Ohio QSO Party - 2023
Call: W3HKK
Operator(s): W3HKK
Station: W3HKK
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: OH
Operating Time (hrs): 6
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
160: 18 0
80: 65 1
40: 198 15
20: 4 1
15: 0 0
10: 0 0
--------------------
Total: 285 17 CW Mults = 85 Ph Mults = 17 Total Score = 59,670
Club: Mad River Radio Club
Comments:
QRN was relatively light compared to the prior couple of days.
Activity seemed maybe 50% of past GOOD years.
RATE: ENTIRE CONTEST 50/HR. Max 60 min rate: 86 Q's.
Worked: 40 states - 2 provinces - 48 counties -
160: found 1815 empty at 11pm so called CQ and worked 18 stations over the
following 19 minutes! Then things dried up. ( Had previously qsyd to 160 when
40/80 dried up.) So I went back to 40 and added 21 Q's before the stroke of
midnight.
Darned KQP was a QRM nightmare again at times on 80-40-20m freqs.
SUGGESTION: one or the other should change central frequencies ( by about
20 khz) to relieve congestion.
Propagation:
NVIS on 40 was pretty good . Always hear a lot of DELA stns here in LICKING
COUNTY. But fewer stns heard across the band than usual. However, OH counties
were heard through the hours of darkness which is a good thing for mults.
40m opened to the west coast suddenly around 8pm wkg multiple CA OR WA and
one NV-AZ-MT-CO.
The dreaded KQP clobbered 7045 and 3545 later in the day and 14045/250 for
much of the day. Somebody should work out a truce/shift center freqs. The skip
fm KS is too good and we hurt each other going head to head on the same freq.
80m -hrd ONE station at noon. Band was dead until near sunset when things
perked up to moderate levels of activity and so-so signal strengths.
The usually high rates during the first hour or two weren’t there for me.
Had multiple contractors in to discuss the new sunroom/deck under
construction so lost time and concentration from noon-4pm.
Uninspired, I took a nap til dinner, then returned . Prop was greatly improved.
Sigs were stronger and there were more of them from 7pm til 11pm.
160m: The usual final hour drop off in activity led me to flee 80/40 to plop
down on a perfectly quiet 1815 and CQ. (Pleasant surprise!!!) It led to 19
qsos between 11:00 – 11:20pm. I was one of just a couple cw sigs on the
band. But fortunately, others were exploring 160 and gave me a call. Folks,
Look on 160 that final hour – and/or put out a CQ. You will be rewarded!
Rates: Post 7pm, I averaged around 50/hr over the final 5 hrs including
breaks. And had one hour pushing 100.
Modes: 95% CW 5% SSB
STN: IC7610 + ACOM 1000 amp. N1MM+logger
ANTS: I spent Thur-Fri trying an experiment. My existing 80/40 NVIS INV-V
on a 32 ft mast had worked well but I wanted to try to convert the 80m INV-V
into a low sloping quad shaped loop. I worked diligently and had the beast
supported at 6’-12’-32’-12’ above ground. I ran a tuning chart,
listing settings on 160-80-40-20-15-10 cw and ssb. But on one final test I
apparently snugged up the loop a bit too much and broke off the coax feed. It
was Friday and too late to take it all down, repair the broken wire and put it
up again.
I finally decided to use what I still had wrking ( and do without an NVIS
antenna for 80/40).
160m: 52 ft tall INV-L with one ground rod and no radials.
40m: 2 el vert phased array that looks NE or SW or Omni.
20m: 2 el vert phased array that looks NW, SE.
15m: the 40m 2 el vert phased array
10m: the 160m INV-L.
MISC: on signal strengths: My 40m/80m rx sigs probably took a 10-30 db hit
from not having the NVIS antenna . SO I expect my OH counties worked to be
well down. But the 40m PA does well. I made my usual qso with OM2VL on 40
cw. He is a beacon on the bands!
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