ARRL 160-Meter Contest
Call: N3UM
Operator(s): N3UM
Station: N3UM
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: MD
Operating Time (hrs): 15.5
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 575 Sections = 51 Countries = 11 Total Score = 73,718
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
In the ARRL 160 contest 2007 thru 2010 I claimed 634 to 780
QSOs and 118.7 K to 151.3 K points. This year. with the same
antenna, the same gear, the same operator, and comparable
hours and effort, I made only 575 QSOs and 73.7 K points.
Disaster. With the other big factors comparable, it had to be
propagation. For the first 3 hours, working mostly stations
within 500 miles, I kept reasonably close to '07-'10 results,
but after that I fell rapidly behind. I heard NO W6s or W7s
and only a few W5s and W0s. When I quit for bed around 07 Z,
I had only 393 QSOs and 49 mults, vs 490 to 562 QSOs and
77 to 82 mults in '07-10. I could not make up that deficit
the second night, though I did manage to work 9 EUs in 7
countries, plus one W6 in EB and one W7 in WY. These
stations 2000-3000 mi. away popped in and out: there were
no sustained openings. I can only conclude that the D layer
absorbed signals much more this year than in '07-'10, maybe
made worse by K values of 2 and 3 much of the time vs the
K of 0 and 1 which are so much better for 160 m. Friends
operating Assisted found a few more mults than I did with
the quick in-and-out propagation. Other friends with owl
blood who stayed up past my 07 Z bedtime reported that
the absorption declined a bit and W7s and W6s came in then.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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