ARRL 160-Meter Contest
Call: K6XN
Operator(s): K6XN
Station: K6XN
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: SV
Operating Time (hrs): 16
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 472 Sections = 73 Countries = 1 Total Score = 70,966
Club: Northern California Contest Club
Comments:
This is the first time I have been able to make it up to our cabin since 2008 to
operate in the 160M CW contest. Every year since 2008 I have been blocked by
high snow levels. Our cabin is located at 5000 feet on top of a mountain/ridge
line in Nevada County in the middle of a forest. No neighbors, no paved roads,
no commercial power, no commercial water…just a beautiful forest in basically
a wilderness area and lots of deer, rattle snacks, a few bears and large
trout…if you know where to fish.
The 4 ½ hour trip from the Bay Area up to the Sierra in the Jeep was
uneventful except for rain and a few wind gusts until I hit the Forest service
*dirt* fire road for the final 2 1/2 mile drive using 4 wheel drive from
Highway 20 to our main gate to the property. Lots of mud, fallen tree limbs and
several monster “mud lakes” but I made it in OK until after I passed through
our main gate. Two trees had fallen across the main road on our property during
the recent storms up there….so I hiked to the cabin…pulled out a chain
saw…returned…and cleared the road. It is approximately a quarter mile from
our gate to the cabin….and after getting the chain saw and clearing the road
I was one out of shape pooped old fart. By the time I was able to get to the
cabin with the Jeep Friday night…..after driving 4 ½ hours to get to the
gate…and another hour and a half chain sawing and clearing the road…it was
dark, cold and the contest had already been on for several hours. I set up the
generators and the station equipment as fast as I could, checked out our 546
foot horizontal loop we have suspended up 60 to 75 feet in the air using large
pine trees (9 of them for support) and engaged in the contest. I was amazed at
how well I could hear just about everybody. Wow! My noise level was close to
zero up there and almost everything I could hear was R5 +/- QRM. I soon
figured out that I could hear better than I could be heard. Friday night I was
running 500 +/- Watts and made 160 QSOs. Saturday I switched out our 500W Icom
IC-2KL linear and substituted a beloved antique Alpha 76PA linear amplifier.
The Alpha easily put out 1500 Watts but required that I run two Honda EU2000i
generators in parallel for “full legal limit” …so I cut the power down to
800W +/- and one generator handled this power level OK. It turns out that the
move to the Alpha made all the difference and resulted in an additional 312
QSOs for a total of 472 QSOs including the last two States on 160M I needed for
completing 160M WAS. I am one happy but pooped old fart. Lots of fun. I learned
a lot.
Thanks for all the QSOs and for a great weekend! I love this hobby! 73, Ted,
K6XN rookie.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|