CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW
Call: M6T
Operator(s): G4TSH
Station: G0KPW
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: England
Operating Time (hrs): 29:48
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 1778 State/Prov = 49 Countries = 85 Total Score = 1,471,320
Club: Chiltern DX Club
Comments:
My decision to do CQ160 this year was quite a late one, only being confirmed a
few days before when my boss was able to confirm I could get time off work!
The station is not a walk in and operate type and work cranking up towers,
fixing antennas and building the station is usually required. CQ160CW is also
associated with especially cold weather in this part of the world, this year
was no exception. However this all adds to the fun and makes for a whole
experience!
This was the second outing in a serious contest with my Elecraft K3. The
receiver proving to be very capable in the presence of severe adjacent channel
strong signals. Even with only having the 400Hz roofing filter the DSP filters
enabled me to find a suitably quite channel on which to start the contest
running and I had my best ever 1st hour in this contest (161 QSO's), even
better than in 2009! However, from then on it was generally downhill with the
exception of the pre-dawn openings to North America and the west coast in
particular. Sunday morning was particularly good with a small pile-up of CA
and AZ stations for a while. Another magic moment was being called by VP8ORK
for an interesting rare multiplier!
With the exception of the pre-dawn lifts, the points scored per QSO were rather
poor compared to 2009 (the last time I was able to do this contest) with
European 5 point contacts making up the bulk of the score. Propagation to
North America was rather poor overall and the NW States were almost completely
absent. Canadian signals generally seemed to be quite weak and suffered bad
fading at times. No QSO's with WA, OR, MT, WY, or ID. DC seems to have
escaped the net too!! Despite this I managed to bag a couple of VE7 and 6's.
Propagation to JA was not brilliant and only 2 made it into my log this year.
Sunday evening sounded like it was the best to JA, but I found it was rather
crowded at the bottom of the band even for the K3 receiver on Sunday evening.
Only one VK made it into the log and that was quite a struggle at my end.
YE1C called me with such a strong signal on Saturday evening I did a double
take as I could not quite believe it was not a European signal!
Friday before the contest was spent cranking up towers for a 105ft top loaded
vertical and 90ft inverted vee dipole. I am very grateful to Dave, G4BUO for
being able to find the time to help with the setting up on the Friday. Taking
it all down by myself on Monday was somewhat easier. Thanks also to Bob,
G4BAH/ES2BB for use of the station and Andy, G4PIQ for moral support.
Equipment, Elecraft K3, PA, Top loaded 105 ft vertical, Inverted vee Dipole +
receive antennas. Win-Test.
Thanks for all the QSO's!
73 Justin, G4TSH
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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