CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW
Call: K8AAV
Operator(s): K8AAV
Station: K8AAV
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: OH
Operating Time (hrs): 27.3
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 606 State/Prov = 51 Countries = 9 Total Score = 84,600
Club: North Coast Contesters
Comments:
For several years I had been a high power guy. After moving from the antenna
farm to a duplex in a noisy industrial area in town, I thought there wasn’t
much point. But, I actually had fun and did so much better than I would have
expected with only a wire in the pines and 100 watts. My unofficial tally was
just over 600 Qs in the 2017 CQ WW 160 CW. Once the band got going with NA in
the dark, I was astonished at my reach with low power. I managed to log Europe,
Africa, the Caribbean, South America and the entire west coast. Wow! No AK or
HI, but eventually I worked 45 states and six provinces! Long hours of running
with low rates were rewarded with late multipliers like ND and NV. (Thanks!)
But how could I miss NE, SD, WY, SK and MB? There were 160 meter stations
there, right? Local noise and middling conditions may have made a lot of Qs
impossible. But, “search and pounce later” was my way of getting those 10
pointers, going back after the high power pileup was gone. (By the way, guys…
the lack of a strong signal on a frequency doesn’t mean it's time to just
start calling CQ. Some of us are listening and waiting to call the DX, or WA,
from the 160 meter black hole in the Midwest. Or was that the 6 meter black
hole? Anyway, even a weak signal means the frequency is in use, does it not?)
Aside from a few rude ops, most contestants were ‘Gentlemen of Top Band.’
Thanks to them all, for the contacts, and for listening first.
PS What makes the biggest difference in an s6 noise situation? For those who
may not know, first you have to forget about the reading on the s-meter. Then,
very precise adjustment of the RF Gain control lets you to pull stations out of
the noise and make hundreds of contacts. When used correctly, a superior radio
can hear past the noise. This time, a trusty old IC-765 did just that for me.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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