CQWW160

[FOXG at WCSUB.CTSTATEU.EDU]

                        CQ 160 METER CONTEST           1994
 
 
      Call: K1VWL                    Country:  United States (240)
      Mode: CW                       Category: Multi Single
 
               QSO   QSO PTS  STATES COUNTRIES
 
 
     Totals    697    1691      55      27    =   138,662
 
 
 
All reports sent were 59(9), unless otherwise noted.
 
Operator List: K1VWL, WA1U, N1EPU, AA1AK, and Tony Sparrow as the antenna
               levitator!
 
Equipment Description: TS850, Ameritron amp 500w, YCCC packet cluster, Dentron
                       tuner, 5/8 wave vertical supported by 13 ft long blimp!
                       W9GR DSP unit.
 
NOTES:  The contest came during the end of a major winter storm. 
Friday afternoon antenna work was conducted under awful conditions, including
a high tide that put the base of our salt marsh antenna site under a foot of
salt water.
Wind and rain forced us to forget the 'big' antenna and go with a 50 ft
vertical to open the contest.  The 5/8 vertical finally went up at about 0100z
but our homebrew tuning unit (thanks AA1AK [construction] and KS1L [loan of
an air variable capacitor]) did nothing.  We then 'borrowed' the DENTRON and
used its single wire mode to help load the vertical (A 5/8 wave vertical is
a very high impedance antenna with lots of capacitive reactance that must
be 'neutralized').
The antenna played very well, but we learned a lot.  We suffered from
intermittent electrical noise that peaked at S9 +5 db.  The 500 hz filter
was not narrow enough.  Often, DX was clobbered by adjacent slop.  The DSP
filter won't help when the front end of the receiver is pumping hard.  Maybe
a beverage would improve our lot (room = no problem), but how to switch 
antennas?
Finally, we're still a little confused as to when to run and when to S&P.
Wait 'til next year.
Conditions seemed poor.  Few EU's and no Pacific farther than Hawaii.
 
Geoff WA1U