ARRL 160-Meter Contest
Call: VE4GV
Operator(s): VE4GV
Station: VE4GV
Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: MB
Operating Time (hrs): 19
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 513 Sections = 73 Countries = 3 Total Score = 78,660
Club: Radiosport Manitoba
Comments:
That should be a new SOHP VE4 Record.
Equipment :
Kenwood TS 990s
Expert 1.3 K FA amp
Xmit antenna �" ¼ wave sloper (off tower)
Rcv antenna �" Pixel technologies active magnetic loop RF-Pro-1B �"
4 feet off ground.
Writelog Software
I had been on 160 m before (sporadically) but on Friday I decided to give the
test a try. The new active loop antenna (Pixel RF Pro 1B) I bought last
year, is a terrific addition to my antenna hardware. The ¼ wave sloper I use
for Xmit is virtually useless for receive. My 160 m noise level with it is S9
�" and I’m not kidding. Using the loop brings the noise down to around
an S3. What REALLY made the difference was Max VE6RST’s suggestion of
“riding the RF gain”. (Max is one of the gang at VE6SV) I punched in the
APF, set the RF gain to around 50% and signals magically appeared above the
noise. Not strong, but VERY copyable. I logged almost 300 Qs the first night.
That’s probably more than I have worked in an entire year, before this set
up.
No, I didn’t work any JA runs! (LOL) and I did only work 3 DX stations (KP2,
XE and TI) but the highlight of the test was having TI5W answer MY Cq !!!!
Wow. It took me a few minutes to figure out WHAT to put in the “Sections”
box of the logging program. (Hint: NOTHING ! You just log the RST!) After
figuring that out, it was smooth sailing.
The New I.3 K FA amp makes a HUGE difference and I actually ran a N. Am. pile
up for a while on BOTH Fri and Sat nights. I initially (reluctantly )switched
the amp on and started calling stations.....no CQs. I was expecting an
immediate barrage of phone calls from the neighbors...saying that something
electrical in their house was doing the “cha-cha”. Nuthin...zero...silent.
I was amazed. No phone calls, no banging on the door. I then stared calling
CQ.....again... for longer....nothing. Wow. This is fun!
I still need to use the external Palstar HF Auto tuner to tune the sloper if I
move up more than 10 or 15 KCs at a time. The tuner inside the amp won’t
handle that higher SWR and it faults to no xmit. The amp will shut down at
high power (1.5K) if it senses more than 2:1 SWR. (They tell you NOT to use 2
tuners with it �" 1. inside amp and 2. External. So...I bypass the amp
tuner and go into the Palstar directly.) The problem is the “lag” between
when the tuner senses the freq and the time it takes to retune. It takes a
second or so for the Palstar tuner to sniff the xmit freq and “retune” to
resonance and it is during that time that the amp can cycle fault. If I back it
down to Mid power (1 KW), I have more latitude. All I have to do is send a
solid carrier to the tuner for a second or two and the tuner then retunes and
the amp senses that the load is now correct. You just have to be careful to
move up the band slowly and not “point and click” on 160 m spots too far
apart.
At first it was slow and steady but once my spot went up on the cluster, the
bands erupted!! 20 or more stations calling me at a time, all needing the VE4
mult ...and all zero beat! It was hard to pick out a call through the
identical tones. I had my CW filter down to almost 100 hz to try to pick
someone out.
I didn’t hear any other VE4s in the test until Ed called me for the mult on
Sat night! (Tnx!) Never heard VE6SV at all during the test.
Anyway, it just goes to show what that you CAN have fun with a very minimal
setup on 160. It would be very nice to have Beverages in all directions and
dedicated serious listening antenna but the loop actually worked well once I
got the hang of the RF gain trick.
Now ...on to the 10 m Test ! Lets hope ol Sol gives us favorable numbers and
propagation for the upcoming contest on Dec 12.
73 GO RSM!!
Rob VE4GV
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