CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW
Call: OT6M
Operator(s): ON9CC PA5MW PC5A
Station: OT6M
Class: Multi-Op HP
QTH: JO20ws
Operating Time (hrs): 37:16
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 1382 State/Prov = 41 Countries = 78 Total Score = 943,789
Club: Bavarian Contest Club
Comments:
Fun at Ham Radio contesting is about sharing joy and learning from incremental
upgrades.
This season we exchanged the previous 18m(60ft) Spiderpole TX vertical for the
26m(88ft) version. About 2mtrs(7ft) from the top we strung a wire horizontal to
the main 10-40m tower, thus creating an Inverted L. Some chicken wire was added
to the existing ground radials. The previously used 18m Spiderpole(60ft) was
moved to a different location, set up for future 80m use.
The second upgrade was adding a Hi-Z 4-8 Pro 8-Circle RX array. It was setup in
the 34m(113ft) diameter layout, serving also 40 and 80m. As with every top
performing product you need to provide a top environment to enable its full
merits. From others we already learned that any such system does not work well
in a backyard, it needs space to deliver its full merits. At OT6M there is
several acres of field few months (only) available to install it remote from the
houses to guarantee a low noise operation. A setup of 4 times 7m50 (25ft) thick
fiber poles created a stretched out rectangular top-wire from which all 8 RX
vertical wires were hung. The positions are the typical 45degree intervals
starting at QTF 0 deg. Due to the recent extreme storm in Europe and probably
some initial wire stretching, the bottom part of the vertical wires were
touching the grass for the first meter or so but that did not seem to matter all
too much. From the 6 beverages from previous years, only two reversible
beverages where installed to cover QTF 35/215 and QTF 315/135. Additionally a
K9AY dual loop antenna and a separate small High-Angle RX antenna were used. All
antennas were operated via the comfortable RAS-x2 desktop switch boxes from
AY-Solutions.
So how did they perform? The 8-C shack operation box at first seemed just 'an
ugly black little box' with no text printed on it anywhere. A very light
rotation knob and 8 amber colored leds next to the obligatory on/off switch and
that was it. During the next 48hrs this proved to be just perfect; minimal
visual/manual stress vs maximal operational comfort. On-air it was immediate
apparent that the 8-C would deliver about 6-8 dB less gain vs the long beverages
but was much more quiet, offering a clear signal to noise advantage. Directing
it towards the 150-200m distant houses some 2-4dB extra noise was noticed. On
loud signals one can rotate through 3 directions to work the other, with one
clear maximum. At very weak signals only one direction can be found. The long
beverages delivered a much louder output in every of their 4 directions. Very
distant DX would be delivered with a typical punch along with a different
sounding, more lively constantly changing sky noise.
In a direct comparison between the 8-C and the long beverages both offered the
same result at decoding & making that QSO with remote DX. Occasionally the
one or the other was clearly better, probably due to the incoming sky wave angle
rotation. However, since the 8-C was quieter, one would often prefer its offered
listening comfort. On CQ (RUN-mode) the beverage, offering less F/B and having
several small vertical lobes, would allow you to hear the nearby European
callers. The almost surgical pattern of the 8-C provided a clear risk by not
hearing any of those at all. Only by rotating the knob an 90deg to 180deg offset
caller would suddenly appear at S7 - 9. At weak distant signals the beverages
sometimes would offer a quick QSB vs a slower QSB at the 8-C. At weak local
European QRP signals the sharp&clean 8-C pattern offered the best option for
a quicker reliable QSO. Short conclusion; both antenna systems are a perfect
combo for the station, next to now being able to hear in different directions
with two operators.
Prior to the contest we were offered some nice racks of spare ribs form a slow
cooking BBQ, served by the station owner Frank ON9CC. In the past our
group-Multi-Single contest weekends were often preceded by a mutual dinner at a
local restaurant or such.
In the contest it was clear to us that the new and longer TX vertical (Inv-L)
would better punch through the pile-ups. The first night offered great
propagation towards the USA. Westcoast was also pretty loud and we could hear
many CA working Mid and East-USA, but ...never work them. At our sun-rise we
caught the first AZ and NM, ending the first stint at 651/38/70. The Athena
statistics option to N1MM showed we were on an advantage track! The second
evening went OK, till about 21:00 UTC where the band slowly folded and things
turned worse. The absence of openings to the USA during this second night
affected our accumulated score such that at 05:00 on Sunday we were already
break-even with the 2017 result. FM5, PY and YE1K could not be worked through
the pile-up mess. CO and LU were heard all night and early morning but our
1K5 was never ever rewarded with a single "?". At sun-rise some
appearing W1/W2's were difficult to work but we finally caught OR, MO and UT.
And again there was AZ and NM to be worked but no CA.
Strap in for a final evening where again the absence of condx made all
contesters go havoc on new appearing CQ'ers. The 8-C proved its merits here as
it offered several of those QRP's much quicker. The 7Z took several hours to
work as did the only heard JA that evening (JH4UYB). At the closing hour, while
making the best out of all new thingies at the station, we still managed an
all-time high score. Already thinking about any future upgrades, 2018 showed
again that simply Try-Do-Learn-Enjoy-Together is what this is all about.
Thanks for the QSO and cu next year!
Station: IC7800 and Orion (interlocked), ACOM2000 @ 1k5W
Antennas:
TRX: inverted-L on 26m Spiderpole, full-size dipole.
RX: Hi-Z 4-8 Pro 8-Circle, 300m reversible beverage 315°-135°, 240m reversible
beverage 35°-215°, K9AY.
Mark, PA5MW
Aurelio, PC5A
Frank, ON9CC/OT6M
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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