ARRL 160-Meter Contest
Call: K3ZM
Operator(s): K3ZM
Station: K3ZM
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Virginia
Operating Time (hrs): 36
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 1736 Sections = 79 Countries = 60 Total Score = 640,234
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
Special thanks to Hudson Valley Towers for putting up all the upper sections of
my new tower. They do good, careful work and I highly recommend them. Thanks
also to AD4J for helping erect the first 60 feet of the tower and laying
radials.
Friday evening went very well with higher rates to North America, but it was
tough to dig out the EU stations down here. Last year, I had 300 EU contacts
at bedtime and only 202 this year. There was only mild QRN, but signal levels
were down and there was much QSB. Nonetheless, I had about 40 more QSOs in the
log Saturday morning vs. the prior year, even though the score was much lower.
Saturday evening was not any better. I had a fine EU run at sunset, but it was
hard for me to establish a good run frequency later on Saturday evening and we
had a period of bad QRN that coincided with much of the EU sunrise, making it
almost impossible to copy the EU stations that were calling me. This was
profoundly embarrassing. Still, I rallied and made a total of 366 EU QSOs
versus 433 last year under decidedly worse conditions overall.
I was pleased to come so close to last year's score with propagation that was
much worse than last year.
This contest is much less fun from the DX side as I learned at V47ZM in 2004.
We are grateful for the DX stations who call in and help us have a fun contest
on our end. It was nice to get called by two JA's on Sunday morning and one on
Saturday morning. No VK or ZL, however. I never heard A65BP. One highlight
was getting called by Franz Joseph Land. I guess I got them before their
sunrise!
It looks as though the tide has turned for those of us in the southern states.
All this Fall, I have noticed very deep QSB on EU stations. During casual
operating, I can come back to a EU station who is S7 on the meter, give him my
report and name, etc., and then when I turn it over to him, he's gone!
73,
Peter K3ZM
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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