The idea of participating in at least some way in the 1st subregional has been gnawing at me for a long time. Since I'm "preparing for exams", I used the opportunity to broadcast under the supervision of an amateur - namely my father OM3WAO, who let go of the two-meter and himself concentrated only on the seventy.
Týždeň pred contestom otec oznamuje: „DL7KM-ka na sedemdesiatku stratila zisk a nemá ani okruh!“. Tá je umiestnená na spoločnom stožiari s rovnakým typom antény na 2m. Čo urobiť? Pokúsiť sa vyliezť na strmú strechu v zime? Alebo dať na provizórny stožiar prichystanú yagi?
The weather was wonderful, so the "crazy" are climbing on the roof again. We lower the mast, measure, inspect... The antenna circuit has.... We tighten the joints, insulate, raise the mast - a little thing for an hour.
On Wednesday, the sky is still like from the commercial. But the first symptoms indicate that I will have to quickly take some product from an advertisement against the flu. I'm already grinding my teeth in the evening. It still flashes through my head that I will definitely be put down by a muscle in a sled...
Štvrtok je ale zlý. V piatok som si hovoril, že horšie už ani nemôže byť. Chyba – môže! V sobotu ma „zatlo v krku“, hlavu nemôžem zdvihnúť… Ale moja túžba po contestingu je väčšia! Pol hodinu pred contestom sa zdá byť všetko pripravené (pardon – s výnimkou mňa): TR-751E, DL7KM on a manually operated mast and a laptop with the Locator running.
At three o'clock our time, I start searching for stations. Absolute silence. That my watch is wrongly set? No, at 144.339 the 9A7D from the JN95CI is at the noise limit. That would be 450 km... Still to do. Unfortunately, it didn't work. But where are the others?
All signals barely move the S-meter. According to the ohmmeter, the antenna is OK. We are transferring cables to an older device. It's not better there either. He will beat me! Antenna! But the converters are doing well. We return to the 751, I search the band.... No one anywhere...
I take an hour break, and in a mood below the point of absolute zero I "sniff" the TV. I can't do it - at least one thing, really at least one thing QSO after all I have to do! I return to the device and find HA6KVC/P. I say: "Oscar Mexico Three Whiskey Alfa Oscar" and he responds! In a few seconds the QSO is home…
Po ďalšej prestávke nachádzam slabý signál HA5KDQ/P. Takmer presne na tejto frekvencii ide veľmi pekne OM3KDX/P – stiahnem ho ešte troška nižšie a dostávam poradové číslo 10. Na to, že contest beží už viac ako dve a pol hodiny je to málo.
Ten večer som sa síce vrátil ešte k zariadeniu dvakrát a v nedeľu raz, ale žiadne QSO som už neurobil. Možnosti prečo sú takéto: nikomu sa nechcelo na kóty kvôli zhoršujúcemu sa počasiu, domácki založení ľudia dali prednosť ARRL DX Contestu, VHF radio amateurs died out or I'm deaf as a log…. Hey guys, where have you been?
Underlined and totaled: 283 points. I think that it will be extremely difficult for the competitors to overcome this result (meaning get fewer points)... I did what I could and what was in my power, unfortunately it didn't work out better - for me. Maybe next time…