TBDC Soapbox built 2-11-2007 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA3B Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,040 HNY! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA4LR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 606 Antennas: Shunt-fed 15m tower w/ 25 60ft radials Equipment: Elecraft K2/100 w/ KAT100 Comments: My first participation in the Stew Perry! Spent a couple of enjoyable hours working this contest. Spent most of the first hour and a half calling CQ, the rest S & P. Very fun. Had one weird moment with the N1MM software right as N4PN called in. I couldn't get the software to send his call. I pressed F5 and nothing happened, pressed return and it just sent the exchange. I had to re-start the software to get it to work. I hope Paul logged me anyway. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AC6DD Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 3,141,592,653 I was going to operate this one entirely by remote, and stay warm at home for a change. I set up a remote station using a FT1000MP, Solid-state amplifier, 50’ inverted L and the DX Engineering receiving four square on a pier on the Pacific Ocean. I operated the first morning hour by remote, but later in the afternoon I decided this was just too simple, and decided to drive to the location and fool around by phasing a second vertical. The DX Engineering active receiving four square has been giving me problems for the last month or so, which I have been unable to fix. I suspect a lighting strike nearby caused some damage. I am planning to get rid of the powered elements, and go to un-amplified 30’ tall verticals using the same switchbox. What gets me is that after spending a good chunk of coin for the vertical array they won’t even supply you with the unit’s schematic. When I asked for it their response was: proprietary information. I can see their point. If the schematic was supplied it would find it’s way around the internet, and people would soon realize that you can make the same unit with a few dollars worth of parts, and there goes the sales. Now, for troubleshooting purposes I have to open the unit and draw my own schematic wasting several hours in the process, not to mention the time it takes to post it on the Internet. I started a bit late. I was not very enthusiastic using the vertical as receive antenna, and was also fooling around with the second vertical. Conditions were not that good (except to the south it seems), with very deep QSB. You had to have the timing just right. I could not complete the contact with a couple of stations. They were S9 when the call was sent, dropping to S0 during the exchange. This kept going on for a while. At around midnight I started smelling something burning inside the trailer. My first thought was the ACOM2000 again. I had a buzzing signal problem during the ARRL test, which turned out to be (proprietary information here) amplifier. FYI: serial number 106. Now the problem was much more serious; the electric heater was cooking itself from constant use. Darn, I am thinking, for another $9.99 I could have bought a spare heater, and continued working nobody for a few more hours while listening to noise. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do, but shut down and head back home. DX worked: VK6(1), VK4(1), JA (1), KP2(2), P4, PJ2, ZP, ZL(2), CE1(1),YV(1). All of them had very good signals. 73, Niko – AC6DD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AD6ZJ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 894 I had planned on using a wire on balloon 1/4 wave vertical but after getting it all setup I didn't have enough helium to raise it more than half way. I ended up using my lossy (-8dbi) 1/8 wave vertical instead. I had hoped for several new countries but only copied one new one. I waited in line 22 minutes with my peanut whistle and was able to work ZL3IX. Yippee! That made my day. 73 DE AD6ZJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AE8M Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 761 total score is really unknown, 50 foot vertical with top loading, 800W ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: CU2JU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 918 Once again I managed to be active on my second TBDC. It was not easy again 100 watts and a longwire and a straight key is all I have, lots of patience. Thanks to all who bared with me asking several times. This year I had a fair low noise level, the problem is QRM, many people calling on top of others. I kept changing frequency because of the "big guns" CQ'ing on top of me. Several times I wasn't sure if it was me or my neighbor being called! Besides the difficulty I had my fun and once again I think I beat some personal records and got a few new ones. Thank You STEW TEAM and ALL who made it possible and fun! Best Wishes from CU2JU, Ricardo. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DK3DM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 692 Hi @ all ! Just wanted to do some operating after long time not active. This was the 1st TBC for me and I think not my last. I´m not vy often qrv on 160m and so I´m pleased to work my first JA´s on 160. (JA3YBK and JH4UYB many thanks !) Noise was VERY HIGH and so most of receiving I did on my 80m Dipole because no real receiving antennas here until now. Weather was very bad at my QTH. We had a big storm passing (up to 150 km/h) so it was no fun to be in the old caravan which serve as our ham shack. I feeld like beeing on a sailing trip at times and the 27m freestanding titanex vertical was more horizontal at times ;-) So I decided to go qrt after 7h of operating. So I wasn´t on for USA opening. Only one US station (WE3C) worked at 23z. I tuned the band up and down, but no other NA station found at that time. I think it was to early.... Anyway, had some fun and will try to be in the CQWW 160 next year. Let´s see... MANY thanks to all for the QSOs and hope all had fun ! All the very best for 2007 and see you on the bands. 73 de Heiko, DK3DM STN: FT 1000D, ACOM 2000A TX Ant: 27m Titanex vertical with abt 12 redials for 160 RX Ant: mostly used 80m dipole http://www.taubeneiche.de ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DL5AXX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,226 good condx to the East, but signals from West was very lite... Happy new year ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DL6RAI Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,583 Enjoyed operating the nice low band setup at DJ0MDR with 6 x 1200' two-wire Beverage antennas and a 54 m high vertical transmitting antenna. Conditions good towards JA, but lousy towards North America. Total of 12 JA's worked - JA6LCJ was first at 1517z. NA signals were never really strong and couldn't hear much beyond W9. NO2R was first station worked from the US, K9DX was the loudest US signal and K0HA was the last one to disappear when the band closed. Missed VK - was there any? 219 different squares worked. EL96 EL97 EM73 EM89 EM99 EN52 EN90 EN94 FK52 FK77 FM05 FM15 FM29 FN00 FN03 FN11 FN13 FN20 FN32 FN41 FN43 FN53 FN96 GK03 HM77 HP94 IL18 IN63 IN87 IN89 IN94 IN95 IN98 IO64 IO70 IO75 IO77 IO80 IO81 IO82 IO83 IO86 IO88 IO90 IO91 IO92 IO93 IO94 JM08 JM68 JN00 JN04 JN05 JN18 JN27 JN36 JN38 JN45 JN46 JN47 JN48 JN49 JN53 JN55 JN57 JN58 JN59 JN63 JN65 JN66 JN67 JN68 JN69 JN75 JN76 JN77 JN79 JN85 JN86 JN88 JN89 JN94 JN95 JN96 JN97 JN98 JN99 JO01 JO10 JO11 JO20 JO21 JO22 JO30 JO31 JO32 JO33 JO40 JO41 JO42 JO43 JO44 JO46 JO48 JO50 JO51 JO53 JO54 JO55 JO56 JO59 JO60 JO61 JO62 JO63 JO68 JO69 JO70 JO71 JO72 JO73 JO76 JO77 JO79 JO80 JO83 JO90 JO91 JO94 JO99 JP93 KL67 KM08 KM17 KM18 KM38 KM64 KM72 KN04 KN05 KN06 KN08 KN09 KN12 KN13 KN19 KN22 KN32 KN33 KN56 KN66 KN67 KN68 KN77 KN78 KN85 KN87 KN88 KN95 KN97 KN99 KO00 KO04 KO07 KO14 KO16 KO24 KO25 KO26 KO29 KO33 KO35 KO48 KO50 KO52 KO59 KO81 KO83 KO85 KO92 KO95 KP10 KP11 KP12 KP20 KP21 KP32 KP38 KP40 KP68 LN07 LN28 LO02 LO06 LO20 LO21 LO23 LO36 LO44 LO45 LO55 LO91 MO04 MO06 MO07 MO13 MO25 OL72 PM52 PM53 PM64 PM74 PM75 PM84 PM85 PM86 PM94 QM06 QM07 Pity they are not mults, hi... Stations hrd but not worked: WD5R, KU1CW, YV5MBX, K0HA, N9RV, K9NR, W8FJ, K9AY. Anyway, best result ever in Stew Perry and very much enjoyed the weak signals and the QRM (actually very little, apart from the usual clicks). CU again next year! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: EA1WX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 381 Nice condx early evening. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: EA6BF Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 723 Heard not many US stations, but were better on saturday than sunday. Experienced good RX in both places of the atlantic, stations caught callsigns quickly. Band sounded to me to be quiet enough, almost no QRN, but some QSB. Not so many participants this year. Longest DX was with KU1CW. Was called by 8P9NX for new-one..! Thank´s all for their points and sorry for the ones that called and I couldn´t pick up out of the noise. HNY and 73, Josep EA6BF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: F5IN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,766 Powered by Win-Test 3.7.0 http://www.win-test.com http://perso.wanadoo.fr/f5in ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: F6IRF/P Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,416 IC756pro2 -100W inverted-L on 2x 12m fiber masts Part-time effort, just to enjoy the low-noise level of my secondary QRA on a band which is usualy forbidden for me due to the HT-line hi-noise level at my main location. Quite a few DX stations heard, but none logged... Patrick ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: G0IVZ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,341 Conditions hard going to NA overnight but managed to make up a few on my sunrise. Nice opening to JA about 22:00 which netted a few 20 pointers. Things got a little slow by 01:00 so I called it a night and managed to catch a couple of hours sleep before sunrise. Good fun as usual and nice to be back after missing a couple of years. Equipment - Inverted Vee @ 130ft - 600ft Beverage to West - Ten-Tec OmniD plus PA. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: G3BJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 2,008 Rather mixed conditions. Good run to JA on the Saturday evening, but then - no US for ages (except a few ESP signals) Then about 05.00, it all came back. A very frustrating night working S&P on anything I could hear. Band got very noisy before dawn, and score is way down on previous years. But great fun - I do like the grid style of contest for HF. Thanks for all the QSOs and Happy New Year to everyone Equipment: FT1000MP MkV + linear, 90 ft vertical, dipole, K9AY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: GM4AFF Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,413 FT1000MP, ETO 91b, helium balloon supported 1/4 wave vertical, dipole at 55ft, 2 bevs, 2 Ewes. ODX PJ2/WB9Z 7390km. Heard and called lots of guys who couldn't hear me. N2IC, you were loud at my sunrise! 73 and Happy New Year! Stewart GM4AFF (IO86) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HA5JI Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,389 Rig: IC 756 ProIII, ACOM 2000A. Antennas: Delta Loop and 3 Beverages. Conditions for JA were good, for US/VE fair. CUAGN in CQWW160CW 73 Gyuri ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HA8BE Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,810 Rig: Old DRAKE TR7 Tx ant: Vertical (28m) Rx ant: 2x50m Lw ODX: JH2FXK, JA3YBK (PM84)8932km - Nil W/VE - sorry! Nice contest! Next year agn! HNY 2007 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: I2WIJ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 332 Worked only europeans; best dx RA4LW 2983 Km, JN45 to LO44, not bad for 100W and a windom for 80m !! HNY Bob, I2WIJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0BJ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 716 Lotsa talk about QSB, but not alot noticed here. I DID have snow static which started about 14" into a 19" snowstorm.... ZL3IX was booming in but surely was fighting summer QRN. He got my call with ? but never confirmed. No JAs heard and I missed hearing a KL7 call but did SWL a KL grid square. Still playing with inverted L (no radials) and barefoot. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0FX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 335 Happy New Year. Thanks for the QSO's. Equipment: IC-765 + SB-220 @ 400 watts to an inverted L with 2 crooked radials, recent snow storm toke down the other 2. Don K0FX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0RC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,496 The Stew Perry would be a 6-hour event for me this year. I was a late starter, about 7 PM local time. The bandscope was full when I turned the rig on. I put 43 contacts in the log during my S&P effort the first hour. Conditions were good with very low noise. I decided to see if I could RUN stations. I found a quiet spot 1.5 kHz up from the bottom of the band and spent the next 3 hours working stations. Although I was running LP, there never was a frequency fight! Amazing! During my run, K9FD/KH6 was the only DX that called. The final hour I went back to S&P to find fresh stations. I put 30 more stations in the log, including GM3POI, N0FW/PJ2, and P40W. Although the RAC Contest had finished early, I worked 11 more VE's during the Stew Perry, 7 of them in Ontario. The only issues I had were minor software annoyances that were mostly from operator fatigue... dang cursor focus was always in the wrong spot when I started typing a callsign! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0UK Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 880 SORRY TO THE JA STATIONS AND OTHERS I COULDNOT PULL OUT..JUST NOT ENOUGH SIGNAL AND SOME QRN AND QRM..THANKS TO ALL PTL HNY K0UK BILL BROWN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1EP Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,290 I had a lot of local noise that went up and down in strength, limiting some of my Rx capability. Maybe it wasn't local. Sounded like light dimmers. I think others had noise too because there were some that were reasonably loud that just could not hear me. Unfortunately, there were too many new plasma tvs this year and lots of holiday lights that make for a noisy band. I did hear a little Europe. I worked GM3POI, SM6A, and GI0KOW. I heard UA2FF as well as an LZ, F, HA5JI, and others. Also worked K9FD/KH6 as well as some Carib stations. West coast, especially CA was tough for some reason. Worked Ken, N6RO, both Friday night in RAC and Saturday in SP, but not too many other CA stations. Overall, had maybe a dozen less Qs than last year, but 20 or 30% less score. I think maybe it had to do with the proximity to New Years. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1GU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,258 Thunderstorm and man-made noise cut into the fun, but just a little bit. DX window is the best place to catch Europe. I'd like to see NA stations stay out of it. There is no need for Pennsylvania-Wisconsin contacts on 1833. Still looking for WAS on LOTW. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1HT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 250 I didn't pick the best year for my first attempt at this contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1LT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 2,224 Since I couldn't watch DX Summit on the second monitor, I watched the auroral oval from http://www.sec.noaa.gov/pmap/pmapN.html, which started out a nice pale yellow, rose to an angry orange around 0300Z, and then faded back to regular yellow by 0500Z. Conditions for the first few hours were very poor, and everybody was very weak. Worked only 2 European stations during the sunset opening, and just a few more from 0100-0400Z. Around 0500Z, conditions began to improve, although nobody was particularly strong (except K9DX). Worked a fair number of northern Europeans after 0500Z. I got a chuckle from looking up 8P9NX's grid square via DxAtlas, to answer his question about the contest exchange. I hope I got it right (looks like Barbados fits entirely in GK03). The surprise contact was OX3PG. I'm amazed at how far north he is. Stayed up until 0815Z, and then mis-calculated how long to sleep. Got up around 1200Z, probably missing assorted Oceania. I did work ZL3IX at my sunrise for my best DX. Did not hear any VK or JA, although I heard N7DD working VK6DXI. Another interesting sidelight was using a Softrock V6 digital receiver to monitor the band, "pan-adapter" style. Thus, changing frequency was a snap, since the holes were easy to find. If I can build a receiving antenna that rejects my transmit signal well enough, the Softrock receiver would make a great spotting setup. Worked 8P, CE, CU2, DL, F, G, GI, GM, HA, HP, KH6, KP2, LY, OH, OK, ON, OX, OZ, P4, PJ2, S5, SM, SP, TF, YL, YV, and ZL. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1PQS Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 473 Nice path to OH/SM. Southeast US signals unusually weak. Band about normal otherwise. Geo. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1QO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 346 STEWPERRY Score Summary Sheet Start Date : 2006-12-30 CallSign Used : K1QO Operator(s) : K1QO Band : 160M Power : LOW Mode : CW Default Exchange : FN42 Gridsquare : FN42LU Name : Ann Byers Address : 8 Bartlett Street City/State/Zip : Newton NH 03858 Country : USA ARRL Section : NH Club/Team : Yankee Clipper Contest Club Software: N1MM Logger V6.11.1 Band QSOs Pts 1.8 72 346 Total 72 346 Score : 0 Rig : FT-1000D @ 100W Antennas : 160M dipole 50' Soapbox : Fist time operating in this fun contest!!! 73 de Ann K1QO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1ZZI Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1 This was my first Stew Perry contest. Lots of fun even with very poor conditions here. Thanks for all the contacts and patience! Best DX KF9D/KH6 73, Ralph ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2TTT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 285 First SP and next time will be better. Despit K2WW comment KR2Q was quite strong here..lol ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2ZJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 311 Comments: Back on the air after a 5 year hiatus. First Stew Perry. Glad to work about a dozen EU and some SA/Carribean. Could not stay up all night- gotta get back in shape! Equipment: TS930 Ten Tec Titan Inverted L @ 60 ft K9AY Loops 550 ft Beverage 73, John ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3STX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 590 That was fun. I am no 160 Meter expert, but conditions to Europe did not seem great, it was a real struggle getting my handful of DX QSOs. Once again, only operated after 0400Z, so might have missed all of the DX, but I had fun anyway. Thanks to all and see you in the CQ 160 test. paul antenna: inverted L, about 50 feet vertical, then sloping down to about 30 feet above ground; 8 radials, each 33 feet long. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3WW Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,536 Score could be close to 5K, since most guys were weaker than KR2Q, who was QRP. Handful of Europeans that I could copy, some west coast and 2 KH6's. Knocked off at 2, got up at 5 local and found no new long haul stuff, right through sunrise. Got chased out of the window, still looking in the rules and the ARRL bandplan for a window, gotta be in there somewhere. Something about giving IO20 a special space and not giving FN20 a special space that seems contrary to a grid based level playing field. (apologies to anyone working on an island in IO20) 73 Chas ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4BAI Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 484 FT1000MP Mk V, 5 watts output, vertical, dipole, four square. At suggestion of N6TR, I used some of the off-time from W4AN to operate QRP and give out some extra points. All search-and-pounce. 73, John, K4BAI. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4WW Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 248 Not sure about the score? Whatever it may be, I give most of the credit to the "other stations" receive antenna! Made more contacts, than last year, had some fun. S9+ rain static + inefficient receive antenna = lots of repeats, and probably lots of frustration for "other stations"! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5NA Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 2,296 I started out wanting to do this TBDC serious. But the static crashes along with operating as QRP quickly took my motivation away. Maybe next year. 73, Richard - K5NA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5NZ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 700 Terrible QRN here, sorry to those calling I just couldn't pull out.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6NR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,492 Working europe on 160 is a rare experience for me here in Southern California, and I was very pleased to work 4 in this contest. DX worked were CE, GI, GM, HL, JA, KH6, KL7, KP2, OZ, P4, PJ2, SP, XE and ZL. Many thanks, Dana K6NR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6NV Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 700 Good contest, I started out with 2 hours with good runs, then it felt like I had worked everyone who was on. I worked very few east of the Rocky's, north of BC, south of San Diego and west of KH6. I did have a KH6 call me, which was good. I felt like I was pretty loud, I had no problem holding my run freqencies. Late Sat night it almost felt like some of us were working dups to make sure everything was still working or getting too tired! I got up at 0500 Sunday morning to try bloster my Q's, that didn't really help much, just a bunch of very loud stations that I had already worked. I had about 10 less Q's than last year, also last year lots of east coasters. Wonder if I will be in the running for mst Q's in the 5800'+ catagory? Lineup: FT-1000MP AL-80b @ 900w 125' Sloper off tower in a southerly direction W/L with ancient DELL PC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6TA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 436 Best DX: CE1/K7CA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6VVA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1 Some quick short fun. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7RL Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 881 Not much time to play in this one. Did manage to work LY2IJ, GM3POI, OH2BO and SM4CAN for my best DX Qs - thanks guys. My vertical took a beating in our massive mid-December wind storm and still needs necessary repairs. As a result, the SWR was fairly high, which my amp barely tolerated. Other than that distraction, it was a fun three hours. Happy New Year to all and thanks for the Qs! 73 de Mitch, K7RL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8AJS Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 234 This is my first excursion into Stew Perry, didn't make a lot of contacts but had fun while I was on. Nothing very far away but worked people on this continent with no difficulty...:-) Thanks to everyone for the contacts. Rig: FT1000MP Ant: Helically-wound vertical Software: WriteLog 10.58e ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8IA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,052 Orion II, 100 watts, 78' vert, inv vee. Very "noise limited" operation, fighting a corona-type noise thats been here for a month. Plus, serious change in tower shunt feed parameters caused me many hours of head scratching and tweaking before a compromise solution was finally reached, but blew up my trusty MFJ-259B in the process. (I must remember the phrase "port isolation" when I think about using that sensitive a device like I did. Dummy me). Still not sure what exactly has happened to the shunt feed, but cant much power into it now so LP category was mandetory. More work ahead! Not much DX, ZL2BSJ (fantastic sig), JA8ISU, JA3YBK, P40W, N0FW/KP2, KV4FZ, PJ2/WB9Z, maybe one or two others, thats it. CU CQ 160 CW, but maybe not from here. ;-) 73, Bob K8IA Arizona USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8IR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,416 Took more QSO's to get about the same points as last year. Best DX PJ2. My apologies to those I could not dig out. Happy New Year to all. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8MR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 508 The high power part of my "Single Op, High power and QRP combined using 2 callsigns" effort. (W3USA was me running QRP). Combined total of the two scores is 372 qsos for 1640 points. I made it to about midnight EST, at which time it seemed I had worked about everything I could hear. With a high noise level I had the feeling that certain people would be wanting my skin for wallets, belts, or fancy shoes. The band seemed quieter at Sunday morning at sunrise, but not a whole lot of new activity at that time. Happy New Year, Jim K8MR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9AY Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,268 About 7 hours total -- ran high power for maximum fun in the available time! 2300-0000 -- Pretty good post-sunset enhancement to EU. Felt good to work some stations that were otherwise CQing with no takers. 0330-0830 -- 4 hours op time in this span, including some good northern Europe signals at EU sunrise (GM, OH, SM, TF, OZ) 1150-1330 -- Final run before sunrise. Just two JAs and a couple more KH6s. My present lack of good RX antennas to NW and SW was evident, as I could not pull out several more JAs and a 6K1... and no VK or ZL. However, the final list of DX worked looks pretty good for the upper midwest and modest antennas. Station: (2) IC-765, Alpha 99, Inv-L (55' vert, 80' horiz), K9AY Loops, three Beverages -- 550' NE, 330' SE, 330' W. Happy New Year to all! 73, Gary K9AY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9DX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 3,845 Even more activity this year and a lot of fun. Conditions to Europe, while much better than during the ARRL 160, were not up to par with very heavy qsb. Signals would be 579 and 20 seconds later when it came time to copy the grid the signal would be gone. Thanks to VK6VZ for taking 10 minutes to get through, and to all the European stations that called but were just to weak to copy. John ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9MMS Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,688 Did not hear many DX stations. Never heard EU. DX worked: KV4FZ, N0FW/KP2, and P40W. Was surprised when K9FD/KH6 answered one of my CQs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9NR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 3,196 First submission to the Stew. A great contest. 120ft shunt fed tower with two element forty meter beam for capacity hat, 90 radials. Three 600' two wire Beverages for six directions. Thanks to all for the contacts. 73...Don, K9NR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9NW Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,584 DX condx not so great while condx to the west coast were decent. Almost every EU QSO required multiple transmissions. Very rapid QSB....would copy a call clearly, then took minutes to copy the grid square. 27 total DX QSOs, including 3 KH6s and the zone 8 and 9 guys. Nice to put TF and OX in the log though, two new ones for my admittedly anemic Topband DXCC total! Took a sleep break at 0900 after going 20 minutes without a QSO. While hoping for an extension of the nice westerly propagation when I returned, instead I was greeted with a wall of QRN from an approaching storm system.....so much for any more DX. I think I may have had a ZL call me but couldn't pull anything through the noise. Thanks for the QSOs, and thanks once again to John and Jean for letting drop by and use the toys. Happy New Year! 73, Mike K9NW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KA7U Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 384 Nice to be able to work so many stations from this humble setup. Power was 85 watts to the 204' horizontal dipole up 40'. 73 Ron - KA7U ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KB7Q Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 4,108 Thanks to Cal, W7IZL for the use of his fine three vertical array. My K2/100 did its best with the QRN - there was plenty to go around! Nice to have some choice DX pop out at times too; CE1/K7CA, ZL2BSJ, G4ATM, OZ7YY, LY2IJ, and about a half dozen JA's are a sampling from the N1MM generated log. The QRN made pulling the QRP stations out very tough, with lots and lots of repeats. Best to all for 2007. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KB8U Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 2,080 Conditions seemed about average to me. I did better than last year but it's mostly because I operated more hours. Sunday morning was noisy due to rain in the area but by then I don't think it made much difference because there weren't many stations on that I hadn't worked already. 73 and see you in next year's contest. Russ KB8U ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KC4HW Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 52 No DX (never heard a DX station). Lots of noise! In fact noise was nearly S9+10 hear this morning. FT1000D and a dipole center at 69' and ends approx 25 to 30 feet. I am still very CW challenged, but getting a little better! Still have a long way to go to be competitive. Anyway, me and the little ole Morse Runner program are still working with each other... hi hii... I have come to the conclusion that GOT to have some kind of receiving antenna before CQ 160. Also considering changing the dipole to an inverted L. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KD2MX Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 636 More QSOs (hopefully fewer busted ones), fewer points than last year (from not as many 12 & 16 pointers). QRP with a minimalist antenna on 160M is both frustrating and exciting (though short on excitement last night). Although there wasn't the horrendous noise that marked the beginning of the ARRL 160 here, the band seemed pretty noisy. Less luck into 5 & 0-lands than usual. K0HA's usually killer signal seemed off last night so perhaps condx were not the best. Just a hint of 6s & 7s but no success there. Slept in a bit later than I wanted to this morning so I might've missed some sunrise action. An enjoyable way to end the contest year. Best 73s and new year wishes, and thanks for digging out my qrp signal, to all. Paul/kd2mx ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KI7Y Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,586 Thanks to Brad K7ZSD for the station ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KL9A/W7 Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1 Congrats to N6TR and W2VJN who heard me. My other QSO was K7TQ, who is here in town. Antenna is a Screwdriver mobile antenna mounted on my wooden fence in the back. I ran it up as high as I could and used an MFJ tuner to tune it. Radials for 40/20m only. Probably has negative efficiency or something. http://www.kl7g.org/kl9a/antenna.jpg It's not supposed to be up, so don't tell my landlords! It works surprisingly well on 40-10, however. Stations heard: N6RO - LOUD, never even got a ? N7UA - LOUD, got a ? once KI7Y K6GNX KX7M W7RN KB7Q N6FF VE7CC CU in NAQP CW, and HNY! -Chris KL9A ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KN4Y Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 874 Not a bad way to end the old year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KO7X Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 236 Score posted is minus bonus points - it likely will be around 600 or so after the log checker gets done. Tried an all s/p entry this time. Most stations heard were worked with the exceptions of JA3YBK, KV4FZ and P40W. Best DX - NL7Z and K9FD/KH6. Heard WC7S several times (my neighbor) but never heard him calling CQ (he is usually QRP so was likely also s/p). Lots of strong local signals on the band. CU all in NAQP. Happy 2007. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KP2CW/W6 Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1 A little bit of on & off fun Saturday Night in spite of the noise. Scoring program won't work so I'm reporting 01. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KR2Q Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 484 No idea what my real score is, but it ain't much! Fell asleep at 2am local (bummer) after taking several 30 minute "wake up" breaks in an attempt to, well, stay awake. Guess I was tired. Elecraft K2 and 1/2 wave wire: center at ~50', ends at about six (6) feet. Heard quite a few EU but no QSOs. They were pretty weak here. de Doug KR2Q ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT0R Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 1,040 I tried QRP again this year. I did get a lot of CQ in face in the begining. Mostly S&P. Only DX heard was N0FW/KP2, called and called but, could not hear me. So no DX for me in this one. I did have some trouble working west coast, but later on seemed to be no problem. Good to hear everyone on. I really like the Grid Square exchange and distance scoring. I think all contest should be like that. Really levels the playing field. Well, Happy New Year! Vry 73 Dave KT0R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU1CW Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 2,312 Did not expect so much noise and rain around new year time. Thanks everyone for calling, sorry if I did not hear a few... Thanks and have a happy 2007! Alex,KU1CW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU5B Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,666 Good fun! Bob asked me if I wanted some 'serious air time' since I've been back from college and I just couldn't resist. As always, thanks to them for letting me invade their place. Man, this was hard work. Static crashes started as the sun went down and never went away. Must've been from all the storms to the east. Sorry for all the "AGN?" requests but the 160m gods weren't happy. I saw the post on CQ-CONTEST and took a look at the plaques that were offered and saw the Op under 21 and more than 100 QSO award. That pretty much sealed the deal. I knew 100 q's would be easy to beat and from a top notch station I'd certainly be able to do more. Even through all the noise the majority of the signals were quite loud. Basically only CQ'd the whole contest but did look around a couple of times when things got slow. Only a few DX worked but they all called me! When G3PQA called me I thought I must have been hallucinating...thanks for sticking it out with me John! That was the only EU worked but did manage to work one ZL, one HP, one P4 and 3(!) KH6's. Other than that only K and VE were worked. This was my first one but certainly not my last. Hey, there's only two more years I'm eligible for that plaque. C'mon you young folk, join in! The only complaint I had during the entire test was people not sending "QRL?" before CQing. Come on guys...lets use some sense. Also, CQing 20 KHz away doesn't solve the problem most of the time either. Colin, KU5B respec. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU8E Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 6 I had planned on putting back up my inverted L on Saturday so I could get on. I was on-call for work and they called, there was a approching storm front heading towards our area, plus my wife asked me on Friday - " Is there another contest this weekend ?" Decided I would just skip this one. Got on for about 10 mins to hand out a few points. Only N4PN, W4AN and KN4Y, who are all within 100 miles of me could even hear me on the 40 meter zepp that I tuned to 160 with the antenna tuner. Maybe next time.... Jeff KU8E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LZ9R Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,094 TS850SAT 100w , two INV Vees @ 10meters. Score multiplied X2 for Low Power. This was 100% S%P operation. Never heard a single W/VE call. K0FW/KP2 and KV4FZ both were with pure 599 signals but couldn't get thru US callers.Best DX was JA3YBK,JH4UYB and JH2FXK.JA is a new DXCC for me. Worked two UA9,C4,ZC4,4X4,several 6pointers-GM,GI,G,EA6 etc. Happy New Year and CU in 2007 contests Nasko,LZ9R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: M3CVN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 91 With only a G5RV I can't complain! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0AC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,444 Thanks to Toni for the use of the station. Went into this year's contest with a bad cold and wasn't sure I could stick it out for 14 hours. Conditons were down with little DX worked or heard. Only DX worked were N0FW/KP2, P40W, KV4FZ, PJ2/WB9Z, KH6AT, K9FD/KH6, SM4CAN, and GM3POI. Heard GI0KOW but couldn't get his attention. The total score is based on the spscore.exe program. Bill ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0BUI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 195 My 140 foot inverted vee at 28 feet fed with 450 ladder line seemed to work ok. Band was quite noisey here early Saturday evening. It was fun. Happy New Year to all. 73, N0BUI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0IJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 802 Threw up temp inverted V with apex only 35', and was shocked to work 5 EU and the regular Carrib. guys. I guess even an efficient cloud warmer can work if you throw a little power at it! Lots of fun on a part time basis. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0KE Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,133 Not much DX, GM3POI only Europe and no JA but 2 ZL. SOrry for being slow to type, using mostly left hand as just had rotar cuff fixed and brace on right hand is not good for contesting. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0XB Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,472 Wow, what great band conditions! It's unfortunate more guys didn't get on on Sunday morning, as the band was open from coast to coast (at least from the midwest) until after sunrise here at 2230. Signals were good, and participation seems to be about usual. I missed my magical 5000 points and 400 q's by just a hair, but that was my fault for oversleeping! These old bones just don't operate on no sleep like they used to! I love this contest. Happy New Year, everyone. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1EU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 760 Just a bit of dabbling. Fair (not great) condx to europe and west coast, characterized by deep qsb. QRP west coast stations would go from Q5 to zilch very quickly. Very good copy on CE1/K7CA, KH6AT and KH6/K9FD. Also worked CU, DL, F, G, GI, GM, HA, OZ, S5, SM, UA2 and a slew of west coast/caribbean during a couple of hours of operating. I thought the change in scheduling from Dec 16 to Dec 30 was very unfortunate and would have much preferred the earlier date. Thanks for the q's and apologies to those I couldn't pull out. equipment: Orion, Acom 2000a inv L transmit 580ft Beverages NE, SE, NW, SW 73 & a happy/healthy/peaceful 2007 to all, Barry N1EU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1QME Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,028 100% Search and Pounce effort...poor condx to EU unlike the few evenings before...and then static crashes/QRN to make rough copy of sigs from out west. Even so, I enjoyed my 1st Stew Perry TBDC. Best DX was big sig GM3POI at over 5k Km...and to think I wrked K9FD/KH6 (twice) during previous evenings earlier this week! Many thanks to all the patient ops pulling out my LP sig from an inv L up < 40 ft. Nice to hear the "spirit of Stew" on-air with club stn W1BB from Cape Cod. 73 and cu agn on Topband from "the little pistol in little Rhody". Bill N1QME FN41 in RI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2CU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 4,492 Score includes my 2x LP multiplier. Disappointed with conditions on Topband this entire Winter. They're just not as good as last. FT1000MP, Inv L 46' w/97 radials, N1MM. 73 es HNY, Tom N2CU <>< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2CW Class: Multi-Op QRP Total Score = 2,936 This was our 1st effort in Stew Perry as M/M QRP from the fabulous in SNJ at the former home of WSC. We greatfully thank N2HM & WYRS-FM for allowing us to continue our 160 meter operations from the salt marsh in West Creek, NJ. We also would like to thank the members of the SJDXA for allowing us to use the call N2CW for this contest. While the core members of the W2GD160 Contest Team toiled away at putting the station together for the Stew, while our "Leader", W2GD was basking the sun in P4 land. Though this time the unusually mild Wx in NJ made the job easy to accomplish. Overall, we felt the band condx were just ok, not as good or expected for the bottom of the cycle, but after the 05z hour, with the front, coming in from the West the band went into the toilet with S9 QRN. Many thanks to the stations that stuck with us until they got us in their log. Best DX logged was LY2IJ other DX logged include: SN2B, CU2JU, DL6RAI, F5IN, F6IRA, GM3POI, GI0KOW (loud), G0IVZ, KV4FZ (always LOUD), P40W, PJ2/WB9Z, N0FW/KP2. Not many West Coast and zero Pacific made it into the log. Station Equip: Icom IC756 ProIII, IC756 ProII, IC746 Tx antennas: NE & SW vertical dipoles @ 180ft & Inverted-L @ 60ft. Rx antennas: Multiple Bevs to N, E, NE, S, SW, W, & NW. 73 from W2GD160 Contest Team ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2IC Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 2,889 We all hope that this will be the year that the 160 DX spotlight shines on us, with great DX conditions for the Stew Perry. Unfortunately, this wasn't quite the case from New Mexico ! What Europe there was favored the east coast, and if you weren't in northern Europe, you were really shut out from the USA openings. There was some JA propagation, but it favored the Pacific northwest. Good USA propagation for my first 6 hours, beginning around 23Z. I was amazed to be able to sit on one frequency for that time, and keep a steady rate. No EU called in during that time, but several KH6's and NL7Z did. Around 0530Z, I gave up on the idea of any EU answering me, and did some S&P. Worked 6 EU stations, and heard several more. The strangest QSO's were with G3SJJ and GI3OQR, answering my CQ's at 0830Z, well after I expected any EU. They were both audible only on the SE beverage. Worked 22 JA's between 1033Z and 1143Z. After that, no JA's at all - not any kind of sunrise enhancement (SR = 1414Z). A total of 43 QSO's >= 10 points. Not bad for ho-hum conditions and a 3rd rate antenna from New Mexico. Best DX was (again) VK6DXI. Thanks for hanging in there, Mirek ! 73, Steve, N2IC Antenna: 1/4 wavelength (mostly) vertical wire. Beverages NE, SE, SW, NW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2WN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,010 When it was hot, it was hot, but the QRN just got worse through the night. The EU opening was really good, when I could hear... LY2IJ looks like the best for me. CE1/K7CA had a lot of patience. Everyone did a fine job... Happy New Year to all! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3BB Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 522 Tried to drown my sorrow after Virginia Tech's Peach Bowl loss to Georgia with a dose of Stew-Perry-ing. The band was noisy from the midwestern storm, although the skies were clear here. pronounced slow QSB cycles made copying tough at times. Had to give up on some callers-sorry. Very so-so band conditions with nil to Europe although I didn't stay up until anywhere near EU SRT. Farthest QSOs: N6KB (12), and three 8 pointers (KV4FZ, P40W, and N0FW/KP2) Happy New Year everyone. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3OX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 514 Inagurated my new sixty foot vertical by dipping in and out of Stew Perry. No Europe worked here, unfortunately, though I did hear G4ADT calling somebody late night, as well as SN2P(?) (who didn't hear me) and OZ7YY who had a big pileup. Good fun with 100W and a base loaded vertical... HNY, Dan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4PN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,555 This one was a struggle with no receiving antennas....my ears will probably be ringing until the next STDC...lots of bad wx all around. Worked CE1/K7CA, who was strong for short periods of time. First CE in a long time on 160m...Signals from the South were generally very strong...i.e., PJ2/WB9Z, N0FW/KP2, KV4FZ, YV5MDX. Even CU2JU was weak to the Northeast. Finally at 0600z, GI0KOW, OZ7YY, GM3POI. SN2B, 9A5W came thru in great shape. And at 0630z another peak with PA5KT, GM4AFF, S50A, G3BJ. That was about it. Surprise was having K9FD/KH6 call me at 0652z with a big signal..At 0700z, the last of Europe with DL7ZZ, UA2FF, OH1VR, G4BUE...pretty dismal.. Still lots of fun....just being on 160 meters. 73, Paul, N4PN FT1000MP/Titan Amp - 1KW Inverted Vee at 90' in pine tree ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4YQ Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 632 Man, that was tough. Rain soaked trees sent the SWR pretty high on the inverted L plus precip./storm noise was pretty bad. Had fun tho. Station: FT-817, Inverted L. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5IA Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 2,076 I broke my own rule and gave up on the band shortly after 0800. I felt like the opposite of the spotlight effect was taking place. Lots of QRN from the lightning storm along the gulf coast of Louisiana and Mississippi apparently made it very difficult for most stations east of the the Mississippi to hear my signal. With nearly 24 hours since getting out of bed on Saturday morning, numerous Sunday committments at church, and after more than 1/2 hour of getting no answers to CQ and finding only one station with the 2nd radio who was new and who responded to my call, I made the choice to let it go until next time. PJ2 and KH6 were the only DX contacts. Congrats to all the participants and the many great scores. 73, and Happy New Year to all. Milt, N5IA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5OE Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 2,212 Pretty good band conditions as far as QRN this year from here. Spent nearly all my time S&P with about 10-15 minutes of CQ to catch other S&P runners was the plan from here. I had a struggle (par for me) getting 6's to hear me. The 7's this year were easier than in the past. The NE including most 4's was a cake walk it seemed early Sunday morning from here, RI and ME were all coming in 589 on the beverage! This is where I logged most of the high pointers from Texas. Early Sunday morning about the only DX heard/ran across from here were UA2FF, N0FW/KP2 and PJ2/WB9Z.There signals were good but I never could get back to them with 5 watts. I did manage to get a few ..--.. 's from N0FW/KP2 but no QSO. This is the first QRP effort from me in a good while, and it REALLY helps keep life in perspective:) It was mentioned earlier by KD2MX that QRP is "frustrating and exciting" ,,, how true this is. What a joy and excitement it is to call and call and never be heard by a 579 signal and then you get a 349 signal that nails you on the first call in a 3 person pile-up and its a 24 pointer! Thanks N1EU "Aint 160 FUN!!" A rig with GOOD QSK is mandatory in my book for 160/QRP, and this rig of mine is not any where near that. The bumping and thumping through the headphones from this FT-920 really takes the fun out of calling until you are blue in the face for a simple ..--.. every now and then :) Next time it will be a TEN TEC for ME!! 5 watts into a 57' shunt fed tower with 20 full sized ground radials. FT-920 packed in Inrad 550' NE beverage NA and 2 gallons of Folgers Have a Great New Year! Carlin N5OE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5OT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 124 Schedule did not allow getting on when the rate would be high, so I just got on late at night and fooled around. Conditions were really noisy, I guess because of all the weather in and around here. All QSOs were made at a speed of 18WPM or less. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5UL Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 319 Propogation into Boring was better than into southeast NM! QRN from storms in mid-east USA was stronger than many DX stations unfortunately. TNX & 73, HNY. Chas ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6KB Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1 In every 160 meter contest there has been one at least one station that called CQ a lot, was often very loud, and never seemed to answer anyone. The use of separate directional antennas explains being loud and not answering stations in the receive antenna null. It does not explain not answering anyone. This is the first time I heard no such station. I got an answer, eventually, from everyone I heard. Unfortunately I did not hear very many. Hopefully this does not mean that I was the station that transmitted a lot, and seldom answered any callers. Probably not as I did not CQ much. I wonder if the plaque for "all S & P, no CQing" contributed much to the apparent dearth of stations, or if it was just QRN. The schedule, between XMAS and NY may have been a big factor. Posts to 3830 I have read indicate JA was not difficult for a lot of NA stations. I only worked a couple. In the ARRL 160 I worked a bunch of JAs and NA stations complained of working few. The plaque I won last year (Highest Average Score per QSO, thanks to AB7E) is not listed this year If it was K9FD/KH6 or someone else would probably get it instead of me. I don't see the "Best Whine" award listed either, so it looks like my only chances are for the "Golden Log" since mine is so small and I was very careful. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6KI Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 174 Stew Perry Contest Call: N6KI Category: Single Operator Power: High Power Band: Mono 160 Mode: CW State: CA Contest: Stew Perry Hours: 1.5 BAND QSO QSO PTS GRIDS 1.8 56 37 ----------------------------------- Totals 56 37 Score = 174 ? Club Affiliation: SCCC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6RK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,338 (score as calculated by N1MM Logger) Best DX: ZL3IX Also, P4, PJ2, KP2, KL7, KH6, many JA Heard VK6DXI at end of contest ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6RO Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 2,365 Enjoyed the lack of noise I had in two previous years, so did a full bore effort. Personal best score, 4 EU Qs. Not much activity from JA/Asia/OC, but good skip. New reversible beverages worked well, sometimes they outheard the 4 Square. Happy New Year! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6TR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 3,250 About same number of QSOs as last year, but higher point count. Good numbers of JAs and other Asians along with three VK6 QSOs at 30 points each. Not many Europeans, but worked GM3POI just before sunset - and a handful of others. Thanks for all of the QSOs and HNY to all. Tree N6TR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6WG Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 796 I thought this run might turn out pretty good, despite having to use a jury rig TX antenna. My 50 ft vertical came down in a big windstorm here last week. At least my receiving antennas are still intact. At the end of the first hour in the morning I had 27 Qs, 4 more than my previous best at this hour. Restarted in the evening around 0130Z but could never get good traction. By 0700Z I was well behind my pace from last year, and had worked every station I could copy. Took a couple of shots at KP2/WB9Z but he was just too weak. No other Carib stations heard. No KH6 or KL7 heard, and I always work at least 1 KH6 in the 160 contests. Conditions just seemed pretty anemic this year. Bummer. My best DX was W4AN at approximately 3443 km. So, at 0700Z I decided a rate of 2 QSOS/hour just wasn't holding my interest and pulled the plug. I hope to do better in the CQ160. Let's hope for big participation and much better conditions. Thanks for the Qs and see you all in the contest. 73, Bob N6WG The Little Station with Attitude ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6ZFO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,442 Score calculated using SPSCORE.EXE from Tree's web site and multiplying result by 2: http://web.jzap.com/k7rat/stew.html [use cabrillo file directly, but give it a short name, and enter 56 and 74 for pointers] Challenging, as always. Our Siamese cat faithfully stayed on top of the PRO II all night, perhaps bringing good luck, at least not causing any over-heating. Just the same, didn't work a single HS. 73 Bill n6zfo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7GP Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 232 I started this portion of the two callsign, two power level competition, at the bell. The sun was already 30 minutes above the horizon and the west coast stations were all listening west. Still managed to put 31 stations in the log in one hour of operation. Due to other happenings, I only had one hour of operation in the afternoon. Again this was during daylight the hour before sunset. 38 stations in the log. The western US stations had not come on for the most part as their prime 14 hours of operation in darkness had not begun. Milt, N5IA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7IR Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 2,676 Band got very noisy around 0900Z, which made working the Carribean stations difficult. Best DX was ZL2BSJ, worked at his sunset with an S9+ signal. Heard a few Japanese stations early in the morning but they didn't hear me! Lots of fun using N1MM Logger in the ESM mode! See you in the CQ WW 160 test. 73 Gary, N7IR DM43 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7UA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 3,985 Great contest. Northern Europe was in there enough to make about 25 contacts. Good propagation to Asia, but activity level was somewhat down. The JA's were loud. New phased beverages helped on RX this time over the 4 square. Good representation from VK6 on the band with 4 worked. Worked W1BB. Hope that was real, maybe an LDE? Many good operators with lots of patience in the face of QSB on the band. Still the gentlemen's band. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7WA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 620 Tested new 80/160M vertical. It's a full size 80M vertical (recycled Hytower and 40 feet of boneyard aluminum) with a small relay at the top and then some wire going to the 100' tower. The wire portion slants a bit towards the tower but it's mostly vertical. :>) Seems to perform as well or better than the old inverted L and I think I can keep it up permanently rather than having to put up the inverted L for contests. This should also allow for a permanent radial installation rather than laying them out on the ground as needed. Receiving antenna (300' of "sorta SE/NW beverage" - unterminated) gave me fits as I wasn't hearing a thing. Went out to try another transformer and found I had forgotten to attach the coax to the transformer already out there. That helped a lot. (That's what happens when you get your antennas up the day of the test.) I think I worked just about everything I heard - lost a couple in the fade. I think it was the first time I worked Hawaii in this test. Best DX was JA and the PJ2 almost got my call right. Alas, it wasn't to be at 100 watts. 73 dink Worked just about everything I heard (I think). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7ZG Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 396 Thought I'd spend a few hours being rabbit stew for the big time hunters. Was it me, or did conditions seem really bad. 73 - Guy, N7ZG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N8VW Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 2,904 Not much to report, except a lower score than last year. Antenna worked great as usual. Worked the usual suspects dx wise (PJ2/P4/KP2/KV4/KH6) and GI,GM (2), G in Europe. QRN was bad at times, but the K2 handles it extremely well. Called CE1/K7CA a lot, but no qso. Elecraft K2 @4 watts 90' base insulated 25G, lots of radials (every dB counts). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9ADG Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 995 That the Stew comes in that hazy period between Christmas and New Year's, with its many opportunities for family events, seeing friends, and staying up late just adds to the flavor of this contest as a 'party.' It's always great to hear folks that you've met over the air, and also be a bystander to the 'HNY', 'GLs', and 'Hi Bob's as one tunes the band. Oh, yeah, and there's our uncle (Ken, Don, Ernie, Frank, Bart, most families have one) over there, still hasn't fixed his radio -- he's standing there calling CQ with a lampshade on his head and emitting tons of keyclicks. A large wind storm here in the PNW brought chaos to many Hams in our area just before Christmas; while others in the area suffered much greater damage, I was fortunate to only have to repair two beverages, and put the 160m inv L up twice (another windstorm 2 days before the contest) in the days before the contest. The chainsaw played a big supporting role this year. One of my 100+' trees blew over, not only was it one end of my inv-L support, but it also fell across a beverage. Ah, the contest. A nice start, but less than last year, with 32 q's in the log. Could hear better on my N-Sish antenna after fixing it, so was pleased with that. EU: SM5EDX was loud here, at about 0130z, and tried working him, but my 100w and 6 radials weren't up to it. Found LY2IJ later in the evening, same situation. Heard SN2B, OZ7ZZ... and couldn't figure out who was sending JO.. grid. A couple of OH's were just a whisper. Later, got very lucky and found GM3POI before the hordes, and was able to get an EU qso into the log (first one ever in the SP!) Ran across N0FW/KP2 a number of times -- very loud. Realized that I hadn't worked him well past the peak of being able to (worked him 2 days before, and was just confused -- always see if they're in the log!)... and learned another lesson for next time. KV4FZ started CQing about 400hz off my frequency, but obviously couldn't hear me (no foul) and I even tried calling him for about 20 minutes with no luck. Only heard him a few more times. Was able to complete PJ2/WB9Z and P40W; heard YV5MBX, and CE1/K7CA but no luck. It was gratifying to find that fixing a beverage helped get more JAs in the log; calling CQ with my 100w landed more than one handful. Heard a VK, and chased ZL3IX up the band (he was working others calling CQ), and tried a few times when he stopped in the Window right before the end of the contest. Heard a fellow WWDXCer K7LAZ work him with 100w about 4 minutes before the contest end -- hearing him get him was *almost* as good as getting him in my log. After listening for maybe an hour, I'm not going to forget RE66 for a very long time. Was disappointed to not hear Pat W7TMT anywhere, perhaps he had other commitments. If you called me and I didn't hear you, can you please let me know? I always like to improve. Sorry about the runaway keyer. There's still something with the N1MM / Microham combination that's been destabilized. Many thanks to the esteemed Boring ARC for a fine event, with the pre-event, event, and post-event activities being all part of the great Stew package. Brian N9ADG, CN97 See you next year, Murphy unwilling! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NA2M Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 222 Station: Yaesu FT-1000MP - 100 watts Antenna: 80/160 Inverted "L" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NE9U Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,518 Well, after my new Inverted L Played "OK" in ARRL 160 and I had no big plans for the weekend I played in the Stew Perry for the first time. I guess I wouldn't go as far as saying the Inverted L played "OK". Only DX heard and worked was KV4 and PJ2. Maybe it was the lack of RX antenna. Guess you cant work them if you cant hear them. There were also a bunch of stateside I couldn't pull out that were calling me. Oh well, something to work on! 73, Scott NE9U ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NO2R Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 2,138 Conditions seemed poor overall but I like the idea of grid square scoring.Tnx to all for calling in. Peter,NO2R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NS3T Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 630 Conditions just weren't as good as earlier in the month on 160 from here, but it was still nice to get some time in the shack during the holidays. Wish more people had been on the air. My highlight was CQ'ing and being called by P40W. First time I've ever had a DX station call me on 160 meters. My inverted L with just 7 radials continues to do the job pretty well. Only heard one California station (N6RO) and just couldn't raise him. Had only two DX (KP2 and P4) and just one eight pointer. See you in the NAQP's in January. 73 Jamie NS3T ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NZ1U Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 454 Only on for 2 Hours 7 minutes. No Europe heard in that time. Mostly CQing on 1808. Some West coast was fairly loud. I've got to be more serious about this contest as I enjoyed every minute I was on. Not sure of the final total score but who cares! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: OH1PS Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,200 BAND CHANGED QUICKLY. ON FRIDAY JAs WERE ABT. 20dB AND Ws ABT. 30dB STRONGER THAN ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. FIRST CONTEST FROM THIS QTH. CU IN CONTESTS, PERTTI, OH1PS/OH2PM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: OH4KZM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,079 This was the first time in this contest.It was fun, and last hour VK stations was nice suprise.And thanks to all who worked me.Cu next year .Hny 2007 to everyone. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: OK7M Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 827 It was frustrating to hear many DX with the 4 SQ K9AY RX antenna and not being able to work them with the inverted V at 30m as the TX antenna. Thanks to the ones who answered. 73 ! Daniel from JO60 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: ON5KQ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 834 First try with a temporary antenna on 160m from my new home qth... (different to usual 40m contest place in JO11of) Used only barefoot FT-1000MP with a 21m vertical with 2x 20m inv.V toploadings. Directly fed with 50Ohm Coax and about 80 radials (mostly 20m..30m long with 15x 40m also) Only one very simple 2-wire 170m Beverage build the same evening....hi Direction of beverage wires was 120degrees / 300degrees No chance to here much in direction to JA and UA0 as well as southamerika... Thanks to W1KM and others in USA having great ears... Need to have an amp for better qso rate and distance on topband... more time necessary to install permanent Beverages on the 28ha property here during the wintertime...(we have corn and cows during the summer on the land...) Hopefully the vertical can be enlarged to about 25m or more in spring... Greetings, ON5KQ, op Ulli ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: OR2T Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 649 OR2T @ ON4ATW in the Stew Perry contest. This year’s TBDC started with a severe storm reaching its peak around midnight. Wearing a headset, my ears drenched in Top Band rumble, I could hear the wind and rain outside gusting at 65+ Mph! More than once I left the operating desk to check upon my towers and assure myself all antennas are OK. I guess the antennas are not big enough because they are still in place. (hi) Only one fibreglass mast, supporting a elevated radial, hit the ground without doing any damage. I don’t know about conditions on the other end of the pond but here at my QTH they were marginal and below my expectations! Only 30 minutes into the contest I had to reboot my computer! The microKEYER did’nt want to key the radio anymore? After rebooting the computer all worked fine until the end of the contest. In the early evening hours and around midnight I had a good run within Europe. TF3KX, ZC4LI, MU0FAL, UA2FF, EA6BF, T94OW/QRP, stand out in the log amongst other more (weekly) calls. I had hoped to be able to work some W’s at there sunset but conditions were really poor. I only heard a few weak signals and around 0100 UTC I decided to quit until 0500 UTC hoping to find the band in better shape. About four hours later I found myself stumbling trough the kitchen grabbing a cup of coffee and of we go for the last leap. Before starting to run I sweep across the band to find out that conditions only got little better than several hours ago. VE3EY is the first NA station to answer my CQ and with little trouble we exchanged reports. With the grayline approaching some of the East coast stations started to peak with 579 signals. At 0650 UTC I heard W1BB replying on my CQ…. the exchange was difficult as the signal was not very strong but it made up for the over all poor conditions. At 0745 UTC I pulled the plug, turned the big switch….. CU ALL next year! 73’ Happy 2007 de OR2T Theo. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: P40W Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 3,264 IC756ProII, Alpha 87A 1KW Vertical Dipole, Beverages NE and NW Win-Test V 3.62 A last minute decision to spend some vacation time the week between Christmas and New Years on Aruba made possible this operation from the P49Y/P40L super station, a mile south of my regular P40W QTH. During the 3 days before the Stew, spent time reconfiguring the TX antenna from an inverted V into a vertical dipole, a 55' vertical. See the article on the YCCC website by K2KQ for details on this antenna. I use this same configuration at my regular P4 location. Limited tests over several nights indicated the antenna was performing well, better than the prior inverted V. During the Stew, it seemed I could work anyone I could hear, and clearly I was not coping many who would call but were covered by the building QRN. Unfortunately the static got progressively worse as the evening progessed. Probably started the contest a bit late at 2300 UTC. Sundown is 2240z on Aruba but a social obligaton prevented getting back to the station earlier. Was somewhat surprised to hear the band full of stations. YV5MBX, KV4FZ, N0FW/KP2, W4AN (W8JI/K4BAI) and PJ2/WB9Z were very loud of course. Called CQ most of the time and had some nice runs of Ws. But signals from the states were for the most part not particularly loud all evening. I was encouraged by the number of W6 and W7 stations that called in overall. There were many peaks and valleys in this contest. Eventually managed to work 38 EU stations, 95% on CQs, the first being F6IRA at 0112Z and the last OH1ND at 0742Z. UA2FF was by far the loudest EU station who called. Best DX overall was ZC4LI (10295 km) at 0455Z. Second best was UU4JMG at 0114Z. It was nice to hear ZP6CW, CE1/K7CA, HP3XUG, KH6AT and 8P9NX active. I believe I heard ZL3IX call me around 0645z but I just couldn't pull him out of the rising QRN. By 0800 the rate has down to 'extra slow' and the noise just became too much so I decided to QRT. I want to thank AE6Y and W6LD for providing use of their cottage for the week, and want to wish everyone a Happy New Year 2007. Looking forward to working everyone again in the CQWW160 CW later this month from FM29 (SNJ). 73, John W2GD/P40W ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: PJ2/WB9Z Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 4,071 This was my 4th SPTBC operating from the PJ2T station. THANKS to the folks of the Caribbean Contesting Consortium! What a difference a couple days makes on TopBand. I worked 22 JA's and VK6HD this morning (Jan 2). VK6HD before his sunset and way after my sunrise on a 11 thousand mile path! Not so were the conditions during the Stew, no JA's or VK's worked or even heard. The Stew this year was about as much fun as going to the dentist. I operated 12 hours as there is less than 12 hours of darkness here. I was never so glad to see the sun come up. I started out before sunset here with strong signals coming from K1LT, K9CS, K9DX and W9IU. After sunset settled in so did a strong S7-S9 QRN level on the USA/NW beverage, I assume that was from all the storms in the states. Normally the noise level on the USA beverage is S0 - S3. Fortunately, the European beverage was working well and the noise that direction was not as bad. Thanks for all EU contacts including 4Z4DX. QRN was not the only problem as deep QSB fades were brutal making getting the grid square right quite challenging. Sorry for asking for all the repeats... I hate when it takes a couple of attempts for me to get the call right and then the guy comes back with his grid square ONE time... COME ON. If your not going to be LOUD then send the grid square more than once. The EU stations are very good about sending the grid more than once. Thanks again EU stations, most of you are VERY good TOPBAND operators. Best DX and points: ZL3IX, ZL3BSJ 27 4Z4DX, UA4HBW 22 UW2M, UU4JMG, RK3PA 21 Hope to work some of you in the upcoming ARRL RTTY ROUND-UP, I'll be signing PJ2T in that one. 73 Jerry PJ2/WB9Z ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: S53O Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,319 ant-shund fed tower-only 6radials, tx ts850 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: S58Q Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 658 Nice contest. Strange condition, few Ws and lot of Caribien stations, P40W, PJ2/WB9Z, KV4FZ, 8P9NX. Not bad for only 300W. 73 and HNY Darko, S58Q ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: S59A Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,234,567,890 RIG: Mark V + amp , SHUNT FED TOWER(only 4 short radials, 20m each) I had extremly high noises so overslept half night .Noises comming from local frequency controlled speed motors for water pumps for my village only 20m away from my house,hi. When I switched off electricity for the pumps in the morning ,I heard a lot of USA stations,but sorry to say most of them transmitting on verticals or inv-Ls and receiving most of the time on west beverages so,they do not hear us weak EUs,and I got the feeling they do not care much of EU or DX,so we are wasting our time calling and calling them ! ! ! Also I was able to hear quite some west coast stations,(strongest was N7UA) but couldnot break the east coast pile or they had QRM?? Exception was N7JW Arizona who came on my CQ.I am not well equiped for 160,but was enjoying specially for that 4 digit( GRID) reporting system. Best wishes to all for 2007! s59a@siol.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: SM6A Class: Multi-Op HP Total Score = 1,867 SK6M Contest Team worked the Stew Perry contest in multi op. class from SM6DYK QTH. We used my 4-square antenna, KW amp. and 5 Beverages. We beat the Swedish record with almost doubling the previous score. The propagation was not as good as we hoped. We worked a bunch of US east coast stations which we had to pick out from the noise and deep QSB. We didn´t hear any mid US stations and worked only 3 west US stations. Cu in CQ WW 160m in better conds. 73/DX de Kenth, sm6dyk ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: TF3KX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,188 Rig: IC746, 100W Ant: 12m/39ft vertical Great contest, as always, but a bumpy progress on my side. Started out at just before 18z (which is the same as local time here). Had just put up a 12m/39ft vertical, using my MFJ fiberglass pole, with two opposing wires at the top for loading. Made my first 20 QSOs that way for an hour. Had a nice dinner with the family but found, when I returned, that the fiberglass pole had broken in the middle and the antenna was down. My shack is in the attic with access to the roof through a small window. On this windy and rainy evening I finally decided to risk stepping out on the sloping roof and managed to salvage the remnants of the antenna. Put up a temporary 12m vertical using another fiberglass pole (from Spiderbeam) that I simply stuck out of the window, using the metallic roof as a counterpoise. Finally I managed to obtain a match using a simple LC tuner along with the IC746 internal tuner. But this was not all. After calling CQ a few times smoke emerged from the tuner (a small MFJ-16010) and it ceased functioning. After desparately looking through my junk boxes for anything that could be used for matching, I decided to wind my own coil to tune out the reactance of the vertical. The only material available was some standard electrical wire from the hardware store that I wound on a disposed paper cylinder from inside a WC roll. This is probably as low as one gets when it comes to antenna construction! Anyway, I was finally back on the air at just before 23z. Regrettably I missed the valuable time between 19 and 23z/local, but I was glad I didn't decide to quit, which had also occurred to me. The night went reasonably well and when I finished I had managed 101 QSOs in the log. Longest distance was N7JW at approx. 6400km / 4000mi. I had 27 different countries in the log, the most frequent being W (14Q), DL (13Q) and G (12Q). After all I improved my score from last year. Conditions were relatively good, compared to the past months where we have had frequent geomagnetic disturbances here in the aurora zone. So, all things considered, a fun event and I hope to be on in the CQWW 160. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA7ST Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 133 Got on for a couple of hours Saturday evening after RAC Winter. Haven't sorted out the inverted-L yet (the vertical wire is still in a "<" shape) so it offers unpredictable tuning -- antenna tuner needed major re-tweaking every 10kcs. The grid plots showed just what a cloud-warmer I'm using right now. Seemed good out to 800 miles or so, and not much further. Highest-point QSO was worth 5. Figure my ERP must have been 10 watts or less with the wild SWR and wire orientation doing their thing. Had no trouble hearing lots, though. Good signals folks! After midnight Pacific I packed it in, having called for five minutes with no takers. If the snow doesn't stay too long, I hope to pull the inverted-L higher in time for CQ 160 CW. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3CRU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 333 My first Stew Perry, and a lot of fun too. Started late, 0136z after completing the RAC Winter and going out to eat. Antenna was a limping 60' wire with 3 radials of 66' which blew over in the ARRL 160 and still less than 40' high now. Rig was a 756 ProII. Best ODX was Tree, N6TR at 3,450 km with N0FW/KP2 being second at 3170 km. Both were a pleasant surprise and Tree was loud. Did not hear any EU during the 'test. With power of stations worked unknown for most, it will be interesting to see how many were qrp as I only know of KB8U worked who was qrp. The score shown is perhaps my wish, rather than reality. It is difficult to have a tailored high performing antenna on this 60 by 100 foot lot, and being a full spectrum contester and Rover, 1.8 mhz to 24 ghz the primary bands used get priority. Beverages are perhaps a dream only. I look forward to next year, with antenna improvements and more hours operating. Thanks to all participants and the contest organizers too. 73, Bill VE3CRU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3GLO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 80 First time working this contest. Maybe as the sun spot cycle changes I will work it more often. Was interesting. Bob, VE3GLO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3MGY Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 500 FOUND CONDX TERRIBLE WITH QRP COMPARED TO OTHER YEARS. COULD HAVE JUST BEEN THE SHORT TIME I WAS ON ALSO. BEST DX WAS WITH THE WEST COAST. THE SCORE IS A ROUGH GUESS. 73 BRIAN VE3MGY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3NZ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 872 FT1kMP 100W, inverted L @10 mtr high. Condx was fair till midnight local time. After that condx improved, the Caribbeans and the west coast became loud. HNY to all, cu in CQ160CW 73, George VE3NZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3OSZ Class: Multi-Op LP Total Score = 1,854 Score shown is simply the raw score times the LP multiplier of 2. Some people have reported good conditions. That certainly wasn't the case in Ottawa. Absorption seemed to be high as signals were generally weak. There was lots of deep QSB. We managed only 6 EU QSOs. Best DX was SM6A. The number of QSOs was up but the points total was lower than in the past because of only a few DX QSOs. We worked stations in 129 grid squares. Station: Inverted L; one Beverage; one pennant Drake TR-7 at 100 watts with home brew autotuner TR Log ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3TA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,063 Score calculated by Win-Test Many thanks to VE3FAS for his generous hospitality and the use of his excellent antennas at EN94. Only 5-1/2 hours op time; this was primarily an antenna, equipment and software evaluation session for me. I was dissapointed with the conditions for DX. Best DX was K9FD/KH6 at 04:12z. Also heard another K6 in HI S & P but couldn't call him. Worked about a dozen EU and OZ3 but did not hear any VK or ZL. Thought I could just hear JA sigs while W7AT was working them but not well enough to work them myself. Great signals from several UK stations. 73, Paul, VE3TA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE6JY Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,217 This was my first go at the Stew Perry and I now I know why they call it a "Challenge". The QSB was severe, with stations going from very loud to completely gone within a few seconds. Sometimes they came back and sometimes they didn't. After finishing the RAC Winter Contest at 0000Z, we managed to get everything set up and ready to go for the SP by 0130Z. It took me a little while to settle into the rhythm of the contest and then managed to run stations close to the same frequency until about 0900Z, when there didn't seem to be any more stations to work. The condx on 160m were not bad from this far north (near Edmonton), working east coast one minute and California the next. It sure helps to have a KW and a dipole up over 100' in the air! Special thanks to Don, VE6JY, for letting me use his great station! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE9DX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,068 Conditions seemed quite poor. Lots of very deep QSB. Did not hear much west of the Mississippi. It was nice hearing W1BB active. Back in the early 60's I used to listen to Stew on my old BC348Q. Started by just copying a letter or two then picked up calls and some text. Shortly after that with much encouragement from Stew by mail, I was ready to sit for my test. In 1965 I became VE1ASJ and Stew was one of my first contacts. He was a great gentleman... Thanks to all that called... 73 Andy (VE9DX) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0BH Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,098 After resting up a bit from the RAC Winter Contest, jumped into a crowded 160m band and kept nicely busy with hourly rates over 100 for the first couple of hours. Twelve year-old Coel visiting from Langley BC still hadn't had enough after the RAC, so she found and colored in grid squares on a grid map and tried to pick out numbers in call signs and grid squares during the exchanges (see my RAC post for more about Coel!). Looking at Coel's map, I count 161 grids worked, perhaps a quarter west coast, a quarter midwest, and half east. My first > 5 pointer came from PJ2 (9 points), then I really got hopeful when two KH6 (12 points) stations called in almost back to back. Shortly afterwards, the band got quite a bit noisier making the remaining Qs a lot more difficult. Thanks to all for the Top Band Qs .. we'll look for you again on 160 later in January! HNY and 73, Bob, w0bh ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0MU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 202 Elevation just short of 4000 ft...3752 plus 60ft for antenna height! Operated just a short time from the Montana house. Arrived to find S9-20 over noise on most every band. The NB worked some but not well. The rabbit, who moved into the tube that carries the control and coax cables for the receive array, decided that those cables would be a tasty dessert. No time or tools to repair the cables. Needless to say after about an hour and a half of nasty line noise I tossed in the towel. We also had a dinner engagement at 0000z that lasted until about 0500z. Conditions did not sound great from MT. I heard just a couple of east coast stations and managed to work one or two. No dx was going to make it over the terrible noise. Was hoping to put in a decent over night effort but it was not to be this year. Congrats to all. Always a fun contest. Rig: Yaesu FT-897 into the 75v that I extended on the ends for 160. I think the transmit side of things was surprisingly better than expected. A shame I could not hear! Mike W0MU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0UO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,058 The big storm system over the middle of the country made things difficult, but still great fun and a great challenge! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1BB Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 4,020 The memory lives on...... It was great fun putting the callsign of the "legend" on the air over the weekend. While condx were downright poor, some stations were noticeably superior in pulling my weak sigs out of the noise. Probably my most humorous moments were trying to convince a few selected stations that W1BB was REALLY MY CALLSIGN, eg: 1) A certain European station (callsign witheld) kept telling me "It's a JOKE right? - impossible call!!!" - but FINALLY became convinced that I wasn't going away until he sent me his exchange!!! 2) Calling and eventually making the grade with Bob at N7UA - that fellow has a pair of EARS!!! 4) Finally making it with K7NJ - really a TOUGH one but we finally made a good one. 4) N6TR gets the first call award - Tree is another fellow who can really HEAR well. 4) Special thanks are due also to K9FD/KH6 and CE1/K7CA who copied me almost immediately. Thanks to the organizers for a great experience - it was alot of fun despite some awful condx, especially into Europe! 73 JEFF K1ZM/VY2ZM Trustee W1BB - Stew Perry Radio Club "The memory lives on....!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2LC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,194 Not sure of the score. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2VJN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,614 Condx rather poor. Worked the usual Asia Pacific and only one Euro GM3POI. Win-test worked very well! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W3TS Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 1,148 Started late due to a "Holiday Party" and didn't stay up late because I was falling asleep at the rig. Did get up for sunrise but didn't work any DX. Rig: Ten-Tec Orion at 5 watts TX Ant: 1/8 wave wire Tee with 70 - 60 foot long radials RX Ant: 2 - 300 foot long reversible short Beverages Logger: N1MM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W3USA Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 1,132 K7RAT must have had me in mind with the plaque for "Top Score Single Op, High power and QRP combined using 2 callsigns". Sounded like fun, so that's what I did, operating as K8MR in the HP category and W3USA in QRP. I set up my laptop with the keyer output in parallel with the normal logging computer and keyer. For QRP I bypassed the amp and cranked down the IC-746 power. I mostly went back and forth at about 10 minute intervals, mostly CQing as K8MR and mostly S&P as W3USA. I did some useful CQing as W3USA, including awarding the best ears award to KX7M for calling in. On a few occasions I called somebody QRP, and then cranked up the watts and called him again with HP as K8MR. I never asked anyone to listen for my weak QRP signal. The noise level was very high - about S7 in the narrow filter mode - on Saturday evening. At sunrise Sunday morning it was down to about S4. I'm not sure if this was local QRN or just band noise, as others seem to have found high noise levels as well. With my 225 qso/508 points as K8MR, the combined score is 1640. Happy New Year to all, Jim K8MR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4AN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 3,346 FT1000MP Mk V, Amp, 1.5 KW, vertical, dipole, 4-square. Conditions were pretty bad with weak signals and high noise levels from an approaching cold front and rain storms. Many thanks to W8JI and his XYL for permitting me to guest op at Tom's FB 160M station. Worked a lot of DX, including most of Europe, HP3XUG, ZP6CW, Caribbean, Hawaii, ZL3IX, SU9HP, ZC4LI and KL7J. First European (F5IN) was heard loud and clear at 2115 UTC. First Eu QSO was F5VHY at 2210. Made mistakes about time out. I should have started earlier and delayed the break about an hour. I took a break at 0745 UTC and came back on at 0847 UTC. During that hour, the band conditions observed by K4BAI/QRP were not bad and a lot of stations who had been running were still running and I didn't work them later from W4AN. When I got back on, the band appeared to die. Many stations were QRT (getting sleep that I needed too). The stations who were still active were very weak. Stations who were strong before and after this period were weak then. Well, you can't know everything in advance. Thanks for all the QSOs. W4AN QSLs go to K4BAI direct or via the bureau. You can request a bureau QSL by e-mail. W4AN is the club call of the South East Contest Club, operated in memory of Bill Fisher, W4AN. 73, John, K4BAI. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4IX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,166 My first Stew Perry...condx were pretty quiet for most of the week, then contest day the noise is horrible, thank god I put up a beverage to the N.E., or would not have had any European Q's. Thanks to all who called, and sri to those that I could not pull out of the noise. Best Q's were LY2IJ @ 7792KM and UA2FF @ 7500KM. Was also nice to work CE1/K7CA....Tnx Kenwood TS830S Al-572 Amp Inv. L w/apex @ 60 feet 400ft N.E. Beverage WriteLog Since the TS-830 does not have a rcv antenna jack, I had my antennas on a manual switch and would switch back and forth for best copy, also no computer keying, all operating done manually ( I felt like an octopus hi hi ) 73's John ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W5GZ Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 340 Missed my early morning wake up.. I back-handed my alarm instead of arising... Next year has GOTTA be better !! gz ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W5JAW Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 900 100 Watts 12 ft top loaded wire vertical with aluminum gutter for counerpoise My ears are still ringing from reading Grid numbers through the S9+ crashes from storms east of here. The band was in great shape earlier in the week, where I worked a bunch of EU stns with this little setup. By Thursday, it was back to the poor condx we've had most of December, in addition to all the QRN. Almost all S&P. Still don't have the patience to CQ much unless activity high. Very interesting contest. Jim, w5jaw ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6CIT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 242 My first time in the Stew Perry event. Lots of fun. I operated three hour or so segments, Saturday sunset, Saturday night, and the last hour. Receive was tough the first two periods and I finally changed to the second station radio for the last hour. What a difference! I come to find the noise blanker button was pushed in on one radio and not on the other, hence the performance difference. Gee, I think I will remember that for another ten years at least, hi! And in the back of my mind I knew what was wrong but the answer conveniently stayed in my subconscious. I'll just write it off as a "160 meter moment." Nice to work ZL, KH6, JA, CE1 and PJ2. Only one east coast station worked in FN00. 73, David N6AN/XE1NTT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6ZL Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 311 Ft-990 100W 120' Inverted L @ 50' Writelog 10.61E Thanks to all for sticking with me through the QSB. 73 es HNY Dave / W6ZL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7AT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,503 just another night in paradise! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7EW Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 328 qrp on 160 is like adding water onto oil ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7RN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 795 Best DX was LY2IJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7WHY Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 588 Only got to play a few hours in this one with all the HNY stuff going on. Band conditions seemed a lot worse than in the last 160 contest. Called a lot of loud stations that just couldn't hear me. But, surprised a the good ears of some of the stations out there. Working LP is bad enough, couldn't even imagine trying this with QRP :-) I need an amp for this band bad. 73 and HNY to all. See 'ya in the Roundup. Tom W7WHY FT-840 100 watts with inverted 'L'. No beverages, the homeless people keep stealing my wire. Lost 2 antennas down in the woods behind the house. At least they didn't steal the coax!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8MJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 944 Part time effort. Enjoyed the time I was able to operate. Happy New Year to everyone. Ken W8MJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8RU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 338 Nice conditions, particularly to the West Coast. Happy New Year to all and 73, Ron (W8RU). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA2MNO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 375 This is the first time I've operated in the Stew Perry contest. It was fun to see the distance points for stations worked. I heard P40W and the GM3 stations but with 100w and an inverted L, not very high off the ground, I couldn't work them. Running worked a couple of times but only for short periods. S&P was the primary mode of operation. One additional note. The stuttering CW problem I had with Writelog has been isolated to running the program in XP (which I have tried booting XP with no other programs, system.ini or win.ini loaded and still had the problem). I installed Writelog in Win98 and CW works perfectly. This is on the same computer using dual boot to bring up 98 or XP. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA4DOU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 922 Rig: FT-990 @ 100 watts My Score: 922 X pwr mult. of Ant: Inverted L (vertical portion ~= 45ft.) 2 = 1844. Thought I'd take a break and sleep for a couple or 3 hours about 2:30am EST and go back to it long before daylight. When the time came, I got up and turned off the alarm and went back to bed. Finally got up 10 or 15 mins. after sunrise. The inverted L was hastily put up Saturday afternoon and clearly outperforms the inverted vee at 45 ft. that I'd used previously. Worked a couple of Europeans but heard very few. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA4PGM Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 1,524 Thanks for the contacts!! See you in CQ160 as VP9I ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA4TT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 702 All S&P and paper logging, so may be a dupe or two. Thanks all for listening. 73, WA4TT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WB2ABD Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 667 " Children of the Night! What music they make! " ( B. Lugosi ) I was really planning to Do the Stew right this year, but a variety of events had me starting quite late, exhausted and unable to spend the 14 hrs. I thought condx DX wise were not too strong, although I managed to work more than I had last year. Surprises were wkg CE for a new one and wkg KH6 past sunrise. The 8.5 hrs spent included fiddling with different arrangements of K9AY loops and beverages into an MFJ noise canceller, as my local noise problem was in high gear. Only had limited success with a 40M inv vee as the sense antenna. Most of my Q's were S&P, but did do a small run. Of all the ones I called, the ONLY one I couldn't work, and that after many many calls , was none other than ... W7AT. I presume the "secret plaque" is for how many times you called a station and still couldn't work it, right Lew??? I must have made the Top Ten for this category. Orion2 Inv vee @ 60 ft. NE, West beverages , K9AY , TL922 - 700W N1MM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WB8JUI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,268 All in all, not too bad considering the high level of rain generated static. Most DX other than P40, KV4, and PJ2 was pretty much buried under the QRN. I heard bits of KH6, GI, and GM, but unfortunately not good enough copy for QSOs. See you next month in the CQ 160 contest. 73 - Rick WB8JUI Inverted L @ 50 feet with 16 radials ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WD5R Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,668 It's always painful to know that we are being called by DX and we're not making the contact. Be assured we are trying. Last night we kept one receiver on a phased, terminated beverage, 850ft long, pointed toward Europe. Our primary radio had access to a single beverage, 850ft long , in same direction. None of the usual early signals, but around our midnight we did start to hear some signals from Europe. We record. So if you are wondering what we are hearing when you are calling, give us a time slot and we will try to get a 'wav file' out to you. BTW, we run legal limit, not a watt over, into a 1/4 wave vertical on a hill top. 60 1/4 wave radials. Hey, Marlene is also getting fed up with my missing the dx signals. (Eye sight is first thing to go, hearing is 2nd! ) She is importing a (hired gun) for the CQ160-cw. I think the contract calls for soup and cornbread and a large piece of rum cake served at the desk. If all the signals were Q5 it wouldn't be any fun! Doug, n5ect 2nd in command at wd5r ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WI9WI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 126 With a tuner I was able to pump about 35 watts into a 120 ft wire, mostly horizontal, fed against my yard fence. Who knows how much was actually going into the antenna. Some pretty good ears out there. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WJ9B Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 804 73, Will, wj9b, dit dit ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WQ5L Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 159 (score is wrong of course) 100W + inverted L (45' vertical) The Inv-L is brand new; seems to work fairly well; only 6 radials so far so plenty of room for improvement. Wx sure didn't cooperate. Lightning forced some involuntary breaks, and the static crashes would cover all but the strongest signals. Sorry for all the repeats. Slow going at first but the band seemed to heat up around 0300Z. Had a couple of decent runs after that, albeit no DX. By 0500Z the static crashes had increased to a dull roar so only S&P'ed the loud ones after that. 73 & HNY, -- Ray WQ5L ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WT9U Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 711 Heard several EU stations but couldn't get any of them to hear me. Happy New Year to all. 73...Jim, WT9U ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WW9R Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 343 I had a lot of fun. Nice to hear some sane CW speeds... Even heard a number of Ops using straight keys! There are some quality fists out there. Happy New Year! Pat WW9R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: ZC4LI Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,234,567,890 SO1R - NO SPOTS ANTENNA:- TITANEX 160HD AMP:- ACOM 1000 Power out 500 to 750 watts RIG:- ICOM-756 Thanks to the organisers and to everyone for the Q's. Condx not too bad here. My receiving antenna is not as good as it should be so sorry if you could hear me but I couldn't hear you. Mostly EU Q's but did manage PY1BVY, N0FW/KP2, KV4FZ and P40W, W4AN at the death. Q's = 192 Grids = 134 Score = ?? 73 Steve CU in the ARRL RTTY. Index of Calls Call: AA3B Class: Single Op HP Call: AA4LR Class: Single Op LP Call: AC6DD Class: Single Op HP Call: AD6WL Class: Single Op LP Call: AD6ZJ Class: Single Op LP Call: AE8M Class: Single Op HP Call: CU2JU Class: Single Op LP Call: DK3DM Class: Single Op HP Call: DL4RCK Class: Single Op LP Call: DL5AXX Class: Single Op HP Call: DL6RAI Class: Single Op HP Call: EA1WX Class: Single Op HP Call: EA6BF Class: Single Op HP Call: F5IN Class: Single Op HP Call: F6IRF/P Class: Single Op LP Call: G0IVZ Class: Single Op HP Call: G3BJ Class: Single Op HP Call: GM4AFF Class: Single Op HP Call: HA5JI Class: Single Op HP Call: HA8BE Class: Single Op LP Call: I2WIJ Class: Single Op LP Call: K0BJ Class: Single Op LP Call: K0FX Class: Single Op HP Call: K0HW Class: Single Op LP Call: K0RC Class: Single Op LP Call: K0TO Class: Single Op HP Call: K0UK Class: Single Op HP Call: K1EP Class: Single Op LP Call: K1GU Class: Single Op HP Call: K1HT Class: Single Op LP Call: K1LT Class: Single Op HP Call: K1PQS Class: Single Op HP Call: K1PX Class: Single Op LP Call: K1QO Class: Single Op LP Call: K1ZZI Class: Single Op HP Call: K2PS Class: Single Op HP Call: K2TTT Class: Single Op HP Call: K2ZJ Class: Single Op HP Call: K3STX Class: Single Op LP Call: K3TD Class: Single Op LP Call: K3WI Class: Single Op LP Call: K3WW Class: Single Op HP Call: K4BAI Class: Single Op QRP Call: K4HAL Class: Single Op LP Call: K4JAF Class: Single Op LP Call: K4LW Class: Single Op LP Call: K4WW Class: Single Op LP Call: K4ZGB Class: Single Op LP Call: K5NA Class: Single Op QRP Call: K5NZ Class: Single Op HP Call: K6LRN Class: Single Op HP Call: K6NR Class: Single Op HP Call: K6NV Class: Single Op HP Call: K6RB Class: Single Op HP Call: K6TA Class: Single Op HP Call: K6VVA Class: Single Op HP Call: K7RL Class: Single Op HP Call: K8AJS Class: Single Op LP Call: K8FC Class: Single Op HP Call: K8FH Class: Single Op LP Call: K8GT Class: Single Op LP Call: K8IA Class: Single Op LP Call: K8IR Class: Single Op LP Call: K8MR Class: Single Op HP Call: K8ZT Class: Single Op QRP Call: K9AY Class: Single Op HP Call: K9DX Class: Single Op HP Call: K9MMS Class: Single Op LP Call: K9NR Class: Single Op LP Call: K9NW Class: Single Op HP Call: KA7U Class: Single Op LP Call: KB7Q Class: Single Op LP Call: KB8U Class: Single Op QRP Call: KC4HW Class: Single Op LP Call: KC7V Class: Single Op HP Call: KD2MX Class: Single Op QRP Call: KF3B Class: Single Op HP Call: KI7Y Class: Single Op HP Call: KL9A/W7 Class: Single Op LP Call: KN4Y Class: Single Op LP Call: KO7X Class: Single Op LP Call: KP2CW/W6 Class: Single Op HP Call: KR2Q Class: Single Op QRP Call: KR4F Class: Single Op HP Call: KS0T Class: Single Op LP Call: KT0R Class: Single Op QRP Call: KU1CW Class: Single Op HP Call: KU5B Class: Single Op HP Call: KU8E Class: Single Op LP Call: LZ9R Class: Single Op LP Call: M3CVN Class: Single Op LP Call: N0AC Class: Single Op LP Call: N0BUI Class: Single Op LP Call: N0IJ Class: Single Op HP Call: N0KE Class: Single Op HP Call: N0XB Class: Single Op LP Call: N1EU Class: Single Op HP Call: N1QME Class: Single Op LP Call: N2CU Class: Single Op LP Call: N2CW Class: Multi-Op QRP Call: N2IC Class: Single Op HP Call: N2WK Class: Single Op HP Call: N2WN Class: Single Op LP Call: N3BB Class: Single Op HP Call: N3OX Class: Single Op LP Call: N4DD Class: Single Op HP Call: N4DW Class: Single Op HP Call: N4NTO Class: Single Op LP Call: N4PN Class: Single Op HP Call: N4TB Class: Single Op HP Call: N4YQ Class: Single Op QRP Call: N4ZZ Class: Single Op LP Call: N5DO Class: Single Op HP Call: N5IA Class: Single Op QRP Call: N5OE Class: Single Op QRP Call: N5OT Class: Single Op HP Call: N5UL Class: Single Op HP Call: N6KB Class: Single Op HP Call: N6KI Class: Single Op HP Call: N6RK Class: Single Op LP Call: N6RO Class: Single Op HP Call: N6TR Class: Single Op HP Call: N6WG Class: Single Op QRP Call: N6ZFO Class: Single Op LP Call: N7GP Class: Single Op HP Call: N7IR Class: Single Op QRP Call: N7UA Class: Single Op HP Call: N7WA Class: Single Op LP Call: N7ZG Class: Single Op LP Call: N8BJQ Class: Single Op HP Call: N8VW Class: Single Op QRP Call: N9ADG Class: Single Op LP Call: NA2M Class: Single Op LP Call: NE9U Class: Single Op LP Call: NL7Z Class: Single Op HP Call: NN7ZZ Class: Single Op LP Call: NO2R Class: Single Op HP Call: NS3T Class: Single Op LP Call: NZ1U Class: Single Op HP Call: OH1PS Class: Single Op HP Call: OH4KZM Class: Single Op HP Call: OK7M Class: Single Op HP Call: ON5KQ Class: Single Op LP Call: OR2T Class: Single Op HP Call: P40W Class: Single Op HP Call: PJ2/WB9Z Class: Single Op HP Call: S53M Class: Single Op LP Call: S53O Class: Single Op HP Call: S58Q Class: Single Op HP Call: S59A Class: Single Op HP Call: SM6A Class: Multi-Op HP Call: TF3KX Class: Single Op LP Call: VA7ST Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3CR Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3CRU Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3CX Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3EJ Class: Single Op QRP Call: VE3EY Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3FH Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3GLO Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3MGY Class: Single Op QRP Call: VE3NZ Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3OSZ Class: Multi-Op LP Call: VE3TA Class: Single Op HP Call: VE5UF Class: Single Op LP Call: VE6JY Class: Single Op HP Call: VE9DX Class: Single Op LP Call: W0BH Class: Single Op HP Call: W0MU Class: Single Op LP Call: W0UO Class: Single Op LP Call: W1BB Class: Single Op QRP Call: W1CSM Class: Single Op HP Call: W1TO Class: Single Op LP Call: W2FU Class: Single Op HP Call: W2JU Class: Single Op LP Call: W2LC Class: Single Op LP Call: W2OO Class: Single Op HP Call: W2VJN Class: Single Op HP Call: W3BP Class: Single Op HP Call: W3CP Class: Single Op LP Call: W3GH Class: Single Op HP Call: W3TS Class: Single Op QRP Call: W3USA Class: Single Op QRP Call: W4AN Class: Single Op HP Call: W4IX Class: Single Op HP Call: W5GZ Class: Single Op QRP Call: W5JAW Class: Single Op LP Call: W6CIT Class: Single Op LP Call: W6SX Class: Single Op HP Call: W6ZL Class: Single Op LP Call: W7AT Class: Single Op HP Call: W7EW Class: Single Op QRP Call: W7RN Class: Single Op HP Call: W7WHY Class: Single Op LP Call: W8MJ Class: Single Op HP Call: W8RU Class: Single Op HP Call: WA2MNO Class: Single Op LP Call: WA4DOU Class: Single Op LP Call: WA4PGM Class: Single Op QRP Call: WA4TT Class: Single Op HP Call: WA6BOB Class: Single Op HP Call: WB2ABD Class: Single Op HP Call: WB8JUI Class: Single Op LP Call: WD5R Class: Single Op HP Call: WI9WI Class: Single Op LP Call: WJ9B Class: Single Op HP Call: WQ5L Class: Single Op LP Call: WT9U Class: Single Op LP Call: WW9R Class: Single Op HP Call: YL8M Class: Single Op HP Call: YU1RA Class: Multi-Op LP Call: ZC4LI Class: Single Op HP Index of Calls organized by Class Class: Multi-Op HP Call: SM6A Class: Multi-Op LP Call: VE3OSZ Call: YU1RA Class: Multi-Op QRP Call: N2CW Class: Single Op HP Call: AA3B Call: AC6DD Call: AE8M Call: DK3DM Call: DL5AXX Call: DL6RAI Call: EA1WX Call: EA6BF Call: F5IN Call: G0IVZ Call: G3BJ Call: GM4AFF Call: HA5JI Call: K0FX Call: K0TO Call: K0UK Call: K1GU Call: K1LT Call: K1PQS Call: K1ZZI Call: K2PS Call: K2TTT Call: K2ZJ Call: K3WW Call: K5NZ Call: K6LRN Call: K6NR Call: K6NV Call: K6RB Call: K6TA Call: K6VVA Call: K7RL Call: K8FC Call: K8MR Call: K9AY Call: K9DX Call: K9NW Call: KC7V Call: KF3B Call: KI7Y Call: KP2CW/W6 Call: KR4F Call: KU1CW Call: KU5B Call: N0IJ Call: N0KE Call: N1EU Call: N2IC Call: N2WK Call: N3BB Call: N4DD Call: N4DW Call: N4PN Call: N4TB Call: N5DO Call: N5OT Call: N5UL Call: N6KB Call: N6KI Call: N6RO Call: N6TR Call: N7GP Call: N7UA Call: N8BJQ Call: NL7Z Call: NO2R Call: NZ1U Call: OH1PS Call: OH4KZM Call: OK7M Call: OR2T Call: P40W Call: PJ2/WB9Z Call: S53O Call: S58Q Call: S59A Call: VE3CR Call: VE3TA Call: VE6JY Call: W0BH Call: W1CSM Call: W2FU Call: W2OO Call: W2VJN Call: W3BP Call: W3GH Call: W4AN Call: W4IX Call: W6SX Call: W7AT Call: W7RN Call: W8MJ Call: W8RU Call: WA4TT Call: WA6BOB Call: WB2ABD Call: WD5R Call: WJ9B Call: WW9R Call: YL8M Call: ZC4LI Class: Single Op LP Call: AA4LR Call: AD6WL Call: AD6ZJ Call: CU2JU Call: DL4RCK Call: F6IRF/P Call: HA8BE Call: I2WIJ Call: K0BJ Call: K0HW Call: K0RC Call: K1EP Call: K1HT Call: K1PX Call: K1QO Call: K3STX Call: K3TD Call: K3WI Call: K4HAL Call: K4JAF Call: K4LW Call: K4WW Call: K4ZGB Call: K8AJS Call: K8FH Call: K8GT Call: K8IA Call: K8IR Call: K9MMS Call: K9NR Call: KA7U Call: KB7Q Call: KC4HW Call: KL9A/W7 Call: KN4Y Call: KO7X Call: KS0T Call: KU8E Call: LZ9R Call: M3CVN Call: N0AC Call: N0BUI Call: N0XB Call: N1QME Call: N2CU Call: N2WN Call: N3OX Call: N4NTO Call: N4ZZ Call: N6RK Call: N6ZFO Call: N7WA Call: N7ZG Call: N9ADG Call: NA2M Call: NE9U Call: NN7ZZ Call: NS3T Call: ON5KQ Call: S53M Call: TF3KX Call: VA7ST Call: VE3CRU Call: VE3CX Call: VE3EY Call: VE3FH Call: VE3GLO Call: VE3NZ Call: VE5UF Call: VE9DX Call: W0MU Call: W0UO Call: W1TO Call: W2JU Call: W2LC Call: W3CP Call: W5JAW Call: W6CIT Call: W6ZL Call: W7WHY Call: WA2MNO Call: WA4DOU Call: WB8JUI Call: WI9WI Call: WQ5L Call: WT9U Class: Single Op QRP Call: K4BAI Call: K5NA Call: K8ZT Call: KB8U Call: KD2MX Call: KR2Q Call: KT0R Call: N4YQ Call: N5IA Call: N5OE Call: N6WG Call: N7IR Call: N8VW Call: VE3EJ Call: VE3MGY Call: W1BB Call: W3TS Call: W3USA Call: W5GZ Call: W7EW Call: WA4PGM