2017 Blog

(Send Pete Your Comments and Pictures)

Mike, WO9B

70 degs, sunny and just a nice day to be outside in the local park. Ran with my Youkits HB-1B into an endfed on 40 and 80 mtrs. Oh yeah, the dog was very pleased with the event too. I think the battery in the HB-1B needs charging, but it had plenty of life. Can't believe how well that antenna works. Nice contest with plenty enough activity on this end. Thanks for doing the heavy lifting!! CU next year.

Don, KI4MZC

Wow! a lot of strong QRP signals and I guess I was doing ok too from the signal reports. Looks like 20 was long and 40 was good mainly east of the Mississippi. I got a relatively large number of QSOs from GA stations, which I don't usually hear during a contest, in particular John, K4BAI, who was just booming in on 40. Great fun. Thanks all for the q\'s.

Evan, WA4AAK

Tnx to NoGa hams at Huntsville Hamfest for inviting me to join the Peanut Sprint! Heard only one weak station on 20m, but made 14 Nut QSOs on 40m. Lots of great operators out there! 72.

Mark, NA4O

I tried for a QSO on each band/mode, but missed 15m Phone. Overall very pleased with results. Heard many more than I could work. On 40m, several stations on same freq made it hard to work any of them. KX3 @ 1W CW/2W SSB, AlphaDelta DX-LB+ @45\', Vibroplex hand key.

Jim, W1PID

20M was tops. Thanks for all the QSOs.

Tom, AJ4UQ

Only heard three or four NUTs, worked one (sorry Dave?). Good afternoon to sit in the yard though.

Clark, WU4B

Mostly local Qs except one in ID. Amazing what could be worked with 1w (measured by either LP-100A (20m) or WM-2 (40m).

Jim, N4TMM

Lots of fun! Thanks for putting this on.

Dave, AB9CA

Fun event. Enjoyed it. Ran the IC7200 at 5 W to 100 foot of wire. Prop on 20 seemed to be good. There was little activity on 15 or 40. 21 of the 25 contacts were on 20. 3 contacts on 40, and 1 on 15. work to K7TQ on 20 and 15. Think you with my only 2 bander. Thanks for the fun and hope to see everybody next year.

Paul, W4KLY

Operating time: 1 Hr. 45 Minutes. I was on 20M for the first 45 minutes logging only 14 contacts, but did log England and Italy. 40M was better for logging Q's but not for getting a lot more multipliers. But best of all, it was fun.

Bob, K4VBM

Well, I tried Roasted -- 5 watts / 10 watts PEP SSB category (1st time intentionally QRP LOL), and mostly called other stations I heard, but did call CQ near the end and actually snagged a PP# from another contestant! Lots of folks could not hear me at all, but the ones that did gave me a good signal report. Got 5 contacts in all -- all on 40m, and yes, it was FUN!

Brian, K0EMT

My setup was an FT-817, 31' Jackite pole w/35' vertical wire, 16' counterpoise, Elecraft T1 tuner, Ultra PicoKeyer and Palm Mini Paddle.

Well, the bands left me confused today. I started on SSB and heard but wasn't able to work DX on 20M (DL7C) and 15M (HI8RD). There was deep QSB and sounds like a motor boat or lawn mower. Even took my headphones off to make sure I wasn't hearing a real lawn mower! Later I switched to CW and called CQ on 20M, no takers. RBN was giving me good reports back from both coasts. I tried answering a couple on 40M and they didn't hear me.

All was not for naught though. I did end up working a non-contest station out of New York. Looking forward to next year!

Mike, W5RST

Fun contest; next year I'll remember to request a number.

Jocelyn, KD8VRX

Looking forward to next year!

Phil, W3HZZ

What a fun afternoon! I set up in Piedmont Park, on famous Oak Hill. Only forgot my throw weight and line, so had to go back home, but that was just a ten minute walk. I was ably assisted by Bruce Harlon, who just passed his Technician License, but has yet to receive his call. (He is preparing for his general test next week). I used my trusty K2 and a Par EndFed 20/40 Antenna and experimented with a new power pack - a Bioenno Power 3Ah Lithium Phosphate Battery. Lightweight, with enough umph to power the K2 for the entire contest. I used a Palm Paddle and a piece of paper for logging. The K2 was on my lap and occasionally I would bump the tuning knob with my keying hand - that is why occasionally I wouldd ask the contact for a repeat - I had moved the listening frequency during your transmission. Sorry K2UFT!

The weather was beautiful, and it seemed to me the bands were in good condition. Spoke with old friends - ND4V, K2UFT, AD4S, K4BAI, N4EWT - it was almost like a NOGA meeting !! Who was using the club call? We were approached by a couple of homeless folk (QRH) who were interested in what we were doing (and recognized that we were using Morse Code!) as well as Todd, the Piedmont Park manager, who claims I am the only one whom he lets put things in the trees. It was nice to have a steady stream of QSOs, especially since I had a new ham listening in. 31 QSO (27NUTS) AND 19 S/P/C ACROSS 20/40 METERS. 3910 Points (if I got it correct). Thanks to Pete and the other organizers!

Paul, K4JAZ

It was a fun contest for me this year. I did a paper log for the first time in a REALLY LONG time. The location this year was a fourth floor balcony in Gatlinburg TN. Thanks for the fun contest.

Pete, WK8S

Another fun PP Sprint! Weather (sunny & 68) and propagation conditions were very good. Lots of GA stations on the air to work. Worked from local park using a portable homebrew vertical and my mcHF Qrp radio at 5 watts. Fun, fun, fun!!

Marc, W4MPS

Wasn't sure I'd make it this year as I developed an ear infection. But some drops from the Doc got me going. Operated from my usual spot on the shore of Jordan Lake in Raleigh, NC. Beautiful day low 70's, no humidity and, best of all- NO RTTY QRM this year! Ran my KX3 @5W battery powered to a segmented dipole inverted vee. No action on SSB and nada on 15. Great to snag Randy, K7TQ in ID as the QSB came up. As always, many tnx to our great sponsors at NOGAQRP and to all our fantastic QRP Ops. 72

Randy, K7TQ

A fun two hours here in ID. Lots of GA stations on 20 m. Very fast and deep QSB caused me to lose some of the replies. Managed one Q on 15 with AB9CA. Thanks to all who stopped by.

Pickett, AD4S

Another fantastic NoGaNUT event. Worked a lot of NoGa members for a change. Used my KX3 at the home station.

Gene, N5GW

I was outdoors using my battery-powered KX3 at 900 mW to a CFZ I put up over a limb of a big oak tree. 20M and 40M were fair, but nothing heard on 15M. Participation seemed up from last year, allowing me to score higher than last September's outing. Fortunately it was not a really hot day; in fact a little breeze was blowing. It was much more fun than watching the football game.

Eric, WD4RIF

Great event! I'm looking forward to next year! Full report, with photos, here: http://wd8rif.com/peanut_power_sprint2017.htm

Cliff, KU4GW

I truly enjoyed myself after I wasted the first hour due to a rig malfunction and then a operator malfunction. First the tune pot on the internal antenna tuner in my Hendricks PFR-3A came loose and wouldn't tune so I fixed that and then got the SWR matched on the 42 feet 14 gauge stranded copper wire vertical I kept hearing stations, but they weren't hearing me. I finally saw I had left the Tune/Transmit switch in the Tune position! Once I flipped the switch the right way I began making contacts. LOL!

Only got 5 in the last hour, but really enjoyed myself, but my hands got pretty cold by the end. After being used to the upper 80s last week 66 degrees with a light breeze was pretty chilly! All in all I had a great time anyway despite the problems. I did manage to get NO4GA out of the huge pileup on 7062 Khz.

My thanks go out to the North GA QRP Club for sponsoring this event and I look forward to the next one! Hope to work some of you guys in NA5N Paul's Zombie Shuffle coming up Friday October 20th at 1600 until midnight your local time wherever you're at. Very 72 from KU4GW Cliff in Taylorsville, NC.

Will, AI4VE

A great sprint! Used my K2/10 and internal battery from the back deck with a Par 20/40/10 End Fed erected 10 minutes before start time. I had a new Bioenno 6Ah for backup but the old Lead Acid internal battery held up fine for the two hour sprint. Worked a total of 26 Qs, three on 20m and the rest on 40m. Heard nothing on 15m. Collected 11 multipliers on the two bands. Most of the contesters I worked were in GA but also worked AL, NM, TN, NC, PA, FL, WI, IA, and OK. Felt good knowing I was probably giving folks a rare one with SC. Thanks to all who supported promoting and hosting this event. I look forward to next year.

Steve, K1RF

Scoring is a little confusing on the "scoring the Peanut Power Sprint" page. I didn't understand the line "Multipliers final score = Sum of QSO points X total multipliers." This seems redundant with the next line below "Submit: Total QSO Points__ Total Multipliers__ Total Score__. My rig was IC7200 cranked down to a measured 5 watts output into a 40 meter endfed half wave. Tnx es 72.

Mert, W0UFO

Thanks for another good Sprint. Conditions seemed good and I had fun on 20M but could not hear any nuts on 40M.

Dave, K5IX

Certainly not a Big Gun score but the conditions on 20m (that's the only antenna I could scrape up at the time) were good and I had a blast! Thanks for putting on a great show. Used my KX1 with weak internal AA batteries for an output of 900mW.

Mark, KJ4YM

Great sprint can't wait until next year. I used my Yaesu FT817 on battery running 5 watts. Ant is an OCF dipole. Worked IA and MN 20 meters. You don't need to run 100 watts to make contacts.

Randy, KB2PLW

My station consists of an 8 watt 6L6 xtal controlled oscillator that I built in 1992 from a November, 1992 article by Dave Ingram, K4TWJ. It was the only way I could get on the air as a relatively poor Novice. My RX is a Realistic DX-160. Also the article by Dave Ingram, K4TWJ, was the November, 1992 Issue of CQ magazine. He is sorely missed by the tube homebrew community.

Dick, K2UFT

Great participation! Never did get any further West than Idaho but that was appreciated! Did QSO a neighbor ham I never worked before, N4RSS who lives about a mike due West of my QTH! FT1000MP @ 5W, 80 meter doublet

Newt, N4EWT

Lotta fun and good to contact several NOGA members including W3HZZ, K2UFT and AD4S. I could hear someone contacting K4RAB but couldn\'t hear Rick myself. Eight of my contacts were 5W but I cranked up to 20W for an ID contact, so I will claim Raw this year. Flex 6700/Maestro on the screened porch into an 80M full wave loop. Beautiful day to play!

Thanks to Pete for running the numbers and thanks to Pete for collecting the scores!

Steve, KF5RY

Didn't have much time, but it was fun!

Hank, WQ8RP

Somewhat slow going. Tried 40 at first, little luck only 1 contact, 20 was OK but not hot. Had fun though with less than 1 watt.

Kelly, K4UPG

Fun event with lots of signals on 20m some QSB but overall workable conditions. Did hear some 7 call signs and a few distant 0 calls but couldn't quite connect. HB1B to EFHW vertical down by Lake Fredrica. Wx good most of the time with mist initially and rain as I was unloading gear at home. Thanks for all the QSOs and good ears. Relaxing day by the lake for me to give points to the serious contesters!

Rick, K4RAB

Made 1 contact on 40m CW with another station KB2PLW PP315

Jim, NO4GA/W4QO

I used the NoGa QRP club call again this year but wanted to be sure I gave out as many Qs as possible so I ran 25 watts on both CW and SSB. I used a TS 940 at 25 watts into an 80M horiz loop at 75 feet. Of course, loads of fun!

Mark, WG8Y

Hi all, Set up in the backyard of my home. I was Patio Portable, 5 Watts from my FT-817D into a recently constructed homebrew 10-40 OCF. I fed it with a small home brew 4-1balun with wireman #26 wire.

In true spirit of being portable I threw the antenna up 20Ft. over a tree limb in the side yard an hour or so before the Sprint. The ends were maybe 10Ft. up. When I built the balun for the low power OCF I didn't have an enclosure handy but after rummaging around I came up with a Peanut butter jar lid.Thought ,why not. since we were in a Peanut Power Sprint it would be a perfect antenna set up to use. Not very pretty. Hi Hi .

Had a good time. Lot of good signals on 20 seemed like I had a pipe line into GA. Weather was just about right but was wishing I had put on long pants by the end of the Sprint. See Ya next Sprint. I've added a pic of the 4-1 And my patio portable spot.

Myron, WV0H

2017 Blog End