Respectable Showing in ARRL DX

2014 ARRL International DX Contest (Phone)

Displaying entries for Class=MM and Division=Non-US

Entries 1 to 9 of 9 listed

#	Call	Score	QSOs	Mult	Class	DXCC Entity	Continent	Club
1	II9P	7,466,391	7,688	327	MM	I	EU
2	LP1H	6,049,953	7,605	267	MM	LU	SA
3	HG1S	5,431,968	6,354	288	MM	HA	EU
4	JA3YBK	3,454,908	4,568	254	MM	JA	AS
5	C6ANM	3,015,699	3,651	277	MM	C6	NA	Yankee Clipper Contest Club
6	KL2R	1,439,955	2,924	165	MM	KL7	NA
7	JE1ZWT	1,091,196	1,815	204	MM	JA	AS
8	LI5O	581,544	1,195	164	MM	LA1	EU
9	9A5BWW	339,465	1,882	61	MM	9A	EU

Guest op AC0W led the charge with the usual cast of characters at KL2R pushing hard into a respectable #6 place worldwide in the DX listings.  We used a multi-2 configuration.  

Let the Fun Begin Again!

Contest         : CQ World Wide DX Contest

Callsign        : KL2R

Mode            : RTTY

Category        : Multi-2 (M2)

Operators       : N1TX, KL1JP, AL7ID

Band(s)         : All bands (AB)

Class           : High Power (HP)

Zone/State/...  : 01

Locator         : BP64KU

Operating time  : 25h53

 BAND   QSO  CQ DXC DUP S/P  POINTS   AVG 

------------------------------------------

   80     7   3   3   0   5      15  2.14 

   40    76  12  18   2  28     174  2.29 

   20   592  23  63   6  38    1701  2.87 

   15   531  29  72   3  48    1376  2.59 

   10    60  14  16   1  20     143  2.38 

------------------------------------------

TOTAL  1266  81 172  12 139    3409  2.69 

==========================================

         TOTAL SCORE : 1 336 328

This was the first trial run of our full-up M2 configuration.  Although N1TX lost half Friday night troubleshooting a network problem with one of the PCs, and we only had two ops here briefly on Saturday, it was a resounding success. Conditions were phenomenal, and all systems were stable throughout.  Loads of fun.  Welcome to new op John AL7ID!

One Becomes Two

Last November, I wrote about the initial thoughts we had to bring more capability to KL2R as a multi-two station.  After considerable research and planning, the efforts are coming to fruition in time for the spring contest season. 

Station Master

The Microham Station Master serves multiple functions. It ties together the Microkeyer II, bandpass filters, and SixPak antenna switch into a powerful, centrally-controlled system at each position.  The SM is far more than your standard band decoder.  You can build extremely sophisticated logic for switching, timing (to avoid hot switching), and miscellaneous device control.  To get started, you have to define bands and then associate these bands with specific antennas or antenna groups.  You can even build virtual rotators with fixed antennas on a tower, multiple Beverages, or a four-square, for example. 

A nice feature of the band definitions is the ability to limit transmissions to specific frequency ranges.  For instance, in a phone contest you might want to specify only the legal phone sub-bands.  In that way you avoid inadvertently chasing multipliers into the non-US segments.  The Station Master will simply not allow you to transmit there, thereby avoiding a possible OO card or FCC notice.

The two Station Masters control their respective sides of the SixPak 6x2 antenna switch at the tower along with bandpass filter arrays.  Two ports, A and B, with DB-25 connectors provide plenty of outputs for switch control.  Eventually we will add a second SixPak to the entrance to the shack to select antennas not going through the tower switch and thus consolidate all inputs to the radios to two coaxial lines.

The Bandpasser

At one position, the W3NQN bandpass filters are combined with an FM-6 switch from Array Solutions.  The SM selects the appropriate filter by applying +12 VDC to a specific pin on the switch's DB-9 connector.  The assembly is effective, of course, but bulky.  For the second position,  Hamation's AS-419 Bandpasser proved to be just the ticket.  It is a compact, book-sized unit with filters for all the non-WARC HF bands rated for 100 watts at 100% duty cycle.  Control can be asserted manually through front panel buttons, or remotely with a band decoder, in this case a Station Master.