The results are in – the N1FD multi-op entry came in 1st place in the Multi-Op Area 1 Category in the 2019 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB. Not only did we win our category, but our score of 12,900 was also higher than any other entry. The next closest was KD9IPO, single op entry from Michigan.
Congratulations to the Rookie Roundup Operators:
The team operated from AB1QB’s and AB1OC’s QTH.
The Complete contest results can be found on the ARRL website http://contests.arrl.org/rrscores.php?iid=625
May marks the end of the main contesting season. Sure, there are contests all year-round but the big contests (CQ WW, ARRL DX, ARRL SWEEP, CQ WPX) run October through May mainly leaving the Summer for state QSO parties and Field Day. There are two contests this month that are of note to NARS members: the NEQP and CQ WW WPX CW.
New England QSO Party [2000Z, May 4 to 0500Z, May 5 and 1300Z-2400Z, May 5]
The exchange for New England states is RS(T) + county + state. Outside of NE sends RS(T) + state/province/DX. Take a look at the NEQP website to see the standard county abbreviation list.
CQ WW WPX Contest, CW [0000Z, May 25 to 2359Z, May 26]
This is a serial number contest so set up your logger to automatically increment the sent serial number for each QSO. The full exchange is RST + serial. Everybody sends the same exchange. If you are not a great CW operator this is a great contest to play in. First, it isn’t quite so cut-throat as CQ WW. Secondly, the exchange is nice and simple. Listen (listen! listen!). It might take a bit to finally get the serial number, but once you do make your call and put it in the log. At risk of repeating myself, this is one of my favorite CW contests.
7th Call Area QSO Party [1300Z, May 4 to 0700Z, May 5]
First, note the overlap with the New England QSO Party! The exchange for this contest is also RS(T) + state and county. Check out the list of counties to expect here. The point is: you just record the exchange and the contact should be good for two contests.
Indiana QSO Party [1500Z, May 4 to 0300Z, May 5]
Exchange: Get RS(T) + county, we send RS(T) + state. The website has a list of five-letter county abbreviations that is worth printing out and hanging by your computer for this one.
Arkansas QSO Party [1400Z, May 11 to 0200Z, May 12]
Exchange: Get RS(T) + county, we send RS(T) + state
Hamvention and Contest University
Finally, the annual Contest University held in Dayton is one of the highlights of Hamvention. If you have any interest in contesting, it is well worth your time to sign up for one of these events. You MUST pre-register for the upcoming event on May 16th, and it is getting late for that, but I’d like to plant the seed of an idea that you should consider putting this on your “bucket list.”
I’m going to try to be in the New England QSO Party. Get on the air for 15 minutes or 15 hours and hand out some points!
Scott, NE1RD
This Christmas I bought a 28 watt solar panel and MPPT charge controller from Bioenno. I haven’t had much time to use it until recently with the weather getting warmer. I’ve been able to use this with my 7.5 amp hour battery which will power the KX2 for quite some time. I’ve also been watching a lot of videos on YouTube about portable power boxes and I thought it would be nice to have something a little heftier for car camping or portable activations that I wasn’t carry gear very far.
This past week I finally got to work on it. I started with a HyperTough 19 inch tool box from WalMart for the battery box. I have two 12-volt, 35 amp hour AGM batteries from Harbor Freight that fit in the box nicely with a little extra room so that everything can be inside the box.
I wired the two batteries in parallel to give me 12-volts and 70 amp hours. I read that the AMG batteries do not emit any hydrogen gas so I did not put any vents in the box (yet).
Once the batteries were wired in parallel they fit perfectly in the box! I originally had planned on putting a small computer fan on one end to use as an exhaust and put in venting holes as well, but did not do this after reading more about the AGM batteries.
I took ideas from a bunch of different YouTube videos that I watched to try to fit what I wanted for the box. I started laying out where I wanted everything on the box and started drilling holes.
The components I have on the box are a volt meter in the center of the lid along with a master switch for power and a 2 port power pole outlet to plug in a radio. On the front side of the box I have two small switched LED lights, a port with two 2.1 amp USB chargers and a cigarette lighter adapter. All of the power runs through a fuse box. I used Velcro to attach the fuse box to the inside of the lid of the box.
Once all the components were drilled and put in place I put the Bioenno Solar Charge Contoller in the box. I attached this with Velcro to the battery so that I can easily remove it when I want to go out for lighter portable activations.
The hardest part was the wiring and it wasn’t really hard, just a little time consuming. I linked all the negatives together with spade connectors and wired all the positives to the fuse box. The power pole connection was probably the most difficult.
With the wiring complete I quickly tidied it up and tested out all the components and… it worked! I’m very happy with how it came out and can’t wait to get out and do POTA now! Something that’s not showing is the input for the solar charge panel. I’ve got a power pole connector that will attach the solar panel to the solar charge controller. I’d like to get another connector to run through the box. As it is now I have to open the lid to charge the battery. I’m also thinking about adding a strip of LEDs around the edge of the lid for some additional light at night.
Let me know what you think. Any suggestions as to how to make this better are also welcomed!
Jamey, AC1DC
