[SCCC] ARRL 160 NI6W(@W4EF) M/S HP

[Michael Tope]

ARRL 160-Meter Contest - 2019

Call: NI6W
Operator(s): N6AN W4EF
Station: W4EF

Class: M/S HP
QTH: LAX
Operating Time (hrs): 27

Summary:
Total: QSOs = 853 Sections = 82 Countries = 28 Total Score = 217,690

Club: Southern California Contest Club

Comments:

Rig: Elecraft K3S + Alpha 87A
Tx Antenna: 55ft Top Loaded Vertical with 50+ radials.
Rx Antenna: Tx antenna + 20ft top-loaded vertical + MFJ-1026 Noise Canceller

After operating 4 major contests remotely from a hotel room in Toronto 
with a bad wi-fi connection, I was really looking forward to sitting in 
front of a real radio with a real VFO knob that didn’t have noticeable 
control/response latency. Knowing my lack of stamina for keeping my butt 
in the chair for long periods of time, I invited David N6AN up to help 
with the chair warming.

I made a few contacts early on Friday evening while getting things setup 
and waiting for David to arrive. Since David could only operate the 
first night, I let him take over as soon as he arrived. He hit the band 
running and did some impressive heavy lifting. At about 4 AM local time 
on Saturday David needed a break and I gave it a go. I think at that 
point David had worked something like 505 QSOs, 18 DXCC, and all but 4 
ARRL sections. I plopped myself on 1824 and got a decent run of JA 
stations. Somewhere along the line RL3A called in, which was a really 
nice surprise. We finished the first night with 625 QSOs in the 
log(including 41 JA’s).

Saturday night was a grind as David had worked out the band pretty 
thoroughly the night before. EA7KW was loud, but I think this was 
“spotlight” propagation. Similarly, I heard YL2SM calling CQ underneath 
a US station, but I couldn't get his attention. LA3MHA was very loud for 
a time, but I couldn't get his attention, either. Our last US section 
was WTX who called in early on Saturday evening. That left only VE5 and NT.

As we approached European sunrise, conditions seemed pretty mediocre 
with no good propagation to western Europe. I was starting to resign 
myself to a very long night with poor conditions. All was not lost, 
however. Around 0900 UTC conditions to Asia seemed to explode. DS2JJV, 
in particular, had a remarkably strong signal.

I planted myself on 1823 and stayed there until ~1145 UTC. Despite the 
quality of the opening, I was only able to work 8 more JA stations 
(bringing our weekend total to 50) and a handful of other Asian 
stations. VE5SF showed up shortly thereafter as “fresh meat” and 
generated quite a pileup. That was the last ARRL section we worked (I 
understand a number of stations worked all 83 ARRL sections, so clearly 
there was an NT running around that we never connected with).

Aside from the TX antenna, the only RX antenna we had to work with was a 
single 20ft top loaded vertical (what remains of an RX 4 square which 
fell victim to "varmints" chewing through the Dacron guy ropes). We used 
this RX vertical in conjunction with an MFJ-1026 noise canceller and the 
TX antenna. Given the rather diffuse ambient noise environment around my 
QTH, in most cases the noise canceller provided little or no SNR 
improvement. However, with single noise sources, like the fairly narrow 
bandwidth switch-mode birdie that drifts slowly across my receiver 
passband occasionally, it works wonders. It also made quick work of the 
fishnet beacon that would transmit on 1823 every few minutes while I was 
trying to run people. I am sure this enabled several QSOs that would 
have otherwise been impossible.

I did bring up all the parts of an Array Solutions SALA-30 shared-apex 
loop array, but I only got as far as unloading them from the truck. 
Maybe next year I actually get this installed so our RX situation will 
be a little better.

 From the looks of the log I managed to stay awake until around 1325 
UTC, at which point I dozed off while sitting in the operating chair. 
Around 1400 UTC I woke up. I was still in a bit of a fog and thought I 
was hallucinating when I heard RA4LW CQing with a signal so loud I 
thought it couldn't possibly be real. He came back with one call like he 
was right down the street. I don't think I have ever heard an eastern 
European signal that loud near our sunrise. Amazing!

I also heard RV9CX calling CQ with a very respectable signal. I need 
zone 17 on 160, so I called him with W4EF a few times. He heard me and 
came very close to getting my full call, but his signal started fading 
and we never completed a QSO. By this time RA4LW had also faded 
significantly, but just to illustrate the strength of the opening, he 
still had a respectable Q5 signal (normally when he is spotted by folks 
like N6TR, N7UA, or VE6WZ, I can’t even hear him). In any case, I can't 
help but wonder whether or not I slept through the best part of this 
opening and just caught the tail end.

The contest was great fun. Thanks to all for the QSOs, especially the DX 
participants who add an extra level of excitement to what is already a 
really fun event.

73, Mike W4EF

DX Multipliers worked (28):
5W, C6, CM, D4, EA, F, G, GW, HI, HL, J3, JA, JT, LU, OH, OK, PJ2, S5, 
SM, TI, UA, UA0, UR, V3, VP9, XE, YV, ZF

DX Multipliers heard but not worked (6):
HA, YL2, LA3, TO9, HC2, BY