ARRL 160-Meter Contest - 2020
Call: K5PI
Operator(s): K5PI
Station: W5KFT
Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: STX
Operating Time (hrs): 28
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 1399 Sections = 82 Countries = 24 Total Score = 308,672
Club: Central Texas DX and Contest Club
Comments:
I'm by no means a "160 guy". I've only done this contest twice, at
local super station K5NA. Both times, I was the guy shoveling the QSOs, while
Richard worked the great majority of the DX. But with the new transmit antenna
I put up a few weeks ago, I wanted to give it a whirl.
Receive antennas have been a challenge at W5KFT. I'm 90 minutes from the
station, and the various livestock and wildlife just LOVE to play with receive
antennas. But there's a pasture now with no livestock, and I could see a good
option for NE and NW beverages. I got the NE up and gave it a listen.
BZZZZZZZ! I guess it came too near the power lines, which are old and in need
of some TLC. We get some noise on other bands but nothing like this. So I
changed plans and put up a pennant for NW and a VE3DO loop for NE just outside
the shack. Off to the races!
Not so fast! The contest started, but every signal had a bad rasp on it. NB is
off . . . swap out the radio . . . try a different power supply . . . disconnect
all accessories . . . Hmmm what's new? I'd planned to use an RCS-4 switchbox --
it's still plugged in. Unplugging its wall wart power supply did the trick.
Okay, here we go!
But about four hours in, the K3 started tripping off on transmit. Grrr! I've
had a little trouble with one of my radios, so swap out the radio . . . try a
different power supply . . . apparently one of the reliable old analog supplies
decided to quit.
Okay, now I'm REALLY ready! I used K3 diversity mode, and it was really great
with the NE RX antenna on one ear and the NW RX on the other. Very cool, but I
may want to use some outboard switching. I could get the main receiver into
both ears for the weak ones. But I couldn't get the subreceiver into both. A
minor annoyance really - a swapped the antenna ports back and forth a couple
times when the target DX area changed from EU to AS.
It was just one boy and one radio for the great majority of the first evening,
but later I worked in some SO2V QSOs - this N1MM feature really works well.
I guess this just wasn't a weekend for DX - they were few and far between for
me. But I'm quite impressed with the VE3DO loop. I understand that a pair of
these 5/8 wavelength apart can work really well. Thanks to the DX stations (and
stateside guys) who hung in there to complete the Q.
Thanks to K5NA for the loan of the RX antenna parts, and congrats on a fine
score. Thanks also to K5TR for some always valuable input. I'm sure he'll have
a big score, too.
MULTIPLIERS
C6,CM,CT3,EA,F,G,GW,HA,HI,I,JA,K,KH6,
KL,KP2,KP4,LZ,OK,OM,ON,PJ4,TF,TI,UA,UR,V3,VE,XE,ZF
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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