Month: September 2014

CQ WPX 2014 log check

Got the log check results from CQ WPX 2014 in my email today. Out of my 77 QSOs, 4 of them got busted (1 incorrect call, 3 incorrect exchanges) leaving me with 73 QSOs and a score of 13510. On the other side, 3 stations copied my exchange incorrectly. Not as good compared to last year’s CQ WPX. I’ll just have to keep at it to get better, right?

************************** Summary ***************************

      77 Claimed QSO before checking (does not include duplicates)
      73 Final   QSO after  checking reductions

     202 Claimed QSO points
     193 Final   QSO points

      73 Claimed mults
      70 Final   mults

   14746 Claimed score
   13510 Final   score
   -8.4% Score reduction

    5.2% Error Rate based on claimed and final qso counts
       0 (0.0%) duplicates (without penalty)
       1 (1.3%) calls copied incorrectly
       3 (3.9%) exchanges copied incorrectly
       0 (0.0%) not in log
       0 (0.0%) calls unique to this log only (not removed)

********************** Results By Band ***********************

            Band   QSO   QPts  Mult

   Claimed  160M     0      0      
   Final    160M     0      0      

   Claimed   80M     0      0      
   Final     80M     0      0      

   Claimed   40M     4      4      
   Final     40M     4      4      

   Claimed   20M     2      6      
   Final     20M     2      6      

   Claimed   15M     5     11      
   Final     15M     3      7      

   Claimed   10M    66    181      
   Final     10M    64    176      

  Claimed    All    77    202    73  Score    14746
  Final      All    73    193    70  Score    13510

*********************** Incorrect call ***********************

28625 PH 2014-03-30 1826 AB4UG           18 NY6Y          1623 correct     NY6N        

*************** Incorrect Exchange Information ***************

21447 PH 2014-03-29 1748 AB4UG            1 NE5D          0034 correct  934
28581 PH 2014-03-30 1920 AB4UG           48 9A73P         5718 correct 5708
21235 PH 2014-03-30 2118 AB4UG           70 US5D          3354 correct 2354

********************** Lost Multipliers **********************

21447 PH 2014-03-29 1748 AB4UG            1 NE5D          0034 correct 934        
28625 PH 2014-03-30 1826 AB4UG           18 NY6Y          1623 correct NY6N       
28581 PH 2014-03-30 1920 AB4UG           48 9A73P         5718 correct 5708       

************************ Multipliers *************************

     5E5     8P5     9A5     AD5     CT1
      D4     DA2     DQ8      E7     E77
     EA3     EC1     ED1     ED5     EI7
     EI9      F5      G5     HA1     HA6
     HG1     HG7     HK1      I0     IB9
     II2     II4     II9     IK2     IT9
     IY1     IZ5     J42     KB3     KP4
     LO5     LT7     LZ9      N9     NP2
     OA4     OL4     OT5     PJ2     PW5
     S50     S51     S52     S54     S55
     S57     SN2     SN8     US5     VA5
     VC6     VK4     VP2     WB2     WG3
     WP2     WP4     WX3     XE1     XE2
     YP0     YS1     YT0     YT5     YV4


********* Stations Copying Your Exchange Incorrectly**********

28647 PH 2014-03-29 1810 EC1DBO        1452 AB4UG         0009  should be 5 
28000 PH 2014-03-30 1844 US5D          2168 AB4UG          123  should be 23 
28340 PH 2014-03-30 2019 YS1YS          987 AB4UG         0051  should be 61

Experiments in cutting PCB material

My thoughts have been turning towards earning some XP in various circuit assembling techniques (<- an excellent article written by Chuck Adams/K7QO), namely ugly construction and Manhattan style.

For the circuit platform, copper clad PCB needs to be cut to an appropriate size. A circuit that only takes up 25 cm2 doesn’t need to be built on a 100 cm2 board unless you’re planning for future expansion.

In addition, for Manhattan style, I need some pads. A hole punch or nibbling tool is commonly used to create circular pads out of copper clad PCB. I haven’t acquired any of the MeSquares that Dave/AA7EE prefers yet, nor have I added a hole punch or nibbling tool to the tools on the bench yet. I have a tin snip and a Dremel with some cutting wheels, so off I went to the workbench to experiment with what I had on hand.

Dave/AA7EE posted a nice tutorial describing how he cuts PCB material using a sharp utility knife. That was the first technique I tried.

I took one of the smaller pieces of copper clad PCB from the box I ordered earlier in the year and clamped it to the workbench. Using one of my utility knives, I made 3-4 cuts using a fair bit of pressure on the blade. Then I clamped it in the vise and with a bit of force, was able to break off the piece I had scored. I only scored one side, but it seemed to work pretty well. There were some sharp copper edges on the unscored side, so scoring both sides seems to be the way to go. Cutting through the copper was pretty hard on the blades, and I can see how you could go through a bunch of blades if doing it this way. Blades are pretty inexpensive though. For cutting larger pieces of PCB, this is probably the way to go.

Next were the tin snips, basically big beefy scissors. They cut through the PCB with a little bit of effort, but it’s hard to make longer cuts with them because the tin snips are kind of stubby. For any cuts longer than 3-4 cm, the PCB ended up getting bent out of shape from the snips. I was able to take a strip of PCB (cut using the scoring technique) and use the snips to cut off some island-sized pieces of PCB. For small cuts, the snips worked pretty well. For large cuts, not so much.

Finally it was the Dremel’s turn. With the PCB clamped to the table, the cutting wheel easily scored the PCB, but without a guide cutting a straight line takes a bit of practice. The cutting wheel cut through the PCB material pretty easily too, although the wheel got eaten up pretty quickly in the process. A good bit of dust was created too, so wearing some kind of mask would definitely be in order. I think for cutting or scoring PCBs, I’ll skip the Dremel. Cutting wheels are significantly more expensive than utility knife blades, and copper and fiberglass dust probably isn’t something I want floating around the workshop anyway.

For now, I’ll work on practicing and refining my skills using the scoring method and the tin snips for cutting pads while I save a few dollars to get a decent hole punch. I suspect I’ll end up doing a combination of hole punched and MeSquares for Manhattan islands in the future.