Results, March 2009 WSJT Sprint
=========================

March Sprint by the numbers:

Top score, 2m Only: Mike WB2FKO, 2,393 miles
Top score, 6m Only: Bob K2DRH, 16,409 miles
Top score, Combined: Tip WA5UFH, 10,870 miles
Top score, all classes: Bob K2DRH, 16,409 miles

Most Qs, 2m Only: Mike WB2FKO, 3 Qs
Most Qs, 6m Only: Bob K2DRH, 22 Qs
Most Qs, Combined: Tip WA5UFH, 13 Qs
Most Qs, all classes: Bob K2DRH, 22 Qs

Best DX, 2m Only: Mike WB2FKO (with NØPB, no entry), 851 miles
Best DX, 6m Only: Bob K2DRH and Jim W6OUU, 1,240 miles
Best DX, Combined: Tip WA5UFH (with Don KE7NR, no entry), 962 miles
Best DX, all classes: Bob K2DRH and Jim W6OUU, 1,240 miles

Number of logs received: 19 (down from 27 in Feb)
Number of calls reported as worked: 42 (up from 36 in Feb)
Total QSOs reported: 125 (down from 137 in Feb)
Total of all scores reported: 65,980 (up from 42,212 in Feb)
Average score per entry: 4,738 (up from 3,500 in Feb)
Average distance per QSO: 720 (up from 690 in Feb)

While the number of log entries was sharply down, almost every other parameter
of activity was UP! Activity overall was higher than in February, but with
more stations who made points declining to send in a log.


2 Meters Only Class -- 2 entries

Only two 2-meter entries this month, and Mike WB2FKO (3 Qs, 2,393 miles)
easily took top honors. Dan VE2DSB had 1 Q at 271 miles.

WB2FKO   3   2393
VE2DSB   1   271


6 Meters Only Class -- 13 entries

After finishing a humiliating second to yours truly (Bill W5WVO) last month
:-), Bob K2DRH blew away the 6-meter field with a winning score of 16,409
miles on 22 Qs. WVO (14 Qs, 9,990 miles) barely squeaked past John W5UWB (11
Qs, 9,865 miles) to take second place. DRH and Jim W6OUU also had the best DX
of the morning with their 1,240-mile Q.

K2DRH   22   16,409
W5WVO   14   9,990
W5UWB   11   9,865
N3LL   8   7,679
W9SE   7   4,862
W6OUU   4,578
W3RGA   5   3,355
KØRDF   3   2,367
KD7UO   6   2,326
VE3CDX/W7   3   1,919
AJ8P   3   1,167
WB3BEL   1   735
KA3BPN   1   728


Combined Class (2m + 6m) -- 4 entries

Once again, Tip WA5UFH easily outpaced the competition in this category,
scoring a top 10,870 miles on 13 Qs, nearly an identical performance to last
month's 11,044 miles on 13 Qs. Talk about consistency! Jim KS7S narrowly took
second place in Combined with 4,164 miles on 7 Qs.

WA5UFH   13   10,870
KS7S   7   4,164
N8RA   5   3,660
KC6ZWT   4   2,691


SOAPBOX:

Tip WA5UFH: Ok same number of Qs but some different stations worked. Made a
few contacts from calling CQ. Got a few requests from guys wanting to include
222MHz into the Sprints via email. Might be good to include 222MHz to promote
activity and encourage others. Hoping for better conditions in April for two
meters operators.

John W5UWB: I mentioned to Tip that perhaps we could include 222? I was hoping
that it might encourage more gents to try our "forgotten" band! You could also
think about giving a mileage multiplier of 2 for any 222 QSO's. Pings on 222
are much shorter than 144 and it is harder to complete up there. Needless to
say I have completed with N0PB when he was running less than 15w - took a few
tries and a lot of luck!! Running here Flex-Radio 5000A, pr. of 3cx800 and 6
el at 65' on 6M today.

Chet N8RA: It was good to back on with WSJT after a long absence due to taking
care of an elder parent, and then rotator problems. I really liked the
free-for-all nature of this contest.  This was an excellent excuse for
reconfiguring the station for VHF after doing a few HF contests here earlier
this year. 2M was quite dead, I heard a nibble to my CQ's there at one point,
but did not get enough pings after that to even catch the call. Heard more
than I could worked on 6M- seemed like lots of activity there.

Dan VE2DSB: A very dry rock's sprint here in FN35, only one QSO done. Let hope
in april with new shower it will be better on 2 meter. Heard WE9Y and try to
call him with no success.

Jim W6OUU: Conditions were not good for me.  N/S path was off.  E/W seemed to
be a little better.  We need to score this thing by time zone like the WSJT
contests for obvious reasons. No way will a station in the west ever have a
chance to win without scoring by time zone. Do the math. Nice to see the
activity.

John W9SE: ATTN NEWBIES.  I SAW TWO STNS ON PING JOCKEY WHO MADE COMMENTS
ABOUT SIGNAL LEVELS DURING THE QSO.  THIS IS A NO NO PER INSTRUCTIONS WHICH
CAN BE SEEN ON THE PING JOCKEY PAGE.

Harry WB3BEL: These sprints seem much harder to work randoms.  I operated the
Feb sprint all four hours and worked no one.  At least in the March session I
worked a station so I could submit a log.  Things are looking up!

Al WA4EWV: I heard VE2DSB at 12:05Z sending TX1 with both of our calls. I sent
TX2 until 12:30. During that time I heard / saw ZERO pings. I stopped and QRT.
The weather was really bad, and I lowered the antennas to prevent damage from
the high winds and hard rain. As I type (April 1) the third frontal system has
finally passed. Lots of rain and wind!

Jim KS7S: Activity down this month, at least in this part of the world,
resulting in about 1300 fewer points.  As I stated last month, I do not care
for the format of this activity - it is just a "schedule-fest" which I can do
Monday through Friday of any week. Hardly anybody calls CQ on the calling
frequencies, and you can't tail end anyone because they have moved off to
their next arranged contact before they hear you calling.  I would much prefer
a more "random hour-like" activity, possibly akin to an unassisted NAHSMS
contest-like activity, perhaps with some consideration given to those living
in the meteor scatter Black Hole west of 110°W longitude.  OK, enough bitchin -
thanks to Bill for organizing and handling the reporting of this event.

Barry VE3CDX/W7:
By no means a killer score. I did hear N0PB, KD7UO and K5LA as well as others
BUT the big issue was they were obviously running skeds and didn't stay on the
frequency after. I stayed pretty much on .260 calling CQ without any takers
except those noted above. I know the rules say using PJ is allowed but what I
missed I guess is the notice saying the use of PJ is mandatory if you want to
work as many stations as possible. As I said I found very very few stations
calling CQ - at least stations within my MS range. I didn't try to make any
skeds on PJ by the way so perhaps that is my undoing. As you are well aware
there is not the activity level in this part of the country as there is in the
Midwest and eastern areas. This creates a huge imbalance in terms of scores.
Not unlike any of the major VHF/UHF contests. Perhaps to level the playing a
bit would be to break the scores down by time zone as is done in the NAHSMS
contest. That way at least stations are competing on a more equal basis. And
perhaps have a small multiplier for random contacts as opposed to those made
by skeds. Turn the sprint into a true sprint rather than a sked contest.

COMMENT from W5WVO: As most of you know -- at least those of you who belong to
the WSJT Yahoo! group -- I have proposed some scoring changes that will,
barring outraged outcries from the group, address Jim's and Barry's concerns
in the April Sprint -- plus a wrinkle or two of my own.

----- Original Message -----

From: Bill W5WVO

To: [WSJT]

Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 4:21 PM

Subject: [wsjtgroup] Proposed scoring changes for the April WSJT Sprint

Hello WSJTers,

 

There are still a few more hours for WSJT March Sprint participants to send in their reports to me. If you haven't yet done this (and there are MANY of you out there!), please do so. So far, the number of entrants is down from 27 in February to only 19 so far for March. Though the overall level of activity remained high in the March Sprint (42 unique calls reported versus 36 in February), the number of reports has not kept up a similar pace. You can't have much of a contest if people don't send in their logs!

 

Now to the business at hand.

 

As a result of feedback from a number of stations in the western US, I'm proposing the following scoring changes for the April Sprint. Comments are solicited.

 

(1) Random contacts will have a multiplier of x2. In addition to calling or answering a CQ, any contact resulting from tail-ending a station who is ending a QSO (whether random or PJ-scheduled) is considered a random contact for both the calling station and the called station. Therefore, listening for tail-enders before moving off frequency is to an operator's advantage as it could result in a x2 multiplier for the resulting contact.

 

Score reporting would change because you will need to break down your contacts according to whether they are Random or Assisted, and then multiply the Random contacts mileage x2. Because of this multiplier and the bonus points described in (3) below, the final score is now POINTS, not MILES. (But the points are very much mileage-derived.)

 

Separate score groupings for Random-only and Assisted-only will NOT be broken out. Too much granularity for a 4-hour Sprint.

 

(2) Final scores will be divided up into Eastern NA and Western NA (Eastern/Central time zones versus Mountain/Pacific time zones). Breaking down into four time zones would result in too much granularity for a 4-hour Sprint.

 

(3) The two stations who complete the Sprint's longest-distance QSO will be awarded a Best DX bonus of 750 points (on average, the value of an additional assisted QSO).

 

I think creating the x2 random multiplier AND retaining the mileage-based scoring system AND adding the Best DX Bonus creates a compelling strategic tension between Random and Assisted contacts. Do you agree, or disagree? Let me know.

 

Bill W5WVO

----- Original Message -----

From: Bill W5WVO

To: [WSJT]

Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 10:17 AM

Subject: [wsjtgroup] WSJT crashing in JT6M mode

I'm running WSJT 5.9.7.r383. I installed it on my XP laptop in February. Today I noticed that when I try to run JT6M, Windows shuts it down it after a short period of trying to transmit. (The exact period before crashing varies, but is never more than two transmit periods, typically occurring somewhere during the second transmit sequence.) . The problem does not occur on any other transmission mode, just JT6M.

 

I started closing things down to try to see if there was some misbehaving app that was causing the problem, but it persists even with no other applications running. (There are of course still various background applets and services running, but none of these is new as far as I know.)

 

I went back in my log and found a QSO from a month ago where I ran JT6M on this same setup, so something has happened. Don't know what it is. Has anyone else ever seen this? You get the Windows error box "WSJT6.EXE has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." Yeah, me too.

 

I'm wondering if going to WSJT 7 might be a quick and dirty fix for this problem, and I may try that if nothing materializes in the way of a fix with version 6.

 

Bill W5WVO

 

 

Just an observation.  I didn't see any reference to power associated
with the results of the Sprint.  Since we are a weak signal oriented
group, why not list the results as "miles/milli-watt".  Has a nice ring
to it..
Rik, KU4PY

----- Original Message -----

From: Al

To: [WSJT] ; Bill W5WVO

Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 9:51 AM

Subject: Re: [wsjtgroup] WSJT crashing in JT6M mode

Bill:

The first thing I would do is upgrade to version 7. That may solve all of your problems.

Al

wa4ewv

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Bill W5WVO

To: [WSJT]

Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 10:17 AM

Subject: [wsjtgroup] WSJT crashing in JT6M mode

I'm running WSJT 5.9.7.r383. I installed it on my XP laptop in February. Today I noticed that when I try to run JT6M, Windows shuts it down it after a short period of trying to transmit. (The exact period before crashing varies, but is never more than two transmit periods, typically occurring somewhere during the second transmit sequence.) . The problem does not occur on any other transmission mode, just JT6M.

 

I started closing things down to try to see if there was some misbehaving app that was causing the problem, but it persists even with no other applications running. (There are of course still various background applets and services running, but none of these is new as far as I know.)

 

I went back in my log and found a QSO from a month ago where I ran JT6M on this same setup, so something has happened. Don't know what it is. Has anyone else ever seen this? You get the Windows error box "WSJT6.EXE has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." Yeah, me too.

 

I'm wondering if going to WSJT 7 might be a quick and dirty fix for this problem, and I may try that if nothing materializes in the way of a fix with version 6.

 

Bill W5WVO

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: wsjtgroup@yahoogroups.com [mailto:wsjtgroup@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Al
Sent: Saturday, March 28, 2009 10:33 AM
To: dhassall@...; WSJT GROUP
Cc: moon-net@...
Subject: Re: [wsjtgroup] Notebook Computers!

Hello All:

The question that I was asked was referring to the Atom processor. (not Celeron)

My battery life with the HD is a 4 hours and 15 minutes with a full charge. I have not timed it, but that is what the screen tells me. I doubt it really lasts that long - especially with the screen illuminated.

If you are going to encumber your NETbook with memory sticks and the like, you might as well get the HD. That way if you want to upgrade to XP pro, you will be able to do it. I don't know if you noticed, but it also has a slot for the SD memory (it acts as a drive).

It only has one internal slot for memory, so I removed the 1gb and replaced it with 2gb.

 

73,

Al

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: David R. Hassall

To: WSJT GROUP

Sent: Friday, March 27, 2009 8:52 PM

Subject: [wsjtgroup] Notebook Computers!

Dear Gang!   

 

 

I did go over to best buy today and look at some of the mini net notbook computers today.

Mostly a kick the tires visit.  I left my credit card and check book at home.   There were

Asus eeepc900's  (the one without the hard disk but did have windows XP home)  The

solid state hard disk was only 16GB which seems like a lot but with the software load

they give you there was only about 10gb left.   Battery life was only about 3 hours on any

of the three.  A couple of stick drives and you could have more than enough space. 

There was a nicer HP one that had a better display screen.  but it also was about $70

more.  The Asus eeepc900's had celeron processors but the HP had an atom. 

Think I will sit on my hands a bit and save up my money.   I would still like a 6M linear

and some other stuff and all of it costs more money these days.  

 

73 Dave

David R. Hassall WA5DJJ
Email: dhassall@zianet.com
Website: http://www.zianet.com/dhassall/

 

PingJockey Central is not down, however, there was a major and unexpected
network change that took place at the hosting site yesterday that has
caused it's IP address to change.

You may need to restart your web browser or even reboot your PC if is has
cached the old address.

73  Chris Cox, N0UK  email: chrisc@... or chrisc@...
                                               or chris@...
   Home Page: http://WWW.BritishCarAndDriver.Com   http://www.pingjockey.net

   Don't Believe Everything You Think.

Is the Pingjockey page down or do i have a problem? Been that way for 24+ hours now. Ed n5jeh

David R. Hassall WA5DJJ
Email: dhassall@...
Website: http://www.zianet.com/dhassall/

PRICE REDUCED - I picked up a new amp that covers 160m-6m, so my converted
AL-80B six meter monobander is up for sale. It runs well and puts out over a
kilowatt with 70 watts drive. The final is an Amperex 3-500Z. Wired for 240v,
can also be used with 120v. Amp has two cross-needle meters to monitor voltage,
current, and forward and reflected power output. May be keyed as soon as it is
turned on, no warm-up required. Weighs 48 lbs (22 kg). $950 plus shipping, local
pickup welcome. Would consider a trade for a working 160m-70cm rig (FT-857,
FT-897, IC-706MKIIG, etc) plus cash, or even trade for IC-7000, or possibly
another HF rig.
73, Bill NZ5N
Plantation, FL
billdz.geo at yahoo.com
phone: 954-600-5693

PRICE REDUCED - I picked up a new amp that covers 160m-6m, so my converted
AL-80B six meter monobander is up for sale. It runs well and puts out over a
kilowatt with 70 watts drive. The final is an Amperex 3-500Z. Wired for 240v,
can also be used with 120v. Amp has two cross-needle meters to monitor voltage,
current, and forward and reflected power output. May be keyed as soon as it is
turned on, no warm-up required. Weighs 48 lbs (22 kg). $950 plus shipping, local
pickup welcome. Would consider a trade for a working 160m-70cm rig (FT-857,
FT-897, IC-706MKIIG, etc) plus cash, or even trade for IC-7000, or possibly
another HF rig.
73, Bill NZ5N
Plantation, FL
billdz.geo at yahoo.com
phone: 954-600-5693

PRICE REDUCED - I picked up a new amp that covers 160m-6m, so my converted
AL-80B six meter monobander is up for sale. It runs well and puts out over a
kilowatt with 70 watts drive. The final is an Amperex 3-500Z. Wired for 240v,
can also be used with 120v. Amp has two cross-needle meters to monitor voltage,
current, and forward and reflected power output. May be keyed as soon as it is
turned on, no warm-up required. Weighs 48 lbs (22 kg). $950 plus shipping, local
pickup welcome. Would consider a trade for a working 160m-70cm rig (FT-857,
FT-897, IC-706MKIIG, etc) plus cash, or even trade for IC-7000, or possibly
another HF rig.
73, Bill NZ5N
Plantation, FL
billdz.geo at yahoo.com
phone: 954-600-5693

I recently purchased a Samsung NC10 netbook and have been trying to make it work with WSJT.   The problem I’m having is that the SpecJT display appears to contain large noise spikes randomly, although occurring very often, distributed across the 30 seconds and when it transfers to WSJT6 decode window, it decodes a lot of gibberish.  The noise spikes are large enough to cause the Rx noise level display to jump around by a dB or 2.  The netbook has only a microphone input and headphones output and I’m using isolation transformers on both.  I tried an attenuator on the microphone input, but that didn’t make any difference.  I’ve tried 2 radios and they both act the same.  I suspect that the processor just can’t keep up, but I have adjusted the application priority up to realtime and that made no detectable difference.  The tone generation and transmit path seem to work fine.  My next step is to try a newer laptop, but I wondered if anyone has any ideas or suggestions?  I’m going to be doing some grid expeditions this spring and summer and the netbook would be much nicer to use.

 

Thanks and 73,

Bud  N7CW

-- Vy 73 de OZ1PIF/5Q2M, Peter
** CW: Who? Me? You must be joking!! **
email: peter(no-spam-filler)@frenning.dk
http://www.frenning.dk/oz1pif.htm
Ph. +45 4619 3239
Snailmail:
Peter Frenning
Ternevej 23
DK-4130 Viby Sj.
Denmark
***********************************

Sorry for the gap in the reports, but I'm not receiving many reports from
you ping jockeys out there!  I would like reports from all stations
participating in Sunday Random Hour, no matter where you are located!

Contacts are via FSK441, unless otherwise noted. You may see some JT65B
contacts listed, as several of us out west have been experimenting with
other modes for ionoscatter and troposcatter.


RH Report for Sunday, March 22, 2009:

6M:

WA5UFH:
WKD: AA9MY
HRD: W5WSR (Local)
CNR: KE7NR

W6OUU:
WKD: VE3CDX/W7

KS7S: (Trip to DN71 - not QRV)

2M: No Reports

Soapbox:

W6OUU: "Conditions seemed off again Sunday morning"


RH Report for Sunday, March 29, 2009: (burnout from Sprint?)

6M:

KS7S:
WKD: VE3CDX/W7

2M: No Reports


RH Report for Sunday, April 5, 2009:

6M:

VE6CPP:
WKD: K0RI

W6OUU:
WKD: W7MEM, W0IOH

VE3CDX/W7:
WKD: KE7NR/P, KI7AB, W5WVO, K7MAC, W7CE, W7MEM, W0IOH
HRD: WA7HQD, K7RNT

KS7S:
WKD: K0RI, K7MAC
HRD: W5WVO, VE3CDX/W7, K5LA, KI7AB
CNR: KE7NR/P

2M:

W6OUU:
WKD: K0RI, KS7S

KS7S:
WKD: W6OUU


Remember, Sunday Random Hour runs from 5AM-9AM local time, both bands
simultaneously - "pick your poison" and have fun!

Keep those reports coming - Jim KS7S

OK, if we assume that I am using WSJT correctly in JT65A mode (humor me on this
one, I am a newbie), and I had several decodes earlier today on 20 meters…I go
to 40 meters and call CQ on 7076.  I see a signal responding on the same DF on
SpecJT, but I cannot decode.

The signal is fairly strong, but there are  a lot of static crashes.  I triple
checked DF, offset, etc. just like I did for 20 meters.

If it is static that is the problem, how can I fight it other than turning on NB
and narrowing the TOL?  I have a TS570, maybe I should shift the IF or decrease
the HIGH DSP SLOPE?

Mark Lunday
WD4ELG
wd4elg@...
http://wd4elg.net

Let's say I am using JT65A and I make a bozo/rookie mistake (see: ht
tp://www.obriensweb.com/bozoguidejt65a.htm)

Like let's say I go to answer a CQ, and 15 seconds into my transmission I
realize my TxDF is at ZERO because I FORGOT to click on it to set it equal to
the Freeze DF of -300 Hz.  What happens if I stop the transmission, click on
TxDF to get the proper offset, and restart the transmission all in the same
transmission period?  How much of the transmission period contains unique versus
repeat data?  Is JT65A resending the same data several times during the period,
or does it take the entire period to get through?


On another topic, can someone explain what Freeze and Freeze DF REALLY mean?


Thanks

Mark Lunday
WD4ELG
wd4elg@...
http://wd4elg.net

OK, I do not (yet) have a station like the big guns.  But I am making progress
with HSMS.

Question – could there be decodeable FSK441 signals on 6 meters that I could be
missing, but I could hear if I added a preamp on the mast?  Is there that
marginal a difference in strength that a pre-amp will make non-decodeable (or
undetected) signals suddenly pop out of the noise?  Is it analogous to other
signals that will be detected better with preamps?  Or with HSMS is that
analysis invalid?

Mark Lunday
WD4ELG
wd4elg@...
http://wd4elg.net

Random Hour started in NA on January 25,2003. Since that beginning stations
making random contacts during the activity period submitted there contacts
and they were compiled into a Summary Report and published on two
reflectors. The Summary Report reflected the Random Activity and helped
showcase what HSMS operators accomplish on a Saturday or Sunday morning when
the band was dead. What has been left out of this equation are the many
contacts completed by arranged schedules during that same time. In the
future all completed and attempted contacts will be accepted for the Report
to provide a 'more' complete picture.

1. Reports for Saturday go to David WA5DJJ at dhassall@... . Sunday
reports go to ks7s@...
2. Reports should be submitted ASAP after your morning fun.
3. Reports should indicate if contacts were Random or Scheduled.
4. Stations Called With no Reply or Failed schedules should be submitted
also and any comments that relate to the activity / conditions.

Remember the report provides valuable information documenting what is
possible with HSMS. The report is posted on two reflectors at this time.
(The
WSJTGROUP and Digital On Six Group) We would like to get the report out to
other VHF groups to maybe interest new stations. If you can take the time to
submit your activity it would be appreciated.

Thanks

WSJTGROUP Moderators:
VE3CDX W6OUU N5SIX WA3LTB WA5UFH KS7S WA5DJJ K2TXB

There is a new Activity Period for six meter operators in NA using JT65B. It
is scheduled to start on Friday nights May 1st 2009. For those members of
this group that are interested you can get more information at
http://www.ykc.com/wa5ufh/DOS/index.html .

Thanks
WA5UFH