[3830] ARRL 160 W5ZL Single Op LP

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                    ARRL 160-Meter Contest

Call: W5ZL
Operator(s): W5ZL
Station: W5ZL

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: STX
Operating Time (hrs): 8:45

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 174  Sections = 50  Countries = 3  Total Score = 18,616

Club: Central Texas DX and Contest Club

Comments:

The great thing about this hobby is that even after 46 years of hamming I am
still experiencing “first evers”? This was my first ever 160 meter contest – I
had a great time and learned a lot. Here’s what I learned:

1.  One’s antenna should work below 1850 if at all possible.

2   The best hours are those beginning around midnight.

3.  It’s a good idea to have an amplifier

Working somewhat against me from the start was that my W9INN dipole worked very
well above 1850, but was, for all practical purposes, a poor excuse for a dummy
load below that frequency. I was able to make a few contacts down as low as
1830, but those were hard won. Had I not tried to kill myself three weeks before
by falling off the ladder whilst tweaking the 80 meter segments prior to CQ WW,
I would have undoubtedly made the appropriate adjustments to the 160 segments in
time for this contest. As I was trained as a young Texas Aggie to say at the end
of the football season, “Wait ‘til next year.”

Signals really started to come up after midnight, and I found that stations
(particularly western US) that I had had no luck with earlier in the evening
were able to copy me as time passed. Unfortunately, I hadn’t planned middle of
the night operation, and was pretty much toast by 0200 or so local time when
things were really beginning to rock and roll. Further complicating this was
this beastly back brace that tries its level best to impede any extracurricular
motions (such as reaching to twirl knobs or paddle the keyer), and rewards you
with bruises and rubs where you try to violate its “rules”.

The amplifier comment is just an observation, but considering the limited
antenna I use picking up a few “forced dB” wouldn’t have been a bad thing.
Running low power and a compromise antenna definitely makes this contest a lot
more challenging.

I knew from the outset this wasn’t going to be easy, but was very satisfied to
come away with 174 Q’s and 52 mults for a modest point total of 18,616 in just
under 9 hours of operating. On the plus side, I picked up 2 new countries and 33
new states and met some excellent CW ops.


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