I’m half way through the CQWW 160 Meter CW Contest and if you have not been on, conditions have been VERY good. I put in a couple of hours at the beginning nof the contest starting at 5 PM Friday using my kluge 160 meter vertical…that is…what’s left of it from Hurricane Sandy…plus some added ground level linear loading + coil + tuner in the shack to make it work. Operated the first couple of hours with only typical results…USA/VE no problem east of the Mississippi…and heard some of the loud EU’s of which only a few could hear me. So I hit the hay to get back on fresh at 11 PM so as to work EU during their peak time of 11 PM – 3 AM our local time,. Fantastic! EU signals as loud as stateside. ….answering my CQs. Stayed up the rest of the night til SR. Loooked for VK/ZL…no luck, but did get KH6 and CE1. So if you’re into Top Band…listen tonight especially around midnight. Worked W1AN, W1CTN, and I don’t think any other CTRI’ers. Score so far: Qs = 477; Dom Mults = 51; DX mults = 33; points = 143K; time on = approx. 9 hours. Adios!
— John, W1XX
John – Concur…Friday eve later on *was* great to EU and South America! I answered CQs and got replies first call with NO “?” or repeats from numerous EU big guns w/ my 100w and low Inv L. Saturday eve was not nearly as productive in my very limited op time both nights.
Operated primarily S&P using spotting network (although *NO* LP ‘Assisted’ category in this ‘test…that should change) — put 40 10-point QSOs (non-North America) in the log and 70 total mults which seems quite good for my little 160m station at this time of the solar cycle.
An intermittent computer-generated CW sending problem has recently developed here causing jumbled characters and speed changes… so “running” a freq is now a problem. Much troubleshooting to-date has yet to solve the issue.
73, Bill W1WBB
I don’t see a POST HERE for this contest so I will post here:
Call: W1XX
Op: W1XX (who else?)
Station: W1XX
Class: SO HP
QTH: RI (where else would you want to be?)
Op Time (hrs): 15 (couldn’t keep the BIC)
Summary: Total: QSOs = 724 State/Prov = 53 DX = 42
TOTAL SCORE = 271,035
Condx were super both nights with lotsa 10-pointers de EU. Hint of the day: If you are fortunte to have receive antennas in more than one direction, I use an old B & W 5-position rotary antenna switch at ARM CHAIR LEVEL (IMPORTANT!). When EU is hot around midnight, I have the left hand riding the antenna switch, and the other hand to punch the keyboard….I suppose if you are an accomplised 2-hand keyboarder, that is a detriment. When EU is calling…interspersed by USA calls, you need to switch receive antennas often. Now if you don’t have multiple receive antennas and some lack of real estate, I advocate SHORT beverages and some club members have used BOGs (Beverage on Ground) effectively. K9AY loops don’t take up much real estate. You can’t work what you can’t hear. 73!!! — de John, W1XX