WES Results

I really enjoy the Boat Anchor WES, and especially liked the twist on the them this year. Saturday night conditions were great here, with 20m past midnight. Also worked 15m and 40m. Got a record, for me, 9 fellow Missouri Outlaws in 10 QSOs, Thank you gentlemen!

Kenwood TS 520s

31' ground mounted Vertical

Vibroplex Original, 1957

WES's are always fun. Plenty of time to be able to work a few around the thunderstorms, this time.

The early part of the WES went very well. The latter part was pretty tough. Band conditions were not favorable at all. QSB was sometimes very fast and deep. Overall I had a great time and almost all ops sent their tube counts. I seemed to work a lot of solid state rigs and most tube counts were very low. Did copy a 23 and a 21 tube rigs. Thanks to all for a good WES and the patience of the few I pestered with multiple repeats. 73 de Gil NG7IL

This time of year is hard for me to participate in WES...too many other things going on, such as family reunions. Did make a few QSO's, mostly Sunday afternoon. Hope to see you all next WES. Until then, 73.

Very high noise level here combined with using a ground floor balcony mounted short vertical made for not many stations heard. Thanks to everyone who worked me. Rest assured that your signals must have been great, because I was nearly deaf with S-9+ QRN. At any rate, it was still fun as usual.

All 20 meters with 5 watts and dipole in the attic. Tough, but fun!

Lots of fun, as usual. Condx Sunday afternoon really up and down! 40 and 7 the only effective bands. From my CT QTH I worked numerous western states and only one New England. See you at Field Day? K1LEE is our club GOTA station, but not CW, I'm afraid. CU next Sprintathon.

I didn't run QRP on this one, but went QRO with 50w from a IC-7200 into a Butternut vertical. Kent Straight Key. Nice WES as always.

Ran my IC7000 at 75 watts into a ground mounted 14AVQ this weekend. Experienced high noise levels and severe QSB at times, some QSB most of the time, conditions weren't too smashing. Nice to work a couple of you that were obviously using all tube rigs, from the total count, I assume modulator tubes are included. I need to get into gear and get one of my vintage rigs in good operating condition.

Rig: K3, 5watts, dipole on 40m 2 el yagi on 20, Speed-X bug. Electrical storm produced QRN otherwise condx okay.

73, Joe, K4NVJ

Well, I'm here on vaction in Florida from my home QTH in Arizona ! Brought the KX3, s/n 45 along with the Buddipole Vertical.

Only got to work the WES a very short time this afternoon ! But at least got three contacts, conditions were not great at all for me here in Bradenton, FL. Seemed to be a lot of QRM !

Still had a good time, thou short, seems like too much to do on vacation. Didn't get a lot of radio time in like I thought I would ! Thanks to my contacts, and looking forward to next month again !! 73 de sunny and humid Florida........Ed

Many thanks to all of you who spiffed up the boat anchors and put them on the air -- and to those who kept those BA ops busy! By my limited count, W3NP was at or near the record for this run: 39 tubes in his rigs. If this has piqued your interest in the mighty "valves," comb the hamfests between now and next June for your shack warmers/bonus-point makers! ;-)

Seemed like there were not that many stations on, but the band must have been good, since I got CT & France!

Enjoyed the WES especially working now as a new "T"

Another fun sprint made most contacts on 20 with 5 watts

tnx to everyone who could hear me . Tom WA4ZOF

I don`t know how to describe this sprint. Made a lot of contacts but some I can`t explain.Worked KO1U on 10m ,he was an "S" zero from Mass.,then WA8SZT popped my earfones at 40 over 9 frrom Ohio.Some weird propagation.

Sat. nite my Kenwood ts830s went belly up in a puff of smoke after 49 qso`s,it stunk the house up for a while ,good thing XYL was sound asleep hihi.Finished the sprint with the IC746,sure quicker on band changes. N5LUL,Brad, if u seemed to not be heard your xmit sig was just a squeak in the corner of my wide filter when first heard,with the narrow in I wud have never heard u.Hope u didn`t miss too many Q`s . Sorry that Kare YU7AE also lost a boat anchor rig to smoke loss! GL with repair Kare.

Thanks everyone who answers my CQ and apologies to the ones I fail to copy. 73 all C U* next time Mark KI0I

Started out rockbound using my Globe Chief 90 and the Hammarlund HQ110, Then Sunday morning I made a couple modifications to the Chief and also one to the Globe 755 VFO which added 4 more tubes to the count. I figured that there would be more op's looking for the bonus points but maybe my signals were to weak. This event inspired me to complete the about project that I have never seemed to get around to. As always, it was a great time. 73, Kieth wi0s 2048t

Made 5 contacts with the TS830s with no CW filters. one on 6m at 5 watts. Only had time for a couple of hours early sunday morning. Didn't get a single Missouri Outlaw this time.

I really enjoyed the theme and bonus structure for this WES. I put my Kenwood TS-830S hybrid on the air (only 3 tubes). I forgot how much I enjoyed working with that radio in contests.

It was a delight to hear some of the true boat anchors and their distinctive sounds. The most distinctive was Joe (KA4WJB) who nearly moved out of my bandwidth with each key down. Even on CW those old boat anchors have a much richer sound that the solid state radios. I loved it! Thanks to all the members who put their vintage gear on the air.

High points of the WES for me were working Philippe (F5JWH) and Kare (YU7AE) for the first time and hearing all of that sweet boat anchor CW. Low point was pinching my hand in my push up pole when a section slipped while I was setting up for late night 20m EU. I limped through a few European QSOs with it bleeding and then had to go tend it. That finished the WES for me.

73, Brian

I had a very enjoyable time running my Johnson Viking Ranger transmitter with the Johnson Electronic TR switch along with my Collins 75A4 receiver. Ran about 45-50 watts output on 40, 20, and my lone 15 meter contact with F6HKA. Total tube count was 39, except for Saturday eve when I was using my outboard Hallicrafters HA-5 VFO for 43 tubes, but the inboard VFO on my reworked Ranger did just fine after warm-up. I usually use the HA-5 for the Eico 720, Heathkit AT-1, and the DX-40. Last year I used all of them tuned to different bands, but this year, I just retuned the Ranger for each band change. I only worked a few stations that were running many or any tubes. The setup worked FB with no problems (See the AC line voltage meter reading 110 volts - I always keep my BA's on a variac). The key for the entire event was my 1915 Vibroplex which has become my favorite bug. This exercise made me appreciate how easy it is to work stations with the modern rigs - no zero beating, switches to throw, monitor gain to set, etc. But, I think I enjoyed ham radio better 50 years ago when it took more effort. Band condx were less than stellar here. This was my first SKCC event since operating as a K3Y op where I ran more than 5 watts. Had a great time and am looking forward to the next BA event.

Darn, got in late on this months WES. Only made a few contacts. Hope to be fully active next month.

first time participant.

Enjoyed it very much.

Didn't understand the /T (tube) modifier until I worked Van, W7IEX, and he took the time to straighten me out, appreciate it!!

Give him a few extra points for me, hi!

Looking forward to the next event!

Thanks to all - Paul

FT1000MP, Alpha 78, 1 KW, TH6DXX. Very busy with other activities, but thanks for the QSOs. Hope to be more QRV next month. 73, John, K4BAI.

Used the Norcal 40A at 1 watt and had a ball !!! Got my good buddy Curt , WA2JSG for my first QSO (usually he sneaks in 2 min before the end) Also got Pete , W1PNS and Drew AF2Z for good measure !!! Used the TS 450 for a freq counter but did use it once at 1 watt for Bert , F6HKA at 1 watt on 15 meters. Dean , NW2K crippled my speaker at 599 + 40db ... hihi

Used the GHD mini straight key for half and the 100th Anniversary Bug for the other .... LOVE THIS CLUB !!!!

First WES for club. Conditions varied a lot during the day. Made good progress towards Centurion. Operator: W1LIC

Great sprint. Lots of good contacts on 40, 20, 17 & 15 meters I was planning on using my Hammarlund receiver for a hybrid operation with my Yaesu transceiver, but could never seem to get the two in sync, so I gave up and just went zero tubes. Hopefully, I will have a full vintage station by the next boatanchor event. Looking forward to the next time.

73, Bill - W4CUX

Excellent sprint. Bands a little rough for me, but had a blast anyway using my trusty old Les Logan Speed-X Model 501 bug. My TS-440 was getting a little warm during the busy times. Thanks to all and cu next time. 73

Seems like contacts came in spurts. Spent plenty time calling "CQ" with no reply. Every move brought a few Qs and then it dried up. Spent more time in S & P mode this time.

K2HT "Dick" brings to mind my youth at Christmas. I spent lots of time waiting for Santa to come but always fell asleep before he got there. Dick was going to be on 160 Mtr at 4:30 a.m. local time. I waited and waited but fell asleep before the apointed time. Later in the Sprint I think I "stepped" on K2HT as he was trying to make a contact. I can't explain myself except to say my doting aged mind thought he was finished..... and he was just starting. I am now sure that I will get nothing for Christmas this year .... again. I apologize Dick.

A Salute to all worked MO Outlaw ops, KI0I, N0UMP, WD0ECO, WB0PYF, W0DE, and N3PDT.

Thanks to all I contacted, was a good time on the air.

73

Zero beating, tweaking the plate current, transmit switch.. Oh me. But it was fun.

Harvey Wells T_90, Drake 2B w/2-AQ. QSOs on three bands.

This weekend also was the VHF contest and my new MFJ 9406 and HyGain 4 el Yagi were hard at work picking up many new states and gridsquares I had never even heard before today.

As far as Colorado and New Brunswick on 8 Watts!

Too bad my TS520 is in pieces waiting for a few new parts, could have had 3 tubes to report instead of Zero.

I had a good picture but can't scale it to fit the requirements.

Work and other commitments limited my time to just a couple of hours so I decided to see how many I could work with QRPp.I used my TS-130V. Thanks to those that pulled my 900mw out of the noise. Ray

A great time again even with some periods of bands being almost closed... I worked my friend Rick, K7CHS on 5 bands.

CU next month

A very nice event. Alternated between 2 keys and a bug to allow them time to cool off. :-) SKCC has a really good group of folks and events like this are a real pleasure to participate in.

I got on for a few hours Sunday afternoon... It was good to be back on; these were my first HF contacts since April 9th! Thanks to all! I found 20 meters best around here.

4 QSOs during the last 30 minutes are better than none.

IC-7000 @50W to end-fed wire. ChiCom Army key.

This key is a beast ... knocked it off the operating desk onto my bare foot this morning and I'm still limping. I'm convinced that if a Chinese army commo post were overrun and the radio op's AK ran out of ammo, he just unplugs the key from the radio ... wraps the cord around his hand ... and goes down swinging.

Hello All, Thanks for nice Qsos this Wes, great fun with my TS 830S and Beam Mostley Pro 67B, with Vibroplex Champion.

Hope to see you soon. Best 73's Philippe

Vy nice activity, using my old FT901DM, on 6m plus TT 1208 8w transverter, 2 el.Quad for 20/15/10m and 3 band 6m/VHF/UHF MV2000 vertical for 6m, power is 100w on HF and 8w on 6m. Key is Vibroplex Presentation bug. At 16:15z I heard two bangs, and white smoke came out from the FT901dm, since all the devices work on the white smoke, my FT901dm is no longer working. Two electrolytic have exploded and broke the pcb. Thanks for all for nice QSOs, my best BA is GW3OQK Andrew with T27! 73 to the next WES or SKSE.

My first Weekend Sprint, it was fun. I started with my TS-830s but it experienced trouble so I had to switch over to my TS-590s. I was also trying my Vizkey camelback key for the first time - I'm still trying to get comfortable with it. Bob, AK4LP

Got some time to play CW and was fun. Still nothing on 10m though. Can't wait for that band to open up ! Key used was a Navy A.P.7681 with the great serial number 2182. HI

73. John / G0RDO / SKCC 2133T

Nice as always, see you next time

Stefano

IZ3NVR - KD2BGM

http://digilander.libero.it/iz3nvr

Very busy weekend, but at least found time to get on and make one QSO. Maybe more time next month.

Well, another enjoyable WES. Too bad the bands have been so poor, or was it the old Heathkit HR-1680 receiver I was using. The DX-60B had some problem later switching out of transmit, so I missed some calls initially. I stuck with this combination the entire Sprint. Saturday night was the best here for conditions. For the record, I tried sending my log but I''m having a terrible time with Microsoft Vista. Thanks to all and 73.

Had a really great time with this. I wish I could have kept my boat anchors running. Very challenging. Being new by a little over 2 months as a ham I find this hobby very addicting. Hope to get better at this.

Interesting sprint. Gave my new Begali Blade straight key, that I picked up at Dayton last month, a workout. Didn't hear anyone on 10 or 6 meters here, at least when I checked those bands. Rig is K3 @ 100 watts. Antennas are 4BTV on roof, 102' doublet @ 15', and 20 meter dipole @ 20'. Looking forward to the next sprint. See you on the air. 73, Art in Mantua, OH

Great sprint with sufficient time to operate and good band conditions.

It was fun. I didn't spend all that much time on the air due to other time commitments. Didn't contact any true "boat anchors" but a few hybrids similar to my own. Most radios were solid state. TKS to all who contacted me. 73, Rick 9293

Had fun as usual! Highest member worked: 9379..Nice to meet you Clyde!Summer is here, so it is hard to camp out in the shack...K2 at 100 watts with a Begali Spark.

Until next time,,de Scott 73

Another pleasant event was this "tube SKCC WES", with 69 tubes contacted for me, hi ! Unfortunately, no tube BA on my side.

It was a pleasure to have a participation in my 30th WES.

I contacted two more SKCC members on the "magic band" : S57WJ and OK5NN. Just one hour before I started my WES participation, I contacted three US station on 6 m, sorry not to have found a few SKCC members there !

Many thanks for all SKCC friends contacted and I hope o meet you all soon !

73 from France !

Arrived home from trip to Drag Boat races in southern Missouri

Had time for a few great contacts, K6HTN, F5DE, AA3FD, & KI0I

I enjoy seeing all the comments from everyone. FYI: I had installed an IC-706MKIIG in my friends vehicle to operate portable if we had time...very busy NO time...

The pix is "Speed Sports Special Top Fuel", my friends son is driver

73 CU Rick

All stations semed to be on the same freq

Valley of the Moon Amateur Radio Club was operating from Sonoma Skypark where once a month the local pilot's association takes kids for airplane rides! When I get to operate (W1EJ #1594) I plug in straight key and use the club SKCC number. Roaring aircraft nearby present a challenge when earphones are not used.

Seemed like a good turnout for this sprint and quite a few less familiar (to me) callsigns. Sorry if I missed any weak ones- wasn't wearing headphones.

Worked some high-count boat anchors including Chas W9SAY, Jake N3FU and Dave W3NP. No tube rigs at my QTH, except a HQ-180 rcvr that needs re-capping; maybe could use it next time in combo with my K3 as transmitter...

I recorded all my contacts so if anyone wants audio of our QSOs, let me know.

My rig: Elecraft K3 running 10 watts; 100 ft wire up 30 ft; Junker straight key.

Split time between home and club(#7953), both great fun.

Saw the Easterners posting about 10M but never heard anything on 10 here.

Thanks for the contest. Lots of QSB and QRN. A few loud signals but mostly weak one. I didn't spend much time on the contest, I was putting down some carpet in the living room.

Had a great time with WES. I dug out my old and slightly chirpy Heathkit HW-16 from the closet. Lots of good signal reports with less than 50 watts. I used a Nye Viking Master key. Brought back memories of my novice days.

ka4wjb

The CONDX were bad to USA. I made QSO with F6HKA on 5 different bands including 6m. The other "multibanders" were F5DE and YU7AE.

73 and CU in next one!

I used TX on right, Murphy 618 35w. RX to its left Rees Mace 619. Both ex Royal Navy 1950s with 27 thermionic valves! Nato key. Condx poor to NA so only worked 4 EUs.

On left is the famous WW2 Bomber Command T1154 & R1155 in working order.

Had a great time this weekend using the Heath DX60B and HR10B... both "clean, one owner's" I built in the early mid 70's.

Another nice CW party despite weird cndx

No "BA rig" to play, just undust a "BA SK" for a while...

Thanks all for the Q´s, BCNU 73 Walt - ..-

TA33 - 70W - SK Siemens Bros + HM DSK

Had a lot of fun this weekend. Spent most of my time on 20m, and made a couple QSOs on 40m. Picked up a lot of new numbers toward the Centurion award. Thanks to all for the contacts and 73!

New SKCC logger is really nice. Down loaded and ran perfectly. I was able to export all QSOs to HRD for LOTW upload. Very Nice!

Thanks for another enjoyable event. 200 watts this time.

73/Jim/K4AOA

When I sent Jerry/T32, I got many requests to repeat. Yes, my all hallicrafters station uses 32 tubes! The HT32 uses 20 and the SX 100 uses 12. The HT 32 delivers a solid 100 watts and has good stability and keying. Cosmetically it is in sad shape though. But, it cost $675.00 in 1958 dollars and was not a cheap rig! I tried my best to zero beat your signal. Sorry to the weak signals, there were a few that I just could not pull out. No break in on this rig but I do have one switch T/R control. It was wonderful to put the old gear on the air. The warmth and smell of vintage takes me back to my youth! Enjoyed meeting many of you at Dayton. 73 to all.

This WES made me sorry that over the past 20 years I sold off all my tube gear. The only one I still have is the Kenwood TL922A, only problem is that now it's too heavy for me to carry it up the stairs to the shack.

Gee, thanks Murphy! Elmac AF-67 & PMR-7 all checked out and ready to go. Couple of hours before start time, hear loud "thud" in back yard. Run upstairs to see neighbor's Pine tree flat on ground in sordid relationship with what used to be my antenna. Anybody want some fat-lighter kindling?

See you guys and gals next month.

Warmed up the TS 520 and Ameco MK4 and had a blast. Of my 35 contacts only 4 other op's had any tube rigs. Thanks Dave W3NP for 2 bands and lots of tubes Hi Hi. Thanks to the orginizers for another fun event.

Fun event. Wished I had put it on my calendar. Only worked the last couple hours this time. Lost of stations heard.

Fun WES as usual. Conditions were up and down here in Texas. Pulled out my old Vibroplex Champion bug with the "poor mans" bug tamer and gave it a couple tries. Bug tamer worked fine.. problem was with the operator! Maybe next time. Thanks everybody!

73's

Russ

Lots of fun (again!). My XYL Cori and I on a road trip to run counties for the HF county hunters. The WES occurred as we were in the tri-state region of MD, VA, and WV, so I wound up using all three states as my SPC identifier. Hopefully, this didn't confuse anyone. All my contacts made on Saturday night (LT) were while we were in a motel parking lot in MD. But everything on Sunday was made while we were on the road, so the road bumps - especially in the WV mountains - made for some interesting dit-dah combos!

Drifting and chirpy signals and signals with hum reminded me of the good old days. I used a bug for the first time in a sprint, an Electric Specialty from Cedar Rapids, IA. I also worked MO Outlaws Ray WB0PYF and Doug N3PDT for the first time. Special thanks to Dave W3NP for 43 tubes, Chas W9SAY for 21, and Kieth WI0S for 16. 73.

I was camping with the family at Perrot State Park and was primarily working 6M in the VHF contest but popped down to the HF bands and worked a couple SKCC Sprinters. Also worked a bunch of JT-65, PSK, and RTTY contacts on HF over the course of Saturday in between family activities.

Another fun WES. QRP at 5 watts.Thanks to Bert F6HKA and Phil F5JWH for pulling my weak signal out on 15 meters.I worked phil up on 21.115,the new proposed SKCC freq.Thanks to all who worked me es hope to see you all next time. God Bless, And Best 72 From WV. Ron

Very poor conditions here. Only one contact using tubes. Still good fun though.

A great WES! Storms shut me down for Sun afternoon, but I'm very happy with my results. Thanks to all who gave me their nrs. Kurt

I love WES events. Had a great time.

Thanks to all that participated. I had a great time.

73's

Carl

Wish I could have used the tube rig for this one, but it just wasn't ready to go - next time!

There never seems to be enough time on air, but even the few exchanges I managed to make were fun.

Not much luck on 40 meters but 20 got hot fast on Sunday morning. Had a blast. CUL

73's Allen

Having some ant. issues and a problem with the computer monitor blocking signals on 20m. Didn't stop me from having fun though. Worked some of my fellow MO Outlaws and a lot of great SKCC ops from all around. 73 and cul..Bill

Arrived home Sunday evening, 3 June, from a vacation*, and check email to find this month's theme: Boat Anchors! I've been using this Heathkit SB-300/SB-400 pair since I was a novice--bought them almost functional at a hamfest. Worked great until halfway through April WES, I get an RST of '595 ripple'. B+ supply capacitor finally went. Kept putting off repair...then, with less than a week until June 2012 WES, I ordered parts**. They arrived Friday, got them installed late Saturday. Hope the T23 bonus was as much fun to receive as it was to send!

73 de AA2FD, Bob

*included visit to TenTec - Checked out the Eagle: can have paddles plugged in back, and straight key in place of mic PTT.

**also ordered footswitch...will there be a QLF theme in the future?

Only got to work this Sprintathon on Sat evening. Had a few Q's on 20 and about the same number on 40. Hope to have more time next month. Rigs were DSW-20 and DSW-40, both 3 watters. 73 til next time, Peter

i did not know about the boad anchor catagory, and i did not write down the number after the stations name. my fault for not reading the rules. was ono vacation with my trusty HW16 and did not knwo ahead of time about the sprint

I sure enjoyed the Boat Anchor theme. The 'ole shack got pretty warm with 21 tubes running!

Thanks for the fun everyone!

I was only able to put in 1hr or so Saturday night and came home too late Sunday from lunch at my Son's. So 2 Qso's is all I managed. Thanks to those 2. Brion

I was operating portable while camping at North Pole, Alaska (www.riverviewrvpark.net/) and worked one station, that being Craig, K7VM. I was running 100 watts on battery from my Yaesu 857D and my Buddipole set up as a vertical attached to the ladder located on the rear of our travel trailer. I heard a few other stations but an incoming thunderstorm had me disassemble my portable set-up almost as quickly as I had put it up.

73s from Montana

Hallicrafters SR-160 to endfed at 33 feet. Forgot to count the tubes in the powersupply..... Thanks for putting up with the chirps and clicks...funnest rst was 448c hi hi

Only got to play for an hour or so.

73 for now,

Randy_KB4QQJ

Tried out SKCC Logger, worked fine, thanks Ron