ARRL 160-Meter Contest
Call: W5MX
Operator(s): W5MX
Station: W5MX
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: ky
Operating Time (hrs): 24.8
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 1468 Sections = 82 Countries = 41 Total Score = 429,393
Club: Kentucky Contest Group
Comments:
Just returned home from Europe Thursday night (at ii9p for cqww cw again this
year)after a 2 week vacation. Was solidly still on EU time which was killer for
sure.
There were a couple of pretty bad wind storms while I was gone that had caused
down branches (trees in some cases) to lay across 4 of my 5 beverages. Had to
walk each one with a hand saw (up and down hill on a couple of them) and cut
debris loose. A few had trees where I had to cut and splice the beverages back
together. Between this and the station setup, Friday saw no pre-contest nap so
went in tired. But, fast action and a good EU opening kept me going most of the
night. Called it about 03:00 local time, just could not stay awake. Planned on a
few hours sleep, get back up at 06:00 and hit it again. Did not work that way as
I was exhausted. Got up at 07:00 and listened for JA, KL and KH stuff.
Discovered something was wrong with the NW beverage. Worked what I could and
took a nap. Got up and completely restrung the NW bev in a new location. Down
the hill and through the extensive briar patches. These are sticker bushes that
get ahold of you and don't let go, hands pretty scratched. For a moment, I stood
there and simply thought I must be insane to be going through this for a hobby
:-). Pulled it back together and pressed on. As it turned out, that beverage
got me 3 mults Sunday morning JA, KL and KH6. Worth it!
The band was very quiet Friday night, with EU sprinkled in all night. Some
posted not much of a EU SR increase, but I did notice one here. Pretty fast
SP/DL/ON/I/YO action about their SR.
Saturday night, a little noisier here as others noticed as well. Strange QSB
cycles noted. EU was again coming in well, not as much of a SR peak in Q's.
Maybe worked most of them that were on? Once again, the hours of stringing NW
beverage and making a gas run for the generator during the day kept me from a
nap and from pulling an all nighter as I wanted. Crashed again about 03:30. Got
back up 06:45 and hit it. Swept the lower band right away looking for the usual
suspect JA's but nothing. Got KL about 7:15. CQ'd at 1822 about 7:35 local, JA
called followed by 2 more in the next 5 minutes and that was it. Nice signals
from all! Then KH6 called. Was happy with the 2 mults I about gave up on.
Wished I had CQ'd 10 minutes earlier. The JA peak here is from about 7:20 to
7:40 local time. With the prime time only about 10 minutes of that.
I appreciate the patience of all as I swept through beverages listening for
replies. Please understand that many of us in the East are using NE bev looking
for 5 pointer EU Q's much of the night, but definitely are aware of other
callers. This makes 160 a bit unique in that one really isn't deaf, just not on
the right bev at the time. Frequent sweeping bev directions helps, but you still
may miss some so apologies for those I missed or had to have repeat their call.
Thanks to all for the Q's and see you on 10 next weekend and the Stew!
Bryan
W5MX
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