Greetings All,
I read with interest all the comments thus far about the ARRL 160m
contest. As usual Friday afternoon I was copying some weak EU stations
(not workable) well before sunset. However, they faded and never came
back after the band F layers stabilized. I think I had more sleep and
rest in this contest than any that I can remember. Saturday night was so
bad that I only worked a hand full of stations in 6 hours of operating.
I literally exhausted myself going up and down the band trying to find
someone calling CQ that I had not already worked. Propagation Saturday
was very strange in that it centered due east to MDC, DEL, NY, NJ and
PA. The Central American and Caribbean stations would go from S9 to zero
in a matter of a few contacts. I'd call a few times, note the frequency
and move on. I found it very difficult to hold a frequency as noted by
Tree. I'd CQ on a clear frequency sometimes for 20-30 minutes only to be
wiped out by a strong Eastern station working another in that region I
could not even hear! Everything North or South of those points was very
weak in signal strength. In general the absorption was very high with
moderate geomagnetic activity. I also note that the solar wind was at or
near 500km/sec which certainly does not help in higher latitudes.
Thunderstorms in the central mid-west certainly did not help matters. I
wonder if our solar analyzers have cranked out any data on the events
during the contest?
We have been cursed by modern transceivers without spotting/zero beat
capability. I run a TS-480 low budget transceiver by the way which has
the capability to reverse sideband reception on CW but no zero beat
function. Zero beat is complicated because you never know what
pitch/offset the other station has chosen. I do not find this a problem
until we cramp ourselves into the lower segment of the band during a JA
opening. At that point it is necessary to crank the filtering down to
Max 400Hz to Min of 200 Hz to work through the CQing stations. Calling
off frequency is not really a problem but requires the your call/ my
call exchange which I have long considered proper operating procedure.
Al CE1/K7CA practices this and always cranks in a good score which also
lends to my thought that about 24 WPM is optimum in almost any 160m
contest. By following the above you will eliminate not in the log
penalties, allow moderate rate and still be able to do 1500 Q in a
contest period. Far less repeats is a major benefit and you won't drive
away the beginner operators either. That is why it's called the
"Gentlemen's Band".
I still miss the old Drake "C" Line!
Looking forward to the Stew Perry and hope to see you there!
May the propagation Gods be with us!
73,
Bob , W7RH
--
Bob Kile, W7RH
DM35OS
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“There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading.
The few who learn by observation.
The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.”
Will Rogers
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UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
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