[CQ-Contest] RE: Records

[Doug Grant]

Recently Rob, MW5EPA asked about:

 > 1. Highest QSO rate Every Recorded

I know this answer. 457 QSOs - N5TJ operating at P40L in CQWW SSB. The =
record for humans (and those without N5RZ yelling at them to go faster) =
is lower. There have only been a few other verifiable hours over 400 =
reported, and several dozen over 350. CW record was somewhere around 235 =
while I was actively tracking them, although I have a vague memory that =
CT1BOH had one absurd hour around 250 in the past few years.

 > 2. Highest Antenna AGL

My data is a bit out of date, but I think the KC1XX 80M stacked delta =
loops at 300 and 150 feet (100 and 50 Meters) are at the top (so to =
speak). There also used to be an 80 M inverted Vee at W1MX (MIT club =
station) at the top of a 300-foot building (the Green Bulding, for =
alums) back in the 70s, but I'm not sure if it is still there. That =
antenna was used by WA1CQW and WA8WNU (now W1FV and K8RX, respectively) =
who took turns winning the 80M single-band category from MX for several =
years.

 > 3. Largest Array ever used

This is tough to qualify. Let's start with element counts.

KC1XX's 10-meter array is pretty impressive (8-stack of 4-element
yagis), and is probably the most HF elements in one array. The KC1XX 10M
system also includes some fixed beams South, one low long-boom monster
fixed on Europe (its nickname, required of all legendary antennas, is
the "Autobahn", because there's no speed limit when you run Germans with
it), and 3-stack of beams fixed on JA (I think they're 7 elements each).
That gives a total of somewhere over 60 elements on 10 meters.

It's beaten in element count by the AA6TT stack of 6-meter beams (8 x
10-element yagis, dismantled in 1993).

Stacked full-size 3- or 4-element 40-meter beams (K3LR, W3LPL, the old
W2PV, and several others) probably include more aluminum, and there are
a few 80M rotary yagis out there.

N6BT and VA7RR once loaded up the curtain array at the Far East
Broadcasting Corp. on Saipan, and reported a substantial improvement
from a tribander (like 30 dB or something really scary - but not bad for
a "wire antenna"). Various hams have also fired up the giant dish at
Arecibo for moonbounce now and again, or used rhombics originally
installed for government or military applications. These don't count as
ham antennas, though.

 > 4. Highest SO LP QSO rate

Somewhere I have this, but not close to hand. I think several people
have done in the mid-200s LP, and maybe even 300 in an hour.

A significant number of intriguing contest-related records along these
lines was compiled in the CQ Amateur Radio Almanac, which I edited for 4
years. The last edition was 1997, and is probably still available from
CQ.

Using antennas like these really classifies contesting as "Extreme ham radio".

73,

Doug K1DG


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