Tonight was the annual event to celebrate the life of our oldest amateur, Harry Angel, VK4HA, who passed away in 1998, aged 106.
The Harry Angel Sprint runs for 106 minutes and is either CW, Voice or a combination of both.
As I know very little CW I had a go at the phone section for the third time. My previous results have been 12th and equal 12th (with VK3SAY).
As with any contest I try and operate away from the noisy environs of home but tonight I couldn’t get the inclination to go out and set a portable antenna in the rain. I had been thinking of putting my 10m squid pole atop of the 7 metre high lookout tower at Koo-Wee-Rup and trying out a 1/4 wave vertical antenna.
However I settled for my 80m/40m trapped dipole at home. The SWR on 80m is poor so I need to replace it.
My activity in the contest was hampered a little by the reduced output of the FT-757 due to the high SWR and a front panel/board fault that make the display go strange which seems to never go away.
Still I was only 2 QSO less than 2008. Perhaps a better antenna would have helped.
If the rain goes away for a few days I might just get on the roof and replace the 80m/40m antenna with a 20m, 40m, 80m trapped dipole.
I had published details of the Sprint to the SRESU mailing list in the hope that some other members would give it a go but I didn’t hear any SRESU on air.
I must say the general noise level on 80m was down on the usual levels but the static crashes made up for it. I think the recent rain we have been having has washed the power lines clean and so has reduced the noise. Even the TV looks better on ABC lately.
73