more articles this week inbetween my studies. My best to everyone and thank you for supporting KA3DRR Low-power, Low-profile amateur radio contesting at 35-watts.

73 from the shack.