2002 ARRL 10 Meter Contest

M0CUS -- May 1, 2003 18:32 ET

First contest for both myself (Mack/M0CUS) and Tim (M3SDE).Worked over 100 countries in 24 hours with hundreds of qso's on ssb. Really had a great time.It wont be the last. 73'S all. -- M0CUS &M3SDE

D44TD -- Mar 15, 2003 09:24 ET

From D44TD side one of the main goal is to don't loose multiplier during the pile-up, so for the ARRL 10m Contest a different setup were arranged. Three different direction with monobander antennas were used, try to cover all the direction opened.

JA long path at D4 sunrise were amazing, more that 100ms of echo delay due different path were a big trouble to understand calls !!!

US were almost the 60% of the total QSO's, West Coast were the most stronger until the end the Contest !!

73 de Fabio -- I4UFH

D44TD -- Mar 15, 2003 09:07 ET

I4UFH during ARRL 10m Contest 2002

First time from our Contest Place in Cape Verde in the ARRL 10m A lot of fun, more then 5K QSO in 36 hours, were a great trill !!

Thank's for everyone called me, hope to have more chance to work again.

Look at couple of pictures of shack and antenna system

73 de Fabio

I4UFH -- I4UFH

VK2CZ -- Feb 18, 2003 20:20 ET

I wish..

Lots of signals around, but generaly most were near the noise threshold and not strong. Used a compromise antenna this year which would have affected scoring noticeably. My 8 element, 18m (60') long yagi will go up in mid'03 to stir activity on 10m. In 2001, I used a 50' 7 element (and fragile) yagi. -- K3HZ

WB6IYM -- Feb 17, 2003 17:11 ET

Jr. Op. Ricky loves the radio and PC also...Maybe a new Tech later this year?

Since I don't live in an "antenna friendly" neighborhood; I was forced to use a Butternut HF-6V; but the results were still pretty impressive for a ground mounted vertical with a non-existant ground system. Already planning to fix that before next year....

One thought comes to mind regarding this test -- Simply G-R-E-A-T !! -- WB6IYM

LW7DUC -- Jan 23, 2003 19:36 ET

This is my contest antenna .....It works fine !!!

Very Nice Contest !!!! Im waiting next ARRL 10 meters 2003 ..... -- LW7DUC

ON5YR -- Jan 23, 2003 13:52 ET

I had a great time pertisipating from my home QTH. I missed the 6 el monobander from last year at OT1H. PSE TAKE A LOOK AT WWW.ON7SA.BE See you in 2003. ON5YR / AH7B ... -- ON5YR

DU1/K6ACZ -- Jan 15, 2003 01:50 ET

I have just returned from a month in the Philippines with a side trip to Bangkok. I carried my Kenwood TS-50, AT-50, and PS-40 in the little carrying case that Kenwood designed for that purpose which I placed in a larger Pelican case with some clothing for padding. The Cushcraft R-7 vertical, coax, and tools were packed in a golf club bag surrounded with bags of clothing for padding, hence, no extra baggage charges. I arrived in Manila about a week before the contest weekend and set up my station. The R-7 went on the rooftop of a two-story home with the coax snaking down the staircase, along the floor, to my room. I obtained a 10-foot piece of 1 ¼ inch EMT pipe from a local hardware store and attached the base of the R-7 to it. Then, with some help, the R-7 on its 10-foot pipe was raised to a vertical position. The mounting pipe was then attached to some heavy rebar pieces protruding from the roof with some heavy gauge GI wire. It was not pretty to look at and did not look too mechanical strong but it worked and that is what counts. Now on the air, I discovered a high noise level on 20 meters. A look at the nearby power lines showed all kinds of poor splices to the power lines, some being illegal drops to avoid having to pay for the electricity. However, the rest of the bands were fairly quiet. While working DX the week before the contest 15 meters turned out to be my best band. I could work all of Asia in the morning then all of Europe in the afternoon on 15. I could work Asia in the morning on 20. I could hear US stations on 20 but for the most part, they could not hear me. 10 meters seemed to be dead with only hearing a VK or ZL and them not hearing me. I was afraid of the contest being a bust based on what I could not hear on 10 meters the week before the contest. I listened to the band for about 30 minutes before the contest started but did not hear much. However, as soon as 0001Z rolled around starting the contest the signals started coming thru. It was early morning in Manila and sundown in the USA. First station in the log was K4WI in Alabama. I played search and pounce and was getting some Midwest and West Coast US and VE stations in the log. One station said I was S-9 plus so I tried calling CQ Contest for a while with no takers so back to search and pounce. For the next two hours I was working US and VE stations with an occasional JA that I would hear calling CQ contest. Then the US and VE stations were gone and I was working KL, KH, JA, HL, UA, XW, VK, ZL, and T32 for the next couple of hours. Four hours into the contest the Pacific and Asia were fading out and Eastern Europe such as EX2T, UA4's, EW4's, etc, started coming through. Then the OH's, OE's, LY's, SP's and DL's. Even though I was using a vertical, the signals I was hearing were very selective. I was hearing only one area of Europe at a time. I might have a run of DL's calling CQ contest then they would fade out and the S5, 9A, OK, OM, HA, LZ, and Z3 would come through. They would fade out then the I, TK, 9H stations came through. The first day Europe run ended with the first African in the log, ZS5NK at 1400Z, way past sundown. The next morning started the same with a string of US and VE stations coming through as far east as W4DD in GA. Last station worked in the Americas was ZX2B. Now again coming through were the Asian stations with new mults AP2IA and VQ9X. Then EX2Z and EX8O and more Eastern Europe such as LZ1NG and LZ9X. Signals then proceeded to move across all of Europe, hearing and working several stations in a country at a time then having them fade out as I was hearing further west out to F, ON, CT, G, GM, EI before the band went dead for the night at 1300Z. The next morning I was up before daylight tuning for anything that could be heard coming through. First contact for the remaining 1 hour and 15 minutes was W5WMU in LA starting a run of stations west of the Mississippi River except for K4XS in FL and KY5R in AL. Then, just as the contest was down to the last 15 minutes the US and VE's faded out and I worked a run of JA's calling CQ contest looking for US contacts. I was quite surprised just how selective were the areas I could hear stations calling CQ contest from. It was almost as if a pipeline was forming between Manila and different parts of the world. The effect was most profound in Europe as different areas would boom in then fade out and another area would then boom in. I was impressed by the operating skills of the European operators. Most got my call on the first try even with it's awkward portable designation or got it correct after asking "who's the DU1 stroke something". On the other hand, some US stations tried to make me DU16ACZ or some such call. I would have to repeat several times I was a portable station in the Philippines. I had many stations thank me for a new mult, so I am happy to contribute to their total score. A good time was had by all, including the mosquitoes that managed to sneak onto my back and have a feast. CU next year! 73, Alan, DU1/K6ACZ -- K6ACZ

DU1/K6ACZ	Cushcraft R-7 Vertical at DU1/K6ACZ
Whole roasted pig feast at end of contest	Philippine Permit

LT1F -- Jan 12, 2003 22:13 ET

LU5FEL, LU1FKR, LU1FGE, LU5DX and LU1FAM

Low line tension resulted in reduced power output. The antennas made by LU1FJ, did a great job and compensated the lack of output power. We enjoyed some of the off time listening to contesting "monster" stations: ZD8Z, ZW5B, ZX5J,D44TD,and many others! What a great pleasure!. During the late afternoon and early evening we had to turn the RX preamps of the IC 775 off, because almost everybody was comming well over S9, and of course, there were three or four that almost make the S-METER needle crash at the end of the meter!! C U In 2003 Bad Power Team LT1F -- LU1FAM

PA6Z -- Jan 11, 2003 18:15 ET

This was our first (serious) attempt in the 10m ARRL contest M/S HP. Our team was formed by Herman PA0TEN, Arend PA2AWU, Peter PA2PKZ, Harry PA3HEP, Frans PA5CA, Jan PA5RA and Gerard PD5GS. We used an 8el Yagi and a vertical for SSB and an 6el Yagi and a vertical for CW. Unfortunately one of our CW operators was forced to QRL unexpectedly on Saturday. This meant that the CW station ran at -3dB for that day. As if this was not enough, our computer network died on Sunday morning just as the band opened to JA. It took us quite some time to get it back. But despite of these events we had a lot of fun. The activity was great and the US stations were loud as ever. We all hope to see you next year!

73 team PA6Z -- PA5RA

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