ARRL 160 Soapbox built 1-10-2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 5H3EE Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 264 Just few QSOs around my SR (0257z). Saturday openning was much better, still at 0315z K9DX was 599. On Sunday best signal came from K3ZM, N2EE was almost the same but did not hear me. Both days the signals peaked about 5min after SR. 73 Mike ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA1K Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 418,938 Last multiplier was RW0CWA, worked right at sunrise on Sunday. Heard a JJ1 station long path at my sunset (2145z) on Saturday, calling CQ right below me but I couldn't pull out the call before he faded. First I've ever heard at our evening. Nice to work VY1JA Sunday morning but we missed VE4 for the sweep of all sections. Worked three KL7 and several KH6. Surprised to see I have 104 DX stations in the log -- it didn't seem like that many, they were widely scattered. Other notables: TF3, C56, JA8. But no VK/ZL. Plenty of daylight activity -- about 50 stations in the log after sunrise on Sunday. The gear: Orion 1 (left radio), DX Doubler, FT1000MP (right radio), Alpha 89 amp (1.5K). N1MM logging program. TX antennas: Parasitic vertical array. 4-el. to NE, 3-el. to SE, SW and NE. Inverted Vee at 95 feet. RX antennas: 15 Beverages (most phased pairs) Details at www.aa1k.us Date Hour Total AA1K Running Total 2007-11-30 22 133 133 133 2007-11-30 23 112 112 245 2007-12-01 0 115 115 360 2007-12-01 1 86 86 446 2007-12-01 2 93 93 539 2007-12-01 3 91 91 630 2007-12-01 4 85 85 715 2007-12-01 5 66 66 781 2007-12-01 6 52 52 833 2007-12-01 7 42 42 875 2007-12-01 8 41 41 916 2007-12-01 9 36 36 952 2007-12-01 10 43 43 995 2007-12-01 11 24 24 1019 2007-12-01 12 32 32 1051 2007-12-01 13 5 5 1056 2007-12-01 18 6 6 1062 2007-12-01 19 14 14 1076 2007-12-01 20 23 23 1099 2007-12-01 21 29 29 1128 2007-12-01 22 43 43 1171 2007-12-01 23 38 38 1209 2007-12-02 0 46 46 1255 2007-12-02 1 45 45 1300 2007-12-02 2 28 28 1328 2007-12-02 3 47 47 1375 2007-12-02 4 29 29 1404 2007-12-02 5 21 21 1425 2007-12-02 6 16 16 1441 2007-12-02 7 20 20 1461 2007-12-02 8 14 14 1475 2007-12-02 9 12 12 1487 2007-12-02 10 15 15 1502 2007-12-02 11 11 11 1513 2007-12-02 12 17 17 1530 2007-12-02 13 7 7 1537 2007-12-02 14 21 21 1558 2007-12-02 15 7 7 1565 Total All Hours 1565 1565 CountryPrefix Total AA1K 9A 1 1 C5 1 1 C6 1 1 CM 1 1 CT3 1 1 CU 1 1 DL 10 10 EA 1 1 EA6 1 1 EI 2 2 ES 1 1 EU 1 1 F 4 4 G 12 12 GI 1 1 GM 2 2 GW 2 2 HB 2 2 HC 1 1 HI 1 1 I 5 5 J3 1 1 JA 1 1 K 1368 1368 KH6 3 3 KL 3 3 KP2 3 3 KP4 3 3 LA 2 2 OE 1 1 OH 1 1 OK 4 4 OM 1 1 ON 2 2 P4 1 1 PA 2 2 PJ2 1 1 S5 2 2 SM 6 6 SP 3 3 SV 1 1 TF 1 1 UA 4 4 UA2 1 1 UA9 1 1 UR 1 1 VE 93 93 VP2M 1 1 VP5 1 1 XE 1 1 Total 1565 1565 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA4LR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 101,680 Antennas: 15m shunt-fed tower with 30 ground-mounted radials (most 60' four are 100+') 125 doublet fed with open wire at 10m Half-size K9AY receiving loops Equipment: Elecraft K2/100 w/ KAT100 running 80-100 watts Kenwood AT-250 (for doublet) Comments: Wow. After looking over the results from the ARRL 160m last summer, I had decided I needed to put in a greater effort this year. I figured I couldn't compete with W8JI in the High-Power category in Georgia (I can't use the amp with the shunt-fed tower anyway), but the Low-Power category was one with scores in the 70K range the last couple of years. Also, given this is the sunspot low, 160m ought to be really great as well. The last couple of years, my efforts were limited due to equipment failures. The shunt matching network had failed abruptly in 2005 on the second night. The revised network had failed at the start of the contest in 2006, costing me 4 hours of prime-time operating. I'd done a good job repairing the matching network in 2006. It had worked all year. A bit of maintenance the week before gave me confidence that I wasn't going to have any antenna failures. The rest of it was a matter of spending hours in the chair operating. With some pre-contest analysis, I found that my efforts from the previous two years had lots of Qs, but fewer multipliers (just under 60) compared with other stations in Georgia. This likely due to the fact that I mostly ran stations and did very little S & P. Both of the last two efforts were right about 7 hours of operating time. I figured if I could double the amount of time, that 500 Qs should be possible, and 75 multipliers seemed reasonable as well, with a target score of 75K. I also wanted to get some confirmations for my 160m CW WAS. I have all but six states confirmed, only lacking AK, HI, NV, ND, UT, WY. I figured that AK and HI would be the hardest, and would require me to get up before dawn. Contest started out well, I quickly found a spot to CQ, and the rate meter read over 240/hr briefly at the start. I'd have a series of good runs, interspersed with some S & P. The first night, I focused mostly on rate, figuring I'd get a second shot at multipliers the second night. After staying up late, getting up an hour before dawn was really tough. But 20 minutes after sunrise, I'd finished with 392 Qs and 74 mults. I had already significantly bested last years effort, and was more than on track to make my goal. Second night was tougher, since I'd has a busy Saturday, little sleep the night before, and was at it again. The excitement of the contest kept me going. By the time I threw in the towel at 0600z, I had 590 Qs, 79 mults. I'd more than met my goal. When I got up early in the morning, I figured I might be able to break 600 Qs. But could I make it to 100 K points? I S & P'd furiously, skipping over stations I had worked previously. I broke 100 K just before dawn, and finished up with a few more stations. On the multiplier front, I worked all sections missing only ND, SF, AK, AB, MB, NL & NT. Of these, I never heard any stations in any of these sections, with the exception of AB, as I heard a VE6 calling someone the second night. DX was C6A, HI (HI3A called me while I was CQing), CO, G, PJ2, 9A (9A2DQ was extremely loud) and XE. As it was, I worked 48 states on 160m in a weekend (All but ND and AK). That's amazing. A couple of equipment notes. The doublet was basically useless -- only a couple of Qs made on that antenna. The Shunt ruled. Not bad for an antenna barely 1/10 wavelength tall. The K9AY loops were marginally helpful in a few cases. I tried to put up some full-sized loops, but the wire I was trying to loft into a tree got caught and broke, so I wasn't able to complete thats. In the last month, I started hearing some broad S3 noise starting around 1825 kHz up to about 1840 kHz. It's not stable and tends to drift around. The rest of the band is about S1 atmospheric noise. Since this is the "sweet" part of the band, including the DX window, that was really frustrating. Had one other weird thing with the K2/100. The amount of current it needs to produce 100 watts output seems to vary with temperature. As the unit gets warmer, the current demands get higher. Aftering CQing for a long time the second night, the power supply started to protest by producing a loud hum in time with my code. It only happened couple of times off an on, but it was very disconcerting. I was afraid my power supply would fail, and then I would be off the air. I'm hoping this score might be good enough for a certificate. The Southeast Division leader for low power had 104K last year, so maybe I've got a shot there, too. In any case, I've established a new personal best as well as worked 4 of the six missing states for 160m WAS. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA9DY Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 44,890 Goal for me was to try to complete my 160-meter Worked All States. Managed to work 48 states this time around, but still puts me 2 states short of WAS, when combined with the 38 states from the last 160-meter test. Missed WY and AK this time around. Section-wise, I had a lot of trouble getting into California and Canada. Missed PR, WTX, LAX, ORG, SB, SDG, SF, SJV, AK, WY, AB, BC. MB, NL, NWT. Still had a lot of fun. My peanut whistle station, with a low inverted L, did better than I expected it to. Rig: FT-920 Antenna: Inverted-L (25 foot vertical section with the rest horizontal approximately 20-25 feet off of the ground) Software: N1MM Contest Logger (v7.10.11) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AB2E Class: M/S HP Total Score = 132,880 Antenna: half-wave 160m dipole fed w/ladder line @ 50ft. Rig: IC756ProII/Dentron DTR-2000L Very quiet conditions on Friday night were great. Missed VE4, WY, and NWT. Would be nice for contest sponsors to have assist category instead of placing everyone in MS. The new antenna runs east-west through the woods which worked great for this contest, but plan on putting up a 160 inverted-L for better DX. Thanks to all who worked us. See you next year! 73 Darrell AB2E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AC5AA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 7,216 Once again, I only had a short time available for the contest. I had hoped to put in more time on Friday evening, but after less than an hour operating, my local (as yet unlocated) noise source fired up, and it was all over except for the S9 signals. The second night was much better due to no noise, but I only got about an hour in due to other activities. This contest is a lot of fun. How nice it would be to run it with something other than a short vertical! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AC6DD Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 15,812 FT 1000 MP, 50-60W TX ant: 55' inverted L RX ant: 100' of coax on the ground into a preamp. (the end of the coax was lying next to my 80m vertical) Reality is slowly getting to me that with two small kids, there is less and less time available for radio. The initial plan for a big effort at my usual portable location in Avila Beach was scaled down to operating the entire contest high power remote from home, and than to operating just a few evening hours with low power, while entrateining the kids. I sat my 3 year old son in a chair next to me a with a set of headphones and K2 to play with. I was holding my 5 month old daughter, and was able to make one QSO at a time before she got fussy and had to take a walk around the room, and so on. After they went to bed it was quite a bit easier. The 55' inverted L did not like high power because of an apparent arc fault (it turns out a seagull broke the horizontal wire support rope), so I used 50-60W power which appeared not to arc. I was using a 12/17m tribander, and a 100' length of coax on the ground as a listening antenna. Splatter from KVEC 920 is back, so that made the coax my receiving antenna most of the time. I did not hear much, but every station I called I was able to work (except one single W4 station). Hopefully I will get some time for a good effort in Stew Perry. 124 QSO, 49 US sections, 6 VE DX worked: VP2, E5, C6, PJ2 Niko - AC6DD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AC7FA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 52,910 Thanks to K7MO for his generosity and to my contest elmer K7QQ. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AD5VJ Class: M/S LP Total Score = 1,386 Had no 160 antenna so I loaded my Butternut HF6V with my MFJ DELUXE VERSA TUNER II MODEL MFJ-949B and had a blast. Thanks to all who gave me a contact really exciting to see the old Butternut working on 160. At first I didn't think it would do it but decided to give it a try a think it did a good job considering. Farthest contact was VE5UF so it was worth the try heard many more but they could not hear me. 73 fer now Bob AD5VJ http://www.ad5vj.com/ --- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AD8J Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 30,910 Lost the antenna selection relay box up on the tower early on Friday night so called it quits for the evening. Cleaned the contacts the next day which repaired the problem. Managed to put in a few hours on Saturday night and conditions seemed quite good. This is a fun contest so next year I think I will try to put in more time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AE1P Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 7,350 1st 160m cw contest,seemed like everyone was on,great!.Had fun,looking forward to next year with a better antenna.73 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AE8M Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 114,234 Ten Tec Orion at 100W, 45 foot vertical with 10 foot diameter top hat and 30 radials. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AI4MI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,104 New ham, getting feet wet. Lot's of fun! Will try again next year. 73, CW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: C6AKQ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 186,756 Elecraft K3, Dipole @ 120ft ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: CX6VM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 756 Only few minutes to participate friday night, but I enjoy working some friends. KV4FZ booming all the 2 hours I been there! Best signal to PJ2T (not in contest for me) 73, Jorge CX6VM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DF2PY Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 15,288 Another great opportunity to "walk" the station. First night was fantastic with even westcoast into Europe.Should have gotten up earlier that day for sure. Second nite the band was down considerably, at least 3 S-units. But that had happened before in this contest. From EU it was more or less only S&P, as the low signals did not permitt any real runs. But however bad the second nite was, i added a few points to my personal record frm 2005, which of course does not mean much ;-)), looking fwd to work You guys in the ARRL 160 in 2008 ! de wolf/df2py ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DJ1YFK Class: M/S HP Total Score = 2 Next time I'll try with an antenna. Tnx VY2ZM. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DJ6TK Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 420 Hi, I took place for the first time in the ARRL 160m contest. It is not easy without a beverage Antenne to listen on the V160HD Vertical Antenna. The biggest Signal all the time came from VY2ZM but KV4FZ was also loud. PJ2T did not work European in the meantime of this Contest,sri Best of luck and moin moin from Flensburg, Wilf - dj6tk - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: EA6BF Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 10,578 Very good condx on the first day, with QRN included..! TR4W worked great..! Second day very poor, and had troubles to connect laptop to internet, no chance at all. Great fun indeed, thanks all for QSOs, 73, Josep EA6BF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: F5IN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 20,332 Powered by Win-Test 3.17.0 http://www.win-test.com http//perso.wanadoo.fr/f5in qsl via eQSL.cc or direct ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0DI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 166,345 Used a dipole at 70' We should have a '160 expedition' entry class. Thanks goes to Reynolds, K0GND for hosting this 'event'. 73, Dave ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0EU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 100,696 Didn't have much time for the contest, but got in 8 hours worth of operating in between other activities. 160M is a great band, and it's always a pleasure hooking up with old friends like K9AY, W0UO, and W9IXX/4. Wanted to pull off a one weekend W.A.S. on top band, but couldn't find MS or VT during the time I was QRV. Was great to get some good rates at times. Conditions were fantastic, and line noise was generally low both evenings. There were still callers in there that I simply could not copy and I apologize for being an alligator. Had four different DX countries call me for a change. Things must have been pretty slow on their end. FT1000D HF2500 amp 1/4 wave sloper off 120 foot tower plus 1 NE/SW 290 foot beverage and phased K9AY loops. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0KX Class: M/S HP Total Score = 173,264 Thanks for all those repeats-------I did improve the receive antenna but I still have massive power line noise and other "not able to solve" noise issues all over my local area. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0OU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 30,690 Was in and out of the shack Saturday night only. Found conditions to be pretty good, band was quiet and I was being heard. Managed 7 five point Q's. My program counted KV4FZ and KH6ZM as 2 pointers - is that right? 160 set up here is not much - IC 775DSP, TL922 (at abt 600 w) to an inv L up 65' out 65', and no recieving ant. Not competitive, but gets me on the air. Had fun making any contacts at all. 73 de K0OU Steve in MO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0PK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 178,089 This has always been my favorite contest and this year's effort was my personal best. Chose LP instead of QRP this time. After the previous weekend of constant S&P in CQWW it was fun to RUN a bit! Worked all states and C6, CM,CU,G,HI,I,J3,KP2,P4,PJ2,UA9,VP2M,XE,ZF. Missed MB,NL,NT,PR. Heard NL but couldn't crack the pile. A heavy snowstorm Saturday night brought waves of precip static that made listening difficult for several minutes at a time(S5 on E/W Beverage w/IPO on!). I kept CQing to hold my run freq. but felt like an "alligator," even w/only 100 w. My appologies to those callers I missed. It was really noisy here at times. Had a GREAT time! Rig: FT2000/N1MM, 95' top loaded vert, 80m CF Zepp, 290' E-W Bev. Thanks for the Q's! 73, Paul - K0PK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0TV Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 227,452 This was my first ARRL 160 as a single op in more than 20 years. We've been doing multi-ops for almost every contest from here ever since we got the station up on the air. Ken, WO1N and Mike, N1IW had other commitments this weekend. I decided to make it an effort but I had forgotten how much work doing a serious single op was. Overall I had a real ball but I think I'm looking forward to doing this one as a multi next year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0WA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 69,642 Conditions were very good from Kansas. Surprised to work 4 countries and PAC with my Inverted-L - Sloper. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1EA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 186,368 Ran the first night, then dialed around a little. Hour Qso/Mult Running Total 22 119/42 119/42 23 112/12 231/54 0 114/16 345/70 1 103/9 448/79 2 122/16 570/95 3 91/2 661/97 4 96/4 757/101 5 11/1 768/102 Second night dialed one pass of the band. 3 35/2 803/10 Lots of Mainers called in. No NNY! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1EP Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 136,836 My best ARRL 160 contest so far. Could it be the Elecraft K3? Don't know, but it sure helped. Missed a couple of sections I heard, like LAX and NL. Of course, no NWT heard here, as well as WTX, WWA, WY, HI, ND, MB, and a few CA stations. Not much DX but sure appreciate them calling me. Hope there is more DX activity in the Stew and 160 WW contests coming up. Thanks for the Qs! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1IM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 18,928 Should have oped the test ! Great conditions here ! CU all for CQ160's Tom, K1IM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1JB Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 115,115 Conditions seemed great. Bet there will be some big scores this year! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1KI Class: M/S HP Total Score = 234,140 Pretty quiet until 05z on Saturday night. Nice to hear and work a bunch of west coast stations. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1LT Class: M/S HP Total Score = 429,534 2007 must be the year when the mythical, magical "good" low-sunspot conditions occur. Conditions Friday night were excellent, while conditions Saturday night were just good. Low noise (lower Friday) and no storms made for pleasant "hearing". One small disadvantage with good conditions is that the DX comes in small, sporadic bursts rather than as a "mini-DX contest" at 05 and 06 GMT. For some reason Saturday night nearly all of the Europeans vanished. Maybe they worked everyone Friday night. I really missed the Saturday night DX run fun. During the CQ WW CW I noticed that I have a severe noise problem which obscures signals on the 330 degree and due North Beverages. I spent the week between the contests verifying that the noise was not inherent in the antennas themselves. I guess I need to go hunting for a local source. Surprisingly, the noise cannot be heard in the adjacent directions (300 degrees and 30 degrees), which is why I suspected the antennas rather than a local source. The source must be the low-budget farm just to the north of my location. I was lucky that JA8DMB was able to override the noise. Also, I was barely able to detect that RW0CWA heard my call through the noise as well. These two contacts were the first time that I've worked Asia (other than Cyprus and Turkey) since last year. I used the Steerable Phased Vertical Array as a second receiver for the diversity receiving capability. It was very handy to put "east" signals in one ear and "west" signals in the other. That saves a lot of time otherwise wasted searching through Beverages to find a signal. I never needed to steer the Phased Array, since all of my DX came from Europe. The surprise contact came from 5H3EE, and I don't recall which antenna I was listening to when he called. On the other hand, the broadband nature of the direct conversion receivers led to frequent overload situations which diminished the utility of that receiving system. Never depend solely on a single technology during warfare! I was amazed that VY1JA was not mobbed when he was spotted early Sunday morning. I surmise that by that time, only die-hard contesters remained on the air. I missed PR and VE4 for a sweep. How could I miss PR??? I need to improve my sleep management. I just cannot maintain my motivation after being awake for more than about 14-16 hours. That, or go back to operating multi-op. Anybody for the CQ 160? See you all in the SPTBDC in 4 weeks. Equipment: IC765 and ETO 91B (thanks, Jeff!) Steerable Phased Array Receiving System (see k1lt.com) 14 Beverages every 30 degrees and spares 65 foot "T" with 80 radials Breakdowns: UTC 160 rate total --------------------- 22Z 132 132 132 23Z 111 111 243 00Z 92 92 335 01Z 114 114 449 02Z 110 110 559 03Z 73 73 632 04Z 76 76 708 05Z 83 83 791 06Z 52 52 843 07Z 55 55 898 08Z 39 39 937 09Z 9 9 946 10Z 20 20 966 11Z 37 37 1003 12Z 41 41 1044 13Z 39 39 1083 14Z 19 19 1102 15Z 0 0 1102 16Z 0 0 1102 17Z 0 0 1102 18Z 0 0 1102 19Z 13 13 1115 20Z 25 25 1140 21Z 29 29 1169 22Z 43 43 1212 23Z 25 25 1237 00Z 51 51 1288 01Z 66 66 1354 02Z 23 23 1377 03Z 28 28 1405 04Z 46 46 1451 05Z 26 26 1477 06Z 15 15 1492 07Z 16 16 1508 08Z 11 11 1519 09Z 0 0 1519 10Z 4 4 1523 11Z 1 1 1524 12Z 18 18 1542 13Z 11 11 1553 14Z 0 0 1553 15Z 0 0 1553 DX Prefix Total -------------------- 5H 1 8P 1 9A 1 C6 1 CM 1 CT3 1 CU 1 DL 12 E5/s 1 EA 1 EA6 1 EI 1 ES 1 F 3 FM 1 G 9 GI 1 GM 4 GW 3 HI 1 HP 1 I 5 J3 1 JA 1 LA 2 OE 1 OH 1 OK 3 OM 1 ON 2 OZ 2 P4 2 PA 2 PJ2 1 S5 4 SM 6 SP 3 SV 2 UA 1 UA2 1 UA9 1 UR 6 VP2M 1 XE 1 YO 1 YU 1 YV 2 ZF 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1LZ Class: M/S HP Total Score = 397,020 I am new to 160 meter and what I have found out is that some Hams (contesters) think that they are ruling this band--they just jump on any frequency without any warning or respect. This is not the way you should welcome Hams (contesters) on 160. It requires a lot of work, effort and hardware to be successful on this band. I respect the fact that stations like W8JI, W3BGN and K2KW may have good hardware (special for 160) but it is impossible to work around these guys; no matter who is in there, they just push you out of their way (they think they own the band). I understand that it is a contest but it is extremely unethical. Also the ARRL rules state clearly as follows: 6.1. The segment 1.830 to 1.835 should be used for intercontinental QSOs only. There are many big guns out there who think that this rule does not apply to them, and it reveals the ethics of the American operators. I realize that I am relatively new on this band but I am really disappointed in the operating practices of some of the contesters. I am not sure I want to do this contest again. I just wish that the hams would be more friendly to each other. Ok……………on the other side I appreciate everybody who gave me a Q in this contest. Good luck to every body and thanks. 73, Krassy K1LZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1NK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 121,581 First off, Thanks for all the Qs. This is really a fun contest. The band condx change by the hour and the 2 days are never the same. Should have worked at DX the first night instead of racking up the qs, but that was my plan and I stuck to it. I paid for that decision since EU was nonexistant on night 2...oh well. Missed AK, WY, a bunch of CA sections NWT (of course) MB and BC. Snow static was in play on the second night as the storm headed east, but condx were quite good both nights, except for the whole NO EU issue on night 2. K9AY loops rule! Key Klicks were at an all time low. Some stations still use the risetime as a snow plow though. See you all (I hope) in the '08 CQ tests. 'Til then, 73 and Happy Hoidays. Jim - K1NK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1TN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 9,984 Congrats to everybody who heard me! Thank you. Who was it who said "If I had known I would live this long I would have taken better care of myself"? Was it Mickey Mantle? George Burns? Well, if I had known I would make this many contacts I would have used my computer and CT instead of paper log sheets. I had figured I'd be lucky to work W2GD, 20 miles away. For the first time in 46 years of contesting, I am using two antenna tuners, in series. Therein lies a tale. As soon as I moved into this second-floor apartment last March I began experimenting with indoor antennas. I'm on the top floor of a wood building. I figured an indoor wire would at least get me on 40 and 20, and it did. About six weeks ago I worked up the nerve to throw 33 feet of wire from the balcony into a tree (about 2 a.m.). I ended up with a final configuration of 33 feet of wire inside and 33 feet outside; I center feed it on 40 and above and end feed it on 80 and 160. It was only last week that I tried to load it up on 160. I figured -- 1/8 wavelength, no way. But lo and behold it would load it up and I could actually hear people. I really wanted to get in the 160 contest, to work YCCC friends to the north, PVRC friends to the south, FRC friends all around, and maybe even SMC friends to the west. And I wanted to put a scare into the usual suspects up the road at W2GD ... a little SNJ competition from The K1TN Superstation. Here's how I did it -- the 66-foot wire ends up over the refrigerator, where I tune it with an MFJ artificial ground tuner. I have a few counterpoise wires for 80 and above. On Friday afternoon I added a 200-foot roll of wire as one more counterpoise, snaked around the apartment, even through the bathtub. What I couldn't unroll I just left coiled up in the kitchen. I was getting a lot of ground current ... a good thing. There's a GFI outlet in the kitchen near the tuner and I trip it on 80, but not on 160. Go figure. After nearly a hundred uneventful contacts on 160 this weekend, for some reason I suddenly started setting off the CO2 detector, conveniently located right above the tuner. Hmmmm I just disconnected it. This antenna unfortunately has a bandwidth of about 10 kHz. During contests I make trips to the refrigerator but didn't want to have to time them to when I want to move frequency. Well, I feed the "refrigerator tuner" with 50 feet of coax, so next to the radio I added an MFJ autotuner, which I use to "touch up" when I've moved too far in frequency. What's really wacky is ... if I put the radio on TUNE, then go out to adjust the refrigerator tuner, if I change it too much that sets off the autotuner, which starts searching. This is sort of like two people dancing and both of them trying to lead. Or a tug-or-war. Tug of wire. This weekend, for some reason, my usual noise level decided to drop down to S4, which in an apartment building is nothing short of miraculous. I could really hear! Unfortunately, I could hear lots of stations that couldn't hear me. I was unable to cross the Mississippi. Best "DX" was either Wisconsin, West Central Florida, or PEI (thanks Jeff). I heard some EU, and called C6 and XE, but no luck. Oh, it goes without saying that I was LP, 100 watts out. It took a lot of calls and repeats, and I really appreciate the people who hung in there with me. Maybe because I was so weak they thought I might be DX, OK1TN or somebody. My little Ten-Tec jupiter's good QSK was indispensible for all the back-and-forth. Couldn't even work Minnesota; I called several of them, including K0AD, with whom I operated Field Day 40 years ago. I worked a lot of old friends this weekend, which is precisely why I pursued the madness of working 160 Meters from an apartment. Cheers, Jim Cain, K1TN/2 Near Atlantic City (Not CT, Not IN, Not STEX, Not MS). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1TR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 19,152 IC-756PIII AL-1200 K2KQ "Double L" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2PS Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 21,600 Terrific rates as fresh meat in this contest. Had the rate meter up over 200 quite a few times ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2QMF Class: M/S HP Total Score = 62,320 Conditions Good. Great Fun... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2RD Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 62,532 This was antenna maintenance weekend at K6IDX contest station so decided to spend the dark hours on 160. Had fun but where was RI? Great when VY1JA showed up Saturday night with no pileup. Definitely need a better antenna than our 50 foor inverted el with two raised radials. Next year! As always, thanks to Brad, K6IDX, for use of his fine station and great mountain hospitality. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2ZR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 89,392 Rig: IC-765 @ 100 Watts Antennas: 160 M Inverted Vee - End Fed "L" @ 450' - Center Fed @ 650' Logging : Old Fashioned Computer, Paper & Pencil. Band conditions were good although for me, the west coast sections were elusive until 0500Z or so on Sunday morning. As always, I enjoy operating this ARRL Classic Contest! I hope to see you all in next year's 160 meter event. 73, Dick K2ZR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3AN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 57,960 First serious effort in ARRL-160 and first score submission. FT-1000MP, 135 foot inverted L with three 50 foot radials. Made more QSOs than I expected, even had some nice but short runs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3STX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 94,205 That was GREAT!! I think the 160 meter contests are the best for high rates from small stations like mine. Not so much DX activity from Europe, hopefully it will pickup for the CQ test. Missed AK and WY for my 24 hour 160 meter WAS. Thanks for all the guys with GREAT ears, and sorry I was an alligator on Saturday night, I had some weird line noise/sleet static issues that were intermittent. TONS of fun, it was worth the lack of sleep (I fell asleep at the rig on Sunday morning at only 0600Z, tough day raking leaves and ice skating with kids in the evening). See ya!! paul ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3TD Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 17,385 Inverted L 30' tall x 75' long IC-756 ProII ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3WW Class: M/S HP Total Score = 415,125 Seems like the best I have done in this one. Use packet, but had everything call in except a few of the DX guys. Slept both nights, got up Saturday for a few QSOs and picked up WY, got up Sunday worked a few spots, went out to take some sunrise snow photos, came in and while downloading the photos hit the CQ button a few times and pulled VY1JA out of the noise. I believe that would be our first 160 QSO. Missed KL7 and VE4. averaged over 100/hour the first 9 hours then took a while to reach 1000 and bedtime. Harder to copy guys the second night. Used diversity receive with 1 listening wire chosen and the transmit antenna on the other ear. I even tried running a wire across the school field next door for Saturday night. It helped a little; however, Europe did not seem nearly as good here. Next year maybe I can find a 2nd op to fill in the off times, too much going on to go without sleep 2 weekends in a row. 73, Chas K3WW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3ZM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 466,180 Thanks to all who called in, especially the DX stations who patiently waited to get through. 73 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4EU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 54,714 Thanks for the Q's. 73....//Steve K4EU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4LY Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 164,064 I keep adding 100' radials, now up to fifteen plus thirty 50' radials, tweaking the slopping inverted L, which slopes up at a 55 degree angle from the base of my Hygain Hytower to the 85' level above my 65' tower. And it actually works pretty well! When I moved from CO where I had a 1/4 wl Rohn 25 160M shunt fed tower flame thrower, I never expected to do well again on my favorite HF band, 160M, due to the confines of an 8/10ths of an acre lot here in SC. What a contest! DF2PY called me on Friday night; CU2AH and YV7QP called Saturday night! Working EU with 100 watts and a compromise antenna here is a lot easier than from CO with a KW. Conditions were so quiet (I use two flag antennas, one favoring NE and one west), activity was so good (and DX conditions were good Friday night) that I managed to stay up all night BOTH nights. I'm sure there will be many record breaking results. Great to work old friends from CO and the rest of the country. Thanks for the Qs, and please forgive my second night mental and CW skills. See you in the Stew Perry. Doug K4LY ex-W0AH Inman SC EM85wb ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4RO Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 293,514 What a blast. I've never operated this one seriously because of its proximity to CQWW CW, but I may just have to think about this next year. I can see why the ARRL 160 is a favorite among many. I only wish that I had prepared better. I was scrambling like crazy at the beginning. I thought the contest started at 0000z, and I had the wrong contest loaded in my logger. States that were complete sections logged fine; others didn't. What a mess. I finally got it straightened out. The only section missed was VE4 (we miss you Derrick.) It was a huge thrill to complete contacts with KL7J and VY1JA. J hung in there with me like a champ to complete a difficult QSO. These are the moments I live for in contesting. I really thought I might make the sweep, but it was not meant to be. Has anyone done it since K5NA? DX conditions were better on Friday night. I should have searched more on Friday, and my mult count suffered. I hear NO EU heard Saturday night. After non-stop S&P weekends in SS and CQWW, I was ready to just run, run, RUN. The first 6 hours were fantastic. I should have operated another 7 hours. I'm sure 300,000 would have been attainable. My score won't be in the top ten this year, though it would have been #6 last year. Hopefully this will be a new Tennessee record. Raw QSOs were something like 1390. There were a LOT of dupes. IC-781 and AL-1200. Sloping wire vertical with ONE elevated radial. (Yeah, I know...) Beverages: 570ft NE/SW, 195ft NW/SE, 310ft North, for five directions total. The Beverages worked really well. I used them 99% of the time. Weak call signs in the "wrong" district took extra time to find the right antenna. I'd be straining hard to copy a "6" on a west antenna, only to finally determine he was in Florida. In cases like this, I wish folks would use a portable identifier. At one point, it seemed like every other contact was from MN or MDC. It sounds like MWA and PVRC were out in force. So was the TCG! Thanks to everyone for the QSOs. 73 -Kirk K4RO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4TD Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 350,336 Thanks for all the QSO's. Really enjoyed this year's contest. However, I am somewhat surprised at the number of callers who duped me. I had a total of 78 (yes, seventy-eight) dupes during this contest. One operator duped me four seperate times... :-( Worked all sections except for NNY, VE4 and VE8... QSOs (without dupes) - By time ! Hr ! 160 ! Total ! ---------------------------- ! 22 ! 114 ! 114 ! ! 23 ! 109 ! 109 ! ! 00 ! 119 ! 119 ! ! 01 ! 101 ! 101 ! ! 02 ! 74 ! 74 ! ! 03 ! 54 ! 54 ! ! 04 ! 78 ! 78 ! ! 05 ! 76 ! 76 ! ! 06 ! 79 ! 79 ! ! 07 ! 51 ! 51 ! ! 08 ! 37 ! 37 ! ! 09 ! 28 ! 28 ! ! 10 ! 29 ! 29 ! ! 11 ! 1 ! 1 ! ! 12 ! ! ! ! 13 ! ! ! ! 14 ! ! ! ! 15 ! ! ! ! 16 ! ! ! ! 17 ! ! ! ! 18 ! ! ! ! 19 ! 5 ! 5 ! ! 20 ! 13 ! 13 ! ! 21 ! 22 ! 22 ! ! 22 ! 27 ! 27 ! ! 23 ! 21 ! 21 ! ! 00 ! 24 ! 24 ! ! 01 ! 38 ! 38 ! ! 02 ! 38 ! 38 ! ! 03 ! 47 ! 47 ! ! 04 ! 32 ! 32 ! ! 05 ! 25 ! 25 ! ! 06 ! 16 ! 16 ! ! 07 ! 14 ! 14 ! ! 08 ! 27 ! 27 ! ! 09 ! 17 ! 17 ! ! 10 ! 22 ! 22 ! ! 11 ! 15 ! 15 ! ! 12 ! ! ! ! 13 ! ! ! ! 14 ! ! ! ! 15 ! ! ! ! 16 ! ! ! ---------------------------- ! ! 1353 ! 1353 ! Worked DXCC DXCC | CT | 160 | TOTAL ========================== 8P | NA | 1 | 1 C6 | NA | 1 | 1 CM | NA | 1 | 1 CT3 | AF | 2 | 2 CX | SA | 1 | 1 DL | EU | 11 | 11 EA6 | EU | 1 | 1 ES | EU | 2 | 2 F | EU | 2 | 2 FM | NA | 1 | 1 FO | OC | 1 | 1 G | EU | 4 | 4 GI | EU | 1 | 1 GM | EU | 1 | 1 GW | EU | 1 | 1 HB | EU | 1 | 1 HI | NA | 1 | 1 HK | SA | 1 | 1 I | EU | 10 | 10 J3 | NA | 1 | 1 JA | AS | 4 | 4 LA | EU | 2 | 2 OE | EU | 1 | 1 OH | EU | 2 | 2 OK | EU | 4 | 4 OM | EU | 1 | 1 ON | EU | 1 | 1 OZ | EU | 1 | 1 P4 | SA | 2 | 2 PA | EU | 2 | 2 PJ2 | SA | 1 | 1 SM | EU | 4 | 4 SP | EU | 4 | 4 SV | EU | 1 | 1 UA2 | EU | 1 | 1 VP2E | NA | 1 | 1 VP2M | NA | 1 | 1 VP5 | NA | 1 | 1 XE | NA | 1 | 1 YU | EU | 1 | 1 YV | SA | 1 | 1 ZF | NA | 1 | 1 Powered by Win-Test 3.18.0 http://www.win-test.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4WX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 15,582 Rig - Ten Tec Omni VI at 90 watts Ant - G5RV up 75 ft in trees ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4WZ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 51,282 First contest with new antenna 160m vert T with 30 radials. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4XD Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 58,238 Despite limited time available to participate, I had a great time! Lots of good contacts, finished WAS 160 thanks to NV and HI, added VP2-M and ZF as new ones on 160, and beat my score from last year by a handy margin. My intermittent SWR issues stayed away Friday night so I was able to enjoy the fast tuning of the THP / MFJ-998 combo and run 800W without the THP amp faulting. Was able to start in earnest at 10:15PM Friday evening (local), and enjoyed two hours of pretty high rate S&P - for me anyway - of around 50/hr. Started a run on 1.846 at 0508 and got another 45 Q's in about 40 minutes, then back to S&P to stay awake as the rate dropped and drowsiness set in. Turned in at 2AM local with 185 Q's in the log, really wanted to get to 200 but at the rate it was going I didn't think I could hold out that long. I slept until 6:20 local, made some coffee and got back to it. I "cleaned up the bandmap" with about 30 minutes of S&P and then settled in on 1.809 for a short run of 20 Qs, about 1 a minute. Even though that rate was better than what I would have expected from S&P, I found myself having a hard time sitting still and kept going back to S&P to clean up that bandmap. I think I need to turn the thing off, when you're CQ'ing every 3 seconds a minute seems like a long time, and those light blue spots in WriteLog are too tempting. "Why sit here waiting for someone who might not come, when there's a station I need just waiting for me!" It's not logical, but I keep falling into that trap. The other dilemma I wrestle with is how long to spend working the weak ones. I generally will give it four or five tries since with QSB and filter tweaking many stations eventually come through... but sometimes things just go south and it doesn't seem like a good use of either of our time to keep trying. I feel bad about giving up when I've gotten most of the call, but it also takes time to get the run rate moving again after 3 or 4 minutes trying to pull one out. My apologies to those of you who kept trying but I gave up. And thanks to those of you who hung in there to copy me in places I'm sure my signal was a whisper. Things died out by around 1245Z so I quit with 238 Q's in the log. This effort was clearly not going to burn any barns but for some reason I really like top band and found the contest very enjoyable. Maybe it's "the gentleman's band" thing. I spent a few hours early Saturday afternoon trying to track down my mysterious SWR problems. I can tune up fine but under power (usually 200W to 400W or more), the THP amp faults on 80 and 160. Thanks to Bill K3XA I tried using a dummy load at various points in the system, working from the TX to the antenna. Sort of like signal tracing. With the dummy load in place, no problem. But it's happening with 3 different antennas, and only on 160 and 80. Two of the antennas are multiband by design, and they work fine up to 1KW on 40M - 10M; but trip the amp on 80M. I found a PL-259 connection that was really loose. I used one of those butane gas-powered soldering torches to solder it, and was suspicious at the time I made the cable, but it seemed to work OK. Now it just pulled off, and the shield was blackened. I figured this was the problem for sure. Put on a new PL-259, used my old fashioned heavy duty 100W soldering iron (reminds me of the -only- soldering iron my Dad used), and confidently plugged things back together. Went back to the rig and keyed up. (sound of buzzer when you get the wrong answer on a quiz show). No dice, still tripping the amp. At this point I have bypassed everything up to the antenna itself; yet having the issue with three different antennas, and having it be intermittent, makes me suspect one of the common components in the middle of the RF chain, such as a switch or relay box. Yet bypassing them, the problem still happens. Maddening! Did I mention it's intermittent too?! Oh well, back to the contest. Was surprised when I tuned in around 2000Z to find stations already on. I guess I never try 160M when it's still light out. It obviously works for regional comnunication. Duh, how would AM radio stations work otherwise. Found Bill K4CIA CQ'ing and dropped by. Although I've been to his QTH, realized this was actually our first QSO! Thanks Bill, and sorry if I fat fingered the WriteLog macro keys trying to say something more friendly than "TU K4XD." I still haven't mastered the quick transition between ad-hoc keying and using the function keys to send the macros. Alt-K brings up the keying window, but my brain seems to stall out. Excuse those pregnant pauses. Someday I'll learn to send fast enough with a paddle that I can use that, although maybe that transition will be just as awkward. I can get a good pace going while running and using the "Enter sends exchange/QRZ" combo, although I manage to hose that up too from time to time, hitting enter while I'm in the wrong field and sending the QRZ message instead of the exchange, and dropping the QSO info into the log. That wakes me up! Managed to get another 55 Q's done before going out to see my daughter's dance recital. Both my daughters are students at UNC Chapel Hill. Got back at 0400 and went back to the dials. Only got in about 90 minutes but added two new 160M entities for me, ZF and VP2M, and my 49th state, NV. Hit the hay with 340 Q's done, and slept for a luxurious six hours. Like I said, this was a casual effort! Got back to it at 1120Z and once again, I had picked a good time to return to the radio because six minutes later, KH6ZM joined 49 other states in my log for my 160M WAS. Thanks Massimo! You will get a QSL! (and SASE) After working Massimo, I noticed my amp had faulted so I was actually running about 60 watts! Wow, amazing ears. I noticed the QTH is "Volcano, HI" which certainly sounds remote and quiet... well, I guess either really quiet or really loud. Wrapped up at 380 Q's as it was getting really, really slow. Would have liked to break 400 but at the rate I was going it wasn't going to happen, and I was having a serious case of "can't sit still-itis." I never really focused on chasing mults like I do in SS, and it shows with 65 sections. Probably should have worked that a little harder. Only 9 DX stations, a bit surprised at that, expected a bit more EU. Never really heard much DX on at any time. All-in-all, a lot of fun for the time put in and thanks to everyone once again for the Q's and patience! PS: When I sent the Cabrillo file to ARRL, it was rejected because the DX QSO's had blank section entries. I manually changed them to DX and it was happy. Something must have changed, I don't remember doing that last year. 73, Rowland K4XD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4XU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 107,520 Missed WPA and NLI -- that's a first. Where's K3LR when you need him? Not much from the Pacific this year, never heard a European. Major effort expended dealing with line noise. A fun time regardless. Thanks to all who gave a QSO. CU on 10m. 73, Dick ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5EWJ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 31,525 Equipment, Kenwood TS-850S, 80 watts, Carolina Windom @ 40 ft. It was a fun contest. Missed the first 3 hours because of other commitments. AMP was down again, 572Bs had the Chinese Flu again. Looked hard for Idaho, my last needed state, but was thwarted again. Oh Well! Band was a bit noisy with only the Windom. I will put my order in with Santie for a K3 and a EWE. Maybe that will help. Also maybe a new amp. FAT CHANCE! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5NA Class: M/S HP Total Score = 165,042 This was an off year for me because I couldn't stay in the operating chair for too long at any one sitting. I have a pinched nerve/muscle in my leg that makes it painful to sit in one place for very long. So this year I kept my ARRL 160M operating effort at a minimum, even though this is my favorite contest of the year. I was in and out of the ham shack both evenings doing some running and a lot of search and pouncing. I went to bed at 10:30 PM local time on Friday night and at 10:00 PM the second night, just too sore to go any longer. I did get up both mornings before sunrise to operate for a while. Conditions seemed very good with European signals quite loud at times. The band was loaded with USA signals from both coasts and everyone was loud. I expect there may be some record setting scores for this year. I was surprised that many sections seemed easy to work. I went into Sunday morning needing four more sections and managed to get # 77 (WY) and # 78 (NT – VY1JA). I missed ND and VE4 and finished Sunday morning CQing and listening on the north beverage, just hoping that one of those two sections would show up. But they didn’t. I hope to be back in the ARRL 160M Contest at full speed next year. 73, Richard – K5NA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5QQ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 44,352 Used a 135 ft L up 35 ft and amazed how well it works. I only needed RI and AK for WAS. The 7800 is such a great rig and I could hear QRP stations down in the noise without any problems except for some stations which continue to overdrive and make key clicks. even w/ 100 hz filtering, no radio can fix that!!. I was only able to be on Fri night and then only for a limited time due to a demo early on Sat morning and a party on Sat Night. Wanted to work when I got home, but the wine was just too good at the party!!! I sure noticed the derth of CA sections. I worked less than a handfull of CA overall and normally they are just booming in and serve as a great source of Q's. No DX here but in the middle of the US and with a 35 ft antenna, no expectations either!! I also notice fewer and fewer VE4 and VE6's entering the contests. They are getting to be as hard as the NL and NWT stations!! Conditions were sure good however and what a fun time. It was a hoot!! C U all later for the next two tests. 73 Jim K5QQ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5TA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 34,506 Station: TS850 + TT Titan I Inverted-V @ 90' Very rare December thunderstorm early Saturday morning. Other than that, condx sounded pretty good, at least domestically. TNX for the Qs & 73, Scott K5TA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5TR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 91,200 I was able to get on some the second night. I did not get out to the station until about 03:30z - good rates until I was too tired to keep going so I took a nap. I made some changes to my 160 antennas this fall and wanted to try them out a bit. They seem to be working ok. I seem to have a decent signal - I don't own the band but that is OK. Mostly I just called CQ. Nice to have some European stations call me. I was amazed at how many sections I was able to work in my short time CQing on the band. Station: http://www.kkn.net/~k5tr/blanco/k5tr_station.html Kenwood TS-850S / AL-1500 160 - 1/4 wave sloping vertical East from 120' tower - 1/4 wave sloping vertical Wast from 120' tower - NE, NW, SE, SW beverages ~500' long Lots of numbers: ARRL 160 SUMMARY SHEET Contest Date : 02-Dec-07 Callsign Used : K5TR BAND Raw QSOs Valid QSOs Points Mults Countries ______________________________________________________________ 160CW 555 555 1140 71 9 ______________________________________________________________ Totals 555 555 1140 71 9 Final Score = 91200 points. Continent List 160 --- USA calls = 506 VE calls = 33 N.A. calls = 4 S.A. calls = 1 Euro calls = 6 Afrc calls = 0 JA calls = 2 Ocen calls = 3 Total calls = 555 HR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOTAL SCORE -- ----- ------------- -------- -------- -------- ------ --------- ----- 3 59/37 --- --- --- --- --- 59/37 59/37 0.00M 4 137/27 --- --- --- --- --- 137/27 196/64 0.03M 5 83/7 --- --- --- --- --- 83/7 279/71 0.04M 6 103/5 --- --- --- --- --- 103/5 382/76 0.06M 7 47/0 --- --- --- --- --- 47/0 429/76 0.07M 8 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 429/76 0.07M 9 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 429/76 0.07M 10 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 429/76 0.07M 11 38/2 --- --- --- --- --- 38/2 467/78 0.08M 12 58/1 --- --- --- --- --- 58/1 525/79 0.09M 13 30/1 --- --- --- --- --- 30/1 555/80 0.09M D1 555/80 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 555/80 TO 555/80 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 555/80 1. Il 33 2. STx 26 3. Mn 25 4. NTx 23 5. Mi 21 6. Co 20 7. Va 17 8. Oh 16 9. Wi 16 10. Scv 15 11. Az 14 12. WWa 14 13. Tn 14 14. WNy 12 15. Sv 11 16. In 11 17. On 10 18. Bc 10 19. Ep 10 20. Ga 10 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5ZD Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 88,445 Two hours on Fri and two hours on Sat evenings. Half search and pounce, half running. Couldn't find the W6 sections. Missed: NNY, AK, LAX, ORG, SB, SDG, SF, SJV, ND, NL, MB, and NT. Still worn out from CQWW CW. See everyone in the Stew later this month. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6CSL Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 3,915 A really fun challenge with my "invisible" Delta Loop, which is 1/8th wave length on 160. I was really surprized to actually work KH6 and VE5, being my most distant contacts to date on 160. Special thanks to the 38 NCCC QSO's. Bert, K6CSL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6GEP Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,684 I still don't have an antenna for 160, so I used my 80 meter sloping dipole. All S&P and I could only work about half the stations I could hear. When K9AY (of receiving loop fame) can't hear you, you know you are in trouble. My farthest contact was N9JF in IL. The one that got away: XE2S Rig: FT-990 100W Software: N3FJP 160 Meter Contest Logger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6MM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 22,737 Used a home-made helicially wound vertical. Worked very well. 73, John, K6MM. www.k6mm.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6NR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 134,464 Great contest as usual. Didn't hear any Europe with one important exception. OH2BO called me while I was calling CQ Saturday night. I don't hear much EU on 160 out here in Southern California, and this is no doubt the first time a EU station called me instead of the other way around. Hope no one is pulling my leg. 18 JAs in the log, conditions didn't seem quite as good as they could have been. I worked the contest remotely the first night with a TS480 and my SGC solid state AMP. Controlling things over the Internet adds another variable and the TS480 can't handle the strong signals. It was a joy to operate the second night locally at the station using my IC756 Pro II. Could hear a lot better and could use my AL1200 to run a bit more power. 73, Dana Station: 1300W to 48' Inverted L over 66 1/8 wave radials (500W the first night) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6NV Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 22,971 Was unable to run HP Friday night due to causing problems to my wife's computer, darn antenna runs over the roof of the house. S&P Friday, conditions were great, I got most every station I caled with 100w. Late Sat afternoon and evening S&P with low power with a rate of about 20 per hour, but at 11:00pm Sat night I was able to switch the AMP on and set up for running, I had a solid hour of 60+ q's, the way it should be! Then I got too tired, Iif I could have kept going I am sure I could have added another 100q's or so. To me this contest is always a gas. For the most part the local QRN was fairly low. Lineup: FT-1000MP AL-80B 125' Sloper ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6ST Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,054 Fun, Played around on 160m ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6VVA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 44,233 Had to cancel my trip to KL8C land for this since I still can't lift heavy luggage due to reinjuring my hand/wrist while packing up there after the ARRL SS. There seemed to be lots of activity from AK - I even heard NL7G working AL9A, so hopefully everyone got this mult. If my situation improves, I may go fire up KL8C in the Stew Perry. Who wants to go to Alaska during the nice Summer WX anyway? Apologies to N0TT who was on the receiving end of my first QSO QLF in the contest. I had quickly reconfigured the CW messages from KL8C to K6VVA, and changed AK to CA. Each time he asked me for SEC? I pushed the F-Key and CA came out. After the 3rd attempt, it was like DUH - I was supposed to be sending my SCV section ;-( A major thrill was working KF7PG. I gave John and his dad their Novice exams over 30 years ago when they lived here in the Bay Area. So today I feel old. The MONSTER signal award goes to WC6H who was 60db over S9 and made my RX pump and thump. Go Rich! 73 & Tnx for all the Q's... Rick, K6VVA * The Locust ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6XT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 145,340 TT Orion to 80M ground plane, one NE-SW Beverage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7BG Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 151,704 My XYL's birthday is Dec. 2, so we went out to a dinner party in her honor for 4 hours local Saturday night. On Friday, I didn't get home til 10PM so missed the first 7 hours of the contest the first night. Missed some prime hours for any eu openings, but still heard 2 europe stations, but didn't work them. Missed NL, NNY, PR, and MB. Nice to have VY1JA call me. Tnx J. Nice quiet condx for the most part and some GREAT scores coming in! One of these years I'm gonna chain myself to the chair for this one. Thanks for all the great ears and patient ops out there in QSB land. Matt--K7BG Rig: IC-765 to Alpha 374A (2 x 8874) Tx Antenna: 1/4 wave sloper from 80 feet Rx Antenna: ? ? Agn? Pse agn? (still don't have one) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7OX Class: M/S HP Total Score = 204,120 Wow was that fun or what ! Activity must have been way up. Best score from WA since I moved up here from AZ. Almost had a "Sweep" on 160 and missed NL and MB. Never heard a VE4 and I guess limited activity from NL ? CU2AF called me on his sunrise as I was calling CQ high in the band. Picked up 2 new countries with E51A and CM6CRC. Conditions both nights were outstanding as the band was very quiet even though it snowed most of the weekend. I thought I would experience "snow static" like last year but "Nada" I am sure there will be some big scores and many records broken this year. I could only drool at the spots of all the Europeans and not one heard here except the CU2 who called me. Thanks for all the Q's and see you in the CQ 160 next year. Seasons Greetings to all. 73 Gary K7OX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7RAT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 152,598 Wasn't rested enough to think about a full time effort - but was surprised how good the rates held up even after making my first 300 QSOs. Conditions to the east coast were good both nights. Only worked one European however, but did put 36 JAs in the log with limited operating time in the mornings. Missed VE4, VO1, KP4 and VE8/VY1. I think I actually worked more KL7s than I did VE7s!! It's times like this that I go and look at my transmit antenna and shack my head. I have a 72 foot tower loaded as a vertical. There is an 8 foot mast at the top with a 5 element 15 at the top of the mast and a 5 element 20 at the bottom of it. I have about 42 radials and seem to have excellent ground. I recently installed a similar antenna at a friend's QTH who had a 63 foot tower with a big tribander (plus 2 element shorty 40) on top along with an 80 meter inverted vee. He seems to be getting out well with only 8 random radials. For a low maintenance antenna that is very simple - I don't think I can beat the performance. Rig: Elecraft K3 - SN 00013. Amp: Viewstar PT2500A with a pair of 3-500Zs. RX antennas - various beverages, all about 700 feet long - pointing at 30, 70, 120, 250 and 300 degrees. Had some line noise to the NNW that affected the 300 and 30 degree antennas, but my MFJ 1026 noise cancelling box did a good job with it on the JA beverage (using the TX antenna as the main antenna and the beverage as the auxiliary antenna). I remember operating this contest some 30 years ago with N6VI at my dad's mountain cabin. We always seemed to make about 360 QSOs back then. This band sure has a lot more activity on it these days. There were some weak guys calling and I did my best to pull them through. Hoepfully the ones I couldn't hear found better conditions later. See you in the Stew coming up in 4 weeks. http://web.jzap.com/k7rat/stew.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7RE Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 143,985 Didn't work as many hours in previous 160M events. Had an intermittent noise which plagued me at my always noise free and pristine remote location. Not sure if it is local, but will try and fix before the next 160 event. Band conditions seemed excellent, and I was able to add a few more EU stations ot the DXCC log. Truly, 160M is an amazing band. I just wish that I didn't have to become sleep deprived to enjoy it! Hi! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7TJR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 166,230 Another great time on 160. Ended up doing single op again because of dangerous travel in the mountains between my place and my planned extra ops. I worked on the station right up to last minute thinking more ops would be here so my time management was bad. I missed both early mornings because of not waking to the alarm. Missed a lot of points from early AM I am sure. Highlights were CQ answered by HI3,RW0,HL3,AH2,FO5,and 40 JA's. Early CQing when it was quiet produced the biggest pile up I have ever had on 160. Thanks to GM3POI and a few other DX for coming right back to me in the window. Thats exciting on the West coast! Speaking of windows it is irritating that some US stations dont bother to read the rules. I wont work a US station in the window, mult or not! Clicks and phase noise way down Hooray! Had quite a bout with power line noise and I was really excited as I had moved the 8 element array 500 feet further from the lines and it saved the day. Noise disappeared while driving around looking for it on the next morning but EU conditions were not as good that evening. I need to quit trying to improve the station and try to improve myself to do better. With a 90 ft. top loaded TX vertical and 16 different receiving directions I dont call it a RF black hole any more. It is just plain fun. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7XC Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 17,136 All in all, it's not a bad score... considering I had to work late Friday, missed all of Saturday with a huge headache, and had loud power line noise to boot. TS930S (PIEXX), Alpah 78 (800W) to a 175' long Inv L up 35'. After a decade of running CT, I am now a recent convert to N1MM Logger... Man I love this stuff, Viva Bandmaps!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8AJS Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 82,002 Rig: FT1000MP + ALS-600 500 watts Antennas: 20 ft helically-wound vertical, 204-foot G5RV up 55 feet ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8BL Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 118,888 IC-756 Pro III, Bazooka-Fed Inv-L 25M-Vert 15M-Horiz ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8FH Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 251,894 Missed VE4..........never heard one. Thanks to all who answered my CQ's and tollerated my requests for repeats while I got the proper receive direction switched in. Seemed like a lot more DX participated this year and many of them moved out of the DX window and answered CQ's. It's pretty exciting when DX or a needed rare section answers your CQ. Hope that will be the trend in the future. Always nice to run into old friends on the topband. 73, Fred ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8KS Class: M/S HP Total Score = 358,672 Wow, what a fun contest. Bunch of good friends getting together to have a jolly time together. The conditions were very good in general with most domestic stations coming in really loud. This was despite a big snow, ice, and windstorm crossing the Midwest Saturday and Sunday. DX stations were a bit weaker than we could recall in past years and we also did not manage to work any JAs this year. Being called by 5H3EE was a major delight. The contesters were all extremely well-behaved and cordial. It's always fun to run into acquaintances on the air, who would chat with us briefly after the perfunctory exchange. Thanks from the bottom of our hearts to everybody for the QSOs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8MM Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 67,118 Good condx and lots of stations on the air. See you in Stew Perry. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8MR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 24,583 An hour Saturday night, half an hour Sunday morning. When I finally got spotted on Sunday morning, the pileup had me thinking I was back at PJ2T :>) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9AY Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 281,494 Once again, I had a Field Day type antenna setup -- just too short on time to erect towers and do other construction last summer. The antennas worked great the first night, but the lack of robust construction proved to be a real problem when the wind, rain, sleet, ice, snow and #&$%@ arrived Saturday. Second night had Beverages drooping like the Golden Gate bridge and a broken mast supporting the inverted-L. Ended up with a random 1/4-wave wire up 30-40 feet. Second night rates and mults were down of course, but at least I didn't lose it all and was able to keep operating. A few JAs even called Sunday a.m.! Plenty of highs and lows -- what a great contest should be! 73, Gary K9AY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9BWI Class: M/S HP Total Score = 191,828 Dick K9BWI and I had a great time even though a good EU opening never occurred. It's amazing how well Dick's Omega matched 70ft tower gets out. I swear his house most be located on top of a landfill with acres of old cars and scrap metal. Colorado granite just doesn't reflect signals otherwise. Next year, better RX antenna. 73 Terry K7TD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9CT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 329,940 Met my goal of improving on last year. Conditions seemed good the first night and were much better than the second. The weather was a factor as we got hit with an ice storm and strong winds. Power went off twice on Saturday evening for a short time. Noise was higher towards the storm and EU and East Coast. Tried an Inverted L this year. Used my 80m vertical and was able to easily add the wire and connect to a nearby tower. I am sure that I worked more close in stations than with the vertical last year. I was able to run on the same frequency for 10 hours without getting up. This lead to very good runs at the start. Worked all states, missed PR and VE4. VY1JA called at 1000Z on last day to wake me up!! The best DX surprise was being called by FO and also HC1HC for a new one on TB. Thanks for all of the qsos and I appreciate the patience as I awitched Beverages. It was not as fast as I would like especially with the extra noise Sat/Sunday night. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9DX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 436,028 THE ICE CAME AND DOWN CAME THE 9 ELEMENT ARRAY. I got to a good start on day one with about 1400 Q's. Then day two started with snow static which evolved into an ice storm that broke all nine of the antennas in the array. Since the array is remote, all I knew was that is stopped working until I went there this morning. OH WELL John K9DX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9MMS Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 41,360 Bah humbug!! A dismal, part-time effort in one of my favorite contests. Clobbered by Murphy. Sleep deprivation before the contest, equipment problems, and antenna problems (detuning from the rain and ice) added up to a total,lousy performance. The TS-940 quit transmitting before the contest, STILL no word on the K3 that I ordered during "Dayton"(this is getting quite tiresome), so had to use the old TS-430 and an old MFJ tuner that did not like to tune much on "160." Much of the time, output was about 50 watts. The "160" antennas had been working fine a week ago. All QSOs via S&P. Was trying to "salvage" the outing by getting a WAS. Managed a CWAS (contiguous), but missed KH6 (briefly heard as KH6 was in S&P mode)and KL7 (never heard). Also missed SB, SDG, SF, (did not hear many 6's), NL, MB, NWT, and PR (never heard any of these). Mangaed to snag a few DX QSOs. Finally just gave up -- not much fun this time around. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9WJU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 134,762 17 dupes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9YC Class: M/S HP Total Score = 145,604 Missed VE4, NL, PR (never heard them or saw a spot) and NNY (spotted once, heard him well, but too early for him to hear me). Here at my quiet QTH in the Santa Cruz Mountains, I start hearing a lot of east coast signals Q5 around their sunset, but it's at least 3-4 hours before I can get them to hear me. Holdouts: VT, WTX, VE2 came before midnight Saturday. RI, NLI, and WPA around East Coast sunrise Sunday. Finally, ND at 6:14 am PST, about an hour after his sunrise! Things got pretty slow after 11PM Saturday evening -- an average of only 14/hr -- but yielded 5 mults and 7 DX Q's. Persistance pays off! DX: 37-JA, 4-UA0, C6, CM, P4, PJ2, VP2M, XE, E51, ZL, HI, HL, FO. CM and HI were new countries for me on 160, bringing me up to 61. (Unlike some others, who I view as big-time cheaters, I've started from scratch on DXCC after moving more than halfway across the continent). ARRL 160 is probably my favorite contest, and last year was my first from CA -- 582 x 79 (74 sections, 5 DX) for 97,407. That was my trusty TS850, top-loaded vertical with 40 70-ft radials, 100 ft high dipole, and two reversible Beverages. I've been working toward improving on that ever since. Buying an MP and learning to use the 2nd VFO to S&P while running on the main VFO was the first step. Butt in the chair time at N6RO for several contests was a big help. Many thanks to WX5S, WA6O, K7NV, and Ken for the mentoring. In the days leading up to the contest, I added 20 radials >100 ft. The final improvement came from reading N6LF's suggestion to tune a vertical a bit long (so that Zs = 50 +j40), then adding series C to tune out the inductance. It seemed to me that this should reduce the ground loss (and the wire loss), because the resulting Rr is higher. My top-loaded vertical IS a bit long, so I tried it. Some careful comparitive signal reports from K6MM Friday afternoon were that it gave me a fractional S-unit, and pulled my barefoot MP a bit higher with respect to his S8 noise level! Last year, I actively switched between the high dipole and the vertical. I found that in daylight and a few hours before/after the transition in darkness, the vertical was consistently a lot better (even for short distances), but that in full darkness, the dipole could often be better at both long and short distances. This year, I hoped to use the dipole, but chose not to, because I wasn't able to perform some important maintenance on it. High power had already melted the rope holding up one end of it, and it fell to the ground. A month ago, I got it back in the air with an insulator on that end, but some trees in the way prevented me from adding the insulator to the other end. So to avoid another expensive failure (tree climbers make good money!), I stuck with the vertical this time around. Finally, some mental prep time was a big help. I went to bed Saturday morning missing 11 mults. With my morning (afternoon, actually) coffee, I studied old logs to learn what stations worked 160 in those sections, when they operated, and whether they called CQ or worked S&P. I also used qrz.com and vanityhq.com to figure out which of the guys I worked a few years back were no longer licensed. I knew to expect W1OP (a club station) to start running after 0800Z, that the last topbanders in NNY and VE4 had died a few years ago, that W2HLI and NT2A were the last guys in NLI, that W0ZTL might be on for a while Friday evening, but hated pileups and would quickly disappear, and that other small ND stations had a habit of showing up around sunrise Sunday morning. I also knew the calls of the 160 ops in all of those sections, as well as the guys in RI and WTX who worked 80CW in SS. My hat is off to W7RN, N6RO, W6NV, KX7M, and N6WG, all of whom have already posted great scores, and to N6RK, who I expect to do the same. And MANY THANKS to those who spotted me (especially K7XC, who must have spotted the entire band at least a half dozen times), and to those who fired up small stations with makeshift antennas to contribute Q's. 73, Jim K9YC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KB7Q Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 205,290 Conditions seemed great from here. I managed to get a windows of opportunity between two weather fronts to fly the balloon vertical at the cabin. Not a single puff of wind until Sunday morning, just light powder snow coming straight down the whole time! Boy did the antenna play! Must be the radials by Lowes and that 1,500' drop off to the south and east! ;-) Highlights: A single run of 297 stations, a 117 qso/hour and working all the DX countries I heard over the weekend, even broke thru to Europe with a GM3POI contact. Working VY1JA for my last multiplier. Lowlights (not really): A 12 qso/hour against thoughts of a warm bed just a few steps away. Refilling the generator with gasoline every 6 hours or so - actually it was great to get my butt out of the chair and out into the brisk mountain air! I admit to fleeting thoughts of elk hunting. Working 138 dupes; nice to know I was still getting out during those long CQ stretches! ;-) 73, Gene ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KC5R Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 48,576 I played around with this contest Friday night and found great conditions. Worked into Europe for the first time that I can recall, and had a 110 hour running. Unfortunately, I became sick that evening and had to call it a night early. I still felt terrible on Saturday so I did not have the energy to work some more. Also making it more interesting is that we had a garage sale at my QTH on Saturday, so I had to muster what I could to move around boxes for the XYL. I only hope conditions are half as good next weekend on 10 mtrs! CU! Al ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KD2MX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 31,528 Conditions sure were great this year, especially Fri/Sat, probably the best I've experienced in my relatively short 160M career. Ran QRP for the first 100 or so QSOs before deciding to go LP to work MS and CA for new states. Will stick w/QRP for Stu though. Just two to go here for WAS, ID & AK. Did hear KG7H this AM for a brief time but couldn't crack the pile. I know some of you do that in a weekend but it doesn't come so easy here. Added a couple new countries too while nearly doubling last year's score. Pretty exciting stuff for a little gun with a basic wire antenna. Lots of fun. 160M never ceases to delight me. It is always a fascinating band. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE0UI Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 80,700 Great contest from Colorado Springs with 500W, G5RV (202 ft version), and IC-706. Thanks for all QSOs. Only 4 countries I could hear were CO, PJ2, HI, and VP2. Next year, better antennas. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE0WO Class: M/S HP Total Score = 55,877 I had planned to make Q's the first night to help my 160M LOTW stats and then join a Multi-op effort the second night. The ice and freezing rain changed my plans. Dx cluster put me in the M/S category and 200W makes me high power. Thanks to all that were able to hear me and pull me out of the noise. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KG4CUY Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 24,633 Conditions were just great Friday night. Antenna was an inv-L with very few, very short radials. I should have tried CQing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KG7H Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 114,380 MISSED 4 SECTIONS: MB, NL, NLI AND PR; I DID GET WAS. Much line noise this year, in part due to heavy snow fall during contest. Sorry I couldn't pull some of you out of the noise. New Xmit antenna this year - 150 ft of rohn 25G with insulated section centered at 15 feet. Next project - improve the bevereages!! Had a great time GL to all de Craig - KG7H ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KH6/KU1CW Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 4,760 Well-this is part two of my ARRL 160. After operating first night as KU1CW from MO and ice storm scare, I have finally departed at 8am to KH6. Thanks to the tail wind we have arrived a bit earlier (about 4pm) and I even had some time before dark to get prepared to run my stealth operation from the Hyatt Resort... I'm not too lucky on getting room at the high floor at the arrival, but they always move me there after the contest, except last year. I have asked for the room in a quiet corner with tall palm trees this year-and got the garden to myself (at least at night). Slingshot, two forty/fifty feet tall trees with 130ft of wire and about an hour of hidden activities put me in the business-but nobody was hearing. Was frustrated, change grounding, adjusted wire a bit and after another 2 hours things got better. This year more people heard my signal and I got 20% Q improvement (from 55 to 70, Hi-Hi). Still a very good test for the main land RX setups. This year I even had one 'QSO B4'(guy received KU1CW only) and one dupe! Thanks, to everyone who has tried and apologies to PJ2T, who I have tortured for a while-my rig was shutting of at the beginning at the operation due to setup deficiencies. Still NIL, but your RX was good. 73. Alex KH6/KU1CW P.S. Not sure if WL calculates score right for the KH6 part... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KH6LC Class: M/S HP Total Score = 165,213 Fun contest. Mahalo to all who worked us or called. Now using the vertical for receive, beverages to come soon. See you in the Stew and CQ 160 tests. 73 & Aloha ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KI7Y Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 118,800 Operated from K7ZSD. Thanks Brad and Ruth. Snow storm overnight dropped about 6 inches of white stuff Good time Friday night and much slower Saturday. higher noise level and less activity Saturday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KI9A Class: M/S HP Total Score = 57,954 An ice storm took down my invert L support last year, so, used a GAP Voyager this year. Obviously not as good, but, hey, I worked EVERYTHING I heard, which might be more than my L did. Not any other options for a small city lot. Even ran about 200+ out of the 361 worked. This antenna isn't a dummy load, as many folks claim, but, it sure is OK for a 45' vertical. Also, the new POR 3 here makes 160 SO much nicer. 73 & thanks for digging my puny signal out! Chuck KI9A ICOM 756 PRO3 Heath SB-1000 amp @ 800w GAP Voyager vertical ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KJ0G Class: M/S HP Total Score = 140,352 QUIETEST CONDITIONS IN MANY YEARS HERE. NICE TO WORK SO MANY CO STATIONS. THE INSULATOR ON THE LOADING END OF THE INVERTED EL, FAILED DUE TO MOISTURE. THE ARC WAS WHITE HOT, THREATENING THE HOUSE. LOW POWER FOR THE REST OF THE TIME. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KK0HF Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 18,444 Always amazed with what I'm able to work on this band with limited antenna and low power. Thanks to those who took time to copy the weak signal from KS. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KN3A Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 31,262 This is my second year operating the ARRL 160 CW contest and I had 101 more QSO's and 9 more sections than last year. I run S&P contester and really wanted to give as many WPA as I could. Since I am only running 75 watts and a cloud burner G5RV that is temporarily put outside during the winter months, its a challenge to be heard by those who aren't listening to my weaker signal. Some signals from the west coast were S-9 but I wasn't heard. I was even getting concerned for a while because it wasn't until early Sunday morning that I worked a WPA station. 160 meters is a relatively new band for me in my 25 years of being a ham because of never having an antenna for it but I have 37 confirmed states on LOTW in just over a year. I hope some of the western states hams I worked this weekend use LOTW. Look for you in Stew Perry. 73--Scott Kenwood TS-450S G5RV @ 35 ft. N1MM Logger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KN4Y Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 22,746 Great contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KO7AA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 2,200 It was raining here in the desert the entire contest, and my Cushcraft MA160V (which normally has only 15kc of <2:1) had detuned itself to 1795-1810. I made my 100 Q's at the start of the test and turned the radio off... I am always amazed at 160M propagation - how bad it can be. ALL of the W1's and W2's I could hear were S0-1. Maybe it got better as the night went on. 73 Bill KO7AA in Tucson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KO7X Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 70,705 Missed Alaska and North Dakota for a WAS. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KR2Q Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 29,376 Despite my good intentions to put up a better 160 antenna than last year, it actually got worse. 1/2 wave wire with "center" at 42 feet and ends about 6 feet off the ground. Hears okay...heats up the ionosphere directly above me real well. LOL. So this was a pretty relaxing weekend so far....with sunrise, I see the freshly fallen (and falling) snow. Ugh. RIG: Elecraft K2 qrp power only version de Doug KR2Q ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT5E Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 59,439 I decided to run QRP on this one and had a great time. I sure appreciate the patience in all of you snagging my light signal out of Colorado. As expected, both nights were slow early on but the band played very nice in all directions from about 9:30p local on. On Friday night I had huge signals from MN and VE5. I must have been sounding good there too because fills were at a minimum. On Saturday night it was KV0Q that caused my Bose headphones to shut off. All local signals were strong but his signal from 15 miles away caused me to initially miss everything after K. I worked all states except for ME and RI. I heard ME on Friday night but could not get through. Not much DX in the log but thanks PJ2T and C6AKQ for good ears in the Caribe. Thanks Elecraft for the K2. It sure makes listening on 160m a pleasure. I am looking forward to the K3 that should be here soon! Jay - KT5E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU1CW Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 100,878 This is my #4 attempt to work the same contest from two continents and I have succeeded 3 times so far. This year I have tried LP from continental US and QRP from KH6. I was a little bit surprised how good tempo was for the low power-probably it's not too much difference for US, especially from the Midwest. KH6 was a different story... Thanks and 73. Alex KU1CW & KH6/KU1CW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU8E Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 23,004 Just got the station set back up on Thursday after my trip to PJ4A for CQWW DX CW. Found out the IC756PRO has some problem with the AF Gain control so I need to send to off to W6XA for repair next week. Dug out my spare radio - A Kenwood TS850S that hasn't been used for awhile. I find out it has a loose connection in the power plug and have to mess with that for awhile to fix it. My regular 160 antenna is down right now and wasn't really in the mood (also brought a chest cold back from Bonaire) to put it back up after a hectic week. Shorted the open wire feeder of the 80 meter zepp. About 30 ft of it is laying on the ground and maybe 35 feet is vertical. I hooked up my regular 160 meter ground system to it. It worked OK. I was able to work GM3POI, C6AKQ, J3/DL5AXX, KV4FZ, PJ2T and some west coast stations on this compromise antenna. Heard CM6RCR, KH6LC amd VP2MSC but they couldn't hear me. Hope to have the regular 160 inverted L back up in time for the Stew Perry.... 73, Jeff KU8E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KX7L Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 4,264 S-9 QRN kept me from hearing anything but the strongest stations, but it meant anything I could hear, I could work with my QRP sig. Need to get a loop for rx. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KY4F Class: M/S LP Total Score = 62,952 Got into this at the last minute. My antenna would not load on 160 so I turned the power down to 5 watts and answered K4TD's CQ on a whim. I was amazed when Rick answered! I managed to work another 30 or so Q's in that manner the first night. Saturday I attached another 60 feet or so of wire to my "vertical" and pulled it over the tree top and back toward the ground. I have a very sophisticated antenna system! In the end I have a wire from the house running at a 60 degree angle (approx) to the top of a 60 foot tree, over the tree and pretty much veritcal back down. I tied it off and fired up the rig. The Orion's internal tuner found a match, so I was ready to go. Of course, the efficiency of the antenna is questionable, but it worked! 73 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KY5R Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 50,787 Just had to wrk a few Q's to check out new xmit antenna and bi-di beverages. FB activity fm hr. If I keep playing around on this mode I may get the hang of it. No CQ's till 1500 Sunday then couldn't figure how to make logger work. Oh well thats the cross I bare for not having much interest in CW contesting however that may be changing...... Gud time and CU all in 10mtr Test, Tim KY5R, ACG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0BUI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 22,896 It's 1450UTC Sunday morning. All I can hear on 160 are stations I already worked, and not many of them. Guess the band is about gone here. Guess I will go out and shovel the snow and ice we got overnight. Thanks for all the qso's. It was fun. Great to work quite a few MN stations. 73, Mike N0BUI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0HF Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 15,618 Operated for a bit Friday and Saturday night, band was in great shape. '73 Dan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0IJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 56,500 Did this one from my minimalist home station in MN--very noisy Re-strung my deer damaged 160 inverted V to it's full glorious height of 25' with each end about 3' high this year. Didn't, but should have, replace about 3' of missing wire carried off by the deer. Antenna turned out to be high, but no time to fix. Surprised to be able to work: I, C6, HI, XE, VP2M, and PJ2 (also KL6,KH6,&KP2) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0KM Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 32,706 Rig : ICOM IC-756 PIII Antennas : Inverted V @ 50 ft Soapbox : Ran S&P until last hour of contest. Was pleased with the level of activity. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1BAA Class: M/S LP Total Score = 107,724 Having just been here in WMA for 3 months.....I HURRIEDLY put down 60 radials and off I went....(other 60 will have to wait until after contest.... (Tower AND yard are cold up here in Mass in December!!! HI HI ).... But, After NOT being able to tune my shunt fed tower (remember I just moved here 3 months ago...) I decided to put up an INVERTED L on the 70 foot tower........ and due to the Vacuum Variable Cap I borrowed not being quite large enough to tune it, I put the in shack tuner at the base of the tower...and loaded that puppy up!...and off I went... LP but assisted. Thanks for all the western stations who made the extra effort!!! Also put up another western Beverage 540 feet long....which really helped!..duh... I heard every US section except WY...not a peep.. VE provs NOT heard were NWT and that was it....did not get through to a VE7 for some reason. DID work KH6 second night after much persistence on HIS part..he was really 569 here on the beverage. All in all, I had a blast..I am SURE the totals will come in over last years QSO numbers....just wall to wall cw on 160!!! GOTTA LOVE IT!!!!! See you in the 10M contest... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1BUG Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 367,570 Made the decision to work this contest at the last minute. My first HF contest effort in many years. Fun! Local noise from a yet unidentified source made 4 of 6 Beverages useless. Only NE and NW were usable. Headphones were found dead at contest start. Almost quit before starting with that discovery but decided to press on. Whole contest operated using speaker. As hardware glitches go I'll take this over a dead rig or amp any day. Biggest surprise was JA8ISU calling me a full 2 hours before sunrise with a great signal. I had never before heard a JA more than 30 minutes prior to sunrise. Apologies to the many callers I could not dig out. Between having to use the speaker, local noise and developing QRN northeast on the second night, it was rough going at times. Antennas used: 100' vertical (tower with 7 el 6m yagi for top loading) Inverted V at 75 feet 600' NW Beverage 500' NE Beverage ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1IW Class: M/S HP Total Score = 900 Just a quick fly by on Sunday morning to hand out a few Qs. See you all next weekend on 10M! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2BZP Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 45,560 Murphy struck. Rf in the shack sporadicly. Now I will have to trouble shoot the system. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2CU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 200,096 I had to drive to NYC Friday morning (~360 miles) and didn't return home until late Saturday afternoon. Being "fresh meat" is always fun so I found a spot to CQ and didn't move for 6 hours! Did a little DX'ing to pick up multipliers and then back to running. Highlights: W.A.S. in one day, 76 sections, 28 countries, nice rates of up to 240/hr and 82/hr average for the test, two KH6 and two KL7 calling me (one KH6 was at least an hour before his sunset), super participation from IL, VA, MN, OH, WNY, TN and ON, working two JA's. Lowlights: Only two JA's, missing MB, NL, NWT, PR, 10 dupes, a "N2" CQ'ing right on the low edge of the DX window with bad key clicks wiping out several kHz, having a computer problem and a "4" stealing my run frequency while I was sending "AS" while re-booting, not being able to operate the first night. DX worked: 9A, C6, CM, CT3, CU, DL, EI, F, G, GI, GM, HI, I, JA, LA, OE, OK, ON, OZ, P4, PA, PJ2, S5, SP, SV, UA2 and VP2M. This is always a great contest with some of the best rates I ever get. A fun time. Too bad there's not more DX participation. FT1000MP, Drake L7, 46' Inverted L, K9AY loops, N1MM logger. 73, Tom N2CU <>< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2EE Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 603,211 Thanks to Wal, W8LRL for using his station and to all for points. 73 Yuri, K3BU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2KW Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 317,630 Worked all states, but missed VE4, VO1, and KP4 for sweep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2NL Class: M/S HP Total Score = 226,457 Just Messing around both evenings. I wasn't planning much, but conditions seemed good so I stuck around longer than planned. Conditions seemed very good Friday night, but not as good Saturday. I had absolutely no noise at all the first night, but some weather QRN the second made it difficult to copy a few of the weakest callers. The low end of 160 is mostly wiped out here due to some mixing and re-radiation of Radio Marti from a local broadcast station, so I was mostly stuck higher in the band. Thanks to the help of a FCG member who works in the business, the problem was identified and it will hopefully soon be corrected. Once that's fixed, I should be able to hear pretty well across the band. At the moment, 1820 Khz has a S9+++ signal with splatter from band edge up to about 1827Khz. I will be very happy once WKIZ completes their tower work and stops bypassing their filtering. I worked every multiplier I heard, with the exception of SX3M who called in loud and clear but never responded after I sent my report. I never heard (or even saw spotted) WY, VE4, and VY1. Some of those in the couple packet pileups I ran into were absolutely obnoxious; it was apparent these stations were trying to hold on to their run frequency at the same time. They mostly just succeeded in making an ass of themselves. Thanks to all the guys for getting on and calling in, especially to the 56 Europeans I worked who struggled to be heard in this mostly Domestic contest, many of whom were as loud or louder than the W's calling. 73, Dave N2NL/4 Key West, FL Base loaded 55ft vertical (Extended HF2V with 160 kit, modified for 1.5KW) with one elevated radial, sitting directly over salt water. http://www.n2nl.net/gallery/QTH ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2VW Class: M/S HP Total Score = 40,710 A "single op assisted" category would be more indicative of comparative performance than the present "Multi-single" required for users of packet or Telnet. Was fun from a small suburban lot. Enjoyed it! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2WK Class: M/S HP Total Score = 115,150 Tnx for the Q's. Log on LOTW 73, Wayne ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2WKS Class: M/S LP Total Score = 18,150 First time in the contest...had a great time. If I knew this contest was so much fun I would have turned the radio on earlier. Thank you to all the guys that called me. Who would have thought you could have fun on 160m on a 75x100 lot hihi. Had packet on but didn't reaaly make much of a difference. It was funny to watch AA3B march up the band spotting everyone he worked and knowing he was going to call me and spot me next when he spotted someone 300hz below me. That was my only spot and it really helped my rate. My wife even liked it because I wasn't shouting at the top of my lungs into the mike :-) 73, Zev N2WKS Icom 746 into K2KQ Double L at 50 feet ARRL 160M Contest - 2007-11-29 2200Z to 2007-12-01 1600Z - 178 QSOs N2WKS Max Rates: 2007-12-02 0332Z - 3.0 per minute (1 minute(s)), 180 per hour by N2WKS 2007-12-02 0433Z - 1.7 per minute (10 minute(s)), 102 per hour by N2WKS 2007-12-02 0523Z - 1.3 per minute (60 minute(s)), 77 per hour by N2WKS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2WN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 228,096 Tickled to work RW0CWA Sunday morning, quick and easy, particularly after trying for an hour Saturday! That was the last multiplier, couldn't raise XE2S... Was also very happy to catch FO5RH (well he caught me). Always great to work all the DX stations. Missed a handful of countries, mostly as they were in S&P mode. Remember when SD was "rare"?? Boy that is old news, worked 6! Wow! Great turn out from a number of states, missed NNY in the lower 48 and no KL7 this time around. Didn't work as many of the BC folks as normal, and the signals seemed down. It was nice to work a bunch of the regulars and even nicer to work all the new folks. Thought I might not even get to play, power issues in the house, seems when the heat cycled the line voltage dropped. Had to cut back the power on the rig, ahhh the joys of country livin'! Found and resolved the problem with the K9AY from CQWW and it worked pretty darn well. A bit of a trick to switch directions on weak signals, try to copy them AND not lose your run frequency ;o) Real estate is at a real premium in this contest! Glad to see I wasn't the only one with "fumble fingers" in the wee hours. Thanks for the QSOs and fun time. Antennas: ~70' Marconi (tubing and wire), 64' Marconi (wire), Inverted Vee 48' strung off the mast (think I made three contacts with this). These are all crammed together on one side of the property. The K9AY is very close to the 64' and it was a very negative influence when switched in. Rig: Elecraft K2/100 (the K3 may be here by Stew Perry) bare bones CW rig, but it plays well! Happy Holidays to all! ...and it was a good night ;o) Julius n2wn ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3BB Class: M/S HP Total Score = 23,746 Seeing the EA6BF QSO from local LP-er W5JAW was amazing as well as I tried to work him on Friday night with no luck. I saw the spot and got on frequency and heard K5NA swoop in and get him on one call. I tried for several minutes and slunk away with my tail between my legs. I got on with High Power (and packet) a little both nights-very lazy as I found a frequency and called CQs until I got spotted, then went along for the ride, and quit when no one else called; worked around 200 stations that way. Also S&Ped a little bit for others. Saturday night was so very different than Friday night here. For one thing the beverages both worked great Saturday night (eleven to twelve midnight local time), compared with terrible performance Friday night. In fact, I was convinced the NW beverage was broken Friday night as western signals were pee weak. But Saturday night it was very good. I don't understand why the significant difference. I worked a weak NL7G and two KH6 stations (one of them pee weak KH6/KU1CW). It would have been impossible to work many of the callers w/out beverages, that's for sure. Note-seeing KU1CW's 3830 report that Alex was QRP makes me feel better about that NW beverage! Heard many CTDXCCers on: K5NZ, K5TR, W5JAW, N5AW, AC5AA, W5CN, N5TW, W5AHC, K3TD, AF5Z and others. Somehow had it in my mind that I had worked K5NA already so I never called Richard! Duh. Good local club activity overall. I plan to replace my current half-wave sloper for 160 meters with a "tee-top" antenna with much more vertical component. It's a W5JAW-design....the (not so) secret weapon here (I hope). Need to work on it before the ARRL DX contest. The current antenna is decent, certainly not great, for North and South American stations but marginal for EU and JA. I really feel like the 90 pound weakling to EU for sure. Saturday night was very quiet and the signals were booming. Great stuff. Jim N3BB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3KHK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 5,320 LoTW and eQSL uploads completed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3NR Class: M/S HP Total Score = 100,296 Another fun ARRL 160! Decided to use packet this year to catch the elusive KH6 I keep missing. (KH6 is elusive with my inverted U with 2 above ground radials!) Finally caught not just one, but two KH6's... one without the help of spotting. Musta been good conditions this year! Packet certainly helped with other multipliers as well. The Europeans were easily heard and I was surprised at how relatively easy they were to work. Typically I can work Europe outside of a contest, but have had only sporadic success in a contest with the DX. Also had a goal this year of breaking the 100k barrier. Wasn't sure I was going to make it for a while last night. Looked like a sinch, everything was working great until Saturday night. Took a head break and came back to find my IC-765 silent... the dreaded PLL unlock problem. Shut everything down and gave the rig some time to change temp, but after 2 hours it still was in limbo. Decided the cards were against me and went to bed. Got up around 5AM to find everything OK. So I jumped back on and got going again. Had one more bout of the PLL unlocking (right in the middle of a QSO with a W8; sorry!). Overcame that dropout quickly and got back to work for the last time. Was finally able to cross the 100k line just before 8AM. A new best score for me in this one. Looking forward to next year already! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3RS Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 246,330 Didn't plan to be serious, but got sucked in by great conditions. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3TG Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 17,628 Not bad for an 80 meter multiband V at 30 feet. I love CW! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3XLS Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 37,524 First time in the 160 Meter contest thanks for a great weekend. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4GG Class: M/S HP Total Score = 168,192 A little casual contesting in what turned out to be a really FB 160 weekend. Noise levels were very low, EU sounded good, even on the pip-squeek antennas here. Courtesy was above average as it usually is on top band. I hit bed at 2AM local time both nights and slept throuogh the sunrise - so missed VY1JA and a few western possibilities. The K9AY loop here makes a huge difference - without it I might as well have left the radios turned off. M/S = N4GG+Packett 2X FT-1000MP, Acom 2000A, Writelog, Top loaded 75 ft vertical, K9AY loop. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4JF Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 51,051 WOW! THE BAND WAS ALIVE WITH STATIONS FROM ALL OVER. MISSED NLI,WTX,SB,SDG,SF,SJV,ID,AK ND,NL,MB,AB AND NWT.. HRD 5 OF THESE BUT COULDNT BREAK THRU TO WK THEM. DID WK 11 COUNTRIES..THE CW GUYS ARE ALL VERY GOOD OPERATORS AND MOST ARE CURTIOUS. WHO SAYS CW IS A FORGOTTEN MODE ? THEY SHOILD TAKE A LISTEN DURING A CW CONTEST..FINALLY GOT MY OMEGA MATCH ON MY SHUNT FED TOWER ADJUSTED WITH AN SWR OF 2:1 SHORTLY BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE CONTEST. IT OUT PERFORMED MY LONG WIRE AND HIGH DIPOLE BY A MILE...NICE MEETING OLD FRIENDS AND MAKING NEW ONES..NOW FOR SOME RELAXATION..IT WAS FUN 73s JERRY N4JF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4KG Class: M/S HP Total Score = 156,101 I started out just Hunting and Calling with my Icom 746PRO Barefoot. Worked 305 Q's in 72 Sections (plus a little DX, some with the AMP). Missed RI NNY ORG SF WY VE4 VE7 VY1 the First Night. Heard ORG and WY stations running around calling CQers. Saturday Night I decided to RUN (with the AMP). Yep N4KG, 'QRP & LP S&P contester extrodinair' :-), RAN for 3.5 Hours Saturday Night on 1821 (squeezed in by guys 200 Hz above and below) in hopes of pulling in ORG, SF, WYO, and maybe even VE4 or VY1 (LOTS of VE1,2,3,5,6,7 called in). Made 280 Q's in 3 hours straight. Went to bed still needing ORG, SF, WY, VE4, VY1. Woke up at 6 am (1200Z). Finally dragged my butt out of bed and turned on the radio at 1220Z. Heard a K8 call CQ around 1880 (where the dial was left from night before). K6NR answered him. For some reason, I stayed tuned to hear K6NR give "599 ORG" ! I called K6NR, HE CAME BACK and gave me a report. WOW! Heard N6RO CQing. Sent "N4KG need SF" N6RO said "K6SRZ, W6JTI". A while later, W6JTI is spotted. BINGO! Another one off the Need List. No more fresh meat. Started tuning from bottom of band, found a hole and CQ'd at 1803.5 Not too much later, I thought KL7X called me at 1313Z but it was actually KO7X in WYO. Where was he all Saturday Night? JA3YBK was also spotted, just before my SR but still copiable. After a few repeats, both ways, I heard CFM CFM at 1240Z. NO JOY when VY1JA spotted himself on 1817, but lots of 6,7,8,9,0 were working him. Maybe a PEEP but NO COPY. So it goes. Missed VE4 & VY1. N4KG Ended up with 733 Q's in 78 sections and 23 countries = 156K GREAT conditions for running USA / VE Saturday Night but DX was WAY down from Friday Night. Some EU called me (while beaming NW!) Tom N4KG in North Alabama Antennas: Inverted L 120 ft ESE of 130 ft tower/beam (acts as a reflector to ESE) Elevated GP (140 ft tower 6 Radials at 20 ft) 150 ft NW of 130 ft tower/beam (acts as a reflector to NW) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4OGW Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 65,365 No time to operate this one full time, just got on for a few hours on Saturday evening only. Sounds like conditions were much better on Friday :( 100' shunt-fed tower, Elecraft K2+AL1500 73, Tor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4PSE Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 34,036 Fun, but wife's charity event kept me off the air all Saturday night. West coast couldn't hear my peanut whistle. Thanks to the very few who did. Obviously antenna needs help! Or maybe I need to rotate my supporting trees for the inverted L??? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4RV Class: M/S HP Total Score = 121,632 Limited time for this one but had lots of fun.. Band was quiet but conditions not so good. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4TB Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 286,032 Great conditions, band was really quite considering our warm/dry wx here in Florida. Tnx all for a great contest 73 Terry N4TB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4YDU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 7,733 Got on for a little here and there - it was nice to call cq and have people answering me after grinding it out in WW CW! I couldn't believe how strong I3MLU was! I hope to be on for WW 160 CW and maybe a little in the Stew Perry. 73, Nate/N4YDU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5AW Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 90,428 Radio: Tentec Orion 100 watts. Antenna: 137' tower with 6 elevated radials. Going in I thought I might put in 2 or three hours - ended up with nearly 8. Felt a little guilty after putting in 42 in CQWW but XYL seemed to take it in stride. Guess after 44 years she's used to it. In past 160 meter contests I've never been able to run - this time I averaged almost 60 Q's/hour for the contest with short term rates well over 100/hour. Still spent a fair amount of time "DXing". Amazing what a difference a decent antenna makes! Missed three of the VE sections and NNY but worked all 50 states. Some decent DX - conditions to Europe were good both evenings. Only heard one JA - JA3YBK half an hour after our sunrise and no QSO. Line noise was a problem but NE beverage got rid of most of it. Did not hear as well in other directions - need more beverages (and to fix that noise). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5OE Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 137,632 This was a FUN contest once again! The band seemed to be VERY good for the most part into all directions from here. This was the first year in a long time that the West Coast did not have to answer me with a ..--.. before every exchange. I actually worked a JA and AK on the first call from here and they too are NW of this location. Band noise was next to nothing, and that made for a much more enjoyable operating experience and cut way down on operator fatigue. I missed NNY of all things this year,, I am usually hunting for MT or ND every Sunday morning each year but instead I had several of these logged already by Saturday morning? Thanks to all for the contacts and I hope to see everyone again in the log for the upcoming CQ160! N5OE Equipment: Ten Tec Omni 6+ at 90watts 53' shunt fed 25g tower 700' NE Beverage terminated 300' SE Beverage non-terminated ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5RR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 300,024 Thanks to K5GO and N5DX for the help and use of their station. My best effort ever in a 160M contest. Pretty bad conditions to Europe on the second night and no new JAs on Sunday morning. When propagation cooperated, the 1/4 phased verticals worked great. Identifying pileups on the 7800 scope allowed me to temporarily break from running Qs and work a few new multipliers without loosing the frequency. Most US stations left the 30-35 window open for DX, but not all. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5TW Class: M/S HP Total Score = 167,440 Appreciate W5TA coming over to do the second night. Not a serious effort but we had fun and enjoyed the excellent conditions. We don't need no stinking sun spots! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5XJ Class: M/S LP Total Score = 46,725 Only used an inverted-vee for both TX es RX so it was difficult to hear thru the noise at times, thanks to everyone for the QSOs and I enjoyed getting in the much needed practice . 73 de Mike N5XJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6HC Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 11,076 Just messin' around in between upset college football games on the boob tube. Best DX was RW0 on Sunday morning. Only worked 3 stations east of the Mississippi river. I didn't lose any sleep this weekend 8>) 73 de Arnie N6HC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6PC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 10,035 FT1D and G5RV at 32ft. 73 N6PC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6PE Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 61,146 30' UP 80' OUT INVERTED L Sorry I couldn't hear the weak stations. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6RK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 138,635 ARRL 160 Meter Contest Score: My first score over 100K First WAS in contest First time working VY1 in contest Conditions were the best I've ever seen Notable DX: UA3AGW via ??? path at sunrise My 3rd continental EU ever. Station: 90 ft TX vertical, 60 ft high dipole for receive, 6 Bevs, FT1000D heavily modified, TS570 S&P rig. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6RO Class: M/S HP Total Score = 235,904 Personal best in Qs (1117 before dupes), and score. Not sure if packet helped or hindered! 800 Qs first night (4 EU, 50 JAs); very slow second night, no EU. Approaching sunrise Sunday, had a short opening to JA, UA9 and UA3 (my first QSO long/skew path to EU on 160). Heard two VO1s, but couldn't get through. Never heard VE4. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6RV Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 15,162 IC756 PRO II Shunt Fed LM 470 Search and Pounce ... Search....Search....Search and Pounce. Nod off Nod off Search and Pounce ... Search....Search....Search and Pounce. Amazing even the weak stations heard me! Why? For several years it was just search and call. I guess everyone is putting up receiving loops and beverages. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6TV Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 66,024 My station is on a small suburban lot in a densely populated neighborhood, with limited room for Rx Antennas. There's always a lot of S-9 line noise here on 160m. This year the new KC2TX Magnetic Loop arrived just in time, and being able to null the noise made a huge difference. I know that even with the new antenna there were still many calls I couldn't pull through, but I did work everything I could hear, from Maine to Japan. I know that it is definitely working better than anything else I've ever tried here. See you in the CQ 160 contest next month. Rig: FT-1000MP, Alpha 87A Ant: 90' Shunt-fed tower (Omega match), with several yagis as capacity hat. Rx Ant: KC2TX 160m Magnetic Loop with ICE 160m pre-amp Software: Win-Test 3.18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6VR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 53,290 Eight hours of operation. Condx only fair, managed to work the Caribbean, JA, RW0, but heard no EU or AF. Did work VY1JA Sunday morning. Rig: FT1000MP and AL1200 Amp Antenna: 2 loaded 80m phased verticals, no seperate RX antenna. Ray, N6VR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6WG Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 20,900 This was a tough one for me this year. It seems like the background noise has risen a bit more each year. This time I was so tired from fighting it that I knocked off around 10:30PM and went to bed early. I figured I'd get up early and maybe beat some of the noise. It worked, as I picked up 47 QSOs in my 3 morning hours. My big surprise was hearing RW0CWA and working him for a new 160 country. Saturday evening seemed kind of slow, like someone gave a two day party, but half the guests left after the first day. It was hard to find new stations to work by S&P, so I grit my teeth and resorted to CQing. Not my best operating technique, but when I couldn't find anyone new, I had to let them find me :-) I beat my score from 2006, but fell short of my 2005 score. Maybe next year when I have my K3 :-) I really enjoy the 160 contests. I just hope I can find a way to fight the creeping noise fog that is growing around my QTH. Hope to work many of you in the 10m contest coming up. Thanks for the QSOs 73, Bob N6WG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6XI Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 13,400 QJP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7AZ Class: M/S LP Total Score = 10,896 IC-746Pro, 160M Inv V ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7DD Class: M/S HP Total Score = 315,868 It was wonderful to be joined by two world class operators this year, W8TK and K4LT. These guys are a pleasure to watch. Conditions the first evening were great to Eupope but very little activity. Some of the Europeans worked were S9. They were mostly in Eastern Europe with not much opening to Western Europe as was the case the day before. An interesting stat. is that EU=40 QSO's and AS=38 QSO's. More Europe than Japan? Kind of strange from Arizona. Missed VE4 for a sweep as did many others. Too bad as I have never had a sweep before but this was the closest that I have come to it. See you all in the CQ 160. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7GP Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 265,933 The bad and the good. The N7GP station hadn't been used since the CQ 160 SSB last February. The Beverage farm had to be redone as the javelinas had eaten up some of the feedline jumpers and antenna wires at the sloping ends. Both remote antenna switches at the Beverage farm had taken lightning during the summer thunderstorm season and only one could be resurrected. Some of radials on the Ground Plane were broken. The Alpha decided it wouldn't work. After a full day of repairs I decided to do a low key, low power single op. Then I remembered I had a 30 year old Dentron MLA-2500 stored away somewhere. I found it, and since it had not been powered up for more than 10 years I pushed the ON button with a broom handle. First good thing. The electrolytics didn't blow up. When connected to the antenna and transceiver, it even made about 600 Watts of power out. All of the station rearranging for a single feed from the remote antennas, the amp changeout and connecting up the SO2R box from the M/S configuration got me started 2+ hours after the starting bell. After that, everything went well. Although the band didn't open more than a tiny, short period to souther EU, the overall conditions were some of the best I have experienced. The same thing for the path to JA. Just a few of the big guns for the mult and some 5 pointers. No breakdown stats this year. Just the basic report and a big thank you to all the great ops out there on Top Band. One last good point. I noticed only ONE clicking transmitter this year. What a pleasure to stroll up/down the band and just hear pure CW. 73 to all de Milt, N5IA, op at the N7GP station ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7IR Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 74,576 Largest score for me in this contest. Most QSOs and countries ever but one less section than in my previous personal record year of 2004. Prop to the NE wasn't all that good with lots of QSB; missed RI, VT and NL. Conditions to the Caribbean were very good with PJ2T at S9 levels for hours. Too bad there didn't seem to be a lot of activity in that direction. Prop to NW was not as strong as last weekend. The JA and UA0 stations were too weak to work at QRP levels this time. Overall the the US/VE activity was tremendous and the signal levels from most of NA were very high. Used a variable attenuator after the rx preamp for most of the contest to optimize S/N and dynamic range. Experienced more blatant frequency stealing in this 160 meter contest than in any previous one. Must have been the crowded band conditions that brought out the beast. However other than those isolated instances the mood seemed to be one of courteous and friendly competition. Looking forward to next year. TRX: Elecraft K2 Antennas: TX - shunt-fed, top-loaded 22 meter tower; 34 radials on the ground RX - K9AY loop array 73 Gary, N7IR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7RK Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 57,228 Good conditions both nights stateside but not much DX here. Where was Rhode Island the only state I missed? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N8EA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 65,065 Made 152 Q's the first hour and 7 in the last hour. Operated/listened during 15 hours mostly hunting multipliers. Using quarter wave vertical, 5 receiving antennas, Ft1000d and Alpha 77. Conditions and activity seemed excellent overall. Still thinking about the Elecraft K3 I used on 160 last weekend at n8cc during CQWW - I think it worked FB. Anyone else use a K3 on 160m ? 73 joe n8ea ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N8IE Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 51,830 This was a fun contest. Wish I could have done a full time effort. Merry Christmas es 73 Dan, N8IE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9ADG Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 152,280 What is it about 160? I moved my Inv-L feedpoint from elevated to on the ground at the last minute, and added about 20 radials, each btw 1/8 and 1/4 wl, where I could in the yard -- all within 0 and 180' of the compass. The antenna loaded better using more radials on the ground, so we'll try this for a while and see. First time trying HP for this contest, sure made contacts easier, and easier not to get moved from a run frequency... though that didn't stop folks from trying. I didn't mind getting moved by ZF2.., since I needed the mult, and a bio-break too. Some operators were notably courteous, like VE3.. -- I'm buying that guy a beverage next time I can. Got started at 2230 or so our time, got about 40 minutes in, but a family matter intervened and didn't get back on until after 0200z. Conditions on Friday night were stellar; I haven't done a serious contest in months, and it was too easy to forget the right habits. Saturday night we had lots of wind-driven snow (about 8" on the ground today!); noisy, noisy, noisy. It was a struggle to copy even stations in the midwest and rocky mtn states at times -- the QRN levels were S9+ on the vertical, and bouncing about S3-7 on the long beverage. Typical levels are about S1-2 on the beverage. Combined with the QSB, it was just fatiguing. If I asked for multiple repeats, sorry -- it was very difficult copy. Slept four hours on Saturday night woke up 0230 local and found noise somewhat abated; at times it was as easy to hear JA as California. UA3AGW really woke me up by answering my CQ this morning, thanks. I think multi-op may be the fun way to do this contest in the future, at least once. Brian N9ADG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9AUG Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 61,642 My first solo attempt at the 160 contest. Had a lot of fun. A deer got caught in the down guys of my end support the night before the contest and put a giant arc in the top 2 sections of the mast, so my cfz ended up at a height of 34 feet. Larry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9CO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 76,908 Friday night's conditions were pretty good. Seemed better than Saturday's, but there was rate pretty much the whole time. Great activity, great contest, great fun. Vy 73 es CU in Jan NAQP CW! Charlie N9CO FT-1000MP Inverted-L (70' vertical, 100' horizontal, no radials) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9FH Class: M/S HP Total Score = 66,000 Had packet running but didn't really use it. Really should have chased down more mults. Rates were good. Wish I had more time to play. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9JF Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 156,780 First entry since 2002 as my job has changed. It was great to work so many familiar calls and to find activity up almost to 1900 khz! A bit of EU the first night, only a peep and none worked the second. No time to get a RX antenna up, so the opportunities for improvement are considerable. Can somebody put together a DXpedition to NNY for this one??? Thanks for all the Qs. 73, Jim N9JF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9NE Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 105,995 Jury-rigged an inverted L the morning of the 'test in 20F and windy wx. Snow static closed me down for a couple of hours Saturday night during storm. A half-hearted effort but fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9VN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,000 Had a fun time in my first 160m contest. Not a huge amount of contacts, but was more than I expected with my "indoor dorm room random wire special" antenna. Thankfully, there are lots of others out there with better antennas than me, that were able to hear my weak 30W signals. Worked several SMC'ers out there and operated mostly in the evenings, while preparing for finals. Was exciting to work W5ZN, President Joel Harrison and stations as far away as Maine & Georgia. No DX contacts though. One of these days I'll be able to put up a good antenna for 160m... Then things will really get interesting... 73's to all Vince - N9VN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NA4K Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 85,492 High line noise masked all but the loudest signals. steve NA4K ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NA5Q Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 68,542 Very good conditions from down South in Louisiana. Band was very quiet and very active.Ran only S&P, but achieved best Score in the contest thus far in ARRL 160M. Thanks for all the replies. ICOM 756ProIII ACOM 2000A 160m Inv Vee 160m Long Wire (Receiving) Roland NA5Q ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NE7D Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 17,556 First time on 160M. Shorted my 80M OCF dipole openwire feedline together, connected it to my tuner's longwire input and it loaded FB. Still a compromise, but had a ball and am halfway to WAS on 160! 73, Rock NE7D ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NE9U Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 144,738 Last year I put up an inverted L the night before the 160 contest. This year I rigged up a receive antenna the night before. I had recently checked the 160 RX capabilities of my 80/40 sloper, my 80/40/20 fan dipole, and my A4 yagi and found that the low fan dipole worked the best. To help it out, Thursday night I went out and clipped an extra 100 feet or so of wire to each leg. My neighbor has a 200x200 lot surrounded by a chain link fence to keep his dogs in. I spliced another wire to borrow 800 feet or so of his fence for the weekend too! I was able to hear lots of signals on this RX antenna that simply wasn't there on the inverted L. (a lot less static and better s/n ratio) I'm sure I am still not hearing lots of stuff that others can. Other than a loud Italian station, I heard no other Europe all weekend (and he CQ'd in my face). I'm not sure if it was the antenna or condx, but I worked about 100 more Q's this year over last. Improvements for next year will be to try and get more that 45 feet of vertical out of my inverted L, and make a "real" 160 RX antenna. Worked everything but VE4 and logged 7 DX. Scott NE9U ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NG7Z Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 362 Don't have a 160M antenna anymore so just used an untuned 80M dipole. Only running 10W or so. Rig wouldn't put out much more and the SWR was skyhigh. Worked the locals but managed to be heard several hundred miles away. Amazing! Plan on putting up a proper antenna next summer hopefully. 73 Paul NG7Z ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NI0C Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 17,105 Worked RI and ND to complete my 160m WAS! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NN3W Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 50,544 I've always liked 160, but have never had a real antenna for the band. In prior years I tried to use my 80 meter quad and let the tuner do the loading. Clearly, the tuner is eating all the power and I'd be lucky to work a station in Missouri. My rule was that is the station wasn't at least 589, they would not be likely to hear me. No more! Had an epiphany on the Thursday before the contest. While surveying the yard, I totally missed the obvious radial/counterpoise system - my neigbor's wire mesh (2" x 4" squares). It is about 150 feet long in each direction and the tree that I would use meets it at th point where it makes a 90 degree turn. Used the handy slingshot get the wire up the tree, pulled it across the yard, launched it over two intervening braches from other trees and then roped the end off over a final tree. The "apex" is about 50 feet up and the end, angles down to about 30 feet. Will try to find a higher branch for CQWW. The counterpoise is connected using a heavy duty alligator clip. Conditions seemed very good. I3MLU might as well have been in Connecticut he was so loud. I worked most everyone that I could hear and had some very decent runs (yes you can run with 100 watts to a low inverted L - you have to be brave enough to try and realize that working them one a minute is much faster than S&P on day 2 where you work them at a rate of one every 2.5 minutes). I missed several sections that I heard and could not work one that I tried to work: Idaho. I heard North Dakota, Oklahoma, and VE6 but missed them. Totally missed WTX, NNY, some of the VEs, KH6, KL7, and most of California. Is 160 not popular out there anymore? Looking forward to CQ160. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NO2R Class: M/S HP Total Score = 275,833 Just couldn't seem to get motivated for this one this year.Conditions seemed mediocre at best the first night from here to Europe and only did 2 hrs the second night before I pulled the plug. Peter,NO2R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NT6X Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 83,148 I appreciate those who called who didn't get into my log. I felt loud, but had lousy ears due to noisy college campus. Horizontal dipole at 90' and an Alpha! 73, Mike - NT6X ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NX9T Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 9,752 Just a couple passes up/down the band. Not much time with Christmas stuff going on. Still, fun times! 73 and Merry Christmas. Jeff NX9T ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NY3A Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 104,800 Part-time effort. Conditions seemed pretty good to me. Condx to EU were good with some really strong signals. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NY4A Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 346,788 Great condx first night. Stats at http://wordpress.blountscreek.org Thanks for the qso's, Howie ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NZ1U Class: M/S HP Total Score = 142,243 Well, 8.5 hours of operating. Someday we will give this a full effort and see what we can do. No operating on Saturday night at all. Thanks for the QSOs 73 Dick - KB1H/NZ1U ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: OE3GCU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 13,760 Conditions have been quite good in the 1st night. In the 2nd night I only managed to work about 30 stations caused by very bad propagation and high QRN due to rain. I did enjoy the contest and I was able I worked one of my last needed state Nebraska. Now only North Dakota is needed to compleate my 160m WAS. Vy 73, Gun de OE3GCU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: OK2BFN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 8 IC 746 100W, Dipole (too low) Best ears VY2ZM; one callsign, first shot! (But, I didn't find VE1ZZ) Twenty others (strongest ones) didn't catch even the prefix. Cul, Tom ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: ON4UN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 15,900 Just wanted to have some fun, and see if I could still put down a reasonable score. The first night I made 122 QSOs, the second night only 28 (only S&P). Great to work W6 (4 stns), W7 (Az, Ut -2- and Wy the first night. Nothing beyond TX - MN -MN the second night. I am glad to see I could put down the same score as DF2PY in 1/3rd of the operating time (2 hours the first night, 2 hours the second night). Thanks to all who called me! 73 John, ON4UN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: P40TA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 122,892 Thanks to Andy, P49Y/AE6Y, and John P40L/W6LD for use of the fine station in Aruba. My XYL Kay, P40K/K6KO, and I arrived on Tuesday before the contest so I had a few nights to try and work the European pileup down before the contest but there is never an end. The station had added a couple of significant improvements from last year. John, W2GD had reworked the 160M Inv Vee into a “C Dipole” with a significant vertical element. There really is not ample room for a true vertical and radials. Also added was an AY Technologies RAS-8 Receiving Antenna Switch and Pre-Amps for the three Beverages. Both worked very well. I had discovered that the antenna had significant impedance changes when it rained that the Alpha 87A didn’t care for, so had decided to use the 2nd station amplifier, an Alpha 86. It worked flawlessly. The IC-756 ProII transceiver worked great also. I had been warned that the station computer I had used reliably for several years now had boot problems, so I was equipped with laptops. The computer is a dual boot, XP and DOS, and would boot fine in DOS mode but not XP. As I was planning to use TR-Log, DOS was all I needed so had used the computer all week and for the contest. Murphy would be proud. The contest starts at 6PM local while still daylight and usually the first hour is slow but this year I was making Q’s from minute one with a decent rate. Neighbor Joop, P43JB, blew my headphones off with a quick GL. The Beverages were hearing well and the band was very quiet. At the 05-06 hour the band peaks with short peak runs approaching 150. I’m working West Coast stations that I know have very limited setups. Suddenly we get a downpour of rain, which is not unusual this time of year. The sound is so intense on the tin roof above the shack you think a train is going through the room. These normally last 20-30 seconds but this went on for over five minutes. There is so much water in the air and on the ground that the antenna has changed so much and the amplifier faults. After the rain stops I can run about 200 Watts until things slowly dry out. Of course I’ve lost my run frequency so I’m trying S&P when TR-Log suddenly starts calling CQ whenever I put a call in my bandmap. This is followed by a “disk write error” message. I’m unable to exit TR or to access the log. I power down the CPU but I’m unable to reboot. “Hard drive not found” appears on the screen. My last log backup was two hours ago. After a hour of unsuccessfully trying to recover the log, I go to bed. After a few restless hours of sleep, I get up and magically the CPU boots up like nothing ever happened! I quickly copy the files and move to a laptop equipped with Win98, with DOS and TR, and begin moving the keying interface, rig control, monitor, etc. The log appears to be OK but I’ve lost rig control. The serial port on the laptop and the Socket I/O card won’t respond. I had tested this exact setup on the dining room table at home before carrying the laptop and I/O card down here. By accident, I discover everything works if I boot up in a DOS window under Win98 but not in true DOS as I had tested at home. Not ideal but better than taking a chance on the station computer. A few checks and I can hear nothing. Of course, it’s the middle of the day but I know I should be hearing QRN and broadcast spurs. The Beverages aren’t working. After checking all the coax and control cables, I finally discover the 12V cable to the relay box had worked itself loose when I unplugged the aux fan for the amplifier. Why check the obvious first? The second night was without station problems but the bands had much higher noise and weaker openings. QRN on the West Coast Beverages is usually S1 but was peaking at S7 during the optimum times. I managed 18 hours of operating despite the problems. Worked 77 sections, all called me, WTx was the last worked and I missed KL7, VE4, VE8. Had four RI call me so they were on the air. It was nice to hear Wayne, N7NG, without a portable one after his call. A real problem this year was with big gun stations calling CQ in the “DX Window”. And what’s with the dupes this year? With rare exceptions I signed my call after every QSO but still I had way too many dupes. Congratulations to Jeff, K8ND at PJ2T for a superb effort. QSL to WM6A and logs will be on Logbook of the World in a few days. Ken, P40TA/K6TA. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: PJ2T Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 225,732 My third ARRL 160 Contest operation from the Signal Point station (2003, 2006, 2007), and the best result yet! What a blast! The first night was ideal: locally quiet, with the entire callsigns of the weaker USA and VE stations copiable without many repeats. As local sunset doesn't happen until 2209Z here, and most of the USA is in full light at the 2200Z contest start, I don't expect to get off to a flying start: previous "first QSO" wasn't until 2220Z or so. This time, my first QSO was at 2200Z and I had 9 QSOs in the first ten minutes! At 2230Z, I worked a Kansas station, and he was still almost an hour from his sunset! Rates for the first seven hours were: 66, 123, 129, 133, 110, 114, and 103. The band almost felt like I was operating from Ohio! The second night was not nearly as good, with local rain static and seemingly more absorption on the band. Some of the Left Coast stations were down in the noise, and those I worked required multiple fills. Best rates were 48, 48 and 46. Second night is always a slog in this contest, no matter where you are operating from. What the deal with dupes in this contest? I had 66 dupes, at least four of them from one WA2. As I identify after (almost) every QSO, it couldn't be that they op didn't know who I was! While I work all comers and let the software sort it out, I *did* start acknowledging the dupe QSOs with "Tnx Again" to suggest to the guy that he might be more careful! As last year, good conditions and our loud signal into Europe resulted in European pileups. I very much enjoy working Europeans on Topband, but **NOT** during this contest: they are weak signals off the side of the USA Beverage, and it takes time to identify that the weak "4" signal I'm hearing is just a G4 or UA4 calling, rather than a station worth some points! I consistantly refused to work any DX station, and promise that outside of ARRL 160 I will work as many EU stations as possible during my stays on Curacao. I have a couple hundred EU Topband stations in my PJ2/K8ND log for this trip, and many hundreds during my previous 9 trips to the island. I had one case of a "packet scrum", apparently caused by a mis-spot of me as "GJ2J". A instantaneous pileup of stations I'd worked before, all insisting on working me again! After five minutes, normal operation resumed. As always, thanks to my fellow Caribbean Contesting Consortium (CCC) members (many of whom, although not Topband ops, worked me from their home QTHs), and to genial hosts Geoff W0CG/PJ2DX and Cindy Howard. Station Equipment Used: Radio: FT-1000MP Amp: Ten Tec Titan III (2 x 4CX800A) TX Ant: inv-L (~55-feet up, then sloping up to 95-feet high, ~60 radials) RX Ant: 650-foot Beverage RX Ant: DX Engineering 4-Square Standby Station: Radio: FT-1000MP Amp: Cary LK-800 (2 x 3CPX800A7) 73, Jeff PJ2/K8ND ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: SN3R Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 25,344 2nd night only. 73 , Bogdan SP3RBR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA2WDQ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 83,545 Rig: Yaesu FT-1000, Ant: Inv.L 9m up ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA3DF Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 12,400 Spent a couple of hours on Saturday morning (-5 degrees C.) repositioning and pruning my inverted-L antenna. Decided to get on after dinner and see how the antenna plays. Seems better,now we'll have to see how it performs on 80 m. As usual,it's a jungle out there when you run qrp! 73, Doug VA3DF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA3EC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 19,600 First time I used the Butternut. On the Sloper, I could work anything I could hear, problem was it was deaf. Now I can hear more than I can work. Time for more radials. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA3KA Class: M/S HP Total Score = 91,762 Just a few hours available. Very low noise and good conditions Friday night. Operated 100% S&P only. First time I ever operated in assisted category. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA3RKM Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 7,420 K2, 5w, 1/4-wave wire at 15 ft. Thanks for working a weak signal! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA7ST Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 54,140 FT2000 + N1MM Logger Inverted-L Great fun. Wish I could have put more time in Sunday morning, but early flight out to conference in Las Vegas. Highlights: E51A calling in, and beating my best-ever (2005) score by Saturday morning. Antenna played nicely after a quick reconfig on Friday afternoon in the freezing wx. Missed: NLI LA MS RI VI WPA PR WTX MB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE1OP Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,756 My annual attemp at the Worked All W1 award..Missed RI... ERP likely of about 2 watts with the 80m INV-L...My ATU-1000 was working overtime...Easy to tell the guys with good RX antennas, they could hear me...One of these years I'll finish the INV-L in the basement and get a real 160m antenna in the air... 73, Scott VE1OP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE2CWT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 33,858 After 20Hrs work and travel in snow storm... came in at 4:30 AM, manage to work 50 QSO to drain the adrenaline down to get to sleep ! Was able to add 202 QSO more the second day. This is all you can get this Year! Happy Holidays to every one! ALL QSO soon on EQSL.cc **NOTE... I Still need to confirm North Dakota and Hawai for EQSL WAS AWARD. See QRZ.com/VE2CWT for info 73' opr:Phil VE2FU RIG: TS-480SAT G5RV Interface: MicroHam MicroKeyer and WIN-TEST 3.18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE2OJ Class: M/S LP Total Score = 156,230 Sure would have been nice to work MB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE2TZT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 325,214 Not an exceptional propagation but a very low noise to compensate. Really better conditions than last year. W6 an EU were weak and sporadic, some QRN Saturday night. Still a weak but enough neighbour noise in direction of Europe is preventing me to work weaker stations and mults. Sorry for those I was not able to copy, I am as frustrated as you are … No much time to listen between two CQ without getting a QRL ?. Still some runners do not seem to have any 250 Hz filter (actually 400 Hz of clear frequency needed): they need 800 Hz of clear frequency or they cry for you to QSY. In order to be called by European stations, how will we be able to all stand in the 1820-1850 portion if everybody need 800 Hz or more of clear frequency ???? Many thanks to all the callers, especially at the end of the contest, when everybody is in need of new players to contact. A special mention to KL7J for his call at the end of the second night as the last and unexpected multiplier. 73, Gilles ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3CX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 23,280 Just a few hours of S&P ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3FH Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 27,810 TS-940S TX: dipole at 7m/24' RX: reversible Beverage 40/220deg 158m/520' N1MM Logger V7.11.1 Conditions were quite good but this contest can be very frustrating with a good rx antenna and a very low dipole for transmit, I heard scores of EU but the vast majority did not hear me. I never use packet but to avoid a family uprising I worked mainly quite late at nights and early mornings because every time I transmit the internet connection drops. 73, Julio VE3FH ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3FRX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 40,535 Great conditions! Unfortunately I had a blizzard and no heat in my workshop shack so sat as long as I could with desk temperature of 6 degrees C! Fingers froze and the bencher would only put out dashes. N1MM wouldn't work with CW, but Logger32 did, so had to use it for the contest. Still had lots of fun and WOW, where did all the 160m stations come from. Nice having zero noise floor at new QTH. Thanks for all the QSOs and 6 new countries on 160m. 73 de Jeff, VE3FRX (former VE6GJ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3KF Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 52,632 Could participate in the contest just part time. Thanks to all who called me. 73, Alex, VE3KF, TO3T ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3MGY Class: M/S LP Total Score = 159,578 I went with packet for the first time in this contest and the cons include competing in a unrestricted power category [ I was only running 100 watts ], busted spots on the screen, and the fact that 99.9% of what I saw on the screen Saturday night I had already worked. The pros include getting a headsup on the DX or new sections as they appear. In fact there were 3 or 4 sections that I may have missed S&P because they were at or just below the noise level. Propagation was fantastic on both nights with the only noise being the S2 QRN that arrived after sundown - and that was on the vertical. The band was extremely quiet - except for the QRM hi. I was called by Eastern and Western Europe, South America, The Caribbean, Alaska, and I was making it into the West Coast both nights sfter 0130z so the band was obviously wide open. 912 QSO's includes dupes. CT did not want to log PR, AK, PAC, VI as ARRL Sections and WCF wasn't even on my band map!! I'll let the contest committe re-score my log if need be but I think I got it pretty close. 73 Brian VE3MGY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3OSZ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 112,216 Missed what should have been some easy sections: NL, NNY, MB. But was glad to be called by KL7J and to work two KH6s. Missed several callers with weak signals because of high local noise level. Station: Drake TR7 @ 100 watts Inverted L One short (damaged) Beverage One pennant TR Log ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3RCN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 17,430 DX was the Bahamas. Heard but did not work BC, AB and ID. The new 2000 beat last years score in less time. Sure was nice to use the cw filter right down to 50hz. Needed it for some of the contacts with the s7-9 noise. Antenna is full wave loop(sic...I dont think geometry has come up with a name for a shape with this many angles) ranging from 20 to 9 feet off the ground. Tree tops are 65-70 feet up...but I dont have a bucket truck to get up there. These are the same trees that soak up a lot of my signals on all bands, but offers some privacy from the neighbours eyeing the skyhooks. This is the first contest where I did not use a CW straight key. Had the computer send it. I feel funny about this...RTTY is ok by computer, but, oh well, since I didnt build my own radio, I should just forget about it and be happy with the receiving ops that did not have to copy my fist after 6 hours of brass pounding! Now I have to start checking out the swap shops for a 70cm and a 2m beam for the VHF contests. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE6EX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 57,540 Hi All: Well, generally condx were pretty good. It was good fun; TU ARRl. This entry was a conditional part-timer, and b4 all the cheep shots about having no ears; the whole event was under S9+ local noise on my city lot shunt fed tower, so if I missed you SRI... 160 from city QTH etc. is always a tough go... But tnx for the Q's and I think I worked all WWA HI!! See you all on TEN!! Cheers, Dan.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE6WQ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 63,840 Amazingly good conditions for a change. Using only 300-400 watts to a low 40M slopper with a loading coil and a Wellbrook loop for receiving. All S&P and I missed RI NLI PR WTX NL and MB. Heard a couple of RI stations but couldn't work them. Never heard the other sections. I had hopes the band would open to EU but it never did. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE7UF Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 129,712 My orginal intention was to make a few Qs with a reconfigured inverted V up 125 Ft. Got started 2 hours late & found the conditions were the best I've experienced from this QTH. I had 500 Qs at quitting time Saturday morning. There was about 2 inches of snow on the ground and snowing. At the same time Sunday morning there was (still is) 20 inches in my driveway. The snow caused mega QRN. There were many calls I couldn't copy the second day, but still broke the old station 160M QSO record. My thanks to all that called. 73, Duane VE7UF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VP5/K7WA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,808 The VP5W team spent Friday packing up the gear for an early flight out Saturday morning. After a final dinner out with VP5JM and the team, I put the "house radio" (an IC-738) on for a final few QSOs. There were lots of loud signals on the band! Thanks for the QSOs, and thanks to VP5JM and the VP5W team for a great two weeks!! 73, Jim (ex) VP5/K7WA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VY2SS Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 918 Look out Jeff! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VY2ZM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 800,415 Good conditions! CU in CQ 160M next month... 73 Jeff K1ZM/VY2ZM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0AIH Class: M/S HP Total Score = 312,795 It was a record number of QSO's for us in this one. 1325 last year and another 109 this year. Lots of dupes (79). It did not help to see us be spotted as W0AIS. That sure opened the floodgates. But at least that only happened on the last day when things were slow. But you wonder how many new ones may have tuned by. Sometimes to test dupe callers to see if they are really calling me by asking for a repeat. Ya never know if there is someone you cannot hear on your freq. There was a pretty good snowstorm Saturday evening making a lot of noise on the beverages, vertical and loop antennas. The noise was there until about 0300Z when the wind died down a bit. To bad as we were spotted by LA6YEA and F1AKK around 0000Z. Just no way to hear them thru the noise. It is nice to have a wide selection of antennas in conditions like that. We are fortunate there. Sections Missed: MB DX Worked: 9A, EA6, EI, F, GM, I, OE, OM, ON, SP, UR, JA, UA9, E5/s, C6, CM, HI, HR, J3, VP2M, XE, ZF, HC, P4, PJ2, YU Thanks to Paul for a fun weekend! 73, John K0TG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0BH Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 188,598 A very enjoyable Topband weekend from Kansas. Band conditions were quiet both evenings even though the weather wasn't. We had ice forecast for Friday night which would have shut me down, but it failed to materialize when the warm front pushed north faster than predicted. Instead we had wind .. 40mph with higher gusts kept things interesting. I had intended to stay up all night Friday into Saturday, but took a 2 hour nap from 3:30am-5:30am and it's lucky I did. I woke up to find the clock blinking so we apparently had a power outage, perhaps from ice further north where our electricity comes from. No further problems the rest of the weekend. Overall, I missed and never heard NT, MB, NL and PR. WY was the last to fall for the WAS and I appreciated working NN2L in NNY since I'd missed that section for a number of years in a row. DX included HI, C6, VP2M, PJ2, HR, G, XE, CT3, P4 and CM. Thanks everyone for the Qs! I'm already looking forward to this one next year. 73, Bob, w0bh ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0ETT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 95,742 Good contest with decent conditions; made a personnel best with 576 Qs. Got many sections but missed some that I usually log: AK, NLI, NNY, WPA and VE4. Felt my IC756pro3 and shunt fed tower antenna did pretty well to work 71 section mults and 10 dx mults with the best dx being RW0CWA on Sunday morning. On EU sunrise Saturday, I heard I3WLU but no QSO due to CM6 being on the same freq. Thanks to expeditioners HI3A, P40TA, VP2MSC, J3/DL5AXX, and KH6/KU1CW which must have taken some doing 'cuz I worked him at his home QTH in MO as well...? Also, thanks to KV4FZ and KP2M for great home stn signals, QSOs, and the FB mults. In this general area, worked lots of CO, NM, KS, and UT stations were on for this one. 73 Ken, W0ETT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0LM Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 7,000 Noisy band Friday. Quieter Saturday with the usual QSB. Thanks for everyone's patience in completing the QSO. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0SD Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 357,968 Short opening to EU on Friday night, but very weak signals. No EU Saturday night, band opened to JA on Sunday morning for a few dozen contacts. Thanks all for the contacts, and thanks to Ed and Edith for opening their home and great station to me again. 73, Joe W0DB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0YK Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 107,730 A funny thing happened on the way to the contest. I was doing some tower work late Friday afternoon, actually after the contest had started. But, as it was still daylight here in California I wasn't in a big hurry. On my way down I got the great idea to "improve" one leg of the 160 meter antenna. It had gotten loose from its tie down in last winter's winds and the end was tangled in the trees about 50' up. I figured I'd just pull it out. Well, the wire broke with 2/3s of it staying in the trees ... my only 160 meter antenna! What a clever way to take yourself off the air. By then it was dark and 38 degrees. So I bagged Friday night and got some sleep. Put a temporary fix on the antenna Saturday in the rain/hail/sleet/snow and operated Saturday night. Yet another reason why it is wiser to do antenna work well ahead of the contest, or at least leave a working antenna alone after the contest has started. The "half-contest" was almost uneventful. I failed to get many of the DX mults and fell six short on the domestic mults. Early Sunday morning I inadvertently moved out of the JA window, so missed a bunch of those 5-pointers. Then, as I was struggling to stay awake around 15Z with a 30/hour rate, UA3AGW calls in on long path, every bit as loud as the JAs. Boy, did that wake me up. One such contact was worth losing a night's sleep. Unfortunately, no other Europeans, but I sure was looking for them after that QSO. Only two QSOs of any kind in the last 20 minutes, both CA. 73, Ed - W0YK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1AR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 352 Indoor inverted-L, 8-ft above ground (CCRs). Sunday op time 0800-1500z (end). It's only a hobby, right? Thanks all! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1EBI Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 30,992 Better than last year. George W1EBI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1KQ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 9,799 Logging Program: WriteLog 10.64D Rig: FT-1000D Amp: AL-811H Antenna: Linear Loaded Dipole at approx. 75 feet. Didn't have much time to operate but had fun ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1SJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 213,660 Wow, this one was sweet! After being beat up in the SS it was nice to make lotsa contacts and relax! Personal best in QSO's, but it looks like there were records set all over. The runs to the West Coast seemed endless, although the number of European stations seemed lower than in previous high years. Even had a KH6 call me at sunrise and that rarely happens here. Friday night rates rivaled those I got during SS SSB! Lost a couple of prime time hours Friday when the main antenna blew down in the wind (guess it was high enough!) and then the backup antenna failed a couple of hours later. Gee, I hate climbing the tower at night! Luckily I managed to get things working again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1UE Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 412,776 This score would have been #2 in US/VE last year; will it even make the Top Ten this year? Last 3 sections worked: WTx, NNY, and Ak. 3 sections not worked: Wy, Mb, and NWT. 188 5-point QSOs, mostly Europe. Saturday had some of the quietest 160M conditions I've ever heard. Weak signals popped out of the noise, and were easy copy. Sunday, however, had the normal static crashes as the storm front approached us from the west. Copying signals through the static crashes on Sunday was possible, but only with a lot of fills. Overall, a very enjoyable contest. The Live-Scoreboard kept me from taking a nap Sunday morning; I was neck-and-neck with AA1K; he started about 5K ahead of me, I caught him and was as much as 10K ahead of him, but then he rebounded with a couple of mults and we were neck-and-neck again. I'm pretty sure Jon will catch me, as his propagation seemed to last later into the morning then mine did. In any case, we're probably close enough in score that it'll be up to the Log Checkers anyway! Thanks for the Q's, and to Greg W1KM for the use of his great station. Dennis W1UE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2GD Class: M/S HP Total Score = 478,530 Station Location: In a salt marsh adjacent to Barnagat Bay, 20 miles north of Atlantic City, NJ, 70 miles south of NY. This is the site of the former maritime coast station WSC. The location features a 300 foot tall tower (previously used as a 500 khz vertical) surrounded by a minimum of 600 feet of tidal salt marsh. This is a temporary FD style station set up for 5 months each fall/winter for the 160M contest season. It is also the new home of WYRS-FM. Station Equipment: Run Station: IC756ProIII, IC746 (rx only), Alpha 99 Mult Station: IC756ProII, AL1200 Antennas: 2 element sloping dipole array fed against a delta loop reflector @ 190' above the salt marsh. Array fires NE, West or Omni, and is fed with 550' of 5/8 inch heliax from tower to station building. Vertical Dipole (62 ft. vertical) adjacent to the marsh. For RX: 2 ele 930' phased NE beveage array - 280 foot spacing 2 ele 1/4W staggered 580' West beverage array - 20 foot spacing 2 ele 1/4W staggered 580' NW beverage array - 20 foot spacing 580' unterminated beverages to the East, South, and Southwest This year's adventure in 160M contesting from the New Jersey shore began in November, the weekemd before CQWW CW. Five of our core Team and several members of the SJDXA converged on the site that Sunday to put up the TX antennas and make repairs to the permanent beverage rx arrays. Weather was perfect, in the 60s, you couldn't ask for much more in mid-fall, and the mosquitoes were gone! After several years experience, we knew the exact steps to take erecting the TX antennas near the tower, weaving the delta loop element around the guy wires of the 300 foot tower. The live FM station was a new variable, and the RF field of 5+KW did play games with the MFJ antenna analyzer. Ultimately we returned to the less convenient method of pruning and testing with RF from the shack 550' away. Those ole 2M HTs still come in handy every once in a while. We left with everything installed but not fully tested. Work commitments limited to four the number of our core team who could come and help setup the morning of November 30th. But we managed to finish fine tuning the TX antennas about 2 p.m. Walking the beverages we found only a few trees down but nothing too difficult to repair. The weather cooperated again, with temperatures in the high 50's and virtually no wind. It would stay tranquil until Sunday morning. The remainder of the beverage work involved listening on the antennas which seemed to confirm they were hearing well and there was very little line noise this time. The biggest challenge of the weekend again turned out to be setting up the computers and network (we use 3 computers). After debating the pros and cons off season, we decided to purchase and use Win-Test this year replacing N1MM. We also had DSL available on site for the first time (we'd been using a 2M packet connection the past 4 years) and adding a new wireless router turned out to be problematic, requiring help from the DSL provider (Verizon). An hour later, all was up and working. First we came up with a dead computer (bad power supply). W2CG and W2NO worked diligently to sort things out, installing software, configuring the network, etc. After another hour or so of troubleshooting, all was well, and working 45 minutes to go before the bell. We decided to set things up to broadcast our score live via www.getscores.org too (wish more stations would do this as well). About 10 minutes before the start, I noticed the east and west beverages both had an elevated noise floor. Crews were dispatched to investigate. The east beverage was a loose connector. The west beverage (a staggered pair of 580 footers) was not as easy to resolve. The rear element was picking up the noise from a yet to be determined source. Just a few minutes before the bell, we decided to go with just one beverage element. This seemed to perform adequately all weekend. The first 6 hours of the contest were exceptional. The QRN level was low, stateside signals were strong, EU stations by and large weren't loud but very workable, and the beverages were performing well.....e.g. when listening on the NE array, W8s, VE3s, etc. simply disappeared! The 149 QSOs in first hour was probably our best rate ever, followed by 137, 133, and 104 hours which gave us over 500Q in just 4 hours, and over 700Q after 6 hours. WOW! At sunrise, (after working RW0CWA), we had roughly 1100Q, 78 S and 45 C, the best first night totals in memory. DX worked (mostly day 1): 8P, C6, CM, HI, HR, J3, VP2M, VP5, XE, ZF, CX, HK, P4, PJ2, YV, CT3, 5B, UA0, 9A, CU, DL, EA6, EI, ES, EU, F, G, GI, GM, GW, HB, I, LA, LY, OE, OH, OK, OM, ON, OZ, PA, S5, SM, SP, SV, TF, UA, UA2, UR, YL, YU. We were disappointed that E5, JA, VK, and ZL were never heard all weekend. And somehow we missed PY, 5H, and a few other mults that should have been fairly easy. Having the manpower, we kept the station on during most daylight hours. W2OB did yoeman service adding another 60 hard earned contacts to the log. The rates the second night were much more subdued as you would expect, peaking at 50 in the 00Z hour. Another 6 countries, mostly CA and SA were added. EU signals were notably down compared to the first night, and not terribly plentiful. The hoped for EU sunrise enhancement didn't materialize. And a storm approaching from the west was increasing the noise level. At 09Z we started to hear VY1JA and a few minutes later a solid QSO was in the log. Never heard a VE4 over the weekend.....so a sweep was not in the cards this year. Our final score is up about 8% compared to 2006 (113 more contacts, 3 additional mults). We had alot of fun and hope you did too. With the ARRL 160 now behind us, we're looking forward to the TBDC later this month and CQ160 CW in Jan. 08. Congrats to the teams at W8JI, W9AZ, K1LT and so many others for there outstanding M/S scores, and VY2ZM, K3ZM, W4MYA, VE3EY, VE3EJ, AA1K, W1UE, K9DX, and others for their iron man single op efforts. BRAVO gentlemen! We sincerely thank the owners of WYRS-FM for allowing our continued use of this fantastic radio facility for 160M events. 73, John, W2GD (for the entire TEAM) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2GDJ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 32,170 KL7J called me on a run on Sunday morning. WOW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2IRT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 74,151 This is quickly turning into one of my favorite contests of the year. Despite my shaky CW skills, I managed a few nice runs both nights and luckily QRN was almost non-existent. Always a pleasant surprise to get called by DX, which happened a few times this year. This was the first time I used my K9AY loop in a 160m contest setting and all I can say is WOW....what a difference. I even heard K9AY on it ! I think I worked about 30 new states on 160 this year, too. All in all, it was two evenings of fun and CW skill-building. Lookin' forward to Stew! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2OIB Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 112,880 A fun contest. Equipment: Yaesu Mark-V, AL-1200 and inverted Vee G5RV. 160 was great Friday night but I couldn't make it passed 0800 UTC without some sleep. Got to plan better next year. Thanks to all for the Q's 73's Al, W2OIB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W3MF Class: M/S HP Total Score = 116,207 Many thanks to Bob, K3PH for doing most of the work in this contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W3TS Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 104,609 Started the contest 2 hours late after looking for a new 10 over S9 noise. Found it at the neighbor about 300 feet away in his newly finished basement. Helped him changed out a poorly made light dimmer for a 3 way switch. He will install an RFI surpressed dimmer this week. Thank goodness for understanding neighbors. Top Band from an in town lot is always a challenge! Now how do you suppress the noise from all the neighborhood treadmills? Rig: Ten-Tec Orion at 5 Watts Ant: 1/8 wave wire Tee with 70 - 70 foot long radials Logger: N1MM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W3UA Class: M/S HP Total Score = 164,538 Part time effort... George NU3A made almost all the contacts, and we both had many other things to do before going to Russia. The propagation was really good, especially the second night. Power line noise started to play even on 160 (on 20 it is now S9+20), so the best way to listen to EU was to switch receive antenna to SW. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4ATL Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 32,500 Spent about 45 minutes putting my inverted-L back up Friday evening. It is amazing how well that simple antenna with a few radials works. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4HZ Class: M/S HP Total Score = 275,097 Condx not bad. Had good rates for most of Friday night & Saturday AM. Lost about 4 hours operating time due to amp problems. Had to go borrow an amp to finish the contest (Thanks, W4MYA!!!!) W4PM & WK4Y did the majority of the scoring with NW4V really pulling them in during his time in the chair. Nancy's waffles were a hit again. Great fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4KAZ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 10,000 A few hours of casual S&P. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4ML Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 36,250 Blowing some dust off the CVCC club call. http://www.c-v-c-c.us ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4MYA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 457,002 Could not stay awake past 08:45 Sunday morning. Thanks for the contacts! CU on 10M. Take care ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4NF Class: M/S HP Total Score = 49,345 With all the contests, business travel and hunting season taking me away from home, I made the proper decision to only spend a limited amount of time in the contest and concentrate on helping out with the Christmas decorating and spending time with my wife, Laurie. Also, I got to watch VA Tech beat Boston College for the ACC Championship and earn a trip to the Orange Bowl against Kansas. Sweet revenge after BCU's Matt Ryan pulled off the last second win during the regular season. Both our kids are at VT and they were quite excited based on the phone calls from them after the game. Ran with the FT 2000 (great receiver), Alpha 99 (1500 Watts), Inverted L with 32 ground radials, and DX Engineering Reversible Beverage System (580' NE/SW). The runs were great and worked several Eu stations during the runs. Thanks for the Qs and I'll CU in the next contest. 73, Jack W4NF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4PM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 101,493 Rig: Omni VII, ALS-600, 400W to an invted L with no radials! I spent the first night at a club multi-op station and used my home station the second night. Conditions were generally good but with my DX-challenged antenna (radials neatly rolled up under my window awaiting leaf removal and final grass cutting) I didn't spend much time looking for DX and none called me duing my CQ's. I did get KL7 and KH6 but missed PR, WY, ND, NL, NT, MB, and two of the CA sections. Starting into the contest on the second night is fun because you are "fresh meat" and once someone puts out a spot the pileups begin! What a hoot this can be with run rates peaking at 220 Plus. Such things rarely happen at my modest station. 73, Puck ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4RM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 33,920 Always a fun contest, only operated a few hours to hand out a few QSOs and check the beverages operation since installation over the summer. Station set-up: Yaesu FT-1000MP, Alpha 99, Inverted L with 33 radials, 5 Beverages: 580' phased pair to NE, 580' SE, 580' SW, 580' West, 580' NW. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4SVO Class: M/S HP Total Score = 62,392 Due to catching a cold last wkend at NQ4I, I was not able to put much time in. The inverted "L" at 70 feet played well. I was able to work KH6ZM and some europeans.Mark, W4SVO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W5GZ Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 13,052 Had to work Friday & Saturday evenigs(grumble).... :( :( !!! Trying to then stay awake after work in the AM was interesting, but worked about 3+ hrs each morning, and a couple in the late afternons......... 73 all.... es Happy Holidays !!! Stan W5GZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W5JAW Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 40,794 Yaesu MkV Field, 100w 12 ft Tee-top wire vertical Only on a couple hours each night after football games, etc. 100% S&P. Condx for NA seemed very good. Very quiet. Almost sounded like 40m on a good night, with lots of strong signals. Couldn't hear much DX through the QRM with the tiny antenna, but did manage to snag a few EU and the usual Caribbean stations. My usual goal is to get WAS in a few hours. Never heard KL7, RI, ND. Can't believe I didn't get LA. I heard a couple of my buddies there, but they were S&P also, so never hooked up. Jim, w5jaw ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W5JMW Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 40,320 It was fun as usual.Due to high winds,only antenna working was a cobra senior@50ft.Was surprised to find kl7,just minutes after telling xyl that I had not heard any,hi.Planning on next year and a better attempt from a city lot..73 all and thanks for the contacts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W5JR Class: M/S HP Total Score = 13,974 M/S W5JR+Packet 756ProII - AL80B - Inverted L Had limited time due to guests Band conditions were great with loud signals from all over ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W5MF Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 50,925 Live in town on a limited lot, not much room for a good 160m antenna. I was happy with my results. Nice to work AL and PAC! Marty W5MF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W5MX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 409,324 Had to work on daughters car most of the day Saturday, therefore no sleep! After being up since 6am Friday morning, working 10 hrs, etc. it got to me by late Saturday night/Early Sunday morning. Took a "short power nap" that ended up being from 08:40 to 14:30 Sunday AM. Fatal mistake. Cost some Q's no doubt. Had a good contest going...Next year I am taking vacation on that Friday of the contest to get some sleep! Anyway, had a great time as usual. Love this contest since it doesn't require 1000's of $ worth of antennas to be competetive. Great condx Friday night! The two full wave loops worked out great for tx and rx. Had a couple of 1 wave beverages, but loops always rx at least as well. Going to try to add a ref or dir to the loops for CQWW 160. 73's all and thanks for the Q's! Bryan, W5MX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W5PR Class: M/S LP Total Score = 60,016 Great condx. Found one antenna disconnected on top of tower and the other had 4:1 swr! Could not use the amp. (Beverages worked ok, except NW lost its termination. Used 100w and had some fun. Hard to believe what you can work with 100w and 4:1 swr! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W5RH Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 2,231 Great condx...helped my marginal ant and 5W signal. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6RKC Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 16,815 Nice to work VY1JA! Too many Christmas parties this weekend, only had a few hours. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6SJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 35,784 Coaxed 300 watts into a temp dipole up about 40' at the middle. Missed MDC and a bunch in W1 and W2 area, kind of off the end of the antenna. Big thrill was working CT the night before the contest. Heard only one JA on Sat morning and couldn't work him but did work KP2, VP2, and PJ2. Sure a lot of loud CA stations on. I wonder if the East Coast stations hear other East Coast stations the same way. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6XX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 136,595 Surprised to get calls from DF2PY and I2CQJ on first night. No other Eu heard. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6ZL Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 40,105 Made a bigger effort from small urban lot this time. Found out that rain Friday morning had gotten into the outdoor mounted tuner. This just as the sun was going down. Put out a single 120' radial on the lawn and fed coax to 150' inverted L. Tuner in radio was able to handle it. Saturday during daylight, trimmed the L for resonance, didn't need the radio tuner. High noise level here, it goes down some after midnight when everyone turns off their TV's, lights, etc. Thanks to all who pulled my small signal through the slow QSB, seemed like 15 - 30 seconds between fades -- I'm impressed by the courtesy and patience of 160M operators. Highlight was hearing JA's for the first time ever. Too weak to work, but maybe next time. Worked 20 more mults than last year and more than doubled my score. Thanks to all who worked me. Dave / W6ZL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7AT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 64,834 Could only get on for the second night. Plan was to make 200 Q's and then sleep. Like potato chips though ...just couldn't easily quit. Activity seemed a bit more civilized than last weekend. Good participation was evident with finding a spot to run only above 1880 when darkness arrived here on the JA facing coast. Tnx for the Q's. Time to get the final tweaks in place for your 160M confabulation as The Stew Perry TopBand DX Challenge will excite your grid in 4 weeks. Be there or be square! 73 and I remain, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7GKF Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 80,360 Second night very tough with a S9+20db noise level, due to snow/rain storm on HV lines 300 meters from antenna. Isn't there a VE4 that we could pay to work this contest? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7QN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 5,106 Used a mobile whip for antenna. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7RH Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 113,778 Greetings All, The trials and tribulations of operating on a remote ranch station in N. Arizona. I arrived Thursday afternoon and settled down to an evening of light radio operation and rest. It had been overcast for two days but the batteries were nearly charged. There had only been 10 AMP Hours of charge current from solar arrays in two days. No problem, there was a generator in place that tested fine two weeks ago. So I played and went to bed. Friday morning made coffee and a late breakfast then meandered out to run the generator to top off the batteries before the contest and huge winter storm arrived. The generator fired up and with charge current up at 75 AMPS. I went about my business for a few minutes and heard the generator sputtering. I went to investigate the problem to find the fuel tank pit-cock valve and screen assembly was broken starving the motor for fuel while dumping raw gas over the generator motor. Not a good thing. With no spare parts all I could do was pray the wind from the advancing storm would come early. It is two hours from official start of the contest, no sun and very light wind. The batteries are at 70%. Not a good thing for an all night balls to the wall operation. I went inside shut everything down and waited for the forecast winds. About 1:00 PM the wind was blowing strong enough to generate some power. At 2:00 PM we were probably generating 200W at 24V with a steady 12-15 MPH wind from the SW. I sat there in the dark it seems like forever watching the battery voltage and started contesting around 5:00 PM. A late start but what the heck. It's dark and I'm not going anywhere. It started raining heavy and the wind was picking up. By this time the sustained wind was over 30 MPH and it was pouring outside. I succeeded in working a hundred contacts or so when around 8:00 PM the static built up to 20 over S-9. I could not hear anything. The wind was over 40 MPH in gusts and the wind generator was going into over speed protection and shutting down. Outside the wind was howling, with heavy rain and sleet. I had no choice but to go to bead. I could hardly sleep the wind was gusting to 50MPH and it was still raining hard when I got up at 1:00AM. It rained all night. I worked what ever I could search and pounce. I could not hear well enough to establish a good run. I ended at 7:00 AM with 180 contacts in the log. It was still raining hard, I made breakfast a pot of coffee with the batteries at 60% charge. It stayed windy all day. Still no sun. The wind generator was plugging along at 300W. I use over 600W just to run the station with lights, computer, satellite ect. I again shut down everything and hit the sack. It never stopped raining. We had almost 3 inches of rain in 24 hours and it was apparent I was not going anywhere soon. That is an under statement. At 3:30 PM I got back on the air, forced myself on a frequency called CQ and started filling the log. Everyone else had called CQ the night before so I had a good run going. I mixed in a little search and pounce. I'm at half my score of the year before. I am really suffering major depression. The trip with food, gas and time off was costing me almost a grand! The temperature was dropping fast but the wind was still blowing. Again I stopped for a hour or so about 10:00 PM because of a 20 over noise level. I looked outside and it was snowing! Holy Shit! Where is my Vodka when I need it! It stopped snowing about 11:00 PM. I found a clear spot 300 Hz wide and started CQ'ing again. Three hours later I had a stateside ARRL section sweep! I was determined. At 4:00 AM with the band nearly worked out I broke last years score. I stuck with it and did not go back to search and pounce until just before sunrise. I worked everything I could and went to bed at 7:00 AM. The outside temperature was 17 degrees and the small valley had a deep thick surreal fog. I got up at 1:00 PM Sunday. The sun was out and the wind was still blowing! I got back on the air at 3:00 PM and worked a half dozen more stations and then quit at 3:30 because of no activity and no propagation to EU or Africa. A new personal high score and a chance of "best LP for west of Rockies Low Power!" What a weekend! I was tired.I packed up hungry and headed out. The road was horrendous. I carried back a thousand pounds of Arizona mud. Westside Lilos in Seligman provided the hot fuel and coffee to make it home to Las Vegas. Damn, I love their food....Next year I'll do it again. Thank God I installed a wind generator. Always a great contest with always new issues! See you all next year! Bob, W7RH ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7RN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 226,634 FT2000D, Emtron Amp 1/4 Wave Vertical DXE 4SQ RX Antenna ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7WHY Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 9,864 Operating LP from the PNW is humlblng. Don't know how the QRP guys do it. My call to QSO ratio was probably about 10. After I worked all the CA, OR, and WA stations, it was call and get "?" "?" "CQ test." It is amazing how some stations can pick up my call the first time and others who are S-9+10 can't hear me. W8JI and K4TD are 2 that come into mind--they picked out my call the first try. I looked at the packet screen and see all the Eu stations spotted and thought to myself, "Yeah, right." :-) I really need an amp for this band. But, I love the 160 contest. 160 meters is a really fun band. 73 and thanks for the Q's. Tom W7WHY TS-450SAT + inverted 'L' antenna. N1MM LOgger 7.11.3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8AKS Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 42,525 !st Eur on 160 tnx I3MLU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8CAR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 80,433 Nice condx till the remote tuner stopped working. Found in the next days that a rodent had chewed through the control cable and it required a trip into the crawl space and much *&^%$ as I repaired the problem. Lots of big numbers and lots of great signals from EU. Dan W8CAR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8GTZ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 102,305 This was my best score to date. The Motor City Radio Club held its 75th Anniversary Dinner on Saturday evening, which accounts for my more-than-usual lost time, but it was worth it. I used the club's newly acquired second callsign, which was originally the call of our first president. Conditions were good, but was plagued by a local intermittent S-9 noise for the first half of the contest. Most likely another neighborhood power pole has an insulator going bad. Didn't get the receiving loop installed in time for the contest. so a lot of weak ones were missed. I used the inverted L for both TX and RX. Again, lots of fun. This remains my favorite contest. Looking forward to next year. Mike, N8MR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8JI Class: M/S HP Total Score = 609,298 I especially enjoyed having Jim and Ralph down for the contest. Despite the last minute plans and the usual educational visits from Murphy everything came out fine and everyone had a great time. They are great operators and tons of fun. For me, the most pleasant moments of the contest were watching Jim and Ralph chuckling and whooping with every DX call and pileup. They were having a blast as Topband sank its teeth into their throats, as it has the rest of the vampires of late night Topband DX. I appreciate especially the patience of the stations that called to give us a contact, even when conditions were sometimes not spectacular. At times it took several minutes to get a call with the slow rolling fades and typical contest interference. We are looking forward to more contests! What fun! Tom W8JI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8RJL Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 55,096 Half S&P half RUN. My best run was about 100 Q's per hour around 0200 - 0300Z on Sunday. Thanks for the spots. With no special receive antenna I felt like an Alligator as I could hear lots of stations calling I could not pull out of the noise. 73, Ron W8RJL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8RU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 93,393 Fabulous conditions and great activity! I thoroughly enjoyed the time on the band. Thanks to all for the QSOs. 73, Ron (W8RU). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W9AZ Class: M/S HP Total Score = 498,856 Really Great to have KE9I and K5NMX join us. These guys are WORLD CLASS! This is the BIGGEST score ever made in over 20 years of doing this contest using various calls from WB9Z. Where was VE4??? I worked several of them last weekend during CQWW CW. A BIG THANKS to Jay VY1JA for calling in. Thanks to all the JA and UA0 stations and other DX stations for calling us. CU next weekend in the 10m contest. WB9Z ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W9RE Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 273,060 I think the conditions on the first night were the best ever for me. Worked an 'I' at 2235z and an 'EWA' at 2317z. I always like to start this contest but rarely finish, this time I wished I would have stuck it out, but. Band was quiet and my local noise was non existant so I was able to hear pretty good. All CQ until about 0700z. Missed-AK, MB NT and SDG and worked-I,CU,SP,P4,DL,HI,HK, 8P.VP5,G,C6,SV,XE,HC,F,EA8,YU,SM,LZ,OH,OK,ON,ES,OM,HB9,S5,PA,PY,OE,PJ2,CT3,J3,VP2M,ZF and YV. By far the most DX I've worked in the ARRL, I should have gotten up one of the mornings to work some west DX. Thanks for all the Q's. HOUR 160CW TOTAL ACCUM ---- ------ ----- ----- 22 158 158 158 23 137 137 295 0 107 107 402 1 118 118 520 2 102 102 622 3 98 98 720 4 103 103 823 5 108 108 931 6 60 60 991 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA2MNO Class: M/S HP Total Score = 116,256 Friday evening/night was much better than Saturday for me. Worked C6 CM HI P4 PJ2 VP2M XE ZF and AK. Had 320 Qs by the time I quit Friday night. My goal for Saturday night was to make or exceed 500 Qs by the time I would end Sunday morning. While conditions didn't seem to be as good Saturday/Sunday the band was still quiet and surprisingly made another 360 Qs for a total of 680 Qs. My sort of Inverted-L and AL-80B helped me run which I did most of the time. Had some 15 minute run rates of 110-150 which is a blast. 73 - Bob WA2MNO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA2VUN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 810 This was a "get my feet wet" contest. It's been years since I contested, I'm back with some really GREAT equipment and the antennas are growing . 73 de Mike WA2VUN The "TWR DOC" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA4DOU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 80,109 Wasn't able to get on until Saturday evening. Europeans were scarce. Conditions seemed pretty good in North America. Worked 2 KH6's but nothing heard from KL7 which I still need for state # 50. Thanks to all for the q's and looking forward to next time. Rig: FT-897D @ 100 watts Ant: 42 ft. top loaded vertical over 40 radials ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA4PGM Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 105,995 Never heard KP4, VE4, VO1, VY1. Found out Saturday that ground from feed line had broken to radials. Change out feed line and replaced balun. Thanks for contacts! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WB3JKQ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 13,104 c160-07 wb3jkq Al ENy Il Mi NTx Oh P4 Sc Ut WcF Ar Em In Mn Nc Ok PJ2 Sd Va Wi Az Ep Ks Mo Ne On Qc Sk WMa Wv C6 Ga Ky NFl Nh Or SNj Sv WNy Ct Ia Mar NNj Nm Org STx Tn WWa ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WB4YDL Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 39,620 This was my first ARRL 160M contest and I really enjoyed it. I also worked in the TARA Melee RTTY contest in between. It was wall-to-wall CQ's Saturday night all the way up to 1900 kHz ! It really gave my Beverage antennas a work out ! I'll try to be a regular. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WB8JUI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 148,320 Now that was fun! It was nice to not have a lot of the precipitation static that we had last year. This year's score was up about 46%. Missed the "sweep" by VE4 and VO1. I heard VO1HP, but after a few calls I made a decision to not fight the pile-up and check back later. That was a decision I later regretted. No VE4s heard. After 5 minutes of CQing without an answer and nearly falling asleep at the keyboard, I was abruptly awoken when VY1JA checked in at 12:35 Sunday morning. Thanks J! This year's new crop of radials seemed to play pretty well. My receiving situation still needs attention. Sorry to those I could not pull through. Thanks to all for the QSOs. See you later this month in The Stew Perry. 73 - Rick WB8JUI IC746Pro Inverted L @ 50' with 36 50-65 foot radials ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WD0T Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 2,420 This 160m test was REALLY fun. I set up the TS440/keyer/ tuner in my Suburban outside of my mothers house in Sioux Falls, SD. I used a Marconi T antenna, end fed, with 20ft of vertical #14 copper insulated wire and 120ft horizontal top hat at 15ft up. Was using a 6ft aluminum step ladder with a broom wire tied to the top of the suburban for the center support of the antenna, with one end of the flat top tied to a tree in the front yard, and the other end run over a portable basketball hoop in the side/ back yar.. It took me three hours Friday to come up with the setup and get it going. Weather was not good for antenna work, cold and windy. The antenna worked well, I can't believe it!! I ran 5w Qrp, so there were a LOT of very good ears out there to hear my weak signal. Some of the best signals that I heard were W0SD (great friend Joe, W0DB operating) who was 40miles west of me, K9BWI, WD5R, N5RR, and W5YY. Many others also very loud, but these were the best at my qth. Its amazing who can really hear well, whom I don't expect to work ,and those who are really loud that just can't hear my signal at 5 watts. The weakest signal that I was able to work was at S7 level, and really anybody above S9 on my TS440s was typically very easy to work. I have taken a lot of pictures of my setup, it got a lot of attention from the neighbors who would drive by in the morning and check it out. Had to tear it down Saturday and Sunday morning to use the Suburban for other activites in Sioux Falls, with my 7 year old daughter competing in a swim meet, and my wife wanting to do other things. My mom and sister both got big laughs out of how the setup looked! Thanks everyone for working me, you really made it fun for me, and will be looking foward to working you in the 10m contest this next weekend from KD0S, I will be the CW operator there. 73 God Bless, Todd WD0T ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WD5R Class: M/S HP Total Score = 415,998 Well Marlene did it again. She brought in another hired hand, W5TM. Considering she was only out peanuts, soup,and cornbread, she sure got her money's worth. Ed carried most of the load. He had n1mm windows up that had never seen the light of day on this farm. We've tried to add a director and reflector to our 1/4 wave vertical. Apparently just a little baling wire and a few radials will qualify the system to be called 'parasitic'. Looks like it is gona require a rocket scientist to get the gain out of it. In the past, the routine around this station is to close down soon as there is enough light to feed the cows. Ed stuck with the contest well into daylight, and proved it's worth the effort. Once again, thanks to Ed, W5TM, I've had the opportunity to see that the guy under the head set can be worth several DB. Doug, n5ect cw op at wd5r ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WE3C Class: M/S HP Total Score = 441,350 Our first effort as M/S in this contest. Had 157 5 point QSO's. The surges of EU calling in was fun. Missed WYO es VE4. We experienced a lot of QSB, sorry for all the repeats and missed Q's. Several mults gave up and moved off. We didn't realize that the scoreboard was up and logged into it late in the contest. Tnx for the Q's and a fun time. The WE3C Team ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WE9V Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 175,698 Lots of huge scores out there. I'm sure many records will fall. My best score in 11 years, but then again, I've not put in more than 10 hours per contest since then. Even this wasn't "full time", as I took 2 hours off during prime time Friday (6-8pm) and pulled the plug at 1am (7z), then didn't start back up until 0030z Saturday. Later on Saturday night, when I saw how good the score was to previous years, I got some inspiration to keep the butt in the chair, but still took 3 hours off. Rates seemed slow, even at the beginning, probably because I'm not used to running low power for this one. Sections missed: NNY, PR, NL, MB, NT DX worked: C6 CM CU HI I J3 P4 PJ2 VP2M XE ZF I was called by I3MLU and CU2AF (both with huge signals) and I called all the other DX with an occasional look in the window. Not great, but not bad considering low power and S9 line noise here. Worked only 11 DX stations, plus 2 KH6, 3 KL7, 2 KP2 and 56 VE. Thanks for the Q's and sorry if I couldn't pull you out over my S9 noise. 73, Chad WE9V http://www.we9v.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WF4W Class: M/S LP Total Score = 56,019 Fun Contest again. Lost a lot of Saturday night working on a computer problem away from contest. My best effort so far in this contest. Thanks to all the stations who worked with my weak signal to get the contact. Missed HI and AK this year although I did see them spotted. 73 to all--See you in the 10 meter contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WI9WI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 16,170 I did this one from my home in Madison. I don't have a permanent 160 antenna here. Last year I rigged up a sort of inverted U with 130 ft of wire, about 25 ft vertical, 90 horizontal, 10 ft droop, fed against my chain link fence. It loaded but barely, I was able to get 35 watts or so into it through a tuner. Was able to work some stuff, but it was useless on recieve, very noisy, so I did almost all my listening on my tribander. This year I built a 180 ft dipole, center fed with 450 ohm ladder line, via a 4:1 balun to the tuner. The center was about 25 ft, with 90 ft to the tree in the front of the house, and under the cover of darkness I strung the other 90 ft over my side fence, over the neighbor's yard, and to a small tree behind their lot. It loaded OK throught the tuner, and I was able to get almost 100 watts into it, though I had to retune every 10 kHz or so. I had S-8 noise Friday nite, and S-6 Saturday, but with 20 dB attenuation in the front end of my 765 I was able to hear some of the weaker signals. All in all much better than last years antenna. It worked pretty good out to 800-1000 miles as you would expect. I heard few 6s and only worked 1, K6XX. I heard no WA stations. Only DX heard was PJ2T, and KV4FZ. I actually worked Jeff K8ND at PJ2T...great op. Unfortunately I didn't spend as much time as I would have liked in this one. Went to the Wisconsin- St. Cloud hockey game Friday nite, and spent a lot of time digging my daughter's car out of the ice/slush/snow down the street Saturday about 2300 local. Lots of midwest QSOs which was what I really wanted. Lots of SMC, MWA QSOs. Thanks to all 73 Jim ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WJ9B Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 326,540 Nice conditions the first night! Lot of FCGers calling me. Thanks! 73, Will, wj9b, dit dit ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WO4O Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 122,206 put in as much time as i could muster, knowing i had to sacrifice several hours of prime time early in this event for a prior, higher priority commitment, costing 300+ Qs/40k+ points. expected the action in the second half to be slow, similar to Sunday SS. saturday, used the second radio to monitor local commercial a.m. station for play-by-play of the ut vols v lsu tigers football game, etc. first time on 160-m for EU to answer my CQs. no special rx antennas here for top band. 73 RiC wo4o ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WP3C Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 48,484 Hi I worked just few hours and it was really fun. Thanks to everyone... 73' http://www.wp3c.qth.com Att Alfredo Velez WP3C ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WQ2N Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 28,504 Only 3hours of operating, but produced a better score than projected. Best rate was 118Q in 1hour. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WQ5L Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 149,671 400w + inverted-L Fun!! The band was very quiet both nights, so I had only the ever-present line noise to deal with. Activity level seemed very high too. Missed MB, NL, NT. Pleased as punch to sweep the USA sections at least. DX: C6 CM DL F HB HI HR I J3 OE OK OM ON PJ2 P4 SP UR VP2M ZF 9A. Hope the thunderstorms stay away for the Stew as well... 73, -- Ray WQ5L ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WS4Y Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 241,152 I look forward to this event every year like I do Field Day. We were spared the bad wx that was forecast but we did have strong winds. Only one minor problem was the cheap power cable I used on the pro 2 fit too loose and the rig went dead twice before I changed it. In both cases my station stayed on frequency and I managed to save my run spot. I want to appologize to many of the weak stations I could not pull through. If you spend too much time trying to dig out a weak one someone comes on top calling cq. I know running stations are squeezed in tight so I set my rise/decay time to 6 to avoid clicking my next door neighbors. I wish more stations would try to fix the hard keying problem. Thanks to all that we worked. I feel a kinship with 160 meter cw contesters. See you next year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WW4LL Class: M/S HP Total Score = 217,899 Total Mult was 99. Guess on the 75/24 split. Don't have the logs right now. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WW9R Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 41,210 It was great to hear the DX stations and wall to wall stations. The cw speed was enjoyable as was hearing so many Ops sending by hand. There is nothing like the sound of a bug in the hands of a gud operator. See you in the next one. Pat WW9R, WI FT1000D Mark V Ameritron AL-811H 400Watts Gap Voyager ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WX3B Class: M/S HP Total Score = 44,870 I took a weekend off contesting, and hosted a teenage Christmas party for 18 16 - 17 year olds, one (X) XYL, and another Dad. It was a nice change from contesting! Ran a few hours, and also enjoyed listening to W4MYA run stations for awhile. Borrowed NI1N's ears while running, it is fascinating to note he can hear at least 10% of the stations that are un-readable at WX3B. Some of it is due to better propagation, and most of it is due to that extra 3 - 10db+ improvement he has with those 600' beverages. I think that the "propagation" is always going to be better at NI1N on 80 & 160, because he HEARS so well! I Noticed that Wolf, DF2PY was one of the only loud Europeans I heard Saturday night. So for our next question: how many Europeans will we work in the upcoming 10 meter contest??? 73, Jim WX3B ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: YT9A Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 286 Very bad condx for my Inv "L" and kW. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: YV7QP Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 3,080 Interference, noise, rain, power outages published, were present in my QTH. Luckily I made 55 contacts with my inverted L antenna, which does not work well. Merry Christmas and we are next year in best conditions ... VIC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: ZM1K Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 2 Many were called but only KH6ZM heard me at 0846utc 2 Dec. - gave up at 1000utc when conditions deteriorated from poor to hopeless. Deep slow QSB, no QRN - called W7RN from 0700utc, then N7DD, VE3EY, W6PU, W9AZ, W8JI, K7RAT but no luck. PJ2T was the first Caribbean station I've heard on 160m. Hopefully better conditions from ZL next year. K2 plus amp, 500w to 50' Tee vertical, 40 radials. Index of Calls Call: 5H3EE Class: Single Op HP Call: 9A2DQ Class: M/S HP Call: AA1K Class: Single Op HP Call: AA3B Class: M/S HP Call: AA4LR Class: Single Op LP Call: AA8LL Class: M/S HP Call: AA9DY Class: Single Op LP Call: AB2E Class: M/S HP Call: AB4GG Class: Single Op LP Call: AC0W Class: Single Op LP Call: AC5AA Class: Single Op HP Call: AC6DD Class: Single Op LP Call: AC7FA Class: Single Op LP Call: AD4EB Class: Single Op HP Call: AD5VJ Class: M/S LP Call: AD8J Class: Single Op LP Call: AE1P Class: Single Op LP Call: AE8M Class: Single Op LP Call: AI2N Class: Single Op LP Call: AI4MI Class: Single Op LP Call: AJ1M Class: M/S HP Call: AJ3G Class: M/S HP Call: AL1G Class: Single Op HP Call: C6AKQ Class: Single Op LP Call: CX6VM Class: Single Op HP Call: DF2PY Class: Single Op HP Call: DJ1YFK Class: M/S HP Call: DJ6TK Class: Single Op HP Call: EA6BF Class: Single Op HP Call: F5IN Class: Single Op HP Call: HI3A Class: Single Op LP Call: IQ2CJ Class: Single Op HP Call: J3/DL5AXX Class: Single Op HP Call: JA6GCE Class: Single Op HP Call: K0DI Class: Single Op LP Call: K0EU Class: Single Op HP Call: K0KX Class: M/S HP Call: K0OU Class: Single Op HP Call: K0PC Class: Single Op HP Call: K0PK Class: Single Op LP Call: K0TI Class: Single Op LP Call: K0TO Class: Single Op HP Call: K0TV Class: Single Op HP Call: K0WA Class: Single Op LP Call: K1BV Class: Single Op LP Call: K1EA Class: Single Op HP Call: K1EP Class: Single Op LP Call: K1GU Class: Single Op HP Call: K1IM Class: Single Op HP Call: K1JB Class: Single Op HP Call: K1KI Class: M/S HP Call: K1LT Class: M/S HP Call: K1LZ Class: M/S HP Call: K1NK Class: Single Op LP Call: K1PQS Class: Single Op HP Call: K1TN Class: Single Op LP Call: K1TR Class: Single Op HP Call: K2ONP Class: Single Op HP Call: K2PS Class: Single Op HP Call: K2QMF Class: M/S HP Call: K2RD Class: Single Op HP Call: K2TTT Class: M/S HP Call: K2UF Class: Single Op LP Call: K2ZR Class: Single Op LP Call: K3AN Class: Single Op LP Call: K3JT Class: Single Op HP Call: K3NL Class: Single Op LP Call: K3STX Class: Single Op HP Call: K3TD Class: Single Op LP Call: K3WI Class: Single Op HP Call: K3WW Class: M/S HP Call: K3ZM Class: Single Op HP Call: K3ZV Class: Single Op LP Call: K4BP Class: Single Op LP Call: K4CIA Class: Single Op QRP Call: K4CZ Class: M/S HP Call: K4EU Class: Single Op HP Call: K4HAL Class: Single Op LP Call: K4IU Class: M/S HP Call: K4JAF Class: Single Op LP Call: K4KO Class: Single Op HP Call: K4LY Class: Single Op LP Call: K4RO Class: Single Op HP Call: K4SAV Class: Single Op HP Call: K4TD Class: Single Op HP Call: K4WW Class: M/S HP Call: K4WX Class: Single Op LP Call: K4WZ Class: Single Op HP Call: K4XD Class: Single Op HP Call: K4XU Class: Single Op HP Call: K4ZGB Class: Single Op HP Call: K5AM Class: Single Op HP Call: K5EWJ Class: Single Op LP Call: K5HP Class: Single Op HP Call: K5NA Class: M/S HP Call: K5NZ Class: M/S HP Call: K5QQ Class: Single Op LP Call: K5TA Class: Single Op HP Call: K5TR Class: Single Op HP Call: K5UV Class: Single Op LP Call: K5ZD Class: Single Op HP Call: K6CSL Class: Single Op LP Call: K6GEP Class: Single Op LP Call: K6MM Class: Single Op HP Call: K6NR Class: Single Op HP Call: K6NV Class: Single Op HP Call: K6ST Class: Single Op LP Call: K6VVA Class: Single Op HP Call: K6XT Class: Single Op LP Call: K7BG Class: Single Op HP Call: K7NV Class: Single Op HP Call: K7OX Class: M/S HP Call: K7RAT Class: Single Op HP Call: K7RE Class: Single Op LP Call: K7TJR Class: Single Op HP Call: K7XC Class: Single Op HP Call: K8AJS Class: Single Op HP Call: K8BL Class: Single Op LP Call: K8FH Class: Single Op LP Call: K8GT Class: M/S LP Call: K8IA Class: Single Op HP Call: K8KS Class: M/S HP Call: K8MM Class: Single Op LP Call: K8MP Class: Single Op HP Call: K8MR Class: Single Op HP Call: K8NVR Class: Single Op LP Call: K8WDN Class: M/S HP Call: K9AY Class: Single Op HP Call: K9BGL Class: Single Op LP Call: K9BWI Class: M/S HP Call: K9CT Class: Single Op HP Call: K9DU Class: Single Op HP Call: K9DX Class: Single Op HP Call: K9MMS Class: Single Op LP Call: K9RS Class: M/S HP Call: K9WJU Class: Single Op LP Call: K9YC Class: M/S HP Call: KA2D Class: M/S HP Call: KA4RRU Class: Single Op LP Call: KB7Q Class: Single Op LP Call: KC5R Class: Single Op LP Call: KD2MX Class: Single Op LP Call: KE0UI Class: Single Op HP Call: KE0WO Class: M/S HP Call: KG4CUY Class: Single Op HP Call: KG7H Class: Single Op HP Call: KH6/KU1CW Class: Single Op QRP Call: KH6LC Class: M/S HP Call: KI6T Class: Single Op HP Call: KI7Y Class: Single Op HP Call: KI9A Class: M/S HP Call: KJ0G Class: M/S HP Call: KJ6RA Class: Single Op LP Call: KK0HF Class: Single Op LP Call: KL7FH Class: Single Op HP Call: KL7WV Class: Single Op HP Call: KN0V Class: Single Op LP Call: KN3A Class: Single Op LP Call: KN4Y Class: Single Op LP Call: KN7T Class: Single Op HP Call: KO7AA Class: Single Op HP Call: KO7X Class: Single Op LP Call: KR2Q Class: Single Op QRP Call: KR4F Class: M/S HP Call: KS0T Class: Single Op LP Call: KS1J Class: Single Op LP Call: KT4AC Class: Single Op LP Call: KT5E Class: Single Op QRP Call: KU1CW Class: Single Op LP Call: KU8E Class: Single Op HP Call: KX7L Class: Single Op QRP Call: KY4F Class: M/S LP Call: KY5R Class: Single Op HP Call: KZ1M Class: M/S HP Call: LN9Z Class: M/S HP Call: N0BUI Class: Single Op LP Call: N0HF Class: Single Op LP Call: N0IJ Class: Single Op HP Call: N0KM Class: Single Op LP Call: N0UR Class: Single Op QRP Call: N1BAA Class: M/S LP Call: N1BUG Class: Single Op HP Call: N1IW Class: M/S HP Call: N2BZP Class: Single Op HP Call: N2CU Class: Single Op HP Call: N2ED Class: Single Op HP Call: N2EE Class: Single Op HP Call: N2KW Class: Single Op HP Call: N2NL Class: M/S HP Call: N2NS Class: M/S HP Call: N2VW Class: M/S HP Call: N2WK Class: M/S HP Call: N2WKS Class: M/S LP Call: N2WN Class: Single Op LP Call: N2ZN Class: Single Op LP Call: N3BB Class: M/S HP Call: N3KHK Class: Single Op LP Call: N3KS Class: M/S HP Call: N3NR Class: M/S HP Call: N3RS Class: Single Op HP Call: N3TG Class: Single Op LP Call: N3UA Class: Single Op HP Call: N3XLS Class: Single Op LP Call: N4CW Class: Single Op HP Call: N4DW Class: M/S HP Call: N4GG Class: M/S HP Call: N4JF Class: Single Op QRP Call: N4KG Class: M/S HP Call: N4OGW Class: Single Op HP Call: N4PSE Class: Single Op LP Call: N4RV Class: M/S HP Call: N4TB Class: Single Op HP Call: N4VA Class: Single Op LP Call: N4VV Class: M/S HP Call: N4YDU Class: Single Op LP Call: N4ZZ Class: Single Op HP Call: N5AW Class: Single Op LP Call: N5DO Class: Single Op LP Call: N5OE Class: Single Op LP Call: N5RR Class: Single Op HP Call: N5TW Class: M/S HP Call: N5UL Class: Single Op HP Call: N5WLA Class: Single Op LP Call: N5XJ Class: M/S LP Call: N6AA Class: Single Op HP Call: N6DZ Class: M/S HP Call: N6HC Class: Single Op HP Call: N6KI Class: M/S HP Call: N6NF Class: Single Op HP Call: N6PC Class: Single Op LP Call: N6PE Class: Single Op HP Call: N6RK Class: Single Op LP Call: N6RO Class: M/S HP Call: N6RV Class: Single Op LP Call: N6TV Class: Single Op HP Call: N6TW Class: Single Op HP Call: N6VR Class: Single Op HP Call: N6WG Class: Single Op QRP Call: N6XI Class: Single Op HP Call: N7AZ Class: M/S LP Call: N7BF Class: Single Op HP Call: N7DD Class: M/S HP Call: N7GP Class: Single Op HP Call: N7IR Class: Single Op QRP Call: N7MAL Class: M/S QRP Call: N7RK Class: Single Op HP Call: N8EA Class: Single Op HP Call: N8IE Class: Single Op QRP Call: N8TR Class: M/S HP Call: N9ADG Class: Single Op HP Call: N9AUG Class: Single Op LP Call: N9CO Class: Single Op LP Call: N9FC Class: Single Op HP Call: N9FH Class: M/S HP Call: N9JF Class: Single Op LP Call: N9NE Class: Single Op LP Call: N9VN Class: Single Op LP Call: NA2M Class: Single Op HP Call: NA3M Class: Single Op HP Call: NA4K Class: Single Op LP Call: NA5Q Class: Single Op HP Call: NE7D Class: Single Op LP Call: NE9U Class: Single Op LP Call: NG7Z Class: Single Op LP Call: NI0C Class: Single Op HP Call: NJ1F Class: M/S HP Call: NN3W Class: Single Op LP Call: NN7ZZ Class: Single Op HP Call: NO2R Class: M/S HP Call: NS9I Class: Single Op HP Call: NT6X Class: Single Op HP Call: NX9T Class: Single Op HP Call: NY3A Class: Single Op HP Call: NY4A Class: Single Op HP Call: NZ1U Class: M/S HP Call: OE3GCU Class: Single Op HP Call: OK2BFN Class: Single Op LP Call: ON4UN Class: Single Op HP Call: P40TA Class: Single Op HP Call: PJ2T Class: Single Op HP Call: SN3R Class: Single Op HP Call: UW2M Class: Single Op HP Call: VA2SG Class: Single Op LP Call: VA2WDQ Class: Single Op LP Call: VA3DF Class: Single Op QRP Call: VA3DX Class: Single Op HP Call: VA3EC Class: Single Op LP Call: VA3HJ Class: Single Op LP Call: VA3KA Class: M/S HP Call: VA3RKM Class: Single Op QRP Call: VA7ST Class: Single Op LP Call: VE1OP Class: Single Op LP Call: VE2CWT Class: Single Op HP Call: VE2OJ Class: M/S LP Call: VE2TZT Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3CX Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3EJ Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3EY Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3FAS Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3FH Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3FRX Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3FU Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3HG Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3JAQ Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3JM Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3KF Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3KZ Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3MGY Class: M/S LP Call: VE3NE Class: M/S LP Call: VE3OSZ Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3RCN Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3RER Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3TA Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3XAT Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3XD Class: Single Op LP Call: VE5CPU Class: Single Op HP Call: VE5RAA Class: Single Op HP Call: VE5UF Class: Single Op LP Call: VE6EX Class: Single Op LP Call: VE6WQ Class: Single Op HP Call: VE7KET Class: Single Op HP Call: VE7UF Class: Single Op HP Call: VO1HP Class: Single Op HP Call: VO1MP Class: Single Op HP Call: VO1TA Class: Single Op LP Call: VP2MSC Class: M/S HP Call: VP5/K7WA Class: Single Op LP Call: VY2LI Class: Single Op LP Call: VY2SS Class: Single Op LP Call: VY2ZM Class: Single Op HP Call: W0AIH Class: M/S HP Call: W0BH Class: Single Op HP Call: W0ETT Class: Single Op LP Call: W0HW Class: Single Op HP Call: W0LM Class: Single Op LP Call: W0PR Class: Single Op HP Call: W0SD Class: Single Op HP Call: W0UO Class: Single Op LP Call: W0YK Class: Single Op HP Call: W1AR Class: Single Op LP Call: W1CSM Class: Single Op HP Call: W1EBI Class: Single Op HP Call: W1KQ Class: Single Op HP Call: W1SJ Class: Single Op HP Call: W1TO Class: Single Op HP Call: W1UE Class: Single Op HP Call: W1ZK Class: Single Op LP Call: W2FU Class: Single Op HP Call: W2GD Class: M/S HP Call: W2GDJ Class: Single Op LP Call: W2IRT Class: Single Op HP Call: W2JU Class: Single Op LP Call: W2OIB Class: Single Op HP Call: W2OO Class: Single Op HP Call: W2TB Class: Single Op HP Call: W2YC Class: Single Op HP Call: W3BP Class: Single Op LP Call: W3CP Class: Single Op LP Call: W3MF Class: M/S HP Call: W3SO Class: Single Op HP Call: W3TS Class: Single Op QRP Call: W3UA Class: M/S HP Call: W3UR Class: Single Op HP Call: W4ATL Class: Single Op HP Call: W4HZ Class: M/S HP Call: W4KAZ Class: Single Op LP Call: W4ML Class: Single Op LP Call: W4MYA Class: Single Op HP Call: W4NF Class: M/S HP Call: W4NZ Class: Single Op HP Call: W4PM Class: Single Op HP Call: W4RM Class: Single Op HP Call: W4SVO Class: M/S HP Call: W5GZ Class: Single Op QRP Call: W5JAW Class: Single Op LP Call: W5JMW Class: Single Op HP Call: W5JR Class: M/S HP Call: W5MF Class: Single Op HP Call: W5MX Class: Single Op HP Call: W5PR Class: M/S LP Call: W5RH Class: Single Op QRP Call: W6RKC Class: Single Op HP Call: W6SJ Class: Single Op HP Call: W6XX Class: Single Op HP Call: W6ZL Class: Single Op LP Call: W7AT Class: Single Op HP Call: W7GKF Class: Single Op HP Call: W7JI Class: Single Op QRP Call: W7QN Class: Single Op LP Call: W7RH Class: Single Op LP Call: W7RN Class: Single Op HP Call: W7TMT Class: Single Op LP Call: W7WHY Class: Single Op LP Call: W7ZR Class: Single Op HP Call: W7ZRC Class: Single Op LP Call: W8AKS Class: Single Op LP Call: W8CAR Class: Single Op HP Call: W8FJ Class: M/S HP Call: W8GTZ Class: Single Op LP Call: W8JI Class: M/S HP Call: W8MJ Class: M/S HP Call: W8RJL Class: Single Op HP Call: W8RU Class: Single Op HP Call: W9AZ Class: M/S HP Call: W9RE Class: Single Op HP Call: W9SE Class: Single Op QRP Call: WA2JQK Class: Single Op LP Call: WA2MNO Class: M/S HP Call: WA2VUN Class: Single Op HP Call: WA4DOU Class: Single Op LP Call: WA4OSD Class: Single Op LP Call: WA4PGM Class: Single Op LP Call: WA6BOB Class: Single Op HP Call: WA7YAZ Class: Single Op LP Call: WB3JKQ Class: Single Op LP Call: WB4YDL Class: Single Op HP Call: WB8JUI Class: Single Op LP Call: WB9CIF Class: Single Op LP Call: WC6H Class: Single Op HP Call: WD0T Class: Single Op QRP Call: WD5R Class: M/S HP Call: WE3C Class: M/S HP Call: WE9V Class: Single Op LP Call: WF4W Class: M/S LP Call: WI9WI Class: Single Op LP Call: WJ9B Class: Single Op HP Call: WO4O Class: Single Op LP Call: WP3C Class: Single Op LP Call: WQ2N Class: Single Op HP Call: WQ5L Class: Single Op HP Call: WS1L Class: Single Op HP Call: WS4Y Class: Single Op HP Call: WT6K Class: Single Op HP Call: WT9Q Class: Single Op HP Call: WT9U Class: Single Op LP Call: WW4LL Class: M/S HP Call: WW9R Class: Single Op HP Call: WX3B Class: M/S HP Call: WX4MLB Class: M/S HP Call: YT9A Class: Single Op HP Call: YV7QP Class: Single Op LP Call: ZM1K Class: Single Op HP Index of Calls organized by Class Class: M/S HP Call: 9A2DQ Call: AA3B Call: AA8LL Call: AB2E Call: AJ1M Call: AJ3G Call: DJ1YFK Call: K0KX Call: K1KI Call: K1LT Call: K1LZ Call: K2QMF Call: K2TTT Call: K3WW Call: K4CZ Call: K4IU Call: K4WW Call: K5NA Call: K5NZ Call: K7OX Call: K8KS Call: K8WDN Call: K9BWI Call: K9RS Call: K9YC Call: KA2D Call: KE0WO Call: KH6LC Call: KI9A Call: KJ0G Call: KR4F Call: KZ1M Call: LN9Z Call: N1IW Call: N2NL Call: N2NS Call: N2VW Call: N2WK Call: N3BB Call: N3KS Call: N3NR Call: N4DW Call: N4GG Call: N4KG Call: N4RV Call: N4VV Call: N5TW Call: N6DZ Call: N6KI Call: N6RO Call: N7DD Call: N8TR Call: N9FH Call: NJ1F Call: NO2R Call: NZ1U Call: VA3KA Call: VP2MSC Call: W0AIH Call: W2GD Call: W3MF Call: W3UA Call: W4HZ Call: W4NF Call: W4SVO Call: W5JR Call: W8FJ Call: W8JI Call: W8MJ Call: W9AZ Call: WA2MNO Call: WD5R Call: WE3C Call: WW4LL Call: WX3B Call: WX4MLB Class: M/S LP Call: AD5VJ Call: K8GT Call: KY4F Call: N1BAA Call: N2WKS Call: N5XJ Call: N7AZ Call: VE2OJ Call: VE3MGY Call: VE3NE Call: W5PR Call: WF4W Class: M/S QRP Call: N7MAL Class: Single Op HP Call: 5H3EE Call: AA1K Call: AC5AA Call: AD4EB Call: AL1G Call: CX6VM Call: DF2PY Call: DJ6TK Call: EA6BF Call: F5IN Call: IQ2CJ Call: J3/DL5AXX Call: JA6GCE Call: K0EU Call: K0OU Call: K0PC Call: K0TO Call: K0TV Call: K1EA Call: K1GU Call: K1IM Call: K1JB Call: K1PQS Call: K1TR Call: K2ONP Call: K2PS Call: K2RD Call: K3JT Call: K3STX Call: K3WI Call: K3ZM Call: K4EU Call: K4KO Call: K4RO Call: K4SAV Call: K4TD Call: K4WZ Call: K4XD Call: K4XU Call: K4ZGB Call: K5AM Call: K5HP Call: K5TA Call: K5TR Call: K5ZD Call: K6MM Call: K6NR Call: K6NV Call: K6VVA Call: K7BG Call: K7NV Call: K7RAT Call: K7TJR Call: K7XC Call: K8AJS Call: K8IA Call: K8MP Call: K8MR Call: K9AY Call: K9CT Call: K9DU Call: K9DX Call: KE0UI Call: KG4CUY Call: KG7H Call: KI6T Call: KI7Y Call: KL7FH Call: KL7WV Call: KN7T Call: KO7AA Call: KU8E Call: KY5R Call: N0IJ Call: N1BUG Call: N2BZP Call: N2CU Call: N2ED Call: N2EE Call: N2KW Call: N3RS Call: N3UA Call: N4CW Call: N4OGW Call: N4TB Call: N4ZZ Call: N5RR Call: N5UL Call: N6AA Call: N6HC Call: N6NF Call: N6PE Call: N6TV Call: N6TW Call: N6VR Call: N6XI Call: N7BF Call: N7GP Call: N7RK Call: N8EA Call: N9ADG Call: N9FC Call: NA2M Call: NA3M Call: NA5Q Call: NI0C Call: NN7ZZ Call: NS9I Call: NT6X Call: NX9T Call: NY3A Call: NY4A Call: OE3GCU Call: ON4UN Call: P40TA Call: PJ2T Call: SN3R Call: UW2M Call: VA3DX Call: VE2CWT Call: VE2TZT Call: VE3CX Call: VE3EJ Call: VE3EY Call: VE3FAS Call: VE3HG Call: VE3KZ Call: VE3RER Call: VE3TA Call: VE5CPU Call: VE5RAA Call: VE6WQ Call: VE7KET Call: VE7UF Call: VO1HP Call: VO1MP Call: VY2ZM Call: W0BH Call: W0HW Call: W0PR Call: W0SD Call: W0YK Call: W1CSM Call: W1EBI Call: W1KQ Call: W1SJ Call: W1TO Call: W1UE Call: W2FU Call: W2IRT Call: W2OIB Call: W2OO Call: W2TB Call: W2YC Call: W3SO Call: W3UR Call: W4ATL Call: W4MYA Call: W4NZ Call: W4PM Call: W4RM Call: W5JMW Call: W5MF Call: W5MX Call: W6RKC Call: W6SJ Call: W6XX Call: W7AT Call: W7GKF Call: W7RN Call: W7ZR Call: W8CAR Call: W8RJL Call: W8RU Call: W9RE Call: WA2VUN Call: WA6BOB Call: WB4YDL Call: WC6H Call: WJ9B Call: WQ2N Call: WQ5L Call: WS1L Call: WS4Y Call: WT6K Call: WT9Q Call: WW9R Call: YT9A Call: ZM1K Class: Single Op LP Call: AA4LR Call: AA9DY Call: AB4GG Call: AC0W Call: AC6DD Call: AC7FA Call: AD8J Call: AE1P Call: AE8M Call: AI2N Call: AI4MI Call: C6AKQ Call: HI3A Call: K0DI Call: K0PK Call: K0TI Call: K0WA Call: K1BV Call: K1EP Call: K1NK Call: K1TN Call: K2UF Call: K2ZR Call: K3AN Call: K3NL Call: K3TD Call: K3ZV Call: K4BP Call: K4HAL Call: K4JAF Call: K4LY Call: K4WX Call: K5EWJ Call: K5QQ Call: K5UV Call: K6CSL Call: K6GEP Call: K6ST Call: K6XT Call: K7RE Call: K8BL Call: K8FH Call: K8MM Call: K8NVR Call: K9BGL Call: K9MMS Call: K9WJU Call: KA4RRU Call: KB7Q Call: KC5R Call: KD2MX Call: KJ6RA Call: KK0HF Call: KN0V Call: KN3A Call: KN4Y Call: KO7X Call: KS0T Call: KS1J Call: KT4AC Call: KU1CW Call: N0BUI Call: N0HF Call: N0KM Call: N2WN Call: N2ZN Call: N3KHK Call: N3TG Call: N3XLS Call: N4PSE Call: N4VA Call: N4YDU Call: N5AW Call: N5DO Call: N5OE Call: N5WLA Call: N6PC Call: N6RK Call: N6RV Call: N9AUG Call: N9CO Call: N9JF Call: N9NE Call: N9VN Call: NA4K Call: NE7D Call: NE9U Call: NG7Z Call: NN3W Call: OK2BFN Call: VA2SG Call: VA2WDQ Call: VA3EC Call: VA3HJ Call: VA7ST Call: VE1OP Call: VE3FH Call: VE3FRX Call: VE3FU Call: VE3JAQ Call: VE3JM Call: VE3KF Call: VE3OSZ Call: VE3RCN Call: VE3XAT Call: VE3XD Call: VE5UF Call: VE6EX Call: VO1TA Call: VP5/K7WA Call: VY2LI Call: VY2SS Call: W0ETT Call: W0LM Call: W0UO Call: W1AR Call: W1ZK Call: W2GDJ Call: W2JU Call: W3BP Call: W3CP Call: W4KAZ Call: W4ML Call: W5JAW Call: W6ZL Call: W7QN Call: W7RH Call: W7TMT Call: W7WHY Call: W7ZRC Call: W8AKS Call: W8GTZ Call: WA2JQK Call: WA4DOU Call: WA4OSD Call: WA4PGM Call: WA7YAZ Call: WB3JKQ Call: WB8JUI Call: WB9CIF Call: WE9V Call: WI9WI Call: WO4O Call: WP3C Call: WT9U Call: YV7QP Class: Single Op QRP Call: K4CIA Call: KH6/KU1CW Call: KR2Q Call: KT5E Call: KX7L Call: N0UR Call: N4JF Call: N6WG Call: N7IR Call: N8IE Call: VA3DF Call: VA3RKM Call: W3TS Call: W5GZ Call: W5RH Call: W7JI Call: W9SE Call: WD0T