CQ 160-Meter Contest, SSB
Call: VE3NE
Operator(s): VE3NE
Station: VE3FAS
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Orangeville
Operating Time (hrs): 22
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 940 State/Prov = 58 Countries = 33 Total Score = 430,612
Club: Contest Club Ontario
Comments:
Huh,
My poor ears...and yours too...:-)
First of all I would like to thank John, VE3FAS for allowing me to use his
great antenna park and location and Paul, VE3TA for giving me an awesome
support like setting up the station, lending me a lot of stuff like amp, heil
etc. so I did not have to worry about them.
I never had the chance to use a big 130 foot TX ant, three quarter mile long
beverages and HP on 160m in this contest so I was very excited to do it. I have
been in VP5 and CT3 for the CW part but that is different.
I expected the band to be completely full with big signals and thus QRM but I
did not expect such a QRN level. The combination of both and not having
beverage to the South made it very difficult to pull out some signals from the
mess. Almost every time a 4 land called I had to switch over to the vertical
and adjust the gain, ATT and volume level and then do it in reverse order to go
back on the beverage. Quite a chore...:-) The beverages work so sharp that after
each CQ I had to switch them around to see if someone is calling. It happened
countless times that I did not hear anything on one beverage but the station
calling me was strong on the other one. It is a great experience and feels very
good that your antennas are working. The disadvantage that my left hand and arm
is still sore because of the continuous switching...:-)
Due to the heavy QRN I missed well over hundred stations who called me and for
the same fact I am sure a lot of stations with small antennas (or even with
big) could have thrown in the towel early because activity was not very high.
Everything worked 100% at the station and I enjoyed switching around the RX
antennas. The QRN weakened by Saturday morning and I was able to pull out VK3IO
who actually had a decent signal. KH6MD was S9 on the beverage and I was called
by KL7RA. Never heard VK and KL7 on 160m before...:-) Some Europeans were
strong like IV3OWC but missed a lot of countries. Fell asleep both morning for
a couple of hours because I could not keep up with the 10 QSO per hour
rate...:-)
I was chased away a few times by other stations claiming that they are on the
frequency since who knows how long and now they own it, even they were not
there for the last few minutes...:-) Some others claimed that I am "THE QRM" so
move. The contest is for fun so I moved and quietly put up with every body
else's mess...:-)
The idea was to experience a great station and I really enjoyed doing that. The
score is lot less that I was hoping for but there is always a next time.
I think I should use the Morse Runner for a few days to get rid off the
shkrthsrkblmdbthrm sounds from my headâ?¦ï??
Great contest with great ops. See you next time.
73
Lali VE3NE
P.S. Will be pix, sound clips and video clips on my web site:
http://www.dipole.com
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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