1998 ARRL 160 Meter Contest

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1998 ARRL 160 Meter Contest-QRP AGAIN!

MY WW2 1944 Station: Collins TCS-12 TX & National HRO-W RX & HB AC PS

The 1998 Contest Activity

Based on the last 2 years of 160 Contest QRP experience, the plan was to wait til the West Coast QRM died down, then call strong stations in the late-night/early morning hours. Except this year the band peaked early and did not come back at my location. I had heard the strong signals and best conditions, but did not know it.

FRIDAY NIGHT: I called the stronger stations, but signals were up and down, even during their CQ TEST calls. No contacts, not even an encouraging QRZ?... I decided to just monitor signals for a while and worked on some paperwork and catch up on QSLing.

I decided to work KH7R the next time their signal strength came up, before I went to bed. Atleast I would have one contact and have something to show for the zillion stations I called with no results. KH7R responded with "599 PAC" to my 55 year old, 100 pound station, My first QSO! I turned in at 0200 with the clicking of the TX/RX relay silent for now.

SATURDAY NIGHT: I called the strong signals, but the band did not sound right. None of the strong signals that would rise and fall like a tide on my 1944 "S" Meter. Even KFBK 1530kc AM Broadcast Station in Sacramento, CA was not very strong. Not even an occasional QRZ?, in reply to my many calls.

I heard KL7Y around 11:10 PM Local Time (0910UTC) calling CQ. I had worked Alaska before with the same antenna and power...Maybe I could be heard on the "Mainland".... I called, but no reply...I called again.. "/?" came back...I thought...did he hear the /KH6?. I s-l-o-w-l-y sent my call twice...and the rest was history! My contest 5-9-9 AK came back, music to my ears! I sent "R R R TKS TU TU 5-9-9 PAC" and signed my call /QRP. KL7Y said "I could tell you were QRP.." I was so excited and encouraged!

I spent the next few minutes confidently calling stations, wondering why they did not answer... Then I looked across to the desk and the in-line wattmeter and the 5,000 milliwatts of power and remembered. So much for the new-found confidence.

I heard a fairly strong signal, but before I could tune it in, it was gone. I stayed put and kept listening. It returned, it was Doug, KH7U, In Kailua, a 20 minute drive by car. I called him after he was through and he came right back! He turned his power down to QRP level, and we made our exchange and a brief chat. WOW!!! 3 QSOs, I was really smoking now!

I called a few more stations, but the band did not sound like it was going to get any better soon. I slipped the WW2 headphones with the leather band off, marveling that the rubber cups clamped to my head were still soft after all these years.

The late hour, and the lack of strong signals except for the "Energizer Bunny" up at KH7R working stations I can never hear was putting me to sleep. I unclamped the the WW2 J-37 Leg Iron from my right leg and attempted to return circulation to the immediate area. I listened one more time... turning the PT Dial of the HRO-W, the mechanical marvel of the late 1930s up and down the band. Nothing new, I turned in.

THE 1944 RADIO STATION INFORMATION

The 1944 Collins TCS-12 Transmitter is in the bottom of a 5' extra deep rack cabinet. Above it is a steel shelf with a Homebrew AC Power Supply, and the TCS Antenna Loading Coil that is not used with the contest antenna configuration. A Butternut Multiband Vertical is coax fed with the 160 meter loading coil/capacitor assembly. The TCS is fed with a 20' piece of coax, to the auxilliary position of a coaxial switch that selects the transmitter-receiver configuration of choice. The TCS was tuned to the dummy load and output adjusted to 4.75 watts. The antenna is then fine tuned from the chart readings from last year with the MFJ 986 3 KW tuner. This tuner was chosen for its large coil and easy to operate adjustments.

The 1944 National HRO-W receiver is sitting on another steel shelf, it's red jewel pilot lamp glowing in the dark. A small lamp from the 50's nearby illuminates my notebook in my lap, as I scribble calls and adjust the HRO. The HRO-W is very quiet, 2 stages of RF and a Crystal Filter a marvel of 1930s engineering.

I checked the HRO-W calibration chart on the .9 to 2.0 mc plug in coil drawer. It was still close enough to use from when I calibrated it 3 years ago. Mostly, I wanted to keep my eye on the lower band edge. The HRO-W was made in 1944, and has a dial read out of 0-500 that you interpolate with the chart on each of the 6 plug-in coils to cover 100 KC to 30.00 mhz.

The operation of this 1944 station is simple. You hear a station on the HRO, then zero beat it. Then, you look at the dial of the TCS-12, put it on MO TEST, and listen for the beat note from the oscillator. Next, you put it back to MO, and turn the RF gain on the RX down (Even 5 watts is loud at ground zero). I monitor the sending, pounding on my leg mounted J-37 key as it pulls the contacts of a 54-year-old relay together time after time. Me, I'm 49, and not much of me works that well. To go back to recieve, I just turn the RF gain back up and try not to hit the key... I have a switch on the HB AC Power Supply that will mute the HRO or the TCS RX(not used) on RX for "Break-in" type operation. That is particularly helpful to hear the stations returning to call "CQ", while I am still calling them.

The BUTTERNUT HF6V vertical Antenna with the add-on 160 meter coil is located 33' from the edge of Kaneohe Bay, 15 miles North of Honolulu, HI. It is right next to the house and a fence 2' away.

There are radials for all bands from the base of the antenna towards the Bay and the street paralell to the house on the ground. The 40/80/160 meter radials are actually in the Bay. It probably does not increase anything, but it sure sounds good. There is an 8' ground rod into the soil and two 4' rods nearby. The antenna is 6' above average sea level. I clean the connections and spray clear UV resistant coatings on it to slow the corrosion. It has been at this location about 4 years. Prior to that it was located 4 blocks from the Pacific Ocean on the CA central coast, and originally in the mountains of Northern California.

EPILOG: The Score, The Log & Stations Heard

CLAIMED SCORE: 3 contacts x 2 points each = 6 points. Multipliers= 2 (Alaska & Pacific) = Claimed Score of 12. Entry Form and Log Copy mailed 12/102/98 to ARRL.

LOG ENTRIES: KH7R 599 PAC 12/5/98 1134UTC, KL7Y 599 AK 12/06/98 0910 UTC, KH6U 599 PAC 12/06/98 0943UTC.

STATIONS HEARD

This is not a complete list, just calls from some of the notebook pages fished from the wastepaper basket, and on the notebook,etc. They are in no particular order.

RELATED LINKS

Last Updated: December 6, 1998

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