<http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2002/160-meters.html>
ARRL 160-Meter Contest
Call: WB6BWZ
Operator(s): WB6BWZ
Station: WB6BWZ
Class: Single Op QRP
QTH: GA
Operating Time (hrs): 13
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 128 Sections = 35 Countries = 1 Total Score = 9,432
Club: South East Contest Club
Comments:
My first ARRL 160M contest.
Earlier this year was the first time I operated on 160M. The SECC and SEDXC were
encouraging their members to participate in the CQWW-160 contests so I decided
to give it a try with my QRP station and 73-foot Inverted-L stealth antenna.
I knew immediately that I had a serious antenna problem when SECC club members
W8JI and K9AY could not copy my QRP signal with their outstanding receiving
antennas early in the CQWW-160-CW contest. They could hear someone calling but
they could not copy a single letter of my callsign. (W8JI and K9AY are within a
hundred miles of my QTH.)
I was using a 73-foot 28-ga insulated wire end-fed Inverted-L stealth antenna up
40 feet hidden in trees. (I live in a fourth-floor apartment.) The Dentron Jr
Monitor antenna tuner could not match this shortened antenna.
So...under the cover of darkness, I used a slingshot to launch another 80-foot
Inverted-L 28-ga insulated wire element into other trees about 90 degrees from
the first element.
With the "new" OCF wire antenna, I was able to complete Q's with W8JI and
K9AY...and another 35 stations in the CQWW-160M-CW contest.
In this contest, stations worked were within a 1000-mile radius. Not bad
considering that the current antenna is resonant near 5 MHz. I believe the SGC
SG-237 autotuner is doing a better job of matching the low feedpoint impedance
(vs the Dentron Jr Monitor).
Country worked was Cayman Island (ZF2AF and ZF2NT).
Thanks for the Q's.
Yaesu FT-817 QRP xcvr, 5 watts to 5-MHz OCF 28-ga insulated wire stealth antenna
up 40 feet (randomly routed) in trees next to I-75 in downtown Atlanta
industrial area. SGC SG-237 autotuner.
(W4AN may have been the op at W8JI...too long ago for me to recall. hi)
--
Matt Lee, WB6BWZ
Atlanta, Georgia USA
<wb6bwz@arrl.net>
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