[3830] CQ160 CW K8CC Multi-Op HP

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                    CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW

Call: K8CC
Operator(s): K8CC, W8MJ
Station: K8CC

Class: Multi-Op HP
QTH: MI
Operating Time (hrs): 41

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 1251  State/Prov = 60  Countries = 49  Total Score = 382,917

Club: Mad River Radio Club

Comments:

Rig: FT1000D, FT1000Field, 2x3-500Z
Antennas: 140' shunt fed tower for TX, two 500' two-wire beverages for RX

First time we've done this contest multi-op since 1988 so wasn't sure what to
expect.  Ken, W8MJ has had success as a single-op from here, but multi-op and
more importantly the aspect of packet brought different considerations.

Most of the contest was like a science project in terms of getting stuff
working.  Started on the beverages on the Thursday before the contest, and
finished up the outside work one hour before contest start.  Didn't get the
reversal switching working until daylight Saturday.  Saturday evening we
overheated the homebrew pair of 3-500Zs from the furious CQing.  Swapped over to
a Viewstar PT-2500A and overheated it too, which was surprising because it had
successfully survived Ken's previous single-op efforts here.  I guess we need
more muffin fans!

As mentioned earlier, this was our first experience with the new beverages,
which are two-wire reverable using DXEngineering hardware.  Performing A/B
comparasions with the transmit tower showed only about a 10-15 dB drop on the
beverages.  The F/B was only a couple of S-units, which probably could be
improved if we went to "cone of silence" lengths for the beverage. F/S however,
was spectacular - I could take VE3EJ from S9 (aimed at him) to S0 on the meter
(aimed perpendicular).  Also, the noise floor was almost zero on the beverages
for the entire weekend.  While the latter characteristic helps to hear DX, it
also provides ample opportunity to observe all the clicky Yaesu radios on the
air.  Tom Rauch is right!

With quiet receiving conditions, working stateside signals was easy and we got
all the W/VE mults except for YU and NWT.  However, DX signals were never what I
would consider "good".  Every DX QSO (except for NP4A!) was a "close your eyes
and concentrate" experience.  I'd be interested to hear how other midwest
stations thought condx were.

Still, Ken and I had a blast.  CU next year.

Dave/K8CC


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