[SECC] Fwd: ARRL 160 AA4LR Single Op LP

[John Colyard via SECC]

Bill, nice job. I know exactly what you went through. Saturday afternoon I settled down on 1835.1 all evening running. 2 hours later I get VE3EJ above me and N4AF below me, I run a 250hz filter and they were both audible..Ughhhh. 73's. Drubber

Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 7, 2014, at 5:48 PM, Bill Coleman <aa4lr at arrl.net> wrote:
> 
> 
>                   ARRL 160-Meter Contest
> 
> Call: AA4LR
> Operator(s): AA4LR
> Station: AA4LR
> 
> Class: Single Op LP
> QTH: GA
> Operating Time (hrs): 23.3
> Radios: SO2R
> 
> Summary:
> Total:  QSOs = 745  Sections = 71  Countries = 3  Total Score = 111,148
> 
> Club: South East Contest Club
> 
> Comments:
> 
> Antennas:
> 160/80/40m Inverted-L up 10m with 24 radials (8 125', 16 67.5')
> 150' "Beverage" receiving antenna
> 
> Equipment:
> Elecraft K3/100 w/ KAT3 running 100 watts
> Elecraft K2/100 w/ KAT100 - Receive only
> 
> Comments:
> 
> A personal best score. I really feel like I am pushing the limits of what can be done with 100 watts and 1500 feet of wire antennas suspended from trees. Score might be higher if I had stated up the second night, but I needed to be functional Sunday morning for Church.
> 
> Conditions were good, but not great. Solid signals stateside, but little DX heard. No Europeans heard, and precious little from the Caribbean.
> 
> Two radio setup was done hastily about an hour before the contest started. I used this arrangement in 2013, but found that the K2 needed a real receiving antenna. While I intended to deploy switchable K9AY loops, I had not finished the work on the pushbutton controller. So, I used the K9AY outdoor box as an anchor for a short Beverage-like antenna. At only 150 feet, it's not long enough for a beverage, nor was it terminated. However, it did the trick and did allow me to listen on the K2. This allowed me to populate the band map while CQing on the K3 during slow periods. Probably no material increase in Qs, but it did let me see what was going on in the band during the slow periods CQing. Definitely more useful than in 2013, although the K3 was definitely overloading the K2.
> 
> Started the contest at 2201z and continued all night until 1230z -- which is right at sunrise. Going all night was tough, but netted 544 QSOs and 68 multipliers. The early part of the night was spent CQing, with delightfully high rates. A few sessions of S & P to look for mults, as well as when rates got slow after 0600z.
> 
> Worked 47 states - all but AK, HI and MT. Thats all of 0-, 1-, 2-, 3-, 8-, and 9-land. Worked all of 4-land except for PR, which I never heard. I did hear one HI station, but he never heard me. 
> 
> Second night started at 2210z until 0456z. Perhaps it would have been better to stay until at least 0600z, but I was already exhausted. Got back on at 1040z and switched off at 1240z for a total of over 23 hours. There are only 28 total hours of darkness during the contest in this part of the world, and I managed to be on the air for 22 of them. 
> 
> Passed 700 Qs around 0430z, which put me into personal record territory. What I was lacking was mults. My previous best in 2010 I had 78 mults. There was no DX to be found. I worked XE, PJ2 and ZF. Heard a V3 right at dawn the second morning, but he could not hear me. 
> 
> Found some missing mults the second night, with MT, LAX, SCV, SV. MAR and finally WTX for a total of 74. My 2010 effort had 78 mults. Let's hope the score stays high with the judging.
> 
> It was very hard the second night to decide between calling CQ and S & P. I ended up doing mostly S & P for the simple reason that the rate was better. However, I always felt I was missing out on some Qs from casual ops because I wasn't calling CQ.
> 
> High notes: hearing N4IQ call NY4G to encourage him. Working W1OP on the first try. I've been in too many contests where this guy was completely deaf. 
> 
> Low notes: several frequency fights. I always listen, send QRL?, listen some more before I start to CQ. Even so, if you catch me in the first couple of CQs, I'm happy to move. A few guys dumped CQs on me while I was trying to run. But what is really annoying is the guys who appear on frequency after you have been there several minutes (maybe even with several QSOs in the books) and send QRL, QRL, QSY and call CQ. One ham insisted he had been there for four hours.
> 
> Sorry, I don't care how many hours you've been on the frequency, if you've run off to the bathroom or gone away for several minutes to play with your other radio and you don't hear my QRL? or first CQs, then you aren't using the frequency. 
> 
> And don't dump in a CQ without at least listening or calling QRL? And if someone sends even one dit in response to your QRL?, move. He maybe listening to a weak station you can't hear and trying to copy an exchange.
> 
> Oh, and K1OJ -- you are not anywhere in my log. If someone calls you multiple times, don't just send QSO B4 -- there may be a reason they are calling. Just work them and move on.
> 
> In any case, had a blast on 160m. See you again next year.
> 
> 
> Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
> 
> Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
> Web: http://boringhamradiopart.blogspot.com
> Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
>           -- Wilbur Wright, 1901
> 
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