NA-058 AA5JF/4 Jekyll Islandからのレポート

先週はNA-083 N3MKの東海岸からの運用が話題にあがった関係もあり、同じ東海岸からIOTA Contestに参加され、その結果や感想をIOTA-chasers Forum に詳細情報を投稿されました表題のNA-058 AA5JF/4 Jekyll Islandの運用レポートを転載します。

G5RVアンテナでアンプを利用し、Iを発生させたためにいろいろ苦労された話など読みごたえがありました。コンテスト前のFT8の運用も含めJAは全く聞こえなかったようです。私のようなアパマンアンテナ利用にはとても貴重な情報がたくさんありました。

 [IOTA-chasers] AA5JF/4 Jekyll Is (NA-058)

Thanks Gregg for the spot! I was in the middle of a great run, and it was very special to work so many stations sending single digit serial numbers, that late in the contest.

The trip is over and we are back at home in Augusta. A little over 300 QSOs total, with 208 in the contest: less than I'd hoped for. All but 5 or so before the contest were FT8. I've uploaded the contacts to Clublog and LoTW--but I'm going to print a card too, if anyone wishes one: SASE or $1.

We had an excellent location, with a hotel/condo near the beech, and a straight, unobstructed path to Europe. But conditions were not that great, especially on Saturday, and although I was able to hang a G5RV in a perfectly located tree, exciting it knocked out the satellite TV in our unit (and I'm pretty sure all the surrounding units). As a result all I had was the buddipole. I couldn't make the amplifier work, so LP. I did use the G5RV on 40M for a few hours after 11pm local time, and worked at least four new EU islands, which was nice.

I'm afraid I don't have any JAs, VKs, UA9/0s, or ZLs in the log. Worked nothing east of VE7. Sorry! I never decoded a JA on 20m FT8, and although I heard a few of the regular JAs on 30M Saturday before the contest (and one or two on 40M), they didn't hear me. A better antenna would have helped, but even if I had one, I couldn't have put it up at that location; and conditions were marginal, except for late Saturday evening local time on 40M. I didn't get a single European multiplier on 20M, not even EU005. 40M Saturday evening was good, but I missed at least an hour hanging out with the family. Maybe in a year or two things will work better: it's less than a 4 hour drive. Also, I worked K3UT on 20m during the day (St. Simons Isl, also NA058), and he lives there permanently.

In the end this was single-op, and CW only. Phone seemed hopeless during the day, and by the time Sage tried to call CQ on 40M, there was little phone activity on 40M, and no answer. I had thought we'd have at least some success running on 20M phone during the day, but that wasn't to be. Sage enjoyed helping me put the station together though.

My wife reminded me that she prefers mountains over the beach, so this is probably not the beginning of a tradition. Looks like I picked the wrong on-the-air program. :-)

My contesting skills are improving, but still a long ways to go. I realized that I needed way more winkeyer macros than when I'm S&Ping from home.

One other thing that confused me at first was few FT8 spots on PSKreporter. Eventually I realized that the only spots I was getting were from skimmers--even stations that worked me weren't reporting me. I think it was probably related to the inability to send the grid (with the /4 suffix), but if anyone knows a workaround for next time, let me know. It's helpful to have the PSKreporter spots when you first get to a new location.

Thanks for the QSOs! Andrew AA5JF

来年にまた行っていただいてQRVしてほしいですね。XYLさんがポイントでしょう。とても貴重な情報でした。Tnx Andrewさん

【追記】

N3KMはトライパンタービームを使っています。アパマンアンテナでは東海岸が聞こえるのはまだ先のようです。我慢、ガマン。