[3830] ARRL 160 VA7ST Single Op LP

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                    ARRL 160-Meter Contest

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

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 10

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 162  Sections = 42  Countries = 0  Total Score = 13,608

Club: British Columbia DX Club

Comments:

* FT-2000 and N1MM Logger
* Inverted-L (70' tall, 65' horizonal sloping down from 70' to <50' high)
* 270' bidirectional Beverage

SFI=69 A=20 K=3 -- Solar wind was over 500 km/s, and although useable the band
wasn't in great shape.

Sure is sad when antenna trouble wrecks an otherwise perfectly good contest
weekend. For this contest I had the worst 160M antenna in the history of 160M
antennas. With the possible exception of several others I've tried here. I did
manage to work LA9Z with 100w on Tuesday evening, so the antenna worked okay
just a few days ago, but it was a cloud-warmer this weekend and that resulted
in my poorest-ever outing in this contest.

Last year, with an Inverted-L over a lousy (decomposing aluminum wire) ground
radial field once installed for a 40M vertical, plus one temporary on-ground
100' radial, I managed 355 Qs and 75 mults. Back then, the horizontal section
ran due west, starting at 70' elevation and ending about 55' high.

I used the same wire in the air this year (70' high, 65' horizonal). However,
being super clever, this summer I thought I'd try something different, so I
moved the horizontal section to the far side -- pointed due east, starting at
70' up and ending 50' up in a tree. The sloping terrain between supports makes
the far (east) end just 35' higher than the vertical's feedpoint, but still 50'
above actual terrain all the way. I thought the slanted wire over slanted
terrain would work OK. It does not, Norway not withstanding.

This weekend, I had to work hard to make 160 Qs and 42 mults. 

I could hear across North America, but could only work a handful of stations.
Frustrated, I tried all kinds of jury-rigged arrangements. Started Friday night
with one 135' radial running roughly west, 6' off the ground. It was tied into
an existing set of six 80M (67') elevated radials. SWR was great, but no
contacts to speak of. I re-read TowerTalk posts to remind myself of the common
wisdom: good SWR doesn't mean a thing if efficiency is 10%.  

10 p.m. Friday night, I find myself with a flashlight creeping around in the
forest to add a second 135' elevated radial to the southeast. Rain has turned
to sleet. A hard shell of ice coats everything. The XYL and kids are out of
town for the weekend, and I know one slip on a fallen log could break a leg, or
worse, my keying hand, and I could lay there for two days and nights before
anyone found me -- probably longer, as the search might not even start for a
week after they got home on Sunday. 

High wind in the dark makes the cold feel even colder. I take our Bouvier x
sheepdog Tippy with me as a precaution, ever mindful of Roald Amundsen's
experience. Fortunately, it turns out I do not have to eat the dog at all.* Me
and Tippy, who is happy as a fool snuffling around out there in the icy
desolation that is our back wood, finally head back inside and I spend a few
minutes pulling wild rose prickles out of frozen hands. In retrospect, gloves
would have been more handy than a dog out there. 

Alas, no improvement in performance. Lots of juicy mults heard S9 or better,
but few hear even a peep from me. If they hear me at all I get "VA7?" and
that's as far as it goes after many repeats. It's not conditions, because I
hear VE7CC send his call once and bag a rare East Coast mult that can't hear me
at all. Later, I repeat the experiment trying to work mults that have just
worked other VE7s, at least one of whom I think is low power like me. I got
nothin'.

7 a.m. Saturday, back outside at first light. I add a third 135' elevated
radial to the northeast. Try the antenna with the three 135' quarter-wave
raised radials by themselves (not tied to the 80M radials). SWR 2:1 across the
CW band, rig not happy with that and its internal tuner makes things worse. I
have no outboard 160M tuner. Can't get more than 50w into the coax. Okay, let's
put the elevated radials on the ground. Not much change. 

Procrastinate for a few hours working TARA RTTY Melee on a lukewarm 20M band.
Take a nap to think. Run a bit more RTTY test, then back outside with little
daylight left. Maybe 135' is too long for elevated radials made of insulated
wire. Trim them. SWR falls a bit. Trim some more. SWR seems to bottom out at
1.6:1. Good signals are starting to pop up on 160M now, but I can't get
anyone's attention. The problem must be that goofy sloping horizontal section,
but it's already too dark to do a major reconfiguration. 

As night falls, I can't get the thing tuned up so I end up where I began: just
tie the Inverted-L to my elevated 80M vertical over 6 elevated 80M radials. SWR
is almost flat but still can't get heard by many stations outside of WWA/EWA/OR
and CA. Rates of 3 or 4 per hour for a couple of hours, so I pull the plug at 2
a.m. Sunday morning and call it a contest.

Up Sunday morning for a few minutes before the contest ends. No Qs. Oh well.
Hope to rebuild in time for the Stew. Will turn the horizontal top wire to the
west like it always was before. With the new beefed up radials, maybe it'll
work as well as it once did.

Year-over-year:
       QSO     Sec   Score
2008   162     42   13,608  10 hrs
2007   355     75   54,150  12 hrs
2006   225     48   22,197
2005   323     62   40,052
2004   231     62   28,644 

See you all on 10M next weekend, and in RAC Winter and TBDC.

-- Bud VA7ST
http://www3.telus.net/va7st

* No dogs were harmed in the making of this fiasco.


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