[3830] CQ160 CW KH7A(JA5DQH) Single Op HP

[webform at b4h.net]

                    CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW - 2021

Call: KH7A
Operator(s): JA5DQH
Station: KH6ZM

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Hawaii
Operating Time (hrs): 26
Remote Operation

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 546  State/Prov = 50  Countries = 15  Total Score = 350,675

Club: 

Comments:

I was in Hawaii during this season last year, and after I took part in this
contest, I walked on trails and relaxed on the beach.
I was supposed to be in Hawaii this time of the year to participate in
the contest as well. But I couldn't go because of COVID-19.
So I decided to participate in the contest remotely from Japan.

First of all, thank my old friend Max KH6ZM for always letting me use
the station.
I also want to thank Gerry W1VE, Fred NA2U, Shige JH1GTV/K1GV, and Saty
JO4JKL/9M6NA who taught me a lot about remote since I wasn't used to it.

The sunset in Hawaii is 6PM. It's 1 in the afternoon in Japan. (04:00Z)
It was strange to work QSO with W and VE on 160m during the day when the
sun is high.
But once I started the contest, I quickly got used to it.

The condition on the first day was just a little worse than last year, at the
end of the first day, it was about 400 QSO, which was the same as last year, but
the multiplier was considerably less.
I finished the first day hoping for better condition on the second day.

On the second day, I heard a lot of W/VE stations on the band more than
30 minutes before sunset. However, these couple of hours were very
stressful because there was no response even if I called and called and called
them.
They were working domestic QSOs, and all stations with receiving antennas were
heading to Europe.
Even if I called from Hawaii where the sun has just set, no one listened to me
...

After that, I thought that the condition would improve, but in reality it was
the opposite, and it became a bad condition that could not be helped. However,
it seemed that it was only Hawaii that had a bad condition.
I was surprised to hear that the second day was in better condition in JA and
other areas.

Highlight
The Max KH6ZM station is very good. It's a wonderfully quiet environment
with almost no noise. Very weak signals can be heard well.

Unfortunately, we haven't yet made a remote switch for Beverage that stretches
in several directions.
So before the contest, we thought about which direction of Beverage should be
connected for receiving.
Connecting only one Beverage for North East, that is, for North America, was the
most advantageous in terms of S/N, but it was inconvenient when listening to the
EU and JA.

At Max's suggestion, I decided to hold a contest by connecting two
Beverages in the North East and North directions (Europe) at the same
time. S/N would be a little worse, but I was able to hear quietly much better in
W/EU as well as JA direction than the transmitting antenna.
SA and VK/ZL could be heard without any problem with the transmitting
antenna.

For me, who has been doing 160m for 50 years, I enjoy QSOing with old friends on
this band. I was glad that my friends on the East Coast, which is very difficult
from JA, called me one after another.
However, my callsign, KH7A, is not very active, so many of my friends didn't
realize that it was me.  : (

At the end of the contest, I received a nice email. It was from a station Jim
KK0U. He has been operating with 5w QRP for 30 years and finally completed 160m
WAS. KH7A was the last state for him,
so I was proud to be able to give Hawaii's to him.

How can I receive more weak signals? This is the key to increase the number of
stations in the contest and increase the score. I want to make more efforts in
the future so that I can listen to weaker signals than before.

I was able to do QSO with D4C last year, and also I was able to do thrilling QSO
with D4Z this year.
I heard the signal of Jeff TZ4AM, but unfortunately he was calling someone at
the time, so I couldn't call him.


Lowlight
It is very disappointing that the condition on the second day was the
worst and the number of stations did not increase.
Also, when I called, called, and called, there were too many stations
that did not respond, which was stressful.
I tried hard to call the new States/Prov.'s NL, DC, ME, MS, but didn't
get a response.
In addition, although the new multi LU8DPM, CO2JD, CO2RQ, V31HE, etc.
were heard strongly, it was disappointing that no response was obtained.
Also, I could not receive any response from many AS, OC like JAs, HL/DS, BY,
D73A, 4D2X, 7A1A, 7C1B, JT1CO, E2X, UN9L, etc etc...

The EU has been very difficult this year. The EU opened well last year
and I heard weak European stations on the band. Only about 20 stations
responded, but this year I could QSO with only 3 stations.
Among them, UW2M, which had a very strong signal, was heard for a long
time, but I could not get any response.
Also, I kept calling AF's ED8W for more than 30 minutes, but unfortunately there
was no response. ED8W was a station that I continued to call in the same way
last year but still I could not get a response.

Finally, I want to thank the stations who QSO with me. I'm sorry for the
station that called me but couldn't QSO.
By the time of this contest next year, I hope that COVID-19 will be
completely over and that everyone can go wherever they like and have a
contest.

KH7A (KH6ZM Station)
FTDX-5000, SPE Amp 1.5KW OUTPUT
TX ANT; Vertical with bunch of Radials
RX ANT; Beverages

Max Thanks again.
Thank you for giving me the same environment as I would have a contest
at your station. Even though I was in cold Japan, I even had the
illusion of having a contest in warm Hawaii. I really enjoyed it.

See you again everyone in the contest !

73,  Aki KH7A aka JA5DQH


Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/