CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW
Call: W0GG
Operator(s): W0GG K8FC K9BWI K7TD
Station: W0GG
Class: Multi-Op HP
QTH: CO
Operating Time (hrs):
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 1077 State/Prov = 60 Countries = 33 Total Score = 281,232
Club: Pikes Peak DX Group
Comments:
Operating at an elevation of 8800 ft in the mountains 20 miles west of Pikes
Peak Colorado the team of Tom W0GG,Joe K8FC,Dick K9BWI and Terry K7TD
operated at W0GG's QTH. As usual we started way to late in the day on Friday
barely achieving setup at contest time. We are always well prepared but never
sure for what !
Our intentions were to fly a balloon for the main radiator and we decided on a
1/4 wave ground plane configuration. We started out on Friday afternoon erecting
a 48' vertical mast to anchor the base of the wire antennas as well as provide a
elevated support for the ground plane radials. We had our moments walking the
mast up to vertical as the weather was freezing and the ground was covered with
snow. The final antenna consisted of an 8' diameter weather balloon trailing a
1/4 wave of wire.
Wind played havoc during both nights moving the "vertical" to near horizontal at
times. We lost the first balloon to a tree top and had to resort to a backup
the next day. This necessitated many trips outdoors with a spot light to keep an
eye on the high flying adventures of the remaining sky hook. Is this what
happens when you try to fly a balloon in the middle of the woods ?
On the receive side, we constructed three 680' Beverages (SW,NW and NE) and they
proved to be our salvation for the entire weekend. The in-shack beverages,
however, caused considerable QRM and occasional keying problems. The QRN and
QSB was extremely bad at times and without the aid of these low noise antennas
we could not have achieved our score from this traditionally contact deficient
location.
Overall, we are very pleased with the final score....best yet from this
location. Thanks to all the folks who gave us a contact.
The W0GG team.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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