2018 ARRL FIELD DAY: W8FD @ Ellas Park:

With DZ-Mike at the helm,  COOKEN    made a return to contesting for the 2018 FD.  It was a true group effort that put two stations on the air, operating from 80-10m as well as 6-2m.  A new end fed  wire for 80-10m plus a windom for the 2nd HF station, and an impressive 2m and 6m pair of yagis  gave W8FD  a solid presence on  those bands.  We managed to operate for  over 16 hours of the 24 hour contest.  As always, a few more operators   would be welcome.

Thanks to everyone who were generous in providing antennas, gear, equipment, generators and  food, as well as help in set up and tear down, and to Eldon for his massaging of multiple logs for submissiion to the ARRL. . 

Hopefully, this   spirit of  adventure and activity can be carried forward to future events.

2014 COOKEN CONTEST ANIMALS:

CQWW 160m Contests ( Jan and Feb):

CW Contest: Fred and Bob  ran 100w. at Brads  FB QTH, and managed 500 QSOs in 24 hrs.  But after a strong start, M. Nature snowed us out of Day 2.

SSB Contest: Brad, Steve, Fred, TIZ-Bob and HKK-Bob put in 32 hours  and racked up  741 Q's, 61 mults, and nearly 98k points this year.  However, the Forces of Nature were again brutal, with   powerful levels of QRN the entire first night, including a blackout at around 10pm Fri, as well as  reduced  activity levels during the 2nd night due to solar eruptions and their after-effects. 

2014 ARRLWW SSB DX Contest ( Mar 1-2):

Up next, this weekend, at Brad's.

2013 CQ WW VHF CONTEST produces a Record Score for WW8OH:

Brad and Bob  operated  this 27 hour ong contest from Brad's QTH,  putting in  c. 18 hours  in as Multi-Op Low Power entry on 2M ssb/cw and 6M ssb/cw.  Tom,  W8TNI assisted on Sat night, and urged us on.

Propagation was - similar to the ARRL VHF Contest in early June - very spotty, with  just two notable openings.  Some say this is not unexpected during solar maximums like the current year.

Sat night  the 6M band was fairly well populated by  weak to fair signals from all over

 0 and 7 land, requiring a diligent combination of  search and pounce and  single frequency CQing to produce a steady string of takers. At about the same time, a small opening into Europe produced two easy contacts with Portugal, and a couple of weak EA8's (heard but not worked)  that barely rose above the noise here at WW8OH.  

Then Sunday morning  NP4A appeared and was nabbed by Brad at around 8:30am.   A few sigs were in and out, until around 10:30 when a  nice one hour opening into FL produced a  steady stream of takers on 50.130, with peak rates of 48 per hour (on a 20 min sample)  and 33 actual qsos during that one hour, before conditions dissipated. 

The rest of the day was slow and we  almost burned out the MFJ CQ Contest voice recorder, with just the occasional taker to show for our effort. 

Meanwhile on 2M, we finished with 35 contacts, many via ducting, with the farthest being  Milwaukee, WI, and Ontario, Canada.  Indiana, IL, WI, NY, PA, MD produced the most contacts, outside of Ohio.  Inside Ohio, Central Ohio and NE Ohio were best represented, as one might expect.

Summary: VHF skills  are developing as only they can be, when you operate a band in contest mode and learn just what is  possible, during good times and bad.  Our 11 el 2M yagi  at 55 ft produced better than expected! 2M is fascinating to listen to during a contest, with signals popping in and out, in spurts.  (Brads  newly acquired IC746 proved excellent for both ssb and cw. This is a very good HF+VHF rig.  And the 6M 5  el M2 yagi at 51 ft is a nicely directional but not too narrow front lobe antenna that worked anyone we could copy.

We have the set up at Brad's to be competitive on VHF.  Very early returns on 3830scores.com put us in 17th place  in NA out of 80 submitted logs. Pretty good for two guys and a truck.  Especially considering that  propagation really favored the Pacific NW, FL and the East Coast this time around. Oh to live on the coast where VHF  openings happen with far greater frequency than here in the midwest.

With the weak signal levels this year, and QSB that produced stations that were here one second and gone the next, we missed out on 30-40 contacts that could not be completed.  Ah ....Life on VHF.

One of these days we will again see the multiple openings of 2010 and 2011, perhaps once the current solar peak has passed. Now with our  quality set up, we are ready, willing, and able to give it a solid GO!

Lessons learned:

1. Use a voice keyer/memory keyer for routine CQing and save your voice for "runs."

2. Always have CW capabilities ready to go on the fly.  We made numerous extra contacts including  Portugal on  cw mode,  with other cw contacts on both 2M and 6M.

3. Headsets are almost necessary when  both stations are in the same room. Brad had a supply of excellent headsets including Heil ( which really are terrific.)

4. Never forget to be ready for the "Final Putsch." It works.

5. Have a band plan. Anticipate openings and be around for them.

6. A good contester  doesnt pull the VHF plug when the band is dead. S/he works thru it with various operating techniques.

2013 CQ WW WPX STORY:

The week didnt look promising.  SSNs dropping. A indices  in the 20s.   Warm WX 
with its  high QRN on Fri night in particular. 
 
DX wasnt that good.  10 was spotty. 15 better but not great.  20-40 were loaded 
with sigs and nowhere to go. 
 
WW8OH ( 500w to a 35 ft high hexxbeam and a 70 ft high  600 ft horizontal loop)  
has been on a quest to score 1000 Q's and 1M points in some contest! ANY 
contest!   So far this year we'd get 600 Q's on Day One, but struggle on Day 
Two, falling short....usually in the mid 800s. We were thinking the WPX could do 
it for us.

WW8OH went on the air with Brad, Kevin and Bob.   
 
Fri was  a steady slog. all night. Heavy QRN  hurt scores on 40-80-160m.    
Saturday  was more of the same....but the QRN was easing.   Around 9 pm Sat 
night we  moved to 40m....and began to work them...1 at a time....then 2 then 3 
then a small pile, then.....stations 10 deep!  We were  logging them  as fast as 
we could.  AC8GX was at the mic.  AC8GI was at the laptop. And I was  listening 
for calls and shouting them out.  Poor AC8GI.  He was getting one call in his 
left ear, and another call in his right ear, and had to  choose which one to go 
with.  Our rates were building (N3FJP software) into the 40s, 50s, 60's, 80's, 
100, 120, 140, and peaking out at 149 Q's per hour per the 20 min adjusted 
number.  We were having a  BALL!.   This went on for FIVE hours.  til  around 2 
am.  Sunday morning.  Loud ones, Weak ones.  In between ones. Mostly Stateside 
sigs.  Bless the West coast. They were ALL on the air in droves.  
 
By the time we broke for sleep Sunday at around 3 am,  we had set club records 
with 1100 Q's and 1M points.  What an amazing run on 40m.  Nearly half of our 
total Q's  had come on 40m! 
 
Sunday at 11am we resumed, but without any super runs.  By 6 pm we were up to 
1300  Qs but our dreams of hitting 1500 was dying.  At 7pm we decided to see if 
40M had another run left in it.  7.240 was quiet...and it began again.  A few, 
then more then another pile up!  We spent the last 55 minutes in ham 
heaven......until at 7:55 we heard a carrier, then music.  A broadcast station 
had  ended it for us......and we finished with 1450 Q's and over 1.5M points.  
COOKEN Club records, from our  QTH in Fairfield County. 
 
PS  80M gave us a nice couple of hours on Sat night, as well,  despite the high 
QRN.  But in order of QSOs, it was 40 by a mile, then 20, 15, 10, 80 and finally 
160m. 
 
It feels GOOD to hear the pile up ...calling YOU!   Guys telling us we owned the 
frequency....were 40 over..... DX worked included  a smattering of good 
ones...Antarctica, VK, ZL, JA, DU, YB, CN2R,  a fair number from the NE coast of 
Brazil,  some really OLD guys in G, EI, GM, F, and SM5.  Guys I remember working 
back in the 60s!  Still going at it, getting a thrill out of contesting.  There 
is hope for all of us! 
 

2013 CQ WW WPX Score:

The COOKEN ARC three man crew sonsisting of Brad, Kevin and Bob with our  500 watt entry/hexxbeam at 35 ft/600 ft horizontal loop at 70 ft produced:

Total QSOS:      1449

Total Score:  1,589,460 BAND     QSOS    

160m        9

80m        87

40m      572

20m      358

15m      385

10m        38

===================        

           1449

RE: 2012 PA QSO PARTY     Final Results are in.

.....and the WW8OH multi-station, multi-op,  100w entry, operating from Brad's QTH, posted yet another all-time club record score, and made a huge showing on the leader boards!

WW8OH finished:  

-#2 overall in the Multi-Op category (running just 100w.)  

-#2 in Fairfield County (K1LT edged us by a nose)  

-#6 overall  in the Club Category  

- and we posted the 6th highest score among ALL entries in ALL categories in the entire contest!

Thanks to Brad for hosting, and to all the folks who made this possible.

 ---------------------------------------------------------

2012 OHIO QSO PARTY Highlights:  

-248 log entries  

-3040 different stations participated  

-88 of 88 Ohio counties were on the air.  

-Hottest bands were 40-80-20-15-10 in that order.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --

Note: This is a one day, 12 hour contest, so planning and manpower are of special  importance. Why not pitch in for the 2013 contest, this coming August? It's Ohio's Biggest Event of the year!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---

Regarding the 2013 Ohio QSO Party:

1. Our #6 finish in the club category was based on just ONE COOKEN log submission.  If we can get  a few more ops to enter the contest  from their home QTH, we can easily move up in the standings come August.

2.WW8OH ran barefoot last year. An amp will help our score considerably next time around. 3.As usual, more ops=more fun. 

Upcoming Operating events:

MARCH:  The 2013 CQ World-Wide WPX Contest - SSB: March 30-31, 2013  

              Starts: 0000 UTC Saturday Ends: 2359 UTC Sunday.  QTH: Brad's in Lancaster.

              WW8OH fires up once more on 10-160m!

APRIL: ARBOR DAY @ Dawes Arboretum.  on a Sat. in late April.

           W8TNX and perhaps some solar power.

JUNE:  ARRL VHF CONTEST   June 8-9 at a site yet to be determined. 

           W8FD is on the air!

JUNE:  ARRL FIELD DAY:  the last weekend in June from Four Churches Farm!  This is

           the biggie, a multi-station, multi-op event of the year.  All hands on deck! 

March 2013  ARRL WW SSB DX CONTEST RESULTS:

WW8OH  finished with an amazing:  887 QSOS - 830,000 POINTS!  (These were all DX stations - NO Canadians, NO continental US.  Pure DX!  And propagation was unsettled with low sunspot numbers.  Go figure!?

Operators  Brad (Host) , Jack and Bob, plus logger Tom put in a HUGE effort,  flirting with 

1000 QSOs and 1 MILLION POINTS until late Sunday, only to fall 1 operator short of its goal.  They left everything they had on the shack floor!  ...plus a little Mongolian Chili!

QSO HIGHLIGHTS:  Clipperton Island - Burkina Faso - The Vatican - Mongolia, and hords of Italians and Spaniards!  How many ops can say they have ever worked those first four QTHs???   Also, MANY 100w. stations are in our logs, as well as power levels of 99w, 88w, 50w, 25w, 5 w. and 3 w.   All on SSB.  Just amazing!

The club HexxBeam (at 35 ft) did a stupendous job on 20-15-10, with hourly rates peaking above 100!

 Notice: Our next effort will be  The WPX SSB Contest in late March. 

PS  This brings  WW8OH's total QSOs in 2013 to  more than 2550 year to date!

Upcoming Cooken Operating Events:

1. This weekend - Feb 22-23-24 beg. 5 pm Fri . WW8OH from Brad's qth:  CQ160M SSB Contest.  Come by and  lend a hand!  Find out what contesting is all about. Run 600 watts of pure power into a 70 ft high  160 meter loop antenna!  Help us make 1000 qsos.

2. March 1-2-3 beg. 7 pm local time. WW8OH from Brad's: qth.   The really big ARRL WW SSB DX Contest is almost here!  Fire up the  hexbeam on 10-15-20m!  Work the loop on 160-80-40m!  600 watts!  World-wide DX begging to talk to us! 

3. April - Arbor Day at Dawes Arboretum - W8TNX - Jack/Mike are  talking with the organizers of this year's really big outdoor social event.  Last year over 50 tents were set up for the various clubs and organizations celebrating Arbor Day.  This year  could well see more.  Remember our guest operator  in 2012 was Bucky the Beaver at the mic!  W8TNX will have at least one station on 40m ssb, using Ralph's  trusty vertical.  A 2m station may also be in order.  And some talk of a digital station too to  show the diversity of ham radio to Arbor Day visitors.   This is a really fun event affording all sorts of opportunities to do things like rope climb to the top of a 100 ft tree! 

4. June  VHF Contest from The Barn! 

5. June ARRL Field Day from  Four Church Farm!

We always need  operators, antenna erectors, loggers, etc.  The more the merrier. 

2013 CQ Worldwide 160 meter CW Contest Results:

As our collective caffeine buzz slowly wears off, following two consecutive all-nighters,  last year's  record breaking score, which produced a 1st Place finish in the State of Ohio,   has been blown away by Fred, Bob, Brad, Jack, Kevin, with Tom and Bo monitoring events during  29 hours of operating at Brad's QTH.  Propagation  both nights was good, not great.

FINAL SCORE:   813 QSOs and 138,846 points, which broke last years record by  over 50%.  Brad's mighty  160m horizontal loop  70 ft up in the trees , powered by  100 watts from an IC-7600 allowed WW8OH to work all US states but Alaska, and 16 foreign countries. The CCA's  ground it out from start to finish, racking up 500 QSOs the first night alone, and another 313 on Day 2.  Club members Eldon, W5UHQ and Steve, N8WL  added to our point total with QSOs from their home QTHs. And even that nasty 4", level 2 snow storm on Friday only delayed   by two hours our ability to  set up and get on the air. So while it cost us some points, it did not prevent  us from making another terrific effort. 

 NOTE: Stay tuned for the  CQWW 160M SSB Contest coming up  in late February!  We are now looking for 2 man teams to work 4 hour shifts, taking turns at the mic and logging. Brad  has promised a linear amplifier to  boost our signal by another 6-8 dBs, and give us a shot at the 1000 QSO mark, and maybe 200,000 points.  For a single band contest, that's one terrific score.  Let's hope conditions  cooperate.   

The 2013 CQ WW 160M CW CONTEST is almost here!

Your defending Ohio State Champion, WW8OH, manned by The COOKEN Contest Animals,  is ready to defend their title as 1st in Ohio, and among the best in the country.  (This year we are trying out  Brad's mighty, 70 ft high, 600 ft  long horizontal loop to see how it compares to last year's 40 ft tall,  quarter wave inverted L,  erected high on a hilltop in SE Licking County, at The Barn.)

WHEN:  Friday Jan 25, beg. 5 pm local time, and ending Sunday, Jan 27,  at 5 pm local time.

WHERE: at the QTH of AC8GX (Brad), in Lancaster, OH.

WHO:  anyone who loves CW and/or  just  wants to  see what contesting is like.

WHY:  Why not?  .......................Sleep? Who needs sleep??????

Remember, this is  essentially a night time contest. Unlike normal man, 160 meters goes to sleep when the sun is up, but really comes alive when the sun goes down! 

All nighters, anyone??

de Bob, W3HKK