SARL Winter QRP contest 2011

SARL Winter QRP contest 2011

For this leg of the event, I operated as a field station and we set up at the Rynfield dam close to home. SWAMBO - Liz accompanied me and helped me set up my 80/40/20 metre inverted vee. This time I used the 8 M telescopic fibre glass mast and in turn anchored the mast to the vehicle tow hitch. It worked fairly well and I might do the same in the future.

It was a nice clear winters day, but the temprature was only 10 Celcius, so I elected to operate from the inside the vehicle. Not ideal, but certainly more cosy than braving the cold outside.

For the first hour of the contest, I only used the tiny HB-1a and managed to make 11 CW Q’s, not shabby considering the size of the transceiver and the fact that it only puts out 4 watts. The receiver is really sensitive. I did find that it was a bit hard on the ears when QRN was present.

For the remaining 2 hours I used my homebuilt Elecraft K2. It performed flawlessly once again. Managed to make a further 20 SSB Q’s

Conditions were strange. Most contacts were in the region of 700 km to 1300 km. The closer stations  were mostly skip. I could hear a few of them, but they did not hear me. Maybe they need better antennas?   J

Breakdown -  QSOs by division:

Div 1 = 9

Div 2 = 10

Div 3 = 4

Div 4 = 2

Div 5 = 2

Div 6 = 4   (2 of these were very difficult)

I was very pleased to see all the CW activity. With a bit of luck, this trend will continue.