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It would be nice to see the results for DX stations and not keep them for members only. What encouragement is there for next year - one just sends in the log and hears nil further. To expect me to join ARRL is asking rather a lot.
73 - I will probably be back next year.
Gordon.
I'm a "fair weather" 160 meter enthusiast, putting up my antenna in late fall and taking it down in late winter or early spring. This year was no exception and I didn't get around to antenna erection until Saturday, well into the contest. This year my antenna was a 42 ft. top loaded vertical over 40 radials. I got on around dark Saturday evening and operated much of the night and logged 11-12 hours. Very happy with the results which easily match or exceed previous entries that were 2 nighters and worked a few new ones. I hope I'll get my antenna up a bit earlier in 2008. I think the challenge of 160 makes this one of my favorites. Thanks to all and hope to cu next time.
2007 must be the year when the mythical, magical "good" low-sunspot conditions occur. Conditions Friday night were excellent, while conditions Saturday night were just good. Low noise (lower Friday) and no storms made for pleasant "hearing".
One small disadvantage with good conditions is that the DX comes in small, sporadic bursts rather than as a "mini-DX contest" at 05 and 06 GMT. For some reason Saturday night nearly all of the Europeans vanished. Maybe they worked everyone Friday night. I really missed the Saturday night DX run fun.
During the CQ WW CW I noticed that I have a severe noise problem which obscures signals on the 330 degree and due North Beverages. I spent the week between the contests verifying that the noise was not inherent in the antennas themselves. I guess I need to go hunting for a local source. Surprisingly, the noise cannot be heard in the adjacent directions (300 degrees and 30 degrees), which is why I suspected the antennas rather than a local source. The source must be the low-budget farm just to the north of my location. I was lucky that JA8DMB was able to override the noise. Also, I was barely able to detect that RW0CWA heard my call through the noise as well. These two contacts were the first time that I've worked Asia (other than Cyprus and Turkey) since last year.
I used the Steerable Phased Vertical Array as a second receiver for the diversity receiving capability. It was very handy to put "east" signals in one ear and "west" signals in the other. That saves a lot of time otherwise wasted searching through Beverages to find a signal. I never needed to steer the Phased Array, since all of my DX came from Europe. The surprise contact came from 5H3EE, and I don't recall which antenna I was listening to when he called.
On the other hand, the broadband nature of the direct conversion receivers led to frequent overload situations which diminished the utility of that receiving system. Never depend solely on a single technology during warfare!
I was amazed that VY1JA was not mobbed when he was spotted early Sunday morning. I surmise that by that time, only die-hard contesters remained on the air.
I missed PR and VE4 for a sweep. How could I miss PR???
I need to improve my sleep management. I just cannot maintain my motivation after being awake for more than about 14-16 hours. That, or go back to operating multi-op. Anybody for the CQ 160? See you all in the SPTBDC in 4 weeks.
Equipment:
IC765 and ETO 91B (thanks, Jeff!);
Steerable Phased Array Receiving System (see k1lt.com);
14 Beverages every 30 degrees and spares;
65 foot "T" with 80 125 foot radials
Always a treat to work so many familiar calls during this great contest. My xmtng ant. for 160M is a full sized quad loop but very odd shape. It goes up from the shack vertically 90ft. then horizontal 110ft, then sloping down towards the fence and along the top of the fence all the way around the back yard to the feed point. We have very tall trees here in the West. It is the best ant. that I have had for this band after trying many different configurations. For receive I use my 40 meter rotating dipole and a fixed 40 meter dipole in the attic feeding a phasing noise canceller which really helps reduce local noise and makes operating more bearable.
I ran 100 watts from my homebrew tranceiver. Go here for a look at my transceiver.
http://www.shelbrook.com/~ve7ca/Hbr200.htm
Hope to work all you guys again next year.
73
Markus
VE7CA
I operated high power this year for the first time thanks to a new to me Alpha 78. What a difference QRO makes! Next year I plan to add a couple of receiving antennas as well. Although not as good as I hoped to do, it was still fun to work the gang on top band. "I'll Be Back!"
The far end of the 160M Inv L. |
K7XC - Radio Central - December 2007 |
The near end of the 160M Inv L along with a 20M Inv Vee on the VHF/UHF Tower Trailer. |
Care to BBQ anyone?! |
One of my favorite contests, even though I don't have a good antenna for top band. I ran QRP with my K2 and ~ 250 foot long off-center fed dipole, only 25 feet above the ground. 203 QSO's and 45 multipliers. My signal put a lot of ops to work, and some with S9++ signals were deaf as maybe they were using their DX receive antennas. Surprise was finding I3MLU who was as loud as an east coast station when I QSO'ed. Late in the evening worked a handful of western US stations, otherwise everyone was east of the Mississippi River. We'll have to come up with a self-supporting inverted L (or something to erect onto my 80/40m vertical).
I spent a couple of hours at the contest station of Tom N6AJR on Saturday night and worked most states west of the Mississippi. I could hear lots of stations on the east coast, but they could not hear me. Had fun with a friend for a couple of hours though so that was worth it.
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Conditions were very good. I tied the ends of my 80-meter G5RV together, loaded up against a single ground rod (no radials), ran 500 watts, and was able to work almost all the stations that I could hear. Lots of activity this year.
73's
--Jim
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73,
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