K1SX SO LP
235–44–21–47,255
9.5 hours, not necessarily at the best times
Genesis G11 SDR, homebrew SSPA, inv L 65-65′ w/16 radials
I actually got the SSPA heat sink hot for the first time 🙂
Still on the learning curve for how to do a 160m contest well. I made a big improvement over last year with only a few more q’s, by concentrating on mults and higher point values.
I had 19 ten-pointers. But other NE ops outscored me anyway, with much higher qso numbers. Some 3830 posters are excited about the great conditions, but to me they were mediocre to average, with deep qsb that cost a number of points. Sat. was better definitely. The crashes were luckily only occasional with the storm. I had a couple ok runs–I held down 1802.3 for a long time at one point, K3LR move over! But my runs didn’t attract the Eu callers that some seem to find. Or were they calling and I heard nothing? In the big picture I think I need more balance of running, easy s&p and the digging. Maybe a beverage can happen this spring–but that might have me calling even more stns that can’t hear me.
I heard KL7SB faintly–that was a first. CR3W was the strongest Eu throughout. I wasted a lot of calls on the very loud FM5–no luck. Yet some very weak stns also heard me.
Other members heard or wkd–AB1BX patiently running up higher in the band, W1WBB doing qrp (I’ve sworn off for 160 Bill!) , W1XX, W1HI, KA1J, W1CTN. Ri gets you some attention in this one.
73, Dave K1SX
Call/Station/Op: W1XX
Class: Single Op non-assisted HP
QTH: Ocean State
Op Time (hrs): 14.4
Summary:
Total: QSOs – 825 St/P = 54 DXC = 53 Score = 316,613
Club: CTRI Contest Group
Summary:
Conditions were really good in this one…best in the past several years. But my time was limited nursing a nasty cold. There are some incredibly big scores by some incredible stations. The 2nd night, i.e.., EU was
coming thru for hours on end. I made about 150 EU Qs but could have done more. Worked the usual CTRI suspects: AB1BX (Andy stays largely clear of the QRM up band as do I), K1SX, K1MD (Richard;s station re-build must be coming together), W1WBB, W1CTN, KA1J (Gary could have the longest BOG RX antenna if he would hook up to the Amtrak rail in his back yard)., maybe more. Missed ND, SD, AK, but two KH6.
First contest with the new Dell Inspiron 3671 (w/windows 10) with 2X DE-9 and 1X DB-25 interface card for radio connectivity and CW keying with N1MM.+ and paddle ……..worked flawlessly. TNX W1AN for mentoring my installation of the card (I am not a computer geek.)
Contest season continues in the upcoming weeks. GL !
W1WBB SO QRP (incl. Assistance per rules)
171 Q’s / 33 St & Prov / 5 DX // 15,808 Op time: ~ 8 hrs (Fri into Sat morn operation only)
Very good band conditions/propagation Fri night, but still a struggle at 5 watts. Got some Caribbean DX but only ?? from P40 and a G5 station (didn’t bother trying to call any other Eu). Had better rates doing S&P later in contest than I did running early on. Missed some common mults east of the Mississippi including VE Maritimes, AL, MS and DC… probably due to limited op time. Hope many members had fun with the band in such good shape.
Dave K1SX — Note: 1.800 – 1.810 MHz is EXcluded for use in ITU Region 2 (Eu)… so most DX is up the band a bit further!
There is now a Low Power *Assisted* category (finally!!) created. It includes/allows the use of remote RX antennas via the internet with location a maximum of 100 km from your TX QTH … has any one cued up such a remote system yet? It’s a game-changer in the Assisted Category in this event!
73! Bill W1WBB