2011 ARRL SSB Rookie Roundup Sunday April 17th

[KE5ZRT]

The band conditions were extremely terrible for most of the contest. I made 9 contacts in the first 4 hours, and most of my contacts were within the last 1 hour. Out of my 51 total contacts in the Rookie Roundup, I worked 18 states and 2 countries (US & Canada), for 68 contact points and 21 multipliers resulting in a total score of 1428. I am real curious to see how I rated against the rest of WTX, and I am even more curious to see how many other operators from WTX submitted results. The magic smoke released itself from my z100 auto-tuner at the beginning of the contest and a friend from down the street saved the day by loaning me his MFJ manual tuner. I didn't have any experience with a manual tuner before the contest, but I figured it out pretty quickly thanks to a quick tutorial by my friend.

Also, the RF problems I was having before were no longer present when using the manual tuner. I was able to operate the full 100 watts without any feedback over my speaker while operating on 20 meters, which is where I made most of my contacts. I think the problem was my tuner all along. Considering the poor band conditions, my toasted and smoked equipment hurdles, and the fact that I am only using 100 watts on a simple hamstick antenna, I am fairly happy with my results in this 6 hour contest. I am looking forward to getting my 4 band, stacked, hamstick dipole antenna built <http://ac0ok.net/projects/f3bhsd/index.htm> . It will give me a little directionality and better performance considering my lack of any real estate here in the RV park for a beam, a wire or a ground mounted vertical. I used www.InTheLog.com <http://www.inthelog.com/> for logging software. I don't know if you are aware of how it works, but it is an online logger that you can use a your primary contact log or as an online back up to your other logging software. It worked well, except the one time I was working a pile-up and the RV park Wi-Fi had a glitch and I had to resort to paper logs on a 3x5 card temporarily until the planets could align to make my WiFi operational again. After a considerable amount of swearing and hammer swinging, I was able to export my contest logs in ADIF format and import them into my N3FJP Amateur Contact log. A couple of locals, K5BZH and W5MJM found me on 20 meters and it was cool to get them both in the log! All in all, this was a fun and laid-back contest, and I look forward to the next one. I am really enjoying contesting, and I hope to hear you on the air soon.

73 y'all

[Andy N1ORK]

Chris,
I also used the online log, but when I tried to import into ACLog, I could only get the first contact in. You need to tell me how you did it. I can manually copy them in (only 7 RR QSOs), but it would be good to know for the future.
Thanks!

[KE5ZRT]

Originally Posted by Andy N1ORK

Chris,
I also used the online log, but when I tried to import into ACLog, I could only get the first contact in. You need to tell me how you did it. I can manually copy them in (only 7 RR QSOs), but it would be good to know for the future.
Thanks!

I had the exact same problem.

1. Log in to InTheLog.com and select the "My Logs" tab
2. Click the "Export ADIF" button
3. The "Save File" button is defaulted. Change this to "Open With" and select NOTEPAD from the drop down menu
4. Once the file is opened, Click on FILE in the upper left menu bar
5. Click on SAVE AS
6. The file should by YOURCALL_NONE_2011.ADI change this to YOURCALL_NONE_2011.ADIF and select ok
7. Now go back to your general logging software such as AC Log from N3FJP.com and try importing the file. It should work much better for you.
   

I almost gave up and manually entered all of my contacts too. I don't know what made me think to change the file name, but it workked after trying about 8 different ways to export the log. I did contact the software developer for InTheLog.com for a resolution, and even though they did respond the next day, I had already figured out the problem and solution.

Thanks for asking Andy.

[Andy N1ORK]

Thanks Chris I'll have to try it.
73

[W0AVE]

The bands were not great but good enough to get 148 total contacts including 32 states and 3 countries. Posted score was 5888.

I only have a Yaesu FT897 (100 watts) going to a GAP Titan vertical at 35'. Not bad for my small station.

2nd year for me participating in th Rookie Roundup. Always a lot of fun!