The Whole Story
CQ 160 METER CONTEST -- 1996
Call: AA7TF @ NK7U Country: US/Oregon
Mode: SSB Category: Single Operator/
High Power/
Unassisted
QSO QSO PTS STATES COUNTRIES
Totals 677 1565 53 8 = 95,465
Antenna: 1/4 wave ground plane with 3 elevated radials @ 15'
supported from the top of a 180' AB-105 tower that
has a 3 element 80M beam on top.
No beverages (if some of you think I was an alligator
this might be why.)
Rig: Kenwood TS-950S
Amp: Amp International LK-800
This was my first semi-serious single op contest in three years, coinciding
with the length of time since I got married. It was also my first real effort
at operating on 160M. The number of QSO's made effectively increases my
lifetime 160M QSO total by an order of magnitude! Following is my story of the
contest.
Credits
=======
Thanks Joe, NK7U, for letting me use your station.
Statistics
==========
QRATE Showed: Top Minute 4 (240/hour) @ 4:34 1st night
Top 10 Minutes 26 (156/hour) @ 11:19 1st night
Top Hour 101 @ 12:08 1st night
Distribution of QSO Points: 10 pointers = 5 (tough from the left coast!)
5 pointers = 57
2 pointers = 615
Distribution by State & Province:
CA 108 TN 10 CT 4
WA 50 OK 9 MT 4
TX 32 UT 9 AK 3
AZ 30 AL 8 LA 3
IL 22 IN 8 MO 3
OH 22 NM 8 ND 3
CO 21 NV 8 SC 3
MI 21 WY 8 SK(VE5)3
OR 21 KS 7 HI 2
PA 21 MD 7 MA 2
AB(VE6)17 NE 7 NH 2
BC 15 AR 6 ME 1
NY 15 KY 6 PQ(VE2)1
GA 14 NC 6 RI 1
IA 14 SD 6 YU(VY1)1
VA 14 WI 6
FL 13 MB(VE4)5
MN 11 MS 5
NJ 11 ON(VE3)5
ID 10 WV 5
Missed: Delaware, Vermont, All Canada east of VE2
DX that I called and worked: P40V, KH6CC, WP2AHW
DX that called me: H44MS, XE2DV, NL7J, VY1JA, PJ9JT, KP4AAQ, AH6GN, AL7MX,
KL7Y
BREAKDOWN QSO/mults
HOUR 160 HR TOT CUM TOT
23 24/14 24/14 24/14
0 20/5 20/5 44/19
1 44/8 44/8 88/27
2 34/8 34/8 122/35
3 39/5 39/5 161/40
4 81/6 81/6 242/46
5 33/3 33/3 275/49
6 26/0 26/0 301/49
7 2/0 2/0 303/49
8 . . 303/49
9 . . 303/49
10 . . 303/49
11 100/5 100/5 403/54
12 42/1 42/1 445/55
13 19/0 19/0 464/55
14 8/0 8/0 472/55
...............................
23 3/0 3/0 475/55
0 4/0 4/0 479/55
1 45/1 45/1 524/56
2 20/0 20/0 544/56
3 28/1 28/1 572/57
4 17/0 17/0 589/57
5 41/0 41/0 630/57
6 1/0 1/0 631/57
7 ..... ..... 631/57
8 . . 631/57
9 . . 631/57
10 24/4 24/4 655/61
11 8/0 8/0 663/61
12 6/0 6/0 669/61
13 3/0 3/0 672/61
14 5/0 5/0 677/61
15 ..... ..... 677/61
16 . . 677/61
DAY1 472/55 . 472/55
DAY2 205/6 . 205/6
TOT 677/61 . 677/61
Play by Play
============
Here is a chronology of some interesting events. Callsigns given are meant to
be part of the story and not to be indicative of flames or other whining. A
contest is a contest! (For context Sunset for me was 1:32 and Sunrise 14:38
UTC.)
Feb 23.
2305 Make my first Q of the test with KB7WON in Wyoming. Shortly after I
work K7XU in SD who has a giant signal the whole contest.
2330 W2GD is S7, by 0050 is S9. Can't hear me though.
Feb 24.
0052 VE3RM tries to make me AA2TF, can't believe OR is coming in so early!
This is my first indication that my signal is getting out.
0112 Hear P40V call CQ on 1831, don't really expect to be able to work him
through the east coast and still being 20 minutes before sunset. Give
a call anyway and get right through! I never heard him again the whole
contest.
0142 KE2C says I am 59+20 in NY. All right!
0310 Something seems to click and the band is suddenly wide open everywhere
with clear static free signals.
0402 Find 1807 fairly clear and make 68Q's in next 40 minutes. Lose the freq.
when AD6C fires up right above me and N3MKZ make his first of 3
appearances right on my freq!
0500 Static crashed and buzzes begin and build toward 0615. Rate starts
dropping off, can't get any runs going. Decide to take a nap. Crash
from 0730 to 1100. (I really am not much of a night person. I knew I
would get punchy later if I didn't sleep, so took a chance to be fresh
during east coast sunrise period.)
1100 Up, refreshed, and on the air. Find 1816 clear, call CQ and the band
explodes. Have a 100+ hour. In the middle of it H44MS calls in. I try
several times to turn him into W4??? until something in my head
finally clicks and I recognize the call. Finally lose the frequency
around 1300 after being squeezed from both the top and bottom for 45
minutes and having my rate drop way off. Glad I slept as don't think
I could have done this run after being up all night.
1445 Make my last Q of the morning with VE7JRS. Had no sunrise DX pop up
out of the noise. Though without beverages who knows what was out
there?
1600 Hit the sack and sleep until 1930.
2225 AA0RS audible. Another big signal station the whole weekend.
2242 KV0Q up to S7.
2345 Work AA1AA in MA.
Feb 25.
0115 Signals start coming in. AB7BS says I'm 59 + 30 in Las Vegas.
0140 Find 1807 clear and get a small run going. PJ9JT calls in.
0203 N3MKZ makes his third appearance right on my frequency. Rate
drops but keeps going. I really lose it when K7XU moves in
right above me soon after.
0245 Bands seems to be getting worse, rates drop off. Hard to find
new calls to work. Can't find a clear frequency to call in and
reach the east coast.
0315 Find a small hole at 1817 and get a run going, though a slow
jog might be a better description.
0435 Feel like someone dumped a load of bricks on me as the frequency
suddenly becomes a mass of QRM. Find out XE2DV parked in at 1818.
0615 Hear AA5BL running Europeans. Makes me feel so hopeless that I
decide to take an early nap.
1000 Back on and great timing. Catch WP2AHW loud and in the clear.
Hear YV2IW but can't raise him. Settle in about 1811. Right
away KL7Y and KP4AAQ call in, then back to the slow jog. Work
about 20 stations in the next hour. Do get both a ME and RI
station to call in as sunrise sweeps through the east coast. Kept
hoping for a VT, DE or any of the eastern VE's to call in, but to
no avail.
1110 Leave the frequency just for a second to look around. W6GO slides
instantly right into the clear spot I left. Keep looking around,
not much to find. Spend the next 3 1/2 hours calling CQ and S&Ping
with little return.
1441 Make my last QSO with KE6QR. Once again, nothing special happens
at my sunrise.
Overall, just missed my goal of 100K points. Probably would have made it if I
had cut my sleep periods by a couple of hours. I need to figure out a way for
my normally night phobic body and brain to perform through the night. Anyway,
had a great deal of fun, and figured out a few tricks to try next year.
Big Signal Awards
=================
Some of the bigger signals of the weekend were from the following stations.
Where known from my Contest Station Database I have included their antenna.
AA5BL -- using a 135' tower that has a klm 6 ele 20m yagi (58' boom) on
top with 20 radials
AA0RS --
K7XU -- with an elevated 1/4 wave ground plane, per a chat I had with
them on Sunday morning.
NC0P --
AA8U --
VE3RM --
KV0Q --
WB9Z -- 160' vertical tower on a base insulator with 120 buried radials
and 4 elevated ground radials
Thanks to everyone for the Q's
======================================================================
Scott Tuthill/AA7TF stuthill@micron.net
"On a clear frequency you can run forever!"
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