CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW
Call: W2GD
Operator(s): K2SG, K2TW, N2HM, N2OO, N4HY, W1GD, W2CG, W2GD, W2RQ
Station: W2GD
Class: Multi-Op HP
QTH: NJ
Operating Time (hrs): 34.5
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 1248 State/Prov = 56 Countries = 64 Total Score = 555,720
Club: Frankford Radio Club
Comments:
Portable Location: West Creek, SNJ, former site of Maritime Coast Station WSC -
24 beautiful acres of salt and fresh water marsh abuot 20 miles north of
Atlantic City.
Equipment:
Run Position: IC756ProII, Alpha 87A, IC746Pro (rx only)
Mult Position: FT1000D, AL1200
3 networked PCs running CT 9.48
TX Antennas: 2 el Vertical Dipole Array with common Delta Loop Reflector,
NE/SW on 300' tower; Inverted L with 4 elevated radials
RX Antennas: 2 el 1000' phased beverage to NE/EU
580' terminated beverage to West
580' unterminated beverages East, South, Southeast, and Northwest
Coaxial Loop and K9AY single element
Continental Breakdown:
North America CW 1040 80.2
South America CW 12 0.9
Europe CW 233 18.0
Asia CW 3 0.2
Africa CW 4 0.3
Oceania CW 4 0.3
Countries Worked:
5B, 8P, 9A, A6, C3, C6, CM, CT, CT3, D4, DL, EA, EA8, EI, ER, EU, F, FG,
FM, G, GD, GM, GW, HA, HB, HI, I, IT9, JY, KH6, KP2, KP4, LX, LY, OE,
OH, OK, OM, ON, OY, OZ, P4, PA, PJ2, PY, PY0F, S5, SM, SP, SV, T9, UA, UA2,
UR, V3, VP5, XE, YL, YO, YU, YV, ZF, ZL, ZS
Comments:
When we learned of the approaching solar disturbance Thursday morning we knew
what to expect. Thursday night the conditions were terrific, enhanced before
the storm. Friday night conditions were terrible, especially the further north
you went. When we heard K5's in TX running EU stations we couldn't hear, well,
it was discouraging, and time to formulate a Plan B. At the conclusion of the
first night we had 61 ten pointers, just over 50 of them Europeans. Not what
you expect from the East Coast this time of year. The only bright spot was the
overall country total - already in the mid-50's. Major highlights of the night
- snagging A61AJ when he wasn't particularly loud - Robert (S53R) has great
ears, and ZS4TX calling us- thanks Bernie! The downside, our CQs didn't attract
responses from VK3IO or W0ZTL (ND) who were had heard on the band.
As the sun set Saturday afternoon we immediately noticed some improvement. EU
stations were heard on or near our run frequency calling each other. Then as
reported by others, the flood gates really opened about 0200 - all of a sudden
the band sounded like 20 meters - WOW. We knew this was the turning point of
the contest, it was win or lose time, and we did our best to snag every precious
10 pointer we could....3 sets of ears grabbing calls out of the pileup - it was
very intense. Unfortunately the enhanced condx lasted only 2 hours or so, there
would later be little if any grayline enhancement during EU sunrise.
By breakfast Sunday morning, we knew the order of finish (from the US) was most
likely already decided since the limited time in darkness at the end of the
expanded contest period would in all probably not be enough time to change the
final results. But we kept a skeleton crew on hand to finish out the event just
the same, picking up another 50 QSOs, 6 or 7 more ten pointers and one mult in
the process. We hope the CQ Contest Committee will consider imposing a time
limit for Multi-ops next year. Daytime operation is definitely not fun, and the
Monday morning finish in Europe and Asia can't be terribly convenient either.
All in all we've had one heck of a good time this 160 contest season, and hope
to be back again next year with some planned RX antenna improvements. Our
special thanks go to the owners/operators of WYRS Radio for providing us use of
their facilities.
73, John W2GD
p.s. Look for a local group of budding contesters operating the CQ160 SSB
contest next month from this location under the call N2CW.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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