ARRL DX CW de NR4M M/M (2018)

ARRL DX Contest, CW

Call: NR4M
Operator(s): K7SV NR4M K4GMH WS6X K4ZW KK4XX KN4DEB N2YO N3AIU KG3V K4JK K4QS K4MI KT0P K6ZO KC4D KA4RRU KE3X
Station: NR4M

Class: M/M HP
QTH: Central VA
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 219 70
80: 841 96
40: 1648 116
20: 1970 123
15: 272 80
10: 67 27
-------------------
Total: 5017 512 Total Score = 7,566,336

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

Well, that's another one in the books.

As always, a big part of any of our contesting efforts is enjoying the
camaraderie of those with a like passion for contesting, especially CW
contesting. The spirit of camaraderie was in abundance this weekend.
We had a guest op, Don, K6ZO, who we met at the Richmond hamfest. He rode down
from DC to spend the weekend in front of a radio.
We also had Matt, W4GO, come by on Saturday, to meet the gang and get a feel for
the station.
K7SV, K4GMH, KA4RRU and I had spent a considerable amount of time working on
stuff and trying to get ready for the weekend. We re-installed my Hi-Z 8 circle
receive array after ripping it out because of intermod issues. Did things a bit
differently and am happy to report that it worked really fine in the face of all
of the RF that was floating around here this past weekend.
The Beverages continue to work well and improve our low band receiving ability
even though, the local power co-op has not resolved my interference issues.
Several high power band pass filters were purchased and installed. These were
purchased from Pavel, VE6AM, who custom makes each one. It was commented that
the little 'nit-noy' noises and 'hash' were now, non existent. Although
inter-station interference is minimal here, I feel those new filters have made
an improvement.
Were able to get the 40 meter prop pitch working enough that we were able to
work Asia, unlike the CQWW weekend. Still need to make a 190 foot trip to try
and determine the problem with limited rotation.
Still having issues with the two 15 meter ring rotators. I have concluded that
these are the spawn between Satan and a junk yard. So, really did not have a
usable 15 meter stack.
20 meters was limping along with some problem with SWR creeping up at times,
then back down. RTTY is fun but is sure hard on connectors and other antenna
parts/devices.
4 element delta loop array on 80 worked fine as usual, as did the four square.
Did lose the 15 meter amp to what I'm hoping is a defective output relay. Had a
spare, so not much time lost.

As everyone knows the best day was Saturday, and Sunday was a real slog. Woe be
the casual non-contester that just happened to get on the air. I heard 'total
inundation' of those ops by rabid contesters, more than once.
As always, it was nice to hear all the familiar calls and greetings from
others.

Still miss 'Big Frank', who became a silent key about a year ago. He was always
a '48 hour fixture' here. RIP 'BF'.

Thanks for all the Q's and the good time.

73 de Steve, NR4M and the entire 'Goat Farm Gang'.