ARRL 160-Meter Contest - 2020
Call: N1LN
Operator(s): N1LN
Station: N1LN
Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: NC
Operating Time (hrs): 15.5
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 1389 Sections = 83 Countries = 36 Total Score = 366,877
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
This is the contest that, for me, tried not to happen. Thursday I had dental
surgery and was concerned about issues that might result. The only issue was
lack of sleep. I woke up Friday morning at 0930 UTC and could not get back to
sleep due to jaw pain. Then, due to the ARRL 160, stayed awake until 0830 UTC on
Saturday. That wasn't enough. About 15 minutes into the contest I noticed that
my NW beverage was totally dead. Not a good thing based on my QTH of NC. My rate
at that time was low to mid 200s so certainly didn't want to stop to try to
diagnose and fix the issue. So, I talked to my VERY understanding wife about the
upcoming repair process and we both got ready. At 2300 UTC I stopped and ran
outside to start the process. She was inside doing the testing. Fortunately, buy
taking a couple connectors off and back on it came to life. Quickly I came back
inside to try to find another run frequency. WOW!! My frequency was still
open, so off to the races I went. Even with the 15 minute interruption my first
two hours turned in a pretty respectable 310 QSO total including 71 mults!
What fun!!
The fun continued for the rest of the first night with pretty good rates and the
occasional mult. When I quit at 0830 UTC the only NA mult I needed was NT. On a
related note, I noticed NT spotted on Saturday night, but after a quick jump to
the frequency, disappointment set in. Someone thought it was a good idea to spot
the V31 as VY1! Sure was a big pileup for the wrong station. Does anyone listen
or just throw out their call sign? Another first night disappointment was the
lack of action at the EU sunrise. My RBN numbers went up as expected, but the EU
Qs were few and far between.
As I was totally exhausted and only got a 2 hr nap on Saturday, I knew my second
night on the air time would be limited. I shut down for good about 2400 UTC.
The QRN was up, rate low and the CLICKERS were out in great numbers. Why all
rig manufacturers do not make clean signal CW rigs these days is beyond me. I
think radio clubs world wide should all take on a program to ID club menber
offenders and work together to fix their signals. With the increased band
activity and therefore congestion, it is the right thing to do!
Thanks for the Qs and 15.5 hours of fun. Hope to be back for CQWW-160 CW and
maybe even more on the air time.
Sure miss the rest of my Multi-single team! Hope we are able to get together for
next year! Think GLOBAL HEALTH!
73,
Bruce N1LN
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