ARRL 160 Soapbox built 1-6-2012 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA1K Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 371,504 Conditions poor to Europe and West Coast the first night -- only five Europeans in the log. Conditions much better second night and lots of Europeans called. Worked 139 five-pointers, including VK the first morning and 4X the second night. Missed SDG, LAX, AK, VY1 sections. Rig: Single Elecraft K-3 (dual RX), Alpha 89 amp. 3-el/4-el parasitic vertical array for TX. 17 Beverages (most are phased pairs) for Rx. Details www.aa1k.us ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA3B Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 94,880 I was only able to get on for the second night. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA8IA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 5,940 First time operating in this contest. Prior to this contest, I'd only worked one station on 160m in the past 20 years. The dipole isn't resonant on 160m -- should be somewhere, but it isn't. Couldn't tune anywhere but the extreme lower edge. So I was limited to running 100w between 1800-1810. Anything higher than that and SWR went up amazingly quick, and of course power output went down. I heard all kinds of stations I'm sure I could have worked above 1825, but it was totally useless to try and transmit there. All things considered, I'm pretty happy with the result. Nearly 100 contacts in just a few hours, probably not even the prime hours. I enjoyed it enough that I'm going to make sure I've got a better antenna up next year, one that I can actually transmit on. It was interesting how far away I could hear. Lots of noise, but I turned on all the attenuation the FT-950 had and made sure no preamps were on, and I was hearing all kinds of stations. Need an inverted L up for next year. I want to reach out farther. As one might figure, most contacts were well below 1500m away and I heard no DX whatsoever. Had an enjoyable time. Was busy working 10m RTTY all weekend, and of course there is nothing happening on 10m at night. So it was the perfect time to play on 160m. No QRQ in this test huh? Seemed quite relaxed. Thanks for the Qs! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AB1OD Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 12,669 Well, now I have a better feel for how my inverted L works on 160m. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AB2E Class: M/S HP Total Score = 163,872 Rig: Icom 756 Pro III, Acom 2000A Antenna: Inverted L, 50ft vertical section, 4 tuned radials, no beverages yet. First night, no west coast, no EU from SNJ. Even missed some of the few Caribbean stations. Sat night much better, had about 35 EU stations call in on my CQ, including most of my EU mults (9A, EU3, MD, GM, G, GJ, OK, SP, OM, S5, UR, and others). Missed a couple CA mults, all CA difficult copy, also missed ND, PR, VE8. Will the sponsors ever add an SOA category? What ridiculous nonsense to force all SOA entrants into M/S. Thanks to all for calling, 73 Darrell AB2E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AB7ZU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 13,527 I had only 8 hours to operate with low power AND a low 80 meter antenna. This is the first RF I have put on this band since 1988 (23 years ago)!!!! I forgot how much fun 160 can be. Working XE, PJ2, CE1, ZF2, VP2 and JA in that 8 hour period was a definite highlight for me. Next year, I will give this contest the time it deserves (hopefully with a much improved antenna, too). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AC0C Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 31,740 Rig: Yaesu FTdx-5000MP + Alpha 76pa 600W + MFJ998 ATU Ant: Attic dipole @ 45' and side-yard located RX loop Got a late start in the contest Friday due to problems getting the RX loop to run. Too bad because Fridays band conditions seemed to be better than Saturday. Its the first time the loop has seen contest work since converting to a high-z buffered drive replacing the old transformer coupling and dumping the extra 80m and 40m segments. While the local band conditions were quiet from a noise standpoint, the loop was still a great performer by comparison to the dipole. Best DX was FM5CD - hope that was legit - quite a surprise given my cloud burner TX antenna must have nearly zero ERP at the low angles out that direction. Could not break the WMA pileup and most of the DX but picked up the PJ on Saturday. Unfortunately, only a few 6 land stations could be heard and most were weak here - quite a few sections missing there but a good show for the loop on the domestic sections otherwise... Look for you in the Stew! 73/jeff/ac0c ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AD4EB Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 212,412 Conditions seemed pretty good here in middle TN. The band was fairly quiet, usually allowing easy copy of the weak signals (no power line noise thanks to a recent fix by local power company). Ran 90 percent of the time, best hour 133. Most DX was worked the second evening. Probably would have worked more DX had I used packet, or done more S&P. Missed VI, PR, AK, PAC, SB, SDG, and NWT. Had 57 dupes. Looking forward to Stew Perry. 73 - Jim - AD4EB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AE4O Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 11,660 Ten Tec Eagle @ 85W to makeshift vertical wire. N1MM. S&P. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AJ1E Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 4,872 Friday night conditions were poor. Signals seemed down with lots of deep QSB. Saturday was a bit better, but still unstable. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: CE1/K7CA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 66,729 Conditions were good Friday night with decent propagation to the States and summer QRN below normal. Saturday night the propagation was not so good and never even heard a decent signal until after 11pm local. And the summer QRN was a bit worse. Propagation to Europe was OK since they kept calling in and were worked for no score. I saw some complaining on the reflector about this being a poor contest with no chance to win. I believe I'm winning just by being able to work new stations and having fun doing it. If you are looking to win something then why not try to be the best in your section. I operated this contest many years from Nevada and Utah and we never, never have a chance to have the high score in SOHP from out west but that doesn't mean we stop trying. I enjoyed the contest and hope to see you all next weekend in the ARRL 10m contest and then my favorite, the Stew Perry contest where folks far away from big ham populations actually do have a chance for top scores. 73, Al CE1/K7CA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DF2PY Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 9,424 Hi ! Conditions were poor to the western NA. Like a curtain drawn from MN to TX and nothing further west heard. Too much solar activity for my taste. Band closed an hour before my sunrise on first day - that's how bad ist was. It was just worth to put the 7 hrs in that i did. Better years to come :-)) 73 de wolf df2py ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: E77DX Class: M/S HP Total Score = 14,904 Poor condx and no WC worked (CO was farest one). Last year start of the contest (more or less whole 1st day/night) was realy boring since it was very hard to get trough VE/US pileups or keep CQ freq clear! This year i decided to operate only 2nd day(night). But in such condx that was not much better. Somehow most or many US/VE station are not interested to work DX. I cann imagine that not every VE/US cann copy EUs(DX) and it is easier to work only NA, but to continiue with endless CQing even when they relalized that some DX is working on same freq is somehow pitty. There are as well every year few same station putting a solid signal into EU but apsolutly not workable from here...even with good antennas and some power..... Setup FT-2000 + amp TX ant 4 SQ RX ant bev to 300 deg 450m long + bev to 325 deg 400m long (most signals were comming better on 300deg bev) If organizer wish to get more praticipation from DX side it is important to change the rules otherweise this contest will be more and more boring for us! We need more motivation for VE/US to work DX and maybe to keep DX window clear for DX station...otherweise not much motivation to participate in this one! 73s and cu in ARRL 10m Braco E77DX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: F5IN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 4,284 Many US stations are not intressed by DX stations. it is a contest USA/USA !!!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0DI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 146,495 Much better conditions on Saturday compared to Friday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0DU Class: M/S HP Total Score = 204,600 We kinda limped in to this contest , our amp did not come from Alpha , our beverages were ripped to shreds by the ELK and we were short two operators ( K0DU & K0UK ) this weekend . Larry concluded this was the weekend for Stan KR7C . Who is KR7C? Stan has been licensed since 1977 and is currently living in Aspen. He retired from HP after 30 years as an electrical and software engineer. Stan operates primarily CW and enjoys contesting and the sprints. Stan was off the air for 25 years and is excited to be active again. This contest was a great opportunity for Stan to get back into serious contesting at a decent station. Larry, K0CL, was a great contest Elmer and Stan learned a lot about handling a pileup and dealing with QRN and QSB. Larry & Stan worked 46 JA's, with 45 the first night; they must all have been preparing for work on Sunday morning. Antenna here just that old crooked wire hanging off a tower . Be back next week for more pain. CU then. The moderator K0DU . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0PK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 104,130 DX conditions not as good as last year. Only EU heard was OK/OL with a duct to MN. Missed PR, WCF, WTX, LAX, SDG, MB, NL & NWT. Did work all states and a bit of DX: CE, OK, PJ2, VP2M, XE & ZF. Station: FT-2000 (100 w), 95' Top-loaded R25 vert., Short Bev. & CF Zepp for RX. Thanks for the Qs! 73 - Paul, K0PK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0RF Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 271,104 Just trying to get my bearings again, here. I had this strange dream that Chuck invited Me up to do the ARRL 160. Of course, in real life, I’d have politely declined. All the Action is on the top floor & I’m gonna’ bang my head on the basement wall? But, naturally, in the dream I said, “Great, see you Friday.” It all seemed to go pretty normally, except activity seemed down & there was precious Little DX. Somewhere in there, I recall some high moments, like getting called by MD0CCE and FM5CD and working Pedro, NP4A. And a life-giving BLT samich Chuck Fixed for me Saturday evening. And it taking about 15 minutes between CQ’s to get the call of the EU station I’d just worked, E77DX. And I dimly recall sitting there at 4 AM Sunday with the CQ on ‘repeat,’ sipping coffee and thinking that I knew it would be like this, that it’s ALWAYS like this on Sunday morning in a 160 test. The next thing I knew I was startled awake at 14Z on Sunday Morning when my head hit the table after 100 straight unanswered CQ’s to JA. Honestly, doctor, that’s all I can remember�"except that I actually enjoyed it... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0TI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 150,255 Thanks to all that kept calling. Sometimes signals were very week. I apologize to those that I just couldn't dig out. 73 Dan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0TQ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 29,344 Weak sigs from west coast. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0TV Class: M/S LP Total Score = 169,650 The freak snowstorm at the end of October this year did a real job on all the beverages. Some were worse than others. My chain saw ended up in the shop and still hasn't come back but K1HI able to lend me his saw. I was actually able to get all the beverages back up and running before the contest started. The operator schedule was in a state of flux until Saturday. Two of the usual operators had bowed out but Ed, K1EP indicated a desire to operate from someplace other than his condo this year. I was happy to host him. He is a fine op and made a great contribution this year. We both found activity way down from last year. We expect everyone was burnt out from last weekend's great conditions on 10 meters. Conditions on topband were down this weekend. We had decided to run in the M/S LP category this year with the hopes that we could turn in a winning score. When you're trying to compete with KC1XX and K1LZ, there's not much room at the top. So we backed off to low power and managed to work most everything we could hear. Last year we got almost 300 more QSOs and 36 more mults than this year but it looks like everyone else was down too. We were also running high power last year with low this year. Both Ed and I had a great time this year but with the SFI at 160 throughout the contest, this would have been a better weekend for 10 meters but we've been enjoying great conditions on topband for several years, I guess it's time for the high bands to come back. Thanks to all the stations that called us this weekend and we'll look for everyone in the TBDC coming up in a few weeks. 73, Jerry - K0TV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1DG Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 454,660 Poor conditions, low activity and high noise Friday night. Much better Saturday night. Great to finally work KH2/N2NL on 160. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1GQ Class: M/S HP Total Score = 189,618 K3 KPA500 Inverted-L SkookumLogger 93 DX -- thanks! Some said band was noisy Friday night; here it was so quiet that I thought something was wrong with my RX antenna. Signals were down too, but good SNRs and lack of atmospheric crashes made the event rather pleasant, aside from the usual assortment of trashy signals. My experiment this time: don't call anyone in an ARRL section, then list those among the top-ten 3830 entrants who found me: M/S - W8JI W2GD K1LZ N1LN NX5M W8MJ KØDU W4HZ (8 of 10) SO - K1DG NO3M K9CT VA2EW (4 of 10) Conclusion: S&P by SO entrants is a dying art. RIP. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1LT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 310,407 I've done some more work with the Beam Steering Phased Array described in QEX and reprinted on my web site after being stagnant for the last couple of years. Tracking Power Line Noise As soon as the rain stopped and the weather turned cold, one of the previously intermittent local noise sources went full-on adding more than 10 db to the local noise floor. Earlier I bought an MFJ 852 "power line noise tracker" and now I had a chance to use it. I didn't have to go far. Five poles down the road and around the corner I found 1 pole under which the 852 would show full scale, even with the whip antennas partial collapsed. Unfortunately, there was no way that the power company would be able to fix the noise source before the contest. I did not try whacking the pole with a sledge, as that particular location has great visibility and I feared being accused of being a terrorist. Beam Steering and Noise Cancellation Experiments with Eznec showed that one can create a second beam with an array and add it out of phase with the main beam to add a null to the pattern in some direction. Note that with only 4 end-fire elements, the null is not very sharp or deep. Since the noise source was very close to the phased array I thought maybe I should just subtract a component from each element from the overall array and tune the gain and phase of each element by hand. So Friday afternoon I wrote some code to do that. By repeated iterations I could reduce the level of the line noise to where I could hear the normal background noise (other more distant sources of line noise). I had to repeat this process for each of the regular beam headings I have configured for the phased array (Europe, North Europe, New England, Virginia, Caribbean, due West, etc.). I didn't have time to do every pre-programmed direction, but I thought if I covered the directions I most often use, I should be safe. I also had to check that I wasn't canceling all of the received signal my making sure I wasn't cancel-ling my own transmitted signal. I figured no more than a 2 db reduction in my own transmitted when noise-cancel-ling mode is turned on. Interestingly, the #3 end-fire array did not receive much noise signal, probably because that particular element is behind a small hill with respect to the noisy power pole. The other 3 elements can directly see the noisy pole. When the array is switched to the west, elements #2 and #3 don't see much noise power, probably because the noisy pole is directly in line with the #2 element, which can attenuate the noise because of the element's cardioid pattern, and because of the hill for the #3 element. Finally, I found that the cancellation scheme was not very effective for the directions where the linear phased array degenerates into a non-optimal end-fire array, presumably because there isn't enough directivity remaining to form much of a beam. Noise Canceled Beam Steering Array in Combat During the contest I found that the array seemed to operate reasonably normally for the broadside directions, although the optimal beam heading did not always seem correct for some stations. For example, New England appears to have split in two, with the two parts migrating North and South. The noise-cancellation was probably severely messing with the shape of the beam. Nevertheless, the noise cancellation made weak signal reception possible. Turning off the noise cancellation showed that weak signals would just disappear into the noise and buzzing. The phased array was not at all useful for receiving signals from the Caribbean, because the noise was not attenuated in that direction. I'm sure I missed some Caribbean multipliers. Although conditions to Europe were very poor, I did work about 11 stations the first night which proved that the noise cancellation scheme worked. During the day Saturday, I added noise cancellation to more pre-determined directions and fixed a bug which broke the array performance in directions for which there was not to be any noise cancellation. In other words, the first night I couldn't receive weak signals from Florida or the Caribbean or from Minnesota because I broke the software. The second night reception from Minnesota was greatly improved although I didn't spend much time hunting for Caribbean stations. Contest Overall Late the second night, conditions to Europe were more "normal" for this point in the sunspot cycle. Several Europeans were even copyable without resorting to ESP-mode. By the end of the contest, I worked 65 5 point stations, compared to 185 in 2010 and 238 in 2009. In fact, I have to go back to 2006 to find a lower count. I missed AK, NT, and SDG and didn't hear any VK, ZL, or JA. I was timing how long to work WAS on 160, and the timer is past 42 hours now, although I reached 49 states by working KH6 at 0456Z the first night. This is my lowest score since 2003, which was the first year I operated from this location while the house was still being built. I worked 32 duplicates. Doesn't anyone use logging software in this contest? DX worked: 9A (2 and 1 dupe), CE, DL (5), EU (2), F (3), G (8), GD, GM (2), GW, HB, I (2), LZ, OK (10), OM (2), ON (2), OZ, P4, PA (2), PJ2, SM, SP, SV, UA (2), UR (4), VP2M, VP5, XE (3), YN, YO, and ZF. Equipment: K3, beam steering noise canceling phased array antenna / computer / receiver thingy, ETO 91B (as always, thanks K8ND), 12 Beverages (totally useless because of the noise), 65 foot "Tee" over 80 125 foot radials on the ground, Writelog, and custom software kludges to tie it all together. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1LZ Class: M/S HP Total Score = 461,518 ARRL 160m is always difficult from MA . Congratulation to W2GD fantastic job !! 73's Krassy K1LZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1TN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 100,646 Whew. Five major contests in the last six weeks. This has taken a toll on me. My antenna: 110-foot horizontal wire, 35 feet above ground, split and fed in the center with twin lead, twin lead twisted together at ground level. That is, a random wire antenna. MFJ 998 auto tuner by a kitchen window. 100 feet of coax from the radio room. (No, the house isn't 100 feet long; I had a spare 100-foot piece of RG-213.) Two elevated 1/4 wave radials. I am going to leave this antenna as it is and use it next weekend in the 10 Meter Contest, in addition to my small E/W Sterba curtain. Elecraft K3, Ameritron ALS-600 amp running 300-400 watts, QSK, NA software. Missed WCF, LAX, SB, SDG, SJV, NT, AK, PR, VI. Conditions to the Left Coast were miserable on Friday night, better on Saturday but spotty. Heard but not worked: SJV and PR. Actually worked GW3YDX and F5NTV. Got two Hawaii (KH6LC and ZM) but missed KL7 to finish 6BWAS LotW in one year here. Please QSL to LotW. Thanks. Maybe after working half a dozen (more) WV, one will use LotW. In a major role reversal for me, this effort was entirely CQing except for a few tuning excursions to look for multipliers. No RX antenna. I doubt I missed much as a result. Only two or three callers were so weak I couldn't pull them out (thank you K3). I built the antenna last Monday when the ground was mostly free of snow. It was cold, about 20 deg F, but seems to have been worth the effort. I thought a forecasted snow storm Saturday night would quash any operating. It turned out to be a sleet storm and not make much noise. Jim Cain At The K1TN Superstation Northern Wisconsin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1TR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 48,314 K3, AL1200 to a K2KQ "double-L" Good fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2AV Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 119,066 Lost prime time on Fri and Sat evening to family stuff. Rig K3 to inverted L with 5/16 wavelength single wire folded counterpoise (no radials). Conditions poor compared with last year. 73, Guy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2DB Class: M/S LP Total Score = 66,000 I don't know how many countries I worked, apparently N1MM does not put that info in the score summary. Paul K2DB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2PO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 17,655 Missed Friday night, but that made me more popular Saturday night. 'Managed a sweep - of the 6th and 7th call districts. 73, Bill, K2PO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2QO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 44,940 Ran the first half QRP and the second half 100W. Played with my new Inverted L with elevated radials and newer 220' dipole. Also wanted to see how the K2 compared to the IC-746 each with the two antennas. No contest in any universe. The K2 is far superior in pulling out signals on a crowded band. My 746 has a 500 Hz filter at the 9MHz IF, but alas, it is not enough. Time to search for a new way to get 100W on the HF bands. Maybe a 100W upgrade for the K2? The 746 is a keeper on VHF for sure. Propagation seemed just OK. The best part of the contest was Sunday morning. I picked a CQ frequency at 6AM local and could not even refresh my coffee until 8:30. Nice! In case you are interested, my inverted L is about 85' up and 40' horizontal with the feed 7' off the ground using a COMTEK 1:1 balun. The 4 radials snake through the trees between 7 and 13' off the ground (height needed to cross the driveway in 2 spots). So far, this is the best antenna I've tried for 160M. Need to add some RX antennas next year. 73, Mark K2QO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2RD Class: M/S HP Total Score = 29,341 Weird conditions. Some East Coast but very few W1 and W2. Shouldn't complain. No 160 antenna here. Using 80/40 fan inverted vee at 60' with tuner as top loaded vertical. SF Bay salt ground must help. Thanks for the qsos. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2TTT Class: M/S HP Total Score = 127,600 Thanks to N2WKS for helping with my new beverage antenna. It was a lot of fun hearing for a change. Shortened hours because of family commitment. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2ZR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 90,112 IC-765 @ 100W EF Wire 450' -- CF Wire 660' -- 160 Inv. "L" -- 160 Inv. "V" N1MM Logger Fair Conditions this year. Lots of short & medium propagation. Long propagation not so hot! Happy Holidays, Dick, K2ZR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3AN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 48,108 Condx not as good as previous two years. Between the slow rate and some good football games on TV Saturday night, I cut this year's effort short. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3IE Class: M/S HP Total Score = 169,012 Worked M/S in hopes of spotting new countries for 160 mtrs but DX activity seemed to be lacking. Thanks for the Q's - Hunter K3IE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3IT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 6,800 Aluminium Vapor Barrier Indoor Antenna (tm) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3PA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 101,817 My first 160M contest. Amplifier died last month, but I was surprised how well low power worked. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3STX Class: M/S HP Total Score = 96,976 Very little luck with Europe in this contest, those damned sunspots! paul ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3SV Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 30,157 Outside of PVRC circle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3TN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 30,218 K3/KPA-500 to 51' T antenna Added a few more radials to the T antenna and just got on to see if I could tell the difference. Conditions seemed poor whenever I got on - barely even heard any 6s and didn't work any. Anything west of CO was puny weak, and had S3-5 static most times. OL7M was my only EU - I think he comes through and can hear no matter what. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3WA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 51,398 Got on for 4 hours to have a little fun, two hours each evening. After about an hour on Friday something started to break down in my antenna system at full power. Operated at about 80 watts the second hour. Sure was hard to hold on to my run frequency at 80 watts but was able to maintain 85 QSOs rate that hour. Fixed antenna Saturday morning so was able to operate full power on Saturday evening for another two hours. Best hour was 122. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3WW Class: M/S HP Total Score = 323,150 Very few CA stations, moderate EU the second night. Noise level up signal levels down. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3YDX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 22,275 Did not think condx were as good a prrevious years. Heard no W6 stations and only one EU. Need to come up with a low noise receiving antenna I can fit into the space available. General noise level at S5-6 and worse with neighborhoos plasma TV sweeping by. Good to hear so many familar calls. 73-Hank ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3ZM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 434,880 "My Favorite Things," by K3ZM Raindrops on roses and crystal wall sconces, Stations who come back with loud, quick responses, Boxes from DXE tied up with strings, These are a few of my favorite things. When the storm strikes, When there's line noise, When my rate is sad, I simply remember my favorite things And then I don't feel so bad. Adequate guy runs that yield the right leverage, Hearing the A6 on my Northeast Beverage, Quieter static that wintertime brings, These are a few of my favorite things. When the storm strikes, When there's line noise, When my rate is sad, I simply remember my favorite things And then I don't feel so bad. DX who answer my CQ's all evening, Working a lot of five-point Europeans, Quiet locations where whip-poor-wills sing, These are a few of my favorite things. When the storm strikes, When there's line noise, When my rate is sad, I simply remember my favorite things And then I don't feel so bad. Girls in white dresses who send dots and dashes, Working the JA between static crashes, High-powered rotors that turn on their rings, These are a few of my favorite things. When the storm strikes, When there's line noise, When my rate is sad, I simply remember my favorite things And then I don't feel so bad. Old fashioned classrooms with hand-painted wallsigns, Fast-running DX who tell us their callsigns, Fresh cups of coffee the XYL brings, These are a few of my favorite things. When the storm strikes, When there's line noise, When my rate is sad, I simply remember my favorite things And then I don't feel so bad. The first several minutes of the contest foreshadowed the final result. Hardly any EU stations were answering me. I thought I might have picked a poison frequency in EU, but then I realized that I was not able to hear even the well-equipped G3 and DL stations, and the frequency was clear on my side. There is a magic tunnel that provides propagation from this location to EU that others do not enjoy, but the tunnel was closed for sure on Friday evening. The sunset opening provided hardly any EU contacts. So, I pointed my antenna for the next several hours across the great states of the red, white and blue and tried to compile a good collection of NA contacts. Conditions were very quiet, as they were on Saturday evening as well. NA was coming in nicely, affording a host of contacts from across the continent. But I still was not getting answers from many non-EU countries and my multiplier count was dismal. I hoped that conditions would turn in time for the EU sunrise, but this did not come to pass. Propagation seemed literally disturbed. I ended Friday night with only 53 EU's in the log, a stunning and disappointing result. This compares with 300 in 2009 and 202 in 2010. I had managed 960 QSO's and 76 sections but only had 26 countries. I was deep in a hole. As I awoke on Saturday, I fantasized about some of the great comebacks. I thought of the New York Yankees coming back from about 14 games behind to tie the Red Sox in 1979. I recalled watching (in person, with brother George) Harvard score 16 points within the final 43 seconds of the game to tie Yale. So, as I prepared lunch Saturday, I put on my DX Engineering cap and turned it sideways. It was time for a rally! Conditions returned mostly to normal on Saturday evening. It was amazingly quiet. With the 250 hz filter on, the S meter on the K3 either showed nothing or registered S1 for much of the evening. The sunset opening provided a nice assortment of EU contacts, but I felt I really needed something bigger to get back in the ballgame. More plentiful contacts from across the US and Canada throughout the evening. Then a good and very sustained opening to EU that started a few hours before their median sunrise. But still I ended up with a total of only 203 EU QSO's, versus 433 in 2009 and 366 in 2010. I think the propagation was there but the volume of EU stations was not. Somehow on Saturday evening I ended up immediately below VY2ZM. "Great, I thought." Well, maybe not such a bad thing, actually. Since this is not "their" contest, some EU's unknowingly send a serial number with their exchange. At this point in the contest, a few of them sent me number 002. Gee, I wonder who was 001? Perhaps I got some hand-me-downs. Worked a few KH6 (thanks, guys!), a couple KL7 and a VK (cheers!) but no JA. It is funny how we line up between 1810 and 1825 like seagulls, hoping to have our antennas fed by the JA's. But this seagull never tasted a morsel. My final QSO count appears to be about 200 below where it should be. I have not seen any other results. I wonder if the low country total also reflects fewer multipliers on the band this year. It was fun trying to come back from so far behind, but there was too much to make up and Saturday evening was simply ordinary (though very quiet). I will just have to look forward to the next Topband contest. Maybe the magic tunnel will be open! If not, I will try to remember a few of my favorite things. 73, Peter K3ZM Special thanks to Rod, George and the helpful technicians at DX Engineering who generously help me debug problems spawned by lightning, hurricanes, and the generally hostile environment offered by this QTH. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4BAI Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 74,376 FT1000MP, Alpha 78, 1 KW, tee vertical. Thanks for all QSOs. Time was limited this year. Band didn't sound too good Friday night, but was better Saturday morning and Saturday evening. Band was very poor Sunday morning. Not too many DX stations, as usual, since it is a difficult contest for DX to work only W/VE contacts. But, good signals from Europe Saturday night and OL7M had the outstanding European signal both nights. Hope to work everyone again next weekend in ARRL 10M from WW4LL M/S. 73, John, K4BAI. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4FJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 132,551 Got a slow start plus condx were not as good as last year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4IKM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 90,168 My first 160M contest. I temporarily converted my 80M vertical to an Inverted-L for 160M and it worked great! Now for a lasting solution. Go FRC! Steve...K4IKM...73!... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4RO Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 110,649 Number of countries is a guess -- not broken out by scoring software. I missed EU SR the first evening. The second evening 9A2DQ, OL7M and RL3A called in. Late night operation in between a lot of other activity over a busy weekend. 73, Kirk K4RO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4WI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 10,368 Only a very part time effort but it was fun. Band was very quiet and actually heard a JA Sat morning working the west coast. Thanks for the qso's Cort ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4WW Class: M/S HP Total Score = 34,398 That was not fun! Less than efficient antenna, less than good conditions, leads to lower score. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4XD Class: M/S HP Total Score = 10,686 Busy weekend, fun two hours! Always enjoy this one, room to run but since everyone is on the same band, lots of activity even for modest stations. KW to an inverted L = over 100/hour rates. Multi because I used the cluster. 73, Rowland K4XD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5AF Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 20,460 Dreadful conditions compounded by bad QRN from a nearby source, probably a plasma TV. I had been testing several antenna designs the past month, including a T vertical, an MA-160V design, and an inverted L. I ended out using the inverted L along with my 200' low dipole with open feeders. My dipole has been my main 160M antenna and normally could be relied on to provide a few hundred Qs and 60-70 mults under normal conditions. This year, I struggled for every Q and mult until switching to the inverted L, which only improved things a bit. Signals were weak to begin with, QSB was rapid and deep, and even many of the traditionally strong signals were not immune. The magical qualities of 160M were on full display. I had little difficulty working the one European and the one South American stations heard, but couldn't work the P40s and PJ2T hung with me for about 5 minutes to complete a QSO. I was working lots of western US stations, but didn't even hear any California stations till fairly late the first night. I worked up and down the East Coast, but couldn't work SFl and WCF, normally a chip shot from STx. I have to be guardedly pleased with the inverted L, though. It was consistently 1-2 S units louder than the dipole on receive, and was quite reliable on transmit. It uses #22 stealth wire, and is about 35' up and 90' out, with 10 radials with an average length of 50'. I plan to add about 6 more radials for CQ160, and that should help a lot. I can't use much larger wire in my restricted neighborhood, but I think I can run a couple of parallel wires spaced about a foot apart to help handle the high currents in the vertical portion of the antenna. I might also try elevated radials. Overall, though, I cannot remember a time when 160M was so bad for two days in a row. I didn't think it could get worse than the first night, but it did! Thanks for the QSOs, see you in January. Paul K5AF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5NA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 316,785 The ARRL 160M Contest has always been my favorite contest. This year is the 42th running of it and it is my 37th year to participate. If anyone has been in more of them, let me know. As usual, my only goal is to try and make the single-op top ten. With CQWW CW the week before and many appointments/commitments for the week, my beverages were not in the best shape. I managed to get a couple of them working well but the rest were just so-so. But they were all better to use than listening on the transmitting antenna. This year the conditions were poor and there was a fast QSB on most signals. It took a couple of tries to get the complete exchange on most weak signals. Central Texas had rainstorms all weekend (We really needed the rain) that made the band noisy. There was a moderate European opening the first night at their sunrise and I picked up a few European multipliers. I knew many were calling, but they were weak and blending together with diverse QSB that effected them all. About 0800Z the first night, the thunderstorms in the distance began to make the band extra noisy. This made it a struggle to work anyone and the band stayed noisy until after sunrise. I worked a few JAs but heard many more calling me that I couldn't hear enough of their calls to identify them. It sounded like a very good JA opening but I only worked about 14 JAs. Nothing else in that direction was heard or worked. The second night had slightly worse conditions than the first. The opening to Europe wasn't as good as the first night and I heard no JAs at my sunrise. I think overall activity was down. I recall last year that it was hard to find an open space all the way up to 1870 kHz. But this year, the crowd thinned out about 1840 kHz. It may not have been that way everywhere, but that's how it sounded here. But still, I am glad I did it. 73, Richard - K5NA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5WA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 251,748 Very disappointing contest due to power line noise that started Saturday evening about 9 PM and shut me down at 10 PM. Also had storm static crashes early Saturday morning through sunrise that didn't help. Missed NL and NWT for sweep but had some decent EU stations call in. Not many JAs though. Oh well, I've now identified the holes for CQWW 160. ;-) Thanks for the Qs! Bob K5WA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6CSL Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,856 This was fun! I ended up 4Q's and 24points shy of last years effort, but 1 more Mult than last year. I reduced my power from my usual 100W to 80W so that I could use 3 of my 4 invisible antennas. Last year I used only my 40M Delta Loop, but this year added the use of my Indoor, End-Fed Coaxial Dipole and my new outdoor End-Fed wire, which is angled about 45 degrees off of both the Delta Loop and the Coaxial Dipole. The different antennas seem to favor different directions. I sadly missed KH6ZM. I heard others working him, but never heard him. Friday night, Saturday morning didn't seem as well populated as Saturday night, Sunday morning. Early Saturday morning, just before sunrise, I was hearing JA3YBK, but couldn't break the pile-up. I heard XE2S off and on both nights, nut couldn't seem to get him to hear me. I was very surprized to have made a solid QSO with K9CT in IL at 10:53Z Sunday morning. Working anything East of the Mississippi River has been a real rarity for me on 160M. I kept hearing W0AIH in WI all of Saturday Night, Sunday morning, but couldn't make the QSO. I worked all the 6's except for PAC and all the 7's except AK. However I am very hopefull for the up-coming Stew Perry. TNX to all the KB'ers who gave me points and sections. Bert, K6CSL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6III Class: M/S HP Total Score = 5,887 QSO number 100 came about 15 seconds before the end of the contest! Mostly Hunt-n-Pounce, but ran the last 1.5 hours. Made a lot of spots as is my usual practice. Rig is ICOM-765 and IC2KL linear, about 300w. I have a really crummy old Butternut vertical with 160m Resonator and 1 radial on 160m; bandwidth is about 15khz and resonates about 10khz up from the bottom of the band. I am not surprised that many strong stations could not hear me calling them. Best DX was a GA station (W8JI). Worked all the the 6 & 7 area sections. This past summer, the Squirrels ate through my skyhook that held up the 160m Double L. It wasn't much good anyway. Gonna try some other wire antenna I have laying in the garage (an Alpha Delta Sloper) on my 55ft tower. I worked all the KBers I could find. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6JEB Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,800 I enjoy the pace and the commitment to complete each QSO that happens on 160m. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6LL Class: M/S HP Total Score = 45,954 Used Skimmer which puts me in multiop. Just messing around. It's hard for me to hear anything on 160. Even at that, conditions didn't seem very good. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6NV Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 32,984 Realy tough from here, hard time getting good runs going. Local noise was not as bad as it was mid-week. Had to rebuild xmit antenna dring the week due to high winds tangling the wires in branches. I don't think it was as efficent as before. Will improve the ground system prior to the next 160m contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7ABV Class: M/S HP Total Score = 11,421 well considering time spent, I had fun, couldn't get much from the east coast with my Inv. Vee at 55 feet..looks like winter is on the way..ugg...thanks for the q's once again.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7BG Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 25,024 Got on for half an hour around 0330utc Sunday morning and then back on for another hour and a half around 0700utc. Didn't bother turning the amp on. Got the rate over 200 a coupla times and that was sure fun until my fresh meat status ran out and then the rate dropped like a rock. Band seemed quiet to me, but didn't hear much DX the little time I spent tuning around. Hope to see you all next weekend on 28MHz. 73, Matt--K7BG IC765 100w to 1/4 wave sloper on 83' of heavily loaded 45G. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7FA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 21,808 Rig: K3 Ant: Inverted Vee w/ apex @ 138 ft. AGL Spent only 6 hours to contribute a few points to our club. Heard so many fellow Arizona Outlaws Contest Club Members ... That was great! Six countries were logged in this domestic contest: JA,K,KH6,PJ2,VE,XE During passage of a winter storm QRN rose to S9 for 20 minutes. During that time, fellow Outlaw, (Pres - N6SS) at 20/S9 was the only signal heard for 20 minutes. Had one short run, but it was cut short when KZ5D began calling CQ. Holding a run frequency on 160m while barefoot can be short-lived. During the test, it was amazing to see how patient some QRP/Low-power operators can be (i.e., Esteemed Outlaw, N7IR). Maybe there will be more incentive to listen carefully on frequency before calling CQ during the Stew Perry Topband Challenge. Thanks for the Qs. 73, Tom ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7IA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 55,525 Despite a lot of snow noise (snow/rain always welcome in SW New Mexico drought country!) on Friday evening and clear skies on Sat evening, the band was better on Friday. I had two very good and lengthy runs on Friday, where I made most of my Q's, but it's S&P that garnered the mults. Perhaps with only a vee antenna at 85 feet, I worked all of the strong signals on Friday, leaving only a few Sunday Drivers and stalwart QRP/LP ops on Saturday. When rates went nearly to zero at 0800Z, I called it a night. Best DX: Al, CE1/K7CA (man, does he have good ears!) Surprise DX: F5NTV, who called while I was running. I've just gotta finish shunt loading the tower--maybe there's more DX out there? At least two dozen stations didn't make it into the log for various reasons: 1. They call me, I send the exchange once, twice, three times with no reply from them at all. These weren't QRP signals, and fading wasn't bad. I even go progressively QRS on the second and third try. A mystery. 2. They call me, I send the exchange, they send theirs, and then they immediately QSY, assuming I have their section. I send "SEC" once, twice, thrice, as above, into empty spectrum. My rule: no complete exchange ==> NIL. I do not look up data on qrz after any contest! 3. I'm running, they call me and immediately add their exchange to their callsign, then they QSY while I give them my exchange (or send "CL" if QRN has blanked part of their callsigns). Guess they have logged my exchange from one of my previous QSOs. 4. An otherwise good QSO that is destroyed by a LID who keeps calling despite all attempts to let him know I am working someone else. My attempts include: sending the prosign several times, followed by the complete callsign of the chap I'm trying to work, followed by the prosign twice, then followed by "SEC.". Still the LID keeps calling, covering up the chap I want to work (first). I end up sending the complete callsign followed by "NIL," hoping he will return later. I do not work the LID, because I do not reward bad behavior. Ten years ago, the 160 meter contests weren't like this. Many thanks to the QRP (sounded like many, but more likely LP ops with antennas like mine) who patiently sent their callsigns/sections over and over until I copied them. Good radio here (K3, realigned and tune-up at Elecraft two weeks ago) but poor hearing & constant/worsening tinnitis make for a lot of work for many callers. A tip: if an op is obviously having difficulties copying callsign and/or exchange, send it more than once, and consider a little QRS in QRN conditions. It may save repeat "AGNs" for both of us. A better antenna is anticipated for next year (and for 2012 CQ 160). See you in ARRL 10m. 73, dan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7KU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 191,080 I thank each of you who managed to get some 160m RF into the frozen tundra of central WY (where the temp dropped to minus 18F during the contest). I made a special effort to copy stations whose signals rose, however fleetingly, above the primordial ooze of poor conditions. QSB was sometimes fast enough to interrupt copy in the midst of a single CW character. Poor conditions, did I say? Depended very much upon where one was, I suppose. It was an especially tough event for W6/W7 this year. Anyone remember 2009, when K7RAT/N6TR scored a remarkable 351K all the way from the west coast? No W6/W7 score, I dare say, will come close this year. Didn't hear a peep from EU, even with a 600-foot Beverage, bearing 32 degrees, that ordinarily hears EU exceptionally well. As is so often true, it was a huge plus to be farther south, farther east, or both, this year. Special thanks go to N4ZR and W1WBB for states no. 49 and 50, respectively. WAS on 160m in a single weekend? No big deal from some areas perhaps, but a genuine thrill from W7. YAY! There was a super-abundance of WY participation this year. I myself logged K9DR, W6KGP, KO7X, N7NG, WY7FD, and WC7S, in that order. Congratulations, gents, on a splendid turn out for the state. Semi-serious effort, in that I took at least four hours off during the wee hours of each of the two nights. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7NV Class: M/S HP Total Score = 11,781 Trying to get into the 21st Century here.... Spent all day Friday & Sat trying to get modern logging software loaded & running on my new (really just a new old XP thingie) computer system. Many thanks & profound Kudos to N6TV, K0RF & K6NA for spending hours on the phone trying to help me get up and logging modernly!!!!!!!! Finally figured it out Sat night, with N1MM......and got on and made a few Q's. Of course, if there wasn't already enough drama getting on the air in the firsst place with the computer/software.....I started operating with the 1000MP I acquired from N6RO and thought there had been some kind of major solar event, because the band sounded totally dead, and I could only hear a few guys in the local area..... Then Dave, K6LL sent me an e-mail, which I saw on my laptop (off to the side) telling me I was totally deaf & lots of guys were calling me that I couldn't hear, including him......hmmmmm.... Changed over to Dad's old 1000MP MKV, and guess what? I could hear a normal sounding band with lots of signals to work ;-) Guess that 1000MP is dead on 160M. It sounds down a little (about 10db)on the other bands, so maybe some fixing is needed... DARN! So, it turned out being a great weekend.....I got a new computer system up & running with N1MM (which I think I'm going to like when properly educated) & actually made some Q's..... Now, I've spent a couple more days figuring out what the heck to try with N1MM, and actually think I'm all setup for SO2V for the ARRL 10M contest. We'll go give that contest a try, cw only, and see what adventures materialize! None of this would be any fun at all if it wasn't always a mind boggling challenge....;-) Let's hope some contest like Q's are on the horizon....Hope to be and see you there...;-) 73, Kurt ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7SS Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 5,120 When you cant get a "dididumdumdidit" out of VE3EJ, you know condx are bad. and indeed they were. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7WP Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 10,500 FT1000MP/ Sloper/ N1MM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7XC Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 50,456 Weak, Noisy, Absolutely Awful Conditions. Seldom Heard W1 & Then Just barely @ Their Sunrise Sunday. DX Worked; XE, KL7, KH6, JA, CE1, & PJ2. The Winners Of This Event Will Have Earned It! 73s de Tim - K7XC - DM09nm... sk K3, IC-2KL @ 500W, 175' Total Length Inv L Up 35'. Kudos to Elecraft for yet again allowing me to hear well in a very noisy and crowded contest! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8BL Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 150,110 I had recently replaced my Bazooka-fed Inverted L due to a storm causing a large tree limb to tear down my old one while ramming through the back of my house (YIKES!!). A day before the Contest I decided to also replace the feedline which had buried itself in the backyard between the house and my shed over 8 years. The old coax was regular RG58 and the new feedline is RG8X. Without a tuner the SWR was 1.3:1 before the replacement and 1.1:1 afterward. Maybe that's merely due to shiny new connectors, but it made me feel good about using the antenna directly without a tuner all across the Contest frequencies. Contestwise, it seemed like activity was down this year. Last year it didn't seem too hard to find new stations and crank out over 1000 Q's. But this year I had to tune and tune to find a new one later each night. Also, I thought the propagation was significantly lower. It was tough working 6's and I never heard a KH6 or KL7. Heard no EU on Friday and only found a few for a short time on Saturday night. My score was a LOT lower this year. It was very disappointing and irritating to find so many Stateside stations calling CQ in the DX Window (1830-35). It specifically says in the Rules to avoid these frequencies during the Contest and only call DX there. Yet, even when reminded of this, many stations ignored being reminded or made rude remarks and kept calling CQ. I think these stations should be penalized since many computer logs will indicate the operating frequency and if they were working DX there. They should lose 2 Q's for every K/VE they work there. I'm still amazed every year how many stations can be worked in this Contest in a Band that's used less than 100 KHz wide. After SS, this is my favorite along with the CQ version! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8MR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 39,797 Not a lot of time left after major CQWW and SS efforts, and lots of around home projects, but at least managed a few hours of good rate action. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9AY Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 200,136 Fun time in the chair first 9 hours (950 Qs), but had very limited operating time after that. Thanks for all the QSOs! 73, Gary K9AY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9CT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 329,300 So this is why this contest is 48 hours! First night to run and the second to get the multipliers. The first six hours were absolutely wonderful and fun. Rate and good cw operators everywhere. 734 qsos to start the next twenty-one...hi. But is was obvious that conditions were not the best as the night drew on. The west coast was weak and there were fewer stations getting through. The biggest issue was the lack of EU multipliers to work as it drew towards their sunrise. Only a handful were in the log and my first day was only 87 mults and 1050 qsos. I knew the qso rate would be slower the second day but it made it worthwhile as the EU stations started calling in. The QSB was on all weaker signals and everyone seemed patient enough to work through the waves to make the qso. DX mult totals were off from the last few years and only had 65 5 point qsos. No JA stations were heard our first sunrise but the second was much better. My only missing sections were KP4 and NT. The last two worked were JA and AK. This was my first real test of the new 1/4 vertical and also the 180 foot dipole. I ran both through a Stackmatch in the shack and could quickly switch between them. I used them both together the first few hours and am sure that it helped the rate. The rx antenna is a Hi-Z 8 circle array. It worked like 8 Beverage antennas or maybe better. Sometimes it was so effective that I would miss west coast stations calling while I was listening for EU. I used the Green Heron Everywhere WIO devices and used a couple of hotkeys on the computer to quickly switch around the compass. In fact, the GHE was used for the tx array and also the SM switching. My fingers did not have to leave the keyboard unless I needed a fill. Station was Elecraft K3, microHam MKII, AS Filtermax III, Alpha 87A and N1MM Logger software. No assistance.....other than my wife brought me McDonald's meals for supper! See you next weekend for ARRL 10M. 73, Craig K9CT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9FY Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 183,718 How the hell do all these unassisted operators manage to work all 80 sections? Those perfect section scores above and below us make it look so easy. Southern Cal was in disaster mode so activity may have been lower than normal. We missed 3 Cals. We searched up and down the band with a fine toothed comb, but SD, KL and NWT were not to be found. My K9-call, 800w and an inverted L ( w four elevated radials) didn't produce any pile-ups but made 20 of the 24 coutries call us. We would happily have traded three Eu 5-pointers for SD, KL and NWT. And... isn't anybody living out in WTX? But, all in all great fun. Thanks guys! 73 Lars / K9FY in Melrose, NFL. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9MMS Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 112,224 K3 + INV L and Marconi wires + Win-Test logging Assorted short RX antennas -- including new Hi-Z, 2-3 triangle array 64% of QSOs via CQ runs. Lower totals than my score last year for QSOs, sections, and DX. Also less op time this year. Missed the first few hours of activity on Friday and Saturday nights due to doing antenna work and adjustments. The start of Saturday antenna work was delayed due to rain during much of the day. Sections missed: WCF (heard K5KG, S&P and gone), PR, VI (heard KV4FZ CQ EU then gone), SDG, ND (heard KD4POJ S&P and gone), and YT. California stations were sparse this time. DX worked (in QSO order): PJ2T, VP2MWG, P40TA, CE1/K7CA, ZF2AH, FM5CD, OL7M, E77DX, XE2S, and YN2CC. KH6LC called in during a CQ run. Later, found and worked KH6ZM. Later on, they both popped up out of the noise less than an hour before my sunrise on Sunday. Worked NL7Z shortly before my sunrise on Sunday. Not much DX heard. From EU, only heard (and worked) OL and E7. Surprised to not hear some of the top band regulars such as G3JMJ, F5IN, SM4CAN, IV3PRK, etc. Surprised to not hear more Caribbean stations. Did not hear YN2CC until Sunday AM about 2 hours before my S.R. Did not hear other Caribbean stations that were active several days earlier on 160. COMPLAINT: I realize that observance of a DX window at 1830 to 1835 kHz can sometimes be controversial; however, the rules for the ARRL 160-meter contest expressly request the observance of the DX window. Rule 6.1: The segment 1.830 to 1.835 should be used for intercontinental QSOs only. I was very annoyed to find that many USA stations parked in the DX window, with loud (probably HP) signals, and made extended CQ runs -- some even parked right at the edges of the window -- with signal bandwidth extending into the window. Several times, I could detect weak, sometimes probable and other times for sure, DX signals in the window, but I could not "tweak" them to consistently identifiable copy near the noise level with loud US signals continually blasting away in the window. Please when the contest rules request observance of the DX window, please do comply and don't hinder. Be considerate -- after all, top band used to be called the gentlemen's band. As always, I especially enjoy any radio contest on top band. Thanks for the Qs and Ms. 73, Gary ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9NR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 199,017 Condx Friday to Europe and even to the west coast were very poor. South & Central America were good. Saturday was better and Europe came in although the west coast was still weak. Worked nearly 50 dupes...apparently a lot of stations out there not logging or dupe checking. Great contest...thanks for all the Q's 73, Don Kerouac K9NR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9NW Class: M/S HP Total Score = 76,834 Even after 10 days of pileups from Africa, still had some motivation for another quick rate fix! 73, Mike K9NW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KC0W Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1 Smoked the Palstar AT5K at only a few dozen Q's into the contest. I twiddled my thumbs for a while wondering what I was going to do next & then threw in the towel for good..............It's no fun operating 160 low power, right? North Dakota seemed very well represented in the 'test!!! Tom KC0W ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KC4D Class: M/S HP Total Score = 212,784 MY GREAT THANKS TO MY ABLE PARTNER BILL, K1SE, FOR HIS SUPER OPERATING AND DELIGHTFUL FELLOWSHIP!!! THIS IS ALWAYS GREAT FUN!!! WHILE NOT OUR LARGEST TOTAL Q TOTAL, IT IS LIKELY OUR HIGHEST SECTION TOTAL EVER. AGAIN THIS YEAR OUR DX COUNT WAS RX S/N LIMITED, AS WE HEARD MANY OTHERS CALLING, BUT WERE UNABLE TO PULL THEM THROUGH. A FULL COURT PRESS TO REDUCE AMBIENT NOISE SOURCES IS A MUST FOR FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS. ABOUT A THIRD OF OUR Q'S WERE WITH FELLOW CWops MEMBERS. GO CWOPS!!! THANKS TO ALL WHO CALLED!!! BILL, KC4D #419 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KD2MX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 13,475 Condx did not seem up to the past few years but plenty of activity made for a good time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE7AUB Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 12 My 1st real CW contest effort - look ma, no computer help in decoding the CW (and the computer made mistakes that the stuff between the ears would catch and correct). Only 3 qso's. Had to listen to each call numerous times to get it before I dared to call. I heard and copied quite a few calls / exchanges that I'm 99 pct certain I got right. Slowly but sure the training wheels come off. Thanks to the 3 stations that heard my so-called signal; 2 very local and one DX (OK, BC from OR is debatable DX from a distance point) I used my 57 foot random wire not tuned to 160M - hence the qrp to try to keep the finals in the 7600 happy. Kinda cool to have 160M as my first real CW contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE8M Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 50,920 i found room to hang up on friday an inverted v dipole from 50 ft the ends at 8 ft in a horz v to the north east it just fit on the property next was to see if it would be better than the bazooka inverted l and it was ! very satisfied with my results using the v on sat and only running 400 watts and no room for beverages kenwood ts 2000, ameritron als 600 @ 400w, bazooka inverted l, inverted v @ 50ft n1mm logger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KF6T Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 112,104 Glad I finally put up my first Beverage last week - 400' E/W with $10 investment. Huge reduction in background noise - band sounds more like 20m now and that is certainly easier on the brain! Lots of weak signals from the EC but were Q5 with the new ant. Worked JA,VP2M,XE,ZF,PJ2,P4,CE,KH6 & KL. No VK/ZL heard. 73, Jack - KF6T ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KG7H Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 138,678 Clean sweep of all sections this year, except NWT and KP4. My qso count was down from last year when I broke 1000 q's. Conditions were "OK", maybee less participation due to CQWW last wwekend. No Pacific DX except JAs this year. This year I left writelog for N1MM. Also solved my keyer problem with winkeyer USB, 73 to all de Craig KG7H ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KH6LC Class: M/S HP Total Score = 73,800 Everything was lower this year except the noise and the amount of QSB. At times it felt like we were actually running QRP!!! Hopefully conditions will be better for the Stew Perry. Hope to see you all in the ARRL 10 Meter Contest as well. 73 & Aloha, Lloyd www.KH6LC.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KK7Z Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 23,712 First time with this contest. Tried a shielded loop for the first time on the receive side. Worked OK. More antenna experiments to come. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KN3A Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 17,458 Not much happening to the west coast for me. Kenwood TS 450SAT Random Wire N1MM Logger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KO7X Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 61,050 Heard and worked K7KU, K9DR and WC7S. Missed Alaska and a few other sections. You can tell that the higher MUF is affecting 160 meter propagation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KR2E Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 2,938 IC-746 PRO, AL-811, 500W, Vertronics HFT-1500 Antenna Tuner. Added 65ft to 80M inverted L - 18ft vertical; 112ft zig-zag across concrete tile roof. Furthest station worked was Iowa. Furthest station heard was Pennsylvania. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KR4F Class: M/S LP Total Score = 23,765 My power line noise, which the city had somewhat abated, has returned worse than ever. I could only S&P for the loudest stations. Was it my noise or did the west coast folks not participate? 73 Johnny, KR4F ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU8E Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 43,648 FT1000MP/100 watts/Inverted L with four - 130 ft elevated radials. Just P/T on Saturday night. Trying to get back to the normal routine after a week in Bonaire for CQWW. Fun during the time I was on with decent rate and able to work a couple EU stations running just 100 watts. 73, Jeff ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KV8Q Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 5,984 Only had 90 minutes to spend. Spent most of that time S&P and found a bunch of friends. Hope that they all did well. I sure had fun with my 100 watts and 27' 160 meter vertical. Maybe I'll have more time next year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KY4F Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 50,344 Thanks for the QSO's. Conditions were not seller here. The band was quiet, but DX hard to come by. Then again, it could just be my antenna's. Need to do something for 160 on the receive side for sure. If you answered my CQ and I CQ'd back in your face, my apologies! 73, Doug KY4F ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0IJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 230,175 Great condx first night, but no DX. Very difficult from far NW Wisconsin to get going on Saturday night, but when things started cooking, you had better be ready. One window opening to EU provided a quick 15 Q's and a bunch of nice mults. Continue to be impressed as to how the K3 with the 8 pole filters handles condx like these. Can't believe how scarce SDG was! Thanks for the Q's. John, N0IJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0JK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 13,299 I attached a wire to the bottom of the raingutter on our single level duplex and fed it against ground with two radials get on for the 'test. The gutter is probably around 90 ft total length and a maximum height 10 feet. It wraps around the duplex. Live in a C C & R neighborhood with no trees near. The gutter was noisy on receive but seemed to get out. Surprised it had a low SWR at 1.820 and didn't need the tuner. Made one contact, then 5, 10, 15... by 1 am almost 100 Qs in the log running 100 watts. Most contacts were within a few hundred miles,but some out to New York, Maryland, VE5 and even ZF2AH. Heard PJ2T. On again early Sunday morning and made 28 more contacts. Conditions better to the east coast, logged K8PO ME, VE2OJ QC and others. Not an antenna I would choose if alternatives, but was able to hand out some contacts. Jon N0JK KS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0KE Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 94,054 As usual very little DX and no WVA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0NB Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 11,610 Band was much shorter than last year although I worked both coasts but none in CA. Even though operating time was limited it was still enjoyable and is one of my favorite contests of the year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1AW Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 9,248 Almost entirely S&P, I thought running would never work with QRP. But near the end of the contest I actually had several responses to CQs from stations that I could barely hear - I'd like to know if they were also QRP. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1CC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 3,444 Rig: FT-990 100W, ClrDSP Audio Filter, MFJ Noise Cancellor, WriteLog Antenna: Alpha-Delta DX-LB as Inverted Vee Apex 40' Ends 25' over large radial field. Small Lot Compromise Category! Wow this was a challenge ... usually I can work US stations fine, many Texas stations never heard me anytime I called. West worked WWA east worked VA and ZF2. Tried W6 and PJ2 ... got a few "CC?" from them, just not enough signal to overcome what seemed to be "horrific" noise everywhere. I suspect 90% of the stations I worked were high power and had good receive antenna systems. The high power guys with hampered ears could not pick me out of the noise floor. I keep trying to find a solution to getting more signal out at the right angle, the 43' Vertical doesn't cut it... and just as the contest started the #22 wire from the top of the vertical to a point 90' away blew off in the 50MPH winds we had most of this weekend. So once again, no Inverted-L up and working for this one. Next year? 73, Jim N1CC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1DC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 18,798 Where was all the DX? Very little Caribbean activity and almost nothing from EU heard here. Couldn't work anything past the central USA. I need to put up a better 160M antenna. Still a fun contest. Station: TenTec Omni 7 @ 100W 80M dipole @ 35 ft fed with 450 ohm ladder line through an MFJ differential T tuner Thanks for all the QSO's. 73 Rick N1DC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1LN Class: M/S HP Total Score = 321,084 It was once again fun to share a contest weekend with Jack, W0UCE and Dan, N3ND. Jacks first action of the weekend was to give the station a gift. It was a multiplier bell that has been needed around here for several years. Our assumption was that it would be used during the second night when working additional multipliers. However, by then we were ready to change the intended use from working new mults to working any Q at all. Needless to say, we felt a bit challenged this weekend. The initial goals for the weekend were quite conservatively. Due to conditions we did not expect to surpass the previous years results in any category. Unfortunately, we succeeded. However, we never intended to miss by this much. Qs were down by 242, mults were down by 23, and points per Q was down from an already low number last year to 2.13 this year. Together these stats resulted in a score 171,214 points lower than in 2010. Thanks to all for the Qs, especially the EU Qs between 0400 and 0700 UTC on Sunday morning. Those 3 hours gave us some optimism that we just might pull it out. Without you our mult totals would have been MUCH worse. In the end the section check boxes for AK, SDG and NWT were left blank. Hope to see you all, and more, in CQWW 160 in January. 73, Bruce, Jack and Dan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1SNB Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 20,520 Conditions seemed much better on Saturday (made more Qs in less time as compared to Friday night) - should have stuck around later. Still, an improvement over last year for me. Next year? 300 QSOs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2GC Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 170,469 IC756PROIII, AL-1200, bent dipole at 35-40' Living in a typical suburban Long Island QTH makes it challenging putting up a full size 160 antenna within your property lines. Last year I put this antenna up for the 160 meter season and had great success with it. This year I was able to get the bent ends up higher so it looks more like a horizontal double L. Going into the contest my goal was to beat my score from last year which is the NLI section record. I thought that it would be pretty easy to do as last year I missed some prime hours due to family events and this year my schedule was clear to operate as much as I could. I knew in the first hour that it was going to be a long night. I had so many un-answered cq's that I started to S&P using the second VFO in between cq's. I got lots of practice doing SO2V the whole weekend. I ended up packing it in around 0900Z as I was tired and the W6's were not hearing me. The conditions on Saturday were much better and I was able to hold a good frequency 1828 for hours though it was harder doing SO2V with the fear of loosing my run freq. As a result I missed some easy DX mults though many called me like UA3, EW, UR, MD, SV, YL, VE4-5-6 to name a few. Around 0830Z I could not keep my eyes open but I still needed a lot of CA mults. I heard a few but they were still not hearing me and some had big pileups. I decided to take a nap and wake up before sunrise thinking conditions would be better towards the west. I got back on at 1030Z and I think I heard only 2 CA stations on the whole band. Both were already worked earlier. I guess the others packed it in while I was napping. I did work EWA, OR, LA and 2 KH6's that I needed but no CA. Lesson learned, work them when you hear them as they may not be around later! Compared to last year, this year I had 121 more QSO's but 14 less mults and 21 less 5 pointers. If I had done a better job with the mults I would have easily topped last years score. Even with all the ups and downs of propagation over the weekend it was a lot of fun and looking forward to the SP and CQ160. 73 & Happy Holidays Mike, N2GC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2JDQ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 23,580 Band was Jam packed here for me in WNY from 1800-1845 it seemed to spread out from 1845-1880..Lots of big signals. I found that weak ones were hard to work due to someones amp that was throwing spurs 25+ kc's that is Fairly local (13 air miles from my QTH as Google maps posts it) No call necessary.. as Im running an old TS940's and im sure it would ALL be blamed on my radio and could NOT be their amp. Anyways..I did eak out ZF2/PJ2 for 2 new DXCC on TB, Besides those 2 Qso's best dx was SFL, STX, NE.. and Every Section On east coast. Did not hear Far west @ all.. and I looked n looked.. especially High on the band 1840-1880. ON,QC, & MAR were well represented as I worked multiples of those sections. Not one EU signal here @ my QTH.. but to be fair.. I did not break my back looking for them.. due to my qrm 'problem'. Was my 1st TB contest, besides the pre-stew.. Ill be on for the main stew aswell. I would say that for this contest I wld guess I was 75% CQ 25% S&P..When I went looking I always found new stations..but after my initial run for the 1st few hrs new ones for me were few n far between. Equip Used: TS-940S Inverted L for RX & TX - 30' Vertical rest is horiz...24 or so radials from 30-65' in length N1MM Logger 73's N tu for the Q's! -Steve Raas N2JDQ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2WN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 35,340 Had family in so wasn't able to put much time in. Conditions seemed so-so. No California worked, one heard, missed 5 DX stations, all but one were so close to a US running station it was hard to call without causing problems, not that any were hearing the US, or for that matter trying to work the US/VE. Booming signals out of MN. Best wishes to all for tha Holidays and all the best in 2012. See you on the Top Band soon! 73, Julius n2wn ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2ZN Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 34,100 Condx much better Saturday. DX worked: PJ2, VP2/M, OK. Nice to work so many friends. Station: FT-1000 at 5W, 1/4 wave sloping vertical, 560' beverages NE, E, SE, S, W. 73, Ken ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3QE Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 48,330 First "real" 160 Meter Antenna: My 130 foot doublet up 80 feet. Ladder line tied together and fed against ground (supplemented with 3 radials!). Some euro and carribean DX. Euro stations that I could hear would peak over the noise and then fade back down. Very little heard from 6 or 7 land (WY, WWA, MT in 7 land and nothing at all in 6 land. Nothing!) All that said... with 100W I could work about everyone I could hear. I guess that means I need better receive antennas. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3UA Class: M/S HP Total Score = 363,188 Thank Bob W4DR for letting me use his station. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3UM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 73,718 In the ARRL 160 contest 2007 thru 2010 I claimed 634 to 780 QSOs and 118.7 K to 151.3 K points. This year. with the same antenna, the same gear, the same operator, and comparable hours and effort, I made only 575 QSOs and 73.7 K points. Disaster. With the other big factors comparable, it had to be propagation. For the first 3 hours, working mostly stations within 500 miles, I kept reasonably close to '07-'10 results, but after that I fell rapidly behind. I heard NO W6s or W7s and only a few W5s and W0s. When I quit for bed around 07 Z, I had only 393 QSOs and 49 mults, vs 490 to 562 QSOs and 77 to 82 mults in '07-10. I could not make up that deficit the second night, though I did manage to work 9 EUs in 7 countries, plus one W6 in EB and one W7 in WY. These stations 2000-3000 mi. away popped in and out: there were no sustained openings. I can only conclude that the D layer absorbed signals much more this year than in '07-'10, maybe made worse by K values of 2 and 3 much of the time vs the K of 0 and 1 which are so much better for 160 m. Friends operating Assisted found a few more mults than I did with the quick in-and-out propagation. Other friends with owl blood who stayed up past my 07 Z bedtime reported that the absorption declined a bit and W7s and W6s came in then. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3ZA Class: M/S LP Total Score = 20,250 Usual operation. Handing out points to club members and seeing how well I can do with 100 Whiskey. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3ZZ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 45,850 Wind took the beverages and the vertical down last week. Managed to get the vertical back up on Friday, sort of. Countries: JA, PJ4, P40 and CE. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4AF Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 219,264 Great to work so many friends. Activity was high but Ole Sol was beating down the DX. 73, Howie N4AF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4AU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 10,800 Kenwood TS570 at 80 watts to loaded inverted Vee. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4AX Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 41,712 Tough to Contest on 160 meter QRP, but always lots of fun. My best score by far.I always take my ELECRAFT K2 to Tom,s to operate the contest, not to say that the OMNI VII wouldnt do the job. Thanks to Tom,s support of emails and help with replacing bad feedlines, enhanced radials put down before the contests,and the hard part of removing them before spring time-grass-cutting.The radials do make all the difference on transmit. Try to work the ARRL 160 CW Contest and the CQ 160 Meter CW Contest each year. Scores get better each time. Had to rebuild all antennas this year due to damage from tornado and later in the year Lightning damage. I had a matching transformer and beverage selector switch vaporized by lightning.Well, thats just part of having lots of antennas, maintenance,maintenance! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4DJ Class: M/S HP Total Score = 30,525 RIG: Ten-Tec OMNI VI + and Drake L7 Antenna: 179 foot (42 foot vertical section) Inverted L Was great to get on 160 and especially to work my good friend K3RUQ who was my 160 multi op buddy in the 1970's! I also plan to get some more wire up for 160 real soon. 73, Don ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4DU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 77,184 Worked just Friday night, my legs where so sore Saturday morning I could not sit any more - any suggestions on a really good operating chair? 500w into Inv-L up 70 ft across 60 ft. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4JF Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 25,532 VERY STRANGE,I DID NOT WK ANY 6s or 7s..TX FOR THE Qs..QRP IS REALLY TOUGH ALTHOUGHT THE CONDX WERE PRETTY GOOD..THIS WAS A PART TIME EFFORT. 73s JERRY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4KG Class: M/S HP Total Score = 47,325 Where was everybody? Lots of Open Spaces between Runners. Friday night, NO West Coast and NO Europe Saturday night a Few Strong Europeans, but Very Few Missed NNY WTX LAX ORG SB SDG EWA NV OR UT KH6 KL7 KP4 VE4,6,8 VO When N9RV and K0RF had difficulty hearing me call, I KNEW the 130 ft tower and Top Beam 150 ft to the WNW of my Inverted-L was acting as a Parasitic Reflector, beaming EAST. Too bad my Elevated GP (favoring NW) blew over in the April Storms/Tornado. Guess I will have to resurect the Gamma Match to that tall tower! Only used the Amplifier to work Europe and a few Western Stations who couldn't copy my barefoot calls. Tom N4KG in North Alabama ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4NW Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 99,408 Noise was constant both nights. Many signals were barely perceptible above the noise floor. Overall conditions were poor with few west coast and minimal DX stations heard. However conditions were better Saturday evening. My best run of 121 Qs between 03:51 & 05:28 averaging 73.5 Qs an hour - this is very good for me on CW! Total operating time was 15.5 hours - I tried to get more but the eyes would not stay open after about 05:00! Too old to stay awake all night! Many PVRC'ers were worked! Highlight was when OK1FPS who answered my CQ run and persevered as I struggled with the noise for about 4 minutes so I could copy my report! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4PN Class: M/S HP Total Score = 209,664 Condx down from last year or I'm getting slower... (Make that older)... Score down by about 80k, countries about half and sections down by 4. Still lots of fun .. Had no Europeans the first night...Saturday was a bit better with many OK/OM/OL calling in. No JA's worked either morning. Best "DX" probably GJ6UW. CU in the 10m contest next weekend.. 73, Paul ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4UA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 214,510 Good to see a little EU prop show up the second night. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4YDU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 7,684 Not much time for radio this weekend - still tired from CQWW CW the weekend before! Hope to be on for the 10M contest. 73, Nate/N4YDU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5OE Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 4,104 Conditions here seemed not to be the best. Most of the signals were good to strong, but I simply could not get many of them worked. Multiple calls to just about every Q made for a very long evening both nights. I tried CQ a few times with no success other than to call in others to my frequency to do the same thing :) Nonetheless, I had a fun time on Topband once again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5UL Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 41,616 Had a good, time, just not very much of it. QRN was bad here on Saturday morning, but several very loud JA stations answered my CQ and were easy copy. Best signals during a contest heard from JA for many years! Thanks to all for the fun! 73, Charles ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5UM Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 7,696 Played around for a couple of hours on Saturday night only. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5WR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 51,904 Equipment: IC-7000, ALS-600 at 500 watts, 60' Vertical, N1MM I built a 160 vertical in my back yard a couple of months ago with an 18 meter Spiderpole, constructed in a T configuration. Laid out about 50 radials, some as short as 10 feet where the vertical is closest to the fenceline, the longest maybe 80 feet, all within the confines of my yard. I put a coil at the base to tune out the remaining reactance. I had only made about 2 contacts on it before this weekend. Seemed to work well. Was on a weekend vacation with my family to Dollywood, got home Sat night and put the kids in bed and got on for about 5 hours. Had a decent run of US stations going, so seems like the antenna was working ok. Hope to try it out again in Stew Perry in between Christmas parties. 73, Erik N5WR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5XJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 47,212 Operated about 6 hours mainly late Saturday evening to hand out a few points , managed to work a few EUs at their sunrise was fun. K9AY loop up for about one full year and works good for the small amount of space it takes up in the yard. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6AR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 51,191 Conditions down from last year! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6DW Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 7,525 The effort was CW only. I was running a barefoot K3, so many thanks to all those patient OPS who pulled my signal out of the noise. I added 44' of wire to my 43' vertical (at the 38' level) and sloped it down to about 20' towards the east. It played better than I thought, and I managed contacts to WNY and ON, but it clearly played better as an NVIS antenna than for DX. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6ML Class: M/S HP Total Score = 89,806 K3, Alpha 76, wire 4-sq Part-time, evenings only (i.e. no AS, OC (other than KH6)). Had some good rate (mid-200's sometimes) for a while on the first evening, but difficulty getting into W1/2-land. Finally did manage to work all of the US sections on the second night, after some very slow hours. Special thanks to W1XX for his perseverance while I had a heck of a time pulling his call out - RI was a needed mult at the time! Missed PR, NWT and MB. Not much DX - just a few of the usual suspects in the Caribbean/SA. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6SS Class: M/S HP Total Score = 111,542 Rig: K3, Alpha 99 Tx Ant: 65' toploaded vert Rx Ant: DHDL, DHDLs endfire, BOGs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6TV Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 24,900 Apologies to all that called that I could not copy. Local noise and poor conditions at my city lot location make DXing on 160m rather challenging. Rig: Elecraft K3 Amp: Alpha 87A TXAnt: 89' Shunt-Fed Tower RXAnt: Two small mag. loops, diversity mode Software: Win-Test 4.9.1 73, Bob, N6TV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6VR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 3,399 Got on to work DX, but very little due to poor condx. When condx are poor, this contest is just another US/VE test, which there are plenty of. Did work some friends and a number of VEs. Rig: FT1000MP w/key click mod, AL1200 Amp Ant: 60ft tall vertical w/2 50ft "T" wires at top. No RX antennas yet. Ray, N6VR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6WG Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 14,976 Had a fine time, although my new antenna doesn't seem to perform quite as well as the previous one. Maybe I can tweak it up a bit in time for next year. The new vertical did seem to receive better than either of my rotating loops though, so wound up working the contest without the loops. Thanks for all the Qs. 73 and Happy Holidays. Bob N6WG The Little Station with Attitude ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6WIN Class: M/S HP Total Score = 25,220 Operating equipment: Elecraft K3 Acom 2000A LM354HD 54' Tower Force 12 C31XR Cushcraft XM240 80m inverted-v 160m inverted-L N1MM latest version ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6ZFO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 34,905 Early Friday was very good for stateside and into Caribbean but the rest was rather bad. Friday evening at 0106Z (1706 PST) VY2ZM was S9+ -- easily worked on first call w/ LP. Held a run freq on 1806 for 47 Q's in about 45 mins -- unusual for me using LP. DX - nothing interesting. Carib was workable Friday evening .. . VP2M, PJ2T and ZF2AH. But ZF2AH was a struggle, however. His dedication was beyond reasonable, taking 3 mins to get call straight. He should have ditched me. 73 Bill n6zfo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7IR Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 44,132 Challenging contest conditions for the left coast QRP ops. The first night started well and running was productive early for a change. Around 0830Z two things happened that made the remainder of the night an unrelenting slog: 1) something made the ionosphere a giant sponge for 160m RF towards the northeast and 2) the cold front that blew through here on Thursday night hit Texas and created a large line of thunderstorms, which resulted in summertime static levels. Saturday night and Sunday morning were quieter but the sponge was still mostly in place. This resulted in the lowest score here since 2005. Before the band tanked, some of the DX stations were quite loud and workable at QRP levels. PJ2T was like a beacon most of the weekend. Others worked included VP2MWG, CE1/K7CA, JA3YBK and JR5JAQ. Neighbors XE2K and XE2S called in from the fifth country. EQ: Elecraft K3 with diversity receive TX Antenna: 22 meter top-loaded, shunt-fed tower RX Antennas: K9AY loop array and 4 meter diameter N6RK tuned loop Thanks for the contacts and your extra patience. 73 Gary, N7IR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7ON Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 8,024 Early Friday evening operation. Rig: K2/100 Antennas: homebrew condo specials ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7RK Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 21,594 Cndx seemed pretty mediocre and activity level seemed to be way down from past years. Many QSO's were a lot of work to complete. Kind of reminded me of the 160 contests back in the 70's. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N8OB Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 8,056 G5RV and autotuner. Lots of fun. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N8XX Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 16,548 Jerry Rigged 260' "sorta" inverted V cloud warmer, was surprized that it got out atall. Even did some short "runs" as many as 30+ per hour. For QRP first time on the band for many years, it was fun. Thanks to all who dug me out of the mud! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9AUG Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 152,745 yAESU FT-960, VL-1000. INVERTED l WITH ONE RADIAL NE. SEEMED TO WORK WELL. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9NE Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 50,310 I almost gave it up after the first night (few responses from CQing strong stations) but got back in the chair to experience a good band the second night/morning. Thanks to all of you who had the patience to get info! Setup: K3@5W to either a 176' doublet at 65' or 56' high vertical 'T' with 32 radials. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9RV Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 122,674 Good rate fix in this contest, but it didn't last long! As others have commented, signals from the other side of the continent (east, in my case) were heavily attenuated. This contest made me really miss my buddy K8RR (SK), who hosted a number of memorable multi-op efforts from Ohio when he was KN8Z in the 1990's. Cabrillo Statistics (Version 10g) by K5KA & N6TV http://bit.ly/cabstat CALLSIGN: N9RV CONTEST: ARRL-160 CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: ONE OPERATORS: N9RV -------------- Q S O R a t e S u m m a r y --------------------- Hour 160 80 40 20 15 10 Rate Total Pct -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2200 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 2300 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0200 24 0 0 0 0 0 24 24 3.4 0300 170 0 0 0 0 0 170 194 27.4 0400 143 0 0 0 0 0 143 337 47.5 0500 35 0 0 0 0 0 35 372 52.5 0600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 372 52.5 0700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 372 52.5 0800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 372 52.5 0900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 372 52.5 1000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 372 52.5 1100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 372 52.5 1200 58 0 0 0 0 0 58 430 60.6 1300 45 0 0 0 0 0 45 475 67.0 1400 26 0 0 0 0 0 26 501 70.7 1500 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 507 71.5 1600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 507 71.5 1700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 507 71.5 1800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 507 71.5 1900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 507 71.5 2000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 507 71.5 2100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 507 71.5 2200 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 512 72.2 2300 10 0 0 0 0 0 10 522 73.6 0000 41 0 0 0 0 0 41 563 79.4 0100 12 0 0 0 0 0 12 575 81.1 0200 23 0 0 0 0 0 23 598 84.3 0300 16 0 0 0 0 0 16 614 86.6 0400 40 0 0 0 0 0 40 654 92.2 0500 41 0 0 0 0 0 41 695 98.0 0600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 695 98.0 0700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 695 98.0 0800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 695 98.0 0900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 695 98.0 1000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 695 98.0 1100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 695 98.0 1200 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 695 98.0 1300 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 695 98.0 1400 14 0 0 0 0 0 14 709 100.0 1500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 709 100.0 1600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 709 100.0 ------------------------------------------------------ Total 709 0 0 0 0 0 709 Gross QSOs=709 Dupes=0 Net QSOs=709 Unique callsigns worked = 709 The best 60 minute rate was 175/hour from 0254 to 0353 The best 30 minute rate was 206/hour from 0256 to 0325 The best 10 minute rate was 228/hour from 0303 to 0312 The best 1 minute rates were: 4 QSOs/minute 2 times. 3 QSOs/minute 8 times. 2 QSOs/minute 31 times. 1 QSOs/minute 108 times. ----------------- C o n t i n e n t S u m m a r y ----------------- 160 80 40 20 15 10 Total Pct --------------------------------------------------------------------- North America 687 0 0 0 0 0 687 96.9 South America 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.4 Europe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 Asia 15 0 0 0 0 0 15 2.1 Africa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 Oceania 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.6 -------------------------------------------------------------- Total 709 0 0 0 0 0 709 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NA4K Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 72,240 Very high local noise from a street light did not help the rate. Thanks to those that I was able to hear, packed it in about 11pm both nights. Steve NA4K ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NE7D Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 14,352 Lots of time/Q when doing S&P -- and sometimes even when running! Had a short, but fun run of JA's on Saturday morning. K3 + N1MM + MAV-160 vertical ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NE9U Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 172,927 This was another field day dxpedition to my out in the middle of nowhere northern Wisconsin cabin (to get away from all the city noise!) Went up Wednesday and installed an inverted L (maybe 40 foot vertical) and a K9AY loop. Went up Friday and hooked things up around 2000Z to make sure things work. My Laptop wouldn't boot up!!!!! I use a real old DOS 486 computer with basically a dead battery in it. I have had occasions in my Wisconsin and Minnesota QSO party mobile adventures where it sometimes takes a few minutes for the old laptop to come to life, but never more than 5 minutes. After a half hour I almost gave up hope. Finally after about an hour and a half the thing came to life and I never had another problem all weekend (computer-wise). We got about 8 inches of snow Saturday and around midnight I had to go outside and shake the snow off of the horizontal portion of the L. Next up is my favorite contest...10 meters! Shouldn't be a VHF contest this year which will put us black-holers back to our normal disadvantage...but it will be a blast anyway! 73 Scott NE9U ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NF4A Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 21,280 Thanks to all who worked my puny 100w with the 80 meter antenna. I was amazed at the some of the "ears" out there ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NI7R Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 5,542 Antenna was small vertical (160 meter coil with 12 foot whip). Furthest worked was VA and GA. Disappointing conditions and participation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NM2L Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 15,498 No amp and not much of an antenna, but had a good time. 73 de Greg NM2l, Sugar Hill, GA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NN3W Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 7,480 Tried but could not successfully get my inverted L back up after a big summer storm. Used the 80 meter quad which seemed to have an effective radiation limit at the Mississippi River. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NR4M Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 114,234 Got into this contest on a whim at the last minute, and started late. Had more problems in the short time I op'd this contest, than all other contests in recent history. Rig would lock up when you pressed the 'esc' key to kill a CQ. Apologies to those ops where I just disappeared, for many seconds. Two Beverages 'died'. The West and the NW ones had zero output and sure could have used them. For some reason, the first part of the first letter of the first 'word' of some received transmission were cut off. This turned 'M' into 'T', 'K' into 'A' and 'N' into 'E', etc. Not fun. T/R timing was almost at QSK speed, so ??? Anxious ops on the other end? And, 'the same old guy' STILL thinks that 100 HZ away is a clear freq. Got into this contest the second evening because the 10m RTTY contest saw the band fold up here on the east coast within minutes after it began. Overall, I had a lot of fun because I didn't go into this contest with any goals. I just wanted to send CW. Thanks to all for the contacts and see you next time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NX5M Class: M/S HP Total Score = 302,292 One thing is for sure....new 160m vertical works! What I do not understand is how people can zero beat someones run frequency and just start calling cq especially when we know they can hear us. And on top of that, for the same station to do it twice 5 hours apart just makes no sense when we can hear him S9. Had some good EU runs both nights but of course the first night was the best. Heard very few JA's but just do not think the band was in good shape but perhaps an intermittent beverage problem may have had something to do with it as well. Overall the band was up and down and really tough going at times. We had hoped for 1500 qsos but that just was not in the cards this year. We had been concerned that the weather might have an impact on our weekend. Well, it did. At 1200z radar indicated a few thunderstorms drifting in our direction from the west so we kept one eye out the window. Suddenly, I thought I saw a flash out the window but was not sure. Next was the sound of thunder. Total shut down at this point and we decided we were not going to get back on the air even after the threat had passed. So, we got to bed several hours before we had planned. It was great to have Ben, NW7DX, come out for the first time. He stepped in and did a magnificent job on one of the toughest bands to operate. He quickly learned the importance of beverage use and will be a permanent fixture in future contests. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: OK1CZ Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 50 This is the additional entry to the OL0A log, just for the QRP contacts. During the condx peak between 0220 and 0320Z Sat/Sun night I was able to work K1LZ, K1DG, N3RS and AA1K. Not to mention VY2ZM who was able to hear my 5W signal even before 20 UTC. Congratulations to all those mentioned on their good ears and fine receiving systems. RIG K3 at 5W output, 88ft vertical and 300m beverage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: OK1FPS Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 8,024 I was busy this weekend so I was QRV only part of second night . I was suprised with good activity from W/VE stations . Used RIG K3 + PA , TX ant INV Vee , RX ant Beverage . 73 Pavel OK1FPS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: OK2BFN Class: M/S LP Total Score = 220 IC746 100W, Inverted L ant. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: OK2W Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 20,240 Testing new antena for 160m 4 square 4x VA 39m, with DX Energ. CC-4SQR, and rx beverage 240m to USA Tcvr FT100MP + PA tnx all for QSO 73 Karel OK2WM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: OL0A Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 7,632 Fri/Sat night the condx were dreadful, only a few big guns were audible with very weak signals so I went to bed at 2330Z, missing the first night/morning. I got up into full daylight, one hour after sunrise but checking the band I was surprised to still hear a weak W3 or W4 stn (don't remember who it was though). Sat/Sunday night was much better. The condx improved and peaked between 02 and 04Z when I had a nice run of about 50 stations coming back to my CQ. Otherwise I tuned the band and played with both QRO and QRP, S&P calling stations and testing the condx and the DX stns receiving systems :-). Some of the East coast big guns were even workable with 5 Watts! See a separate entry for OK1CZ which I am submitting for the QRP QSOs I made. Total operating time about 7 hours. RIG K3 + PA, 88ft vertical and 300m beverage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: OL7M Class: M/S HP Total Score = 34,300 The first night was poor, only 59 QSOs in 8 hours and some QSOs need 5 minutes for complete, longest state was TX... The second night was better and managed another 291 QSOs, the longest was NE,SD and SK. From 6/7 nothing, SRI. Btw on Sunday, an hour after local sunrise was still heard on the band 8 stations - the best signal from W2GD - congratulations John team! Thanks for all QSOs and see you again in the ARRL TEN and Stew Perry! on behalf of OL7M group - Pavel OK1MU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: P40TA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 43,952 Thanks to Carl P49V/AI6V and Sue P40YL/AI6YL for use of their lovely Aruba home and station. Very high QRN level this year and activity seemed down. Thanks for the Q's. Logs are on LOTW. QSL to WM6A direct and bureau if you want a card. Ken, K6TA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: PJ2T Class: M/S HP Total Score = 147,264 Horrific regional storm noise the first night, better on Saturday. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: RL3A Class: M/S HP Total Score = 4,650 Propogation was vy sharp and only to West Cost(. Any way it was interesting to work many freinds!) TX: Vert. Dipole Rx: Bev's Trcv: K3 Worked sections | 160 | TOTAL ==================== CT | 6 | 6 EMA | 2 | 2 ME | 3 | 3 NH | 4 | 4 RI | 2 | 2 VT | 2 | 2 WMA | 1 | 1 ENY | 5 | 5 NLI | 1 | 1 NNJ | 1 | 1 NNY | 1 | 1 SNJ | 2 | 2 WNY | 4 | 4 DE | 1 | 1 EPA | 8 | 8 MDC | 3 | 3 WPA | 2 | 2 AL | 1 | 1 GA | 1 | 1 KY | 1 | 1 NC | 1 | 1 NFL | 2 | 2 SC | | SFL | 1 | 1 TN | 1 | 1 VA | 9 | 9 VI | 1 | 1 OH | 2 | 2 MAR | 1 | 1 NL | 1 | 1 QC | 1 | 1 ON | 3 | 3 ==================== | 74 | 74 73's Yury RL3FT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA2EW Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 313,548 We are obviously coming back to normal conditions after the three marvellous past winters. Friday to Saturday night was disturbed while the band started to recover at the end of the night when some Europeans stations where worked. The second night was far better with very clear and strong signals from Europe. Unfortunately as usual, too few participants outside NA. The West direction was not very good, signals from California never came strong and I did not find any KL. I was not patient enough to spend hours under 20 Q’s/h during second parts of nights so I preferred have some rest. I surely missed one or two hundreds of these end of night Q’s but does it worth the madness? I think that something could be changed in the rules to avoid that end of contest aberrant unanswered auto CQ concert to the contesters: Time limitation ? See you in the Stew. Gilles VA2EW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA3EC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 42,012 Got 1/4 of a K9AY up at 2pm Friday. Found my rx port on the Pro was dead. Reseated the coax jumpers that fixed this the last time and it worked for all of 5 minutes. I used a relay to switch externally but the relay delay killed my first dit. Oh well, Murphy owned me this weekend. Used a W8AMZ shortened sloper which was much better than my old butternut. Thanks for the Q's. Harry VA3EC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA3WR Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 13,416 Once Again I had to work part of a shift but still managed to come out and get some time in the chair. Radio and Computer were working fine up until at 1130utc and then everything locked up lost about 25 minutes troubleshooting and rebooting the computer. James va3wr ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA7ST Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 6,765 Need a new antenna. This one clearly doesn't work. Thanks to all who managed to hear me with whatever ERP the inverted-L managed to put out. Given how few heard me even close in, those in the eastern states who did work me deserve extra credit. Best DX: KH6 and PJ2. -- Bud VA7ST ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE1RGB Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 22,850 This was a test of a 90-foot tower, mounted isolated from ground on a large hemlock stump manufactured by Hurricane Juan, and directly loaded as a quarter-wave vertical against a 3,000 foot radial field. This tower had originally been custom-manufactured for John Bartlett HK3OZ in Bogata, Columbia and came into the possession of me, Gary Bartlett (no relation), via a complicated route. This summer I removed the steel guy cables which had been holding it up and replaced them with Phillystran, thus liberating the tower as a useable radiator. It also suspends my two big wire antennas. I am quite fond of this tower. The result? I could quite handily have improved on my previous best from 2004 (25K) if I had had the time this year. My favourite Q was picking Frank VO1HP on the second try in a horrendus pile-up, but the DX was gratifying too. I'm very pleased! Credits to VE1ZAC for making me realize that the tower was an unused asset, identified through his EZNEC analysis, and for the subsequent measurements done in the field with an AIM 4170 that proved his case. And of course to John, a.k.a. VE1OZ, for selling me the tower :) K3 + P3 + vertical Gary, VE1RGB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE1RSM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 6,798 Quite surprised to work 100 QSOs in only 2 hours on this band. VE1RSM/Bob ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE1ZAC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 21,511 150 watts,(IC7700) and 50 ft Marconi T made from a Windom and some half baked radials. Tough going 1st night. Lots of signals but propagation seemed difficult and little DX. 2nd night a whole different story.. band was hopping in Nova Scotia. Bettered my 2009 effort. Lots of fun. Some decent DX catches.. Caribean, Eu, UK and Wales, Ukraine. I really have to figure out how to stay up later when the band is perking along well. It's about the only way to improve the score. I have no room for bigger antennas, and it's miraculous that I can operate from a small town lot on 160 this well at all. K9AY was in there from WI.. a regular, and in fact used my K9AY for receiving entire contest. Practically tied with VE1RGB I see. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE1ZJ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 36,002 I operated single op low power. found condx poor mostly, hard to work w6 es w7 ,but had 2 KH6 Q's ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3CV Class: M/S LP Total Score = 11,077 Had no gas for this one. Crappy conditions and no DX helped me sleep. A few points for CCO Thanks for the Qs. 73 Jeff VE3CV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3CX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 104,122 Conditions not as good as last year. Thanks for the QSO's Tom - VE3CX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3HG Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 13,494 Thanks to Harry VA3EC got a new W8AMZ sloper pointing to south-east which was a good 2-S units better than the Alpha-Delta sloper pointed to south-west. Ran 75 watts out instead of QRP and worked everyone I could hear which didn't include Florida, Texas or California and nobody west of the Mississippi. Think the new sloper is very directional as eastern seacoast stns were loud here. Not much fading and with 10db of attenuation on SDR Flex 1500 I couldn't hear Harry 5 kHz or more away who is 360 meters north of me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3MGY Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 50,300 Friday night the QRN was S0 - S1 on the vertical so things started out really good. Ran for the first 4 hours had the rate meter hitting 60 - 85 /hr rates at times. Had 81 QSO's in the log in the first 90 minutes and an average rate of 50/hr for thr first 4 hours while running only. Felt "relatively" loud - at least louder than the night before when I was running 1 watt in the ARCI 160. QRN was between S0 to S3 at times all weekend and the West Coast always sounded very weak here - S2 to S4. I just couldn't work anyone past the east side of the rockies all weekend. Did manage a VP2 and a PJ2 but they were both mainly over a salt water path so it was no real biggie. Heard 15 - 20 sections ( all on the west side of the rockies ) that I could just not attract any attention from. Even a "QRZ" or "AGN" would have been encouraging. So my mults are down from my QRP PB score but my overall QSO's are up from my QRP PB score - and I did it in 10 hours less time!! Haven't been QRP in this one for a few years so it was nice to see how the new antenna is working so far. Didn't operate the entire time alloted in the contest so I could catch some much needed rack time. Thanks for all the QSO's. 73, Brian VE3MGY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3OSZ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 77,854 As an experiment, I did only S&P on the first night, looking for multipliers. Then on the second night I did almost all CQing. As a result of the latter I now have some interesting graphs of my signal strength versus time from skimmers in the USA and Europe. Thanks to the Reverse Beacon Network. Conditions were variable: very weak signals plus deep QSB at times; but some good signals from EU on the second night. Drake TR7 @ 100 watts Inverted L One Beverage TR Log 7.00 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3RZ Class: M/S HP Total Score = 177,660 Thanks to all for the Qs. Tony ve3rz ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE6EX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 10,488 Hi All: Just a few hours to try out new win software and all that comes with it. low pwr (barefoot)into a inverted L. No dx other than ak and pac. Called lots that could'nt hear me but nice to try out new stuff and be on 160. Cheers Dan VE6EX.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE7CC Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 144,768 Conditions poor with high absorption for most of the contest. This absorption cleared up about 0800Z the second night and magically opened up the band to the north east. I then worked many new stations and three new sections NL, NNY, and NLI. Never did find a KP4 or NWT. 25 five pointers (17 JAs). Not a single European heard. SO2R with 2x K3 + Alpha 86. Antennas were a pair of 1/4 wave slopers and an inverted vee, 1000 ft apart. No separate rx antennas. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE9AA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,188 High SWR. Used 100w to a very low dple @ 22'. Took a few spins thru the band just working the guys who could hear my "equivalent to QRPp" signal. Need to build another antenna ! IC-746, N1MM, VK-64, CW-160@22' -Mike ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VO1HP Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 23,896 Limited time - Condx very poor - No DX - Like SS except single band - Love the ACOM 1010. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VO1TA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 6,080 Spent a few hours on the band Friday night Heard a lot of really strong signals but could not get a response. Had no issues being heard by the DX stations that were on at the time. Might be the way the inverted-L is situated. Cheers Wayne ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VY2ZM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 546,625 Lousy condx here as everywhere else....I never heard SAN DIEGO (SDG) - and of course did not get a sniff of a KL7/KH2/VK/ZL or a JA. I did work the VI section - NO WAIT - he sent VI but it was reflected as a KP2 Dx Multiplier by my software - I think I now understand KV4FZ's problem. Is it DX or is it a section? I will let the log checkers at HQ determine that one for me...... No Africans at all - but I did work 8Q7DV for the second time in a week when he called in near the start of the contest - he has a great signal and good ears and seems to hear me around 2230z or so. Season's greetings to all the deserving and hope to CU again in the ARRL 10M contest next weekend. 73 JEFF VY2ZM K1ZM@aol.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0AIH Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 237,894 This year due to schedules, I was lucky to be able to do an SO effort from W0AIH instead of our usual Multi effort. Things seemed to be going well until a few hours into the contest when the amp started having problems. I had to stop and swap out the rack and put in one of the Alpha amps from one of the other stations. To bad this did not happen during a slower time. I lost about 40 minutes of some prime rate time. Such is how Murphy operates. Paul has been battling some power line noise recently (with the utility's help). The lines are a couple miles away, but sure wipe things out to the SE pretty good. Making it pretty tough for Caribbean QSO's. I was disappointed in the lack of sigs from EU. Knowing I would have to slog thru the SE noise issue. I was quite pleased to see the EU opening the 2nd night. I think my thought to CQ on the 4-square instead of hunting around worked well. JA5JAQ called me at 1050Z and had a great signal. Only one more JA heard later and that QSO was not completed. Along with the power line noise, the 2nd night brought snow static with the snowstorm Saturday afternoon/evening. Lots of frying and popping. I usually could find an antenna that was quieter, but there were times that they were all noisy. That was more of a problem earlier on Saturday. Thankfully things quieted down after a few hours of this racket. DX Worked: JA, VP2M, XE, YN, ZF, P4, PJ2, CE, DL, EA, F, G, GD, GW, LY, OK. Mults Missed: SDG, VI, NT Looked for KV4FZ but never did find him. Who da thunk it that with over 1000 QSO's that I cannot find a station in SDG?? It is always fun at "The Farm". http://www.qth.com/w0aih/ Thanks to Paul for all the fun! 73, John K0TG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0ANT Class: M/S LP Total Score = 48,744 Missed RI, NNJ, LAX, NL, NT, SDG, NLI, WCF, PR, VI, WV, AK, MS DX Worked ZF, FM, PJ2, XE, VP2M Cushcraft MA-160V Vertical Icom Pro III, K9AY E/W Loop small lot- Scott, W0KU, came over early and helped us clean up a bunch of wiring and a few ground issues which really got us prepared- W0KU operated with us Friday with some great opening runs and it was nice having him part of the team. Band conditions were awful the first night for East Coast/West Coast, but we wrapped up a lot of within 1,500 miles. We never heard anything in the W1/W2 area sustained but for a few minutes. Then, the gates opened Saturday and it showed on Reverse Beacon with our signal finally going to the east coast working a lot of stations on some sustained runs. Could of had the potential for +-500 Q's after everything we know now, and picked up a few of these missing mults, but worn out! Was nice to get to KH6! But where was SDG and LAX? Nice to hear W1AW! Thx for working us- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0BH Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 81,244 This is always a favorite for rate. I got on and kept going until the rate dropped below 100, took a several hour break, then did it again with a new crowd. A number of really nice runs and a great way to spend some quality evening time. Thanks to all for the Qs! 73, Bob, w0bh ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0DLE Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 112,343 Since I live off-grid I thought I would try LP this year and save a lot of generator fuel. In retrospect, a good decision as the band conditions were not too good in CO. A low number of East coast stations worked. Maybe everyone was all DX'ed out from last weekend and needed a rest. I only worked a few DX stations with my last Q of the contest being a JA. CU next year. HW - BMD, Chuck ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0EEE Class: M/S LP Total Score = 2,600 Despite a new noise source in the Missouri S&T ECE building which swamps the lower bands, I managed to make contact with a TON of 1x2 calls, a lot of which were familiar from last year. A few new sections though. I'm slowly getting better at CW. Gearing up for 10 meters next weekend if I can find time between studying. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0ETT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 57,304 Between recovering from the CQ WW CW dx test and my sister from TX visiting, I didn't get as much radio chair time as usual. Condx were not as good as past years but its to be expected, since the solar cycle peak is upon helping HF while the low band condx are weaker. 73 Ken, W0ETT Parker, CO Rig: IC756pro3 w/100 watts to 160m shunt fed tower vertical ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0PC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 28,249 Another Great one on 160-meters. Bettered last years score by ~ 20%. Thanks for all the Qs. See you on the next one. 73, Rick ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0PR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 75,628 Only had a few hours but the rate was pretty good. Saw the QSO meter at over 200 a couple of times. That's fun. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0UO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 85,680 Rain and Thunderstorms in the immediate area prevented a competitive effort. However, I enjoyed the hours I could put in and managed one new country. Hope for better weather next year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1AJT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 50,445 K3 Inv "L" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1AN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 30,044 I ran the FT1000D as the K3 has yet to return from the hospital. Antennas are a T Vertical at 80 feet with 16 radials and two 540ft beverages. Conditions were not as good as I remember. Only one or two 6s heard and only a few 7s worked, but reception of the neighbors electric fence was 40 over. See you on 10M next weekend. John, W1AN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1AW Class: M/S HP Total Score = 166,926 Lots of fun activating the Maxim Memorial Station for the 160 Contest. Living in an urban lot with not much in the way of receive antennas, we never really expect to do "well" in this one, but still have a good time. Friday was tough due to the W1AW bulletin transmissions; we opted to call it an early night Friday and go all-out on Saturday/Sunday, which we did. Got called by lots of good DX, including an SV3. Bottom line: fun was had! Thanks for the QSOs, and apologies to those we couldn't hear. 73, Sean KX9X ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1END Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 8,246 Was not able to operate on the second day. Of course that's when the conditions improved. Thanks to everyone who heard me. Eldon - W1END ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1EQ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 26,050 K3 + KPA500. Inverted L. I got on for a couple of hours just to play around. Not a serious effort. The first night was a bummer with no DX and nothing heard from the west coast. Second night was better. Worked a couple of Europeans and got out to WWA. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1HIS Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 14,280 One wire antenna, 70 ft (21m) long, 20 ft (6m) above ground. With the same antenna last year in this contest I made 625 Q's, 66 W/VE mults, and 30 DX mults. This year my antenna seemed to have been buried underground. In 6.5 hours I worked *one* DX station and no station west of 95 deg W longitude. To save my sanity, I QRT'd. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1NN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 14,322 Not much time and mostly wanted to test a new antenna. Conditions on Saturday night seemed pretty good with loud signals here from five- and zero-land and even a couple of WY stations and one WWA around 0200. I heard OK2W calling CQ with no responses but he couldn't hear me. I also heard a pretty loud F5IN calling someone. Hope to spend more time in the Stu and CQWW in January. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1SJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 223,440 Things VERY QUIET first night. Thought something was wrong with system, but then rates picked up. Early rates and very late night rates were pretty bad with little Europe or West Coast Stations to speak of. Saturday night the distant stations showed up (along with massive QRM, too). This time, for the first time, I tried a Beverage antenna. I've been thinking about this for years, and finally came up with a plan to run 600' of wire E-NE down the path in the woods nearby. It was a hastily thrown together affair and I didn't even include the terminating resistor (hoping for it to be bi-directional). Although it didn't do anything for west coast stations, every time I switched in this antenna on a European station the noise and QRM went down and the European station came up! Magic! Now I could actually copy the distant stations instead of making educated (and usually wrong) guesses). Why didn't I try this antenna 20 years ago??? I later found out that I was spotted as EW1SJ for most of the contest. I can say that no one from Belarus was involved in the operation! All in all, it was nice contest - score was just about the same as last year with much poorer conditions. Can't complain about that! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1WBB Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 59,414 Part-time effort...other commitments, no 160m stn improvements this year, plus I knew propagation would not rival the fine past few years on Topband. Sure enough, Friday night was lousy...no Eu nor much at all west of the Mississippi here (and just 2 total DX mults that eve - both from Carib.) after getting very late start just after 0400Z 6 hrs into 'test. Great rate though -enjoyed running. Short skip with few at all heard beyond 1500-2000 miles. Band opened up Saturday eve when checked after 0300Z with pretty good sigs to Carib./SA and U.S. Midwest, and Eu somewhat workable. Both nights were very quiet with no static crashes...but then, local QRN appeared at Sat A.M. S/R (intermittent but mostly "on" :>(( )...fortunately gone for Day 2. Only 10 final total ten-point DX QSOs and only 8 DX mults (4 EU, 2 NA, 2 SA )--less than half of previous couple years. And many fewer US/VE mults...abt 13 to 15 less...*no* U. S. Zone 3 area contacts! Wow, the momentum has certainly shifted to 10 meters and away from Topband in a hurry. Even so, it was fun! Nice to find & work KH6ZM just before my Sunday S/R, then have KH6LC call me minutes later. Funny moment late in contest: dueling loud CQs from brothers VY2ZM and K3ZM within about 500 KHz and right next to each other. Hope to see many in ARRL 10M 'test. Bigger effort planned for that one here using the new Hexbeam at 35'. Only 5 close-in states needed for 10M WAS-LoTW so listen for me! Likely very P/T effort in Stew Perry TBDC. --Icom IC-737 ('92 vintage!) @ 100 watts; 3/8 wave Inv-L for tx/rx (less than 40' up, 150' over) with 18 assorted ground radials, mostly 1/8 w/l long; N1MM logger. 73, Bill W1WBB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1XX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 117,600 Except for the good EU opening during the midnight hours of Saturday night-Sunday morning, it was pretty dreadful. With only a handful of West Coast Qs, it might just as well have been in Mongolia. TX: FT1000MP + L7 = 1 KW. RX: Beverages in 4 directions Ant: Top Loaded T-vertical ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2BC Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 252,841 Not content with the havoc he wreaked on CQ WW CW weekend, Murphy made a return visit for the ARRL 160 Contest. Memo to self: Never schedule an out-of-town meeting on the Friday of a contest weekend! On the way back from my Friday noon meeting some three hours away from the shack, my car started overheating. Fortunately, I was able to get to a dealership "en route" before their service department closed. UNfortunately, the detour and actual repair time cost me the first TWO hours of the contest (as well as a big dent in my wallet)! That's probably no big deal on the left coast, but it's a major disaster here in the east because it's already dark before the start time and many of those lost contacts are never going to be regained. When I first got on at 0000Z Saturday, there seemed to be lots of "holes" in band usage. That turned out to be one of the symptoms of the unusual Friday night conditions, described by many previous posters. Nonetheless, I plowed ahead, working what I could. I had some good runs, but my long day Friday finally caught up with me, and I hit the sack at 0515Z, long before I should have. At that point, I had only TWO W6 Sections (SV and EB) in the log! Of course, I expect we'll find that the horrendous winds last week were a major contributor to the absence of many of the CA regulars. I had expected to "enjoy" the much-publicized ability of the east coast to Run European contacts and multipliers, but I was sorely disappointed. I think I worked a grand total of eight DX stations Friday night before going to bed. Things were somewhat better Saturday night. As others have reported, conditions gradually improved Saturday evening and early Sunday morning. Around 0700Z I worked nine DJs and a smattering of other EU multipliers near their sunrise. After a few hours of sleep, the usual Sunday late morning "pop", where I work every VE3 ever licensed, never materialized. For all intents and purposes, the contest had ended BEFORE I went to sleep! I had hoped to do a lot better but, based on other people's reports, I'm generally OK with my results. My best (and last) Section was Alaska, as I came across a pile-up on a very, very weak NL7Z Sunday morning while S&Ping my way up the band one last time. When I gave up (the sun was too high in the sky) and pulled the big switch, I had missed PR, VI, NT, and, get this...San Diego! A couple of other "interesting" statistics: # of MN stations worked: 63 !!!!! # of Dupes: 43 !!! (One station insisted on working me FOUR times �" in the space of about two hours!) (But to be fair, I also CAUSED about 10 of those dupes, as some of you will attest to. My apologies.) Equipment: * K3 w/sub-receiver & 100-watt module * Alpha 87A * Shunt-fed 90-ft top-loaded tower with a few radials * Very short (150-250 foot) Beverages for Europe, California, and Japan * MacMini * SkookumLogger for the Mac Note: I live in a summer resort area. During the winter months I have very few neighbors and a very quiet location. Thanks in part to the punk conditions, the K3 S-meter was reading between S1 and S2 on band noise while using a 400-Hz roofing filter and DSP bandwidth �" on my TRANSMIT vertical! That was true until or unless someone with key clicks, excessive phase noise, or a hum-modulated signal settled in next to me (meaning within 1-2 kHz). Then the S-meter was usually at S-9 or above. We have reached the level of technical excellence on Topband that propagation, receivers, and antennas are no longer the limiting factor in our ability to work weak signals. As Pogo once said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us!" There were times both evenings when it was absolutely impossible to find a frequency that was NOT bothered by key clicks, phase noise, spurs, hum, etc., from stations on neighboring frequencies. As a group of supposedly proficient amateurs, we should be ASHAMED that we have not done more to rectify this situation. ("Oh, heavens no, Bud....rectification will only make it worse!") More about this later, when I've calmed down somewhat. Bud, W2RU Operator, W2BC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2GD Class: M/S HP Total Score = 465,201 Location: Salt Marsh 20 Miles North of Atlantic City, NJ adjacent to Barnegat Bay. Station: K3 x 2, IC756ProII, Alpha 99 TX Antenna: 2 ele Vertical Array fires NE and WSW @ 80 meters over salt water RX Antennas: 300M phased pair EU, 185M wires NW, West, SW and South Some Comments: I think we all enjoy the excitement of a good race and this weekend turned out to be just that. Top Band is full of surprises. WOW! Station Prep Some of our 160 Team has been operating together for nearly 30 years, and for the last twenty we've operated from temporary locations along the NJ shoreline. Setting up a remote temporary station takes plenty of pre-planning and coordination, since its typically a 3 hour roundtrip if something critical is somehow foregotten. Traditionally we treat the ARRL 160 SS event as a shakeout cruise for the CQ 160 CW in January. Some years things come together better than others, at the beginning things were little shakey. This is a semi-FD in winter operation, the TX antennas are put up in the fall and removed in the spring to avoid exposure to hurricane season here along the Jersey coastline. Last summer W1GD did additional modeling of our main TX antenna and discovered almost by accident that by raising the entire array 55 to 60 feet, there was a potential improvement of 2 DB gain toward EU. Every DB counts on Top Band I'm sure we all agree and this opportunity was just too attractive to pass up....its certainly easier on the pocket book than installing a full blown four square out in a salt marsh. We needed five work parties to make the station ready this year. A new yardarm and fresh 175M nylon pull ropes were installed on the 100M tower up at 80 meters elevation. Another work party was dedicated to installing the TX antenna, which wasn't as simple as it sounds, since we had to determine by trial and error where the wires would interweave between the tower guy sets. This ultimately took nearly two days effort to get right. We had extensive beverage antenna damage over the summer as the result of many Noreaster storms and two hurricanes. Many downed trees in the path of our RX wires had to be dealt with. Another work party was devoted to fixing our backup Inverted L TX antenna and installing a remote short 7M tall vertical RX antenna 950 meters from the main TX array. Two days before the contest W2CG come over after work and set up our network and logging system (we use 4 computers running Win-Test). Finally on the day of the contest one work grouop finished erecting and did preliminary tuning of the main TX array while the inside team were busy installing the maze of wires, filters and switching systems that make it all work in the shack. The night before one of our K3 radios came up lame.....so we had to press the 756ProII into service. After last year's 160 season we decided to invest in an ACOM 2S1 switch to faciliate sharing one amplifier between our run and mult operating positions. This turned out to be a huge improvement over the prior switching systems used and provided absolute lockout protection. With the bell approaching we were still testing RX antennas and completing other station preparations. The short vertical came up deaf, but the beverages seemed to be hearing exceptionally well. Our TX antenna NE and WSW driven elements were somewhat mistuned but not so much that we couldn't get by for the first evening. Overall things weren't perfect but sort of ready. The Contest This turned out to be a completely quiet weekend in SNJ. No static crashes whatsoever, and no line noise of significance either. But the band had that 'dead' sound Friday evening, which turned out to be the dreaded absorption would play havoc with long distance communications most of the weekend, but particularly on Friday night. As is usually the case the first hour produced the highest rate of the weekend, this time 154 Q's in 58 minutes (we started two mins. late). In the first 17 minutes 7 EU stations called in, they weren't especially loud but solid copy. Then Murphy made a rude visit to 180 Murphy Drive, the NE sloper flamed out, something was causing the amplifer to trip, the antenna was rendered useless. We switched to the WSW sloper and continued on, but only 3 more EU called the first hour. Our primary offensive weapon was disabled, and we started losing ground to the competition. Not exactly the start we'd hoped for. We ordered out for pizza and refortified ourselves, keeping the run station going, and supplimented with mult position qsos another 100 hour was in the log. During the 3rd hour W2CG and I ventured out into the marsh to try to find and fix the NE antenna problem. Its a 175M trek through the muck and water....not particularly pleasant in the dark, but at least it was a calm dry night. The good news, the antenna hadn't fallen down, the bad news that meant we had a feedline problem somewhere. Fortunately I found a 'stinky' connector at a junction just 10M up the tower. After three trips back and forth between the shack and tower, we finally had the problem fixed but by now the damage was done. With taking the station off for testing and other interruptions, our rate had droped under 60, we were loosing ground fast to the other guys. And to add insult to injury, only 9 more EU stations were worked the first night. Then we had to contend with an imaginary wall set up by the propagaton gods at the Nevada/California line. For hours we couldn't buy a QSO with a CA station, yet we could hear our left coast buddies totally Q5. After so many "CQ in your face" situations, we were getting very discouraged. The multiplier window was all WHITE on the W6 line for hours. By Saturday morning we were still missing EB, LAX and SB. We were very glad to have Jorge, CX6VM call in, and it always amazes me how loud CE1/K7CA can be from so far away. The mystique of Top Band communications is alive and will. Following the contest on GetScores has its good and bad aspects. Some recent software upgrades are apparently incompatible with our version of Win-Test so we couldn't autopost. But watching as N0NI, NX5B and K1LZ ran up huge leads on us in both QSOs and multipliers was more than a little deflating. At one point we were as much as 70,000 points behind. We just had to hang in there and experience that Yogi Berra moment ("its not over till its over"). Went to breakfast Saturday morning resigned to stick with it. We came up with a list of work items to complete before night fall, and hoped the tide would turn in our favor later Saturday evening. Our host N2HM came by at sunrise to keep the station on the air through the morning hours. As it turns out those 40 or so hard earned daytime QSOs Bob logged might might end up the difference with our MA rivals. We retuned the TX antenna, found a broken wire in the short vertical matching box, and installed a more substancial anchor in the marsh for the NE element under perfectly clear skies. About an hour before dark we started operating again. During the 2200Z hour we more than doubled our our first day EU total to 40, conditions seemed promising. Then at 0230 someone flipped a switch and a long and sometimes loud string of EU callers began flooding in. W2RQ arrived on-site at 0400 and ran the board for the next three hours, adding about 120 more five pointers to the total. We were in the hunt again, now <10K behind the K1LZ team. Coming up on sunrise we knew we had a chance to have come all the way back, if we could work a KL7, a JA and one more mult. We got all three and ended the operation at 1300Z. We'd had had one of the most exciting 160 weekends ever. Thanks to everyone for the QSOs.....to the guys at W8JI, K1LZ, N0NI, NX5B, and all the other multis who make the 160 contests so competitive, to our hosts at WYRS-FM who make their facilities available to our group, and the members of the SJDXA with whom we partner during the 160 season. See everyone again in the TBDC and CQ160 CW. 73, John, W2GD for the 160 Team ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2ID Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 63,498 What tremendous fun! I had absolutely no idea that 5 watts could travel so far on top band! Huge thanks and congrats to a lot of fine ops who had the ears and patience (and antennas) to pull me out of the noise. Especially of note is K0RF who heard me on the first call for my biggest DX the first night. Amazing! Condx seemed better the second night, as I was able to work KS, NE, NM, AZ, OR, WWA, VE5, VE6, and PJ2T, all of which eluded me on the first night despite dozens of calls to each. Not a single W6 in the log either night though, despite being able to easily copy several of them. Oh well, I guess the laws of physics can't be broken even for a contest. I did have a surprising amount of luck CQing, with an almost endless supply of EPA and MDC stations replying. I think every single ham in EPA with any kind of antenna for 160 must have been on - it feels like EPA made up 20% of my QSOs! Many thanks to W2XL for providing the capacitor which got me on the air, both this year and last. Looks like that cap is now responsible for two division records! The antenna here is an Inverted-L made of 12AWG solid copper, 70' vertical and then 90' horizontal, with the W2XL capacitor at the feedpoint. SWR is below 2:1 from 1800 to 1875 - not bad! Thanks also to N8LP for the LP-100A wattmeter, a fantastic product which gave me confidence in knowing that I had my power set to exactly 5.00 watts for the contest. (LOVED the meter in CQWW last weekend with the dual monitor feature for SO2R!!) I wasn't planning on a full effort this weekend, so I decided to try QRP because I figured I'd get frustrated quickly and wouldn't feel guilty about quitting early. But what a surprise - it turned out to be so much fun, I decided to stick with it and make a goal to beat the division record. Almost every QSO renewed my sense of amazement at the miracle of wireless - I still just can't get over the way 5 watts can travel on 1.8 MHz! For kicks, I even dialed it back to 2 watts before calling K2UF, and sure enough, he heard me fine on the first call, more than 150 miles away! Wish I had known ahead of time that I would be serious, because I would have taken the time to figure out how to hook up the PC to send CW. All my code was hand sent except for a CQ message on the memory keyer, so apologies for the rusty fist! I guess I proved that in the right hands, even a Begali can make mistakes. ;-) Had to use the straight key quite a bit too, since the keyer wouldn't QRS enough for some of the QSOs. That was actually kind of fun - I don't even remember the last time I used a straight key on the air other than for tuning up! It's Sunday morning. As I write this, I am sitting here listing to K7KU in WY calling CQ TEST. Called him for nearly an hour for my last mult of the contest, but no luck. Amazing that he is still coming in strong 2 hours after sunrise. Top band sure is full of surprises. Can't wait to see all the huge scores. With condx this good, I think there will be plenty of them! And bring on 10 meters next weekend!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2IRT Class: M/S HP Total Score = 69,870 Second night was far better in terms of both band noise and workable DX. The FT-1000 MP Mark V, AL-1200, Inverted-L transmit antenna, K9AY receive loop and N1MM Logger all worked well. Would liked to have put a bit more time behind the dials but was too tired to stay up much beyond 1am on Friday. Had a couple of nice runs but mostly S/P. In retrospect, I should have just done unassisted SO; the few DX entities worked probably weren't worth the who M/S Assisted thing. Still one of my favourite contests of the year, though. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2JU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 23,265 K3, KPA500, N1MM Logger. All S&P, with my new double-L antenna. Spent Saturday putting it up; top at 60 feet. Big improvement over my old 200 ft doublet at 30 feet (except for the locals, who are loud enough on either antenna). 73 and thanks for all the Qs. Alec W2JU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2RR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 212,954 Conditions Friday night horrible - +10 noise all night. Better Saturday night but absolutely no propogation....had to milk every DX Q. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2XL Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 65,604 40 Hrs in CQWW CW burned me out for this one ! Just got on for a while Saturday night. Thought conditions were pretty good for the few hours I was on. Gess I missed the lousy condx Friday night ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W3TS Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 56,100 Rig: Ten-Tec Orion at 5 watts TX Ant: 60 foot high 80M/40M fan dipole used as an 1/8 wave Tee over 70 x 70 foot long radials. RX Ants: 300 foot NE/SW short beverage and 300 foot SE/NW beverage and a NE and NW Flag. The best I can do on a 150 x 200 foot town lot with the help of understanding neighbors. Logger: N1MM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W3UL Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 27,907 Significant RFI problems hampered totals. Thanks to all PVRC'ers who called! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4AU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 34,925 First time out with a newly-installed inverted L with one radial. It is a great improvement over trying to use my 190' 40 meter double Zepp... Operating time was limited by a bad cold that I have been battling. Note: Worked OL7M at ~0330 Saturday night with approximately 18 Watts; I had forgotten to switch the amp from "standby" to "operate" when I got back on the air after a break! Hope I wasn't too much of an alligator with no listening antenna. tnx es 73 - John, W4AU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4EF Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 3,870 Rig: FT1000MP MKV + Drake L-7 Antenna: 60' tall Inverted-L I was kicking around the idea of heading up to my remote site for a rate fix on Saturday evening, but mother nature had other plans for me. I ended up going to bed early on Saturday evening so that I could get up early on Sunday morning to help take down the 5 element 15 meter yagi with the collapsed boom over at W6UE in Pasadena (sigh). In any case, I woke up at 2AM local on Sunday morning and spent put in ~30 minutes as I didn't want to miss the contest completely. I got back up just before 6AM local and put in another ~50 minutes before heading off to Pasadena for the "antenna party/funeral". Best DX was PJ2T. 73, Mike W4EF......... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4HZ Class: M/S HP Total Score = 200,736 Weak to EU most of the contest. West coast from VA was difficult. We missed 5 Sections, but overall did fairly well, all things considered. Great fun!!! Thanks to all who worked us. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4KAZ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 4,050 Just plinking. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4QN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 29,341 Antenna not working well, power limited to about 250w, (break down). Strong signals from Caribbean, SA, US East, but poor to EU and PAC . Better 160m antenna required. Picked up a missing state WY for WAS 160. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4RM Class: M/S HP Total Score = 102,261 Had plans for both Friday and Saturday night so I was unable to work a full time effort. Wanted to get on and checkout the new 160M Phased Array with elevated radials. The antenna played real nice with a good mix of state side and EU/DX contacts. Enjoyed the three hours or rates in the 90's and the abilty to switch the transmit array from NE/SW and broadside. You could hear the diffence when listening on the array. Station: FT1000MP, Alpha 99 AMP, Antenna: Phased array inverted L switchable NE/SW & Broadside, Beverages Phased 580' NE, 580' to the SE,SW,NW,West ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4VIC Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 12,576 Thanks for the Qs. 73, Vic, W4VIC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4WWQ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 12,558 K3 100 watts thru 200' of RG-8X into "7" antenna @ 60' over four 120' radials with less than 1.5 VSWR 1.8-1.9. Radiator is telco 91 ohm coax shield. Nice not having to mess with a tunner. Missed WV and NNJ back here in the east. Results seemed similar to my previous experience - that being good coverage to just past the Mississippi R. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W5GZ Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 5,270 Work got me agn! gz ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W5JR Class: M/S HP Total Score = 47,804 Distribution of stations worked shows lots in VA, MN, and TN. Stateside signals good Friday and West Coast better on Saturday, as was DX. Saw HI spotted but never heard them this time around when I was on. C U in the SP IC-756ProII, Inv L, Aplha 78, Coke Zero & Nilla Wafers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W5MX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 314,290 One of my favorite contests as one can be competetive with wire (I think I say that every year). My apologies to those out west that I missed as it was difficult to copy through the intense QRM out east here, even using a beverage. Normally I hear well to the west but had a hard time during this one though. EU was a little tougher this year than I remember last, but of course the sunspot cycle is up dramatically compared to last so the MUF was much higher I'm sure. Missed SDG, AK and NWT for section mults. Where in the heck was SDG - maybe I just didn't hear them :-). Definitely had a great time and thanks to all for the Q's. Look forward to Stew Perry coming up, and the 10m contest next weekend - condx should be good. 73's all. Bryan W5MX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6FA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 12,528 Only operated a little Friday and Saturday evenings. Very little East Coast heard. Ran 500W to 1000W depending on frequency. Antenna was 90 ft vertical with big beams as top loading. Used 500' E-W Beverage for receiving. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6PH Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 78,651 Equipment: IC7410 AL1200 CT-DOS 9.57 Antenna: MA160V This was a lot of work. No northeast stations (other than VY2ZM) on Friday night. Filled them in on Saturday night. Missed RI, NNY, NL, MB, NT, PR. I heard VE4EAR and tried to attract his attention but no dice. The band was generally weak and activity low. But it was easy to find a CQ frequency. The MA160V is a good antenna but not a great antenna. It is good for those with limited space. 73, Kurt, W6PH ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7IJ Class: M/S HP Total Score = 98,868 First time in this contest. Conditions were not the best, but we managed to work all states. Lots of QSB, sometimes rapid and other times very slow. Receiving antennas were two beverages oriented EW and NS. Transmitting antenna is an inverted V and this needs improvement. Looking forward to thenext 160 test. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7QN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 3,502 Antenna is a 160 meter mobile whip. Thanks to everyone for the QSOs. Joe w7qn ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7RH Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 76,869 Having missed last years contest due to weather conditions at the remote ranch site I was intently watching the skies and temperature very closely. A huge cold front moved through the West coast on Thursday dumping 6-8 inches of new snow at the station QTH. Forecast was for continuing snow and colder temperatures so we took our chances and plowed are way in. Friday night conditions were fair although the band took a long time to settle for us Left Coasters only to have thunderstorms develop along the Mississippi, followed by disturbed magnetic field and high solar wind. Saturday was a total bust. The third layer, Eastern weekender bedspring contesters were effectively eliminated form the log until a few passed through in early morning hours. A total slug fest sprinkled with liberal hours of rest, more snow, freezing fog and near sub zero temperatures. You just can't make up missing the core stations of the east. (100W guys) All in all it was just tough. It had it's moment and we did the best we could. Seems others had the same issues as well. CUL Al in Stew Perry! 73 Bob ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7RN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 70,152 Pretty poor conditions until 0300Z to 0400Z Saturday night. At one point the rate meter hit 241. K3 - Emtron Amp - 1/4Wave vertical 70 radials, 2 x DXE 4Square RX Array ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7YAQ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 67,360 That was mighty tough going at this QTH. Thought I was running QRP as very loud stations were CQing in my face. Seemed like there was a one-way curtain to the east that let signals in, but not out. Newly installed beverages were a help, but I was hearing much better than I was transmitting on my inverted V at 65 feet. Never heard PR, VI, NL, NT. Heard but did not work MB and WV. DX worked: FM, JA, PJ2, VP2M, XE, YN. Heard, but could not work, a very strong 9M6YBG Saturday morning. Bottom line: Frustrating, but still fun!! 73, Bob W7YAQ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8FJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 51,800 Condx terrible on the first night. Much too much local QRN this year. Couldn't copy the weaker stations. :-( ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8FN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 12,838 I had very little time to play this year, but that's just as well. I thought conditions were pretty bad. Usually I can hear a good many of the 6-land stations, but this year I struggled to hear just a few. I heard very few east coast signals, and most were quite weak. Having the KPA500 helped a lot; I'm probably all the way up to maybe 50 Watts ERP now from the dummy load I jokingly refer to as my antenna. I didn't hear much DX but that's not unusual as there normally aren't too many DX stations in what is essentially a 160 meter domestic USA contest. PJ2T was insanely loud. I **think** OL7A came back to me once, but I couldn't hear him well enough to tell, and it was pileup time again. I found Diversity receive to be very helpful with the K3. I used my 43' vertical tuned with an SGC-230 as the diversity antenna, and the combination definitely helped with the rapid QSB on many of the signals. Maybe I'll be able to do more in the CQ test or the Stew Perry. 73... Randy, W8FN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8JI Class: M/S HP Total Score = 543,000 It was a pleasure to get together with Dan K1TO at Tom's outstanding 160M station and once again make a few Q's together. Tom has been preparing the station with new phased beverages and equipment to help isolate the run and mult station interference. The operating challenge is often knowing how to take full advantages of the station features and antenna options. For top band enthusiasts, it is remarkable to hear DX in this extemely quiet environment with the highlight QSO coming on Sunday morning when XU7ACY showed up skewed path while working JA. We worked 47 - 5 pointers Friday night with decent domestic rates. Saturday proved to be much improved into EU with an additional 159 as propogation opened up into eastern Europe. Only a single JA on Saturday morning with 10 more Q's following on Sunday. Thanks for all of the Q's -- Dan and I hope to each work you during the upcoming ARRL 10 M test as we return to single op environs. vy 73, Jim VE7ZO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8KTQ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 64,322 It's a good thing I have a backup radio because I turned on the K3 an hour before the contest and it displayed a Hi Sig error! (Must have worn it out last weekend in CQWWCW!!) The manual says this is due to a very strong broadcast signal close to the radio but it was displaying it with nothing hooked to it except DC power! Dusted off the Kenwood TS-930 and used it the whole time. Didn't work as much DX as I had hoped but overall OK for Low Power and a Dipole! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8MJ Class: M/S HP Total Score = 220,543 Only part time effort. Christmas office party to attend. Nice to always work 160, but you defintely can tell the band is changing...not as good as last year. As always thanks for all the q's. The log as been uploaded to LOTW. See you all next week in ARRL 10 Meter Contest. Ken W8MJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8OHT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 10,218 My receive-only antenna is the latest addition to my station, and it has worked great during November but seemed to have a problem with a weathered aluminum connection I have in it. I thought it was just QSB on signals until I received on the transmit antenna which was what saved the contest. There were signals that I reported too much QSB on that I would have received with the long seven foot high wire and preamp (long enough to make an improvement in S/N usually, but not this time). Sorry for some stations that I gave up on during my CQ's. John, W8OHT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W9IIX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 9,576 finally got thr hi tower to play on 160, good time had....dj ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W9ZRX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 77,616 K3 100w to 135-ft center-fed doublet fed with 430-ft of 300-ohm ladder line from a 1:1 balun. Both leads were shorted to one terminal of the balun. The other balun terminal was grounded. Impedance more then the K3 ATU could match, but was at or just under 2.0:1 - albeit at reduced power. Worked much better than expected. Most QSO's were S&P. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA1FCN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 99,864 My score very close to last years, just down a bit. I sure worked many guys from my contest club. Go ACG ! Inverted L at 68 feet and 3 beverages. 73 BoB WA1FCN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA2JQK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 31,752 I had S9 static levelall weekend.. from damage to power lines in the area...The Power Co is Bogged down with a lot of repairs to do..so I suffered thru this one ! Thanx to all the struggled to hear my call...its a bummer and many people sent back WA1JQK...Oh well... Thank GOD For memory Keyers... 73 good luck next weekend in the 10 mtr contest...I hope the power co does the repairs before then ! 73 ! Bob de WA2JQK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA3F Class: M/S HP Total Score = 2,280 No real score here. Just enough time to work the DX I could hear. The Carribean and Europe were it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA3MKC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 22,687 Some casual operating trying to see how good the setup is on 160 M. Maybe snag a few new states for 160 WAS. Conditions seemed not as good as last year, nothing much heard from the west past Nebraska/Colorado and no California. I believe I did better last year using the same antenna (Inverted L with lots of radials)running a QRP 10 watts IC703. The new rig FT1000D 150 watts did not go any further this year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA4PGM Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 47,424 On-call during the contest. :( ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA7LNW Class: M/S LP Total Score = 6,984 K-3 @ 100 watts, 23 ft. inverted-L antenna. Had limited op time due to Holiday season but still fun working friends in the middle of the night time hours on 160 meters. 73's de Jack, WA7LNW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WB0TEV Class: M/S HP Total Score = 26,000 I hadn’t planned on putting much time in this contest. I couldn’t even remember the last time I was on 160 and there’s probably something in the Geneva Conventions about how many folks I can subject to my occasionally mangled Morse. Instead of just a couple of hours or so I’d intended, the BIC time was almost 12 hours total. Nonetheless, as the sun was setting Friday night I got some sandpaper and cleaned some of the corrosion off of the screw lug contacts on the two high voltage door knob capacitors I use as a limited matching network to shunt feed my 63 foot tower for 160 (with the big Mosley PRO-67-B) acting as something of a capacity hat. The rest of the matching takes place inside the shack using an old Dentron Super Tuner. I got started over 4 hours late but got hooked nonetheless. Figured I’d try to help fatten the logs of others and help represent the North Texas Contest Club. It was strictly an S&P affair aided by the Cluster, hence the Multi-Op entry. I was struck by the dearth of District 2 calls, only 7 out 194 QSOs. After the first night I thought I’d never get any New York or California sections but a few did dribble in later. On the other hand Minnesota topped the most frequently worked section. The top 4, MN, TN, IL and CO comprised 24% of the Q’s in the log. Was able to work just about everything I could hear, and there in lies the rub. To really do well on 160 you need a receive antenna with some directivity and while I had a quasi-Beverage strung out years ago, presently I’m doing both TX and RX on my shunt-fed tower with all the attendant noise that comes with it. The 500 or so watts from the old Dentron ML-2500 did the trick on the TX side though. Only DX worked was PJ2, XE, VP2M and ZF. I was surprised to work 61 of the 80 ARRL sections missing ND (sorry to hear of AC0W’s woes), NLI, NNY, SNJ (ref. my earlier complaints about lack of 2’s), WCF, WTX(?!) LAX, SB, SDG (read that lots of others wondered where SDG was too), OR, WWA, VI and in the “no-surprise there” department, PR, PAC, AK, MB, NL and NWT. Bring on the 10m contest! Hope to put WB0TEV in lots of logs next weekend. Victor - WB0TEV Cabrillo Statistics (Version 10g) by K5KA & N6TV http://bit.ly/cabstat CALLSIGN: WB0TEV CONTEST: ARRL-160 CATEGORY-OPERATOR: MULTI-OP CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: ONE OPERATORS: WB0TEV -------------- Q S O R a t e S u m m a r y --------------------- Hour 160 80 40 20 15 10 Rate Total Pct -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2200 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 2300 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0200 17 0 0 0 0 0 17 17 8.8 0300 13 0 0 0 0 0 13 30 15.5 0400 11 0 0 0 0 0 11 41 21.1 0500 14 0 0 0 0 0 14 55 28.4 0600 17 0 0 0 0 0 17 72 37.1 0700 19 0 0 0 0 0 19 91 46.9 0800 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 97 50.0 0900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 97 50.0 1000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 97 50.0 1100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 97 50.0 1200 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 101 52.1 1300 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 106 54.6 1400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 106 54.6 1500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 106 54.6 1600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 106 54.6 1700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 106 54.6 1800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 106 54.6 1900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 106 54.6 2000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 106 54.6 2100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 106 54.6 2200 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 106 54.6 2300 8 0 0 0 0 0 8 114 58.8 0000 10 0 0 0 0 0 10 124 63.9 0100 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 125 64.4 0200 8 0 0 0 0 0 8 133 68.6 0300 17 0 0 0 0 0 17 150 77.3 0400 14 0 0 0 0 0 14 164 84.5 0500 11 0 0 0 0 0 11 175 90.2 0600 14 0 0 0 0 0 14 189 97.4 0700 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 194 100.0 0800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 194 100.0 0900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 194 100.0 1000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 194 100.0 1100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 194 100.0 1200 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 194 100.0 1300 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 194 100.0 1400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 194 100.0 1500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 194 100.0 1600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 194 100.0 ------------------------------------------------------ Total 194 0 0 0 0 0 194 Gross QSOs=194 Dupes=0 Net QSOs=194 Unique callsigns worked = 194 The best 60 minute rate was 22/hour from 0528 to 0627 The best 30 minute rate was 30/hour from 0533 to 0602 The best 10 minute rate was 42/hour from 0340 to 0349 The best 1 minute rates were: 1 QSOs/minute 88 times. ----------------- C o n t i n e n t S u m m a r y ----------------- 160 80 40 20 15 10 Total Pct --------------------------------------------------------------------- North America 193 0 0 0 0 0 193 99.5 South America 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 Europe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 Asia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 Africa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 Oceania 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 -------------------------------------------------------------- Total 194 0 0 0 0 0 194 Number of letters in callsigns Letters # worked ----------------- 4 147 5 41 6 6 ------------------ C o u n t r y S u m m a r y ------------------ Country 160 80 40 20 15 10 Total Pct ------------------------------------------------------------------- K 182 0 0 0 0 0 182 93.8 PJ2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 VE 8 0 0 0 0 0 8 4.1 VP2M 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 XE 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 ZF 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 194 0 0 0 0 0 194 ------------ M u l t i p l i e r S u m m a r y ------------ Mult 160 80 40 20 15 10 Total Pct ------------------------------------------------------------- MN 15 0 0 0 0 0 15 7.7 TN 11 0 0 0 0 0 11 5.7 IL 10 0 0 0 0 0 10 5.2 CO 10 0 0 0 0 0 10 5.2 VA 8 0 0 0 0 0 8 4.1 OH 7 0 0 0 0 0 7 3.6 IN 7 0 0 0 0 0 7 3.6 GA 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 3.1 NTX 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 2.6 STX 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 2.6 WI 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 2.6 MO 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 2.1 KS 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 2.1 NFL 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 2.1 MI 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 2.1 WPA 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 2.1 AL 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 2.1 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 2.1 NM 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 2.1 AZ 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 2.1 NC 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 1.5 ON 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 1.5 NE 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 1.5 AR 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 1.5 WNY 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 1.5 SV 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 1.5 EPA 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 1.5 WY 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 1.0 KY 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 1.0 LA 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 1.0 IA 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 1.0 SC 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 1.0 MDC 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 1.0 SCV 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 1.0 OK 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 1.0 ENY 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 1.0 EB 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 1.0 NNJ 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 1.0 RI 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 1.0 CT 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 1.0 ID 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 SF 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 NV 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 SFL 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 EWA 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 UT 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 WV 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 ME 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 BC 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 SJV 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 VT 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 QC 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 SK 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 DE 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 NH 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 MT 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 MS 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 SD 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 MAR 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 ORG 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 AB 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 EMA 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.5 ------------------------------------------------------ Total 194 0 0 0 0 0 194 U.S. Call Areas Worked Area QSOs Pct -------------------- 0 34 17.5 1 13 6.7 2 7 3.6 3 16 8.2 4 25 12.9 5 20 10.3 6 14 7.2 7 12 6.2 8 15 7.7 9 26 13.4 -------------------- Total 182 93.8 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WB6JJJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,776 That was much better than I thought it would be... I extended my 80 meter dipole to make it a low 160 meter dipole and was able to work most everyone that I could hear. I was surprised to get a response from Maine. I just wish that I had more time to play - maybe next time. Thanks for the Qs. Bill WB6JJJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WB8JUI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 152,560 Low Banders for a Marauder Minimum - It was fun while it lasted. Sunspots be d@mned! This year's score is down about 26% from last year. I had set a goal of 1,000 Qs and 200K+ points. So much for goals, eh? Things started out like gangbusters and ended up fizzling out rather quickly. 100+ Qs/HR the first couple of hours. The rate meter hit a high of 245/HR and a low of 15/HR near the end. I took several naps throughout the ordeal and finally threw in the towel around 1215Z Sunday morning, probably leaving another potential 3 or 4 Qs over the final 3+ hours on the table. 8-) Not the fun I've become accustomed to the past few years. Multiplier challenged sums up this year's effort. DX and even domestic mults were at a premium. I missed UT, AK, PR, LAX, SCV, SDG, EWA, NL, and of course the ever elusive NWT. Most of the DX heard was eventually worked, but I just didn't hear much. Band conditions were quiet for the most part. Nice to run into old friends as well as quite a few new calls. Hope to work you all again in The Stew later this month. Thanks to all for the Qs! 73 - Rick WB8JUI Elecraft K3 Inverted L @ 50' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WB8YYY Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 35,112 A nice drive with a nice rig (K2) that I built and modified over the years. Operated 100w into a 37 foot tall vertical. Sometimes it was hard to work nearby sections, but after 10 pm I stumbled onto SN2B and it was nearly magic to put some DX into the log as the few big European stations heard me easily, along with PJ2T (who could not hear me in CQWW). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WC7Q Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 5,356 ARRL160 Score Summary Sheet Start Date : 2011-12-03 CallSign Used : WC7Q Operator(s) : WC7Q Operator Category : SINGLE-OP Band : 160 Power : LOW Mode : CW Default Exchange : WWA Gridsquare : CN87XR Name : SAM RUBIN Address : 23107 NE 150TH. ST. City/State/Zip : WOODINVILLE WA 98077 Country : USA ARRL Section : WWA Club/Team : Western Washington DX Club Software : N1MM Logger V11.8.1 Time : 8.5 hrs. Band QSOs Pts Mlt 1.8 103 206 26 Total 103 206 26 Score : 5,356 Rig : Knwd TS 870 Antennas : 80 M loop at about 70 feet. Soapbox : The inverted vee I planned to use did not function, probably water in coax. Used the 180 loop but could not load it for high pwr. so did the best I could with low power. Got nothing east of MN.Heard lots of loud signals from the east but they didn't hear me. Hope conditions better next year. Thanks to all with the patience to work my weak sigs. I have observed all competition rules as well as all regulations established for amateur radio in my country. My report is correct and true to the best of my knowledge. I agree to be bound by the decisions of the Contest Committee. Date : 2011-12-04 Signature : Sam ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WF7T Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 47,565 I had high hopes; they were dashed. Nothing epic happened to me. I was just tired. End of year business and holiday social schedules have taken their toll. I am still grateful to have found time to get on. Happy for the few 5 pointers and a testament to their fine abilities for hearing me. OL7M was absolutely blasting in to Middle TN on the second evening around 0515. Solid S-9, with 12dB of attenuation RX through my TX Marconi. I hoped the opening would be more extensive: I heard very very weak signals from Europe and strong-as-local OL7M. Did not hear the Inter-mountain West at all to my surprise. Did not hear many stations from California either. I figure the weather must have wreaked havoc. I think the first evening was a bit punky but I missed the first local sunset. The band became really nice after first midnight through first local sunrise. Second sunset seemed OK but I became punky and QRTed by second local midnight. I had high hopes to beat my score from last year...not even close. Oh well, thanks for the Qs and 73! See you in TBDC! Brad WF7T Nashville TN --- IC-7600@100W 40' Marconi for RX/TX, 1200' radials on ground, 2 raised N1MM 11.11.4, YCCC SO2R+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WJ9B Class: M/S LP Total Score = 176,400 I promised the station manager 1000 qso and 100 mults in exchange for a Rohn 25 full-size vertical. He busted his butt getting that vertical up with 120 radials! Nice job! This was a mult-single operation, and I got my share of qsos and mults. The other guy didn't show up...decided to vacation in Nebraska. So why is the station upset with me? Even Hound Dog knew somebody was missing! 73, Will, wj9b ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WL7E Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 7,936 Very poor condx from up here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WM3O Class: M/S HP Total Score = 52,887 got on to work KL7 to complete my WAS on 160, never found them. maybe going to bed at 10pm local had something to do with that :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WO7V Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 3,120 I really like these 160 meter contests. However my my antenna is so lousy that it makes life on 160 really difficult. CW has always been a challenge to me so my thanks goes out to all those who hung in there with me when I was trying to run. I think the conditions generally stunk. Probably because the sfi was so high. It looks like you pay for 10 meters being open by lots of noise on 160. It is nice to only have to operate at night and get other 'honey-doo' projects done during the day. Hope to see you all on SKN or on the rtty roundup. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WQ5L Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 25,025 Line noise has gotten bad here again, so I didn't put a lot of effort into this. Also, the amp was acting squirrely so I disconnected it after a few Qs and ran 100W the rest of the way. Second night was definitely the better of the two. Hesitatingly did some CQing the second night. That worked better than expected, but apologies to those I couldn't pull through the buzz. On the flip side, I couldn't get through to anyone further west than NM/CO/WY/MT/SK -- called several, but nary a "?". 73, -- Ray WQ5L ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WR7Q Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 10,224 k3 500 watts 540 horizontal loop skywire up 25 feet ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WS7L Class: M/S HP Total Score = 28,968 Conditions aren't what they were two years ago but I had fun. I'm still trying to "sweep" this one or at least work all states. 46 states and 6 provinces in the log this time. Not much DX: CE, JA, PJ2, VP2M, XE, and ZF were it. I don't know how CE1/K7CA does it but he makes it into my log in every single 160 test. No other continental SA or even Central American stations were heard. The most fun moment was calling a weak N8OO. When he answered he phased his 4-square at me and was so loud it was almost scary. Interesting drifting spurs on a station not far from me. I couldn't work him on a spur but then noticed a big signal in sync with it on my panadapter. This is my first year operating with a panadapter and I never want to be without one again. Too many weak ones that I would dial right past going by ear. 73 and thanks for the Q's. See you all in the Stew. Carl WS7L ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WT9U Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 46,314 Only one evening to play in this one. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WU6W Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 9,702 A Gentleman's CW Contest - others can learn a lot from this one ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WX3B Class: M/S HP Total Score = 57,646 Horsed around and ran some USA stations Friday night. Hardly heard any EUs and W6's ignored me even though they were loud. Got on for a few more minutes at EU Sunrise Saturday and the band was open - night and day difference. My heart is really into...the 10m contest next weekend. Hoping that band stays exactly the way it is! Great PVRC turnout (again) and hope the momentum continues next weekend. 73, Jim WX3B ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WX4MLB Class: M/S HP Total Score = 7,511 Operated from the National Weather Service station in Melbourne FL as part of the Skywarn Recognition Day event. Xmtr: IC756 Pro-2, AL-572 Ant: GAP-Voyager Thanks to Rich at GAP for lending us the antenna. Only got on 160M after 20M died out, and spent only 5 hours operating, until the early morning openings on 20 meters into Europe took place. Index of Calls Call: AA1K Class: Single Op HP Call: AA3B Class: Single Op HP Call: AA4V Class: Single Op HP Call: AA5VU Class: Single Op LP Call: AA6PW Class: Single Op LP Call: AA8IA Class: Single Op LP Call: AB1OD Class: Single Op LP Call: AB2E Class: M/S HP Call: AB4GG Class: Single Op HP Call: AB7ZU Class: Single Op LP Call: AC0C Class: Single Op HP Call: AC0W Class: M/S LP Call: AD4EB Class: Single Op HP Call: AD7AF Class: M/S HP Call: AE4EC Class: Single Op HP Call: AE4O Class: Single Op LP Call: AI2N Class: M/S HP Call: AJ1E Class: Single Op LP Call: CE1/K7CA Class: Single Op HP Call: DF2PY Class: Single Op HP Call: E77DX Class: M/S HP Call: F5IN Class: Single Op HP Call: FM5CD Class: Single Op HP Call: HB9DHG Class: Single Op HP Call: K0AD Class: Single Op LP Call: K0CN Class: Single Op LP Call: K0DI Class: Single Op LP Call: K0DU Class: M/S HP Call: K0KX Class: M/S HP Call: K0PK Class: Single Op LP Call: K0RF Class: Single Op HP Call: K0TI Class: Single Op LP Call: K0TQ Class: Single Op HP Call: K0TT Class: Single Op LP Call: K0TV Class: M/S LP Call: K1DG Class: Single Op HP Call: K1GQ Class: M/S HP Call: K1GU Class: Single Op LP Call: K1JB Class: Single Op HP Call: K1LT Class: Single Op HP Call: K1LZ Class: M/S HP Call: K1PQS Class: Single Op LP Call: K1PX Class: Single Op HP Call: K1TN Class: Single Op HP Call: K1TR Class: Single Op HP Call: K2AV Class: Single Op LP Call: K2DB Class: M/S LP Call: K2PO Class: Single Op LP Call: K2QMF Class: M/S HP Call: K2QO Class: Single Op LP Call: K2RD Class: M/S HP Call: K2RS Class: M/S LP Call: K2SX Class: M/S HP Call: K2TTT Class: M/S HP Call: K2ZR Class: Single Op LP Call: K3AN Class: Single Op LP Call: K3IE Class: M/S HP Call: K3IT Class: Single Op LP Call: K3PA Class: Single Op LP Call: K3STX Class: M/S HP Call: K3SV Class: Single Op LP Call: K3SWZ Class: Single Op LP Call: K3TN Class: Single Op HP Call: K3WA Class: Single Op HP Call: K3WW Class: M/S HP Call: K3YDX Class: Single Op LP Call: K3ZM Class: Single Op HP Call: K4BAI Class: Single Op HP Call: K4EDI Class: Single Op HP Call: K4FJ Class: Single Op HP Call: K4FT Class: Single Op LP Call: K4FTO Class: Single Op LP Call: K4HAL Class: Single Op HP Call: K4HMB Class: Single Op HP Call: K4IKM Class: Single Op HP Call: K4IU Class: Single Op LP Call: K4RO Class: Single Op HP Call: K4WES Class: Single Op LP Call: K4WI Class: Single Op LP Call: K4WW Class: M/S HP Call: K4XD Class: M/S HP Call: K4ZGB Class: Single Op HP Call: K5AF Class: Single Op LP Call: K5KG Class: Single Op HP Call: K5LH Class: Single Op LP Call: K5NA Class: Single Op HP Call: K5WA Class: Single Op HP Call: K6CSL Class: Single Op LP Call: K6III Class: M/S HP Call: K6JEB Class: Single Op LP Call: K6LL Class: M/S HP Call: K6MM Class: M/S HP Call: K6NV Class: Single Op HP Call: K6XT Class: Single Op HP Call: K7ABV Class: M/S HP Call: K7BG Class: Single Op LP Call: K7FA Class: Single Op LP Call: K7IA Class: Single Op HP Call: K7KU Class: Single Op HP Call: K7NV Class: M/S HP Call: K7SS Class: Single Op LP Call: K7WP Class: Single Op LP Call: K7XC Class: Single Op HP Call: K8BL Class: Single Op LP Call: K8FH Class: Single Op LP Call: K8MM Class: M/S HP Call: K8MR Class: Single Op HP Call: K8NVR Class: Single Op LP Call: K8PO Class: Single Op HP Call: K9AY Class: Single Op HP Call: K9BGL Class: Single Op LP Call: K9CT Class: Single Op HP Call: K9DU Class: Single Op HP Call: K9FY Class: Single Op HP Call: K9GS Class: Single Op LP Call: K9MA Class: Single Op HP Call: K9MMS Class: Single Op LP Call: K9NR Class: Single Op HP Call: K9NW Class: M/S HP Call: KA4OTB Class: Single Op HP Call: KB1EFS Class: M/S HP Call: KB9S Class: Single Op LP Call: KC0W Class: Single Op HP Call: KC3WX Class: Single Op HP Call: KC4D Class: M/S HP Call: KD2MX Class: Single Op LP Call: KD5J Class: Single Op LP Call: KE2VB Class: Single Op HP Call: KE3X Class: Single Op LP Call: KE7AUB Class: Single Op QRP Call: KE8M Class: Single Op HP Call: KF6T Class: Single Op HP Call: KG4CUY Class: Single Op HP Call: KG7H Class: Single Op HP Call: KH6LC Class: M/S HP Call: KI0F Class: Single Op HP Call: KK7Z Class: Single Op LP Call: KN0V Class: Single Op LP Call: KN3A Class: Single Op LP Call: KO7X Class: Single Op HP Call: KP2DX Class: Single Op LP Call: KQ3F Class: M/S HP Call: KQ8RP Class: Single Op LP Call: KR2E Class: Single Op HP Call: KR4F Class: M/S LP Call: KS4X Class: Single Op QRP Call: KU8E Class: Single Op LP Call: KV8Q Class: Single Op LP Call: KY4F Class: Single Op LP Call: KY5R Class: Single Op HP Call: MD0CCE Class: Single Op HP Call: N0BUI Class: Single Op LP Call: N0IJ Class: Single Op HP Call: N0IM Class: Single Op LP Call: N0JK Class: Single Op LP Call: N0KE Class: Single Op HP Call: N0NB Class: Single Op LP Call: N1AW Class: Single Op QRP Call: N1CC Class: Single Op LP Call: N1DC Class: Single Op LP Call: N1IBM Class: Single Op HP Call: N1IW Class: Single Op HP Call: N1IX Class: Single Op LP Call: N1LN Class: M/S HP Call: N1SNB Class: Single Op HP Call: N1TM Class: Single Op QRP Call: N1WR Class: M/S HP Call: N2BJ Class: Single Op HP Call: N2CQ Class: Single Op LP Call: N2ED Class: Single Op HP Call: N2EIK Class: Single Op HP Call: N2GC Class: Single Op HP Call: N2JDQ Class: Single Op LP Call: N2WN Class: Single Op LP Call: N2ZN Class: Single Op QRP Call: N3AD Class: Single Op HP Call: N3AM Class: M/S HP Call: N3BM Class: M/S HP Call: N3MX Class: Single Op HP Call: N3QE Class: Single Op LP Call: N3RC Class: M/S HP Call: N3RD Class: M/S HP Call: N3UA Class: M/S HP Call: N3UM Class: Single Op HP Call: N3ZA Class: M/S LP Call: N3ZZ Class: Single Op HP Call: N4AF Class: Single Op HP Call: N4AU Class: Single Op LP Call: N4AX Class: Single Op QRP Call: N4CW Class: Single Op LP Call: N4DB Class: Single Op LP Call: N4DJ Class: M/S HP Call: N4DU Class: Single Op HP Call: N4DW Class: M/S HP Call: N4EEB Class: Single Op LP Call: N4GU Class: M/S HP Call: N4HB Class: M/S HP Call: N4JF Class: Single Op QRP Call: N4KG Class: M/S HP Call: N4NM Class: Single Op HP Call: N4NW Class: Single Op HP Call: N4PN Class: M/S HP Call: N4QQ Class: Single Op HP Call: N4UA Class: Single Op HP Call: N4VV Class: M/S HP Call: N4YDU Class: Single Op LP Call: N4ZZ Class: Single Op LP Call: N5NA Class: Single Op HP Call: N5OE Class: Single Op QRP Call: N5UL Class: Single Op HP Call: N5UM Class: Single Op LP Call: N5WR Class: Single Op HP Call: N5XJ Class: Single Op HP Call: N6AA Class: Single Op HP Call: N6AR Class: Single Op HP Call: N6DW Class: Single Op LP Call: N6ML Class: M/S HP Call: N6SS Class: M/S HP Call: N6TV Class: Single Op HP Call: N6VR Class: Single Op HP Call: N6WG Class: Single Op QRP Call: N6WIN Class: M/S HP Call: N6ZFO Class: Single Op LP Call: N7IR Class: Single Op QRP Call: N7MAL Class: M/S LP Call: N7ON Class: Single Op LP Call: N7RK Class: Single Op HP Call: N8OB Class: Single Op LP Call: N8TR Class: M/S HP Call: N8XX Class: Single Op QRP Call: N9AUG Class: Single Op HP Call: N9NE Class: Single Op QRP Call: N9RV Class: Single Op HP Call: NA4K Class: Single Op HP Call: NB4M Class: Single Op LP Call: NE7D Class: Single Op LP Call: NE9U Class: Single Op LP Call: NF4A Class: Single Op LP Call: NI7R Class: Single Op HP Call: NJ1F Class: M/S HP Call: NL7Z Class: Single Op HP Call: NM2L Class: Single Op LP Call: NN3Q Class: M/S HP Call: NN3W Class: Single Op LP Call: NO3M Class: Single Op HP Call: NR4M Class: Single Op HP Call: NX5M Class: M/S HP Call: NY3A Class: M/S HP Call: OK1CZ Class: Single Op QRP Call: OK1FPS Class: Single Op HP Call: OK2BFN Class: M/S LP Call: OK2W Class: Single Op HP Call: OL0A Class: Single Op HP Call: OL7M Class: M/S HP Call: ON4WW Class: M/S HP Call: P40TA Class: Single Op HP Call: PJ2T Class: M/S HP Call: RL3A Class: M/S HP Call: UV5U Class: Single Op HP Call: VA2EW Class: Single Op HP Call: VA3ATT Class: Single Op LP Call: VA3DX Class: Single Op HP Call: VA3EC Class: Single Op LP Call: VA3WR Class: Single Op QRP Call: VA3YP Class: Single Op LP Call: VA7ST Class: Single Op LP Call: VE1OP Class: M/S HP Call: VE1RGB Class: Single Op LP Call: VE1RSM Class: Single Op HP Call: VE1ZAC Class: Single Op LP Call: VE1ZJ Class: Single Op LP Call: VE2OJ Class: M/S LP Call: VE3CV Class: M/S LP Call: VE3CWU Class: M/S LP Call: VE3CX Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3EJ Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3HG Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3MGY Class: Single Op QRP Call: VE3NE Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3OI Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3OSZ Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3RCN Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3RM Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3RZ Class: M/S HP Call: VE3TW Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3XAT Class: M/S HP Call: VE4EAR Class: Single Op LP Call: VE5UF Class: Single Op HP Call: VE6EX Class: Single Op HP Call: VE7CC Class: Single Op HP Call: VE9AA Class: Single Op LP Call: VE9HF Class: Single Op HP Call: VO1HP Class: Single Op HP Call: VO1TA Class: Single Op HP Call: VY2ZM Class: Single Op HP Call: W0AIH Class: Single Op HP Call: W0ANT Class: M/S LP Call: W0BH Class: Single Op HP Call: W0DLE Class: Single Op LP Call: W0EEE Class: M/S LP Call: W0ERP Class: Single Op LP Call: W0ETT Class: Single Op LP Call: W0PC Class: Single Op LP Call: W0PR Class: Single Op HP Call: W0UO Class: Single Op LP Call: W1AJT Class: Single Op HP Call: W1AN Class: Single Op HP Call: W1AW Class: M/S HP Call: W1END Class: Single Op LP Call: W1EQ Class: Single Op HP Call: W1HIS Class: Single Op HP Call: W1KQ Class: Single Op HP Call: W1NN Class: Single Op LP Call: W1SJ Class: Single Op HP Call: W1TO Class: Single Op HP Call: W1WBB Class: Single Op LP Call: W1XX Class: Single Op HP Call: W2BC Class: Single Op HP Call: W2GD Class: M/S HP Call: W2ID Class: Single Op QRP Call: W2IRT Class: M/S HP Call: W2JU Class: Single Op HP Call: W2NO Class: M/S HP Call: W2RR Class: Single Op HP Call: W2XL Class: Single Op HP Call: W2YC Class: Single Op HP Call: W3FV Class: M/S HP Call: W3GH Class: Single Op HP Call: W3KB Class: M/S LP Call: W3KL Class: Single Op HP Call: W3MF Class: M/S HP Call: W3SO Class: Single Op HP Call: W3TS Class: Single Op QRP Call: W3UL Class: Single Op HP Call: W3YY Class: Single Op HP Call: W4AU Class: Single Op HP Call: W4BK Class: Single Op LP Call: W4EF Class: Single Op HP Call: W4GDG Class: Single Op LP Call: W4HZ Class: M/S HP Call: W4JAM Class: Single Op HP Call: W4KAZ Class: Single Op LP Call: W4NF Class: M/S HP Call: W4QN Class: Single Op HP Call: W4RM Class: M/S HP Call: W4RYW Class: Single Op LP Call: W4UT Class: Single Op HP Call: W4VIC Class: Single Op HP Call: W4WWQ Class: Single Op LP Call: W5GZ Class: Single Op QRP Call: W5JR Class: M/S HP Call: W5MX Class: Single Op HP Call: W6AAN Class: M/S HP Call: W6FA Class: Single Op HP Call: W6PH Class: Single Op HP Call: W6ZL Class: Single Op LP Call: W7IJ Class: M/S HP Call: W7PP Class: Single Op HP Call: W7QN Class: Single Op LP Call: W7RH Class: Single Op LP Call: W7RN Class: Single Op HP Call: W7WHY Class: Single Op LP Call: W7YAQ Class: Single Op LP Call: W7YS Class: Single Op LP Call: W8FJ Class: Single Op HP Call: W8FN Class: Single Op HP Call: W8JI Class: M/S HP Call: W8KTQ Class: Single Op LP Call: W8MJ Class: M/S HP Call: W8OHT Class: Single Op HP Call: W9CF Class: Single Op LP Call: W9IIX Class: Single Op LP Call: W9ZRX Class: Single Op LP Call: WA0MHJ Class: Single Op HP Call: WA1FCN Class: Single Op LP Call: WA2JQK Class: Single Op LP Call: WA3AFS Class: M/S HP Call: WA3F Class: M/S HP Call: WA3MKC Class: Single Op LP Call: WA4PGM Class: Single Op LP Call: WA4SM Class: Single Op LP Call: WA7LNW Class: M/S LP Call: WB0TEV Class: M/S HP Call: WB4MSG Class: Single Op LP Call: WB6JJJ Class: Single Op HP Call: WB8JUI Class: Single Op LP Call: WB8YYY Class: Single Op LP Call: WC6H Class: Single Op HP Call: WC7Q Class: Single Op LP Call: WD8RYC Class: Single Op HP Call: WF7T Class: Single Op LP Call: WI9WI Class: Single Op LP Call: WJ9B Class: M/S LP Call: WL7E Class: Single Op HP Call: WM3O Class: M/S HP Call: WO7V Class: Single Op LP Call: WQ5L Class: Single Op HP Call: WR7Q Class: Single Op HP Call: WS7L Class: M/S HP Call: WT9U Class: Single Op LP Call: WU6W Class: Single Op HP Call: WU9B Class: Single Op LP Call: WX3B Class: M/S HP Call: WX4G Class: Single Op HP Call: WX4MLB Class: M/S HP Call: WX9U Class: Single Op HP Index of Calls organized by Class Class: M/S HP Call: AB2E Call: AD7AF Call: AI2N Call: E77DX Call: K0DU Call: K0KX Call: K1GQ Call: K1LZ Call: K2QMF Call: K2RD Call: K2SX Call: K2TTT Call: K3IE Call: K3STX Call: K3WW Call: K4WW Call: K4XD Call: K6III Call: K6LL Call: K6MM Call: K7ABV Call: K7NV Call: K8MM Call: K9NW Call: KB1EFS Call: KC4D Call: KH6LC Call: KQ3F Call: N1LN Call: N1WR Call: N3AM Call: N3BM Call: N3RC Call: N3RD Call: N3UA Call: N4DJ Call: N4DW Call: N4GU Call: N4HB Call: N4KG Call: N4PN Call: N4VV Call: N6ML Call: N6SS Call: N6WIN Call: N8TR Call: NJ1F Call: NN3Q Call: NX5M Call: NY3A Call: OL7M Call: ON4WW Call: PJ2T Call: RL3A Call: VE1OP Call: VE3RZ Call: VE3XAT Call: W1AW Call: W2GD Call: W2IRT Call: W2NO Call: W3FV Call: W3MF Call: W4HZ Call: W4NF Call: W4RM Call: W5JR Call: W6AAN Call: W7IJ Call: W8JI Call: W8MJ Call: WA3AFS Call: WA3F Call: WB0TEV Call: WM3O Call: WS7L Call: WX3B Call: WX4MLB Class: M/S LP Call: AC0W Call: K0TV Call: K2DB Call: K2RS Call: KR4F Call: N3ZA Call: N7MAL Call: OK2BFN Call: VE2OJ Call: VE3CV Call: VE3CWU Call: W0ANT Call: W0EEE Call: W3KB Call: WA7LNW Call: WJ9B Class: Single Op HP Call: AA1K Call: AA3B Call: AA4V Call: AB4GG Call: AC0C Call: AD4EB Call: AE4EC Call: CE1/K7CA Call: DF2PY Call: F5IN Call: FM5CD Call: HB9DHG Call: K0RF Call: K0TQ Call: K1DG Call: K1JB Call: K1LT Call: K1PX Call: K1TN Call: K1TR Call: K3TN Call: K3WA Call: K3ZM Call: K4BAI Call: K4EDI Call: K4FJ Call: K4HAL Call: K4HMB Call: K4IKM Call: K4RO Call: K4ZGB Call: K5KG Call: K5NA Call: K5WA Call: K6NV Call: K6XT Call: K7IA Call: K7KU Call: K7XC Call: K8MR Call: K8PO Call: K9AY Call: K9CT Call: K9DU Call: K9FY Call: K9MA Call: K9NR Call: KA4OTB Call: KC0W Call: KC3WX Call: KE2VB Call: KE8M Call: KF6T Call: KG4CUY Call: KG7H Call: KI0F Call: KO7X Call: KR2E Call: KY5R Call: MD0CCE Call: N0IJ Call: N0KE Call: N1IBM Call: N1IW Call: N1SNB Call: N2BJ Call: N2ED Call: N2EIK Call: N2GC Call: N3AD Call: N3MX Call: N3UM Call: N3ZZ Call: N4AF Call: N4DU Call: N4NM Call: N4NW Call: N4QQ Call: N4UA Call: N5NA Call: N5UL Call: N5WR Call: N5XJ Call: N6AA Call: N6AR Call: N6TV Call: N6VR Call: N7RK Call: N9AUG Call: N9RV Call: NA4K Call: NI7R Call: NL7Z Call: NO3M Call: NR4M Call: OK1FPS Call: OK2W Call: OL0A Call: P40TA Call: UV5U Call: VA2EW Call: VA3DX Call: VE1RSM Call: VE3CX Call: VE3EJ Call: VE3OI Call: VE5UF Call: VE6EX Call: VE7CC Call: VE9HF Call: VO1HP Call: VO1TA Call: VY2ZM Call: W0AIH Call: W0BH Call: W0PR Call: W1AJT Call: W1AN Call: W1EQ Call: W1HIS Call: W1KQ Call: W1SJ Call: W1TO Call: W1XX Call: W2BC Call: W2JU Call: W2RR Call: W2XL Call: W2YC Call: W3GH Call: W3KL Call: W3SO Call: W3UL Call: W3YY Call: W4AU Call: W4EF Call: W4JAM Call: W4QN Call: W4UT Call: W4VIC Call: W5MX Call: W6FA Call: W6PH Call: W7PP Call: W7RN Call: W8FJ Call: W8FN Call: W8OHT Call: WA0MHJ Call: WB6JJJ Call: WC6H Call: WD8RYC Call: WL7E Call: WQ5L Call: WR7Q Call: WU6W Call: WX4G Call: WX9U Class: Single Op LP Call: AA5VU Call: AA6PW Call: AA8IA Call: AB1OD Call: AB7ZU Call: AE4O Call: AJ1E Call: K0AD Call: K0CN Call: K0DI Call: K0PK Call: K0TI Call: K0TT Call: K1GU Call: K1PQS Call: K2AV Call: K2PO Call: K2QO Call: K2ZR Call: K3AN Call: K3IT Call: K3PA Call: K3SV Call: K3SWZ Call: K3YDX Call: K4FT Call: K4FTO Call: K4IU Call: K4WES Call: K4WI Call: K5AF Call: K5LH Call: K6CSL Call: K6JEB Call: K7BG Call: K7FA Call: K7SS Call: K7WP Call: K8BL Call: K8FH Call: K8NVR Call: K9BGL Call: K9GS Call: K9MMS Call: KB9S Call: KD2MX Call: KD5J Call: KE3X Call: KK7Z Call: KN0V Call: KN3A Call: KP2DX Call: KQ8RP Call: KU8E Call: KV8Q Call: KY4F Call: N0BUI Call: N0IM Call: N0JK Call: N0NB Call: N1CC Call: N1DC Call: N1IX Call: N2CQ Call: N2JDQ Call: N2WN Call: N3QE Call: N4AU Call: N4CW Call: N4DB Call: N4EEB Call: N4YDU Call: N4ZZ Call: N5UM Call: N6DW Call: N6ZFO Call: N7ON Call: N8OB Call: NB4M Call: NE7D Call: NE9U Call: NF4A Call: NM2L Call: NN3W Call: VA3ATT Call: VA3EC Call: VA3YP Call: VA7ST Call: VE1RGB Call: VE1ZAC Call: VE1ZJ Call: VE3HG Call: VE3NE Call: VE3OSZ Call: VE3RCN Call: VE3RM Call: VE3TW Call: VE4EAR Call: VE9AA Call: W0DLE Call: W0ERP Call: W0ETT Call: W0PC Call: W0UO Call: W1END Call: W1NN Call: W1WBB Call: W4BK Call: W4GDG Call: W4KAZ Call: W4RYW Call: W4WWQ Call: W6ZL Call: W7QN Call: W7RH Call: W7WHY Call: W7YAQ Call: W7YS Call: W8KTQ Call: W9CF Call: W9IIX Call: W9ZRX Call: WA1FCN Call: WA2JQK Call: WA3MKC Call: WA4PGM Call: WA4SM Call: WB4MSG Call: WB8JUI Call: WB8YYY Call: WC7Q Call: WF7T Call: WI9WI Call: WO7V Call: WT9U Call: WU9B Class: Single Op QRP Call: KE7AUB Call: KS4X Call: N1AW Call: N1TM Call: N2ZN Call: N4AX Call: N4JF Call: N5OE Call: N6WG Call: N7IR Call: N8XX Call: N9NE Call: OK1CZ Call: VA3WR Call: VE3MGY Call: W2ID Call: W3TS Call: W5GZ