2010
CNCW-2010 25/26 of September EA5ELT M/M
Op: EA5KV EA5GS EA5ON EA5DF EA5DP EA5YI EA5GIE
Finally we get to do a contest! Our original plan was to enter ARRL in the springm but the high winds in January put paid to that. No antennas, no radio, and we continued to be aluminium orphans until September, when the new tower went up and was crowned with the new Optibeam and second rotary dipole for 40. Ready for battle again!
We chose CNCW for various reasons: Because we'd never done it beforem,, because the CW rookies need to hone their skills a bit, and because the CW vets need to the chance to teach the rookies something.
We set up three stations in the multi category: EA5DP's IC756 with EA5GIEs AL811H, the clubs TS850 with EA5RY's AL811H, and finally EA5YI's TS870 running barefoot.
And thus we met our goals: we tried out the new antennas, made a good number of QSOs, both the rookies and the vets, and once again got that nice fuzzy team operating feeling you only get at the TORRENT CONTEST CLUB :)
Thanks for all the QSOs and cu in the next one.
Pics: CNCW-2010
2º Clasificados M/M 1º de la Peninsula
CQWWDX 2010 30/31 of October ED5T M/S
Results: QSOs: 4966 Countries: 554 Zones: 154 Points: 7,991,196
Ops: EA5DF, EA5GS, EA5GIE, EA5KV, EA5ON, EB5EKT, EB5HTC, EA5YI, EA5HSI
A fun weekend at the Torrent Contest Club.
We had set ourselves what we considered to be a reasonable goal, which was toimprove on our Spanish Multi/Single record set last year. In spite of several station improvements, we fell short of our goal by around 300.000 points It seems like our old friend Murphy didnâ??t like the look of the weather this weekend and stayed away. However heâ??s been a regular visitor to our station over the last year and even on the eve of the contest he was lurking in the shadows. The repair of our old AL1200 was a long drawn out story and even Friday night it was sparking a bit and refused to work either on 10 or 160m. The rigs werenâ??t exempt either, with a half deaf second receiver on the FT2000 and none of our TS850s working properly. We were saved by the bell when on Friday morning I went round to EA5DFVs to pick up his TS850, only to discover later that day that we did not have the TX opened up on either 40m or160m! Thanks Jose Miguel for allowing us to open it up. The tower motor stopped working 2 weeks before the contest so we werenâ??t able to test different heights. The new stub switching box, made by Juan EA5GIE, had an impedance problem on 10 and 15 which took ages to track down and in the end we changed those stubs manually. EA5DFV also lent us his stubs, made of a better quality coax and with higher attenuation, we used the 10 and 15m ones. The tailtwister on the second tower also kept getting stuck and needing a quick swing inreverse to get it moving again in the right direction. Every time it did this our hearts sank, thankfully it kept going but we really need to think about getting a new for that tower. Iâ??m sure Iâ??m forgetting other Murphy attacks tooâ?¦.
ED5T is in economical dire straits and the crisis is still biting here. We are still looking for a sponsor who would like to gift us a few Acom 2000s and Icom 7800s, but in the meantime, we have to do with the limited budget available. We are fortunate however to have a team where each member offers different skills and knowledge, and thatâ??s what makes it all work. This year we have two newrookies on the team, EA5YI Abelardo and EA5HSI Toni, and weâ??re sure that they will also start to add their skills. And although all of us work together, weâ??d like to make a special mention to Juan EA5GIE, without whose technical and electronics knowledge, all of this would be a whole lot more difficult.
As every year, we would like to thank all of those who help make the CQWW party possible. First off, all those intrepid expeditionaries who go to remote corners of the globe to give us a multiplier. Also to our families, who shoulder our responsibilities for a while so we can enjoy our hobby. Our friends, for example EA5DFV, EA5FXK, and EA5TP, examples of friendship and generosity which we really appreciate. And of course to Torrent council, who cede us the club premises and without which, none of this would be possible. THANK YOU, to all of you, for helping us enjoy this crazy hobby!
RUN: FT-2000, AL-1200
MULT: TS850S, Expert 1K
Torre 1: Optibeam OB11-3, rotative dipole for 40, bazookas for 80 and 160m
Torre 2: Optibeam OB11-3, rotative dipole for 40m
+ RX antennas.
73's from Duncan EA5ON on behalf of the ED5T team.
Pics: CQWWDX SSB-2010