I have to agree with Tom, W7WHY regarding 160m operation. But as Bill,
W6WRT mentioned, it might be better to start off as a single-band event.
The Minnesota Wireless Association has an internal three-team
competition each contest season. One of the 11 contests where members
accumulate team scores is the ARRL 160 meter contest. "Team Hennepin" is
basically the areas surrounding the metropolitan area of Minneapolis, St
Paul, and suburbs, generically know as "The Twin Cities". As you might
imagine, these contesters are pretty much 'city lot' stations with the
usual space limitations.
The last two seasons, Team Hennepin has posted the second highest score
in the club during the ARRL 160 meter contest. They load up rain
gutters, 80 meter dipoles as Tom suggested, or virtually anything that
will conduct electricity! After the contest the reflector is buzzing
with stories that they had no idea they could make contacts on 160
meters with such a poor antenna. The main theme is that they had fun and
learned a few things along the way, trying a new band they may have not
operated before.
Personally I have not pursued RTTY / Digital activity on 160m. I have a
few states confirmed. I certainly would jump into a contest to expand my
numbers and go for 160m Digital WAS if an organized event was created.
With the tipsy situation with CQ at the moment, I don't know that they
would have the resources to take on another event. But certainly
something could be started by a small group of individuals... try it for
a couple years... and if it catches on, offer it to a 'real' contest
management team. That's pretty much how the High Speed RTTY contest was
launched and is now managed by BARTG.
73 de Bob - KØRC in MN
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On 3/25/2014 11:45 AM, Tom Osborne wrote:
REPLY:
i think you'll find some pretty strong resistance to that because of the
antenna and lot size situation you mentioned. Most stations, even on
city lots, can put up decent antennas for 80 meters and higher, but 160
presents a problem and the really competitive stations are not going to
want to be at a disadvantage just because of limited space.
So, how about a 160 meter RTTY contest? There are already separate CW
and SSB contests for 160, so why not RTTY?
CQ magazine, are you listening?
73, Bill W6WRT
Hi Bill
I'd have to disagree on that one. If someone wants to get an antenna
for 160, they can do it. I have seen designs for 160 antennas that
are only 33 feet tall. One was in NCJ not too long ago using one of
those 33 foot telescoping fiberglass masts..
True - they are not the same as a 4-square or inverted 'L', but you
can get on the air and work a lot of stations.
If you have an 80 or 40 meter dipole you can tie the center and shield
together and make a top loaded vertical.
I think if you included 160, a lot of folks would get something up.
It might be nice not to have to fight all the big gun stations who
don't want to do 160 because they would be at a 'disadvantage.' It
would be their choice whether to operate 160 or not.73
Tom W7WHY
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