Topband: 160-Meter Contest now past!

[Dick and Adele Bingham]

Greetings Topbanders!

What a great (to me) contest. The band was quiet,  I managed to work some DX
and everything in the USA but the W1-NE (excepting Conn). The most
impressive
East Coast signal was W8JI this morning. His signal stood out above EVERYONE
like the Twin-Towers use to rise above all other structures in NYC.

It was frustrating repeatedly calling STRONG stations and receiving no
reply.
I used an end-fed half-square, 100W and wonder about three things:

1 - Is my Half-Square antenna barely working - it models OK (top at 90-ft
high
     with end elements sloping to the East, using one ground-rod at the
feedpoint)
2 - Would ground radials significantly improve my hi-Z fed antenna
performance
3 - Should I get a KW, run hi-power and expect more response to my calls
using
     the existing antenna.

In order not to flood this site, I would appreciate a note with your
observations
w/r/t contesting at 100W using modest antennas and moving up to hi-power.
Monster antennas with low TOA's are not a solution here (TOA min's HAVE
to be >30-degrees) but power may help get me into the 3rd or 4th level of
those
whose calls are heard on the East Coast!

I will reply to everyone who sends me comments, attach a JPEG picture that
says
10K-words about the antenna situation here in my North cascades National
Park
QTH environs and summarize/post here all comments received.

Thanks in advance...

73 Dick - W7WKR (CN98pi)