[3830] CQ160 CW K1LT Single Op HP

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                    CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW

Call: K1LT
Operator(s): K1LT
Station: K1LT

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Ohio EM89ps
Operating Time (hrs): 27.5
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 1210  State/Prov = 58  Countries = 54  Total Score = 456,848

Club: Mad River Radio Club

Comments:

This contest started very slowly.  It was 3 minutes until the first
station called.  The first hour was only 70 QSOs and no hour ever got
over 100 QSOs.  On the other hand, the band noise was very low,
signals were very strong and the local noises stayed away.  Also the
Beverages seemed to be hearing as well or better than the phased
arrays the first night.

I tried hard to keep the second radio busy.  At the beginning of the
contest SO2V is easy but as the contest progresses, the payoff for all
the concentration greatly diminishes.  By the middle of the second
night, I just want to pass out in my recliner while the CQ machine
cranks away the endless CQs.  Tuning the second radio just proves that
I've worked everybody.  This problem seems like an operator deficiency
that is never going to be fixed.

Friday evening had a strong recurrence of the phenomenon wherein we
hear Europe fairly well while they cannot hear us.  I heard several
stations in QSOs with other stations that I could hear, such as G to
LZ and S5 to R7 and so on.  I spent several hours trying to ignore
CS2C who was CQing within my passband without being affected by my
CQing presumably within his passband.  Normally CT is extremely easy
to work whenever they can be heard.

Around 0109Z RW1A called with a surprisingly strong signal and after
that the "one way propagation" seemed to diminish.

The best time to Europe both nights seemed to be about 0400Z to 0530Z.
The normal sunrise enhancement didn't happen as if signals were
already enhanced and we all ran out of stations to work.  The second
night was better, as it usually is.

I did not try as hard this year to stay awake all night.  Both nights
I took a 2 hour nap from about 0845Z to 1045Z.  Consequently I have 4
more operating hours available as I am typing this report before the
end of the contest.  The last hour or two might net 10 more QSOs.

I had a decent JA run Saturday morning.  I logged 7 JAs from 1136Z to
1237Z.  I don't think I have ever worked JAs the first night of any 2
night 160 contest and this is my second best 160 JA run ever.  I
worked the first few on the Beverage and then switched to the phased
array which seemed slightly better after a while.  The first 3 JAs
were ESP treats while the others were fairly easy to copy after a
couple of tries.  There were a couple of callers early I could not
pull through.  Sorry about that.

The 300 degree and particularly the 330 degree Beverages are very
quiet although I don't know why.  In the past I always thought they
were broken, but I can't find anything wrong with them.  Furthermore,
the phased array in the same direction (330 degrees) does not seem to
be particularly quiet although the traditional northwest noise has not
appeared since the power company rebuilt that transmission line a
couple of years ago.  That line passes closest about 2 miles away in
the direction of JA.  The mystery continues.

Sunday morning I did not hear any JAs although there might have been a
couple of callers I could not pull out of the hiss.  Then again, those
signals might have been audio leaking through my audio router from the
other radio.  I need to be more careful next time.  There was a caller
from the southwest that I could parse.  Hope I didn't disappoint
anyone.  Finally, there was a "/4" from the southeast that I
couldn't
pull out as well.  His signal seemed to be "soft" somehow so the
"/4"
was the only part I could recognize.

Signals from the west stayed strong well after my sunrise at 1140Z.  I
worked N6TH at 1327Z and heard a couple more 6s after that.

I started the last hour at 2030Z but nothing happened until 2100Z.  I
got 9 of the hoped for 10 contacts, although 2 were VEs.  I got 4 of
the contacts by CQing.  I could hear CR2X after 2130Z.

The special antenna for the 2nd radio (or VFO, depending on how one
counts) seemed to work better than last year.  Last year's version had
2 short verticals spaced 60 feet while this year they were spaced 134
feet.  The wider spacing provides a "narrower" null.  However, the
wider spacing gives my "nulling circuit" a hard time.

Didn't hear any VK or ZL or any other Oceania besides 3 KH6.  Did not
hear KL7 or WY.  Missed the usual VE provinces.  Apparently I missed
YV1KK and CW5W.  Heard OH0TA the first night under an East coast
station but not after that.

DX worked: 5B, 9A (4), C6, CM (2), CT (2), CU, DL (27), E7, EA (3),
EA6, EI, EU (2), F (3), FY, G (13), GM (2), GW (2), HA (2), HB (2),
HC, HH, HI (4), HK (3), I (6), IT9, JA (7), KH6 (3), KP2 (4), KP4, LX,
LY (3), LZ, OE (3), OH (3), OK (18), OM (5), ON (3), OZ (3), PA (6),
PJ2, PJ4, PY, S5 (10), SM (2), SP (5), UA (4), UA2 (2), UR (7), V3, XE
(4), YL, YO (3), YU (2), and ZF for a total of 54 entities.  That's 91
5 point QSOs and 172 10 point QSOs if I counted correctly.

Equipment: K3/100, P3, K3/10, Alpha 8410, 2x3 BS-EF phased array, 2x4
BS-EF phased array, 65 foot "Tee" over about 75 radials.

Running yearly comparison:

    Year  QSOs  States  DX  Hour  Raw score  Ops
    2016  1210    58    54   28    456,848    1
    2015  1274    59    42   30    374,609    1
    2014  1199    58    48   30    367,820    1
    2013  1329    58    58   32    536,140    2
    2012  1297    59    47   30    396,016    1
    2011  1471    59    67   30    670,320    1
    2010  1559    58    75   39    776,587    2
    2009  1416    59    71   30    757,510    1
    2008  1350    58    64   38    553,758    2
    2007  1063    58    68   32    422,100    1
    2006   764    58    47   26    260,505    1


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