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| My Yaesu FT-817 and Winkey |
This weekend has seen the Commonwealth Contest 2019. I documented my 2018 attempt on the blog, and was keen to give another go this year.
Last year I used my Icom IC-756 Pro 3 wound back to 5W, but this year decided to use my Yaesu FT-817 for a real QRP approach. I bought a USB lead for it this year to give full computer control with N1MM and decided to use my Winkey for full auto CW .
This year I had a slight change to my antennas. Out went the end fed half wave (with 80 loading coil) and in came a 66ft OCFD with the apex at about 8m. Also new was a quarter wave vertical for 20m, erected for the weekend on a 10m fishing pole - more of that later.
The contest ran from 10am, but at 9.30am I was struggling with the computer and interface. Stupid me forgot to turn off the keyer on the FT817 - duh!. Soon we were under way.
The contest got off to slow start with my 5W struggling to break through. Many stations just couldn’t hear me. The quarter wave vertical for 20m turned out to be a noise magnet - almost S8. I decided to abandon it quite quickly.
After an hour I had a few stations in the log - 5B4AGN (Cyprus) and 9H1CG am (Malta), but nothing better. 3B8XF Mauritius (G3TXF) was audible, but I couldn’t break through. Same with ZF2CA Cayman Islands (both 3B8 and ZF were worked last year).
The afternoon saw Canada romping in and I ended up doing an hour at about 10-11pm, clearing up the UK HQ stations.
Sunday started at about 5.30am and a few more Canadians on 40m were cleared up. I then had a big breakthrough - VK4CT on 40m. It wasn’t easy, as they needed three or four repeats on their serial number, but we got there eventually.
So there you go - 34 QSOs in total, which doesn’t sound much, but I didn’t take part for the full 24 hours and it is HARD work with only 5W. Peter M0RYB, a fellow Norfolk Amateur Radio Club member, cleaned up with 70 QSOs in the QRP section. Must find out his secret!
Note: The FT-817 isn't much of a contesting radio. I found it struggled with a nearby 400W station and also found the 500Hz filter a bit too wide. Might be back to the IC-756 Pro next year.
