Bill, congrats and much better than my showing. I missed the second night
altogether. This Low Power thing makes a big difference! I'm usually HP but
decided to try LP this year. More work on the antenna system here at my new
place is in order.
tnx
Mike / W5JR
Alpharetta GA
> On Dec 7, 2015, at 9:05 PM, Bill Coleman <aa4lr at arrl.net> wrote:
>
>
>
> ARRL 160-Meter Contest
>
> Call: AA4LR
> Operator(s): AA4LR
> Station: AA4LR
>
> Class: Single Op LP
> QTH: GA
> Operating Time (hrs): 10
>
> Summary:
> Total: QSOs = 417 Sections = 54 Countries = 5 Total Score = 50,091
>
> Club: South East Contest Club
>
> Comments:
>
> Antennas:
> 15m tall shunt-fed tower with 29 radials
>
> Equipment:
> Elecraft K3/100 w/ KAT3
>
> Comments:
>
> Considering last year I won the Georgia Low Power section, and came in second
> in the division, I figured I needed to defend my title. So, I had worked
> toward
> putting in a full-time effort. Things didn't go off as planned, though.
>
> One big difference is I no longer have the 160m inverted L with 24 radials out
> in the quiet, quiet woods of Floyd county. Instead, I'm back to using the
> shunt-fed tower in Gwinnett county. While I could put up the inverted L in
> Gwinnett County, I don't have room for the radials.
>
> In any case, I figured I'd give it a try. I made plans to put up K9AY loops,
> and perhaps lay down extra radials for the shunt-fed tower. The loops finally
> went up Friday afternoon, but I had a lot of trouble stringing 70 feet of wire
> through the oak tree I was using as a support. I never got the chance to put
> down more radials.
>
> When I started the contest at 2215z - about 15 minutes before sunset, I knew
> right away I had a problem. The K9AY feed line was pulling enough RF back into
> the shack that it caused the K3 keying to be erratic. I ended up disconnecting
> the K9AY loops and going totally with the transmit antenna. With no receiving
> antenna, this means I couldn't use the K2 to populate the band-map during slow
> CQing periods.
>
> For the next two hours, I ran putting over 150 stations into the log. It was
> perhaps my best-ever start. Then the rate died off, and I began to search and
> pounce more. By 0400z, I hit the wall. CQing was ineffective, and I couldn't
> find any stations I hadn't worked.
>
> Conditions seems to be fair, but not good. Not even as good as last year. I
> made the decision to tweak the seriousness of my effort and turned off the
> radio before 0500z. I set my alarm for five hours of sleep, but I ended up
> taking six. Back on at 1100z, I found that conditions to the west were just
> not
> there.
>
> The first night, I managed 353 Qs with 53 seconds and five DX (VP5, TI, ZF,
> C6A
> and XE). I didn't hear any Europeans at all, and very little from the west
> half
> of the continent.
>
> The second night, I suffered a headache all day, and just seemed to have low
> energy. I was on at 2300z, and seemed to have a little more success than the
> night before, but just didn't feel I had the stamina to pull an all-nighter. I
> switched off by 0100z.
>
> Still had some fun, just wasn't up to a full-time effort. Perhaps next year.
> See you in the 10m contest for a part-time effort.
>
> Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
> Web: http://boringhamradiopart.blogspot.com
> Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
> -- Wilbur Wright, 1901
>
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