Transmitter quality - Portable operation.

[GW8IZR]

A number of portable stations on 4m during this weekends NFD 2011 had problems with their transmit quality. It varied from occasional distortion and break up of audio through generic splatter to almost unintelligible transmissions.

One station was struggling for a while being asked for repeats etc. Yet his partners still sent 59 reports with no mention of problems. The station was doing due diligence and asking if his transmission was OK and his partners pretty much all said yes! one even had to ask for a repeat of the question as he was suffering from "interference" !

I told the station in question that they had a problem and that it sounded like RF feedback and waited while they did some tests, they very quickly reported that they found a defective cable and their audio was fine from then on.

Field day activities are often collections of equipment put together with short notice, expect interfacing problems and test accordingly.

So please,

1 - when you hear someone with a problem TELL THEM - just be objective and make sure you can tell the difference between your receiver being overloaded and a real fault.

2 - If you ask for a report on your transmission- make sure you trust your QSO partners answer. If you're in doubt ask someone else as well.

HTH de Paul

[G3PTU]

You mean actually not call "59 QRZ?"!
Its always "5&9 - repeat your name please" in't it?

Steer clear of contests! you might become unpopular.
Just shows you how unprofesional some Stations are.

Lets be honest there's nowt wrong with a report of 4&7 or even 3&5 for that matter.
David g3PTU

[GW8ASD]

You mean actually not call "59 QRZ?"!
Its always "5&9 - repeat your name please" in't it?

Steer clear of contests! you might become unpopular.
Just shows you how unprofesional some Stations are.

Lets be honest there's nowt wrong with a report of 4&7 or even 3&5 for that matter.
David g3PTU

Everyone gets a genuine report from me.
Ranging from 52 to PA6NL, on 23cm, he gave me 52 as well, to 59, PA6NL, on 70cm where he gave me 53.
Often the signal varies considerably between initial contact and getting all the info through.
PI4GN, on 70cm again, gave me 53, on the call in.
I then plunged into QSB and many repeats were needed to complete.
It would have been very confusing if he had changed his report to me.
4M is particularly prone to this.
Stations can be 59 plus, on the call in, only to drop into the noise making completion difficult or, indeed, impossible.
The report is still 59.

Cheers

Tony

[GW8IZR]

To be clear I have absolutely nothing against contests and take part in some. Whilst VHF NFD is a pretty dire event for fixed stations its only one weekend and many get enjoyment from it.

Contest operators particularly on VHF are often relatively new op's or maybe new to VHF contesting / dx operating. It may be the first time they have used SSB or CW on VHF so it would be good if it was a positive experience.

Their understanding of signal reporting may be limited, after all they are probably there for tuition and self training and to help support their club. They may just log RST 49 and not even think about it.

A report of 4 & 9 would therefore only be a useful indicator to the person who eventually submits the log but by that time we have suffered the problem and its too late to correct it.

Just telling the stn they have a problem and being as descriptive as possible should be seen as a positive thing and not an accusation of lack of competence.

I know for sure if I had a problem I'd want to be told, now if it happens when the band is open to N Africa I'll probably fix it *after* the qso. That is meant to be a fairly serious point though, if you only pop on the band to work the dx you are minimising the chances of knowing about and correcting problems. Making "normal" QSO's are an important way of making sure when you press the button it will all work. A portable contest station really needs to do that check when they first set up.