[3830] ARRL 160 W2GD M/S HP

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                    ARRL 160-Meter Contest

Call: W2GD
Operator(s): K2SG, K2TW, N2EA, N2HM, N2NC, N2NT, N2OO, W2CG, W2GD, W2NO, W2OB
Station: W2GD

Class: M/S HP
QTH: SNJ
Operating Time (hrs): 38

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 1819  Sections = 59  Countries = 58  Total Score = 611,568

Club: Frankford Radio Club

Comments:

Comments:

Station:  IC756ProII, IC746Pro, Alpha 99, IC756ProII, AL1200
Antennas:  2 el Vert Wire Beam NE and West, Vertical Dipole, and Beverages NE,
E, S/N, SW, W, NW (560 to 1000 feet)

For 20+ years our 160 team has been doing FD style operations from 
locations along the NJ coastline, initially on Sandy Hook, in NNJ near NYC,
and
more recently near Tuckerton, NJ in SNJ, about 20 miles north of Atlantic City.

The current location is adjacent to Barnaget Bay, and features a 300' guyed
tower surrounded by salt marsh in all directions.  We are fortunate to have
such a wonderful platform for hanging TX wire antennas.

We annually use the ARRL 160 contest to shake down the station in preparation
for CQ160 CW in January.  Some years we're fortuante to be competitive,
everything comes together easily, and this apparently was one of those years. 
We run into very few problems during setup and band conditions seemed fair to
good, but not exactly great during the course of the weekend.  There was plenty
of activity to keep the operators busy from beginning to end.

W2CG, K2TW, N2HM, N2OO, W2NO and I arrived at the station Friday morning to set
up the station.  It was a beautiful fall day, sunny, in the mid-40s, not much
wind.  The first order of business was to inspect the transmit antennas on the
tower out in the swamp for damage, since they'd been subjected to a pair of
hurricane force wind storms in just the past 3 weeks.  Fortunately the
saltwater level at the base of the tower was only about one foot deep, and the
damage to the wire TX antennas was minor.  One of the ropes that pulls away the
center of a sloper DE had snapped.  Luckily, K2TW had as an afterthought thrown
his bow and arrows in his truck that morning.  After some focused string and
rope work, the West driven element (sloping half-wave) was pulled away
correctly, and subsequent SWR tuning proved uneventful.

Those same strong wind storms had made a mess of the fresh water marsh and
forest that surround the station building, many large trees had fallen over our
7 beverages.  W2CG had fun with his chain saw clearing the larger obstructions,
while W2GD walked the full length of every beverage, making nearly a dozen
splices.  In the end the beverages performed great, exhibiting plenty of
directivity, rejection off the sides and back, everything you would want.
Unlike prior years when we've had problems getting the phasing right on the 2
ele NE array, it worked the first try. 

W2NO worked indoors on station setup.  This is a temporary location, the
station is assembled for just four contest weekends each year (ARRL 160, TBDC,
and CQ160 CW and PH).  Everything (4+ computers, 3 xcvrs, 2 amps, antenna
switching systems, lockout systems, computer/rig interfaces, internet
connections, network, etc.) must be assembled, connected and tested.  The only
glitch we had this time was a computer that didn't want to boot, which Dan
somehow resolved.  

So an hour or so before the contest start time we were virtually ready.  Our
only other issue was operator coverage.  Several of our regular team members
had other obligations Friday and/or Saturday evenings.  We were short handed
going into the weekend, so having N2NT and N2NC join us for the first several
hours on Friday evening was a huge help, and then N2EA, K2SG, and N2OO for the
late night work got us through the first night.  Thanks guys!

We seemed to get off to a very good start, the first several hours were in the
120 to 148 range.  And a fair number of Europeans were in the W/VE mix.  By
morning we had 50 countries and 79 sections, missing just VE8 for the sweep. 
No VK/ZL/JA the first sunrise.

At about dawn, Arnie, W2OB arrived and did his regular yoeman job keeping the
station on the air during the daylight hours.  Activity was better than normal,
with only two hours without double digit contact counts.  Thanks again Arnie!

As the day progressed Saturday the weather along the coast deteriorated, heavy
rain began to fall and later in the evening some snow.  The noise floor
increased, sometimes significantly, from power line connections.   Fortunately
it never became a total roar.  The storm passed by midnight, but sporatic
periods of QRN keep occuring.

Conditions the second night were not much different from the first.  EU signals
were still not very loud, they would ride the QSB waves up and down, in and out
of the noise, often plunging into oblivion before a callsign could be
confirmed.  Maddening!

The second night of the ARRL 160 is much like SS.....the rates are never
terrific, but you have to be there, and grind out whatever QSOs can be had. 
The addition of 8 more multipliers keep things interesting, especially being
called near sunrise by JA3YBK.   Still no VK/ZL. 

Apparently GETSCORES was not properly set up for this contest but you could see
some of the scores realtime.  We chose to connect/post and hope other
competitiors in multi will also automatically do so in future contests.  

Our congratulations to the KC1XX team for grabing the lead and holding it from
nearly start to finish. Great job guys.  Our hats are also off to WE3C, W2FU,
K1TTT and others who had great team efforts.

Our fun would not be possible without the full and unending cooperation and
assistance from the owners and operators of WYRS-FM, and the members of the
SJDXA for their assistance in maintaining the site year-round.

Look forward to working many of you again during the TBDC on December 26th, and
during the CQ160 CW in January, 2010.

73,

John W2GD/P40W for the the Team

w2gd at hotmail.com  


W2GD
By band - All modes
QSOs (without dupes) - By time

| Hr |      160 |   Total  |
|    |          |          |
----------------------------
| 22 |      149 |      149 |
| 23 |      127 |      127 |
| 00 |      122 |      122 |
| 01 |      131 |      131 |
| 02 |       88 |       88 |
| 03 |       79 |       79 |
| 04 |       87 |       87 |
| 05 |       85 |       85 |
| 06 |       53 |       53 |
| 07 |       60 |       60 |
| 08 |       39 |       39 |
| 09 |       27 |       27 |
| 10 |       23 |       23 |
| 11 |       37 |       37 |
| 12 |       26 |       26 |
| 13 |       23 |       23 |
| 14 |       14 |       14 |
| 15 |       13 |       13 |
| 16 |        5 |        5 |
| 17 |       12 |       12 |
| 18 |        8 |        8 |
| 19 |       16 |       16 |
| 20 |       19 |       19 |
| 21 |       35 |       35 |
| 22 |       62 |       62 |
| 23 |       50 |       50 |
| 00 |       60 |       60 |
| 01 |       44 |       44 |
| 02 |       40 |       40 |
| 03 |       44 |       44 |
| 04 |       44 |       44 |
| 05 |       38 |       38 |
| 06 |       40 |       40 |
| 07 |       29 |       29 |
| 08 |       17 |       17 |
| 09 |       16 |       16 |
| 10 |       16 |       16 |
| 11 |       16 |       16 |
| 12 |       19 |       19 |
| 13 |        6 |        6 |
| 14 |          |          |
| 15 |          |          |
| 16 |          |          |
|----------------------------
|    |     1819 |     1819 |

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