K9AY
ARRL 160 Contest -- SOHP/p from new QTH just outside Mt. Horeb, WI.
1204 QSOs - 79 Sec (no YT) - 24 DX = 267,491 claimed score
Had 69 5-point QSOs and many, many others were heard calling through
Saturday's QRN. I operated a total of about 22 hours.
2x IC-765s, Alpha 99, Inv-L, 5 Beverages.
Thanks for all the Qs!
73, Gary
K9AY
___________
The scores and everyone else's comments tell the story of the contest
itself. My own story is how I managed to get on the air at all . . .
10 Sep -- Broke ground on a new house on our 5 acre property. Now I'm
REALLY getting itchy to see how radio works from there.
15 Oct -- Took my L'il Chief bow-and-arrow and Shakespeare fishing reel and
installed ropes in two fairly tall trees about 100 ft. apart. Got lucky --
both ropes are near the tops and it only took a couple tries for each.
Doesn't look like the house will be far enough along to operate inside for
awhile.
29 Oct -- Shed on the property already has power and a concrete floor, so I
start framing a simple room. Busy schedule keeps me from getting done for
SS.
19-20 Nov -- Finish a 6 x 9 room with 1-1/2" EPS foam insulation. XYL
declares it to be a real "shack." My contractor, who already wonders about
me, is a bit puzzled. I briefly describe ham radio contesting. He seems to
understand -- says he knows a couple triathletes.
26 Nov -- Inverted-L goes up easily, about 50 ft. up and 85 ft. over -- far
end is more than 60 ft. up. Lay out the radial field with wooden pegs but
only install 1/3 of them, since I know the phone company is going to trench
through the area next week.
29 Nov -- 3 days to go. The phone company hasn't been there, and I have no
RX antennas yet. In the dark (5 to 8 p.m.) I put in posts for Beverages to
the NE and NW. It's snowing lightly, too. And it's 15 deg. F, but I'm not
cold with all this exercise and the right cold weather gear.
30 Nov -- Haven't even turned on the radios since February, so I set
everything up this evening at home to make sure it all works. Make a couple
minor repairs -- like a new power supply for the ham station computer.
1 Dec -- Contest is tomorrow -- The phone company finally trenched in the
cable today, so I finish installing the radials (total 22 x 100+ ft.
long) -- new snow covered up my markers, so it goes a little slower than
expected. Run the wires for the NE (850 ft.) and NW (450 ft.) Beverages.
Get some posts in for E and SE Beverages, but can't finish them because they
will be in the way on the job site. It's dark and 14 deg. F at 10 p.m. when
I finish. And it's still snowing a bit.
2 Dec -- Contest day -- Finally get free and out to the site at 2030Z
knowing it will be a late start. Unload, set up the station, run coax to
the Inv-L. Finish adjusting the TX matching at about 2155Z, but still don't
have RX antennas hooked up. The contest starts while I'm running coax to
the NW and NE Beverages. I already decided to finish everything before
operating, so I go to work on the E, SE, and WSW short Beverages (about 330
ft. each). Everything is finally done at 0030 -- I make a few contacts in
the DX window for the "first RF" from the site: 6Y0A, P40TA, PQ7Q, ON4UN,
SN7Q and OK1RF. That was easy, so now I'm stoked! I'm also dog tired and
hungry, so I run into town to eat and relax a few minutes. At 0130, my
contesting begins in earnest.
Everything actually worked! Nothing broke and I was comfy in my 'shack' as
it got up to a sweltering 75 deg. F with the amp running. No RF problems,
either, which is lucky for such a crude lash-up.
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