CQ 160-Meter Contest, SSB
Call: K5NA
Operator(s): KU5B
Station: K5NA
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Manor, TX
Operating Time (hrs): 28:43
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 1036 State/Prov = 57 Countries = 29 Total Score = 214,742
Club: Central Texas DX and Contest Club
Comments:
First and foremost, many thanks to Richard and Susan for inviting me to come
play this weekend with their fantastic station. They are always wonderful
hosts. I was sort of reluctant to say 'yes' but curiosity got the best of me.
This was the first time I've been on 160 SSB since I was licensed in '02 and it
was a great time.
Boy, was I glad that I didn't have a 3-5 class on Friday as I did last
semester. I arrived about 2:45 and got the full pre-contest briefing from
Richard and got settled in front of his new K3 (more on that later)! The first
couple of hours were pretty slow but as soon as the sun set the rate
immediately went to about 80 and stayed there until 5am; the best hour was
0300Z and netted 89 Q's. After 1100Z...the rate never went above 50. I ended
with 700 Q's the first night and quit just after 1300Z which was probably a
mistake.
The second night started much better; I got back on at 2300Z and was working
East Coast and VE3's. I had a really good feeling that I would actually work
some EU. I found my first EU (HA) at 0053Z and worked 14 more EU during the
course of the evening. I was getting really worried about missing KL7 and KH6
but KL7RA saved the day and found me early Sunday morning. I never did work
KH6...or any OC for that matter but I kept a beverage West and Southwest all
Saturday night.
I also had a WHOLE bunch of dupe; perhaps people thought that it was two
different contests each night? :)
The K3 turned out to be a fantastic radio. I'd only seen reviews and was
anxious to try it out. The dual RX is unbelievable and hardly compares to the
dual on the 1000MP in quality of signal. I tried Diversity mode for an hour or
so and found it to be quite useful for the weak ones but I didn't really feel
comfortable enough to keep it engaged the whole time. The only thing I noticed
I didn't particularly like was the small size of the VFO-B knob but I got over
that pretty quickly.
I probably should've S&P'd more Saturday night and not quit so early the first
morning; a learning experience for next year! I looked at last year's scores
and 3830 postings and set a 1000 QSO and Top 10 bar for myself. I made 1k Q's
and I'm hoping that the Top 10 sticks too!
Congrats to all the huge scores; especially you guys farther east. NR5M and I
battled it out and when I talked to him Sunday afternoon he'd just edged me
out, nice job! I need more countries next year! I got a chance to talk to WB9Z
around 1400Z Sunday and was absolutely blown away by his score; he's a real
nice guy!
Radio: Elecraft K3 (really tempted to take out a loan to get one of these bad
boys)
Antenna (I asked Richard for the proper name): A full-sized Rohn 25G vertical
with insulator and raised radials at 30 feet
RX: 9 Beverages
Writelog Logging Software
As Jerry said in his post, I, too, haven't had enough radio; CU next weekend
from NR5M.
Colin KU5B
ku5b.com
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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