Depending upon when you begin history, this is about the 30th anniversary of
the CX. The "History" button on the CX home page will take you to a brief
recounting of how it all began. It has always been about resurrecting and
operating classic rigs - those commercial and homebrew rigs that were the pride
and joy of our ham shacks (or in our dreams) many decades ago. It has changed
slightly over the years but the purpose, pride and fun are all still the same.
Thanks to the founders, the "old timers" who have been active for many of the 30
years, and to all who have participated making this one of the best "contests"
on the air!
The split phone - CW weekends seemed to be well received. However, the CA QSO
Party was a challenge!!! N6KN, Rocco, who was in the midst of it, described it
with a typical CA term "Wipe-Out!". It seemed like our experience with the CQ
RTTY contest during the Feb 2005 CX was just a warm up. Unfortunately, there are
very few, if any, weekends that are free of conflicts around the traditional CX
times of September and February. In spite of that, it appears that everyone had
a great time exercising their classic rigs and hearing those "noteworthy"
signals - such as W8ZR, Jim's FPM-200 - a chirp standard setter. K2WI, Rob's TBX
was noted as being the only one sporting any sort of respectable roughness or
chirp in his note: T7C. Murphy was hard at work during CX with open feed lines
(W8KGI); "the stn. lost a dipole to an inconsiderate falling tree" (AA4RM); "a
sudden outbreak of broken rigs" (W8ZR) to mention a few of his interventions.
The inclusion of 6 and 2 meters is starting to show results. The first CX log received showing 6 and 2 operation is from K3KYR, Jeff. He worked both bands and used a Heathkit Sixer HW-29A, HallicrafterSR-46, Knight TR-106, Globe HiBander Mod 62 and HQ-110A VHF, and FT-897. The other side of the QSO was mostly modern rigs but he did work KG2GHT's HW-10 and KC2JKL's HW-29A. Jeff's score of 13,926 shows that 6 and 2 are good CX bands. Maybe we should all try getting up there next CX when HF QRM is overwhelming.
The new simplified scoring system seemed to please most folks. K9VKY, Brian
offered another perspective: "The simplified scoring might be easier ... but
like a pinball wizard, seeing scores in the millions makes one feel like he
really did something!" Keep trying Brian - 500 QSOs with 40 pieces of gear
averaging 50 years old and you are right back up there.
The new scoring did not change the on-going battle between W8KGI, Jim, and
his archrival N6KN, Rocco. They still generated the two top scores - and they
were close! K2WI, Rob grabbed third place without the help of his K2TOP gang.
K3MD, John took fourth place narrowly edging out W7FOX Chris/Fox. See the table
below for all the scores and be sure to click on the individual call sign to
read their comments.
The number of participants seemed to be down somewhat this CX as compared
toprior Fall CXs and there were fewer logs and comments submitted. Also, a
number of the "regulars" did not participate. On the other hand, some of those
we have not heard in some time such as W8ZR Jim, were very active and submitted
good comments. Please talk up the February CX with your friends and those you
QSO. Also, if you participate, please submit your log and comments - these add
to the enjoyment of CX.
The next CX will be February 11-13, 2006. This will again give the multi-mode
operators more opportunity to show off their classic rigs and provide more QRM
free time. Unfortunately, the CQ WW RTTY contest is that weekend, so try working
phone, or 20 meter CW until it ends and the 40-meter CW band is "ours" again.
Some have asked why not move the date? Simple answer: no good alternatives. The
preceding Sunday is the Super Bowl and the following Sunday is the ARRL DX CW
contest. We are open to
suggestions.
Well I survived the Fall 2005 CX, but it was not my best. As you know, I was
away for the Phone weekend, back in Virginia and Pennsylvania attending my
nephew's wedding and visiting family. I was back home for the CW weekend,
however, and ready to go. I had 12 receivers and 13 transmitters tuned up and
ready to go on both 20 and 40 in my shack in the garage, another pair on 40 in
my winter shack inside, and 11 pairs ready to go on 80. That was before other
contests and Murphy both took a swipe at me.
Murphy was really clever this time. He pulled a rather obvious trick at first
just to put me off guard, making one of the power strips that feeds half a dozen
boxes in the garage go open. But that was easily found and fixed with another
power strip pulled off the repair bench. His more subtle sabotage was to break
one of the wires in my open wire feed line about 15 feet away from the antenna,
a 268 foot center-fed Zepp. I noticed the effect of that early when the
ground-fault breaker in the garage started popping whenever I loaded up a rig
attached to the outlet box nearest the breaker box. That's usually a sign of too
much RF in the shack. But I patched around that by running an extension cord
from that plug into the inside of the house where I could plug it into an outlet
controlled by another breaker, and then everything held. And it didn't occur to
me that I had an antenna problem until much later when I tried to get on 80
meters.
I listened and called on 20 off and on from about 11 am MDST on, but all I
heard were guys calling "CQCA" and "CQP." Finally around 2:15 pm I managed to
raise Jim, W8ZR, and we had QSO's with his FMP-200 and my Apache/NC303 and
AF68/SX28A pairs. But that was IT for 20 meters. I gave up on 20 around 3 pm and
shifted to 40, retuning my 12 receivers to 7045 and pulling a few of the higher
power transmitters I had put on 20 back down to 40. There was decent CX activity
on 40, and I worked Fox, W7FOX, Rocco, N6KN, Jerry, K5PSH, Eric, NM5M, Ray W5XE,
Jim, W8ZR again, Alex, N)7M, Tom K6LQI at his club station, K6AA, John, K3MD,
Brian, K9VKY, Ralph, VE7XF, Lloyd, K3ESE (send that call, it's fantastic for
CW), and Stan, WA4MFY. Stan had a really neat station, an FB7X receiver and a
home-brew 807 transmitter. With all of that activity, I was able to qualify 10
receivers and 8 transmitters, including my "new" Collins 32RA (1939 vintage,
6L6/6L6/three 807's).
About 7:10 pm I pulled the plug on 40 and on the gear in the garage and took
Kathy out to dinner. She had been having a somewhat rocky time, and she really
deserved some TLC, so we went to one of our favorite spots in Albuquerque and
spent some quality time together. I got back home and on 80 about 9:30, and then
the antenna problem really started to show up. Running now from the inside
shack, I found that I couldn't put more than about 30 watts into the feedline
without my QSK keyer hanging up. I would close the key and the rig would go on
the air OK, but when I opened the key the keyer stayed closed and I had to cut
the Transmit switch to get the rig off the air! So I just limped along with my
rigs on lower power, the 100V throttled back, the 32V3 on its "tune up"
position, the Millen 90800, Meissner Signal Shifter, TBS50, CBY52209 Command
Set, and Elmac A54. I managed to work Rob, K2WI, Fox W7FOX again, and John K9KEU
in the next hour and a half, and then the CX signals quit the band so I hit the
big switch and went to bed.
Altogether I made 56 QSO's, qualified 17 receivers and 15 transmitters, and
used one more pair twice. My total age multiplier was 1771 years, not counting
the operator. So my net score for the event is 99,176.
As I told you on the phone Sunday, the AWA is running their AWA AM QSO Party
on February 18/19 (5 pm MST to 5 pm MST), and they have asked me to put Jim
Millen's call, W1HRX, on the air from my location out here in the "west." So I
hope the Winter CX doesn't happen on that weekend. I can't recommend a good day
that would avoid the "CQCA," "CQP," and RTTY contest QRM, but I can always hope
there will be a good day available. Whatever, any day the CX runs will be a good
one! Thanks for all of your good work in keeping the CX going.
N6KN Rocco
Mac,
Thanks for the reply. I have been preparing for some foot surgery and finally
had it on Thursday. This gives me some time to catch up on important things such
as CX reports, power bills, etc.
I would have submitted my input earlier if I had known how simple the new
scoring would be. Also - I am kicking myself for not having used more rigs on
multiple modes.
As for the new two-weekend format, PLEASE move the CW portion away from the
Cal QSO party. The phone weekend was really clear. I wonder if we could simply
schedule the CW activity the day after, if that works with the general contest
calendar better. I was completely bombed by the Cal QSO party QRM until it
finished on CW this time around!
Prepared for CX the usual way - try to complete projects to clear off the
workbench, allowing more room for extra rigs. Several new projects had followed
me home in the months prior to the fall CX, including several Swans, two
HRO-500s, and (one weekend prior to CX), a new set of Gold Dust Twins. I managed
to get two of the Swans on the air. The HRO's and Collins will have to wait
until next year. Saturday morning I hauled a pile of boatanchors to the TRW swap
meet and made room under the operating desk for my feet.
CX Phone Weekend Notes
I awoke Sunday at 5 am, said good bye to the YL, who left for a business trip
at 6 am, very conveniently. I was on the air by 7 am local on 14270, which was
very crowded, so I moved to 14275. I qualified 11 SSB rigs in order. Finally
moved to 40 and found W7FE, who had a pile of rigs to qualify, including some AM
boatanchors. We used approximately 2 tons of radios between us with help from
locals on both ends of the path. My star rig was my new "bent needle" Swan 500,
which is very beat up but just wants to work - I had a lot of fun with that
simple little rig.
Notable signals heard: Al, W8UT (HX-500); Ron, W6QM (SR2000); Mark, AI0L (WRL
GT550); Stu, W7FE (pile of great rigs); and my old UCLA friend Paul, KU6T (HX-50
that sounded good, which is unusual, but then Paul is an engineering professor,
which helps). Back on 20, the band remained generally quiet and clear ot other
contest qsos - the new "plan" worked for the phone weekend. At 4:30, I shut down
the stations and left for work (had to launch a rocket that evening). So I
missed the productive Sunday evening session completely.
I feel that the separate phone weekend worked well, except hat 14270 was too
busy - we should pick a +- frequency range, such as 14270 +- 10 kHz. Conditions
were not very good. W7TM reported he could not hear any CXers other than me. I
simply parked and called "CQ Boatanchors." I have a good location and a decent
yagi and tower, but signals were weak. The phone weekend was a lot of relaxed
fun.
CX CW Weekend notes.
As they say here in Southern California, "Wipe Out!" The California QSO party
filled the CW bands with QRM. I called CQ CX and worked many Cal QSO party
participants who just would not take no for an answer. Things finally cleared
out after the QSO party, and I managed to work a batch of the regulars.
Notable CW signals heard: Fox, W7FOX (several great rigs, including an SB101;
Jim W8KGI (standard pile of interesting radios); Marty AA4RM (KWM-1, NOT the
world's best CW rig); Ralph, VE7XF (Navigator); Jim W8ZR (Lysco 600S); Tom K6LQI
(ARC 5); and John N2BE (Johnson Adventurer, coast to coast on 40).
I made the mistake of not requalifying many of my rigs previously used on
SSB. I need to understand the new rules better. I will say the the new scoring
is MUCH EASIER and that is appreciated.
All in all, the new format splitting the CW and phone weekends was great, but
AVOID the Cal QSO party weekend!
Total rigs used: 18 stations. Scores:
SSB 64, 574; AM 1,416; CW 25,850.
Total score 91,840, mostly on 20 and 40 due to conditions.
Had fun, will try to have the HRO 500 ready for action next time. These are
10/10 on the alignment challenge scale. I have one of them working, but it hums
on CW/SSB, which is common. I need more time to work on this common problem.
Might be one of the filter caps, but not sure about that.
See you next
CX,
Rocco, N6KN