12/09/2003 | KB7V After a long absence from the ARRL 160 meter contest I was very happy to be able to work the contest this year. A major problem I had to overcome was getting a reasonable signal on the air from my small residential lot in Southern California. My solution was a home-brew center-loaded vertical antenna worked against several radials and an iron fence. The antenna is about 27 feet tall and includes a capacitance hat. While pretty short for this frequency I was very pleased that I could work most stations I could hear. Most of the stations I called came back to me and I was even able to call CQ and work a number of stations, even those that were very weak to me. Propagation didn't seem to be all that great this year and most of the stations I worked were west of the Mississippi. In all I worked 43 sections, including all sections in the 6, 7, and 9 call areas and most in the 5, 8, and 0. It was a lot of fun but now I need to get some sleep. I hope to see you all again next year!

73, Paul -- KB7V