[3830] ARRL 160 W2GD M/S HP

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                    ARRL 160-Meter Contest

Call: W2GD
Operator(s): K2SG, K2TW, N2HM, N2OO, W2CG, W2NO, W2OB, W2GD, W2RQ
Station: W2GD

Class: M/S HP
QTH: SNJ
Operating Time (hrs): 40

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 1625  Sections = 79  Countries = 51  Total Score = 478,530

Club: Frankford Radio Club

Comments:

Station Location:  

In a salt marsh adjacent to Barnagat Bay, 20 miles north of
Atlantic City, NJ, 70 miles south of NY.  This is the site of the former
maritime coast station WSC.  The location features a 300 foot tall tower
(previously used as a 500 khz vertical) surrounded by a minimum of 600 feet of
tidal salt marsh. This is a temporary FD style station set up for 5 months
each
fall/winter for the 160M contest season.  It is also the new home of WYRS-FM.

Station Equipment:

Run Station:   IC756ProIII, IC746 (rx only), Alpha 99
Mult Station:  IC756ProII, AL1200

Antennas:

2 element sloping dipole array fed against a delta loop reflector @ 190' above
the salt marsh.  Array fires NE, West or Omni, and is fed with 550' of 5/8
inch
heliax from tower to station building.

Vertical Dipole (62 ft. vertical) adjacent to the marsh.

For RX:
2 ele 930' phased NE beveage array - 280 foot spacing
2 ele 1/4W staggered 580' West beverage array - 20 foot spacing
2 ele 1/4W staggered 580' NW beverage array - 20 foot spacing
580' unterminated beverages to the East, South, and Southwest


This year's adventure in 160M contesting from the New Jersey shore began
in November, the weekemd before CQWW CW.  Five of our core Team and several
members of the SJDXA converged on the site that Sunday to put up the TX
antennas and make repairs to the permanent beverage rx arrays.  Weather was
perfect, in the 60s, you couldn't ask for much more in mid-fall, and the
mosquitoes were gone!  After several years experience, we knew the exact steps
to take erecting the TX antennas near the tower, weaving the delta loop element
around the guy wires of the 300 foot tower.  The live FM station was a new
variable, and the RF field of 5+KW did play games with the MFJ antenna
analyzer.  Ultimately we returned to the less convenient method of pruning and
testing with RF from the shack 550' away.  Those ole 2M HTs still come in handy
every once in a while. We left with everything installed but not fully tested. 


Work commitments limited to four the number of our core team who could come
and help setup the morning of November 30th.  But we managed to finish fine
tuning the TX antennas about 2 p.m. Walking the beverages we found only a few
trees down but nothing too difficult to repair.  The weather cooperated again,
with temperatures in the high 50's and virtually no wind.  It would stay
tranquil until Sunday morning.  The remainder of the beverage work
involved listening on the antennas which seemed to confirm they were hearing
well and there was very little line noise this time.  

The biggest challenge of the weekend again turned out to be setting up the
computers and network (we use 3 computers).  After debating the pros and cons
off season, we decided to purchase and use Win-Test this year replacing N1MM. 
We also had DSL available on site for the first time (we'd been using a 2M
packet connection the past 4 years) and adding a new wireless router turned out
to be problematic, requiring help from the DSL provider (Verizon).  An hour
later, all was up and working.  First we came up with a dead computer 
(bad power supply).  W2CG and W2NO worked diligently to sort things out,
installing software, configuring the network, etc.  After another hour or so of
troubleshooting, all was well, and working 45 minutes to go before the bell.  We
decided to set things up to broadcast our score live via www.getscores.org too
(wish more stations would do this as well).

About 10 minutes before the start, I noticed the east and west beverages both
had an elevated noise floor.  Crews were dispatched to investigate.  The east
beverage was a loose connector.  The west beverage (a staggered pair of 580
footers) was not as easy to resolve.  The rear element was picking up the noise
from a yet to be determined source.  Just a few minutes before the bell, we
decided to go with just one beverage element.  This seemed to perform
adequately all weekend.

The first 6 hours of the contest were exceptional.  The QRN level was low,
stateside signals were strong, EU stations by and large weren't loud but very
workable, and the beverages were performing well.....e.g. when listening on the
NE array, W8s, VE3s, etc. simply disappeared!  The 149 QSOs in first hour was
probably our best rate ever, followed by 137, 133, and 104 hours  which gave us
over 500Q in just 4 hours, and over 700Q after 6 hours.  WOW!   At sunrise,
(after working RW0CWA), we had roughly 1100Q, 78 S and 45 C, the best first
night totals in memory.  

DX worked (mostly day 1):  8P, C6, CM, HI, HR, J3, VP2M, VP5, XE, ZF, CX, HK,
P4, PJ2, YV, CT3, 5B, UA0, 9A, CU, DL, EA6, EI, ES, EU, F, G, GI, GM, GW, HB,
I, LA, LY, OE, OH, OK, OM, ON, OZ, PA, S5, SM, SP, SV, TF, UA, UA2, UR, YL, YU.
 We were disappointed that E5, JA, VK, and ZL were never heard all weekend. And
somehow we missed PY, 5H, and a few other mults that should have been fairly
easy.

Having the manpower, we kept the station on during most daylight hours.  W2OB
did yoeman service adding another 60 hard earned contacts to the log.  

The rates the second night were much more subdued as you would expect, peaking
at 50 in the 00Z hour.  Another 6 countries, mostly CA and SA were added.  EU
signals were notably down compared to the first night, and not terribly
plentiful.  The hoped for EU sunrise enhancement didn't materialize.  And a
storm approaching from the west was increasing the noise level.  At 09Z we
started to hear VY1JA and a few minutes later a solid QSO was in the log. 
Never heard a VE4 over the weekend.....so a sweep was not in the cards this
year.

Our final score is up about 8% compared to 2006 (113 more contacts, 3 
additional mults).  We had alot of fun and hope you did too.

With the ARRL 160 now behind us, we're looking forward to the TBDC later this
month and CQ160 CW  in Jan. 08.   

Congrats to the teams at W8JI, W9AZ, K1LT and so many others for there
outstanding M/S scores, and VY2ZM, K3ZM, W4MYA, VE3EY, VE3EJ, AA1K, W1UE, K9DX,
and others for their iron man single op efforts.  BRAVO gentlemen! 

We sincerely thank the owners of WYRS-FM for allowing our continued use of
this
fantastic radio facility for 160M events.  

73,

John, W2GD (for the entire TEAM)


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