Bill, nice job. I know exactly what you went through. Saturday afternoon I
settled down on 1835.1 all evening running. 2 hours later I get VE3EJ above me
and N4AF below me, I run a 250hz filter and they were both audible..Ughhhh.
73's. Drubber
Sent from my iPhone
> On Dec 7, 2014, at 5:48 PM, Bill Coleman <aa4lr at arrl.net> wrote:
>
>
> ARRL 160-Meter Contest
>
> Call: AA4LR
> Operator(s): AA4LR
> Station: AA4LR
>
> Class: Single Op LP
> QTH: GA
> Operating Time (hrs): 23.3
> Radios: SO2R
>
> Summary:
> Total: QSOs = 745 Sections = 71 Countries = 3 Total Score = 111,148
>
> Club: South East Contest Club
>
> Comments:
>
> Antennas:
> 160/80/40m Inverted-L up 10m with 24 radials (8 125', 16 67.5')
> 150' "Beverage" receiving antenna
>
> Equipment:
> Elecraft K3/100 w/ KAT3 running 100 watts
> Elecraft K2/100 w/ KAT100 - Receive only
>
> Comments:
>
> A personal best score. I really feel like I am pushing the limits of what can
> be done with 100 watts and 1500 feet of wire antennas suspended from trees.
> Score might be higher if I had stated up the second night, but I needed to be
> functional Sunday morning for Church.
>
> Conditions were good, but not great. Solid signals stateside, but little DX
> heard. No Europeans heard, and precious little from the Caribbean.
>
> Two radio setup was done hastily about an hour before the contest started. I
> used this arrangement in 2013, but found that the K2 needed a real receiving
> antenna. While I intended to deploy switchable K9AY loops, I had not finished
> the work on the pushbutton controller. So, I used the K9AY outdoor box as an
> anchor for a short Beverage-like antenna. At only 150 feet, it's not long
> enough for a beverage, nor was it terminated. However, it did the trick and
> did allow me to listen on the K2. This allowed me to populate the band map
> while CQing on the K3 during slow periods. Probably no material increase in
> Qs, but it did let me see what was going on in the band during the slow
> periods CQing. Definitely more useful than in 2013, although the K3 was
> definitely overloading the K2.
>
> Started the contest at 2201z and continued all night until 1230z -- which is
> right at sunrise. Going all night was tough, but netted 544 QSOs and 68
> multipliers. The early part of the night was spent CQing, with delightfully
> high rates. A few sessions of S & P to look for mults, as well as when rates
> got slow after 0600z.
>
> Worked 47 states - all but AK, HI and MT. Thats all of 0-, 1-, 2-, 3-, 8-,
> and 9-land. Worked all of 4-land except for PR, which I never heard. I did
> hear one HI station, but he never heard me.
>
> Second night started at 2210z until 0456z. Perhaps it would have been better
> to stay until at least 0600z, but I was already exhausted. Got back on at
> 1040z and switched off at 1240z for a total of over 23 hours. There are only
> 28 total hours of darkness during the contest in this part of the world, and
> I managed to be on the air for 22 of them.
>
> Passed 700 Qs around 0430z, which put me into personal record territory. What
> I was lacking was mults. My previous best in 2010 I had 78 mults. There was
> no DX to be found. I worked XE, PJ2 and ZF. Heard a V3 right at dawn the
> second morning, but he could not hear me.
>
> Found some missing mults the second night, with MT, LAX, SCV, SV. MAR and
> finally WTX for a total of 74. My 2010 effort had 78 mults. Let's hope the
> score stays high with the judging.
>
> It was very hard the second night to decide between calling CQ and S & P. I
> ended up doing mostly S & P for the simple reason that the rate was better.
> However, I always felt I was missing out on some Qs from casual ops because I
> wasn't calling CQ.
>
> High notes: hearing N4IQ call NY4G to encourage him. Working W1OP on the
> first try. I've been in too many contests where this guy was completely deaf.
>
> Low notes: several frequency fights. I always listen, send QRL?, listen some
> more before I start to CQ. Even so, if you catch me in the first couple of
> CQs, I'm happy to move. A few guys dumped CQs on me while I was trying to
> run. But what is really annoying is the guys who appear on frequency after
> you have been there several minutes (maybe even with several QSOs in the
> books) and send QRL, QRL, QSY and call CQ. One ham insisted he had been there
> for four hours.
>
> Sorry, I don't care how many hours you've been on the frequency, if you've
> run off to the bathroom or gone away for several minutes to play with your
> other radio and you don't hear my QRL? or first CQs, then you aren't using
> the frequency.
>
> And don't dump in a CQ without at least listening or calling QRL? And if
> someone sends even one dit in response to your QRL?, move. He maybe listening
> to a weak station you can't hear and trying to copy an exchange.
>
> Oh, and K1OJ -- you are not anywhere in my log. If someone calls you multiple
> times, don't just send QSO B4 -- there may be a reason they are calling. Just
> work them and move on.
>
> In any case, had a blast on 160m. See you again next year.
>
>
> Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
>
> Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
> Web: http://boringhamradiopart.blogspot.com
> Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
> -- Wilbur Wright, 1901
>
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