[3830] CQ160 CW PA5MW Single Op LP

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                    CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW

Call: PA5MW
Operator(s): PA5MW
Station: PA5MW

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Boxtel
Operating Time (hrs): 20

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 422  State/Prov = 15  Countries = 42  Total Score = 124,374

Club: Bavarian Contest Club

Comments:

TRX: TenTec ORION+bandscope:Perseus
Contest tools: Microham Microkeyer II, WinTest
This year I wanted to participate from home; a typical small city lot
operation. In a garden of 6x7mtrs there's not much space for many, let alone,
long radials. But I managed to get a few very short and two long ones along
both adjacent properties. TX antenna is a 30mtr long 0.2mm dia teflon coated
wire, about 24mtrs up in a tree. RX antennas, also in the backyard, consist of
a)short 160m tuned vertical b)2x 7mtrs low dipole+16:1 xformer and c)rotating
Wellbrook loop @1.5mtr AGL. 
The many weeks up front were spent for (re-)setting up all RX antenna wiring
and fighting local noise. This seems/is becoming a greater challenge every
month/year. Lots of re-wiring, Steward LFB and Amidon FT240-31 ferrite,
copper-sheets on/under the operating table, bandfiltering, front-end savers,
TX-detune switching, RX-antenna switchboxes, RF splitters, AC-filtering,
cancelling/decoupling groundloops. From start I managed to lower the
noise-floor of the Wellbrook by 12dB. All three antennas clearly showed their
merits during the contest where sometimes a QSO was only possible on a single
antenna.
Just hours before the contest the Microkeyer II and Wintest were setup for the
first time. Nice to have a colorfull user interface with an entry line a la CT
again. It all worked fb with the ORION and the Perseus synced with the main
VFO. 
The implementation of the Perseus SDR is money well spent. First it is a great
measurement tool for finding and/or lowering bandnoise during all pre-contest
experiments. Secondly, as a bandscope in waterfall mode, it showed me a clear
frequency where to run succesfully. And third, during the final hours it showed
the typical casual contesters, who were popping up between the big guys or
buried in heavy local QRN which was cluttering up 1850-1880.
The first night in the contest showed the worst condx I have ever experienced
on TB; nothing could be heard outside Europe on the omni RX antennas.  The
second night things changed and I snagged some 15 states/provinces. Most dx
contacts required me to QRS to 20wpm or it would be sri no qso.
The Low Power forced me to maximise the perfomance at S&P while doing
occasional running at times on a free spot. Very acceptable at an urban area
QTH and a good learning opportunity. The Unassisted was a first time ever and a
'lonely' experience.  I missed a filled bandmap and RBN data for analysis and
strategy. Also typing the same calls over and over again during S&P quickly
became annoying. But near the end I memorized most of them and was able to
recognise new/casual stations within seconds. Sometimes already by their fist. 
I was on a hunt. And not being heard with a puny signal anyway and a slowly
dying crowd, I was hungry like a wolf. 
Thanks for digging me out.  Hope to find a few more dB's next time ;)
Mark PA5MW


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