K1RA @ K8GP Fall 2m Sprint 2013

Here’s my follow-up report on my activity in this past Southeastern VHF Society sponsored Fall 2m Sprint.  Thanks to Terry W8ZN, I had the opportunity to operate the K8GP contest station during this 4 hour event.  The Grid Pirates had just come off an ARRL Sept VHF contest and we had stripped most all the contest equipment from the buses. Fortunately, Terry was up performing some testing afterwards and left one Elecraft K3 and a computer and of course the 2m amp ‘moose’ in place.  The station had performed quite well at the beginning of the month where I had a good time sharing the band and working some good DX with Terry and my dad (Rich K1HTV).

I have never had the time to operate a Sprint, but Sunday night and Monday I was looking at the projected surface forecast maps for the upcoming evening and I thought this could be an exceptional night to operate from the hill (FM19bb @ 1800′). I was watching the weather maps and the real-time 2m APRS tropo feed and signs seemed to indicate a possibility of enhanced conditions.  I noted these maps looked similar to Sunday mornings maps during the ARRL Sept. VHF contest where again we had some good tropospheric enhancement on 144 MHz and above to the west and southwest.   This eve we were right on the edge of a high pressure area. There was a low pressure front squeezing the high from the west and another front that had just passed off the east coast. If we didn’t get into the opening, the folks to the southwest and northwest were sure going to have a good time. Below is a Hepburn tropospheric prediction map, as well as some animated maps I created from GOES IR satellite, NOAA surface weather maps and the 2m APRS live tropo feed. All show tell tale signs of ‘magic’ conditions. Click the bottom 3 maps to view the animation.

Tropospheric prediction for evening of Fall 2m Sprint 2013

Tropospheric prediction for evening of Fall 2m Sprint 2013

GOES IR satellite map animation loop for Fall 2m Sprint 2013 (2000z-0600z)

GOES IR satellite map animation loop for Fall 2m Sprint 2013 (2000z-0600z)

USA surface weather map animation loop for Fall 2m Sprint 2013 (1500z-1200z)

USA surface weather map animation loop for Fall 2m Sprint 2013 (1500z-1200z)

2m APRS Live Tropo feed animation loop for Fall 2m Sprint 2013 (2300-0300z)

2m APRS Live Tropo feed animation loop for Fall 2m Sprint 2013 (2300-0300z)

Just before I left work to head to the hill I saw a post from W9RM EN52 “WA1ZMS/B FM07 LOUD” and I knew this was going to be a fun night.  

I got to the hill around 6pm, flipped on the 2m amp and transverter in the white bus and moved over to the red bus. There I had to move an old Dell GX280 computer and monitor into the 2m position, down from where Terry had it setup testing the microwave station earlier. I powered up the K3 and antenna switching system and tuned down to listen to the WA1ZMS beacon and RX seemed to be working. I met Terry on the air at 630p and he helped me test transmit and audio settings. Fortunately the old computer had N1MM Logger so I quickly configured that and made a few audio recordings and tested CW keying. All was a go. I was happy to see that the PC also had TotalRecorder on it, so I set it up to record MP3 audio in one minute chunks. Hopefully I would catch some QSOs I could playback later. Back to the band and I hear and work K7BV/4 in FM04, which is promising and just before 7p I ran across Dave K1WHS FN43, said hello and good luck and the sprint was on. I tuned around the band and worked Dave K1WHS, Dave K1RZ and Jeff K1TEO and then settled in on 144.215 to call CQ.

After contacting several FN2x and FN3x stations I began hearing and logging stations out to the south and mid-west. The first DX in the log out that way was K4YA in EM86, followed by N9TZL in EM78 then N9RXM in EN41 and the band never quit after that. It seemed I had little time to watch the various internet resources to schedule QSOs, though I did keep an occasional eye on ON4KST page to see who was spotting who. My first hour was a 62 hour, just about 1 QSO per minute and grabbed 31 grids. The next hour was just about 2/3 that rate but like the first hour QSOs from all directions, NE, N, NW, W, SW

Below are my grid maps for my log for the evening. One plots actual station markers for each QSO and the other is a shades grids map showing number of QSOs per grid. You can click in either the small map or click the View Larger Map and then click on a grid or marker to show more info about the grid numbers and call signs I contacted.

View Larger Map

View Larger Map

Check out my Google Maps and Cabrillo Log page if you would like to plot a map of your log similar to above.

The last few stations in the log were W9ZIH EN51, KB5MR EM25, K9MRI EN70 and WM8I EN80. Right at 0300z I heard a W0??I but couldn’t complete. On the drive down the hill and talking with my dad via the K8GP repeater system he said he saw several chat posts from stations out west who were hearing me. He mentioned it was W0WOI in EN22 Iowa who called in at the end. He also noted N0IRS in EM29 MO as well. Alas, that would have been 2 more new grids to add to my total. No complaints here though, it was a great time. Thanks to SVHFS and the propagation gods 🙂

Some best DX stats for the night with QSOs > 650 miles:

WB9TFH, W9NHE, AC9BJ/R – EN53 @ 654 mi
KI4ROF, KI4ROX, N4LI – EM55 @ 660 mi
N4ION – EM62 @ 685 mi
NG9R – EN40 @ 704 mi
N9RXM, K9AKS, W9UD – EN41 @ 712 mi
W2AGR – EM47 @ 721 mi
KA9FOX – EN42 @ 747 mi
KA0RYT – EN35 @ 933 mi
W5VTM, K5SW, KB5MR – EM25 @ 973 mi

Final score 163 QSOs and 67 grids = 10,921 points.

Grid totals break down are as follows:

FN43(1), FN42(1), FN32(1), FN31(5), FN30(4), FN25(2), FN22(1), FN21(3), FN20(12), FN15(1), FN14(1), FN13(6), FN12(4), FN10(5), FN04(2), FN03(3), FN02(1), FN00(1), FM29(5), FM19(8), FM18(9), FM17(5), FM09(1), FM07(2), FM06(1), FM04(1), EN93(3), EN92(1), EN91(5), EN90(4), EN81(3), EN80(4), EN71(2), EN70(2), EN62(1), EN53(3), EN52(6), EN51(1), EN43(1), EN41(3), EN40(1), EN35(1), EM98(1), EM96(1), EM95(3), EM94(1), EM93(1), EM92(1), EM89(2), EM86(1), EM84(3), EM79(1), EM78(2), EM77(1), EM76(1), EM75(1), EM74(3), EM73(1), EM69(1), EM66(1), EM65(1), EM62(1), EM58(2), EM57(1), EM55(3), EM47(1), EM25(3)

Last but not least an attempt to share what I heard during the event. I used TotalRecorder to record the Line-out of the K3 and break the audio into one minute chunks. I wrote a few scripts to parse my log and create a link to the time stamped MP3 files. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to perfect the quality of the audio, so it sounds a bit distorted and there is a slight hum, but you can still copy most of what I heard. If it doesn’t work for you – sorry. This is all experimental.

Click a call in my log below to play a QSO. It will start ~1 minute prior to QSO time and play in a streaming audio player above the log for a minute or two after. Once the player says “Buffering…” play is over. Try clicking another call. You can also try to play the entire 4 hours by clicking here. This starts a bit before the sprint. The player’s forward and reverse, play and pause buttons should all work and allow you to jump around the audio clips.




TIME CALL
GRID MILES 

2300 K1WHS 
FN43 467 

2301 K1RZ 
FM19 53 

2303 N2GHR 
FN30 274 

2304 K1TEO 
FN31 304 

2305 N3IBX 
FN20 179 

2305 WA3SRU 
FN20 179 

2306 WM3M 
FM19 53 

2306 AK3E 
FM19 53 

2307 K4YA 
EM86 333 

2307 N9TZL 
EM78 387 

2307 K1HTV 
FM18 60 

2308 K3CB 
FM18 60 

2308 KB1JEY 
FN20 179 

2309 K3EOD 
FM29 154 

2311 N9RXM 
EN41 712 

2313 W2KV 
FN20 179 

2313 K8GDT 
EN91 235 

2313 W3AJJ 
FN10 107 

2315 WB2JAY 
FN30 274 

2316 N2SLN 
FN12 239 

2316 W8ZN 
FM18 60 

2317 K4MEP 
FM18 60 

2317 N3GGT 
FN21 223 

2319 N3ITT 
FN20 179 

2319 W3MTP 
FN21 223 

2320 N3NWJ 
EN90 194 

2322 KA2DRR 
FN30 274 

2323 K1TR 
FN42 427 

2323 KC8QDQ 
EM89 277 

2325 WD8CHR 
EN90 194 

2327 W3RFC 
FM19 53 

2328 VE3CRU 
FN04 378 

2330 W9KXI 
FN12 239 

2331 W3CMP 
FN10 107 

2332 K2PQI 
FM09 68 

2332 AC3L 
FN00 115 

2333 K1IIG 
FN31 304 

2333 KA2LIM 
FN12 239 

2334 W9EWZ 
EN52 629 

2334 N8NYE 
EN91 235 

2334 KC8YJB 
EN91 235 

2337 K1DS 
FN20 179 

2339 K3TUF 
FN10 107 

2340 W0RSJ 
FN20 179 

2341 NT4RT 
EM94 361 

2343 W2QEG 
FN20 179 

2344 KC2WLR 
FN32 345 

2345 W4DEX 
EM95 302 

2347 WB8ART 
EM79 384 

2348 N8BJQ 
EN80 291 

2348 AJ8P 
EN90 194 

2349 W8SOL 
EN71 412 

2350 K9ZF 
EM78 387 

2350 WA4PGI 
FM07 126 

2351 KD4AA 
FM17 118 

2356 W3HMS 
FN10 107 

2356 KB3WYR 
FM18 60 

2358 N1GC 
EM95 302 

2359 W2BVH 
FN20 179 

2359 K1PXE 
FN31 304 

2359 KE3GG 
FM18 60 

0000 WA2ONK 
FN20 179 

0000 WB2RVX 
FM29 154 

0001 N2YB 
FN12 239 

0002 K7BV 
FM04 322 

0002 W2UAD 
FN13 308 

0003 VE3ZV 
EN92 288 

0003 W9EWZ 
EN52 629 

0006 K8GW 
EN91 235 

0007 W9RM 
EN52 629 

0007 N8KXG 
EN91 235 

0009 AC8HU 
EN81 319 

0009 KC9CLM 
EN52 629 

0010 K9AKS 
EN41 712 

0012 KJ4CVY 
EM93 423 

0014 KA3HED 
FM29 154 

0015 W3IP 
FM19 53 

0016 VA3MW 
FN03 310 

0019 VA3WV 
EN93 346 

0020 AB4AB 
FM18 60 

0020 W8CMK 
FM19 53 

0021 VA3VEC 
FN14 376 

0023 WA2VNV 
FN30 274 

0025 WB9TFH 
EN53 654 

0026 K1DQV 
FM19 53 

0028 KT8O 
EN71 412 

0028 W3GAC 
FM18 60 

0029 N9IYV 
EN52 629 

0031 W9NHE 
EN53 654 

0031 W9UD 
EN41 712 

0033 W4LES 
EM84 426 

0034 N4RZP 
FM17 118 

0034 K9JK 
EN62 533 

0036 WB8AUK 
EN80 291 

0037 N3KKU 
FN20 179 

0038 W9SR 
EN70 392 

0039 KB3TNZ 
FN10 107 

0043 VE3YCU 
FN02 243 

0045 VA3NRN 
FN25 466 

0047 VE3KKL 
FN25 466 

0050 KC1WJ 
FN31 304 

0052 W2CNS 
FN13 308 

0055 AC9BJ 
EN53 654 

0059 K8TQK 
EM89 277 

0100 KI4ROF 
EM55 660 

0101 WA4REE 
EM65 560 

0102 WA8WV 
EM98 175 

0103 WA4DRM 
EM77 403 

0104 W4TMW 
EM84 426 

0109 W1WXS 
EM92 487 

0112 AD4HG 
FM07 126 

0112 W4IMD 
EM84 426 

0115 W2AGR 
EM47 721 

0119 WB2BYP 
FN13 308 

0120 W2CNS 
FN13 308 

0120 VA3KA 
FN15 445 

0122 KC2SFU 
FN22 278 

0123 WZ1V 
FN31 304 

0123 VE3MLM 
FN04 378 

0124 KA2EKI 
FN13 308 

0124 KC2PCD 
FN13 308 

0128 AA9D 
EN52 629 

0128 N8QAZ 
EN80 291 

0130 KA0RYT 
EN35 890 

0131 KA9FOX 
EN43 747 

0134 KD8NYO 
EN81 319 

0138 VE3CRU 
FN03 310 

0141 WA3GFZ 
FM29 154 

0142 WA3NUF 
FN20 179 

0143 KD4WKQ 
FM17 118 

0144 K4HZ 
EM96 248 

0146 KD4WKP 
FM17 118 

0148 KG4KWW 
FM17 118 

0153 K4CSO 
EM74 506 

0154 N4HN 
EM95 302 

0154 K1KC 
EM73 554 

0155 WO4DX 
EM74 506 

0157 NG9R 
EN40 704 

0159 WA3RGQ 
FM19 53 

0159 WA3TTS 
EN90 194 

0202 VE3XTM 
EN93 346 

0206 VE3KCY 
EN93 346 

0207 VE3KU 
FN03 310 

0211 KS1G 
FM18 60 

0215 W5VTM 
EM25 973 

0217 K4CKS 
EM74 506 

0219 WA2FGK 
FN21 223 

0220 N9NJY 
EM58 602 

0221 N4ION 
EM62 685 

0221 K5SW 
EM25 973 

0223 N4PPG 
EM76 429 

0224 KJ4MCZ 
FM06 189 

0225 W2SJ 
FM29 154 

0227 KC8RRT 
EN81 319 

0228 WB4JGG 
EM75 464 

0236 KI4ROX 
EM55 660 

0237 W9WZJ 
EM69 490 

0239 N9RBE 
EM58 602 

0240 N4QWZ 
EM66 530 

0241 N4LI 
EM55 660 

0242 KC9OFJ 
EM57 614 

0248 W9ZIH 
EN51 610 

0250 KB5MR 
EM25 973 

0258 K9MRI 
EN70 392 

0259 WM8I 
EN80 291

73

andyz – K1RA

7 Responses to K1RA @ K8GP Fall 2m Sprint 2013

  1. Pingback: K1RA @ K8GP SVHFS Fall 2m Sprint 2013

  2. W3SZ says:
    September 24, 2013 at 5:23 pm

    Wow! What a Sprint, Andy! And what a great write-up! I really enjoyed listening to the Qs 😉

    Thanks again and Congratulations!

    73,

    Roger
    W3SZ

  3. Ron KA0RYT says:
    September 24, 2013 at 6:36 pm

    I checked the mileage on some software and came up with 933 miles ??? Anyway many thanks for the QSO !! 73s , Ron KA0RYT (EN35ct )

    • Andy Zwirko says:
      September 24, 2013 at 8:25 pm

      Yes that is probably correct. N1MM Logger only logs 4 digit grid so my calculations rounded everyone to the center of their grid in LL when I computed distances here. I’ll give u credit for the extra 43 miles 😉

  4. Ron says:
    September 24, 2013 at 11:48 pm

    OK – No big deal , but it was really fun to have the condx we had …. It has been a few Septembers’ since we worked while I was portable in EN02 ( Nebr. )…… Any way Thanks again for the QSO and also for your work on this web page too . 73s , Ron KA0RYT ( EN35ct )

  5. Ron KA0RYT says:
    September 25, 2013 at 3:39 pm

    Andy – may I post a link to this page on the NLRS reflector , please ?? ( In the interest to stir up more activity up here ) 73s , Ron KA0RYT

Comments are closed.