ARRL 160-Meter Contest - 2023
Call: KK0U
Operator(s): KK0U
Station: KK0U
Class: Single Op LP
Class Overlay: Limited-Ant
QTH: MO
Operating Time (hrs): 22:15
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 689 Sections = 70 Countries = 5 Total Score = 104,475
Club: Society of Midwest Contesters
Comments:
Man, what a horse race! At the start, I was keeping my eye on Scott KX9RT, as
we have run neck and neck in the past, have similar stations, etc. As I was
watching the online scoreboard, he was absolutely just pulling away from me. I
just couldn't understand how he was making such rate? What was his secret
weapon?
Not having "report scores automatically" checked in my software was
his secret weapon. Once I got that fixed, the race was on. Apparently the
six-meter like conditions affected his operation up in WI more than it did mine,
as I began to rack up a few more points.
Friday night was very much like 6 meters. I'd lose a number in the middle of
someone's call sign, or they'd be totally in the mud with their call, then S9+
on the exchange. Keeps 160m interesting.
Saturday afternoon, I saw that my competition was *maybe* NJ3K, but I never
thought I could catch him. He had more countries than I did, and we were about
even on sections.
Saturday, however, was a completely different band. Looking at the NOAA radio
communications dashboard, the huge red auroral band was all but gone. Noise was
down. Weak signals were very steady. Anything I could hear (even weakly), I
could work.
Soon I was catching Bruce. We traded spots back and forth all night, and I was
really waiting for him to go to bed so I could. I could see that the aurora was
back, and all the EU stations had disappeared, so it would make sense to hit the
sack. I finally threw in the towel about 0730Z, and figured I'd just take my
lumps. As it turns out, I think he hit the sack about the same time, as I was
still within 5Qs or so of him when I got back on at 1100Z.
I got super lucky with LAX and WTX calling *me* instead of having to look for
them. (As a side note, let's mount a DXpedition to WTX next year for this). I
pulled ahead by the skin of my teeth, and it appears I hung on. Log checking
will tell the tale, as some of those Qs were pure ESP mode. Thanks to all the
ops who hung in there to complete exchanges over many overs, and apologies to
folks I just could not dig out.
And thanks to Bruce NJ3K for a great race!
This is always a marathon, not a sprint. I'm bushed.
K3 @ 100W, 40' T-loaded marconi vertical, DXLog and me.
73, thanks for the fun! Jim KK0U
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