CQ 160-Meter Contest, CW
Call: NA8V
Operator(s): NA8V
Station: NA8V
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Mi
Operating Time (hrs): 22
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 1061 State/Prov = 60 Countries = 52 Total Score = 346,864
Club: Mad River Radio Club
Comments:
I had high hopes for this one, hoping for rates like the ARRL 160 and DX condx
like the Stew Perry. Neither materialized. Condx were good but certainly not
great here. I looked midway through Friday night and saw that the K=3. That's
usually not a good sign here.
I did maybe miss the best condx. The fan in my amp (LK-500) was making noise
mid-week. Did some work on it and it seemed fine at the start. Then a couple
hours in it started clicking again and a while after that it quit. I put
external fans on the amp but that didn't help. Around midnight I noticed that
output was down. I thought about continuing low power but quit at 0545z to get
some sleep. Saturday I replaced the fan and found that one tube had died.
Replaced that and was back on the air at 2130z. The replacement tube must be a
little soft as it only got 800w out but no big deal.
I worked my first Eu at 00z. They came in small bunches throughout the evening,
3 or 4 at at time. The same pattern repeated Saturday with a definite sunrise
peak around 07z that favored Northern Eu. Ended up with 84 Eu and 92 10
pointers. I always hope to get to 60 s/p mults but never make it and this year
was sitting at 57 at 09z so I knew I wouldn't get there. Then VO1 called in,
sitting at 58 short VO2 and WY (plus the 3 northern Canadians). Got VO2 at
1204z! and WY at 1227z. Almost fell out of the chair on those last two. There
was a nice sunrise peak to the west US Sunday morning.
Ended up with 25 less contacts in 7.5 more hours than the ARRL and 10 less Eu
than The Stew (one night and lp). I just hope that everyone I did worked was
working me and not a station on the other side I couldn't hear. Lot's of
frequency sharing in this one. :)
Thanks for all the contacts. As always the CQ160 is a highlight of the year.
greg/na8v
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