[3830] ARRL 160 AA8IA Single Op LP

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                    ARRL 160-Meter Contest

Call: AA8IA
Operator(s): AA8IA
Station: AA8IA

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Toronto OH EN90ql
Operating Time (hrs): 3

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 99  Sections = 30  Countries = 0  Total Score = 5,940

Club: Mad River Radio Club

Comments:

First time operating in this contest.  Prior to this contest, I'd only worked
one station on 160m in the past 20 years.

The dipole isn't resonant on 160m -- should be somewhere, but it isn't.  
Couldn't tune anywhere but the extreme lower edge.   So I was limited to
running 100w between 1800-1810.   Anything higher than that and SWR went up
amazingly quick, and of course power output went down.   I heard all kinds of
stations I'm sure I could have worked above 1825, but it was totally useless to
try and transmit there.

All things considered, I'm pretty happy with the result.   Nearly 100 contacts
in just a few hours, probably not even the prime hours.   I enjoyed it enough
that I'm going to make sure I've got a better antenna up next year, one that I
can actually transmit on.   It was interesting how far away I could hear.  
Lots of noise, but I turned on all the attenuation the FT-950 had and made sure
no preamps were on, and I was hearing all kinds of stations.

Need an inverted L up for next year.  I want to reach out farther.   As one
might figure, most contacts were well below 1500m away and I heard no DX
whatsoever.

Had an enjoyable time.   Was busy working 10m RTTY all weekend, and of course
there is nothing happening on 10m at night.   So it was the perfect time to
play on 160m.

No QRQ in this test huh?   Seemed quite relaxed.

Thanks for the Qs!


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