CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW
Call: ZL1AZE
Operator(s): ZL1AZE
Station: ZL1AZE
Class: Single Op Assisted HP
QTH: ZL
Operating Time (hrs): 16
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 22 State/Prov = 4 Countries = 7 Total Score = 1,947
Club: Wellington Amateur Radio Club
Comments:
Antennas: Inverted vee dipole, T vertical and coax receiving loop.
Equipment: FT1000MP MkV Field and AL80A amp 400W.
After working this contest previously from ZL6QH I had forgotten how difficult
it can be to make 160M QSOs from a small city lot!
I only have about 1000 square metres (1/4 acre) to play with so it is
challenging to squeeze effective 160M antennas into such a small space. I ended
up using a somewhat â??bentâ?? 160M inverted vee dipole, and an 80M inverted vee
dipole as a T vertical antenna, with both antennas being supported from a 15
metre tall pole. Surprisingly enough, the dipole was often as good as the
vertical for transmitting, probably due to my QTH being elevated on a hill side
about 100 metres above sea level and therefore offering improved takeoff for
horizontal polarised signals.
The other challenge is the high level of local man made noise at my QTH. I have
traced the noise to an industrial/retail area about 1 kilometre away. During the
contest the noise level in a 250 Hz band width ranged from a â??quietâ?? level
of S4 up to a maximum of around S8! The dipole offered slightly better signal
to noise ratio than the vertical antenna. I also tried using a small coax
receiving loop in an attempt to null the noise but this no more effective than
the dipole. Consequently I was only able to copy the loudest stations, a real
handicap in a location like ZL where signals are generally not loud!
It was the first time that I have operated in this contest from my city QTH so
it is difficult to make an accurate judgment about conditions. However, I got
the impression that conditions were generally OK (but not great) on the
Saturday night and rather poor on the Sunday night. Apart from the local QRN
problem, there was little evidence of atmospheric noise.
It is interesting to note the comments from the northern hemisphere stations
about the fantastic conditions this year. The southern hemisphere didnâ??t seem
to fare so well, and it is also more difficult for southern hemisphere stations
to break through the QRM when the NA and EU stations are busy working each
other :-)
I noted that some of the loudest stations were PJ2T, XE1RCS, KH6LC, KV0Q, K5RX,
NR5M, N6DX, AC6DD, K7RAT, N7DD, AD7AF, K8IA, K9BWI, K9DX, KL7RA, VE6SV, VE7IG,
RK0CWA and JA2XYO â?? all with signals peaking up to strength S7/8 or better.
The path to Asia and Europe seemed to be poorer than that to America. JA
signals were several S points down on the levels that I heard in the in the
week prior to the contest. I only managed to very briefly copy four stations
further to the East â?? ES9C (S6), RN4WR (S5), UA6LV (S4) and RK4UWR (S4).
It was frustrating at only being able to make a total of 22 QSOs (less than two
QSOs per hour!) but it was also a lot of fun, and I look forward to trying again
next year.
Thanks for the QSOs and persevering to copy my signal!
73, Brian ZL1AZE
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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