ARRL 160-Meter Contest
Call: N3UM
Operator(s): N3UM
Station: N3UM
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: MDC
Operating Time (hrs): 15.6
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 700 Sections = 68 Countries = 13 Total Score = 117,531
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
In the 2012 ARRL 160 I did much better than last year
(when conditions were terrible), and my claimed score
was just a hair short of 2010: I got 66 more QSOs than
in 2010, but 7 fewer mults. The first night, I heard very
few west-coast stations: there was "spotlight" propagation,
with westerners and EUs popping in and out. The second
night was a bit better, but still spotty. I wound up missing
ND, WWA, NV, MB, NT, NL, and 5 CA sections as well as PR, AK,
HI, and DELAWARE, next door! Found 7 EU countries
plus 6 more DX in NA and SA. Around 8 PM local time the
second night, SWR went up: ant. resonance moved 25 kHz
higher. Easy to adjust the antenna tuner, BUT when I switched
to the Beverage, power would leak thru the rig's PIN diode ant.
switches and upset the power control loop, sending TX power
above max. and crowbaring the power supply. An inspection
Mon. showed 30 feet of wire broken off the end of one
elevated radial by a falling tree limb: the asymmetry dumped
power into the nearby Beverage (small lot!) and moved resonance.
I didn't panic, because an earlier antenna (inverted L with
one elevated radial) had caused the same problem years ago.
But, it was annoying to either do without the Beverage for
western stations or risk dumping the rig and losing a QSO,
which happened a few times until I got careful enough.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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