ARRL 160 Soapbox built 1-2-2013 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA1K Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 400,994 The new broadside/endfire transmit array (4 elements, 335 x 146 ft. rectangle) is still under reconstruction after its initial use in the January contest. I managed to twist some more radials together on Friday and repaired some storm damage earlier in the week so it was operational again for this contest. It seems clearly better toward Europe than the longstanding 4-el. inline parasitic vertical array. In fact it was often a better Rx antenna this weekend than the Beverages. More work ahead on it before the January contest. 1176 W, 76 VE and 154 DX QSOs. Missed PR, MB and NT sections -- never even heard. Heard one weak JA4 briefly near sunrise Saturday but no other Pacific DX. Rig: K3, Alpha 89. Beverage antennas for RX. Lots of antenna switches -- see new photo under "switching" at www.aa1k.us. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA3K Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 3,968 Just a few Q's to find out how bad my CW skills are in the unassisted category. Need to find the time to sit down and practice. My simple inverted L gets me the mid-west and east coast but not a lot beyond that. I am going to need to look into that. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA4HP Class: M/S HP Total Score = 91,264 Thanks to AA4HP & K4MVO for hosting me for the 160m contest again. This was a Friday night/Saturday morning-only operation, as there are too many contests this time of year to devote two overnights to this contest the weekend after two overnights in CQWW CW. JH2FXK called in at sunrise on Saturday morning. Worked two KH6s, two KL7s, 3 South Americans, and 10 Europeans. FTDX-5000 + TenTec Titan @ 1500w Full-size inverted vee @ 100' (no rx antennas) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA4NC Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 115,240 I got on for a bit on Saturday to be "new meat"! Always good rates in this contest... The band sounded quiet here even though I have no RX antennas at the moment. There must have been a pipeline to Eastern Europe because I worked so many UR, OK, OM, and HA stations. Very few other Europeans worked... 73, Will Elecraft K3 + Ameritron AL-1200 1/4 wave wire ground plane with 3 elevated radials ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA5B Class: M/S HP Total Score = 189,840 Installed a K9AY 2-loop system on Friday, and used it for the first time during the contest. It's a huge improvement (we worked 56 JAs this time, while I've had trouble hearing more than 2 or 3 in previous 160-mtr contests), but I know there's still another layer of people calling right at the noise level and probably another layer below that. If you're one of them, sorry, I'll keep working at it. Besides the usual neighborhood noises, I get plenty of trouble from an AM broadcast station a quarter mile away and another few stations 2 miles down the road, so it'll be a real battle. 73, Bruce AA5Banana TS950sdx, TenTec Titan Inverted L on transmit (70' vertical, 70' horizontal) K9AY loops with Hilltop Systems controller ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA5VU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 18,900 (115+8) x (230+40) = 18900 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA6XV Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 62,175 Well, some good, some bad. worked into New England, only missing WMA. no Europe was heard at this location. Conditions were pretty quiet for a 160 contest at the peak of the sunspot cycle. Many missing W2 mults and suspect it was due to antenna destruction problems by Sandy. Lots of very strong and very weak signals with not much in between. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA9A Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 256,540 Looking forward to next year with a real antenna. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AB2E Class: M/S HP Total Score = 50,048 I wonder why such a bias by the ARRL sponsors against SOA? Year after year casual ops in this contest are forced into M/S category because of using packet. That makes as much sense as having everyone using QRP and LP lumped in with the HP category. The results become totally meaningless. 73 Darrell AB2E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AC4CA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 37,230 Inverted "L" UNUN overheated during a run. White-tail deer took out west side of radial field (5 of 35 109' radials). Had to drop back to GAP Voyager, which actually performed better than thought it would. Foresee a week of antenna work ahead. Loved all the activity. Tnx to all fer Qs. de John/AC4CA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AD4EB Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 157,441 Worked the same number of hours as last year, but ended up with 235 fewer contacts. Had major noise issues both nights, S9+ being generated somewhere nearby (many new subdivisions, businesses, and power lines installed in the area). TX/RX antenna is just and inverted L up 70 feet, time to start working on some sort of receiving antenna. Many stations must have thought I was deaf, thank to those that gave me all the repeats. 73 - Jim - AD4EB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AG4W Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 88,478 160M Top loaded vertical, FTDX5000D, AL-1200 Part time effort combined with Christmas decorating and grandkids. I expected to hear more DX. I will try to get a good receive antenna for next year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AI7AA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 15,250 Thanks to everyone who had the patience to pull my tiny signal out of the noise. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AL9A Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 256 Just not my band! High winds since last week forced me to lower my crank up tower down for survival. That took out my Double Bazooka sloper and left me with just a 43' vertical without enough radials. The band was quiet and I could hear several west coast stations, but they couldn't hear me. At least not enough to get past the "?" part of the exchange. Strangely enough exactly the same QSOs, mults and score as last year! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: CE1/K7CA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 105,544 Conditions from N. Chile were better this year. Of course we always have the summer QRN but it seemed that propagation was good. It usually takes more than an hour after sunset to be able to call cq and get replies but this year I was able to begin a little before sunset. I heard PJ2T about an hour before sunset and was so surprised at his signal that I called him and of couse he reminded me that we can't work DX. Sorry Jeff. There were many stations that I could hear buried in the qrn and if I couldn't get at least one letter I just continued cqing. Many times when multiple stations were calling I would get one letter from each of several stations through the constant static crashes. Any of you who operated the summer Stew Perry contest know what it is like here in summer. Except that all of the stations you are working are located much farther away. Many qsos were eked out one letter at a time over several minutes. There were deep fades which took a q5 station so far into the noise that I couldn't even tell they were there for several minutes. I was able to work more stations the first night than I did in both nights last year. I know there were many stations that I was just not able to copy. For those who really need CE and can't seem to be heard, the QRN dies down to a dull roar about an hour before my sunrise which is about 0930z so that last hour before sunrise is the best time to call. I try to stay in the DX window because I know from operating out West in Utah and Nevada that weak DX stations usually get covered up anywhere else in the band. Saturday night was interesting in that there was a real nice European opening that lasted about 4 hours but of course we can't work them for credit from here. However, that didn't stop the EU pileups that made it a bit difficult to hear the USA stations. So I tried to work several of them when no US stations were heard. Several were calling a bit off frequency so as not to qrm the contest stations which was nice. I wish that opening would wait for the Stew Perry or CQ160 contest when they can be worked for credit. Hope to see you all next week in the ARRL 10m contest and of course in the Stew Perry and CQ160 contests. Equipment: K3, Ten-Tec Titan amp, 43' top loaded vertical with 45 radials 500' beverage, BS/EF RX array ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: CX6VM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 4,012 just few hours. Oustanding condx!. Hope you had fun guys... Worked 3 UT stations for my 160 mts WAS LOTW. Hope you use LOTW :-) Merry Chirstmas and Happy New Year!!!! 73, Jorge CX6VM/CW5W ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DF2PY Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 8,528 Funky contest as usual. It is more of a hardware battle from our side of the pond than a contest. Was not the best of cndx like previous years, but we had much worse days this season and should be happy with what we got into the logs. cu next years de wolf df2py ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: E71A Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 4,030 Nice contest on TOP band. Cu next year, 73 Emil ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: E77DX Class: M/S HP Total Score = 15,400 time part effort, only satraday to sonday night! condx were not so good and only WC worked was N7UA! tnx QSOs and cu in ARRL 10m! 73s Braco E77DX setup FT2K + amp + 4SQ + bev ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: JA1XMS Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 6,068 This was my first experience with High Power Entry. The first day is S & P, it is nice to find Strong and weak running stations. Especially with QSB, several repeats told me the real callsign. Some good ear JA stations started calling before I recognize whole letters. The second day, late half, I was running and get many west coast stns. Was really nice. Thanks for QSO, and sorry for some stations I could not pick up your call. I will attach sections - hours distribution of the contacts Rig: TS-590 (Good with Noise Reduction and 50Hz filter) Amp: Alpha 87a (1kW) Ant: Inverted Vee (110 feet at the top, almost sloper shape) Logger: N1MM See you again at Stew Perry TBDC, Thanks ---- JA1XMS Makoto 2012-12-01 2012-12-02 1 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 --+--+--+--+--+--+--+ --+--+--+--+--+--+--+ WTX 1 1 WTX 1 1 2 EWA 1 1 2 EWA 1 1 3 SF 1 1 SF 0 1 LAX 0 LAX 1 1 1 SDG 1 1 SDG 1 1 2 STX 1 1 2 STX 1 1 3 WWA 1 1 2 WWA 1 1 3 EB 1 1 EB 0 1 SCV 0 SCV 1 1 1 ORG 1 1 ORG 3 3 4 NTX 1 1 2 4 NTX 1 1 5 AK 2 1 3 AK 0 3 PAC 1 1 PAC 0 1 --------------------- --------------------- TN 1 1 TN 0 1 --------------------- --------------------- LA 1 1 LA 0 1 OK 1 1 OK 0 1 NM 2 2 4 NM 1 3 4 8 AR 1 1 AR 0 1 --------------------- --------------------- AZ 1 1 2 AZ 1 1 2 4 MT 1 1 MT 0 1 WY 0 WY 2 2 2 NV 1 1 2 NV 1 1 3 OR 1 2 3 OR 1 1 1 3 6 ID 1 1 ID 0 1 UT 1 1 UT 1 1 1 3 4 --------------------- --------------------- WI 1 1 WI 0 1 IL 2 2 IL 0 2 --------------------- --------------------- NE 1 1 NE 0 1 SD 1 1 SD 0 1 MO 1 1 MO 0 1 MN 1 1 MN 0 1 KS 1 1 2 KS 0 2 ND 1 1 ND 0 1 IA 1 1 IA 0 1 CO 2 2 CO 1 3 1 5 7 --------------------- --------------------- BC 1 1 BC 0 1 --+--+--+--+--+--+--+ --+--+--+--+--+--+--+ sub 2 6 10 7 12 13 1 51 sub 1 3 21 6 31 82 accm 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 accm 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 2 8 8 5 7 0 1 1 1 1 1 4 5 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: JH3PRR Class: M/S HP Total Score = 3,456 S&P ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0PK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 73,425 Had fun with the first 160 contest from my cabin, located in a very low radio noise environment compared to my home QTH. (TX antenna, pre-amp on, 400 Hz BW, noise reading: S-0; at home, S-9) I could hear weak signals much better but was quite limited in getting out with a rather tiny transmitting antenna. (1/8-wave loaded sloper up 40' on a small tower with a few radials) Had a couple of "ok" runs but never felt loud. Using 100 watts with this setup felt like running QRP on the big vertical at home. The major difference was that I could hear many more stations that couldn't hear me, especially DX. (many EU both nights and JA's both mornings) There also seemed to be an unusual amount of one-way propagation. Some of the loud, normally easy to work stations just CQed in my face. And then I'd work someone with a tiny signal on the first call.... It's always fascinating! Station: IC-756 Pro II, N1MM/K1EL WinKey DX worked: CE, C6, FM, PJ2, ZF States missed for WAS: MS & HI (KH6LC worked hard to try to copy me, but no dice. Never heard MS all weekend.) Thanks for the Q's! 73 - Paul, K0PK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0PP/7 Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 102,611 Severe noise from defective MV street light a block away on Saturday night! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0RF Class: M/S HP Total Score = 200,342 Thought I would get on and just search and pounce countries but after I had worked all the DX stations that were CQing, I decided that I would have to call CQ to get more countries in the log. Worked 40 JAs and 60 Europeans. I was really surprised with the number and strength of the Europeans that called in the second night around EU sunrise. This one would have been a good one to operate seriously but I had to coach volleyball both days. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0TI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 174,522 Radio: KX3 driving PW1 to 150 Watts Ant: Bent Inverted L - 0 radials ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0TT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 123,675 Ran non-assisted with the old, somewhat untrustworthy IC-765 and the surprisingly well performing 65' T-vertical suspended between two of the 80m 4-square towers. Local power company fixed damage from a recent lightning strike in time for the contest. A bad lightning arrestor and damaged insulators were generating S9+10db noise prior to the fix. Condx fairly good this weekend. Band open coast to coast most of the time. Carribean stations weak but solid. PAC and AK weak but workable. Heard a few EU but could work them. Didn't try too hard since I'm running low power. Decided to give CT and the old '486 PC a rest. Used N1MM with a WinKeyer USB that I built the night before the contest. I was able to fiddle with the timing of the 'TT' part of my call so most copied it correctly the first time. For CW, I need to slow down the 'TT' portion. (On SSB, it works best to say "tango tango" very quickly). Some locals mentioned that there were problems with dupes, but I only had a few duplicate calls the entire contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1DC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 83,083 New QTH, new antenna, new contest group, no snow. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1DG Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 366,366 I think I've gotten too old for back-to-back stay-up-all-night weekends. After 10 minutes of unanswered CQs at 0700 Sunday morning, I called it a contest. Missed KL7, KP4, VE4, NT. Some nice scores out there, several regulars among the missing...W2GD, K1LZ, some others. Thanks for all the QSOs. 73, Doug K1DG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1LT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 375,687 34 duplicate QSOs! To many dupes! Too much time wasted pulling duplicate calls from the noise. The goal this year was to do more than beat last year's score which was a pathetic low because of an unlucky power line noise event. I prepared rate charts for all ARRL 160 tests since 2008 so I could pick the event that best matched this year's conditions. Another goal was to prove or disprove that the new 300 by 60 foot broadside/end-fire phased array is useful. This new array of short verticals broadside to Japan feeds a 4-way SDR receiver like the existing 8 vertical array (see reprinted QEX article on k1lt.com for details). These verticals are made of PVC instead of wood like the others and I'm hoping they require less reconstruction than the wooden versions. After the first couple of hours it became apparent that the all-time best score from 2009 was the old score to beat. The first night was very quiet and noise free (except for about 30 minutes of buzz). I was able to maintain BIC for 7.5 hours straight. European DX contacts arrived at a slow but steady pace until western Europe sunrise when conditions in that direction seemed to dry up. After 0700Z I replaced the office chair with the recliner to try again to stay awake all night. It worked! About an hour before sunrise I switched to using the new phased array as the main receiving antenna. Exactly at sunrise at 1228Z JH2FXK called with the clearest signal from JA that I've ever heard on 160. Thus the new phased array seems to work. All hail physics! I operated until about 1330 and then took a 2 hour nap. I had to get up after the short nap to perform a parental chore. Since my phased arrays all depend on software, switching between the two phased arrays is also a matter of software. However, I hadn't truly integrated the new array with the old. Just prior to the contest I arranged for both "software receivers" to be available at the same time but switching from one to the other required too many key presses to switch "software antennas" between QSOs. So Saturday afternoon I added some code to better streamline that process. Now a single key press changes from one to the other phased array. Ultimately, the software should automatically select the best array for any particular direction, but that level of integration requires more work than I could do in an afternoon. Also, I need more computing horsepower to run 16 analog to digital converters and 2 receivers simultaneously. For this contest, onearray had to idle while listening on the other. For future contests, one ear on each array might be very useful. Conditions the second night were almost as good as the first. The was just a little static a couple of hours after sunset that didn't last too long. But QSO rates were very, very low. I guess conditions the first night were good enough to work most participants leaving little to work the second night. It seemed like many contestants compensated by making duplicate QSOs. A few more Europeans called at a slow and almost steady pace. But by now it was apparent that only the European big guns were calling and the smaller stations were either not on the air or not able to overcome propagation. By 0700 I has very tired and very cranky and getting very annoyed with the duplicate QSOs. I set up the recliner but shortly I dosed off with the CQ machine running for about 30 minutes. When I woke up, I was sufficiently annoyed with myself and conditions that I decided to take a 3 hour nap and come back for the sunrise. At sunrise, conditions seemed to be the same as the day before, but no new DX was heard. DX worked: C6, CE, CX, DL (11), E7 (2), EA, EU, F (4), FM, G (4), GD, GM (2), GW, HA (2), I (6), JA, KH6 (2), KL (2), KP2, LA, LY (2), OE (2), OH (2), OK (8), OM (3), ON, OZ, PA (5), PJ2, S5 (4), SM (3), SP, TF, UA, UA2, UR (7), VP2V, VP5, and XE. Heard VK working K5. Equipment: K3, ETO 91B (thanks, PJ2/K8ND), 65 foot "Tee" over 70 125' radials on the ground, 6 2-wire Beverages ever 30 degrees varying in length from 450 - 900 feet, 4x2 broadside/end-fire phased array and SDR receiver, 2x2 broadside/end-fire phased array and SDR receiver. too many computers with too much software. Some history: Year DX K/VE Total K/VE DX Total QSOs QSOs QSOs Mult Mult Score 2007 101 1452 1553 78 48 429534 2008 119 1350 1469 77 42 392105 2009 238 1447 1685 78 51 526836 2010 185 1419 1604 77 51 481664 2011 65 1288 1353 77 30 310407 2012 87 1388 1475 81 36 375687 Looks like my raw score tends to track the number of DX stations worked and everything else is roughly constant. 2011 was a bad year because of the severe line noise problem. 2012 added 3 new K/VE multipliers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1TN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 8,774 I'm sorry, no dedicated 160M antenna this year, not even for one weekend. I just end fed a random wire against a 1/4 wavelength wire on the ground. Spent two hours being an alligator and then just pulled the switch and slithered off. After the terrible noise on 80M here last weekend during the CQ WW CW I am starting to wonder if some kind of local noise source has popped up. It's possible. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2AV Class: M/S HP Total Score = 230,974 K3 + 8410. 3/8 wave L over FCP. 9 pm Friday start due to daughter's birthday party. 8410 had something go wrong with it (bias circuit I think) and developed horrendous clicks late Saturday night. Someone came up and told me about it. Checked it out with battery K2, and replaced with my old 3-1000Z amp. Sorry for anyone I inconvenienced. 73, Guy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2AXX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 221,238 Couldn't get the beverage up in time. Ran with TX antenna only. Also need to replace my old IC-746Pro as it is VERY easily crunched. Most of the weekend a very strong line-of-sight local was pounding away. The rig folded bigtime - need real filters + DSP. K3, FT-2000, SOMETHING... Good activity, always fun to catch up with the gang. See everyone in ARRL 10 and others. Mark, K2AXX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2PO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 42,840 A single night effort due to other commitments. I worked 6 WNY stations, but no other NY or NJ station. I missed GTA, but got all the other ONT stations. I worked only a single New Englander: W1WMU in Maine, as my second-to-last QSO. 'Good warmup for the Stew Perry Topband Challenge, the weekend after Christmas. 73, /Bill, K2PO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2TTT Class: M/S HP Total Score = 185,526 Always have a good time in this test. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2ZR Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 64,856 Conditions on Saturday night were better than Friday. Thanks for all of the Qs. Enjoy the holidays! 73, Dick, K2ZR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3KU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 23,085 My usual starting time, about 2345Z Sat nite. Had to limit op time because I was leaving on a trip at 09Z (4AM!). Spent more time than I planned, but it was worth the tiredness on Sunday. Fun to be new call; lots of loud callers from eastern 1/3 of continent. Newly extended 200-ft dipole works better on 160M than old antenna. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3OO Class: M/S HP Total Score = 76,800 Got on 3 hours at the start of the contest Friday night...then 1 1/2 hours late Saturday night after returning from a fund raising dinner party that had way too much wine. Running stations after being over the legal limit(not the 1.5 kw type) is kind of like trying to run stations on 40m cw at the end of a dx contest after staying awake for 45 hours...hi hi. 99% was cqing. 73, CU on 10m next weekend. Rick K3OO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3OQ Class: M/S LP Total Score = 14,516 Happy with the performance of the long wire. Will have receive loop for CQ 160....and more vertical orientation of the long wire. Lots of fun. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3STX Class: M/S HP Total Score = 120,704 Didn't play as much as I would have wanted. A chance to give my brand new TS-590S out on a crowded, loud band. IT WAS GREAT!!! I wish I had a RX antenna for the west, lots of QRN and I heard very few stations in CA. Missed most of the CA sections. But 29 DXCC was not bad for this little guy with 400 watts, an inverted L, and a Pennant to Europe as a RX antenna. See ya'll in the Stew and CQ 160 contests. paul ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3TN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 71,048 K3 TO KPA500 TO 51' T WIRE VERTICAL Just got on in bits and pieces, going down to the shack in the early am each night when I woke up in the middle of the night. Absorption seem kinda high Friday night, much better on Saturday night/wee hours. No QRN - although, on the second night everything above 1840 had a very high noise level here, but a wierd new noise I haven't heard before. Amazing how 160M emphasizes sub-standard keying waveforms - clicks and buzzes galore. Sort of like how 40M SSB seems to highlight bad audio. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3WA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 89,871 About five hours on Saturday with the goal of testing my re-built transmit antenna and compare my new 3 el Hi-Z receive vertical array to my short beverages. What a surprise. First of all, 160 meters was quiet. The first evening this year that I heard a quiet band. Conditions were good with strong signals coast to coast. When a couple of Europeans called in to my run was pretty surprised. Good, clear signals and loud enough to get through the East Coast wall. My transmit antenna held up. with no problems Have been troubleshooting it for over a year now. No breaking down this contest. Thanks to Mike N7MB for all the help with it. My HiZ receive array was consistently better at hearing the domestic stations and into the Caribbean. The short beverages were consistently better with the Eu stations. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3YDX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 20,240 One of these days I will have to get serious about using a slingshot/bow and arrow to get the Inv. L higher or more vertical than the height I achieve tying one end to a half brick and throwing it over branches of the tulip poplar! My prior upper 80's fastball is down to about 40 mph with a corresponding vertical height achieved of about 35 feet. A separate receiving antenna would not hurt either! Ran LP to preclude being an aligator. Thanks for the Q's. Suprised the noise level was ok this year with a general S-4 background. Hank ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3ZM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 477,535 "A Visit from St. Nick," by K3ZM 'Twas the start of the contest when all through the land, The big guns were hurriedly filling Topband. Each claimed his own spot like a powerful Lord, In advance of the weaker and scurrying horde. They tried to distinguish themselves from the crowd, Using signals that were often incredibly loud. A few had arrays that were truly amazing, A quarter wave tall, and with switchable phasing. A fortunate number could listen while steering, Using clever arrays from DX Engineering. Their Beverages all had been carefully mended, Their CT files loaded, no task unattended. A moment from now, they'd be busily running, With QSO rates that were high if not stunning, Sending reports, logging proper rejoinders, While hoping to garner a lot of five-pointers. From San Joaquin Valley to Maryland-D.C., They waited for 2200 UTC. The Low-Power stations were seasoned and steady, Their verticals tuned, their Vibro-keys ready. This group took advantage of many fine toys, To copy weak signals from under the noise. Their tactics a mixture of running and pouncing, They hoped the big guns didn't give them a trouncing. But well-informed contesters all knew the story: The best ops were lurking in this category. They showed their great skill and consummate finesse, In contrast to their colleagues' high-powered largess. While showing respectably high rates per hour, They'd prove that you don't have to run such high power. The Pee Whistles got ready to follow the spots, While modestly working from their city lots. Their dipoles were hung from their chimneys with care, Which sent most of their RF straight up in the air. But even if located down in a hole, They still played a vitally important role. While glorious scores were achieved by the rest, It was these hams who honestly made the contest. They responded to calls from the rest of the group, While listening intently on their magnetic loop. For my part I savored a last moment's rest, And readied myself to begin the contest. But out by the tower there began such a clatter I sprang from my rig to see what was the matter. The moonlight was shimmering off of the Bay, And casting a glow on a lovely gold sleigh. Its driver was clothed all in red and so quick, I knew in an instant it must be St. Nick. His reindeer exhibited the greatest of power, As they guided the sleigh by my hundred foot tower. The next sound I heard was a shuffling hoof, As the reindeer alighted on top of my roof. Then, carrying a pack that was heavy and round, Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound. He was dressed all in fur, with an Icom in hand, And his smile was as wide as the ten-meter band. His jacket was ruffled, his cap all akilter, But his gaze was as sharp as a new crystal filter. He soon made it clear he was not here to shirk, Proceeding directly to start on his work. He finished his chores in the blink of an eye, For he moved just as fast as K4BAI. He then turned to me as his work neared an end. Perhaps there's a gift from my jolly, round friend? With a gleam in his eye and a big hearty smile, He gave me the latest new headset from Heil. And reaching inside of his red velvet bag, He pulled out a large box so heavy, he sagged. Then what to my wondering eyes should appear But a present so splendid and terribly dear. The 9500 from Alpha inside, Brought tears to my eyes that I cared not to hide. I thanked my fine guest as he chuckled and said, "You'll need lots of help beating K1LZ." I treasured his kindness and generous heart, As he gathered his things and prepared to depart. Up the chimney he went, above smoldering ashes Amidst a bold flurry of loud dots and dashes. He mounted his sleigh in the cold winter rain Then looked at his coursers and called them by name. "Now DG, now PO and WB9Z, On GH, on 1K and Ambassador Fred. Now GD and EJ and N2WN, On ZM and ZZ and 3BGN. Go NA and 9DX and W8JI Yo PN and LT and K9AY. To the top of the band, Line up wall to wall! Now call CQ, search and pounce, 5-9 to all!" The crack of his whip when he started his sleigh Was almost as forceful as DR1A. As he smiled at his reindeer and headed out west, He looked back and shouted, "Good luck in the test!" I got some great help just before CQ WW from the XYL, who trammed up the new shorty-forty with me on the 130 foot tower. What a great team we make. Thanks also to Don, N4DJ, who helped me debug my outer listening array shortly before this contest. It proved to be very important, as I needed to have the ability to null out both some S-3 line noise several miles to the Northwest and a drift-net buoy to the Southeast that decided it liked my CQ frequency on Saturday night. This particular buoy had a signal that was S-7, which was about six S units above the ambient noise level at the time. This second listening array is exactly one-half wavelength to the southeast of the first. Thus, both noise sources were collinear with both listening arrays. Eight ball in the corner pocket! I was able to switch between in-phase and 180 degrees out of phase to change between nulling the noise versus the buoy every several minutes as the drift net buoy returned to my frequency. This enabled me to copy a few dozen West Coast stations on Saturday night that I might not have gotten otherwise. It looks like I am going line-noise hunting again. Topband operators were no doubt excited on Thursday evening, as the band came alive and offered the prospect of some DX over the weekend. Indeed, signals were better than they have been, and it was quiet at this location all weekend with no troublesome QRN. But the numbers just were not there for me. At bedtime Saturday morning, I had 130 EU's in the log and 981 contacts. This was more than last year, which had poor conditions on Friday evening. But Saturday evening did not provide the gusto I needed. The sunset opening to EU was nice, but the DX stopped calling by about 2245Z. Things picked up as I had a productive CQ frequency on Saturday night just at the sunrise of Western EU. Here is how my EU numbers compare for the last several years: 2012 244 2011 203 2010 366 2009 433 I was very excited to be called by nephew Patrick, KK6ZM on Saturday night. Our first contest QSO with his new call. It was also neat to work brother George in Florida with his attic wire. Please note that the drift net buoy was louder. Glad to work my good friend Jim, AD4J, who helped me construct my 4G transmit array two years ago. DX highlights were A65BP on Friday evening, who could have been in the room with me. Also getting Dave at KH2 on Saturday morning and VK6HD. No JA's for me, but did get KH6 and KL7 (thanks, Rich). I missed KP4 and KV4. Never heard Herb and Pedro does not love us. I think the keen competition may be among the VE's this year, who seemed busy. For my part, I am Oh-for-seven in the ARRL 160, but I sure keep trying! A very strange thing happened just after the end of the contest. My smart-phone squawked to signal an incoming text. I had shivers down my spine as I read the message: "So, how did the new Alpha work out for you? LZ1JY/JW0" 73, Peter K3ZM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4FJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 156,800 I need a beverage antenna! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4FTO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 30,128 "Assisted" category. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4IKM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 50,100 Couldn't operate except for a few minutes on Friday, worked W2BGN who I see kicked my butt (no surprise there). Had a good time on saturday nite but not much DX this year. Spent more time running and probably would have had a decent score if I could have been on for the entire event. Even so I had a good time! 160M is always fun sledding.... Steve...K4IKM....73! Go FRC! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4LY Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 73,333 When my neighbor drove by and saw me standing on top of the one 64' tower holding a long bamboo pole, he asked if I were going tightrope walk across to the other 64' tower! He meant on my 40M dipole. I said "of course- it sure beats going down the tower and climbing up the other!" Actually, it was part of my autumn ritual of of cutting a long bamboo pole about 1 1/2 miles from the house and walking it up the hill to home and up the tower and elevating the top of my inverted L from it's usualy 60' position to over 90.' That, the laying down of 28 seasonal radials in my yard, and construction of a new KAZ receiving antenna completed my prep. Good preparation- poor execution. The head cold that limited my CQWW 40M effort to about half effort did the same thing for the 160M test. With a CW exasperated, head cold headache, I got cold feet- literally- and a blacket didn't warm them, so I went to bed at 10 PM Friday night and got up past sunrise to work AK, but the normally easier to work HI stations CQed in my face. A couple of JAs heard at ESP level. With my competitive effort kaput, I just played around Saturday night off and on until 10:30 PM working 3 loud Europeans who were being badly QRMed by unethical NA CQing in the DX window. Remember when 160M was the gentleman's band? Since LP stations don't usually get called by DX, it's important for them to have a DX window even if it doesn't make any difference for the big guns. It would also probably increase DX participation! To bed at 10:30 PM and up at 3:30 AM, actually feeling pretty good. No HI heard (where were they?), but I worked a few of the west coast mults. Just did one productive 90 minute run, but no MS or KS called so missed those easy ones and a bunch of others. My rotor's broke so no 10M test, but see you in the Stew Perry using the faithful, old TS-850 at 100 watts, about 2 db down from working some stations that were very patient, but never got my complete call. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4RO Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 79,566 Highlight was working 3 Japanese stations at my sunrise Saturday AM. Sunday evening I was able to work several Europeans at their sunrise. Conditions were very quiet this year, except for when a new heat pump with a PWM motor starts up in the neighborhood (my new nemesis.) Countries worked: C6 CE DL F FM G GD JA K KL7 KP2 OK ON OZ PA PJ2 VE XE Sections missed: PR PAC EWA MT MB NL NT ONN 73, Kirk K4RO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4WES Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 12,402 Many tnx for the QSOs! 73 de k4Wes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5ER Class: M/S HP Total Score = 7,314 For YEARS I have avoided the use of spotting networks during contesting. Still something quaint about finding them for yourself. I was chasing some DX when I ran across this contest. I had a little time and decided to play an hour or two. I couldn't "unsee" what was already on the band map, so I opened a log and to be honest, clicked "assisted". When submitting score, I glanced at rules and see there ISN'T a SO-assisted category. I'm still an advocate of NOT throwing SO-assisted and SO-UNassisted together, but a SO-assisted probably doesn't stand a chance against a Multi-Assisted, either. Even though I participated as a Sngle-Op, my entry is a Multi-Single. Guess next time I better stop and read rules BEFORE participating. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5KG Class: M/S HP Total Score = 53,977 Single op, Assisted. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5NA Class: M/S HP Total Score = 304,080 The ARRL 160M Contest has always been my favorite contest. This year is the 43th running of it and it is my 38th year to participate. If anyone has been in more of them, let me know. This year was one of those rare times when I was unable to do a single-op or operate on my own. So a multi-op seemed to be the thing to do. W5TA, W5MJ, and AB5K came over to join Susan (K5DU) and me (K5NA) to have some fun. The team did a great job and I was very proud of their effort. I was very pleased when we broke the 300K mark. It looks like we might make the multi-op top ten. That is the only goal we typically have for this contest. Conditions didn't seem as good as last year, but I am not sure of that as I wasn't on at all hours. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to work our team. 73, Richard - K5NA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6CSL Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,872 I had hoped to exceed my 2011 score of 68 x 21=2,856, which brought me 1st Place SOLP in SJV. However no go. I was 3 hours short of operating time due to some interruptions and the band conditons didn't seem as good as last year and it also seemed as if the participation wasn't quite as good. I heard several of the big guns working JA's and other DX. I usually find and work at least XE and KH6. I never heard either. I only heard one KL7(KL7RA) and he was very weak here and couldn't hear me calling him. Early Saturday evening, 05:00Z, I was hearing VE3CX in ONN, but again, he couldn't hear me. So I guess the next 160 effort I will make will be Stew Perry at the end of December. TNX to the KB'ers who worked me this weekend. I hope to hear many of you on in ARRL 10M Test this coming weekend. 73's to all. Bert, K6CSL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6JEB Class: M/S LP Total Score = 7,533 I spent a few hours the first evening mostly dealing with a Winkeyer/Writelog issue which, only when Writelog was running, when I keyed the rig, it would send at the Winkeyer USB's highest speed. Saturday I decided to just switch to N1MM and solved the issue (I have been wanting to get good at N1MM as well). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6NR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 64,220 Conditions were not particularly good, weak signals mostly. Was able to hear TM6M and OL7M but they could not hear me. I operated the contest remotely over the Internet using my station located about 80 miles away. Worked pretty well, but nothing like the network dropping in the middle of running stations to make things interesting. Rig: K3 -> KPA500 about 600W to Inverted L at 48' over 67 radials... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6NV Class: M/S HP Total Score = 41,712 Friday was good, but should have stayed up longer. Sat evening became a challenge, noise level up some, not as much activity, major rain storm, then the power started going on and off. At about 10:00 local time power was out for the evening leaving me short of my goal. Woke up about 3:30 local time due to heavy rain, power was back and I gave it a shot, very high noise level, I was hoping JA would be open, no luck, bagged it about 4:00am local. Line up: FT-1000MP AL-80b 160m "L" with 2 tuned radials ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7ABV Class: M/S HP Total Score = 8,800 played just for a short time, have horrible qrn, up to 20 db over s9 off and on...guess I had better start looking around to see where that is around the neighborhood..thanks for the q's and hope to see you in the 10 meter test next weekend... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7IA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 134,568 Shakedown cruise for92 foot shunt fed tower and I'm pleased with the performance. I worked everyone I could hear, but alas, it's a better Tx antenna than a Rx antenna. I couldn't pull a number of callers out of the noise--my apologies to them! Next project, a Beverage ranch! Conditions were better on Friday evening than on Saturday, when QRN was stronger and QSB longer and deeper. It pays to keep calling the S&Pers, because many came up from the noise long enough to make the QSO. Thanks to the chaps who hung in. I missed NLI, PR, NL, and NT, but the nice Sunday AM JA run (new to me at this QTH) was good compensation. Maybe some more mileage (kilometerage?) points in the Stew Perry this year? See you then! 73, dan k7ia ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7NJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 234,586 This was my first ARRL 160, but it won't be the last - great fun !! Actually operated Single Operator Assisted. Not sure about the category since rules seem to indicate that this should be submitted as multi-operator which seems rather strange as I was the only operator !? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7NV Class: M/S HP Total Score = 32,076 Had a good time turning the little station on and working some old & new friends! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7RAT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 63,600 An hour here and an hour there. Best rates were around 0400Z the second night. My first hour was around 1000Z the first night when most people were sleeping. Always good to hear old friends on the band. TX - phased verticals 1/4 wave RX - various beverages Rig: K3 using diversity with TX and RX antennas - pair 3-500Z. Pulled some weak ones out of the muck - had to leave a few others behind. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7SS Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 10,904 LP and low antenna yielded expected results HEARD and not worked: CE1/K7CA, PJ2T, FM5CD, KV4FZ HEARD and worked best dx: KH6, KL7, NFL, VY2, WNY (Tnx K2AXX for very great patience..). GOOD EARS AWARDS: VY2ZM, K2AXX, NO3M, N4OX. CALLED AND CALLED and finally worked a few: Some stations east of the Mississippi River. My weak sig, not their ears. To those that waited just a millisecond between CQs, and just KNEW no one was calling them I say... many times there was someone calling you. Nice to say howdy to so many friends, old and new. 160 earned its nickname, "the Gentleman's Band" 73 de K7SS, WWA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7TD Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 19,530 Unfortunately I was traveling during the week and arrived home too late Friday to finish installing the Inverted L. Just the same I always have fun operating this contest and saying hello to long time friends. Conditions were actually better than expected and managed to work an ATNO. Hope to spend more time operating in 2013 and less travel. 73 Terry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7WP Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 14,504 FT1000MP/AL811H/Sloper/N1MM Just a few point for the Outlaws...thanks for the Q's! John K7WP..Merry Christmas es 73! Go Arizona Outlaws...! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7XC Class: M/S LP Total Score = 57,840 Friday Afternoon I Was Amazed to be working W3,2,& 1 a good 2 hours before sunset! Then a migraine headache hit costing me the rest of that night and all of Saturday Morning. Got on 2 hours after sunset Saturday for a few hours and then again from 2AM to 6AM Sunday Morning. Not one peep from EU/AF, Worked NA, SA, Asia, & Pacific. Station, Elecraft K3, 160M Inv L up 35' (170 Total Length) with 8 radials. No Rcv Ant. All in all not a bad result for Low Power. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8BL Class: M/S LP Total Score = 182,652 Condx were nicely quiet and activity was very good. Wish there was more DX to work, unless I just wasn't hearing it. Missed PAC, SB, PR and NT (of course) for K/VE Sweep. Operated M/S with me, myself & I since there is no other way to operate Assisted in this Contest. (Why not??) IMHO, that needs to be changed since I see so many stations spotting things and very few entering as Multi-Ops. This was something I noticed in SS versus their Category when I'd work someone. Hmmmmmmm? (I'm just sayin'.) I'm not set up for SO2R, but using the A/B VFO worked out pretty well for snagging guys off the BandMap and jumping back to my CQ Freq. Most of the time I was able to get back before someone else grabbed my Freq. HIHI Worked a fair number of NCC'ers, including W1NN who was operating remote from a Sushi Bar across the left pond, I think. Working condx = IC-7700, Inv L Bazooka Feed with 4 radials & neighbor's chain-link fence & two ground rods 67 feet apart, old CT-WIN, NO-DOZ. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8FH Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 117,992 Always a fun contest. Congrats to the big scores. I regret I only got to operate it the first night, the band seemed in pretty good condition. Worked a lot of old friends and familiar calls and lots of new ones as well. Spent most of my time on or around 1816 except when I cruised through the DX window looking for treasures. I was surprised to see so many stateside guys running frequencies within the DX window covering "real" DX.........what the heck?? Anyhow, looking forward to the STEW, hope to see you then. 73, Fred K8FH DAYTON 163 more days! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8KS Class: M/S HP Total Score = 362,052 Conditions were amazing Friday night, wow! We operated from N8CC's station in the great metropolis of Nashville, Michigan. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8MR Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 32,784 Another effort in getting accustomed to the new KX3 and to N1MM (also rather new to me). This was much easier than my phone SS QRP effort with a 12 foot high dipole in WCF. Still, the limits become pretty clear. Best DX was K0RF or KO7X. Got a couple of ?'s from N9RV and N2IC, but no qsos. The list of people who did not hear me at all is, of course, very long. Still, I was able to do some running (I'd guess 25% of my qsos were such), and on a couple of occasions actually beat out somebody when calling. Life is still to short for QRP, but there are times when QRP is better than NoRP. That's what I'm preparing for. 73 - Jim K8MR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9AY Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 307,707 Thanks for all the QSOs! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9CT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 367,702 Conditions were good most of the test...sliding in the last 6 hours. Good number of EU and 25 JA stations for me. No JA on last morning. Seemed like numbers were down compared to past years. It became boring after the first night....good rates the first six hours and then the slog began. My attention turned to reading emails and working the ZL9 dxpedition..hi. Antennas seemed to work well...directional tx array definitely works. I used a 180 foot high dipole and the 5 element array with a stackmatch on occasion. The rx array is a HiZ Circle 8 array. This was most helpful for less strong stations and took a while to zero in on them. Most stations realize you are searching for them and will be patient while you find them.....some don't get it. Missed KP4 and NT. Thanks for the qsos and good cw ops. 73, Craig K9CT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9DR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 11,100 My new neighborhood, with underground utilities, is surprisingly quiet and I was able to hear lots of DX. That was the good news. Unfortunately 100 Watts fed into feedline of 30' high 80 meter dipole wasn't heard by at least 2/3 of the stations I called...and called...and called! - Dan K9DR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9FY Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 199,614 As usual a great,friendly and good mannered contest. Does the mean age of the participants correlate directly to the wavelength in this one? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9IG Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 138,092 Too many distractions for a full time effort this year. I was just glad that I could put some time in the chair. I spent the week before the contest building a new shack PC and I was just hoping to get it working for my part time effort. It worked, for the most part. The noise from the neighbor's electric fence was down this year, I saw him last week walking the perimeter and cutting weeds knocking against the fence. We also has some rain so that helped. Conditions were OK for me. Not over the top good but fun still. When I heard EU I could usually work them. Never heard any JAs this year. Thanks for the Q's, gotta love 160m! Greg K9IG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9JWV Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 30,230 Worked TONS of CAs from s/w Utah - a "chip shot," so to speak. I almost, ALMOST, worked PJ2T but he could only get bits and pieces of my call....bummer. I heard HI and JA stations but they were weak so I tried, some, but gave up after a couple of minutes. Did work a couple of AKs and one XE (XE2S always booms in here) and some VEs (VE7, VE5, VE3 and VY2). Worked into New England a little - NH and CT (heard others but they weren't hearing me). Worked into Northern FL, AR and LA - heard AL and MS but couldn't work them - all in all, weird propagations was the best way to describe it all! The ARRL 160 is a tuff one for us QRP types but, as a friend of mine, said, "I wouldn't have it any other way." Have redid my antenna system and now have q 43' vertical, three 25' top loading wires, LDG Z11ProII auto tuner at the base with a 160 meter loadling coil that can be remotely switched in or out AND fifty elevated radials - fifteen 50' east, fifteen 50' west, fifteen 25' north and fifteen 25' south, that assymetrical arrangement is a result of the topography surrounding the antenna location; the base of the vertical is at about 5' above ground and the radials slope down to about 1' above the ground. That new system works FIVERS on 160 through 10 meters, with the exception of 30 meters where the elevation angle of the radiated signal is about 60 degrees and the Zo is about 4 ohms (tough for the Z11ProII to compensate for that). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9MMS Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 140,976 K3 at 100W ; Win-Test logging TX: INV L and Marconi sloper INV L worked very well after improvements in 2011 and this year. RX: Custom short reversible, EWE, Hi-Z 2-3, and a couple more specials. The Hi-Z 2-3 array worked very well. QSOs via CQs = 64% DX worked: C6AUM, CE1/K7CA, DF2PY, TM6M, FM5CD, M5O, JH2FXK, OL7M, PJ2T, ZF2AH PAC: KH7X and KH6LC. AK: KL7RA Missed: PR, SB, NL, and NT. Not many California stations heard. Worked all 50 states (49 on day one, and NV for the last one on day 2). Very disappointing that various US stations sat in the DX window (1830 – 1835) with CQ runs for the entire contest. The rules for this contest clearly state that the “window” should be reserved for DX. This made it very difficult, or impossible to copy some of the DX stations that prefer to use the window. W/VE stations, please follow the rules on this. Thanks for the Qs, Ms, and fun. 73, Gary ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9NW Class: M/S HP Total Score = 43,600 QRV Saturday night/Sunday morning. Band seemed very quiet and condx good. Me + Cluster Corps (which = M/S in this one....) Missed EB, PR, NT 73, Mike K9NW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KA4RRU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 27,445 Only had time for 2 hours and 45 min. Had fun. 73 de Mike ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KB4KBS Class: M/S LP Total Score = 1,449 Got on for a few minutes and did some S&P using the cluster. My objective was to pop on the station, listen and try to copy his info in my head, then work him with my paddles once I was reasonably sure I knew what he was sending. My sending skills need some help - I found I got better over time, and after some tweaks to the keyer and paddles. My head can send faster than my fingers, which is sometimes faster than the keyer, and at other times slower. Gotta figure out how to get everything marching to the same metronome... Solo antenna was a stock G5RV. Radio was able to tune it up with less than 1.5:1, but I imagine the ERP was somewhat well below the 50W power level I mistakenly left it at. Props to the stations in ONS, ONN, MI, WI, MN, etc. who heard me. 73, Scott ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KB7Q Class: M/S LP Total Score = 63,900 Not a full time effort with holiday activities happening, but Saturday evening was pretty good. Remote operation out to WA7U's base-fed 80 foot tower. K3/0 <--> K3/100 73, Gene ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KC0W Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1 ' Had to go QRT Saturday night at 8 PM local time due to work commitments so I was not able to put in a full effort. Work in the oil industry here in North Dakota. Unfortunately oil does not stop flowing just because of radio contests. Great 160 propagation on Friday night. The JA's were BOOMING in on Saturday morning before, during & well past grey line. Had quite the JA pileup going on. Was able to put 56 JA's in the log with some being 5NN + 10. Never heard Korea, China etc.........It's an honor to be able to hand out ND on 160 meters for our Japanese friends who are working on Top Band WAS. My 140' Rohn towers phased array for 160 meters came crashing down exactly 3 weeks ago today in an ice storm from hell. These antennas were 1/2 of the future 4-square for 160 meters. I used the 2.5 mile ground system from the destroyed towers & placed a quick 'n dirty inverted L over the radials. The vertical section was 20' high with the rest of the wire being attached to a nearby tower at the 45' mark. Seemed to perform remarkably well. Band was VERY crowded as you know. The K3's filter spent most of the contest set at 60Hz. I have an Alpha 77sx in the arsenal here but did not use it. The Achilles heal of 77sx's are 160 meters. Used the Acom 2000 which performed flawlessly. Had a couple of guys from zero land trying to take my run freq. As usual I commented "radio suicide" and made damn sure neither one of us were gonna make any Q's for as long as they wanted the challenge. Immature of me? Well, of course. Sorry for any missed calls during my 30 consecutive pushes of the F1 key, hihi!!! Huge turnout from stations in CA, MN, VA, NY & TX. Also nice hearing Alaska and Hawaii being well represented on Top Band. I gave my fellow bovine friend, AC0W, a "2 moo salute" in our exchange. Ended up working two fellow ND stations who were operating S&P. You know the sledding was getting tuff Saturday night when both W0SD and myself were wearing out our F1 keys trying to drum up some business. Check out my QRZ.com page for the latest propaganda regarding the big stations construction here. I heartily welcome ALL amateurs to western North Dakota to stay & operate 100& free of charge upon completion of the towers/antennas........Setbacks abound due to extensive damage from the big ice storm though. See ya next weekend in the 10 meter 'test. I LOVE contests where states are multipliers. Best wishes to everyone from the nations #2 oil producing state.........We are right on your a$$, Texas. Tom KC0W ' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KC4D Class: M/S HP Total Score = 231,976 This contest was great fun again this year, as always!!! Managed a clean sweep of US except PR, and worked 9 of the 12 RAC Sections missing only NT, MB, and NL. Added 28 countries for a total of 107 Mults and 2168 Points on 1015 Q's in 23.4 hours. I'm lookng forward to the Stu Perry and CQ 160 CW in next. Thanks to all who called!!!! 73, Bill, KC4D ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE0G Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 25,935 K-3 at 5 watts to a 260' dipole up about 40'. Thanks for all your great copy of my QRP signal. I know I tested some of your patience... I appreciate your efforts. C U next time. 73, Dan ke0g ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE3X Class: M/S HP Total Score = 100,098 Played around testing the Alpha 76A recently back from N4UQ, as well as my pennant receive antenna. The Alpha gets a '10 out of 10'. The pennant gets a '-1'. Also dealt with sporadic S-9 noise, probably from a street light nearby. Ahhhh - city living ... First time I have worked a bunch of DX on 160: EU: F, E7, OK, OM NA: C6, CM, FM, KP2, VP2V, VP5, XE, ZF SA: CE, PJ2 Missed a bunch of W6 sections, also BC (!?), MB and NT. Heard KH7X but no dice. Never heard the KL7's. 73! Ken KE3X ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE8M Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 60,236 ARRL Section : OH Club/Team : None Software : N1MM Logger V12.11.1 Band QSOs Pts Sec 1.8 401 814 74 Total 401 814 74 Score : 60,236 Rig : Kenwood TS 2000 Ameritron ALS 600 @ 500 watts Antennas : tx inverted L 40 ft up 6 radials on ground rx 800 ft of magnet wire wrapped to tree branches Soapbox : never any room for a beverage ant on this property till this year went out in the dark a week prior and used the neighbors farm fence tree line to string 800 ft of magnet wire in a east west configuration using just branches to support it so for the first time ever it was fun to actually hear something other than 20 db noise level from a tx antenna and to actually have some small runs before being pushed aside and covered up i could hear dx but not enough power to work them dx worked pj2t fm5cd c6aum zf2ah kv4fz ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KF3B Class: M/S HP Total Score = 265,506 "Sandy" was not kind to all my wire antennas including Beverages. So no RX antennas. This was the first trial of the new severely bent vertical array. Good fun and lots to learn. Thanks to all for your patience with my requests for AGN. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KG4W Class: M/S HP Total Score = 118,252 Club is: Central Virginia Contest Club, it's not listed on the "pull down" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KG7H Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 170,168 Worked all sections except NNY, PR, NT and NL. Many JAs helped the score - and other DX included BV, PY, CE, C6, FM, Z0 and PJ2. I heard the E7 but no luck. I got an email form a DU that I was easily heard there - the noise floor here was too high for me. No packet used this year. I would have heard more of you if it were 20 degrees colder - that seems to lower the noise floor some. I also suspect I need to do some more improvements on my beverages (7 total) as all signals (even JA) seemed to peak on my SE bev. Suspect a problem there. I am constructing a second Xmit antenna - a dipole up 400 feet in center - one end at 300 ft height and the other at 500 ft height - hung from a rope between the top of my 150 ft vertical (insulated section centered at 15 ft up) and the 800 ft cliff that blocks my view of Europe. I guess it is a "semi valley span" antenna like the governement uses on LF ! I chain sawed some trees on Friday but couldn't quite winch it up in the clear in time for this contest. Hoping to have it ready for the Stew Perry end of this month. Thanks to all for participating and making the contest so much fun - 73 de Craig KG7H ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KG9Z Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 23,484 FT-1000 MP MARK V AL80B Inv "L" 40 ft vert. 80 ft horizonal Dnetron MT-3000A tuner ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KH6LC Class: M/S HP Total Score = 51,696 Here in the middle of the big pond,this one was BRUTAL. While signals seemed srong enough, our static crashes ran S7 to S9 almost continuously. It made for a couple of long nights but we stuck with it. Sorry about all the repeats and a big Mahalo to those who stuck with us. We're hoping for better conditions in the Stew Perry. Hope to see many of you in the ARRL 10 Meter Contest and don't forget about the ARRL Kid's Day on Sunday January 6th. It's a hoot!!! 73 & Aloha, de KH6LC and AH6RE K3 & Alpha 77 TX: Shunt fed tower RX: Beverages & 4 Square ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KH7X Class: M/S HP Total Score = 26,970 I agree with Lloyd KH6LC when he said "...this one was BRUTAL. While signals seemed strong enough, our static crashes ran S7 to S9 almost continuously." And from the middle of an ocean, thousands of miles from the mainland, most signals aren't that strong, so pulling out each and every station was a struggle. I thought the man-made QRN from my WI QTH was bad, but this was worse, compounded by the weakened signals. Okay, enough complaining. It was great to spend another two weeks on the island. This effort was almost entirely the first night. Thanks to everyone for the QSOs, and apologies if it took forever to pull your call/exchange out of the QRN, or didn't hear you at all. Maybe next time. The antennas worked great, thanks to tons of modeling by Mike, and only a little wiring up of the "Chad Box". Thanks for the honor, Mike. And another gigantic thank you to Alex and Michelle for their hospitality, even in their absence. MELE KALIKIMAKA! 73, Chad WE9V ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KI0I Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 138,086 Good fun. LP in the 160m tests is a test of antennas and patience, I can only imagine how QRP wud be. I'm sure my score will drop after log checking cuz some calls were real hard to copy. Always love the chance to contest on topband and someday hope to improve some antennas. Did use a 500+ ft wire for rcv which really helped in the QRM to hear EU. TX antennas used-1/2 wave Inv-Vee at 55ft and Hytower w/wire off top as an Inv-L, 20-130ft radials. IC746 100 watts. Thanks for the CQ answers and the guys who dug out my sigs. 73 Mark ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KI1U Class: M/S HP Total Score = 212,364 Rig - Icom 7700 Amp - Ameritron 1200 Transmit antenna - dipole Receive antennas - beverages and 80 meter 4 square Had a lot of fun but not too many W6's in the log. Some nice openings to EU and the Caribbean. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KK6ZM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 8,154 S&P Saturday Night only.... CE1/K7CA sure was LOUD and so was VY2ZM at sunset on the West Coast.... Cheers, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KL7RA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 101,824 Pacific storms causing mind numbing blasts even using the east beverage which is usually very quiet. Really not that many hours with rate and most of the time was spent tuning button to top then back again working anyone new usually being in the zero to six land side of the country. Many hours of 8 or 9 Q's per hour but they all add up. No big east coast run and no nice Europe run in the morning for me. I could only hear JA's using the west beverage but it was very noisy. I suspect a new tower may have screwed it up so I'm going to move the Beverage this week. Also had a bad Beverage switch the first night causing receive to go dead for short spurts but never long enough to stop and find the problem until first daylight. N8OO was bone crushing loud. Most east coast was urine weak. Really loud JA's followed with ESP JA's. Stayed mostly around the radio for the full shot from KL7 dark soak to W6 goes into sunlight but with lots of breaks working on other stuff in the station. Worked everyone I heard eventually. Station: 781 Alpha 87A 142 foot high series fed insulated base vertical using Rohn 25 tower sections on a cliff edge with 70+ radials. Moose beaten Beverages. 73 Rich KL7RA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KM9M Class: M/S HP Total Score = 13,865 Very little available time, very noisy. Still fun in a twisted sort of way until I fell asleep in the chair.. Apologies to those I couldn't hear. To those that live and die by "QSO B4," if someone tries to work you, and sends NIL after you send "QSO B4," there might be a reason for them calling you.. Especially on 160m. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KN4Y Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 8,360 Got my goal off 100 QSO's before departing to bowl in the Florida International seniors tournament in Polk County. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KO7X Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 108,528 This year I worked 3 other Wyoming stations so we were QRV. I missed NLI, VI, PR, NL and NT. Thanks to TM6M for my only European QSO. OM2VL was very strong but I was unable to get through the pileup. I don't do all nighters any more so I only put in about 12 hours. Finally worked Delaware Saturday evening to make WAS. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KQ0C Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 46,563 A breakthrough contest for me. I spent much of the fall crawling around on my lawn installing radials for my inverted L and a Beverege on Ground receiving antenna. The benefits showed as I was able to really hear on 160 for the first time and I made nearly every contact on the first call... including Chile, France, Belgium, Germany and England. This is the most DX I have ever heard... not to mention worked. I also really learned towork the radio's filtering and noise control for CW for the first time. Now Iunderstand what all that stuff that doesn't really help on SSB is for. My CW is poor so I only do S&P. But it is getting much better, and with the slower speeds typical of this contest I was able to hear most call signs the first or second time. Worked fellow GMCCers KO7X,K0CL,W0DLE,W0ETT,W0YBS,N2IC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KR4F Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 103,440 High noise and no receiving antenna. Thanks to the patient folks who stuck with me. 73 Johnny, KR4F ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KS0MO Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 20,007 Very hard going .. had 20/S9 rasp the entire contest ... Noise Limiter killed much of it but still had to D I G folks out ... thanks for sticking with me ... do enjoy this event ... never once heard a peep out of 6-land .... and of course no EU or JA with this horrid racket ... gonna get my chainsaw and dynamite out and look for this villan !!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KS4X Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 16,900 Thanks to all for copying my weak signals. Ken KS4X ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT8K Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 8,712 Just a part time effort with the 500+ foot horizontal loop (15-45' thru trees). Never got any great propagation but covered the neighboring states and provinces pretty well, enjoyed myself, and put a lot of my Mad River friends in the log, too. Thanks for all those who listened hard for my tiny signal. Highlights were making 52 Q's my first hour on Friday night and 33 the second hour including a 3-QSO minute, thanks to the short exchange. Hope to get a few hours in on the 10m contest so hope to get you in the log then. 72 and best rx to all - Tim (Also THANKS for all the hits on my song I Want a Big Tower) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNWZjzrzgwA I'm so glad people are enjoying it ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU0G Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 11,450 Really don't have optimum antennas for 160m but with only KH6 standing between me and WAS on 160m this contest was definitely on my radar! I knew that prime time to make that much-needed contact would be in the overnight hours so I put my focus into operating after 10p local time (after the boss goes to bed!) and keep an eye out for KH6 spots and hope for the best... KH7X was on Friday night about 3a local time could hear the pile-up and only occassionally hear anything from him. Saturday night found KH6LC on much earlier and I managed to snag him at 0713z on 1831 kHz. Hope I wasn't imagining things! LOL TM6M showed up in a BIG way here about 10 minutes earlier with a 20 over 9 signal! Worked him on the first try which REALLY shocked me!!! Definitely need a good receive antenna for 160m here and am considering shunt-feeding the tower in the next few weeks to see if I can do better on 160m. For this contest I opened up the band tuning shunt on the 80m quad-loop and did OK using that and switching over to the 40m DXBlaster (W4HV) for receive. (Got the KH6LC contact listening on the 40 and transmitting on the 80m quad-loop). Looking forward to the other 160m contests this winter and also the 10m contest coming right up!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU8E Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 52,560 TS850S - 100 watts - Inverted L with for elevated radials Didn't plan on doing much of the contest but managed to get in about 9 hours. My station self destructed in Phone SS - lost both radio and amp , before our PJ4A CQWW trip, so had to use the backup radio - a Kenwood TS850S running low power. I was also burned out on radio after a week in Bonaire and the hassle to fly there and back. You would think there would be an easier way to get there from the busiest airport in the world - ATL - but there isn't. Conditions were mediocre here in GA. Sometimes I thought maybe my antenna was broken with all the stations that CQ'ed in my face. I'm sure most of that was due to running just 100 watts this time. We seemed to have a radio blackout to the VE maritimes (plus all the W1's were weak). Never heard VY2ZM once and he had 1500 QSO's. That's hard to believe! Heard a few EU but none could hear me. I was surprised when G3SYM answered my CQ on Sunday morning around EU sunrise. It was also a pleasant surprise when KH6LC called in as well. DX worked - ZF2AH , PJ2T, C6AUM, KV4FZ, CE1/K7CA, FM5CD and G3SYM. See everyone again in the 10 meter contest.... Jeff KU8E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KV4FZ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 245,098 Not a good contest for DX stations located in the US Territories. Imagine for this contest (who ever came up with such ridiculous rules) all the US possessions which are DXCC entities in the entire Pacific region all count the same as Hawaii. A similar thing exists in the Caribbean U.S. Territories where the U.S. Virgin Islands is considered the same as KP1 or Navassa! Puerto Rico equal Desecheo and so on. Stations like here in the VI and Puerto Rico are just discouraged from participation as the rules make us compete with East Coast big guns. With the endless CQ machines and those only interested in working the next multiplier 500 miles away it was very difficult to hold any frequency for long. Even trying the DX window was hopeless except during some short EU openings where I could null out the mainland CQ'ers with a pair of 900 foot Beverages. My country total was good but even a score of nearly a quarter of a million points will not even get me included on the SE section report. So why bother? Well this year i hope that those who would like to make this a more reasonable and exciting contest just send an E mail to members of the CAC and request that they request HQ (who makes all the decisions on this) to consider some reasonable modifications that do not exclude U.S. Territories from being considered as DX. There should also be some consideration with stations West of the Rocky Mountains that also are totally fed up with the structure of the ARRL 160 Meter DX Contest...which really isn't a DX contest at all as in fact it is very very difficult to work DX from much of the mainland. So why don't you take the time to help us out and make this a better event so more DX is encourage to participate by sending an E mail to ARRL CAC members? Thanks, Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KX3Y Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 21,450 Used my KX3 set at 5 watts. Enjoyed the limited hours.. No West Coast or Europe but quit very early each night.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KX7L Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 2,640 Not one of my better QRP scores for this one. I just wasn't hearing much east of the Mississippi, and I wasn't being heard much east of the Rockies! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: M5O Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 40,368 Kit: Orion II with KPA500 400w Antenna: 250 ft wire sloping down to the shack from 150 ft sequoia, tuned by Racal MA144 atu. Keyer: ETM9C. All hand keyed and logged. Things were a lot different from 3 years ago when I last entered, with many calls resolved only a letter at a time due to extremely deep and rapid QSB. Only east coast and midwest available on the first night - even VY2ZM wasn't his usual outstanding signal and there was no dawn lift on Saturday morning. So there was a lot of temptation to stay in the nice warm house when it was time brave the freezing shack for the second session. However from 0100 things started to liven up considerably, with a surprise call from N7UA at his sunset. A lot of new sections appeared in the last couple of hours to keep the interest up. I get the impression there are some new sections available now, so it's hard to compare past results, but the QSO total is down by a hundred from 2008 and 9, with a similar section total. This is one event where the mults tend to come to you and most of my time was spent running. Just as well for a hand logger with no great love of dupe sheets! There didn't appear to be much serious activity here in europe, with just the mega-stations of TM6P, OL7M and OM2VL to keep me company for much of the time. A pity, because 160m can be full of surprises. AA0RS was a huge signal from Colorado for several hours, surpassing any from the E coast. There was a good but short-lived dawn opening to the west coast, although I probably didn't make as much of it as I should, ending with just one 6 and four 7 sections. These winter 160m events are such good value, with no time out needed from the usual family weekend. Thanks to all who called in! 73, Peter G3LET ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0JK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 5,920 Loaded up the rain gutter on our one story duplex to hand out a few QSOs in the contest Saturday evening. A marginal Top Band antenna... but was able to work as far as KA6BIM/7 Oregon. Amazing what a simple antenna can do at times. Enourage anyone, even CC & R restricted, to put up what they can and give the ARRL 160 a try. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0YY Class: M/S HP Total Score = 106,260 I have enjoyed 160M contests for years - this was no different. Yes, band conditions were tough with the rapid and deep QSB. But for me, the DX was better than last year. And the highlight was CX6VM who was stronger on my Inverted L than the US stations calling him! Amazing. I guess I got a bit surprised by the M/S category using a cluster, but not a showstopper. But there were two things that bothered me. First was all the US stations sitting in the DX window calling CQ and working US stations. There is plenty of band for that - please leave the window for its intended purpose. Second is aimed at those that just plop on a frequency in use and start calling CQ. At least ask first - I may be ready to give it up and move - but a simple QRL would suffice. Maybe I'm guilty of snuggling between two stations and calling CQ, but I ask first. 'nuff said. Only had limited time so the rate was good and the DX was there. Getting called by a couple of them was a nice touch. But next year I won't use packet even for the DX spots - I used the knob and tuned up and down the band a few times and never really made any use of the spots anyway. A fun few hours! Thanks for all the Qs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1CC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 12,188 Rig: Yaesu FT-990, 100W. MFJ 1026 Noise Cancellor with vertical antenna for RX. Transmit Antenna Alpha Delta DX-LB apex at 38' ends at 20 feet (raised just before contest from 10 foot high ends) With a tiny 88 x 88 lot 160 has been a challenge. The DX-LB wasn't working very well and I decided to try and change the game a small amount, and raised the ends higher. Now, instead of just 4 or 5 contacts and not very good I was able at least to work quite a few guys and about half the Sections. The 43 foot vertical with base tuner is still not working right, and am planning on trying another base loading tool from AD5X design. There's no way to make an Inverted L given the topography and obstacles on the property. The preamp in the MFJ and a short vertical made hearing the guys workable, again even a K9AY array won't fit on the lot so RX antenna dismal situation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1DC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 10,292 I desperately need a better 160M antenna. The 80M dipole fed through a balun with ladder line works OK but only to about 900 miles. I changed the orientation of this dipole to make it more horizontal at 35 ft with an apex angle of 90 degrees. It worked better when it was at 25 ft with a 60 degree apex and more of a sloping orientation. No DX this time although I could here several stations. No none beyond 1,000 miles could hear me. Station: Ten Tec Omni 7 @ 100W, 80M dipole run through an MFJ tuner/balun Sorry if I stepped on anyone. I did send QRL twice before CQing. A bad antenna means bad ears ! Thanks for the QSO's. Rick N1DC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1EN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 162 Wish I had had more time to play, but was too busy with other stuff during the early evening; got in just a couple of hours each night before going to bed. At least I know the new shack computer works fine with N1MM (although getting LP_Bridge to play nice on a new Win8 machine was a pain). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1LN Class: M/S HP Total Score = 392,161 What a fun weekend. Once again the Jack, Dan, Bert and Bruce team came together to see what we could do. It was much appreciated to have a very quiet band on Friday night with reasonable conditions into Europe that resulted in adding 42 DX QSOs to the log. 31 were EU, 10 SA and 1 JA. There was some QRN to deal with Saturday night, but the conditions to Europe were much better. We added another 73 on Saturday night that included 72 EU and 1 SA. From a domestic viewpoint we missed and did not hear PR, MB and NT. We expected not to hear NT, but where were PR and MB? When the counting was over we were able to increase out points per QSO to 2.23. Much better than last year, but 2010 is still in the lead. As always one of the high points in our Multi-Op weekends is enjoying a visit from Chef Archie. He put together a home made vegetable beef soup that was to die for. This was not just soup, but a culinary delight that demanded just the right bottle of red wine to accompany it. Look for us to be back for CQWW-160. 73, Bruce N1LN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1SZ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 7,992 Sadly I only had a bit over an hour to participate this contest. Lots of fun. See you on CQ 160 SSB & CW! Jim, N1SZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1UR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 102,214 Very rough going from up here. We were often strongly affected by Auroal absorption. Sqweaked out a few EU contacts but just barely. Most could not hear me. No West Coast at all. I was thinking about a serious effort but decided after EU sunrise on day one that it was not going to be worth it from up north. Enjoyed what I did. 73 Ed N1UR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2CU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 182,542 Very part time effort. No EU sunrise operation either night. WAS. Need more DX activity, please. K3 Drake L7 @ 1kW 46' Inverted L K9AY loops N1MM 73, Tom N2CU <>< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2EIK Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 5,576 eiK, eiK...K DAMMIT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2GC Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 84,512 IC756PROIII, AL-1200 Horizontal double L @35' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2ZN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 75,047 Limited time operation, mostly CQing with a bit of tuning here and there. Did not work any EU. Countries worked: C6, PJ2, CE. 2nd radio used to fill bandmap/spot mults on occasion. Heard some nice signals from the West Coast both nights. East beverage out of commission on Friday night, fixed it Saturday afternoon. Equipment: 2x FT-1000 1/4 wave vertical over radial field 5 Beverages NE, E, SE, S, W. Cabrillo Statistics (Version 06g) by K5KA Callsign: N2ZN Contest: ARRL-160 Category: SINGLE-OP Operators: N2ZN -------------- 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 34 0 0 0 0 0 34 34 6.3 2300 86 0 0 0 0 0 86 120 16.0 0000 71 0 0 0 0 0 71 191 13.2 0100 59 0 0 0 0 0 59 250 11.0 0200 55 0 0 0 0 0 55 305 10.2 0300 56 0 0 0 0 0 56 361 10.4 0400 28 0 0 0 0 0 28 389 5.2 0500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 389 0.0 0600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 389 0.0 0700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 389 0.0 0800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 389 0.0 0900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 389 0.0 1000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 389 0.0 1100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 389 0.0 1200 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 389 0.0 1300 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 389 0.0 1400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 389 0.0 1500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 389 0.0 1600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 389 0.0 1700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 389 0.0 1800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 389 0.0 1900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 389 0.0 2000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 389 0.0 2100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 389 0.0 2200 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 389 0.0 2300 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 389 0.0 0000 39 0 0 0 0 0 39 428 7.3 0100 58 0 0 0 0 0 58 486 10.8 0200 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 486 0.0 0300 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 486 0.0 0400 24 0 0 0 0 0 24 510 4.5 0500 14 0 0 0 0 0 14 524 2.6 0600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 524 0.0 0700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 524 0.0 0800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 524 0.0 0900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 524 0.0 1000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 524 0.0 1100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 524 0.0 1200 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 524 0.0 1300 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 524 0.0 1400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 524 0.0 1500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 524 0.0 1600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 524 0.0 ------------------------------------------------------ Total 524 0 0 0 0 0 524 Gross QSO's=537 Dupes=13 Net QSO's=524 Unique callsigns worked = 524 The best 60 minute rate was 94/hour from 2241 to 2340 The best 30 minute rate was 104/hour from 2244 to 2313 The best 10 minute rate was 114/hour from 2244 to 2253 The best 1 minute rates were: 4 QSO's/minute 4 times. 3 QSO's/minute 38 times. 2 QSO's/minute 98 times. 1 QSO's/minute 198 times. Number of letters in callsigns Letters # worked ----------------- 4 329 5 138 6 55 7 1 8 1 ------------ 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 ------------------------------------------------------------- VA 42 0 0 0 0 0 42 7.8 OH 38 0 0 0 0 0 38 7.1 MI 27 0 0 0 0 0 27 5.0 MDC 27 0 0 0 0 0 27 5.0 MN 26 0 0 0 0 0 26 4.8 EPA 25 0 0 0 0 0 25 4.7 NC 22 0 0 0 0 0 22 4.1 WI 19 0 0 0 0 0 19 3.5 IL 18 0 0 0 0 0 18 3.4 TN 18 0 0 0 0 0 18 3.4 EMA 16 0 0 0 0 0 16 3.0 NH 15 0 0 0 0 0 15 2.8 NNJ 14 0 0 0 0 0 14 2.6 WNY 13 0 0 0 0 0 13 2.4 IN 11 0 0 0 0 0 11 2.0 ENY 10 0 0 0 0 0 10 1.9 GA 10 0 0 0 0 0 10 1.9 IA 9 0 0 0 0 0 9 1.7 MO 9 0 0 0 0 0 9 1.7 CT 8 0 0 0 0 0 8 1.5 ME 8 0 0 0 0 0 8 1.5 MAR 8 0 0 0 0 0 8 1.5 ONE 7 0 0 0 0 0 7 1.3 SC 7 0 0 0 0 0 7 1.3 AL 7 0 0 0 0 0 7 1.3 GTA 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 1.1 WPA 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 1.1 ONS 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 1.1 VT 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 0.9 WMA 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 0.9 SNJ 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 0.9 WV 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 0.9 QC 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.7 NFL 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.7 AZ 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.7 ID 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.6 SFL 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.6 NLI 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.6 RI 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.6 NM 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.6 CO 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.6 ORG 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.6 NTX 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.6 NNY 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.4 WCF 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.4 NE 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.4 OK 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.4 EWA 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.4 LA 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.4 AR 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.4 OR 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.4 STX 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.4 UT 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.4 MS 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.4 SD 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.2 DE 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.2 WTX 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.2 WY 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.2 KY 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.2 KS 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.2 VI 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.2 WWA 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.2 SJV 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.2 BC 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.2 SK 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.2 SF 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.2 MT 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.2 ONN 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.2 ------------------------------------------------------ Total 524 0 0 0 0 0 524 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3AM Class: M/S HP Total Score = 106,889 EU signals were about an S-unit better on the second evening, allowing me to work stations that could not hear me the night before. The K9AY RX antenna really helped knock down some very high QRN. RBN was once again a great help, but put out too many spots for stations in S&P mode, including yours truly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3BM Class: M/S HP Total Score = 21,400 IC-7600 AL-80B Inverted L at 48' EWE Receive Antenna WriteLog v11.07D ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3IQ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 159,356 Had fun. Thanks for all the Qs. For most of the time, conditions were good enough that I could receive and transmit on the W and NE arrays simultaneously--and work both W5/W6/W7 and Europe. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3QE Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 109,800 This time around, I have a receive antenna! K9AY loop did great, only problem is if I leave it pointed SW it nulls out New England completely, so eventually I alligator-clipped a foot switch to help me check both directions. Lots of hours in the chair. But more than twice the score of last year. Was called by several EU DX while running. That was nice. But one time I think the DX was spotted on my run frequency because after that nearly half of the next 20 QSO's were dupes! What's very impressive is that I worked nearly as many QSO's in the 160, as I did in the SS, and in fewer hours. Very happy to see band this active! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3QQ Class: M/S HP Total Score = 97,565 Operated from 3000ft mountain top position on Lookout mountain using 190ft commercial tower. High winds/rain most of weekend. Antennas held up. Had to ditch second vertical delta loop idea, too cold. Had fun with beverages, JA direction one was great. Learned a few things as always. Thanks to all. 73, Johhny KE7V Yuri N3QQ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3SD Class: M/S LP Total Score = 14,014 73 Greg, N3SD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3UA Class: M/S HP Total Score = 401,320 Thanks Bob W4DR letting me operate his station ! 73 Sejo , N3UA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3UM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 117,531 In the 2012 ARRL 160 I did much better than last year (when conditions were terrible), and my claimed score was just a hair short of 2010: I got 66 more QSOs than in 2010, but 7 fewer mults. The first night, I heard very few west-coast stations: there was "spotlight" propagation, with westerners and EUs popping in and out. The second night was a bit better, but still spotty. I wound up missing ND, WWA, NV, MB, NT, NL, and 5 CA sections as well as PR, AK, HI, and DELAWARE, next door! Found 7 EU countries plus 6 more DX in NA and SA. Around 8 PM local time the second night, SWR went up: ant. resonance moved 25 kHz higher. Easy to adjust the antenna tuner, BUT when I switched to the Beverage, power would leak thru the rig's PIN diode ant. switches and upset the power control loop, sending TX power above max. and crowbaring the power supply. An inspection Mon. showed 30 feet of wire broken off the end of one elevated radial by a falling tree limb: the asymmetry dumped power into the nearby Beverage (small lot!) and moved resonance. I didn't panic, because an earlier antenna (inverted L with one elevated radial) had caused the same problem years ago. But, it was annoying to either do without the Beverage for western stations or risk dumping the rig and losing a QSO, which happened a few times until I got careful enough. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3XL Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 43,626 Used my new 10-80M OCF Dipole and was pretty busy the whole 12 hours that I operated. Didn't work west coast or any DX, but pretty solid performance elsewhere. I won't be trying 160M on my Hustler 5BTV again! hihi ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4AF Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 105,462 ARRL-160 SUMMARY SHEET CONTEST: ARRL-160 START DATE: 30-11-12 CALLSIGN USED: N4AF LOCATOR: FM15 CATEGORY-ASSISTED: NON-ASSISTED CATEGORY-BAND: ALL CATEGORY-MODE: CW CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP CATEGORY-POWER: HIGH CLUB: Potomac Valley Radio Club NAME: Howard Hoyt N4AF ADDRESS: 549 Bluebird Trail ADDRESS-CITY: Blounts Creek ADDRESS-STATE-PROVINCE: NC ADDRESS-POSTALCODE: 27814 ADDRESS-COUNTRY: USA EMAIL: N4AF@PVRC.ORG OPERATING TIME: 07:15:17 CQ COUNTER: 199 RUN/SEARCH: 421/110 Qs UNIQUE CALLSIGNS: 525 SOFTWARE: TR4W v.4.246 http://www.tr4w.com BAND Raw QSOs Valid QSOs Points Mults Countries __________________________________________________________ 160CW 531 525 1134 72 21 __________________________________________________________ Totals 531 525 1134 72 21 Final Score = 105462 points. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4DJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 139,524 Although not the most countries worked in a 160 contest, it was my best total score. My first 160 contest was in 1965. 100 QSOs with an Inverted L. After 48 years on 160, I still have some antenna work to do before the next CQ 160. 73, Don N4DJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4DU Class: M/S HP Total Score = 76,111 inv L up 70 ft and across 72 ft with 500 watts Thanks for the qso's. Jim ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4GG Class: M/S LP Total Score = 66,896 Not the normal station....mostly a test run for the rig(s) (K3's) and computer network for an upcoming expedition. Everything played fine; the network ran 48 hours straight on packet+skimmer without a glitch. The neighbor next door just bought a new TV. Oh joy! Testing before the contest, at 1KW I turn their new TV off and on. Very NG at 3AM and no time to carry a pound of ferrite next door. So I ran it all LP. Life is too short for LP on 160. Bands sounded noisy here both nights although worse the first night. Missed a lot of CA mults despite usually being able to work everything on the band. This is my first skimmer+RBN experience on 160. You see everything on the band and one thing I noticed is a lot of West Coast and East Coast stns on the same QRG. Skimmer can really suck you into dupes via busted spotting. I watched my own spots - the skimmers out there seem to like "N4GG." There are some otherwise nice calls that are now problematic due to consistent busted skimmer spots. Never thought we would be picking signals based on what machines can copy. This is progress? That's probably it for this year, although maybe a little action on 10M. QSY to XMAS then to the FL QTH for a few months. TNX for the Qs. 2012 was a good contest year. Nobody sick, nothing blew up or fell down and the FTdx5000 was a nice addition to the shack. This outing: K3 loaner, "The too tall too short vertical" wire in the woods on TX, K9AY on RX, WRITELOG. The usual dual rig diversity and other low band goodies here were all turned off. Even at 100W I felt like an alligator - the TX antenna really works well, the RX goodies were sorely missed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4JF Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 47,025 HAD FUN..LOTS OF FOOTBALL GAMES INTERUPTED MY SCORE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4PN Class: M/S HP Total Score = 220,523 Lots of U.S. but not much dx here the first night...Saturday night was much better...Eastern Europe was much stronger than Western Eu. S59A was like a local when he called me on Saturday night at his Sunrise....only station close was HA9RT....M5O got very strong also at his sunrise...thanks to Bob, MD0CCE for calling... Thanks to all who called....great run Saturday evening...lotsa fun! Missed out on PR and EB... Got WL7E shortly before I stopped on Sunday morning... 73, Paul, N4PN FT1000MP/AL1200 - 1200w Inverted Vee (apex in pine tree) - ends in neighbors tree and street light post... Short bevs (250') and 2-direction EWE Logging w/NA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4RV Class: M/S HP Total Score = 79,887 Could only operate the first night, so did my usual S&P + packet for about 7 hours, and then "ran em" for about an hour. Conditions were certainly not very good for the period I was on, but lots of stateside activity. Hope to work many in the ARRL 10M contest from PJ2T next weekend.. Leaving Monday for Curacao. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4UA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 258,112 Not bad for a "down year" on 160... ;-) EU sounded better on Saturday night than Friday. Missed PR, SF, MB and NT, and a real treat was KH6LC calling me on Sunday morning just before I pulled the switch. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4YDU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 13,717 Conditions were good - would have been fun to go all out in this one. 73, Nate/N4YDU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5UM Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,871 Just a tiny bit of time to play this year... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6KI Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 101,556 Friday night both Local and Atmospheric noise was down but some local QRN on Saturday night and used 6 foot RX loop most all of Saturday eve. Signals from East Coast were just whispers but the K3 and RX Loop pulled most of them out. My goal was to do at least 500 QSOs and try for ALL 83 sections but 6 sections were just not to be found. Since I really wanted to find all sections, I decided to run ASSISTED with Skimmer and Packet but that plan went very wrong as 160 full length Inverted V Dipole was too close to house where Internet Router and Modem was situated and every time I transmitted, I killed the internet connection and it would take over an hour or two for the system to reset and could not reset the internet connection at all Saturday night when I was looking for the 6 illusive sections. Missed PR, NL, MB, NNY, NLI, NT ! Did Anyone who put in less than 15 hours get them ? ( Were you Assisted Mode ? ) Got 1 new country out of 7 countries I worked - France ! Going to get a USB Internet Cel Tower connection for future 160 contests if I want to run assisted mode ! K3, ACOM 2000A, 160 mtr Inv V at 70 ft Apex, 6 Ft Dia. RX Loop - 73 Dennis N6KI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6KZ Class: M/S LP Total Score = 15,138 Ran single op, but was assisted (used packet spotting net) so class was M/S. Rig 100 watts. Ant end-fed wire. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6RO Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 101,070 Rain static precluded a serious effort, so operated in spurts, mostly Friday night. First hour on (05-06Z) yielded 151 Qs. All except two W/VE QSOs were made by CQ, so missed others who only CQ'd; S&P'd for DX mults only. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6VR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,054 In the contest to work DX and a few friends or members that I hear. Managed to work TM6M - France, only EU heard. Ray, N6VR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6WM Class: M/S LP Total Score = 4,216 Spent a couple hours calling cq and chasing some mults with 100w on Friday night into Saturday AM...again when the shared station/antennas were available. was surprised to actually get a run or 2 going and by the mults that did call! All remote from house in Fremont to the K6LRG station.. 73 and seeya next time Chris N6WM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6ZFO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 26,901 Local wx cleared for a last-minute repair to the NE Beverage, for which the terminating resistor had detatched itself from the ground rod, possibly w/ help from Bambi "friends," even though it was protected with piles of fallen oak branches around the down-sloping section. CE1/K7CA has good ears. Low noise here made conditions seem better than they actually were. 73 Bill n6zfo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7GP Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 266,200 First, thanks to all who participated in the contest and provided the Qs in the log. The new TX antenna seems to perform well and meets expectations. The RX antennas are still under evaluation. Propagation was mixed; longer than last week in CQWWCW, but with lots of QRN and very rapid QSB. I apologize to all those stations whom I could not pull through noise and fading. I met my own goals for the contest except the Q count. I set 1200 Qs, 100 mults and 1/4 million points. The quantity of JA contacts raised the score above the goal without reaching the Q count. Some stats for those who like numbers. This gives you a view from my part of the world. The 0100 hour the first night was the best with 94 in the log. The poorest hour was the 2nd night; the 1200 hour brought in only 18. 96.6% of the Qs were running; only 3.4% S&P. This is the highest Section total ever for me because the max is now 83. I missed NT and KP4 for the sweep. Individual highest Section total was a tie; MN & VA with 46. CO came in 2nd with 43 and OH was 3rd with 41. The home State/Section of AZ provided 35 Qs. Thanks for a great effort from those States/Sections. Of the States with multiple Sections the BIG winner, as always, was from the Golden State of California with 110 total Qs. SV was the biggest contributor with 19 and SCV was 2nd with 15. TX was the 2nd greatest total State contributor with 58 from the 3 Sections. WA came in 3rd with 43 total from 2 Sections. Those Sections contributing one solo contact for the mult were DE, MB, NNY, SK and VI. NLI & RI contributed 2 each. All other Sections yielded 3 or more Qs. Of the total 1,178 Qs, 1,076 were from K/N/W & VE. 102 Qs were from DX outside the ARRL & RAC Sections. I tallied 56 Qs from the RAC area. JA was, of course, the largest DX contributor with 77 total Qs over the two nights; 34 the first night and 33 the 2nd night. The DX prefix count was; BV, C6, CE, DL, F, FM, G, JA, OK, OM, ON, PA, PJ2, PY, S5, SM, UA, VP5, & XE. I missed a couple that were on a short time and I didn't make the grade in a small window. Late Sunday morning, while my mind was a bit twisted from only having 4 hours of sleep in 48, I had a call from what my mind decoded as XZ????. It was a loud signal and the starting X said to my mind, Mexico, XE, next door less than 100 miles distant. That wasn't right as the mind decoded XZ. I asked for a repeat and I still didn't get beyond the XZ. I asked for another repeat and received silence. Does anyone know of someone operating from Burma? Anyone else get called by this station. Or was I totally spaced out? Reply direct to me with any comments. Thanks in advance because I sure want to kick myself if I allowed a juicy mult to get away. That's about it for tonight folks. Again thanks to those in the log and apologies to those that didn't make it. CU all in the Stew Perry Distance Challenge at the end of the month. de Milt, N5IA, operator at N7GP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7IR Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 51,832 Better result than last year due to the mostly quiet ionosphere this year. Although the fading was fairly deep and rapid, especially the second night. Heard some European stations on Saturday morning (GMT) but they couldn't hear me (TM6M was very loud). Good opening to Japan on Sunday morning but only worked one this year. Lot's of good ears out there! EQ: K3 with diversity receive TX Ant: shunt-fed, top-loaded 22 meter tower RX Ant: K9AY loop array and N6RK 4m diameter tuned loop Thanks for the contacts and your extra patience. 73 Gary, N7IR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7RK Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 13,572 The amount of DX worked is sure a far cry from three years ago! Station: FT-1000MP, TL-922A Antennas: *70 foot vertical for transmit and receive *Pennant antenna for 160 receiving ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7XU Class: M/S HP Total Score = 178,940 Nice operation from the hacienda of WS7N. Rig: K3 and TT Centurion, ~600W. Ant: 70' inverted L Rx ants: 3x 580' reversible beverages, 2 rx 4-squares. Lots of fun playing 160m from a place that has no noise to speak of. So different from living in the city! Rain and >40mph winds all weekend made for some noises from local power lines but mostly avoidable. It's great having so many receive antennas available. Missed PR NL and NT. Never heard PR or NT but saw VO1MP spotted, but nil. I could hear some Europeans but they could not hear me. Very frustrating. Worked about 25 JAs, Generally they didn't seem to be into the contest. Better JA luck in January. Had fun and little sleep. Thanks to all for the Qs. My thanks to Bob and Sarah for letting me play with the toys. 73, Dick ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N8BJQ Class: M/S HP Total Score = 109,388 Single Op with packet and not much time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N8OO Class: M/S HP Total Score = 402,120 ANT: 4 square full size 1000 buried radials, lot of beverages. radios: ftdx5000, orion 565, some Europeans say we have no rx! i like say welcome to Louisiana on 160m make qso with Europe true east cost and Canadian brick wall..or make your signal like E77DX,S58A,OL7M,M5O, than you see it We have rx!!!!hi Missing KP4 73! Thanks for qso's N8OO,KF5SCL (now is W5GDX) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N8UM Class: M/S HP Total Score = 166,944 Good stateside conditions but little EU (must be exhausted from CQ WW). No QRN all weekend. I used the RBN. Lots of KH6 and KL7 activity Friday night. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N8XX Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 11,248 Had a nice "go of it" first day, but slim pickins on Sunday evening. Had worked most of the stations who could hear me, and got tired of folks "Calling CQ in my face" as one fellow said who recently got a QRP rig but had been used to running a fll gallon. Goal was to work 200 Q's, but that would probably have taken another 5 hours at the rate I was finding new stations, so I figured valor is the better part of discretion and I quit. The band was very quiet from a QRN standpoint,which is suprising. Antenna is a low 80 meter inverted vee with extra wire attached to the ends for a capacity hat,so didn't expect much DX, and didn't get any DX. Heard a ZF2 and a C6, but they couldn't hear me and/or were typically swamped with pileups. Thansk to all who pulled me through the mud! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9AUG Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 159,796 FTdx-5000, VL-1000, Inverted L with 1 radial ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9CO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 101,094 Yet another part-time effort. Second contest with new TX antenna: 84' shunt fed tower with not nearly enough radials. Last contest with ~280' beverage. LOTS of internal QRM from family about the wire being supported on our line of evergreen trees (roughly pointed towards EU), so down it came this morning. The beverage definitely worked, and I wouldn't have made some of the Q's without it. Need to find another RX antenna solution. Great activity from my perspective... I wasn't on that much, so every time that I did get on, a few CQ's always seemed to produce a run. Lots of fun pushing the N1MM logger rate meter! Thanks for all the QSO's. Lots of really good operators out there! FT-1000MP, 100w Shunt fed 84' tower ~280' beverage towards EU 73, Charlie N9CO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9IO Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 33,015 First time using a freshly installed delta loop rx antenna, reversable oriented E / W. What a difference, my ears are in great shape! Should have done this years ago, going to be difficult to squeeze in another on this lot for N / S... Casual 222 Q's, 64 secs, 7 DX. 73' de Clay N9IO Society of Midwest Contesters GO SMC! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9NC Class: M/S HP Total Score = 241,044 160m and 10m enthusiasts had always both assumed their respective ARRL single band contest weekend is the best, for precisely the same reasons: You can actually hear both KH6LC and KL7RA on 10m. You can actually hear CALIFORNIA on 10m. A good hour on 10m is 400, not 40. A slow hour on 10m is 40, not 4. On 10, that slow hour comes about 3:30, PM not AM. You typically don’t hear the rest of the mult pile up on 10m. When you wake up from that first good nap after the 10m contest, you actually feel better than when you went to sleep. Inspiration and due credit to Douglas Adams ( http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/811-for-instance-on-the-planet-earth-man-had-always-assumed ) and N6TR ( http://www.kkn.net/~tree/tbdisease.html ). A great time; missed ND, WTX, SF, KP4, VE4, VE8; thought I heard a JA. Went assisted because I like watching what is happening on the band, otherwise it was mostly a minus in this one - in large part because of typical top band propagation, the DX had to drop their call many times thus were repeatedly picked up by skimmers, there were lots of 'that mult is gone and was really calling someone else' type of spot. CU in ARRL 10m 73, Tom N9NC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9NE Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 55,110 Sat in operating position from 4pm to 7am CST the first night/morning :) Tonight, I spent 7 or so hours getting just a little over 100 more contacts but picked up some good sections. Major frustration with 5W is getting to the left coast: several OR worked but no CA, NV or WWA. Many of those stations were strong here but could not pick me out. Forget KL7 and KH6 as well as DX which I could hear well:) Ran K3 to 176' doublet at 67' and a 52' high vertical 'Tee' with 80 radials. Guess I need a director and reflector on the vertical :) Kudos to the many ops who patiently asked for fills (seems that the section 'WI' gives more problems than anything else). To bed ... long day tomorrow. 72/73 Todd N9NE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9RV Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 194,194 Nice and quiet up here. Good conditions to JA, EU was fair. But good activity and lots of east coast guys in the log. Fun time. Some EU guys gave up on me -- I bet they would have tried harder if they knew I was a mult. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9TK Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 88,160 Finally got a chance to run new feedlines out to my KD9SV bi-directional beverages Saturday morning. Amazing how well they work when connected. Great fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NA4K Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 153,816 Conditions good for stateside and below par for DX here in East Tennessee. Steve NA4K ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NE1B Class: M/S HP Total Score = 49,704 Actually Single Op Assisted (SOA) for limited time period. Only wkd SCV in CA. No MB, WWA, WTX, WCF, PR, NNY or ND. Ran 600 watts to vertical wire. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NE8P Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 106,334 Threw a loading coil on the base to the 80M vertical and had some fun! No amplifier for 160..... probably would have melted the loading coil anyway ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NE9U Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 171,360 Operated from my cabin in Florence County, Wisconsin about 10 miles from the Michigan border. Went up 2 weekends ago and put up the 40 foot (maybe) inverted L and K9AY loop. Added 5 more radials to the original 7 on Friday morning. Not sure if it helped, but don't think it hurt. I was expecting the tuning to change a bit, but it didn't at all. Still nice 1:1 match at 1825 with a 2300 pf doorknob at base. Not sure what that means. Got out to a slow start. Was down about 100 Q's Saturday morning from last year, but made up 80 of them Saturday night. Down a few DX mults of my miniscule total but added the 3 new VE3 mults, so ended up with pretty much a wash with last years score. Had a lot more people CQ in my face than two previous years. Not sure what that means. Hope my signal isn't getting weaker! 73 Scott NE9U Equipment: FT1000D 30-40 foot inverted L hanging from tree branch K9AY loop (also hanging from a tree branch 12 pack of Mountain Dew Box of Fruit Snacks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NF4A Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 9,540 Thanks to all who strained their ears to work me....running 100 watts to my 80 meter wire....got on for a little less than 1.5 hrs and made 100 Qs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NG7A Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 15,616 Part time effort: Had fun digging out some EU and South Africa. Missed the opening to JA and VK on Sunday. Did more running in this contest. Practiced dividing attention (for future SO2R ops) by studying a recurrency class unrelated to ham radio and conversing with the XYL while running. Biggest challange: copying local stations when my radio RF gain set all the way up with narrow filters. Between the filter ringing, overload and iono-bounce, my radio made sounds I've never heard before. Thanks to three stations in particular for their patience. Equipment: FT-950 L4B Hex-beam 25 feet up ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NI7R Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 13,312 K3/AL811H/vertical with coil and 15 foot whip (CCR restricted) Band conditions were better here Friday night than Saturday night. Eastern states could not hear me Saturday night. Frustrated, I pulled the plug at 1 AM this morning and, thereby missed the JA opening. All S&P. Best DX was PJ2, KL7 and KH6. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NM5Y Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 61,028 I enjoyed the contest very much. Overall I thought conditions in the US were good. Only EU I heard was TM0M and he was quite readable. I did manage to work a few DX and KH6 but it was mostly US and Canada. I ran low power to an inverted L with a height of 90' and about 60 qtr wavelength radials. I thought my receive was very good on my K-3. Shack qth is in Briscoe County Texas out in the country and conditions were quiet. My personal experience was that most ops were polite as befits the gentleman's band. Thanks all for a nice contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NN3W Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 86,080 Thanks to Rich NN3W for allowing me to ..... oh wait... No one to thank this time because I actually operated from home. How about that! Had no expectations for this event although I did a little prep work by putting up a new Inverted L for the winter with the apex point up at about 80 feet. Unrolled out about 8 radials over the course of the week; physically connected one line to my neighbor's steel wire mesh fence; physically connected another line to my other neighbor's chain link fence to serve as a radial. Being low power, there is always an exercise in frustration in 160 meter contests: stations that CQ in your face and are loud; "rare" DX that you come across in the clear and start to copy you only to be immediately run over from what I can clearly tell are the packet spots hoardes; calling CQ and having runs for 2 or 3 minutes and then have the run promptly die. Happens every year, although this year I felt that my "guaranteed" coverage envelope extended out much futher than in past years. I couldn't work ANY DX (except for the Caribbean) until Saturday night when - for about a 30 minute period - condx got really good and I landed G, OK, E7, F, OM, GW, and a few others. Heard stations in SM, ON, PA, OZ, and EA but couldn't land them. Worked all the continental US except for NV (which I heard from 3 stations). Thanks to K7RAT for a 3 minute QSO attempt which worked out for my 47th state for the event. Overall I had fun, and look forward to 2013. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NR4M Class: M/S HP Total Score = 221,112 Started this contest with the only intent of testing out how new receive antenna worked. The plan was for a serious effort in the 10 M RTTY contest, which started the next evening. Had a blast! Should have made THIS contest my serious effort as 10m propagation was non existent. Only worked 5 hours the first evening and then went to bed (remember, I was just 'playing around'.) Signals were strong and seemed like could hear EVERYONE, which was a change from past years. Second night, I invited K7SV, to try it out from here, so he could also give me input regarding the receive ant performance. His eat to ear smile said it all. Thanks to everyone for the Q's and looking forward to the CQ 160 contest. 73 de Steve, NR4M ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NS9I Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 133,678 K-3 KPA500 - Inv L up 65' w/FCP - (2) Rcv Pennants NE/SW - 160m Dpl No noise, heard very well. Lot's of activity. Noticed lot's of poor behavior, loud stations with no-ears, and no respect for the gentleman's band DX window! Every DX station I heard had a U.S. station on it or very near calling CQ. Sad day in the neighborhood Mr. Rogers! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NT6X Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2 5 hr fix for this adrenaline junkie! Actually only N6AA heard me :( ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NW2K Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 109,350 90W, inv L at 70', no RX antenna. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NX5M Class: M/S HP Total Score = 307,335 QRL? Eleven times the first thing I heard was CQ TEST on the frequency we were using instead of asking first. Not a single KP4. Never heard a VE5 and missed the NL mult....very weak and did not get a window to call him when he peaked. Sure would be nice to have more DX in this contest. Even the "easy ones" were missing simply because no one got on the air. Very little activity from the UK. M5O was always there. Frustrating on a crowded band to try to find some DX in the DX window when US stations are calling CQ there. Hard to find and hear the DX outside of that window because of so many loud W/VE stations. Perhaps this should be taken into consideration next year. Thanks for the Q's....especially the patience. The band was not all that good, especially the second night. Next weekend we will go to the smaller elements. If we are able to stay on the air next weekend due to a possible stormy forecast....see you on 10. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NX9T Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 3,198 Two teenage boys in the house these days= not much radio time. Trying to work in a few hours here and there....didn't quite make my "few hours" goal with only 1.5 but it's a start. Also dealing with recently going deaf in one ear which does impact my ability to "hear" radio at this point. Hoping to better adjust to that as well. 73 and Merry Christmas! jeff NX9T ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: OL0A Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 672 Not very serious entry in the Low Power category. Both nights I operated about 2 hours around W/VE sunset, then went to bed and got up for the local sunrise. Condx were not very good but interesting. Most East coast contacts made around their sunset time. All the stations heard at my sunrise time Saturday were not workable with low power. The second night was better, there was a good opening to W0 at my sunrise time Sunday, when W0 stations were louder than East coast, so I could work MO/IA/NE. I was listening to FB signal of AA0RS until 0710Z, 40 min past my sunrise, but called him in vain. VY2ZM was good signal until 0812Z, and most unusually K5NA was audible until 0850Z, 2 hours and 20min past my sunrise! He was the only NA signal on the band at that time. RIG TS480HX at 150W, antenna 27m (88ft) vertical used on both TX and RX. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: OL7M Class: M/S HP Total Score = 32,034 This contest is for us one of the most beautiful contest in the whole year. This year CONDX were not good, first night Eastern BIG GUNS were very weak, and managed only 135 QSO. Best DX is N7GP from AZ. The second night was CONDX a little better, another 153 QSOs in log, but unfortunately we have some local interference, so that more than half of the time could not read weak signals, SRI... Even though, we made many nice QSOs, including Robert N7UA from WWA and Riki K7NJ from UT �" great job, guys! Equipment : 2xIC-775 DSP + PA + 41m vertical with 120 radials + several BVRGs Thanks for nice contest and ALL QSO and see you again in CQWW 160m ! Pavel OK1MU on behalf OL7M team ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: OM2VL Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 45,120 First day poor condx. Made only 158 QSO ... Very low QSO numbers /hour. Unfortunatelly many US stations don't respect rule: 6.1. The segment 1.830 to 1.835 should be used for intercontinental QSOs only. Second day had nice pileup, with a many low signals. I am sorry, but very close to my frq was W1.. and I dont copy all of callsigns... :( Maybe KO7X called me also on this time... maybe if my frq clear I copy WY multiplier... maybe I copy much more callsigns on clear frq ... maybe ... Thanks for the QSO's, especially from West Coast. Congrats for Oli TM6M for his nice score! OM2VL By band - All modes QSOs (without dupes) - By time | Hr | 160 | Total | | | | | ---------------------------- | 00 | | | | 01 | | | | 02 | | | | 03 | | | | 04 | | | | 05 | | | | 06 | | | | 07 | | | | 08 | | | | 09 | | | | 10 | | | | 11 | | | | 12 | | | | 13 | | | | 14 | | | | 15 | | | | 16 | | | | 17 | | | | 18 | | | | 19 | | | | 20 | | | | 21 | | | | 22 | 14 | 14 | | 23 | 18 | 18 | | 00 | 34 | 34 | | 01 | 36 | 36 | | 02 | 17 | 17 | | 03 | 12 | 12 | | 04 | 8 | 8 | | 05 | 2 | 2 | | 06 | 14 | 14 | | 07 | | | | 08 | | | | 09 | | | | 10 | | | | 11 | | | | 12 | | | | 13 | | | | 14 | | | | 15 | | | | 16 | | | | 17 | | | | 18 | | | | 19 | | | | 20 | 3 | 3 | | 21 | 11 | 11 | | 22 | 12 | 12 | | 23 | 30 | 30 | | 00 | 28 | 28 | | 01 | 19 | 19 | | 02 | 44 | 44 | | 03 | 32 | 32 | | 04 | 16 | 16 | | 05 | 15 | 15 | | 06 | 11 | 11 | | 07 | | | | 08 | | | | 09 | | | | 10 | | | | 11 | | | | 12 | | | | 13 | | | | 14 | | | | 15 | | | | 16 | | | | 17 | | | | 18 | | | | 19 | | | | 20 | | | | 21 | | | | 22 | | | | 23 | | | ---------------------------- | | 376 | 376 | Powered by Win-Test 4.10.0 http://www.win-test.com Worked sections | 160 | TOTAL ==================== CT | 4 | 4 EMA | 12 | 12 ME | 7 | 7 NH | 10 | 10 RI | 1 | 1 VT | 5 | 5 WMA | 1 | 1 ENY | 7 | 7 NLI | 2 | 2 NNJ | 12 | 12 NNY | | SNJ | 6 | 6 WNY | 17 | 17 DE | 2 | 2 EPA | 29 | 29 MDC | 24 | 24 WPA | 5 | 5 AL | 9 | 9 GA | 9 | 9 KY | 3 | 3 NC | 19 | 19 NFL | 9 | 9 SC | 7 | 7 SFL | 6 | 6 WCF | 1 | 1 TN | 8 | 8 VA | 34 | 34 PR | | VI | 1 | 1 AR | 2 | 2 LA | 4 | 4 MS | 3 | 3 NM | 1 | 1 NTX | 6 | 6 OK | 3 | 3 STX | 3 | 3 WTX | | EB | | LAX | | ORG | | SB | | SCV | | SDG | | SF | | SJV | | SV | | PAC | | AZ | 3 | 3 EWA | | ID | | MT | 1 | 1 NV | | OR | | UT | 1 | 1 WWA | 1 | 1 WY | | AK | | MI | 9 | 9 OH | 14 | 14 WV | 2 | 2 IL | 9 | 9 IN | 10 | 10 WI | 3 | 3 CO | 3 | 3 IA | 2 | 2 KS | 1 | 1 MN | 5 | 5 MO | 7 | 7 NE | 3 | 3 ND | | SD | 1 | 1 MAR | 8 | 8 NL | 3 | 3 QC | 3 | 3 ONN | 2 | 2 ONS | 6 | 6 ONE | 4 | 4 GTA | 1 | 1 MB | | SK | 1 | 1 AB | | BC | 1 | 1 NT | | ==================== | 376 | 376 Powered by Win-Test 4.10.0 http://www.win-test.com 73 Laci ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: PJ2T Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 137,280 I'm very disappointed in my result in this contest. After 21 trips to Curacao, including operating from here in four ARRL 160 contests, six CQWW 160 CW contests, and 11 CQWW CW contests, I thought I understood what this station can do. As the score is not too far off of that in my 2003 ARRL 160 Contest operation from here, perhaps it's just the normal solar cycle "funk" that we Topbanders need to learn to endure, but during the entire contest I felt that the PJ2T station was, well, 'impotent'. Under the best conditions, we are more than 1200 miles from our nearest Mainland USA QSO in ARRL 160, and so "down conditions" *will* affect us noticably. The USA/JA and Europe Beverages have had their annual check-ups (thanks to Geoff W0CG for braving the dangerous vegetation to hack through and keep the wires whole and straight each year!), and the transmit antenna seemed to be working OK. All the station hardware (my K3, the AL1200 amplifier, keyers, etc.) all worked as expected. Night one was fairly noisy here, with local rainstorms in the area. Not as bad as I've "powered through" before, but noisy by anyone's standards. Remember, it's ~85 degF here throughout the year at 12 degrees North of the Equator! QSB was annoyingly fast, with callers sinking back into the noise before sending their section, and then with their signal slow to reappear. Night two was far more quiet, but there were hardly any callers! QSB was still annoyingly fast. Throughout, I had a problem holding a CQ frequency and generating a pileup. US and European stations kept plopping down essentially on my frequency and squeezing me out. I had a certain K0xx station who started CQing 100 Hz from me on 1832.6 and did so for hours. (How about, for those who make QSOs between 1830 and 1835 that are not intercontinental,just remove those QSOs from their log. No DQ, just pull all the QSOs and re-score them?) Anyway, I'm going to be fretting and analyzing this result for along time, certainly before I return for CQWW 160 CW in January! That all said, when you fail to meet your goals while in Paradise, you still wake up in Paradise! Radio: Elecraft K3 Amp: AL-1200 TX Antenna: Inv-L, 55 vertical, rest pulled up to 90-foot level RX Antenna: 650-foot Beverage 73, Jeff PJ2/K8ND ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: RX9CAZ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 2 ONLY KV4FZ and rcv fm5cd pj2t ce1/k7ca, US not in log see in cq ww 160. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: S57C Class: M/S HP Total Score = 40 FT1000MP, Tl922, LazyQuad160m@3-8mAGL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: TM6M Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 58,476 First day wasn't good lots of "eme" signal. Ending night with around 165 qsos. Max qso/hour was below 30. Second night was much better with some nice q/hour ,rst were up/down. Max qso/hour 57! Pity that WA7LT never hrd me. Sorry for the ones i never heard. I tryed hard with some ve6/7 but never took the call. I don't know if segment 1830-1835 still for intercontinental or not ... Well done Las OM2VL who's bit far east from me your 160 worked fine! Thanks all for qsos, Oli Worked sections | 160 | TOTAL ==================== CT | 7 | 7 EMA | 7 | 7 ME | 7 | 7 NH | 12 | 12 RI | 4 | 4 VT | 5 | 5 WMA | 3 | 3 ENY | 8 | 8 NLI | 2 | 2 NNJ | 11 | 11 NNY | | SNJ | 4 | 4 WNY | 23 | 23 DE | 2 | 2 EPA | 30 | 30 MDC | 23 | 23 WPA | 6 | 6 AL | 6 | 6 GA | 9 | 9 KY | 5 | 5 NC | 14 | 14 NFL | 8 | 8 SC | 6 | 6 SFL | 6 | 6 WCF | 2 | 2 TN | 7 | 7 VA | 39 | 39 PR | | VI | 1 | 1 AR | 2 | 2 LA | 5 | 5 MS | 2 | 2 NM | 4 | 4 NTX | 8 | 8 OK | 2 | 2 STX | 4 | 4 WTX | 1 | 1 EB | | LAX | 1 | 1 ORG | 3 | 3 SB | | SCV | | SDG | 1 | 1 SF | | SJV | | SV | | PAC | | AZ | 4 | 4 EWA | | ID | 1 | 1 MT | | NV | | OR | 2 | 2 UT | 3 | 3 WWA | 1 | 1 WY | 1 | 1 AK | | MI | 10 | 10 OH | 19 | 19 WV | 4 | 4 IL | 14 | 14 IN | 10 | 10 WI | 7 | 7 CO | 12 | 12 IA | 5 | 5 KS | 2 | 2 MN | 9 | 9 MO | 10 | 10 NE | 3 | 3 ND | | SD | 1 | 1 MAR | 7 | 7 NL | 2 | 2 QC | 4 | 4 ONN | 1 | 1 ONS | 9 | 9 ONE | 4 | 4 GTA | 2 | 2 MB | | SK | 1 | 1 AB | 1 | 1 BC | | NT | | ==================== | 439 | 439 Powered by Win-Test 4.10.0 http://www.win-test.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA2EW Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 333,730 It is now nearly two months since I have made a RFI reclamation to HydroQuebec about an arcing problem 800m away from my house in Europe direction. I have given them the exact position and even pictures of the faulty return line isolator, still nothing had been done. Then this is the third contest that I work under 4 S-units over noise in direction of Europe 60% of the time. That’s coming to get me nervous. I was expecting low conditions in this increasing part of the solar cycle, not at all, the conditions were really great with big signals in all directions, after a few hours of contest only 5 sections were missing to finally end with 81 sections, missing PR and NT as usual. The ONN section was not as scarce as it could have been though. Usually I have to wait until 21H00 local time to be heard by Europeans. This time, contacts with Europe were possible since my sunset at 16H00 local time. The only concern with this contest is the lake of participants especially the DX ones. During the whole two nights we were able to hear with big signals the few European stations participating seriously. The highlight for me was when I was called with a big signal by a VK6 station, he made my day giving me my #35 160m WAZ zone and a few minutes later KL was also in the log just to illustrate how good were the conditions. A quiz for readers: CQWW CW 2012 : 4331 QSO's and 38 dupes, 160m ARRL 2012 : 1307 QSO's and 70 dupes. Find the mistake… Due to the arcing noise, I certainly had missed several multipliers and EU calls that could explains my poor DX- mult score, sorry for those who called me without success, send your reclamation to Hydro… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA2WA Class: M/S HP Total Score = 63,449 M/S (DX cluster assistance) 73! Victor VA2WA / VA2WDQ http://www.contestgroupduquebec.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA3EC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 36,355 Conditions seemed to start well Friday night but deteriorated. Very little time. Flex 3000, W8AMZ sloper off 48ft Delhi tower, N1MM Harry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA3KAI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 26,082 CallSign Used : VA3KAI Operator Category : SINGLE-OP Band : 160M Power : LOW Mode : CW Default Exchange : ONE Gridsquare : FN14US Name : Al Niittymaa ARRL Section : ONE Club/Team : Contest Club Ontario Software : N1MM Logger V12.11.2 Band QSOs Pts Sec 1.8 237 483 54 Total 237 483 54 Score : 26,082 Rig : Knwd TS2000 @ 100W Antennas : 160M OCF-inv-dipole centre up 40', ends 20' Soapbox : Part-time effort only - all eastern US/Canada plus a C6, M5 and FM5 for DX stations. Not too bad for low dipole antenna! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA3MW Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 4,686 I had really wanted to work this one and test out the new 160M vertical with the elevated , but (the big but), I had to run down to Niagara Falls for help with some timing issues for Red Bull Crashed Ice. So, that took out Friday night. Saturday, on the drive back, I had to make 1 stop (John - EJ, Larry says hi) and a trip to Larry's hanger to check out a few planes. John, what is the new tower to the East past the 4 Square? 80M vertical? Saturday night was absorbed by the XYL's office Christmas party and by the time I got home at midnight, I couldn't keep my eyes open (only 3 hours sleep the night before). That resulted in my sleeping (in) till 6:30 when I jumped on with the remote base from Ontario East. Not sure who else was on from ONE, but I did work VE3FU also in ONE. I still managed 71 q's and 33 sections. The vertical worked great (put in place with the flying quad copter). I found the band pretty quiet and never really needed the K9AY. 73 all, Mike va3mw ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA3RKM Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 3,404 K2, 5w, 1/4-wave wire at 20'. Thanks for the contacts! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA7ST Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 11,088 What a washout at this QTH. Second-worst ever outing. Almost nobody beyond CO could hear me, but I could hear everyone loud and clear, all having a good time without me. 100W to a rather Z-shaped "inverted-L" with half a dozen short (40' max) temporary radials on the lawn just doesn't cut it for top band. As I seem to say too often, things will be different next time. This time I mean it. 38 sections is a poor showing when I have room and height for a proper 160M antenna. No snow here yet in Southern BC and temps are well above freezing, so antenna season is still technically open. I will have something better by the Stew. Thanks to N3UA and N1LN for my only two 4-land contacts. Not a single Q in call areas 1, 2 or 3. Missed: KS, CT, EMA, ME, NH, RI, VT, WMA, ENY, NLI, NNJ, NNY, SNJ, VI, WNY, DE, EPA, MDC, WPA, AL, GA, KY, NFL, PR, SC, SFL, TN, WCF, MS, WTX, PAC (!), OH, WV, IN, GTA, MB, NL, ONE and QC. I vow to never again have to type such a long list of missed sections for this contest. Thanks to all who held in there to work me this weekend. Lots of great ops and stations make it a pleasure. -- Bud VA7ST Year-over-year: QSO Sec Score 2012 132 42 11,088 5 hrs 2010 134 38 10,184 5 hrs 2008 162 42 13,608 10 hrs 2007 355 75 54,150 12 hrs 2006 225 48 22,197 2005 323 62 40,052 2004 231 62 28,644 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE1RGB Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 17,894 Remarkable conditions. Too bad I couldn't stay. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE1ZA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 17,424 Could not get much operating time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3CV Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 24,633 Got over my frustration of last year's poor conditions and decided to go QRP again this year. What a blast! Was doing well just S&P until the food poisoning kicked in at 0400 Sunday...then no DXing from the can! Contest over! My 5 watts could not make it over the Rockies as I was shut out of California and only WY picked me out in W7 land. Also missed KS, ND, NM, and MS. Kudos to VE6BBP for staying with by for over a minute to pick me out of his noise. Also made with C6AUM who must have a good RX antenna as other strong DX could not pick me out. Heard lots of strong EU stations with the Beverages but pointless with 5 watts to reply. And why to some stations only leave 2-3 seconds between endless CQs! Stop and listen for the weak ones sending at 20-24 wpm. If you get bored with no DX on 160m, go QRP and all of a sudden from ONS you get thrills working W5 and W0 stations again. Thanks for all the Qs. 73 Jeff VE3CV Yaesu FT-1000MP 250Hz filters and 5 watts into 80M doublet at 50ft apex. N1MM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3FU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 117,276 Radio: TS-590 Amp: TL-922 (Tnx VE3AAQ!) TX Ant: Inverted-L RX Ant: 2x reversible Beverages NE/SW (300ft)and NW/SE (200ft) 74 sections, 13 DXCC ~7.5 hrs the first night, 6 hours the second night. Too many other commitments to put in a full time effort. Stopped at ~0800Z the first night. Stopped at 0530Z the second night, then got on again from 1100Z to 1245Z. Worked everything I heard, with the exceptions noted below. Sections not heard: PR, LAX, SB, WY, PAC, AK, NT Sections heard, but not worked: NL (heard VO1MP in a pileup), SV (called a station many times, but just couldn't get through. Many other stations were calling as well, but very few were getting through. Maybe he had a lot of local noise?) DX worked: PJ2, G, GM, CE, C6, OK, OM, F, VP5, CO, LA, ZF, E7 DX heard, but not worked: EA3 (again, many stations calling but he kept CQing, with an occasional "?"), CX6. The "E" in ONE kept getting lost for some of the DX. I think I must have been the first "ONE" they worked, as I kept getting "ONS?" or "ONN?” Either that or I need a bigger amp / antenna :=) Now I know how the "NE" guys feel :=) Thanks for all the QSOs! 73, Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3GFN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 9,500 Just dabbled in this contest, as conditions seemed poor. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3HG Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 8,432 Great QRP conditions. Worked everyone I could hear including Harry VA3EC whose 100-watt signal at 360 meters north of me was being rectified in my headphones connected to my Flex 1500 even though the SDR software was not on. Very happy Harry doesn't run the amp on 160 :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3MGY Class: M/S LP Total Score = 171,720 Definitely one of the better weekends for 160M contesting this year. With sustained low noise levels here ( -121 dbm to -115 dbm all weekend on the vertical ) and a lack of NA QRN I was able to work many stations just at or below the noise level on the vertical w/o utilizing the beverages or loop. This new layer yielded alot of west coast stations which started calling in both nights just after their SS around 0100z. Only had 1 hour of CQing w/o to many QSO's all weekend and that happened at 0800z Sunday morning - the usual zero dark thirty lull. Saturday afternoon I was working stations out to 2,000 km to the West and South West before sunset here so I knew Saturday night should also be good - which it was. I used packet spots for just 20 QSO's over the weekend - mostly Saturday night for some new mults - but none the less it put me in the unlimited category. Some guys called me three times over the weekend(??) and they were not weak DX but really loud ( and relatively local ) stations so I'm not sure what the problem was - maybe they had very high noise levels or no duping software. As usual there those who ( always the same stations ) that went QRV within 100hz ( or less in some cases ) of me trying to take over my QRG - which they didn't - but it slowed my rate and caused confusion for all... Eventually they left, as they always do... I found EU to be lower in signal strength than usual this weekend but SA was booming with CE1/K7CA a real 579 here for hours at the time both nights and XE2S a 559 with PJ2T a decent 579 and HK1MW 579 as well. The west coast was about 20db louder than I usually hear them and their sigs were sustained at that level all weekend. Pac was much lower than I usually hear them but was able to work KH6LC none the less Sunday morning. TX: 85' Inverted L with 120 1/4 wave radials Rx: Three 500' beverages, RX loop, low dipole Rig: IC-7600 running 100 watts Thanks for all the QSO's. 73, Brian VE3MGY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3MMQ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 229,284 ICOM 7600 ALPHA 99 70FT INVERT L 8 WAY BEV DOWN FOR REPAIR QUIT 2 HOURS IN ON SAT NIGHT ..... NOISE WAS JUST TO MUCH FOR AN OLD GUY WITH HEARING- AIDS... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3OSZ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 82,200 Better score than last year, but DX was a big disappointment. If you can't hear them you can't work them ! Deep QSB at times. Drake TR7 100 watts Home brew autotuner Inverted L One Beverage TR Log 7.00 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3RCN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 23,532 A few hours here, a few there. Just wanted to beat last years score...and to do the same next year. Starting this month, the radio room is being re-located from the laundry room "beside the cat litter box" upstairs to one of ths spare bedrooms. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3RZ Class: M/S HP Total Score = 129,285 Thanks for all the Qs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE6JY Class: M/S HP Total Score = 53,286 casual S+P with spots.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE7CC Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 156,768 Conditions to east coast poor. Heard and called many Europeans. Only worked 3. OM2VL, SM5EDX, and LA3ANA. Worked 48 JA stations. Lots of QRN second morning made it difficult to hear. SO2R 2x K3 + Alpha 86 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE9AA Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 43,148 A bad insulator on a power pole somewhere in the neighbourhood had me surely sounding like an alligator a lot of the time. OFten s3, but peaking to s9 at times, there were moments I couldn't even hear the guys in New England properly. ARGH ! First night I used a dipole @ 22' with an SWR that was near infinite.(no joke) and worked out as far as 8-land. Some good ears deep into New England and the Mid West. Sat afternoon I reinstalled my old inverted L so I could get on and play. Was hearing OM2VL nearly 2 hours before sunset here. Never even heard KL7, KH6 nor KP4...only worked 2 W6 sections and no VE7's heard at all, though VE6BBP was real loud... (weird!) Thanks for all the patience. Mike VE9AA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE9ML Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 10,920 Had fun nice to see a few MCC members on the air. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0BH Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 61,174 Played both evenings until the rate slowed down. Thanks for the Qs! 73, Bob, w0bh ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0DLE Class: M/S LP Total Score = 142,020 Since I live off grid, and not wanting to spend $ on generator fuel, I decided to do a LP effort with Dave, WB0GAZ. A few hours into the contest I wondered about that decision as the responses were not coming at a rate we desired. We hung in there and managed to get some JA's the first morning and EU the second night. I am quite happy we were able to work these stations with 100 watts. I heard K0RF and AA0RS working more that we did, but I could not bust the pile ups with LP. My Beverages heard the DX very well. This was the first 160 meter test using the phased verticals, and they peformed as expected. We used an inverted V for close in stations. LP is painful on 160 but we got through it ok. Looking forward to CQ 160 test. Chuck W0DLE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0ETT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 41,245 Thanks to the more distant stations for rare mults: KV4FZ, C6AUM, ZF2AH, CE1/K7CA, PJ2T, JH2FXK, KL7RA, KH6LC. Pretty good participation from stations in other sections. 73 Ken, W0ETT Rig: IC756pro3 with 100w to shunt fed Rohn 25 tower vertical with 40 radials ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0FLS Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 121,862 A casual effort and a lot of fun. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0LL Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 222,872 Needed to be in the chair longer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0PAN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 8 First ever QSO's on 160. The G5RV with tuner just couldn't cut it - need to figure out an antenna for a CCR challenged residence. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0PV Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 51,675 Many thanks to all who tried hard to copy my weak low power, small antenna, signal. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0SD Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 359,391 I'm getting old. Fell asleep at the switch at 11:45Z Saturday morning, so lost a bit of time there. Not as much EU as most years. JAs were OK on Saturday morning early but only worked 4 on Sunday morning. The beverages were utilized heavily throughout. Thanks for all the QSOs, everyone, and thanks to Ed and Edith for having me up again, and for maintaining such a great station! 73 Joe W0DB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1AJT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 68,006 K3/ACOM 1000 160m "L" no RX anrennas ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1END Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,808 So many signals so little time. Maybe next year. Thanks for the Qs. Eldon - W1END ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1EQ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 74,518 K3 + KPA500. Inverted L at 50 feet. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1HIS Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 43,098 One antenna, wire, 70 ft (21m) long and 20 ft (6m) high. Operated only Friday night. Condx were poor. Never heard the west coast; heard few stations west of the 100th meridian; and heard very little DX beyond the Caribbean. Strangely, when I did hear DX, I worked it very easily. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1KQ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 16,591 Had fun S&P for a total of 6 hours. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1NN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 90,000 A part-time effort remote from my Tokyo apartment. I operated for the first 2:48 (240 contacts) and then had to QRT to pick up overseas visitors at the airport. Got back on at 0200 on the next day (Sunday at 11 AM Tokyo time) and operated on and off for 7 more hours until my bed time. The good thing about operating this contest remote from Japan is that I can operate during the day and don't have to mess up my body clock, which is already pretty messed up anyhow. The antenna is a full-sized dipole but only up about 40 feet. For several hours the remote was sputtering quite often causing me to miss a letter or two of stations calling, requiring me to ask for a lot of repeats. Also, the TS-480, which is the most commonly used radio for remote work, is pretty poor on 160 and I suffered with a lot of intermod and overloading. But better this than no radio at all, and I had a lot of fun with good rates, very quiet bands and lots of activity. Hoping to put in more time in the Stu Perry TBDC on Dec 29. No skimmers and packet make it more like a real radio contest. 73, Hal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1SJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 195,650 Conditions very, very quiet both nights. That's the good news. Unfortunately, most of the long haul stuff was missing the first night, including EU. I guess I need to put the low dipole up a tad higher! On the second night, things were better - EU came blasting through at gray-line around 2100Z. Some EU's had good sigs all night while most were weak and likely didn't hear me either. I'll confirm the lament from someone who posted about dupes - way too many folks are calling me a 2nd and 3rd (and 4th!!) time. It is getting bad in this and other contests, too. I guess it's too much to expect folks to use their log software checking program (or a an old fashioned dupe sheet!). Lessee if we can make a few mo QSO's on 10M in a few days... Mitch ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1UE Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 100,448 Quite a difference between LP and HP! Much tougher to work DX when LP. DX that did hear me: CO,C6,LY,ZF,OM,OK,CE,SM,VP2V,VP5,PJ2,F,G,UR,FM. Also worked KP2 and two KH6s. Most surprising Q was having UW2M call me while I was CQing. It must have been just around his sunrise, he was weak but solid. Thanks to all that dug me out. LP, this was a lot of work! Dennis W1UE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1UJ Class: M/S HP Total Score = 18,444 Fried the balun in the Antenna Tuner when attempting to run. It was still hot to the touch after an hour. The air-cap's shorting strap 'burped' and melted. When using the left radio on 160m the SO2R box disconnects USB so all hand sent. Right radio is still at KB1H from CQWW.... Ant = 40m ED Zepp through the tuner. About 700w from al80b and N1MM Logger. Band QSOs Pts Sec 1.8 162 348 53 Total 162 348 53 Score: 18,444 Jay W1UJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1WBB Class: M/S LP Total Score = 64,313 While the band was very quiet, especially Friday night, the longer haul stuff just wasn't there for me -- weak sigs and less activity from DX. Ran with the spotting network so classified as M/S LP. With the expected lack of non-US/VE activity here near solar maxima I figured I'd maximize my ability to hear the domestic mults and have the most fun. Only worked 7 five-point QSOs this year and had just 7 DX mults (back in 2011: 10 5-pt Q's/ 8 DX mults; 2010: 23 5-pt Q's/ 19 DX mults; 2009: 22 5-pt Q's/ 19 DX mults). Most DX Q's were a struggle...spent little time calling them. I *did* observe the DX window per the rules and avoided any US/VE CQers there...no QSO and they'll move. We do want to encourage the few DX stns that do show up in the contest! Worked 13 more SECs (66 total) than last year with similar op time so spotting network certainly helped (2011 - 53 SECs; 2010 - 69; 2009 - 66). Missed all but one CA section (good ears N6KI before my Sun. S/R) but heard most...just no joy with my 100 watts. Also missed/never heard MB, BC, NT, PR, AK, PAC and WY -- heard but no QSO w/ ND and WWA. New SECs WCF, SDG and NV worked Sunday AM within 50 mins of my S/R, and almost back-to-back-to-back! With little DX workable off each coast for the LP guys, best scores Low Power may be from the central USA this year. Thanks for the Q's...the 'Sweepstakes' of TopBand was still good fun. Stn equipt: Icom 737 @ 100W; low 3/8 wv Inv. L on TX/RX with compromise radial field; N1MM logger. 73, Bill W1WBB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1XX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 79,846 Hurricane Sandy took out the top 20 feet and top loading of the 160 vertical...but was able to kluge some ground-level linear loading and coil to be QRV for this contest. But the signal was clearly down especially trying to work EU. Highlight, however, was KH6LC calling me at SR on Sunday. Hope to get the antenna back up to normal if the wx hold out. Top Band is fun as always. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2BC Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 217,673 Definitely a FUN weekend, thanks to minimal QRN and lots of activity, coupled with ARRL/RAC Sections as multipliers (which make working California stations nine times more interesting and important). My original plan was to just spend a few hours chasing Sections, but low-noise band conditions kept bringing me back into the shack both evenings. Even so, I still missed LAX (!) plus four of the usual suspects (NT, PR, VI, WY). Best moment: being called by WL7E! Antenna: 90-foot top-loaded shunt-fed tower w/some radials ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2GB Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 598 I had very limited time for this contest but managed to get on for about an hour. With no real 160 Antenna and a fairly high swr into the wire I have didnt want to push my luck so decided to go QRP. The Q's I was able to make were difficult to say the least. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2GD Class: M/S HP Total Score = 1 We missed operating the ARRL 160 event for the first time in nearly 25+ years. Our thoughts were with you this weekend and hope you had fun in the 2012 ARRL 160. W2GD/N2CW 160 Meter Station Status - An Update: About one month ago the eastern USA suffered the equivalent of the 100 YEAR FLOOD. Hurricane and later Super Storm Sandy came ashore just south of our 160 meter contest QTH near West Creek, NJ with 80+ mph winds from the southeast direction, and then quickly turned into a Nor'easter type storm with equally strong winds coming from the northeast direction. The first wave of the storm brought record tide water levels and major flooding, the second took down thousands of large trees in the region. Some weather forecasters have called Sandy the 'perfect storm'. The destruction left behind is testament to this charactorization. The station site features a 100 meter tall Rohn 55G tower guyed per Rohn specifications located 170 meters out in a salt marsh. Several years ago the owner did a major renovation of the tower structure, including a complete replacement of the guy anchor system. New anchors were screwed into the marsh mud as much as 15+ meters deep. Given the condition of the guy anchors that were in place prior to the renovation, the tower probably would not have survived this storm if not renovated. As it was, the 10x10 foot 'dog house' at the base of the tower, which housed tower lighting and some UHF point to point communications equipment was destroyed by the wind and high tides. At the height of the storm the water depth at the tower was approaching 4 meters (a record flood level), completely submerging multiple 7/8 inch heliax lines hung on a string of poles/catanary running 170 meters from the station building out to the tower. When the storm was over, there were many small boats and other debris laying randomly about in the antenna field. Somehow our 600' 1/2 inch nylon pull ropes suspended from pulleys up at 80 meters survived the storm and are ready for reinstallation of our 160M TX array, which was not in the air at the time of the storm. Flood waters came right up to the foundation of the station building which sits on a small rise at the edge of the marsh. The crawl space was flooded up to the floor joists. A storage hut we use to store coax and antenna materials was flooded with 1 meter of water inside. About 300 meters of coax were exposed to flood waters but seem to test good. Finally we discovered that our beverage antennas that are mounted on trees between 1.8 to 2.5 meters high in an adjacent fresh water marsh were completely submerged under flood waters, as evidenced by finding them buried under thick reed debris when the flood waters receeded. At the height of the storm the access road (Murphy Drive - an appropriate street name don't you think) was flooded and impassible more than 600 meters from the station building. The station owner with help of many volunteers has since installed a temporary 'dog house' at the base of the tower, installed new electrical service out to the tower, and reinstalled the tower lighting system. A UHF point to point comm link used for station audio was also restored and operation of the FM station (WYRS) has resumed. There is still much work to be done at the site. Heating and hot water systems need repair. Some electrical work to resolve service faults remains. The crawl space under the building needs to be cleaned out and action taken to remediate against mold growth. From an amateur radio standpoint, we need to test the 7/8 heliax runs used to feed our multi-element wire 160 TX array, that were submerged during the flood and run from the tower to the station building. We also must test and repair/replace the 8 coax runs buried in conduits used to bring beverage feed lines indoors. So far 3 of the 8 beverages have been walked and repaired, relocating elements over the many large fallen trees. An aside, not a single beverage wire snapped. We credit purposely allowing the beverage elements to 'float' on top of convenient tree branches and using #12 stranded wire for this result. Our core 160 Team along with members of the SJDXA who share the site have a work party planned for next weekend. Our hope is to install the TX array and restore operation of the beverages in time to operate the Stew Perry TBDC this month, and later the CQ160 events in January and February. 73, John W2GD/P40W ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2GPS Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 29,574 Rig : Elecraft K3, P3, KPA500 (500W) and AL-1500 (1500W) I used both amplifiers at different times and both worked well. Antennas : A design by W3ZZ. It is an inverted-L that loads the tower (85' with mast) and uses the lower guy wires as part of the "ground plane". I have a 3-element Hi-Z receive antenna under construction but it is not yet operational. Soapbox : This was my first 160 meter contest and was a casual effort, S&P only. There was little DX and west coast stations were few but it was fun anyway. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2IRT Class: M/S HP Total Score = 3,663 For at least a year my K9AY receive loop had been acting up in very strange ways. With the help of my good friends, Charlie, KG2V and fellow-FRCer Ryan, N2RJ, we put in more than a full day of troubleshooting and repairing two nasty wiring problems. It was declared fixed around 8:30 Saturday night....at which time the XYL insisted I go out and be a sociable host to a houseguest. When I finally got some radio time, after everything that had gone on, I just wasn't in the mood to play radio, but I got on and made a few Qs in S&P mostly though I kept the cluster up just in case. I had a great rhythm going until the ZL9 was spotted just after 05z. I abandoned the contest instantly and spent the next while chasing all-time New One #327/330. Next year, guys. This is one of my absolute favourite contests most years but I just wasn't into it. Maybe it starting in November had something to do with it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2LC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 38,935 Just a part time effor but I did well for the 3 hours I was on with a top hour of 120. TS930 100W with a shunt fed 80 ft tower 73 Scott W2LC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2VJN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 17,249 Most contacts from CQing before sunrise. Thanks to the 27 JAs and the rest that answered me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W3LL Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 167,810 Lost the first 3 hours of the log. Thanks to all who worked us again as a dupe to help for the lost Q's! Much thanks goes to Bob ND3D who again piloted W3LL in a CW contest! 73, Bud W3LL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W3SO Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 87,634 Missed 10 sections: SB, SDG, SV, WWA, MB, BC, NT, PAC, AK and PR. DX mults were: C6, FM, VP2V, VP5, XE, ZF, CE, PJ2, F, G, LA, OK and OM. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W3TS Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 60,320 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: M/S HP Total Score = 33,712 Band QSOs Pts Sec 1.8 295 602 56 Total 295 602 56 Score: 33,712 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W3YY Class: M/S HP Total Score = 1,550 PVRC. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4AU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 60,112 Had some of my best rates ever Friday night; lots of fun. I am surprised how well my inverted L with one radial works. Best DX was CE1 on Saturday night. Time to put out more radials and get serious about this 160 stuff! 73 - John, W4AU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4IX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 116,768 Due to a last minute change to my work shedule on Monday I decided to operate this one, so I had to buy some wire and build antennas. First I hastily put up an Inv. L in some trees with the apex at about 45 feet, fed with straight coax, no matching. Then I purchased 3 rolls of Fi Shock 17 gauge aluminum wire from Lowes, ran about 12 1/4 wave radials. The end result was an antenna that would work ok with my Dentron MT-2000A tuner. Then I checked on my NE beverage in the woods and it was in about 6 pieces. So I rebuilt it and extended it from about 350 feet to 400 feet. It was then that I came up with an idea. I have this little retention fence that runs NW from my property along the side of the road that the construction people put up to keep the soil from eashing off the hill into the road. Its about 2 feet off the ground, so my wife went out to Lowes and purchased 10 wooden yard sticks for 60 cents each. I cut them in 1 foot sections and tie wrapped 1 each to the metal fence posts every 50 feet. I cut a slit in the top of the wooden sections and then ran the 17 gauge aluminum wire all the way down about 900 feet and then worked back and spread the top of the wood sticks and stuck the wire in and let go ( this put enough tension on the wire to keep it pretty level between the sticks ). I then hammered an old broom stick into the ground, drilled a hole in the top and ran the wire through then down the stick and tie wrapped it in place. Pounded a small ground rod into the ground and attached a ground clamp. Fed this wire RG-6 cable about 60 feet from the shack. So now I had a 900 foot long wire to the NW since i did not terminate the far end. I hooked both receive antennas up to a MFJ 1701 antenna switch and fed them into an old TS-830S. ( This radio has awesome sounding audio ) I used the TS930S at about 100 watts to TX and the TS830 to RX. I just has to get used to my own signal on the RX end, but I tell you, the difference between signals on the 2 RX antennas was incredible. I would have say WB9Z on 1824 at almost S9 on the NW wire, then switch to the NE wire and he would go to S0. Some stations would be ESP on one antenna and S5 on the other. I have never had this option before and it was awesome. So i could S&P the entire band on one antenna, then switch to the other and S&P the band again with an entirely new group of signals. Now about the contest, the band was pretty quiet to me the entire weekend, lots of loud US staions east of the Mississippi. The west coast and DX stations were not that plentiful at my QTH. I had many stations CQ in my face over and over including N6RO whom I normally can work on a 80 meter dipole through my tuner. Don't know if it was propagation or my antenna, but did not hear many 6's or 7's this contest. I ran the first 8 or 9 hours of the contest so I didnt try to work many DX stations, but when I S&Pd and found them, it was like trying to pull your own teeth to work them. they usually had someone calling all the time and I just kept calling, even when it sounded quiet, they CQd again. When all was quiet and I put a call in anf got a W?, it was on. I would have to call over and over again to make the QSO, usually a good 3-5 minutes. Only worked a few DX the first night. Highlight was getting through to CE1/K7CA after trying him at least 20-30 times all night. Then found WL7E and after 30-40 minutes of trying, gave up. Then at around 1200Z, KL7RA called me while I was running ( at least I think so, because one thing I noticed about this contest, you could be on a frequency running for hours and with a slight propagation change, you find out that there is someone else also on the same frequency and guys could be working him not you and you would not even know it ) Ended up with about 490 Q's 62 sect. and 5 DX after the first night. 2nd day I started running early around 2100z and things were real slow. As the band started coming in, more and more stations would show up on my freq. or at least within 200hz of me. I just kept at it and they usually would leave. Ran for about 5 hours then started looking for needed mults. Found several loud Euros in the DX window and tried and tried and tried...finally got through to a few including TM6M, OM2VL & M5O althought it took a lot of time. Tried running a few more times but things were real slow, S&Pd and mostly every one was already in the log. Decided to shoot for the 100,000 point mark and pull the plug. Found a quiet spot on 1802.1 and CQd. Rate was very slow but but kept getting closer to my goal. VE7CC & N6ZFO called in for a new mults...Thanks..Spent at least 1 hour trying to work N3QQ in WWA and N6AA in LAX for new ones, after that I decided to pull the plug. Thanks to everyone for working us low power guys, just a quick note, I had one guy come back to me with a W?..I called 2 more times and he said sri, too weak, try later...I went back to him with NO NO and called 2 more calls, he got me! Thanks 73's and CU ALL in the ARRL 10 meter contest next weekend. I will be SOLPCW only. John / Drubber ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4NF Class: M/S HP Total Score = 207,095 I had over one third of my Qs in the first 3 hours ( 131 Qs in first hour and 108 in hour 2) and then slugged it out for the rest of the time. I thought conditions to Eu were poor with Saturday night being the better of the two nights. California and the West Coast were weak most of the time also. I never worked HI or AK and missed several other CA sections that I heard but couldn't get through. I ended up missing 4 CA sections. Never heard ND, MB, PR, or NT. OK1AVY was the loudest Eu station worked with GJ2T coming in second. The breakdown of Qs included 908 US, 66 VEs, 38 DX. On Saturday evening I had been on 1808.6 running for over an hour when a well known VE3 came on 1808.5 with no question if the frequecy was in use or anything and proceeded to call CQ for the next 2 hours. I politely asked him to QSY several times and he didn't even respond. I'm sure he could hear me but he choose to ignore me. I closed up the filter to 400 Hz and continued to run. His key clicks were also terrible. A little more courtesy is expected from these well known contesters. Station FT2000 with 3kHz Roofing filter Alpha 8410 at 1500 Watts Inverted L 70 feet vertical with 60 ground radials (2) 500 foot Reversible Beverages NE/SW and NW/SE Thanks for the Qs and I'll see you in the 10 Meter Contest. 73, Jack W4NF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4PK Class: M/S HP Total Score = 163,900 I had important functions I needed to attend to during the day Both Saturday and Sunday so I did not stay up late either Friday or Saturday nights. I used packet spots hence the M/S category. However, I find them to be of dubious value as often when I went to a spot it was bedlam with many calling! On the other hand I did encounter some pileups when I was running, and it must have been due to my call being spotted. More than 80% of my Q's were when I was running. I have 11 Beverage positions I can select here and I was continuously having to send "AGN" while I switched through them to find one that I could copy on. I ended up combining my NE with either NW or W Beverages while I was running, and switching one of them either E, SE or SW if I thought there was a whisper of a caller. I have two NE 1125-foot Beverages which I can phase in that direction and I did have several Europeans call me when I was running. Even with this arrangement copy was not that great. As far as I could tell propagation to Asia was non-existent. I shunt-feed my 72-foot tower which has a Force-12 520-240 beam on top (36-foot boom) and this provides plenty of top-loading capacity. Also, there are about 60 radials buried around this tower. I have been happy with this arrangement as it has always performed well for me. The amp I use is an ancient ACOM 2000A (serial no. 137). I did manage a contact with Hawaii but I could not hear KL, NB, NT or KP4, at least when I was on. But overall it was an enjoyable contest as CW speeds of 22-28 wpm were more in tune with my CW capability. Thanks for all the Q's and especially thank you for putting up with my "AGN" messages when I was switching between my Beverages to find one that I could copy on. Overall, I had fun! 73, Sam W4PK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4PM Class: M/S HP Total Score = 252,072 Thanks to contacts. See you in the 10 meter contest next weekend. 73, Puck W4PM Jonathan W4HZ Milt K4OSO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4QN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 21,846 Conditions poor for me, noise and QSB. Only heard a few Euro stations, and worked less. No Hawaii or Alaska heard either. Antenna system for 160 need an overhaul, something breaking down when over 500w into antenna. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4UT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 112,266 Managed to work 49 of the 50 states. Could not get through the pileup to Hawaii. Conditions seems good at my QTH. Heard a lot of TCG on the air. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4UX Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 56,032 Conditions appeared better to me Saturday night than on Friday. Good ears on several European stations. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4VIC Class: M/S LP Total Score = 3,416 Pro III, MicroKeyer II, N1MM v12.11.2, Inverted "L" at 35' I was there! Thanks for the Qs. 73, Vic, W4VIC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4WWQ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 25,992 K3, P3, Inverted lazy "L" with 6 radials. Still too much receive noise. Was able to keep BIC for 8 hours Sat morning. CW is still not my favorite, but fun trying. Appreciated those stations who slowed down for me. All S&P. Glad to see all the WV and NNY stations that hid in earlier contests. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W5JR Class: M/S HP Total Score = 38,359 Concentrated on working sections more than Q's. All S&P. Could hear the VO1 but not get through the northeast stations, then he went QRT. Worked most of the EU underneath stateside CQ's. Similar for most of the West Coast sections, underneath Midwest CQ's. Highlights that I need to get the K9AY built. Worked a new one for me - Japan on 160. Inching ever closer to DXCC 160 CW. Amazing how many stations there are in MN. Icom 756 ProII, Power by Alpha, Inv-L up 90/45, M/S -> Skimmmer by AX, VE7CC cluster (& worked him), old fashion tuning. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6PH Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 92,484 Equipment: IC-781 AL1200 CT-DOS 9.57 Ant: Inverted L (sort of) This was an extremely casual effort. I quit at 10 pm each night and did a couple hourss each morning before sunrise. Conditions seemed okay but I had a lot of atmospheric noise until an hour after sunset especially on Saturday night. I missed NL, WMA(?), NNY, NLI, PR, and YT. My last two sections were WV (K8JQ) and MB (VE4VT) at Sunday morning sunrise. I only worked one EMA (W1UE) who popped out of the noise long enough to make the contact. I had no problem working all the California sections though. :-) It is always nice to run across the many friends I have made over the years. 73, Kurt W6PH ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6SDM Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,836 LOCATION: AZ CALLSIGN: W6SDM CLUB: Arizona Outlaws Contest Club CONTEST: ARRL-160 CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP CATEGORY-ASSISTED: ASSISTED CATEGORY-BAND: ALL CATEGORY-MODE: CW CATEGORY-POWER: HIGH CATEGORY-STATION: FIXED CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: ONE CLAIMED-SCORE: 1836 OPERATORS: W6SDM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6SX Class: M/S HP Total Score = 66,000 Used Reverse Beacon Network, hence Multi-Single. K3, ACOM 2000A, wire antenna at 46 feet with MB-V-A, N1MM. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7RH Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 16,678 The new shack is fantastic being warm and comfy at the remote site. However, that does not make up for not taking care of the antenna system for the last year. This resulted in a part time effort and a normal sleep pattern for a change this year. The first night was total bust. Computer problems, and remnants of antenna issues from last Summer's Thunderstorms wiped my efforts prime time. Propagation was spotty at times, with large voids of signals at times. The second night suffered from lack of operator drive. Too much to make up and not enough energy to try. As a side note I spent two hours trying to work the only consistent EU station TM6M, who was good copy for hours. Parked at 1832.4 he had at his peak a S-9 signal but all I could manage was occasional QRZ W or W7...:( Guess the 100W to 7db end-fire pointed his way was not enough as he worked East coast easily and then progressively more difficult to the West. I only heard N7DD and a lonely W6 call work him and that was it in that time period. Those lucky guys to the west were all southern stations. Bugs and antenna issues solved I look forward to Stew Perry and CQ-160 contests and hopefully for us low band addicts the decline of cycle 24 in 2013. 73, Bob, W7RH ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7WHY Class: M/S LP Total Score = 7,600 Just played around for about 3 hours in this one. I really enjoy this contest but had to work Saturday so was early bedtime Friday night. It's amazing how some really loud stations can call CQ and never seem to hear anybody calling them, but others are PW here and come right back to my call. Good ears award again goes to Ty, and VY2ZM. Thanks for the Q's and 73 Tom W7WHY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7YAQ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 54,864 First attempt with shunt fed 70 foot tower. Overall results were disappointing. I hope it was the conditions! East coast was very difficult to work from here both nights with many CQs in my face from stations with S9 signals. Highlight was working CE1/K7CA on my first call. 73, Bob W7YAQ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8FAX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 34,983 Cndx seemed pretty good.Time limited as usual for me tho'. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8FN Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 35,020 160 is a real grind if you have lousy antennas. Adding the FCP to the Inverted L seems to have improved performance, but it's still tough to work folks you can't hear. The Pixel loop performed nicely on the Diversity receiver and helped a lot, but it's no substitute for a real receive antenna. It seems I could (eventually) work most of the stations I could hear, but never heard far too many. Such is life on a 0.2 acre city lot. I just couldn't work into New England, and didn't even hear stations from that area. Usually, the west coast guys are easily workable, but this time they were few and far between. 30 dB QSB didn't seem to help. The guys with big stations would probably disagree, but from my point of view conditions seemed pretty poor. We'll see what the Stew Perry and CQ 160 tests bring. 73... Randy, W8FN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8MJ Class: M/S HP Total Score = 297,754 Log has been up loaded to LOTW. Thanks for all the q's. W8MJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W8OHT Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 54,315 Budgeted time pretty well between CQ's and S&P I think in this one. Being a WV state helped the CQ's. Lots of fun. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W9IIX Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 7,000 no receive with a vertical ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W9RE Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 38,710 Lighning arrestor noise to my NE and other obligations kept me from putting in much time. One hour of running and .75 of S and P. Only worked 2 other IN stations. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA1ZAM Class: M/S LP Total Score = 1,440 just playing around with a low wire and low power maybe 2 hrs at most ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA2JQK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 26,216 I had 2 conflicts this year..On Saturday I attended a Friends Funeral service and on Sunday I attended my Vintage car clubs Christmas Party... Although I couldnt operate the full contest..I got to meet the actor Ed Herman who played Franklin Roosevelt in the TV show Eleanor and Franklin... I also got to meet Lance Miller who restored the 1960 Corvette that was the first Chevrolet to win the Le Mans Race... Then transported it and Mr John Fitch to Le Mans for the 50th anniversary. John Fitch was the friend who passed away at the age of 95.. Thanks to all that strained to hear me...especially KV4FZ ! 73 ! es Tnx ! Bob...de WA2JQK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA3F Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 56,100 Nice laid-back event. Not enough DX & lots of it was surrounded by a zoo. 73 Dave WA3F GO FRC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA4VMC Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 37,319 First good try at it, loads fun gary ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA4ZXV Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 4,611 ARRL160 Score Summary Sheet Start Date : 2012-12-01 CallSign Used : WA4ZXV Operator(s) : WA4ZXV Operator Category : SINGLE-OP Band : ALL Power : HIGH Mode : CW Default Exchange : GA Gridsquare : EM73VW Name : Norm Address : City/State/Zip : Norcross GA 30071 Country : USA ARRL Section : GA Club/Team : South East Contest Club Software : N1MM Logger V12.11.2 Band QSOs Pts Sec 1.8 78 159 29 Total 78 159 29 Score : 4,611 Rig : Antennas : Inverted L Soapbox : Still fighting s9 noise. But working on it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA7LNW Class: M/S HP Total Score = 65,912 Limited operating time this year...but had fun! TS-480, KPA-500, 160 meter inverted-v @ 82 ft. 73's de Jack, WA7LNW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA7PRC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 3,190 This was the second 160m contest for me. The first one took only 40 years! Even though many stations I called didn't hear me, I had a blast. The plan for next year is to: 1) "plant" lotsa copper to increase antenna efficiency. 2) build a 160m amplifier. vy 73, Bryan WA7PRC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WB2ABD Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 53,430 K3 KPA500 Inv Vee @ 60ft NE beverage K9Ay loops N1MM GHE Radio Boss Like Ken N2ZN, spent Saturday afternoon repairing broken termination on beverage, and then finding I had the wrong cable feeding the RX antenna switch to the rig. No wonder CQWW was lousy on 160. Someday ... a real 160m transmit antenna ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WB4MSG Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 63,971 Great time with qrp. Thanks to all that put up with my 5 wt sig. I had trouble working dx this time even though the dx sigs were very strong. West coast was also very hard with lots of qsb. The close in stuff was very easy and loud this weekend which is not the norm. 73' Gene WB4MSG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WB6JJJ Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 1,890 I was able to play radio for just a little while Friday evening... I felt like I was QRP. The 160 meter dipole was down because of the storm so I was using the lowered 80 meter dipole (poor tuner) <500 Watts. Still fun, and I was amazed at what I was able to work. Thanks for the QSOs, Bill ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WB8JUI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 157,731 Got a late start again this year. I had planned on leaving work early to be home in time for the start, but the boss and traffic apparently had a different agenda. This year's score is up 4% from last year. With 84 mults in the log the first night, I had hoped for much better. Activity was good night two, it was just difficult finding stations not already in the log. Lots of dupes while running. Missed PR, PAC, SV, AK, MB, NL, and NT for the ARRL section sweep. I can usually count on both KH6 and KL7, but not this time around. The new Ontario sections were very well represented, unfortunately DX was at a premium. A big difference from the CQWW last weekend. See you all again in The Stew Perry TBDC later this month. 73 - Rick WB8JUI Elecraft K3 @ 85W N1MM + Winkey Inverted L @ 50' with 36 radials (50-75') ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WC7Q Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,016 Tried to operate using my 80 meter delta loop. It lisened very well and I could hear the east coast, central and western states and the Canadians but very few heard me. It was rare to get a contact further east than CO and even CA stations didn't copy me, the few that did asked for many repeats. Guess I better get a 160 antenna up before the next one. Thanks to the folks that pulled me out of the mud. Sam WC7Q ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WC7S Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 11,790 Great fun, condx were poor early each evening, and got a lot better after 1200z, Had one run of 180, that was fun. Must improve antenna tho before the next one. Thanks to all with all the good ears. Sorry to those that answered me with QSO B4.. amd didn't have their call in my log. Sometimes the log doesn't lie, and sometimes it is easier to log with a no pointer than not. See you in the next test! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WD0ECO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 8,806 Only operated a few hours on Friday night and less than an hour on Saturday. 135 ft dipole up 45 ft just doesn't get it on Top Band. Maybe next year a better antenna will be in place. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WD5COV Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 220,320 A Bitter-Sweet Contest for me. Last year on contest day, instead of being excited to test out the new receive antennas, I was in Alamogordo, NM at my Fathers (WA5IPS) bedside. I had to make that tough decision to remove him from life support. He became ill very sudden caused by one of the heart medications he was using. He passed peacefully at 5PM December 3rd, 2011. I will always remember the contest I never entered the most! This years contest was fun. Good to see short EU openings and condx to JA were pretty good. I had to resort to "manual keying" for the entire contest. What no keyboard. Always seem to have one problem pop up you know. Oh well it slowed me down a bit and tired me out faster but we hung in there. Otherwise all the antennas and rig worked great. I played with both receivers in the FT1000MP at the same time. It requires fine balance of both AF gain settings, but when I could search in the "window" for mults it paid off. CU all next year. 73 Dave WD5COV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WD5R Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 327,075 as usual , no outside assistance welll, if ya don't count beverages outside. Had , for me, a good run with JA first morning, 2nd morning had a train wreck. If any one is interested in seeing our log, with no corrections, be glad to email copy. Doug, n5ect 2nd in command at WD5R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WF7T Class: M/S LP Total Score = 27,270 Tough going here with my little pipsqueak of a signal. My RX loop was showing promise but still deficient in that I could not rotate the thing. After EU sunrise I would run outside and turn the thing to the NW. The effort was fruitless as KL7RA and KH7X still elude me. My work and social schedule has been aggressively against radio contesting this year. Even if I had it in me--which I do not at the moment--I could not make the time for a full effort. As it is, the 9 hours I was able to find beat the snot out of me. Nothing about top band is easy, is it? I put up an inverted U as a dedicated 160 antenna at the start of last year's summer session of NCCC Thursday Night Sprints. I was using my G5RV as a Marconi for 160 and it seemed to work pretty well. The lash-up hindered me since it was my only 80M antenna as well. While adequate to squeeze a few Qs at the end of the wild half hour that is the Thursday Night Sprint, my Inverted U just doesn't really play as well for DX. Back to the drawing board! I was hearing very definite enhancement at my sunset, local midnight and sunrise. It was nice for this greenhorn to have witnessed and understood what the band experts have described. Along with the RX loop I have some great take-aways from the outing. TM6M was LOUD my sunrise on Sunday morning. I was running shy of 100W and my thanks to those who could hear me and complete the contact. Thanks also to all who tried but we were unable to complete. I broke down someplace during the test and peaked at the RBN to see if I was getting out (I was barely). I looked at the spotting network on off-times to look for AK and HI (my last two states needed). As such, my entry is M/S low power. As always, it was great to work friends near and DX. Until the next one! 73 Brad WF7T Nashville, TN --- IC7600 @ 100W, IC756P2 Inverted U @ 40', 10' circumference RX loop N1MM 12.11.1, YCCC SO2R+ Keyer box ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WG8Y Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 26,290 Used a kinda inverted U at best up 25 ft with one 130 ft. radial to get on. Thanks all for hearing my small lot signal. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WI9WI Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 24,516 From my popgun station in Madison. I apologize for being an alligator. I have about S7 noise here from the hi-tech research park behind my house and have to do all my receiving on a small terminated loop. It cuts the noise, but also the signals, especially to the west. K-3 Amp 400 watts 33 ft top loaded wire vertical for transmit small terminated loop for receive Thanks for the Qs Jim ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WJ9B Class: M/S HP Total Score = 370,633 M/S ARRL 160m, NFL: The saga Continues: Station manager, N2CEI, made improvements beyond their collective effort in 2011. Confident that his engineering job was well done, the station manager wanted all ops to view “Spock talks on Dx pileups.” So, they gathered for an impromptu and inspirational video featuring Spock of Spaceship Enterprise. Spock, apparently so2r competent op, admonished all radio amateurs to follow the rules, and to behave themselves. L1KA, their top-dog op, also watched the video. First she wanted to know what Spock did with Captain Kirk!!? Second, L1KA seemed to bark approvingly when Dr. Spock threatened to use his Vulcan Grip, and other sanctions, to insure that contest and dx-ops follow the rules and proper amateur radio etiquette, or her bark was one of disapproval. It is hard to tell. L1KA didn’t have much to do this time around because station improvement and operator skill are now beyond her very tall standards. There was some concern on Friday night that minor solar flares may have magnified D-level absorption just as EU/AS stations were ramping-up for gray-line activity. As a consequence, the EU/AS total for the first night was down somewhat from expectations. They pressed onward, unfettered; the second night was far better as they worked into EU/AS but activity during the remaining time was painfully slow right up until the end. Of course they pressed as much as possible as night turned into early morning yielding very little activity from the Pacific. However, Saturday morning’s results did yield one JA in the log. In the waning hours of the contest wj9b tried to log kp2 (VI) as kp4 (PR), but confessed his error under threat of Vulcan Grip and a planetary arse kicking. He insisted that the error was an honest attempt to find and work a Puerto Rican station. Mb, and Nt were not found, either. Wj9b pointed out that he worked the only JA in the log, and the contact was, in fact, valid. K0di did an excellent job running station EU/AS station on Saturday, but because the ops rotated their operating time, wj9b complained to the station manager that k0di was hoarding M/2 mojo during his off time, and saving-up mojo rather than sharing it. The station manager’s response was that, since M/2 is signing wj9b, wj9b-op is not to worry about mojo and who has it. Station design now includes a run position and a mult-position, engineered to use the same beverages and amplifier, with a cleverly constructed hard-key tx lock-out that also protects both receivers. Me thinks the station manager still needs to listen a bit more to ops. For example, both ops where horrified to learn that the relay in Omni V was so slow that entire first letters of call signs were missed on receive at speeds of only 25 to 30 wpm. This was particularly disturbing to wj9b. He had just participated in M/2 CQWW CW at NY4A, where pin diodes do t/r switching. The debate at NY4A is whether to use pin diodes or vacuum relays! Wj9b spend many hours on an amplifier that used pin diodes, leading to desire creation where previously there was none or very little. Both ops had complained that K3 t/r was too slow, but neither op complained again about K3 after a brief use of Omni V. The Station manager made some rambling remarks about the need to replace a relay in the bias supply of the amplifier with a vacuum type as a reason for slowing down t/r switching. He can’t do everything all at the same time, said the station manager. Both K0di and wj9b looked at each other with widely open eyes, and then avoided Omni V as much as possible. L1KA seemed to accept the station manager’s explanation, but again, it is hard to tell. K4sme helped with FB food preparation. This and great fellowship helped take the edge off using Omni V, and the post-contest briefing went well. The station manager expressed openness about the concerns of the ops… as he lightly groomed L1KA. The Saga continues…. 73, M/S Mojo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WL7E Class: M/S HP Total Score = 56,304 I was connected to a cluster watching filtered spots for ZL9HR AND 7P8D. Therefore I am in the M/S class. However, for the 160 contest I did not look at a cluster for calls. Thanks for all the qsos. 73, Joe WL7E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WN6K Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 7,683 Was trying to get to 100 Qs but just could not get there... 10-40m = REAL Antennas 80 +160 = Not So Much Farthest east was MAR / TN but much was on this side of the Mississippi. Rain on Friday night held line noise to and S6-7 but on Saturday the power lines were harmonizing at 9-10 over WN6K, Paul ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WS7L Class: M/S HP Total Score = 29,784 Band was noisy until the wee hours and propagation just average. Good enough to work the continent plus JA, PJ2, and CE (CE1/K7CA, of course). Missed 5 states and 4 VE sections. Here's looking forward to the Stew Perry test! 73 and thanks for the Q's. Carl WS7L K3 + KPA500 + 15 meter top loaded vertical. No RX antennas this year. Yet. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WU6W Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 17,136 Best CW Contest, 99% of the ops behave like gentlemen. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WW9R Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 39,710 The first night my Dipole was not working so I relied on my vertical. It was tough going. I fixed the dipole on Saturday and tonight was a blast. There is nothing like a full size dipole on 160... Thanks for the Q's Yaesu Mark V, 100 W 160 mtr Dipole Gap Voyager N1MM logging software Pat WW9R Big Bend, WI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WX4G Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 130,851 Busy weekend...tried to operate as much as possible. Europe was really loud on Sunday...just not that many.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WX4MLB Class: M/S HP Total Score = 19,765 This operation was in conjunction with the National Weather Service Skywarn Recognition Day event from the NWS office at Melbourne FL. We operated on 160 when the other Skywarn activity was inactive. Our thanks go to GAP Antennas for their loan of the Gap Voyager antenna which enabled this operation. The station consisted of an Icom 756 Pro-2 and a Ameritron AL572 Linear, operating from 110VAC. The most output was 900 Watts. The Skywarn Recognition event ran from 00:00Z Dec 1 to 00:00Z Dec 2, so we only really operated from 5PM to 7PM EST Friday, and then when the low bands closed Friday night until the low bands opened on Saturday morning. The operation ended at 7PM Saturday night and all equipment was torn down. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WX7G Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 30,485 It was a fun contest operated from the RF hole I call home in the Tooele valley. The K3 died shortly before the contest so I ran the FT-857 to an ALS-600 at 600 watts. The antenna is a 30' base loaded vertical (screwdriver) with a 30' balloon supported wire off the top. QRN is such that I can transmit better than receive so I dropped the power to 100 watts for running. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WX9U Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 78,684 Couldn't get on until 0930z the first night. Not supposed to work SAT but was called into work SAT night 0200z. After several hours they informed me I wasn't supposed to be there!!!!!!!! Went home, got back on at 0630z,so part time effort. S9 noise the whole contest; apologies to those I could not copy. FT1000MP/Alpha 78 inv vee at 90' Index of Calls Call: AA1K Class: Single Op HP Call: AA3B Class: M/S HP Call: AA3K Class: Single Op LP Call: AA4HP Class: M/S HP Call: AA4NC Class: Single Op HP Call: AA4XX Class: Single Op QRP Call: AA5AM Class: Single Op LP Call: AA5B Class: M/S HP Call: AA5VU Class: Single Op HP Call: AA6XV Class: Single Op HP Call: AA9A Class: Single Op HP Call: AB2E Class: M/S HP Call: AB4GG Class: Single Op LP Call: AC0W Class: Single Op LP Call: AC2FA Class: Single Op LP Call: AC4CA Class: Single Op HP Call: AD4EB Class: Single Op HP Call: AE5E Class: Single Op HP Call: AG4W Class: Single Op HP Call: AI2N Class: Single Op HP Call: AI7AA Class: Single Op LP Call: AL9A Class: Single Op HP Call: CE1/K7CA Class: Single Op HP Call: CX6VM Class: Single Op HP Call: DF2PY Class: Single Op HP Call: E71A Class: Single Op HP Call: E77DX Class: M/S HP Call: F5CQ Class: Single Op HP Call: F5IN Class: Single Op HP Call: FM5CD Class: Single Op HP Call: JA1BJI Class: Single Op LP Call: JA1XMS Class: Single Op HP Call: JH3PRR Class: M/S HP Call: K0AD Class: Single Op LP Call: K0CN Class: M/S HP Call: K0KX Class: M/S HP Call: K0PC Class: Single Op HP Call: K0PK Class: Single Op LP Call: K0PP/7 Class: Single Op HP Call: K0RF Class: M/S HP Call: K0TI Class: Single Op LP Call: K0TT Class: Single Op LP Call: K0ZR Class: Single Op HP Call: K1BV Class: Single Op HP Call: K1DC Class: Single Op LP Call: K1DG Class: Single Op HP Call: K1JB Class: M/S HP Call: K1LT Class: Single Op HP Call: K1PQS Class: Single Op LP Call: K1TN Class: Single Op LP Call: K1ZO Class: Single Op LP Call: K2AV Class: M/S HP Call: K2AXX Class: Single Op HP Call: K2CJ Class: Single Op HP Call: K2PO Class: Single Op LP Call: K2QMF Class: M/S HP Call: K2RD Class: Single Op HP Call: K2SX Class: M/S HP Call: K2TTT Class: M/S HP Call: K2YR Class: Single Op HP Call: K2ZC Class: M/S LP Call: K2ZR Class: Single Op QRP Call: K3AJ Class: Single Op HP Call: K3IT Class: Single Op LP Call: K3KU Class: Single Op LP Call: K3MJW Class: M/S HP Call: K3OO Class: M/S HP Call: K3OQ Class: M/S LP Call: K3STX Class: M/S HP Call: K3SWZ Class: Single Op LP Call: K3TN Class: Single Op HP Call: K3WA Class: Single Op HP Call: K3WI Class: M/S LP Call: K3WW Class: M/S HP Call: K3YDX Class: Single Op LP Call: K3ZM Class: Single Op HP Call: K4FJ Class: Single Op HP Call: K4FT Class: M/S LP Call: K4FTO Class: Single Op LP Call: K4IKM Class: Single Op HP Call: K4IQJ Class: Single Op LP Call: K4LY Class: Single Op LP Call: K4NA Class: Single Op LP Call: K4RO Class: Single Op HP Call: K4WES Class: Single Op LP Call: K4WW Class: Single Op HP Call: K4XD Class: Single Op HP Call: K4YCR Class: Single Op LP Call: K4ZGB Class: Single Op LP Call: K5ER Class: M/S HP Call: K5KC Class: M/S HP Call: K5KG Class: M/S HP Call: K5NA Class: M/S HP Call: K5UV Class: M/S HP Call: K67SRZ Class: Single Op HP Call: K6CSL Class: Single Op LP Call: K6DGW Class: Single Op LP Call: K6JEB Class: M/S LP Call: K6NA Class: Single Op HP Call: K6NR Class: Single Op HP Call: K6NV Class: M/S HP Call: K6SRZ Class: Single Op HP Call: K6TA Class: Single Op HP Call: K7ABV Class: M/S HP Call: K7HP Class: Single Op HP Call: K7IA Class: Single Op HP Call: K7NJ Class: Single Op HP Call: K7NV Class: M/S HP Call: K7RAT Class: Single Op HP Call: K7SS Class: Single Op LP Call: K7TD Class: Single Op HP Call: K7WP Class: Single Op HP Call: K7XC Class: M/S LP Call: K8BL Class: M/S LP Call: K8CX Class: Single Op HP Call: K8FH Class: Single Op LP Call: K8GT Class: Single Op LP Call: K8KS Class: M/S HP Call: K8MM Class: Single Op HP Call: K8MR Class: Single Op QRP Call: K8NVR Class: Single Op LP Call: K8PO Class: Single Op HP Call: K8PP Class: M/S HP Call: K9AY Class: Single Op HP Call: K9CT Class: Single Op HP Call: K9DR Class: Single Op LP Call: K9DU Class: Single Op HP Call: K9FY Class: Single Op HP Call: K9IG Class: Single Op LP Call: K9JWV Class: Single Op QRP Call: K9MMS Class: Single Op LP Call: K9NW Class: M/S HP Call: KA4OTB Class: Single Op HP Call: KA4RRU Class: Single Op HP Call: KA8HDE Class: Single Op LP Call: KB1EFS Class: Single Op HP Call: KB4KBS Class: M/S LP Call: KB7Q Class: M/S LP Call: KC0W Class: Single Op HP Call: KC3WX Class: M/S HP Call: KC4D Class: M/S HP Call: KD0S Class: Single Op HP Call: KD9MS Class: Single Op LP Call: KE0G Class: Single Op QRP Call: KE3X Class: M/S HP Call: KE8M Class: Single Op HP Call: KF3B Class: M/S HP Call: KG4W Class: M/S HP Call: KG7H Class: Single Op HP Call: KG9Z Class: Single Op HP Call: KH6LC Class: M/S HP Call: KH7X Class: M/S HP Call: KI0F Class: Single Op HP Call: KI0I Class: Single Op LP Call: KI1U Class: M/S HP Call: KI7Y Class: Single Op LP Call: KK6ZM Class: Single Op HP Call: KK8D Class: Single Op LP Call: KL7RA Class: Single Op HP Call: KM4HI Class: Single Op HP Call: KM9M Class: M/S HP Call: KN0V Class: Single Op LP Call: KN4Y Class: Single Op LP Call: KO7X Class: Single Op HP Call: KQ0C Class: Single Op HP Call: KR4F Class: Single Op HP Call: KS0MO Class: Single Op QRP Call: KS4X Class: Single Op QRP Call: KS5A Class: Single Op LP Call: KT0A Class: Single Op HP Call: KT8K Class: Single Op QRP Call: KU0G Class: Single Op LP Call: KU8E Class: Single Op LP Call: KV4FZ Class: Single Op HP Call: KX3Y Class: Single Op QRP Call: KX7L Class: Single Op QRP Call: LY5W Class: M/S HP Call: M5O Class: Single Op HP Call: MD0CCE Class: M/S HP Call: N0BUI Class: Single Op LP Call: N0JK Class: Single Op LP Call: N0KE Class: Single Op HP Call: N0NI Class: M/S HP Call: N0TT Class: Single Op HP Call: N0YY Class: M/S HP Call: N1CC Class: Single Op LP Call: N1DC Class: Single Op LP Call: N1EN Class: Single Op LP Call: N1IW Class: Single Op HP Call: N1LN Class: M/S HP Call: N1QY Class: Single Op LP Call: N1SZ Class: Single Op LP Call: N1TA Class: M/S HP Call: N1UR Class: Single Op LP Call: N2BJ Class: Single Op HP Call: N2CU Class: Single Op HP Call: N2EIK Class: Single Op HP Call: N2FJ Class: Single Op LP Call: N2GC Class: Single Op HP Call: N2MM Class: M/S HP Call: N2NC Class: Single Op HP Call: N2NS Class: M/S HP Call: N2VW Class: M/S HP Call: N2WK Class: M/S HP Call: N2ZN Class: Single Op LP Call: N3AM Class: M/S HP Call: N3BM Class: M/S HP Call: N3IQ Class: Single Op HP Call: N3MX Class: M/S HP Call: N3QE Class: Single Op LP Call: N3QQ Class: M/S HP Call: N3RR Class: M/S HP Call: N3SD Class: M/S LP Call: N3UA Class: M/S HP Call: N3UM Class: Single Op HP Call: N3WD Class: Single Op HP Call: N3XL Class: Single Op HP Call: N3ZA Class: M/S LP Call: N3ZZ Class: Single Op HP Call: N4AF Class: Single Op HP Call: N4DJ Class: Single Op HP Call: N4DU Class: M/S HP Call: N4DW Class: Single Op HP Call: N4GG Class: M/S LP Call: N4GU Class: Single Op HP Call: N4HB Class: M/S HP Call: N4JF Class: Single Op LP Call: N4MM Class: Single Op HP Call: N4NO Class: Single Op HP Call: N4OGW Class: Single Op HP Call: N4OX Class: Single Op HP Call: N4PN Class: M/S HP Call: N4RV Class: M/S HP Call: N4UA Class: Single Op HP Call: N4VV Class: M/S HP Call: N4YDU Class: Single Op LP Call: N4ZZ Class: Single Op HP Call: N5LZ Class: Single Op HP Call: N5RR Class: Single Op LP Call: N5UL Class: Single Op HP Call: N5UM Class: Single Op LP Call: N6AR Class: Single Op HP Call: N6DW Class: Single Op HP Call: N6KI Class: Single Op HP Call: N6KZ Class: M/S LP Call: N6RO Class: Single Op HP Call: N6VR Class: Single Op HP Call: N6WM Class: M/S LP Call: N6ZFO Class: Single Op LP Call: N7GP Class: Single Op HP Call: N7IR Class: Single Op QRP Call: N7MAL Class: Single Op LP Call: N7RK Class: Single Op HP Call: N7XU Class: M/S HP Call: N8BB Class: Single Op QRP Call: N8BJQ Class: M/S HP Call: N8OO Class: M/S HP Call: N8UM Class: M/S HP Call: N8VV Class: Single Op LP Call: N8XX Class: Single Op QRP Call: N9AUG Class: Single Op HP Call: N9CO Class: Single Op LP Call: N9IO Class: Single Op HP Call: N9NA Class: Single Op HP Call: N9NC Class: M/S HP Call: N9NE Class: Single Op QRP Call: N9RV Class: Single Op HP Call: N9TK Class: Single Op HP Call: NA4K Class: Single Op HP Call: NB4M Class: Single Op QRP Call: ND4V Class: Single Op HP Call: NE1B Class: M/S HP Call: NE7D Class: Single Op LP Call: NE8P Class: Single Op LP Call: NE9U Class: Single Op LP Call: NF4A Class: Single Op LP Call: NF8M Class: Single Op LP Call: NG7A Class: Single Op HP Call: NG7Z Class: Single Op HP Call: NI7R Class: Single Op HP Call: NM5Y Class: Single Op LP Call: NN3Q Class: M/S HP Call: NN3W Class: Single Op LP Call: NN4RR Class: Single Op LP Call: NO3M Class: Single Op HP Call: NR4M Class: M/S HP Call: NS9I Class: Single Op HP Call: NT6X Class: Single Op LP Call: NW2K Class: Single Op LP Call: NX2X Class: Single Op HP Call: NX5M Class: M/S HP Call: NX9T Class: Single Op HP Call: OL0A Class: Single Op LP Call: OL7M Class: M/S HP Call: OM2VL Class: Single Op HP Call: PJ2T Class: Single Op HP Call: RX9CAZ Class: Single Op HP Call: S57C Class: M/S HP Call: TM6M Class: Single Op HP Call: UX1UA Class: Single Op HP Call: VA2EW Class: Single Op HP Call: VA2WA Class: M/S HP Call: VA3EC Class: Single Op LP Call: VA3KAI Class: Single Op LP Call: VA3MW Class: Single Op HP Call: VA3RKM Class: Single Op QRP Call: VA7ST Class: Single Op LP Call: VE1OP Class: M/S HP Call: VE1RGB Class: Single Op LP Call: VE1ZA Class: Single Op LP Call: VE2OJ Class: M/S HP Call: VE3CV Class: Single Op QRP Call: VE3CWU Class: M/S LP Call: VE3CX Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3EJ Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3EY Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3FU Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3GFN Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3HG Class: Single Op QRP Call: VE3JM Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3MGY Class: M/S LP Call: VE3MM Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3MMQ Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3NZ Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3OSZ Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3RCN Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3RZ Class: M/S HP Call: VE3TA Class: M/S HP Call: VE3TW Class: Single Op LP Call: VE3XAT Class: Single Op HP Call: VE3XL Class: Single Op LP Call: VE5UF Class: Single Op HP Call: VE6JY Class: M/S HP Call: VE7CC Class: Single Op HP Call: VE7CV Class: Single Op LP Call: VE9AA Class: Single Op HP Call: VE9HF Class: M/S HP Call: VE9ML Class: Single Op LP Call: VO1TA Class: Single Op HP Call: VY2ZM Class: Single Op HP Call: W0AO Class: Single Op HP Call: W0BH Class: Single Op HP Call: W0DLE Class: M/S LP Call: W0ETT Class: Single Op LP Call: W0FLS Class: Single Op HP Call: W0GAF Class: Single Op LP Call: W0LL Class: Single Op HP Call: W0PAN Class: Single Op LP Call: W0PV Class: Single Op LP Call: W0RX Class: Single Op LP Call: W0SD Class: Single Op HP Call: W0UO Class: Single Op LP Call: W0YBS Class: Single Op HP Call: W1AJT Class: Single Op HP Call: W1END Class: Single Op LP Call: W1EQ Class: Single Op HP Call: W1FV Class: M/S HP Call: W1HIS Class: Single Op HP Call: W1KM Class: M/S LP Call: W1KQ Class: Single Op HP Call: W1NN Class: Single Op LP Call: W1RM Class: Single Op HP Call: W1SJ Class: Single Op HP Call: W1TO Class: Single Op HP Call: W1UE Class: Single Op LP Call: W1UJ Class: M/S HP Call: W1WBB Class: M/S LP Call: W1XX Class: Single Op HP Call: W2BC Class: Single Op HP Call: W2FU Class: Single Op HP Call: W2GB Class: Single Op QRP Call: W2GD Class: M/S HP Call: W2GPS Class: Single Op HP Call: W2IRT Class: M/S HP Call: W2JU Class: Single Op HP Call: W2LC Class: Single Op LP Call: W2NO Class: M/S HP Call: W2TZ Class: Single Op LP Call: W2VJN 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: W3LL 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: M/S HP Call: W3YY Class: M/S HP Call: W4AU Class: Single Op HP Call: W4BAB Class: Single Op LP Call: W4GDG Class: Single Op LP Call: W4IX Class: Single Op LP Call: W4JAM Class: M/S HP Call: W4NF Class: M/S HP Call: W4NZ Class: Single Op HP Call: W4PK Class: M/S HP Call: W4PM Class: M/S HP Call: W4QN Class: Single Op HP Call: W4UT Class: Single Op HP Call: W4UX Class: Single Op QRP Call: W4VIC Class: M/S LP Call: W4WWQ Class: Single Op LP Call: W5JBO Class: Single Op LP Call: W5JR Class: M/S HP Call: W5KI Class: Single Op HP Call: W6DR Class: M/S HP Call: W6JTI Class: Single Op LP Call: W6PH Class: Single Op HP Call: W6RLL Class: Single Op HP Call: W6SDM Class: Single Op HP Call: W6SX Class: M/S HP Call: W6TK Class: Single Op HP Call: W6ZL Class: M/S HP Call: W7IJ Class: Single Op HP Call: W7PP Class: Single Op HP Call: W7RH Class: Single Op LP Call: W7WHY Class: M/S LP Call: W7YAQ Class: Single Op LP Call: W7ZR Class: Single Op HP Call: W8CO Class: Single Op HP Call: W8FAX Class: Single Op HP Call: W8FN Class: Single Op HP Call: W8MJ Class: M/S HP Call: W8OHT Class: Single Op HP Call: W9CF Class: Single Op LP Call: W9IIX Class: Single Op HP Call: W9ILY Class: Single Op LP Call: W9OP Class: Single Op HP Call: W9RE Class: Single Op HP Call: WA0MHJ Class: Single Op HP Call: WA1ZAM Class: M/S LP Call: WA2JQK Class: Single Op LP Call: WA3AFS Class: Single Op HP Call: WA3F Class: Single Op HP Call: WA3MKC Class: Single Op LP Call: WA4VMC Class: Single Op QRP Call: WA4ZOF Class: Single Op LP Call: WA4ZXV Class: Single Op HP Call: WA7LNW Class: M/S HP Call: WA7PRC Class: Single Op LP Call: WB2ABD Class: Single Op HP Call: WB4MSG Class: Single Op QRP Call: WB4TDH Class: Single Op LP Call: WB6JJJ Class: Single Op HP Call: WB8JUI Class: Single Op LP Call: WB8YYY Class: Single Op LP Call: WB9Z Class: M/S HP Call: WC6H Class: Single Op HP Call: WC7Q Class: Single Op LP Call: WC7S Class: Single Op QRP Call: WD0ECO Class: Single Op LP Call: WD5COV Class: Single Op HP Call: WD5R Class: Single Op HP Call: WF7T Class: M/S LP Call: WG8Y Class: Single Op LP Call: WI9WI Class: Single Op HP Call: WJ9B Class: M/S HP Call: WL7E Class: M/S HP Call: WM9Q Class: Single Op LP Call: WN6K Class: Single Op LP Call: WS7L Class: M/S HP Call: WU6W Class: Single Op HP Call: WW9R Class: Single Op LP Call: WX4G Class: Single Op HP Call: WX4MLB Class: M/S HP Call: WX7G Class: Single Op HP Call: WX9U Class: Single Op HP Index of Calls organized by Class Class: M/S HP Call: AA3B Call: AA4HP Call: AA5B Call: AB2E Call: E77DX Call: JH3PRR Call: K0CN Call: K0KX Call: K0RF Call: K1JB Call: K2AV Call: K2QMF Call: K2SX Call: K2TTT Call: K3MJW Call: K3OO Call: K3STX Call: K3WW Call: K5ER Call: K5KC Call: K5KG Call: K5NA Call: K5UV Call: K6NV Call: K7ABV Call: K7NV Call: K8KS Call: K8PP Call: K9NW Call: KC3WX Call: KC4D Call: KE3X Call: KF3B Call: KG4W Call: KH6LC Call: KH7X Call: KI1U Call: KM9M Call: LY5W Call: MD0CCE Call: N0NI Call: N0YY Call: N1LN Call: N1TA Call: N2MM Call: N2NS Call: N2VW Call: N2WK Call: N3AM Call: N3BM Call: N3MX Call: N3QQ Call: N3RR Call: N3UA Call: N4DU Call: N4HB Call: N4PN Call: N4RV Call: N4VV Call: N7XU Call: N8BJQ Call: N8OO Call: N8UM Call: N9NC Call: NE1B Call: NN3Q Call: NR4M Call: NX5M Call: OL7M Call: S57C Call: VA2WA Call: VE1OP Call: VE2OJ Call: VE3RZ Call: VE3TA Call: VE6JY Call: VE9HF Call: W1FV Call: W1UJ Call: W2GD Call: W2IRT Call: W2NO Call: W3FV Call: W3MF Call: W3UL Call: W3YY Call: W4JAM Call: W4NF Call: W4PK Call: W4PM Call: W5JR Call: W6DR Call: W6SX Call: W6ZL Call: W8MJ Call: WA7LNW Call: WB9Z Call: WJ9B Call: WL7E Call: WS7L Call: WX4MLB Class: M/S LP Call: K2ZC Call: K3OQ Call: K3WI Call: K4FT Call: K6JEB Call: K7XC Call: K8BL Call: KB4KBS Call: KB7Q Call: N3SD Call: N3ZA Call: N4GG Call: N6KZ Call: N6WM Call: VE3CWU Call: VE3MGY Call: W0DLE Call: W1KM Call: W1WBB Call: W3KB Call: W4VIC Call: W7WHY Call: WA1ZAM Call: WF7T Class: Single Op HP Call: AA1K Call: AA4NC Call: AA5VU Call: AA6XV Call: AA9A Call: AC4CA Call: AD4EB Call: AE5E Call: AG4W Call: AI2N Call: AL9A Call: CE1/K7CA Call: CX6VM Call: DF2PY Call: E71A Call: F5CQ Call: F5IN Call: FM5CD Call: JA1XMS Call: K0PC Call: K0PP/7 Call: K0ZR Call: K1BV Call: K1DG Call: K1LT Call: K2AXX Call: K2CJ Call: K2RD Call: K2YR Call: K3AJ Call: K3TN Call: K3WA Call: K3ZM Call: K4FJ Call: K4IKM Call: K4RO Call: K4WW Call: K4XD Call: K67SRZ Call: K6NA Call: K6NR Call: K6SRZ Call: K6TA Call: K7HP Call: K7IA Call: K7NJ Call: K7RAT Call: K7TD Call: K7WP Call: K8CX Call: K8MM Call: K8PO Call: K9AY Call: K9CT Call: K9DU Call: K9FY Call: KA4OTB Call: KA4RRU Call: KB1EFS Call: KC0W Call: KD0S Call: KE8M Call: KG7H Call: KG9Z Call: KI0F Call: KK6ZM Call: KL7RA Call: KM4HI Call: KO7X Call: KQ0C Call: KR4F Call: KT0A Call: KV4FZ Call: M5O Call: N0KE Call: N0TT Call: N1IW Call: N2BJ Call: N2CU Call: N2EIK Call: N2GC Call: N2NC Call: N3IQ Call: N3UM Call: N3WD Call: N3XL Call: N3ZZ Call: N4AF Call: N4DJ Call: N4DW Call: N4GU Call: N4MM Call: N4NO Call: N4OGW Call: N4OX Call: N4UA Call: N4ZZ Call: N5LZ Call: N5UL Call: N6AR Call: N6DW Call: N6KI Call: N6RO Call: N6VR Call: N7GP Call: N7RK Call: N9AUG Call: N9IO Call: N9NA Call: N9RV Call: N9TK Call: NA4K Call: ND4V Call: NG7A Call: NG7Z Call: NI7R Call: NO3M Call: NS9I Call: NX2X Call: NX9T Call: OM2VL Call: PJ2T Call: RX9CAZ Call: TM6M Call: UX1UA Call: VA2EW Call: VA3MW Call: VE3CX Call: VE3EJ Call: VE3FU Call: VE3JM Call: VE3MM Call: VE3MMQ Call: VE3NZ Call: VE3XAT Call: VE5UF Call: VE7CC Call: VE9AA Call: VO1TA Call: VY2ZM Call: W0AO Call: W0BH Call: W0FLS Call: W0LL Call: W0SD Call: W0YBS Call: W1AJT Call: W1EQ Call: W1HIS Call: W1KQ Call: W1RM Call: W1SJ Call: W1TO Call: W1XX Call: W2BC Call: W2FU Call: W2GPS Call: W2JU Call: W2VJN Call: W3GH Call: W3KL Call: W3LL Call: W3SO Call: W4AU Call: W4NZ Call: W4QN Call: W4UT Call: W5KI Call: W6PH Call: W6RLL Call: W6SDM Call: W6TK Call: W7IJ Call: W7PP Call: W7ZR Call: W8CO Call: W8FAX Call: W8FN Call: W8OHT Call: W9IIX Call: W9OP Call: W9RE Call: WA0MHJ Call: WA3AFS Call: WA3F Call: WA4ZXV Call: WB2ABD Call: WB6JJJ Call: WC6H Call: WD5COV Call: WD5R Call: WI9WI Call: WU6W Call: WX4G Call: WX7G Call: WX9U Class: Single Op LP Call: AA3K Call: AA5AM Call: AB4GG Call: AC0W Call: AC2FA Call: AI7AA Call: JA1BJI Call: K0AD Call: K0PK Call: K0TI Call: K0TT Call: K1DC Call: K1PQS Call: K1TN Call: K1ZO Call: K2PO Call: K3IT Call: K3KU Call: K3SWZ Call: K3YDX Call: K4FTO Call: K4IQJ Call: K4LY Call: K4NA Call: K4WES Call: K4YCR Call: K4ZGB Call: K6CSL Call: K6DGW Call: K7SS Call: K8FH Call: K8GT Call: K8NVR Call: K9DR Call: K9IG Call: K9MMS Call: KA8HDE Call: KD9MS Call: KI0I Call: KI7Y Call: KK8D Call: KN0V Call: KN4Y Call: KS5A Call: KU0G Call: KU8E Call: N0BUI Call: N0JK Call: N1CC Call: N1DC Call: N1EN Call: N1QY Call: N1SZ Call: N1UR Call: N2FJ Call: N2ZN Call: N3QE Call: N4JF Call: N4YDU Call: N5RR Call: N5UM Call: N6ZFO Call: N7MAL Call: N8VV Call: N9CO Call: NE7D Call: NE8P Call: NE9U Call: NF4A Call: NF8M Call: NM5Y Call: NN3W Call: NN4RR Call: NT6X Call: NW2K Call: OL0A Call: VA3EC Call: VA3KAI Call: VA7ST Call: VE1RGB Call: VE1ZA Call: VE3EY Call: VE3GFN Call: VE3OSZ Call: VE3RCN Call: VE3TW Call: VE3XL Call: VE7CV Call: VE9ML Call: W0ETT Call: W0GAF Call: W0PAN Call: W0PV Call: W0RX Call: W0UO Call: W1END Call: W1NN Call: W1UE Call: W2LC Call: W2TZ Call: W4BAB Call: W4GDG Call: W4IX Call: W4WWQ Call: W5JBO Call: W6JTI Call: W7RH Call: W7YAQ Call: W9CF Call: W9ILY Call: WA2JQK Call: WA3MKC Call: WA4ZOF Call: WA7PRC Call: WB4TDH Call: WB8JUI Call: WB8YYY Call: WC7Q Call: WD0ECO Call: WG8Y Call: WM9Q Call: WN6K Call: WW9R Class: Single Op QRP Call: AA4XX Call: K2ZR Call: K8MR Call: K9JWV Call: KE0G Call: KS0MO Call: KS4X Call: KT8K Call: KX3Y Call: KX7L Call: N7IR Call: N8BB Call: N8XX Call: N9NE Call: NB4M Call: VA3RKM Call: VE3CV Call: VE3HG Call: W2GB Call: W3TS Call: W4UX Call: WA4VMC Call: WB4MSG Call: WC7S