Contest Expedition to Prince of Wales Island, Alaska

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KL7FF
Contest Expedition to Prince of Wales Island,
Alaska
Paul Kiesel, K7CW
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Why Go to Alaska?

• KL7FNL KL7GLL VE8BY - Late 50s and Early 60s on
  6-Meters
• Exotic DX before days of SSB Fading AM Signals
• K0CERs 1970 Trip to Ketchikan KL7ABR
• Make KL7 Available Lower Latitude Better
  Chance for Sporadic-E
• Increase Weak Signal VHF Awareness in Alaska
  KL7UW Efforts Alaska VHF Up Group

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Location Attributes

• Primary Unblocked Horizon to Canada, United
  States Lower 48 and South Central Alaska
• Reliable Electric Service
• Internet for Accurate Time and Sked Coordination
  Before and After Contest
• Other Facilities Conveniences a Plus

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Search for Location

• Check All Cities and Towns for Unblocked Horizons
  in Necessary Directions
• If None, Check Resorts, Hunting Lodges and
  Vacation Cabins
• SE Alaska Defined by Mountains and Fjords
• Most Land Outside of Towns Totally Undeveloped
  and Roadless or Wilderness

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Need to Get Back from Mountains
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Drucker Cabin

• Near Thorne Bay
• Has All Amenities
• Reasonable Rates
• Has Satellite Internet
• http//www.lodginginnalaska.com/cabin.html
• Tim Teresa Lindseth Very Friendly and Helpful

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Preliminary Trip in May

• Make Sure Cabin Fulfills Requirements for Contest
  Very Important
• Determine What Needs to Be Brought
• Talk to Lindseths About Extra Table, Internet
  Activation
• Find Out Where Ferry Docks Are, Ferry Schedules,
  Waiting times
• Visit Old Ketchikan to Buy XYL Present

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Ketchikan Creek Street
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Ketchikan Creek Street
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Cruise Ship Moored at old town Ketchikan
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Ketchikan Street
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Inter-Island Ferry M/V Prince of Wales
Ketchikan to Hollis
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Haida Way Lodge, Craig, Alaska
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KL0RG
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Inside Drucker Cabin
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Inside Drucker Cabin
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Inside Drucker Cabin
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Inside Drucker Cabin
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Inside Drucker Cabin
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Drucker Cabin Looking South
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Prince of Wales Island in the distance
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1st Tuttle
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Tuttle Way Looking East
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Getting Stuff to the Cabin
Kevin (2m) Paul (6m)

• Transceiver Brick
• Computer
• Mast for Antenna
• Tower Sections for 6-meters
• Coax Cables
• Tools, Adapters, Jumpers, etc.

• Transceiver Amplifier
• 8-Element Yagi
• Tower Top Section and Rotator
• Bring 2-Meter Antenna from WA
• Rope

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Shipping Stuff from Washington

• Amplifier, 6-Meter Antenna and Sundry
  Non-Perishables Shipped via Alaska Marine
  Services Barge from Seattle, WA to Ketchikan.
• Remaining Equipment, Tower Section, Rotator,
  Rope, etc. Packed into Pickup for Trip on Alaska
  Marine Highway Ferry from Bellingham, WA to
  Ketchikan.

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Decision About Land or Sea Route

• Desire to Pass Out Rare Grids to Deserving.
• Driving Time
• Cost of Gas Plus Ferry Prince Rupert
• Cost of AMH Ferry Bellingham - Ketchikan
• Sailing Time
• Compare Ferry Schedules
• Decision Take the Ferry Good Decision

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Bellingham, Washington Terminal
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Bella Bella, British Columbia, Canada
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Dryad Lighthouse near Bella Bella, BC
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K7CW on deck of M/V Malaspina
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Commerce on the Inside Passage. A tug towing a
load of logs
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Observation Lounge M/V Malaspina
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Cruise Ships in Ketchikan Harbor
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Big Salt Lake West side of Prince of Wales
Island
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KL0RG at a USFS rest stop west of Thorne Bay,
Alaska
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K7CW assembling the 6-meter yagi
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The 12 element 2-meter yagi
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Order of Battle
2-Meters Concentrate on Meteor Scatter Skeds.
Watch For Tailenders After Each Sked. Call CQ on
WSJT FSK441a Mode. Watch for WA6KLK for Possible
KL7-W6 Tropo QSO. Use 144.143 for FSK441a and
144.180 for SSB. 6-meters Meteor Scatter Skeds
with 4 Stations. Hope for Sporadic-E. If Not,
Work as Many Stations as Possible via Meteor
Scatter. Check for Aurora. Periodically Rotate
Antenna Towards South Central Alaska, to Pick Up
Possible Callers. Play CW CQ Loop on 50.103 When
Things are Slow. Listen for Callers on That
Frequency. Try to Avoid 50.125, if at all
Possible.
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KL7FF 144 MHz station
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KL0RG operating 2m
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KL7FF 50 MHz station
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K7CW operating 6m station
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All the comforts of home
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CQ Contest from KL7 Fox Fox
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144 MHz Results 16 QSOs in 9 Grid Locators
during the contest, One QSO the day before (1
More Grid). Stations Worked
VE7DAY CO70 FSK441 W7IUV DN07 FSK441 W7MY
DN06 FSK441 W7EME CN85 FSK441 WA7GSK DN13
FSK441 AL2P CO45 FM VA7ISL CN88 FSK441 W7GLF
CN87 FSK441 WA7BBJ CN97 FSK441
K6MBY CN88 FSK441 KF7CQ DN13 FSK441 KD7OWT
CN97 FSK441 VE7BBG CN88 FSK441 KL7UW BP40
FSK441 K7MAC DN13 FSK441 K7ND CN87 SSB VE7SL
CN88 FSK441
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144 MHz Analysis
Left for Alaska with 9 skeds. 2 more skeds made
after arrival. Worked 5 Stations at sked time.
Worked 1 local on FM. 3 skeds not completed 2
of them due partly to stations out of sequence.
Remaining QSOs due to tailending and replies to
CQs. 5 of these had skeds but called early and
completed. 1 SSB meteor scatter QSO attempt was
successful. All 14 FSK441 meteor scatter QSO
attempts were successful! Conclusion Very glad
we decided to do 144 MHz in Contest. Making
FSK441 meteor scatter contacts in the June
Contest is duck soup due to Arietids Meteor
Shower. Need to convince more folks to try this
mode. Next time try 144 MHz EME Using JT65B. Also
have 222 MHz for meteor scatter QSOs on that
band. Need more operators and tighter planning
for this.
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KL7FF 2m Grids Worked
Blue rectangles QSOs in contest Gray rectangle
QSO before contest White rectangle KL7FF QTH
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50 MHz Analysis
We hoped to have Sporadic-E. It essentially
didnt happen. We were blessed with many meteor
scatter contacts. We did have a path across the
Gulf of Alaska which may have been tropo. NL7OW
has been pushing his belief that there is a
consistent path across the Gulf of Alaska.There
was also an interesting path to two stations in
Central Washington State where signals were
consistent and strong as compared to the rest
that we were hearing via meteor scatter at the
same time. Three guesses are sporadic-E,
ionospheric scatter or tropo. More discussion is
needed about this. There was no apparent
aurora. There were four 50 MHz skeds. None were
completed due to lack of propagation. Two were
beyond meteor scatter range. Completed with
two of the stations later. Digital modes were not
used. We had to plan to have sporadic-E which
would not allow time for digital modes. I would
not plan differently next time even though one
cannot guarantee sporadic-E propagation. 50 MHz
got 74 QSOs and 27 grid locators in the contest.
125 total QSOs.
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KL7FF - Grids Worked on 6m
Black dots grids worked in contest Red dots
grids worked next day Yellow dot KL7FF location
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