2009

Our call from beginning 2009 is ED5T

On the 23rd and 24 of February, we tried a new antenna in the CQWW 160 CW, on an extremely windy weekend. The antenna was an 5JK vertical, 17m high linear loaded, loaned by Toni EA5DF, our latest team member. It was installed with 6 radials, plus we used a K9AY receive antenna and a 100m long beverage. None of them worked particularly well.

TX/RX: Yaesu FT-2000 + Acom 1000 + N1MM

 

CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW 2009

Call: ED5T
Operator(s): EA5GIE, EA5GS, EA5KV, EA5DF, EC5KXA
Station: EA5ELT

Class: Multi-Op HP
QTH: Torrent
Operating Time (hrs):

Summary:
Total: QSOs = 305 State/Prov = 22 Countries = 51 Total Score = 125,852

From URE Torrent once again, on March 7th and 8th we played in the M/S category in the ARRL International DX contest, a fun test which allows a few hours sleep in the mornings. Due to the very strong spring winds, some of the antennas and one of the rotators were out of action, so we had to make do with what was working. We also reinstalled our long forgotten double bazooka for 160m.

Antenas: Hy-Gain Explorer 14, 10-15-20-40m + Doble Bazooka 80m y 160m.

TX/RX: Yaesu FT-2000 + Acom 1000 +N1MM

ARRL DX Contest, SSB 2009

Call: ED5T
Operator(s): EA5DF, EA5GS, EA5KV, EA5ON, EC5KXA
Station: EA5ELT

Class: M/S HP
QTH: Torrent
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 6 6
80: 158 37
40: 844 54
20: 1542 60
15: 161 29
10:
-------------------
Total: 2711 186 Total Score = 1,512,180

Pics: ARRL SSB 2009

Installation of the new antennas at EA5ELT-ED5T URE Torrent 9 and 10th May 2009

We now have all the old antennas repaired and both these and new antennas installed at the radio club. Thanks to all the members of URE Torrent who helped and made this possible after a long time planning and preparing everything so that nothing would fail at the time of installing. Many hours of work and a lot of money invested, but in the end it all came together.
Special thanks to our friend and fellow member Juan EA5GIE for all the great metalworking and making everything we needed for a perfect installation on the day.

Installation by; EA5GIE, EA5GS, EA5ON, EA5DF, EA5CVS, EA5RY, EA5JK, EA5HFG,EA5SPE, EB5EKT, EB5HTC, EA5KV

Pics:

Video by Elias EB5EKT, 12h of work in 4:26 mins:

 

Days 27 and 28 of June 2009, King of Spain 2009

Our first entry in the King of Spain contest, more than anything as a trial run before IARU to make sure that our new setup was working fine. A lot of work has gone into the station over the last three months, apart from the new antennas we also changed a lot of shack stuff including a new internet connection. Although lots of people have pitched in to help, special thanks to Elias EB5EKT and Paco EB5HTL for all their fine work on the wifi and the PCs, what a difference,.

Antenna wise pretty much all working fine. We had to restring one end of the 80m bazooka, which had been taken out in some indiscriminate tree felling, we had a job finding the wire under all the logs?. Still having problems with the Explorer 14 sometimes hitting the adjacent water tower and not turning. Otherwise the antennas worked fine.

Shack wise this was our first go with the new two position setup in the bunker. The new dedicated PCs worked almost fine, one needed a reboot Sunday morning but the disc partitioning makes this process a lot quicker than in the past. The ALS500 worked fine too, we were a bit doubtful how it would work 24h solid but with an extra sucker fan next to the heatsink it ran cool the whole time. We didn?t really notice much difference between this and the kilowatt that we?d have had with either the SB220 or the expert. We just had to be a bit more careful keeping the ALC under control. The stubs would have worked better if we?d connected them up right but even so it wasn?t too bad. I wouldn't like to do a serious Multi 2 with that level of interstation interference, but for a casual contest like this it was acceptable.

The contest itself was fun, a bit too quiet at night though since we coincided this weekend with Field Day so a big lack of USA stations to work. Specially noted on 10m where we were spotted as strong into the east coast but nobody there to work us?

It would appear the rules were not updated this year to reflect the new 40m bandplan and this caused a bit of upset. When I went to double check the rules in English, there is no mention at all about the bands or frequencies. But that?s my fault since I was the one in charge of translating it. Oops! So URE contest committee please take note?

Thanks to EA5VR and PA5CW for coming to see us, we hope you enjoyed yourselves.

Equipment:

Run 1: FT2000, Acom 1000 -- Run 2: TS850, ALS500 --2 x PC running N1MM -- 6 pack with coaxial stubs

Antennas:

Tower 1 @25m: Optibeam OB11-3, linear loaded 40m dipole, 80m bazooka, 160m bazooka Tower 2 @ 15m: explorer

ED5T

OP: EA5DF, EA5GS, EA5KV, EA5ON, EA5VR, EA5GIE, EB5EKT

QSO 1579

Puntos 2093

Provincias 140

Paises 166

Puntos 640458

Pics: King of Spain

Winners of Spain M/S

Days 11and 12 of July IARU 2009

For the first time in the TCCs short history, for this contest we were not faced with any immediate technical issues and were able to concentrate a bit on strategy and operating. The only novelty incorporated into the station since the King of Spain two weeks ago was the change from the Acom 1000 to the SPE expert. Vic quickly paired the amp up to the antennas in the two hours before the contest and during the whole contest the amp did not flinch. It's doesn't give as much power as the Acom but it ran anywhere between 600 to 900 watts so no real problem. I won't say it ran cool, since it only runs about 10ºC cooler than the Acom, but any heat reduction in the shack in July is welcome.

Compared to our plagued effort in IARU 2008, where we were unable to operate HP on 20m and had to use our 80m delta loop on 40, this year everything ran perfectly, except the PC which froze on us a few hours into the contest. We reckoned it was probably feeling the heat like the rest of us, so we gave it the same treatment as the ops: took off its covers and stuck a fan in front it! It liked that a whole lot better.

Although hardware wise we were better off, we sure missed the CW expertise of EC5KXA, Dave was the one who nursed us through IARU last year and we sure could have done with him this year. Toni EA5DF has come on a lot in the last few months but it still took us six ears to do most of the CW work and we hardly did any running at all in this mode.

Our aim this year was to equal the top European score of last year, to do that we would need 3000 QSOs and 301 multipliers. We fell a little short but taking everything into consideration we feel we did very well. Congratulations to the RK4FWK and UZ2M team who have put in absolutely amazing claimed scores.

Now, time to take stock and see where we can improve for our next test.

Equipment: FT2000 + SPE expert ----------------Antennas: Optibeam OB11-3, Rotary 40m dipole, bazookas for 80 and 160m

The antennas on T2 were not used for this contest

IARU 2009 ED5T @ EA5ELT, M/S HP

OP: EA5DF, EA5GS, EA5KV, EA5ON, EB5EKT, EB5HTC

Total Both 2784 9064 288

Score: 2.610.432

Pics: IARU 2009

WINNERS OF SPAIN AND ZONE 37 M/S

 

CQWWDX 2009 24/25 of October ED5T M/S

Results: QSOs: 5601 Countries: 609 Zones: 157 Points: 8.134.152

Ops: EA5DF, EA5GS, EA5GIE, EA5KV, EA5ON, EB5EKT, EB5HTC

Our second year as a team in CQWW, first time in this test with the ED5T callsign. We are the first ones to be surprised by our score, claimed new record for EA, the old one standing since 1990.

New hardware incorporations since our last test in the summer were an AL1200 on the run station and the temporary installation of 2 element parasitic vertical arrays on both 40 and 80m. But if we look back at all the changes made over the whole of last year, we were a whole lot better prepared this year than last in lots of different aspects.

Only one Murphy attack this year, on the AL1200. This ole beast was in need of a bit of TLC when we picked it up and in spite of our best efforts, Sunday morning the plate cap started arcing over. We quickly swapped run to the mult station, and Vic filed down the plates and gave them a quick coat of Teflon paint. We even had a hair dryer available for quick drying and half an hour later we were back in business. However the flashover at 2100z looked a bit more severe and we decided to put the expert on run and limp home with the multiplier on LP. Next stop a new bandswitch and a vacuum cap…. Dodgy PL 259s , T connectors and headset plugs are so common we don' even bother to list them under as Murphy attacks any more.

Disappointing results with verticals too. Personally I had not expected too much from them on 40, the rotary dipole at 27m shows a reasonable plot, and this was pretty much what happened. The verts certainly reduced the QRM from EU but since the signal was slightly down, they didn't get used much except for a few Caribbean mults. What really surprised me was the 80m antennas, showing the same but this time the comparison is with a bazooka at 22m high. After all the work Elias did with MMANA and EZNEC, we had expected something a bit better, this was quite a disappointment and it shows, our 80m QSO total lower than last year although no shortage of multipliers.

The big surprise of course was 10 and 15 metres, shame we did not have an opening to the states on 10. Nods of agreement when your scribe suggested to the team after a long run on Saturday afternoon that we should rename the DSP button ESP, many of the stations who reported us to be 59+ were on the noise level on this side of the pond. Sunday morning we were able to work, also on 15, a long string of JA, HL, and BA stations, the best I can recall ever in my almost 20 years of contesting. The intense activity highlights paths that are open that we do not normally hear. EA8 only audible on 10m heading 30º, JA on 40m at our local mid afternoon, KL7 at the same time on 15….

All in all a great time had by all, good team spirit with everyone pitching in to help is the best way to go about getting a big score.

It would be remiss of us not to thank those who make it possible. Our families, first, for stoically putting up with us. Those stations who make the effort to put on a rare multiplier (and our thoughts here especially with the C6APR team). And of course to the Torrent town council, who cede us the club premises.

HARDWARE:

Run: FT2000, AL1200 Mult: TS850S, Expert 1k

Ant:10/15/20: Optibeam OB11-3, Explorer 14 40: linear loaded rotary dipole, 2 ele vertical beam, explorer 14 80: Bazooka, 2 ele vertical beam 160: Bazooka

Thanks to all for putting up with our incessant "AGAIN? AGAIN?" and cu in the next one

Pics: CQWWDX 2009

WINNERS OF SPAIN, RECORD OF SPAIN M/S, 19 OF THE WORLD, 9 OF EUROPE

 

Video by Elias EB5EKT