For those who enjoy only "Big Dog" stories, hit the Delete key.
ARRL 160 as a contest has fascinated me since the mid 70's when I
first acquired a transceiver that covered top band. I remember getting on
with the trusty FT101e and a low dipole and working a couple of hundred
stations in just a few hours and thinking it was too bad that 160 had the
reputation for being a "high power and big antennas" band. Since then, my
station has been upgraded a bit; but I am continually amazed at how much fun
it can be to run low power with simple antennas. The scoring (sections as
mults and DX only 5 points) has made me think that in the right year, a
Black Hole station could win the low power category.
This year, I was determined to have the station ready for battle.
The only xcvr is a stock TS930. An inverted L is coax-fed near the tower
base with no matching network, runs up the tower for 75' and over to a handy
locust tree. Total length is about 150'. There are three elevated radials
approx. 130' long, attached to the tower at about 10' and sloping down to 4'
above ground, running north, east and south of the tower. The house is west
of the tower; and the family has an aversion to walking through wires when
they go out the back door, so no radial that direction. I can't understand
that.... Receiving antennas are not really Beverages I guess, as there are
no matching networks for them, either; just low wires strung at approx. 45,
135 and 300 degrees. The EU and Carib wires are terminated through 450 ohms
to ground; the west one is unterminated. Lengths are around 400'. Bambi
tore down two of them on Wednesday night; in response, I elevated them ten
feet and declared deer jerky to be the Official Snack Food of the ARRL 160
Test.... A K4VX-donated switch allowed me to select L/wires for RX and a
quick trip to "the home of the empty peg" (local name for Radio Shack)
garnered parts for a "select-the-RX-wire" box. Logging was done with an old
version of TR.
The operator was not so ready. I was coming down with a rotten
cold, which seems to be standard issue for early December. The weekend was
filled with activities for the rest of the family, which meant difficulty in
keeping the cows fed and milked. Fortunately, the work force was
accommodating, allowing cows to be happy and on-air time to be reasonable.
When the gun goes off, I start at the bottom of the band in "search
and destroy" mode. This strategy sometimes backfires; everyone else seems
to do the same thing, and a little pistol in the Midwest can get stuck
waiting in pileups. Also, many of the East Coast stations apparently are
listening for EU on their Beverages and don't hear us out here, despite the
fact that they are 20-40 db over S9. I guess that means their RX antennas
are working as designed.... This time, the plan functions, as I average
about one a minute and then settle down on a relatively-clear frequency and
try to run. Someone wrote in NCJ that for a little pistol to be successful,
you have to think like a big gun. Send fast, S & P aggressively and run
every time you find an unclaimed hole for as long as it works. That's
probably good advice. At any rate, the first hour is 86 Q's and the second
is 96; and the mults are piling up at a good clip. W8HAP confirms "ME", not
"MI" early. That's a scary mult from here, though I later work three more.
For some reason, WY comes through early and loud; WC7M calls in at 2249Z and
is joined later by two others. And what in the world are they giving away
in WVa and SC??
Until 0030Z I just run and let the mults come. From here, I don't
work much DX anyhow with low power, so I don't even bother to check the
window yet. When I finally do, I'm surprised to raise OT6T and DL1IAO on
the first calls, S & P my way through the band once, then back to the window
to get WP2Z and XE2/N7NC. Once more through the band, then one call each to
TK5NN and GM3POI. Gee, this is fun! With no other DX heard, I find 1812
unclaimed and cuddle in between a K1 and an N2 for an 88-hour at 0300Z,
including Nebr, NDak, VE2 and all the CA mults except SJV. This is getting
interesting. The domestic mult window shows only eight remaining, with six
hours elapsed. I've never made a "sweep" from home in this contest; could
this be a first? Another quick check of the window nets DK8ZB and UA2FF for
a new one. VE5SF is in S & P mode; a quick "SF up 1" gets his attention.
At 0445Z, the KH6CC beacon shows up and Jack hears me on the first call. I
begin to feel "loud". Next, GW6J, one call. Another run frequency brings
in my last CA mult, K6YK in SJV. For dirt-simple antennas, the low wires
are great...low noise and good directivity. I constantly switch between
them; most Southeast stations are inaudible on the other two antennas. I
find that I have no good way of copying to the south-west or directly north
except on the TX antenna. This is particularly true the first night, for
some reason. The next check of the window brings in KM9D/C6A, OZ3W, HK1KXA
and G0TVZ. About this time, the shack door opens, admitting number one
daughter (N9IQV) home from college with two friends, one of whom is a
student from Uganda. (I could use the 5X mult, but he's not a ham.) Just
what I'm trying to accomplish requires some explaining while I let auto-CQ
do some trolling. The 5X student is rather knowledgeable concerning
shortwave listening and is fascinated by the fact that I'm "really talking"
to all these places....
The "domestic mult" window now has five entries and a "sweep" is
more enticing than more DX. I find 1802.4 unoccupied and settle down to
make serious noise at 0650Z. First Idaho stops by in the person of K7QD,
followed shortly by KL7Y. I copy only what I think is a "3" in a call and
respond "3?". He persists; and when I finally get smart enough to listen
WEST, I hear VY1JA clearly.... Thanks, Jay! VP2ESJ is the last DX mult in
the log for the night, as my headcold-shrouded brain begins to fog over and
I give up at 1000Z. I set the alarm for 1200Z and sleep through it. At
1340Z, the JA window is jammed, but they are fading fast and nobody hears
me. Rats.
At the end of the first 24 hours, TR says I have about 115K, which
is more than the winning low-power score for the division last year. I
begin to think about actually *winning* this puppy! I post stickers above
the monitor with numbers from the previous division record and high USA
scores from 95 and 94 as numbers to match. After food, a nap, visiting with
the kids and concerted nose-blowing, I settle down at about 2130Z to have a
go at another run frequency. Number two daughter (KB9CEQ) pops into the
shack with the message that the fire siren in town is going off. I hop into
the car and respond. It's just a grass fire on the other side of the
district, and the crew there doesn't need our contingent. Whew. Son
(N9MTX) is getting ready for his first date. Since he doesn't need advice,
or request any, I go back to contesting. Wife (KB9CES) is attending the
school's Christmas Ball by herself, (*she* doesn't have a problem with this)
invited as a member of the school board. KB9CEQ enters to ask if there's
"something I can do with the contest so you can take Mom out to eat?" Oh,
boy, guilt trip. I tell her it's a CW-only contest. She slams the door on
her way out. "The amateur is balanced." Tomorrow....
Runs the second night are not nearly as exciting. The band is
super-quiet, but I get the feeling that others are not as fortunate; there
are some static bursts on the southeast antenna and New England stations
seem scarce. Conditions to the southwest are better than the first night.
The DX window seems to have mostly the same Europeans I've already worked,
only not as loud; I'm glad they're already in the log. The best hours are
48 and 46, at 0200Z and 0400Z, including a Montana for domestic mult number
77. Since the band is less interesting, the computer makes up for it by
repeatedly locking up, sometimes while sending (brick-on-the-key mode) and
sometimes not (duh...what's a keyboard? mode). Each time necessitates
grabbing the paddle, punching reset, rebooting, logging by hand in the
meantime. I try other versions of TR; same result. Finally I turn the
computer OFF for ten minutes and send/log by hand. Back on, it behaves for
almost 30 minutes. Suspecting an overheating problem, I aim a fan at the
back of it and there are no more foulups. I hold 1824.4 for almost three
hours, until my contest diet of large quantities of grapefruit juice
necessitates a trip to the little op's room. When I come back, the bottom
of the window holds KP3W with a roaring pileup and a high static level on
his end. He eventually comes back to "N9AF??". I give my call three times,
slowly, and my exchange. He is CQing again, and fading. Rats. I keep
checking his frequency and finally get through to him at 0642Z for a "sweep".
I knock off at 0800Z in order to be able to both check for JA's at
sunrise and function at church on Sunday. At 1130Z, JA5BJC is the only one
audible, and repeated attempts to get his attention fail. Looks like I
picked the wrong morning to hear the alarm....
Bottom line, subject to log checking procedures, is 967 Q's, 78
domestic mults, 12 DX for a score of about 178K. Single op, low power,
somewhat distracted, but non-assisted.
Thanks for all the Q's.
73, Jim N9JF
"I farm because nature is putting on a 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week show, and
we have a front row seat." Craig Grothe, in Nov '96 _Professional Farmer_
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