[3830] ARRL 160 W8FN Single Op HP

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                    ARRL 160-Meter Contest

Call: W8FN
Operator(s): W8FN
Station: W8FN

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: NTX
Operating Time (hrs): 5

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 125  Sections = 49  Countries = 4  Total Score = 12,838

Club: North Texas Contest Club

Comments:

I had very little time to play this year, but that's just as well. I thought
conditions were pretty bad. Usually I can hear a good many of the 6-land
stations, but this year I struggled to hear just a few. I heard very few east
coast signals, and most were quite weak.

Having the KPA500 helped a lot; I'm probably all the way up to maybe 50 Watts
ERP now from the dummy load I jokingly refer to as my antenna. I didn't hear
much DX but that's not unusual as there normally aren't too many DX stations in
what is essentially a 160 meter domestic USA contest. PJ2T was insanely loud. I
**think** OL7A came back to me once, but I couldn't hear him well enough to
tell, and it was pileup time again.

I found Diversity receive to be very helpful with the K3. I used my 43'
vertical tuned with an SGC-230 as the diversity antenna, and the combination
definitely helped with the rapid QSB on many of the signals. Maybe I'll be able
to do more in the CQ test or the Stew Perry.

73...
Randy, W8FN


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