This weekend during the annual 160 meter International Contest I experienced heavy interference on 1.840 MHz, up to 18 dB above my noise floor from 1.835 – 1.845 MHz, and knocking out some ten (10) lanes of potential CW operation during a once per year international operating event.

I also regularly encounter this same type of interference on 40 meter CW at 7.045 – 7.060 MHz where SKCC members and others operate slower conversational CW with straight hand keys/bugs and often antique radios. This is a small area of the band where CW skill building is commonly taking place – until you plop a 10 KHz wide noisemaker there.

In all cases this digital interference sounds like what I hear on 50.3 MHz – which is why I think it is the new modern digital modulation which some misinformed folks say causes no interference to other operators. I do agree that up on 50.3 MHz this causes no interference to the Beacons, CW, and SSB operation.

I have already written Bob W1YRC about this growing interference problem, and asked for escalation.

I was able to operate the ARRL 160 meter contest this past weekend with the same antenna I had just put up a couple of years ago to make 50 or so QRP QSOs – because I was afraid back then of scorching the home-brew 4:1 balun I had “temporarily” installed. This is an interesting antenna that has only one single central support that is only 35-40 feet high, and receives very well, so it is a single transceiving antenna. Running QRP I wasn’t terribly convinced that it transmitted very well since it was pretty obvious that a lot of stations weren’t hearing me – though having previously operated QRP on other bands at other times I knew this is quite normal when running QRP.

Naturally as with other good antennas it fell down between then and now – the central support rope became abraded and broke. With it back up, and with the same questionable home-brew balun I decided to try operating this year’s contest QRO and started the contest running only 300 Watts and as the hours passed by and I gained more confidence in my still “temporary” balun. I slowly worked my way up to 1 KW and the balun held up fine with my intermittent Search & Pounce operating style. The log says I made 175 QSOs including 7 DX QSOs, and stateside I was able to work out to California, Texas, and Florida. Operating QRO was so much easier with less repeats, though I again concluded I could hear better than 90% of the stations I worked. OTOH, without a wall of stations between us some of the overseas stations were hearing me very well and I was able to work them on the first call on pretty clear frequencies with no repeats – as I think very few folks were even hearing them at all. I ended up with 20,034 points for the club, Single Op – No Assistance – High Power.

If anyone has further interest in my 160 meter transceiving antenna I would be happy to provide more details.

Conditions were all not that good for me to the west coast. But did manage KL7 & KH6 which fills 2 new spots for top band. EU were very few but did manage to work total of 20 countries. Also first time for my station to be run remotely. I was no able to start the contest to having to work Friday night so my friend in DL ran my station. Yes he holds a W1 Lic. and it worked out FB. Summary M/S LP de nc1cc-wa1bxy
Band QSOs Pts Sec Pt/Q
1.8 588 1227 79 2.1
Total 588 1227 79 2.1
Score: 96,933
1 Mult = 7.4 Q’s

K1SX SO Unlimited LP
167–48–14–22,940
Genesis G11 SDR, homebrew sspa, 100w to inv L 65’/65′ in tree with 16 radials
5 hrs

I know a lot of members were on and congrats W1XX and NC1CC for fb scores on 3830 so far. I heard KS1J, W1AN and wkd XX, AI1TT and K1DM. I have trouble associating the term “Unlimited” with my station, but such is the rule, even tho I didn’t use the bandmap but just glanced at spots occasionally.
With limited time I tended to drift into dx’ing instead of pursuing the numbers, and so I was happy with the country count but wish I had tried more running. When I did, briefly, I got loud zero beat pileups and was really stumbling over the keys. Few Europeans heard and fewer worked–6 in all, and 8 carib. mults. Best was EM2Q. Noise levels seemed normal, but propagation didn’t seem too special. I did get 4 west coast mults which is a lot for me. KH6”s were right at noise and will have to wait for another day. This is a fun, very straightforward contest. But it seems the mysteries of 160m antennas are still before me.–Dave K1SX

ARRL 160 Meter contest this weekend–from 5pm Friday local, to 11am Sunday. I’m hoping to get in some time. This is a contest where DX stations will be looking for W/VE’s.

Info: http://www.arrl.org/160-meter

I was only able to put in about 5 hours but had fun doing what I did. Here is the summary of my results…

CQWWCW Summary Sheet

CallSign Used : K3IU

Operator Category : SINGLE-OP
Assisted Category : NON-ASSISTED
Band : ALL
Power : HIGH
Mode : CW

Club/Team : CTRI Contest Group

Band QSOs Pts ZN Cty
7 21 50 14 13
14 162 474 12 49
21 35 97 11 24
Total 218 621 37 86

Score : 76,383

Looks like a rainy week for antenna work…but I guess we can enjoy an undistracted Thanksgiving this year. K index of 0 today, maybe it will hold.

I listened to Randy K5ZD give his tips for this at Boxboro. Of course he’s all about getting a 7-figure score for YCCC, but I know many of us post for YCCC anyhow in this one. So he says go HP Assisted and spend lots of hours :). But he had some scheduling ideas to consider even in a casual effort–

–20 should be open to Europe by 1100z
–Keep an eye on 15 bcz we may get an opening in NE that the rest of the US misses. I can say that 15 was surprisingly good Saturday in LZ DX around 14z and may have been open sooner.
–Go to 40 early. I did not think it was so great this past weekend but in WW there are a lot more super-stations active over there so I could be under-estimating. Eu will be there all day at some level.
–He claimed that he loses patience after 3 minutes of un-answered CQ’s. And that, at least, I could completely sympathize with. 🙂
–And, have FUN!

–Dave K1SX

Even if (like me) you’re not big on phone contesting, at least look for club members on
the cluster and give a call!

Your alternative contest is LZ DX–usually lots of activity and a good
tune-up for CQ WW, with an easy exchange.

Local times: 7am Sat-6:59am Sun
Bands: 80-10
Modes: CW, SSB or mixed
Exchange: RST+ITU zone (8)
Multipliers: Zones + LZ districts, per band (not countries)
Scoring: Work everyone, per band, per mode. 10 pts LZ’s, 3 pts between continent, 1 pt own continent
Assistance: Cluster OK
Rules: http://lzdx.bfra.org/rulesen.html

Not a huge effort here but that is becoming the norm for me. My BIC time was about 8 hours and I operated HP unassisted. My 80 M results reinforce my need to get my 80 dipole back up in the air. Not a clean sweep this year.

It is still my favorite contest. 73, Ken K3IU
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Operator Category : SINGLE-OP
Assisted Category : NON-ASSISTED
Band : ALL
Power : HIGH
Mode : CW
ARRL Section : RI
Club/Team : CTRI Contest Group

Band QSOs Pts Sec Pt/Q
3.5 37 74 11 2.0
7 103 206 24 2.0
14 87 174 30 2.0
21 28 56 11 2.0
Total 255 510 76 2.0

Score : 38,760

The club will meet next Saturday, November 9 at 9AM at the North Kingstown Library. See the Agenda here.

This month will feature a raffle of a brand new ARRL Antenna Book (24th ed.) generously donated by Rick, K1PAD. This is the new, limited edition, multi-volume boxed set showcasing 80 years of antenna know-how.

We will gladly accept donations of any other materials and include them in the raffle as well.

I’ve been messing with building an amp for my qrp rig for a while, and sort of last minute I decided to enter it in a design contest. So take a look if you’re interested. I think it helps me in the competition if I get views. 🙂

https://sspafun.blogspot.com/

If you want to see a real slick one from the Hardrock 50 designer, look here–

NXP Homebrew Design Challenge from amateurradio

73, Dave

Next up is our good old, retro, W/VE get together, the Sweepstakes. Times at right. Long complicated exchanges, and mults count only once.
But no fear, usually CW speeds are moderate and all of us are challenged by the multiple fields to copy. Repeats are routine.

Between the mult-once scoring and bottomed-out solar conditions, expect activity to be crammed into 40 and 20 in daytime and 80 at night. If you have a good 160 setup, it may be less crowded.

Tips:
If you find EWA, don’t let him escape.
The other callsign is part of the exchange, that’s where you can catch up your typing. This also helps with S&P.
VY1AAA was said to be QRT but is now reported (on YCCC group) to be active; clean sweep may yet be possible.

GL,
Dave K1SX
Contest Mgr.

Call/Op/Station: W1XX
Class: SOAB Unassisted HP

Summary:
Band QSOs ZN Cty
————————————————–
80: 45 12 31
40: 76 16 43
20: 207 10 49
15: 138 13 55
10: 26 6 11
—————————————————-
Total: 492 57 189 Score = 348,090

Club: CTRI Contest Group

Comments: The contest provided periodic escape from a house full
of guests.

The minutes of our most recent members meeting, Oct 19th, have been posted. In addition the recently adopted changes to the club’s by-laws have been posted under the “Documents” menu.

K1SX
SO LP
74 qso’s–285 points acc. to N1MM.

60 watts to 65/65′ inv L with 16 radials

FB to see 3 CTRI ops posted on 3830.
I got my inverted L back up over a good high branch Friday morning. It seemed to be doing well as I got LY and YL both that evening, but Sat. for the contest there were few Eu to be heard on the L and only one worked. VE6 was my best to west, wkd on Sun. am even tho he was louder Sat. night. K index did come up a bit but many commented on the good conditions, all I can say is this band is still mysterious. Got 60w from my homemade contraption–better than the QRP struggle but still , many loud stations could not hear me. Maybe a beverage for Dec. –assuming there are other LP stations with receive antennas that I miss now.

Congrats KA1J for an amazing QRP score. I see he was singled out by KV4FZ for his effort. But Gary you could not hear me! The circle 8 must really do its job. AB1BX did get in the log, tnx Andy!