[3830] CQ160 CW W2GD Multi-Op HP

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                    CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW

Call: W2GD
Operator(s): W1GD, K2TW, KU2C, N2HM, N2NC, N2OO, N2OZ, W2CG, W2GD, W2NO, W2OB, W2RQ, K9RS
Station: W2GD

Class: Multi-Op HP
QTH: NJ
Operating Time (hrs): 37

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 1664  State/Prov = 58  Countries = 70  Total Score = 990,592

Club: Frankford Radio Club

Comments:

Station Location: On Barnagat Bay, 20 miles north of Atlantic City, NJ 
Run Position:  K3 xcvr, + 2nd K3 RX only;  Alpha 99, 1.4 KW
Mult. Position:  K3 
ACOM 2S1 Interlock Switch.  
Contest Software:  Win-Test Ver. 4.n
TX Antennas:  Two element Vertical Wire Beams NE and WSW @ 240 feet, attached
to 300' Rohn 55G tower, surrounded by tidal saltwater, plus back-up Inverted-L

RX Antennas: Beverages NE 900' (2 ele phased array), East/West 560' (unterm), 
South/North 465'(unterm), SW 560', West 560', NW 560', and 20' RX vertical

OUR STORY:

After six+ work parties the past two months we finally had most of the damage
from Hurricane Sandy repaired. It was great fun enjoying the fruits of our
labor this past weekend, but even at mid-contest, we were still discovering
problems and making emergency repairs.  A randomly fluctuating SWR condition on
the TX array had us wondering all weekend if it would fail (thankfully it
didn't).  

The problems identified during the Stew last month were repaired during a work
party last Monday....the warmest day of what turned out to be the coldest week
in over three years here.  This let us concentrate Friday morning on other
station bits and pieces which had had lower priority.  The reinstalled Inverted
L base terminations were rebuilt and the antenna tuned, and all of the beverages
were walked prior to the contest.  A 20 foot short vertical (W5ZN/N4HY design)
was installed about 1000' away...for diversity reception.  Wiring the station
with three K3 radios on the table took a little longer than anticipated....and
one K3 came up with a bad 2nd RX module (it ended up at the Mult. positon). We
tried four different diversity antennas during the contest without reaching a
consensus on which performed the best. 

A note about staffing.  Some have commented in the past about the "cast of
thousands" that appear in our list of operators.  With three operating
positions to keep manned, it takes a sizable team of operators - not unlike any
M/M.  And about half of the ops listed are part-timers, many only can give us a
few hours during a contest weekend.  The core team includes W1GD, K2TW, KU2C,
W2CG, W2GD and W2NO, and W2RQ, all FRC members.  N2OO is our SJDXA liasion. 
Bob is President of the SJDXA, lives two miles away, and organizes the annual
N2CW CQ160 PH entry.  This year we were happy to have K9RS and N2NC join us 
... lending us their operating talents on Friday and Saturday evenings
respectively. 

So what about what really happened during the contest?  To get a broad view of
conditons around the world I recommend reading 3830 posts.....including Ben's
detailed writeup of the DR1A entry for a great EU prospective, CE1/K7CA's
account of far S.A. propagation, Jeff's comments on Caribbean conditions at
PJ2T, Ash's African prospective from 3V8BB, and of course the wonderfully
detailed stories posted by top USA competitiors including AA1K, K1DG,
W1UE at W1KM, K3ZM, NQ4I, K9CT, W9RE, K0RF and others.  

>From the SNJ salt marshes, conditions were neither terrible nor
extraordinary...maybe average or a little below average would be about the
right description.  The signal from CS2F was heads and shoulders above all
others from EU the entire weekend, S51V and E7DX were the next tier, and DR1A,
403A, and DR4A were notable for consistency (these are all Multis...none of the
top EU single-op entries seemed to rise to the same signal levels). From S.A.
CE1/K7CA, HK1R and PJ2T were the loud guys. 

We started somewhat slowly ... only a few EU per hour called in during the
first several hours, conditions were clearly down from earlier in the week. 
But when the EU opening got rolling in earnest about 0330 it was off to the
races for the next four hours.  It seemed the band was quieter than normal
worldwide and this just enhanced the fun...even the 2nd and 3rd tier stations
were making it into the log as they rode up and down waves of QSB.  We managed
308 ten pointers the first evening and 216 the second night....clearly an
improvement over 2012. 

Conditions to the west were not very good.  W0s, W6s, W7s were notably weaker
than during the Stew a few weeks earlier.  KL7RA was a whisper.  Only the 7's
in UT and AZ seemed to sound normal.  When sunrise came, we never heard a VK,
ZL, NH2, or JA.  Just one of those nights.  The east coast breakfast crowd kept
us operating until 1500 but at times we had some reception issues.  Sorry.

At sunset Saturday evening, conditions were not much changed, a few EU were
coming through but nothing particularly loud or notable.  Participation in
general seemed down somewhat this weekend, rates were lower than what we
remember or expected. 

Several hours were spent waiting for EU to open.....and we knew the team at
K1LZ, our primary competition, was slowly eating away at the 20K lead we'd
enjoyed at sundown.  By 0100 the teams were dead even, and then over the next
two hours the LZ team opened an 18K lead....by virtue of working more EU and an
extra mult.  But then the tide turned.  During the 0300, 0400 and 0500 hours,
the lead changed back in our favor again by virtue of a strong EU run, peaking
out at a 55K point advantage (an amazing 73K score swing in just three hours).
But we couldn't hold the lead. The K1LZ ops chipped away until we were
virtually even again by 0800.  The plus side for us, we didn't let them make it
a runaway as had happened last year...the downside, our inability to build and
keep the lead.  

Things got pretty slow the last few hours of darkness following EU sunrise. 
Propagation to the west coast was marginal and the rates were dismal for
several hours. We never heard VE5 or LB if they were active.  No sunrise
enhancement to the Pacific either.  We vote to end the contest at 1800 UTC.

Congrats to the K1LZ team and thanks for providing a great competiton.  With
under 9K seperating our scores (less than 1%), the winner of this year's USA
multiop competition will be decided by log checking.  This is just another
example of why the CQ160 CW is the most competitive Multiop event in all of
contesting.
 
During our group breakfast Sunday morning, we identified a large number
maintenance projects and several potential changes for next season. Since this
is seemingly a game of inches.....we're always looking for that incremental
improvement that might provide the winning edge.  :-)

We again thank the owners of WYRS-FM for hosting our 160 meter maddness all
these years, and members of the SJDXA who have worked with us to repair
Hurricane Sanday damage. Be sure to look for N2CW during the Phone part.

And most importantly thanks go to all of the stations world-wide who joined us
in the 2013 CQ160 CW....the BIG ONE when it comes to 160M events!

73,

John, W2GD/P40W for THE 160 TEAM


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