CQ 160 Meter Contest, CW
Call: K4IQ
Operator(s): PLUS PACKET
Station:
Class: Multi-Op
Operating Time (hrs): 22
QTH: VA
QSOs: 811 States/Provinces: 54 Countries: 34 Score: 206008
Comments:
Had wanted to have the vertical project completed, but ran into bad weather
and job commitments, so decided to treat myself to packet-assist for a
change. The OH DX Summit internet reflector worked very well, as I still
haven't gotten regular packet here. I was impressed with the rapid refresh,
the laptop stayed logged on both nights except for one time each night when
Worldnet dumped me off and I had to login again. The spots are perhaps not
as fast as packet, but I was able to be on the scene fairly quickly when
something of interest was posted. At 0300 on Friday and 0400 on Saturday
there must have been a "high angle" peak from here to Europe as my run
frequency got busy with DL's and other EU stations. The runs would last for
maybe 15 minutes, then back to USA. Conditions to west coast seemed down
from last year's contest, with only 20 CA in the log this year. State QSO
totals included PA with 61 (!), OH with 41, and TX and VA tied with 40.
There were 26 VE3s, and in Europe, 13 DLs and 7 OKs out of 65 total EU.
Really appreciate the patience of many operators when I had to ask for
repeats to get the entire call, especially a couple of the EU folks. Nice
to see plenty of activity and some decent conditions in this part of the
solar cycle.
Murphy Report: Stumbled around in the basement an hour before the test
throwing circuit breakers trying to isolate a recurring noise band that
shifts around between 1820 and 1870. Threw the furnace breaker and it
broke! Had to call emergency electrical repair at 4PM on Friday, then give
up my run frequency 30 minutes into the contest to meet him and hold the
flashlight while he replaced the breaker. Lesson learned: don't make last
minute changes to ANYTHING; this is where Murphy creeps in. Also, at 6PM
Saturday, XYL came down to report ice was steadily falling. Eyed reflected
power for several hours, expecting to have to QRT with high swr, but just
kept putting the power to it, hoping. It turned to snow, fortunately, which
might have helped ground conductivity, HI.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at:
http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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