ARRL 160-Meter Contest
Call: AA4LR
Operator(s): AA4LR
Station: AA4LR
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: GA
Operating Time (hrs): 10
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 417 Sections = 54 Countries = 5 Total Score = 50,091
Club: South East Contest Club
Comments:
Antennas:
15m tall shunt-fed tower with 29 radials
Equipment:
Elecraft K3/100 w/ KAT3
Comments:
Considering last year I won the Georgia Low Power section, and came in second
in the division, I figured I needed to defend my title. So, I had worked toward
putting in a full-time effort. Things didn't go off as planned, though.
One big difference is I no longer have the 160m inverted L with 24 radials out
in the quiet, quiet woods of Floyd county. Instead, I'm back to using the
shunt-fed tower in Gwinnett county. While I could put up the inverted L in
Gwinnett County, I don't have room for the radials.
In any case, I figured I'd give it a try. I made plans to put up K9AY loops,
and perhaps lay down extra radials for the shunt-fed tower. The loops finally
went up Friday afternoon, but I had a lot of trouble stringing 70 feet of wire
through the oak tree I was using as a support. I never got the chance to put
down more radials.
When I started the contest at 2215z - about 15 minutes before sunset, I knew
right away I had a problem. The K9AY feed line was pulling enough RF back into
the shack that it caused the K3 keying to be erratic. I ended up disconnecting
the K9AY loops and going totally with the transmit antenna. With no receiving
antenna, this means I couldn't use the K2 to populate the band-map during slow
CQing periods.
For the next two hours, I ran putting over 150 stations into the log. It was
perhaps my best-ever start. Then the rate died off, and I began to search and
pounce more. By 0400z, I hit the wall. CQing was ineffective, and I couldn't
find any stations I hadn't worked.
Conditions seems to be fair, but not good. Not even as good as last year. I
made the decision to tweak the seriousness of my effort and turned off the
radio before 0500z. I set my alarm for five hours of sleep, but I ended up
taking six. Back on at 1100z, I found that conditions to the west were just not
there.
The first night, I managed 353 Qs with 53 seconds and five DX (VP5, TI, ZF, C6A
and XE). I didn't hear any Europeans at all, and very little from the west half
of the continent.
The second night, I suffered a headache all day, and just seemed to have low
energy. I was on at 2300z, and seemed to have a little more success than the
night before, but just didn't feel I had the stamina to pull an all-nighter. I
switched off by 0100z.
Still had some fun, just wasn't up to a full-time effort. Perhaps next year.
See you in the 10m contest for a part-time effort.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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