ARRL 160-Meter Contest - 2020
Call: K1DG
Operator(s): K1DG
Station: N1LI
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Long Island, Maine
Operating Time (hrs): 9
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 1059 Sections = 76 Countries = 39 Total Score = 310,843
Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club
Comments:
Twas the year of the virus as all of us know
The Maine governor told would-be visitors NO.
When the travel ban ended, without hesitation
I went to the island to check out my station.
I got there and what I first saw was a bummer
My 160 antenna had not made it to summer.
One element’s radials were broken I found
That’s easy to fix without leaving the ground.
The other was broken and needed repair
And meant I would have to go up in the air.
I threaded a sturdy new rope through the pulley
And tossed down the wire to stretch it out fully.
The other end over the tree had to go
It’s easy when there isn’t 2 feet of snow.
Slingshot and sinker on fishing line tied,
I pulled it way back and then gave it a ride.
Over the branch it went then it came down,
Now I was in business and going to town.
Next the twine, then the rope, then connected the wire,
Tied it together and hoisted it higher.
The RigExpert said I was low in the tuning,
Cut off a foot and was done with the pruning.
The Beverages next – one was broke at the end
That one took only a minute to mend.
The other one had fallen right to the ground
The dead tree that had held it had finally been downed.
I managed to free it and put it back right
It tested out great when I tried it that night.
The station was ready in contest condition
I’d be back in December as is my tradition.
I got there on Thursday the week of the contest
The station checked out and I got a good night’s rest.
But it seemed Murphy had other plans for my op
A coming storm meant a mid-contest stop.
The forecast suggested that it would be best
If I went home on Saturday halfway through the ‘test.
So Murphy had found me – that guy’s everywhere
But since I was in Maine I would get on the air.
At 2130 I staked out a freq
Worked a few Europeans at my sunset peak
At 2200 the contest began
On 1816 point 6 I ran and I ran
The pileup grew and got thicker and thicker
I turned up my keyer to work the boys quicker
At 23z I’d worked over 200.
“Is this really 160?” I openly wondered.
I waited for sunrise oer Europe to sweep
Expecting the rate meter would take a leap.
In the zero-six hour with two VFOs
I went more than five minutes with no QSOs.
And at 07 Zulu the rate was still crap,
I knew it was time to shut down and go nap.
I woke up, had breakfast, then did everything
To close down the house until sometime next Spring.
Took the noon boat to Portland and was glad that I did
On the drive to NH several times I did skid.
So I worked for 9 hours – I wish it was more
Ten-fifty-nine Qs and a 300k score.
So Peter, and Jerry, and Jon all got passes
But I’ll be back in January to kick all their asses!
73,
Doug K1DG
Station: IC7800, AL1200
TX: 2-element vertical array
RX: Two-wire reversible Beverages, NE/SW and NW/SE
Hr 160
--------------
22 206
23 155
00 139
01 121
02 112
03 114
04 85
05 81
06 46
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