“Storm Watch”
Newsletter of NZ1U – The
Barnstormers Contest Group
“The
Barnstormers News”
Volume 7 No.1, February 12, 2002
Pre-ARRL DX CW
Issue
Well,
we are only a few days from the start of the ARRL DX CW weekend. Conditions
have actually not been too bad with 10 Meters open in the daytime and many
interesting PacketCluster spots on 15 meters. 20 Meters has been fairly good
well into the night and of course 160/80/40 should be the usual wintertime
propagation.
As
always in the ARRL DX Contests we will be competing in the Multi Operator/Two
Transmitter category. We feel we are
the most competitive in this category and this is one contest that we get to
measure how we stand against the rest.
The
Operator list for the upcoming CW weekend is:
KB1H, K1EBY, NB1U, N1XS, AA1CE, KB1DFB, KE1LI, and a
guest op, N1NK. Maybe a few drop-bys as well but the list above is the main
group.
Most
of us went to the YCCC meeting last Sunday so at least one meeting requirement
was met by most. I am planning a quick coffee/doughnut meeting on Saturday,
February 23rd. I am trying to arrange for a YCCC Area Manager to
attend to make it official. I will put out a notice as it will be open to the
YCCC membership.
Regarding
this weekend, the usual applies. Bring snacks and drink. We will work out the
meals on the fly. Probably take-out and BBQ.
I have ordered the portable toilet and will have it through the SSB
weekend. The cost was $101.76 so I will be looking for donations.
Station
#1 will be the usual FT-1000MP Mark V/Alpha 77 combo. Station #1 will be used
for 160/80 in the evening.
Station
#2 will be a FT1000MP Mark V / Titan Amp combo. Though we bought a Commander
HF-2500 it is not ready for this contest. I need to get the plate choke rewound
and then of course test the beast. I suspect Station #2 will be on 40 during
the night.
Daytime
station assignment will be done on the fly. I am contemplating setting up
Station #3 as a standby setup plus a listening position. If so this will be the
TS-850 with the TL-922 amp. We also have the L4B as a standby amp.
Before
Friday I will try to draw up our goals and they will be posted when you get
here. No matter what the main goal is to have fun and have a better score than
last year.
So
get psyched up for the contest and let’s KICK BUTT. We are in a real horse race
with FRC.
By the way….
Yes,
we had our 6th Annual Christmas party and as usual plenty of food
with lots of laughs. The Annual K1GX Award went to Frank, K1EBY this year.
Frank blew up the Alpha trying to work Zone 3 on 160 Meters with a bad antenna.
Yes, a weak reason but I couldn’t get “Murphy” to show up. He really deserved
the award this year.
Al, K1JCL, complained about our late date for the party. He suggested we should hold a Valentine’s Day Party instead. Well, N1XS made sure Al had something to take home and gave his a nice platter of pink Valentine cookies. There are a few pictures below. Unfortunately most of the pictures I took showed everyone eating. Not very exciting stuff.
Frank
was proud of his accomplishment
Big Al
gets his cookies….
73,
Dick – KB1H