[3830] CQ160 CW W2GD Multi-Op HP

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                    CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW

Call: W2GD
Operator(s): W1GD, K2SG, K2TW, N2BA, N2HM, N2OO, W2ARP, W2CG, W2GD, W2RQ, N3RD
Station: W2GD

Class: Multi-Op HP
QTH: NJ
Operating Time (hrs): 35

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 1497  State/Prov = 59  Countries = 67  Total Score = 752,472

Club: Frankford Radio Club

Comments:

Location: On Barnagat Bay near West Creek, NJ, 20 miles north of Atlantic City.
Run Position:  K3 for TX, a second K3 RX only, Alpha 99, 1.5 KW
Mult. Position:  K3  
ACOM 2S1 Interlock Switch.  All K3s are second receiver equipped.
Contest Software:  Win-Test
K3WW cluster node and RBN Internet Connections

TX Antennas:  2 element Vertical Wire Beams NE and West; Inverted L

RX Antennas: Beverages NE 900'(2el phased array), East/West 560' (unterm), 
South/North 465'(unterm), SW 560', West 560', and NW 560'; Remote 20' Vertical
located 2500' from TX array for diversity reception

PREPARATIONS - TX Arrays, Short Vertical, and Beverages 

For those of you who might not know, we've been doing winter FD style 160M
contest operations for over two decades at locations on the NJ shoreline.  The
main TX array is typically installed in late October or early November and
taken down in April or early May to avoid potential damage during hurricane
season.  Our current location is directly on the NJ shoreline and subject to
extreme wind conditions throughout the year.  

This 160 season we had no fewer than five work parties which accomulated over
100 manhours of effort by team members.  To be consitently competitive on 160M
requires serious players make a commitment to install, maintain, and tune
multiple BIG antennas, and constantly keep an eye out for changes that might
make meaningful improvement to station performance.  This season all of our
efforts seemed to tweak overall station performance to a level not seen in
years past. It seems on 160M you earn back what you sow.

Somewhat by chance last August, while doing some computer modeling, we
discovered that raising the main TX antenna 60 feet offered a potential two 2
db gain improvement toward EU (our three element main TX antenna is located
over perfect ground, a tidal salt marsh).  Since this would be less expensive
than purchasing a five KW linear (just kidding) we made plans to implement this
upgrade in the fall.  A very heavy duty aluminum yardarm with large stainless
steel pulleys (fabricated by K4ZA) was installed at 245 feet (by W2GD), two new
500 foot 3/8 inch dia. braided nylon pull ropes were acquired and installed
(Ebay has some great rope bargins on large spools) and the four anchors used to
secure the elements in the marshland were relocated.  All in all, three work
parties accumulating nearly 60 manhours were expended to implement this change.
 The improvement in our relative signal strength seemed obvious during the ARRL
160 and has been repeatedly confirmed by RBN comparison reports over all three
contest weekend.  Needless to say we are very pleased with the results.

Over the past nine years permanent beverage antennas of various lengths and
configurations have been installed at our current station location.  But over
time we've found various deficiencies, most notably they were not always strung
in the intended direction and were far from straight.  Last season we made
significant remedial changes to the NW and NE beverages.  This season we
relocated the West beverage to a location further away from the TX antennas and
by using GPS technology, this antenna is now nearly straight on a true west
bearing (thick woodlands make visual siting impossible).  Likewise, last week
we straightened the the SW beverage which must have been erected by a drunken
sailor, it had some serious zigs and zags to the West and Northwest at its far
end.  These are typical of incremental changes we continue to make each year to
improve station performance.  It just takes time.

The most pressing problem this season was failure of our remote short vertical
located 2500 feet away and hidden deep in the woods.  This fall we relocated
the antenna to a more secluded location even further from potential power line
interference.  But apparently the local critter population didn't like this
move and it was deaf for both the ARRL 160 and Stew events.  Fortunately just
last Friday afternoon the sharp eyes of Bob, W2ARP found where the feedline had
been nearly severed by a small animal.  A field splice was made and normal
performance was completely restored!  We are still amazed how well this short
vertical hears. During the CQ160 contest weekend it was used as our diversity
antenna on the K3s.

N2OO had been askng the team for several years to reinstall an east
beverage(the original east beverage was abandoned five years ago due to
disrepair and its location in the near field of the TX array).  On Friday we
removed the termination resistor on the old west beverage (left in place when
we strung out the new west beverage back in December) and recycle this 560'
wire as a bi-directional east/west antenna.  It turned out to be a timely move
since this was the only ariel that could heard 5N7M last weekend.  


THE TEAM

Maintaining adequate staffing for a three chair station is never easy.  Dave,
N3RD a fellow FRCer joined us again this year but just for Friday night. 
Brooke, N2BA, another longtime FRCer, made the 100 mile trip down the Garden
State Parkway Saturday afternoon to find out what EU sounds like on real RX
antennas. And the regulars were there too. W2CG and N2OO worked their station
and network setup magic this year.  W1GD, K2TW, W2ARP and I did most of the
outdoor prep work this time, with some support from K2XT and N2HM earlier in
the week.  N2HM stood in for W20B to carry us through Saturday morning.  W2RQ
gave us four hours of operating relief the second night.  Our 160 contests are
as much a social events as they are serious competitions. Interaction of the
participants is a big part of the experience and fun.

CONTEST RECAP

One of the big attractions of CQ160 is the close competition between
participating mutli-op teams and the unpredictability of 160M conditions. 
Going into the event its impossible to accurately handicap who will win.  I
suppose this is the reason many of us are so attracted to top band and come
back year after year to be part of the fray.  And rivalries have been an
important part of the competition for decades.

Unlike recent years, findng and holding a run frequency was never very
difficult last weekend. Poor conditions and the obvious dropoff in activity
were self-evident. The band actually sounded 'dead' at the start of the
contest, we wondered if the antennas were even connected it was so quiet and
nobody was trying to constantly steal our run frequency. But surprisingly, a
124Q first hour, followed by 121, 122 and 101 hours gave us our best start in
years, but only 19 ten point stations called during the first four hours
compared to 43 last year.  The ten pointer drought unfortunately would be the
trend all weekend.  Listening with a vertical on the 2nd receiver in diversity
mode helped us catch more W/VE stations calling off the back of the NE 2 ele
phased beverage array which exhibits a pronounced "cone of silence" to our
west.  

The band being so quiet supported sustained high rates, not having to deal with
any atmospheric noise at all (of course this was the result of ongoing solar
activity and somewhat severe absorption which would limit EU volume, the key to
winning this event). After the first six hours out rate dropped like a stone to
half that experienced in 2011.  And worse, ten point production was way way
down, accounting for a significant portion of the rate drop. We agressively
worked our 2nd station and managed to maintain a very slim lead over the K1LZ
team at sunrise. But the overall contact total the first night was 25% (300
qsos) lower than 2011.  We'd later learn the W8JI team was the clear leader
after the first 15 hours by virtue of higher rates and mults from NA and some
OC/JA contacts they made at their SR.  We never heard a ZL or JA all weekend.

The turning point in the contest came between 0000 and 0400 the second night.
Congratulations to the K1LZ team for decisively opening up an unbeatable 140K
lead by working more EU ten pointers (congratulations also go to Peter, K3ZM
for his similar rate to EU during this period). We knew we were playing for 2nd
place the rest of the way since it appeared W8JI was not being heard in EU
according to RBN reports.  We tried going higher up in the band for better EU
"visibility" but nothing seemed to help our rate to EU. Two hours after local
sunrise the Team decided to cease operation and head out for our traditional
group breakfast after sunrise each morning.

There was still some interesting DX to work both nights, with HZ, HK0, VP6,
5N7, T32 and several VK6s making it into our log.  But the absorption dampened
communications with anyone to our north.....no KL7, VE7 was a struggle, not to
mention Northern EU (none heard the first night and just a handful the second
night).  When VY2ZM's country total is below 70, you know the sun is playing
havoc. We felt lucky conditions improved somewhat the second night, to northern
and eastern EU in particular, but just not well enough for us to remain
completitive. We ended up with just 359 ten pointers (vs. 497 in 2011 - a huge
percentage decline) and about 80 five pointers (down from 102 last year). The
RBN network was again effective for us identifying multiplier opportunities,
some were visible for just minutes.  It was great to see activity from South
America nearly double this year, a signinficant increase - we've never worked
so many PY and LU stations before, and it was good to see CX, CE, HK, OA and YV
active as well (but P4 was a notable no show this time).  Congratulations to
K8ND at PJ2T for his big score and new record.  We didn't catch the A9, 5H and
probably a few other mults that head us and called.  Let's hope for better
conditions next year.  We sincerly thank all operators worldwide who made their
own extraordinary effort to get on the air for the benefit of other
participants.  Thanks!

As always, we thank the owners of WYRS-FM for hosting our 160M activities again
this year and the members of the SJDXA who provide project support and activate
the station using their club call N2CW during the CQ160 PH (you can work them
next month).  

CU again next season.

73,

John Crovelli, W2GD - for THE 160 TEAM


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