Showing posts with label contesting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label contesting. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

What Happened in 2017?

I have to say that the past year has been nothing to shout about, at least as far as signals from KL2R have been concerned. Re-cabling in the shack and building a solid SO2R with new hardware from Microham basically came to a screeching halt. Contest opportunities and team members dried up, life basically getting in the way of a hobby.

The results are clear from log statistics from 2017 thanks to Clublog.
It is the lowest QSO count in a decade. The only year lower was 2006. We only formed the Two Rivers Contest Club in the fall of that year! So we go down in 2017 as not a failure but rather a station in transition. The to-do list is substantial, but so is the commitment to get it done in 2018.

Monday, October 26, 2009

CQWW @ KL7RA

N1TX diverted to Kenai on the way home from DC for a bit of radio action.  Great to have a mini-reunion of some of the old Fairbanks crew from KL7RA, plus some new blood added to the team.  And a good time was had by all. Listen to some 40m audio here.

CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB

Call: KL7RA
Operator(s): AL2F AL7IF KA1NCN KL7RA N1TX N5XZ NL7Y
Station: KL7RA

Class: M/M HP
QTH: ALASKA
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
 160:   92     7        6
  80:  341    17       19
  40: 1592    31       71
  20: 3273    35      131
  15: 1525    32       86
  10:   19     7        7
------------------------------
Total: 6872   129      320  Total Score = 7,312,863




 
KL7RA - N1TX - NL7Y - N5XZ - AL2F - KA1NCN - AL7IF
Photos: KA1NCN

Monday, July 13, 2009

W1AW/KL7 for IARU

All I can say is, WOW!

The king of multi-multi contesters in Alaska, Rich Strand KL7RA, proposed last year to operate as W1AW/KL7 in the IARU HF contest. Several stations signed up to activate the headquarters station, and the idea began to germinate.

Stream of consciousness...

Rich pulled a million strings, even up to the last minute, to make the knot that held this thing together. WOW! He is far too modest, but I think we all know without this extraordinary effort, W1AW/KL7 would have been a pipe dream.

The HC8N CW team stacked the decks from Rich's new Kenai station. The 3830 reflector is full of comments regarding how strong the signals were. Some good 10m contacts were in the offing, too. Those guys really know how to light up the ionosphere.

Wigi AL7IF gets a blue ribbon for his technical support getting the VPN and WinTest networking going well in advance so we could have a chance to wring things out. Without it, I have a feeling things could have gone very badly.

Corliss AL1G gets my gold star for sheer staying power and making the Voice of Willow a force to be reckoned with, especially towards the end when new stations were not that easy to find. She did a tremendous job keeping alive the memory of Frank KL7FH SK.

Frank WL7O and Debbie KL7OU at Big Lake kept things running and running and running from there on 40 SSB. Whatever it took. And many thanks to them for pictures/words for my documentation effort.

AL7F Kris' 80m SSB signal from Anchor Point was absolutely amazing. That antenna work has paid off.

The odds and ends I contended with at KL2R to get ready were numerous but all relatively minor. Repairs from Field Day, re-cabling, labeling, running 240 VAC for the amp, etc. I dotted the last i and crossed the final t with just under 3 hours left until the start.

Dan KL1JP started the generator at 1150Z and toughed it out for half the contest until work demands drew him away. Thankfully,Gary NL7Y came to the rescue. Both these guys deserve a round of applause for dogged perseverance in less-than-ideal conditions. But we're used to that sort of tenacity, which is what it takes in Fairbanks to compete when the Kp and aurora go high. Lesser ops would have gone to bed or gone fishing.

The technology -- WinTest in particular -- was rock-solid. IARU gave us a chance to exercise some of the multi-multi tools in the software suite. After this, M2 operation at KL2R will be a piece of cake. Partnering was fun to do. Gab kept us awake and entertained, not to mention proved an invaluable coordnation tool. (I didn't receive one phone call.)

I had a huge sense of relief when I powered off the generator at 1201Z Sunday. I had slept barely 3 hours in the previous 48, and as Gary said, I was slowly bleeding. But I went to Snoozeville feeling a great sense of accomplishment, tremendous pride in everyone's teamwork, and above all, real honor in having been invited to participate in such a special event.