Inverted "L" antenna trouble

 During the sweepstakes contest I tried an early morning S & P on 160m but my usual antenna, an Inverted "L" was not tuning at all so I switched to My big 260' dipole and used that one instead. After the contest was over, I decided to try and fix the "L" antenna. This antenna has a coax switch and tuner inside the shack before it changes to RG-8 coax for the run outside to a weatherproof box where it transitions to #12 insulated wire and ground radials. I also have an RG-8 balun inline there too.

 I thought the problem was probably at the box/transition point but decided since the shack is nice and warm to start troubleshooting inside first. I'm glad I did because disconnecting the RG-8 and testing with My analyzer towards the outdoors showed an antenna tuned to 1.810 MHz like designed for. Problem is in the shack so I next put the analyzer inline on the tuner output towards the RG-8 transition. Bingo!! Problem area found and looking closer I realized I still had a temporary jumper of RG-58 from the tuner to the outside feed.I replaced this with a proper jumper and now it tunes just fine. The antenna works and sounds as good as first installed!

 I repaired the jumper on my work bench--bad shield solder connection and added it to My spare jumper collection. I also found my Heil Pro set microphone adapter and did a test to make sure it works. Now I'm ready for the next contest.

73--Tim

ARRL sweepstakes SSB 2021

 This contest started Saturday at 3 pm CST and would end at 9 pm CST Sunday. I never plan for that much chair time -usually 8 hrs or less and this contest was no different. I did attempt to operate early morning-about 5 am on Sunday but was disappointed to find My inverted "L" antenna was not working. My big dipole tuned up okay but the noise level was high but I did manage some contacts on 75m before switching to 40m.

 I was little disappointed to never hear any activity on 10m but luckily 15m had several openings which My vertical ground mounted HF6V performed very well. It also played nice on 40m so between 15 and 40m this is where most of My contacts happened. I've usually found 20m to have a lot of activity but this also seems to be the band with the high powered stations so my little 100w has a difficult time being heard.

 This contest has a long exchange which can be difficult to complete but it also makes it an interesting challenge. One station out west was having a tough time completing my call but then replied the full call of mine with the statement " N0UJJ -thought I should know that call" so we have worked several contests before.--nice!  I also slipped in to work W1AW through a medium pile up.

 I am satisfied with the result for time committed to this contest- 108 QSOs,49 sections for a total of 10,584. Fun time -now I need to fix one antenna and find the adapter for My Heil microphone which I didn't use during this contest.

73--Tim

More camera pictures

Spike buck,possible mountain lion ,wish its tail was shown but its ears look like a previous mountain lion picture caught on same game camera. I included the racoons because I haven't seen 3-4 on the camera before.
 

CQ WW SSB contest 2021

 I had several issues with software and equipment which kept Me from participating in the RTTY part of this contest in September so I was anxious for the October SSB contest. I updated N1MM logger and also made sure My TSQL certificate for LOTW was also up to date. My equipment is My old standby Yaesu FT-950 at 100w into a Butternut HF-6v ground mounted vertical for 40,20 and 15m and a 10m mono bander at 25 feet for 10m. 

   I started this contest at 0000 UTC but only was able to operate for a while before Our kids showed up. We haven't had a chance to catch up on their work life and other subjects so after a very enjoyable several hours it also was time for shut eye for Me. I would have on and off times thru the weekend to contest and luckily conditions were good with 15m and 10m open most of the contest.

  I soon decided 10m was My band of choice- a directional horizontal antenna in the air offered a more enjoyable contest effort. My vertical antenna has good ears but for most of the contest it was a struggle to be heard. It might be because of high powered stations at the far end and My small 100w signal return to try to make contact but a bean and 10m propagation levels the playing field.

 Sunday found me trying to fill in some easy north american zones on 40m and other bands which get forgotten during the DX zone chasing. I don't think any new DXCC were added and I missed several like South Africa I heard but couldn't break the pileups but that was okay.Maybe next time. I ended with 117 contacts,33 zones between the bands worked for a score of 26,292. 

  I'm looking forward to the ARRL 10m contest in December and hope propagation is as good as it was this weekend.

73--Tim