ARRL 160M - DL1IAO Multi Single

[dl1iao at hamgate2.w5-f6cnb.ampr.org]

                     ARRL 160 METER CONTEST -- 1996


      Call: DL1IAO                   Country:  Fed. Rep. of Germany
      Mode: CW                       Category: Multi Single



               QSO   QSO PTS  PTS/QSO    SECTIONS  COUNTRIES

     Totals    356     712     2.00         57          0    =   40,584



Operator List:  DL1IAO, DK1NO

Equipment Description:  TS930
                        37m shunt-fed tower
                        3 Beverages (180-300m, 6 directions)
                        CT v9.23

Club Affiliation:  Bavarian Contest Club


       I was so disappointed to miss CQWW CW due to exams that I
simply had to be in one of the next events.  We decided to be Multi Op
and were listening with 4 ears till about 0130Z and after Hannes left
with 1 or 2 ears the rest of the night - depending on how tired I felt.

After a slow 25 hour start the rate constantly stayed at about 60 the
next 3 hours with 10-minute peaks in the 140-150 range.  After that the
skip become much longer with westcoast coming thru and nice surprises
like VE7FPT calling me.  New England had a lot of fading at that time
and I only hung in to not miss the multipliers.  After sunrise the
band recovered a bit and I finished the first night with 291 QSO's.

As the band sounded very noisy the next evening we didn't continue
too seriously and concentrated on working W6/7 S&P.  Most signals
suffered from deep QSB periods, sometimes disappearing completely
in the noise and after 1 or 2 minutes suddenly being Q5 again.
This way I had a clever QSO with N7CKD who adapted the QSB rhythm and
logged me correctly after several minutes while running US in between.
I couldn't hear a whisper from the VE6's and KL7's northern EU was
working but stumbled over KL7RA at 0530Z and got him with the first
call.

I noticed that everytime I tried to CQ outside the window the rate
dropped dramatically though the frequency sounded clear.  I simply
was not recognized between the North American locals.  Unfortunately
5KHz is not enough for all Europe so we had some trouble copying the
weak ones thru the roaring QRM.  Yet, it's still better to work people
thru the noise than working NO people on a clear frequency!

I again recognized that you can't compare with north(-western) Europe
in a contest like this from southern Germany, SM's and OH's work DX on
80/160 almost 24 hours a day!  I also started reading maps and found
out that if you compared Europe with the North American continent
our QTH would be more like "W8" while G's could be called "VE1"
and PA/ON/F probably would represent the so-called "New England States".
I know this is more complex but it gives you an idea how to look at
propagation.


73 from "W8"-Europe,

Stefan
DL1IAO at sugarland.ampr.org

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