[3830] ARRL 160 VA7ST Single Op LP

[webform at b4h.net]

                    ARRL 160-Meter Contest

Call: VA7ST
Operator(s): VA7ST
Station: VA7ST

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: 
Operating Time (hrs): 6.5

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 231  Sections = 62  Countries = 0  Total Score = 28,644

Club: 

Comments:

So, that's what a 160M contest looks like. Lots of fun, indeed. Did not have a
160 antenna for the first night so only made 10 halting Qs using one of my 80M
delta loops. Not good at all. So, Saturday afternoon after the TARA RTTY Melee
contest was pretty much done (2300z) I bundled up and went out in the snowstorm
to work on my wire antennas. 

One leg of the east 80M delta had actually broken, so I lowered it and made the
fix. One side of my 40M delta had come loose too, so that was repaired as well.
They both work well again.

While the support rope was lowered from its 80-foot height, I took an old 80M
dipole -- 133' long -- and turned it into a single contiguous wire. Measured 50'
of that and strapped it along the support rope, with 83' or so to hang down to
the chainlink fence at the bottom of the yard for a 20-minute quickie
inverted-L.

Made a hefty connection to the fence rail for the ground side of a simple coax
feed and went inside to see how it played. Sure enough, 160M was hopping with
signals -- and at 4 p.m. Pacific. A nice surprise. (Actually, I had to go back
out and swap the antenna wires as I had hooked up the vertical wire to the
ground side of the coax, and the center conductor to the fence/ground system,
which doesn't work all that well, hi). 

Moments after finishing the antenna work, I had to get all prettied up and
attend the office Xmas party. Got home at about 0600z itching to see how the
antenna worked.

Have to use a tuner still, as the ground system is rather clumsy and no pruning
has been done, but it tuned down to 1.1:1 at 1.830 Mhz, rising to 2:1 at 1.810
and 1.860. I thought the 50khz bandwidth is about right. 

Bundled up again at 0700z to roll out a single 100' radial from the inverted-L
base across the back lawn. Don't know if it helped at all, but I felt better
with it installed. May do a more conventional radial system later. 

Was only able to work close-in sections -- WWA, SCV, SV, etc. -- between 0600z
to 0930z, but I stayed with it hoping the band would go "long" as the night wore
on. Had 30 mults after about 3 hours at it. Then, sure enough, began working
Texas and Illinois around 0930z and away I went. 

Did a lot of S&P and running seemed to work out just fine, too, particularly in
the wee hours of the morning out here. Was surprised by VE1ZZ calling in (thanks
for MAR), and was pleasantly surprised to hear NH6KB all alone handing out PAC
in between a couple of KWs. 

Not being familiar with 160's DX conventions, I inadvertently spent a few
minutes inside the DX window (once at the top end, and hours later at the low
end). Lucky for me, some unidentified sheepdog chased me out of there. He was
chasing all the other stations out, too, so while I was chagrinned, I didn't
feel too bad about a genuine mistake. 

Didn't have any expectations for a mult total, but am extremely pleased with 62
-- looking at last year's scores, it seems a reasonable total considering the
simplicity of the inverted-L. Hope do to a lot more top band contests now that
the wire is up. See you in the next one!


Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/