"Dueling INDEX QRP+s" from GA/SC Border by Sam Billingsley, AE4GX
Flea Powered QRPTTF! by Mike Boatright, KO4GX
Photographs by Mike Boatright, KO4WX
 |
Mike Boatright KO4WX and I operated side by side but independently from the GA/SC Border from Tugaloo State Park. | |
 |
We each used INDEX QRP+ rigs and various antennas including inverted Vee 40 mtr Dipole, Parking Lot Portable Vertical (PLPV) (20/15mtrs), and W3EDP Longwire 87ft(Inverted L) at 25 ft (80/40/20/15) with 1/4 wave for each band counterpoise on the ground. I used my LDG Auto tuner on the W3EDP end-fed antenna on all bands and got it to auto tune to less than 1.5 to 1 SWR on all bands. That's fast and easy right from the operating position. |   |
| Putting a multi-position coax switch in line to the antennas made antenna switching easy as well. We had the PLPV separated from the other antennas about 150ft so we had no problem with RX overload. |  |
20 and 40 mtrs were the best but 15 mtrs did open in the afternoon for awhile. We checked 10 mtrs periodically but never heard any stations. |
 |
We did raise a NOGA member on 80 meters for an 80 mtr SPC. Thanks Bob/WA1EDJ. Even though the SF was low and the A-index not too good we had a great time again this year. |  |
| We cooked some great steaks over the camp fire that night and talked about the great day we had experienced. I'm convinced that the two man contest concept is the way to go. It gives you help with tents, antennas,etc plus spurs the other guy on to good results and keep on plugging away when things get slow. BTW I used my Tandy100 logging program this year and it worked great. Looking forward to the next QRPTTF. Sam/AE4GX |  |
|
| I want to say a special thanks to the following NOGA members that took the
time to give Mike and I some contest points and support.
date, time, call, SPC, his rst, my rst, band, mode, pwr (all times post-qso) 04/24/99,17:51:45,w4qo,ga,579,599,40,c,5
|
||
 |
What happened to California? Only one 6 call heard all day, and that was KK6MC/5 in Four Corners. Still, had a great time! |  |
| WX was perfect on GA/SC border-70's and sunshine. Company was even better--Sam, AE4GX, and my dog Daphnne, who was very glad it only takes one hand to send CW! She was very helpful, though, offering any fleas found to help power the cause... |  |
|
 |
Toughest contact was WA1EDJ, Bob, NOGA member 100 miles away in Atlanta, on 80M, about 1dB over the noise--but he stuck it out to give the GA multiplier on 80! | |
| Bread and butter rig was my Index QRP+ into a 40M dipole. Also put my NC20 on the air, right about the time 20M died. AE4NY, Russ' new SWL40+ bagged a new multipler, working OH on 2.5 watts on 40M. Murphy struck early in the setup--I forgot the 12V power plug for my Thinkpad. Had to solder wires directly onto the power input on the laptop and then carefully tape to avoid a short! |  |
|