ARRL 160-Meter Contest - 2022
Call: W2GD
Operator(s): K2TW KE2D KU2C KS3F N2HM W2GD W2NO W2RQ
Station: W2GD
Class: M/S HP
QTH: SNJ
Operating Time (hrs): 29
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 1268 Sections = 80 Countries = 38 Total Score = 329,338
Club: Frankford Radio Club
Comments:
STATION DESCRIPTION
Elecraft K3 x 3
OM2000HF 1250 watts
Win-Test Logging Software
TX Antenna: 3 element vertical beam @ 240' NE, West and Omni direction options
Beverage antennas NE, E, N/S, SW, W, NW
HI-Z Four Vertical System for Diversity
Comments:
HEADLINE: Worst Conditions in 20 years plague ARRL 160 Contest Participants
HEADLINE; We've Never Worked So Hard For So Few QSOs
HEADLINE: We've experienced the Best of Times and the Worst of Times on 160M
Is it eveb possible for conditions to be much worse? We now understand the
challenges routinely faced by our AK, NT and OH/LA/SM brothers and sisters.
This is our lowest ARRL 160 score in over two decades. The 329K we've posted is
just a tad more than half of what we had last year. Operative word for this
weekend: ABSORPTION. Paths in all directions (except due south) were fatality
degraded much of the weekend. Normally we log HUNDREDS of EU contacts - this
time just 70 ... compared to 314 last year. Seeing ourselves spotted on an EU
cluster this weekend with the comment "WEAK" really says it all.
Traditionally the ARRL 160 weekend is our opportunity to work out whatever
station weaknesses might be lurking as we've pass through the entry gate at the
end of "Murphy Drive" (none of us live nearby so there is no
opportunity to make incremental station improvements throughout the year). Our
goal is to have everything functioning 110 percent for the TBDC later this month
and CQ160 CW in January. Several "gotchas" were identified this
weekend.
This year's 160 meter Contest Season journey began just before CQWW PH with a
work party. Each year we take down the TX array hung from a 300 foot broadcast
tower to preclude possible damage during hurricane season. We also pull in the
RX antenna cables and transformers. In six hours the team deployed all of the
RX antenna feed line cabling and re-installed the the three element TX vertical
beam array. Walking beverages and making repairs waited for this weekend. We
repaired virtually every beverage antenna element on the property, all damaged
by fallen trees the psst 8 months ... this is the norm and very time consuming
since it involves walking back and forth over 8,000 feet of beverage elements
through thick woods and fresh water wetlands.
The weather cooperated for setup - dry and relatively warm. Tide levels in the
salt marsh surrounding the 300 foot tower were low. During the contest a strong
rain event on Saturday with 40 mph wind gusts blew through, but the only side
effect we noticed was the elevated noise level on the North/South beverage. As
storms go it was a non-event.
The team enjoyed a fast start at the bell. But as mentioned earlier, we use this
the ARRL 160 to find station flaws and out of the gate we had a few - the most
serious being an S-6 buzzing noise on the West Beverage (all of the others were
stone quiet) and also an elevated noise problem on the High-S four square that
we use as a diversity antenna. While GD and RQ were slugging away on the band
interleaving QSOs a team was dispatched to diagnose and solve the West beverage
problem (it turned out to be a loose barrel connector). They also fixed a
wiring error involving the SE and NW beverages. Diagnosing the Hi-Z issue will
wait until Stew Perry weekend.
A first hour of 210, then a second hour of 147 were our peak rates ... it was
all down hill afterwards. Typically we enjoy several subsequent hours over 100
at this location under normal 160 conditions - this never materialized.
Activity was noticeably down from prior years. Total QSOs compared to last year
were down a whopping 465, a significant 27 percent drop.
For the most part EU signals were never much above the noise level and there
weren't many to chase - a few more the first night than the second. We logged
just 70 EU the ENTIRE weekend, compared to 284 in 2021, a whopping 75% drop year
to year. This statistic sadly summarizes the dismal propagation story.
We never heard a JA, VK or ZL but three KH6s made the log.
VE7 was our last section worked, calling in during our final hour before sunrise
Sunday morning. We never heard our missing sections: WTX, WY, AK, and NT.
Besides the problem with the west beverage we had an antenna tuner failure -
heat build up due to the mismatch created an exciting flame out event early
Saturday morning. This took us off the air for about 45 minutes while we did
some diagnostics and then went out into the salt marsh to make an emergency
antenna adjustment in the dark and wet.
We had the scoreboard interface working all weekend and enjoyed following the
individual and team horse races as they developed. Hope more ops will decide to
post during future 160 events this winter.
As always we enjoyed the special team camaraderie ... one of the reasons we've
been doing this together as a team for over three decades.
A big thank you once again to the owners of WYRS-FM for continuing to invite us
to this fabulous radio location. Saltwater remains King.
Now on to the Stew Perry TBDC in two weeks. CU on the radio.
73,
John, W2GD
For the 160 CW TEAM
Cabrillo Statistics (Version 10g) by K5KA & N6TV
Report provided with the assistance from Bob, K8IA
CONTEST: ARRL-160
CALLSIGN: W2GD
-------------- Q S O R a t e S u m m a r y ---------------------
Hour 160 80 40 20 15 10 Rate Total Pct
--------------------------------------------------------------------
2200 210 0 0 0 0 0 210 210 16.6
2300 147 0 0 0 0 0 147 357 28.2
0000 118 0 0 0 0 0 118 475 37.5
0100 90 0 0 0 0 0 90 565 44.6
0200 87 0 0 0 0 0 87 652 51.4
0300 93 0 0 0 0 0 93 745 58.8
0400 51 0 0 0 0 0 51 796 62.8
0500 27 0 0 0 0 0 27 823 64.9
0600 36 0 0 0 0 0 36 859 67.7
0700 23 0 0 0 0 0 23 882 69.6
0800 8 0 0 0 0 0 8 890 70.2
0900 9 0 0 0 0 0 9 899 70.9
1000 20 0 0 0 0 0 20 919 72.5
1100 15 0 0 0 0 0 15 934 73.7
1200 9 0 0 0 0 0 9 943 74.4
1300 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 949 74.8
1400 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 950 74.9
1500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 950 74.9
1600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 950 74.9
1700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 950 74.9
1800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 950 74.9
1900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 950 74.9
2000 14 0 0 0 0 0 14 964 76.0
2100 21 0 0 0 0 0 21 985 77.7
2200 25 0 0 0 0 0 25 1010 79.7
2300 43 0 0 0 0 0 43 1053 83.0
0000 38 0 0 0 0 0 38 1091 86.0
0100 25 0 0 0 0 0 25 1116 88.0
0200 34 0 0 0 0 0 34 1150 90.7
0300 18 0 0 0 0 0 18 1168 92.1
0400 29 0 0 0 0 0 29 1197 94.4
0500 21 0 0 0 0 0 21 1218 96.1
0600 15 0 0 0 0 0 15 1233 97.2
0700 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 1239 97.7
0800 8 0 0 0 0 0 8 1247 98.3
0900 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 1252 98.7
1000 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 1256 99.1
1100 9 0 0 0 0 0 9 1265 99.8
1200 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 1268 100.0
1300 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1268 100.0
1400 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1268 100.0
1500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1268 100.0
1600 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1268 100.0
------------------------------------------------------
Total 1268 0 0 0 0 0 1268
Gross QSOs=1328 Dupes=60 Net QSOs=1268
Unique callsigns worked = 1268
The best 60 minute rate was 211/hour from 2202 to 2301
----------------- C o n t i n e n t S u m m a r y -----------------
160 80 40 20 15 10 Total Pct
---------------------------------------------------------------------
North America 1191 0 0 0 0 0 1191 93.8
South America 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.3
Europe 70 0 0 0 0 0 70 5.5
Asia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
Africa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
Oceania 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.2
--------------------------------------------------------------
Total 1268 0 0 0 0 0 1268
------------------ C o u n t r y S u m m a r y ------------------
Country 160 80 40 20 15 10 Total Pct
-------------------------------------------------------------------
9A 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.2
C6 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.2
CM 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
CT 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
CX 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
DL 7 0 0 0 0 0 7 0.6
EA 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.2
EI 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
F 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 0.4
FS 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
G 16 0 0 0 0 0 16 1.3
GD 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
GM 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
GW 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
HA 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.2
HB 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
HI 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
I 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.3
*IT9 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
K 1103 0 0 0 0 0 1103 87.0
KH6 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.2
KP2 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.2
KP4 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.3
LZ 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
OH 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
OH0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
OK 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.3
OM 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.3
ON 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.2
OZ 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
P4 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
PA 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.2
PJ2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
SM 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.2
SV 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
TI 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
UR 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
V3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
VE 68 0 0 0 0 0 68 5.4
VP5 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
XE 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
YL 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
YV 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
ZF 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.2
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 1268 0 0 0 0 0 1268
------------ M u l t i p l i e r S u m m a r y ------------
Mult 160 80 40 20 15 10 Total Pct
-------------------------------------------------------------
OH 84 0 0 0 0 0 84 6.6
VA 79 0 0 0 0 0 79 6.2
EPA 56 0 0 0 0 0 56 4.4
IL 52 0 0 0 0 0 52 4.1
MDC 49 0 0 0 0 0 49 3.9
MI 47 0 0 0 0 0 47 3.7
NC 41 0 0 0 0 0 41 3.2
TN 37 0 0 0 0 0 37 2.9
MN 37 0 0 0 0 0 37 2.9
WI 32 0 0 0 0 0 32 2.5
IN 30 0 0 0 0 0 30 2.4
ENY 27 0 0 0 0 0 27 2.1
EMA 27 0 0 0 0 0 27 2.1
WNY 27 0 0 0 0 0 27 2.1
NNJ 26 0 0 0 0 0 26 2.1
CT 24 0 0 0 0 0 24 1.9
STX 24 0 0 0 0 0 24 1.9
GA 23 0 0 0 0 0 23 1.8
NFL 21 0 0 0 0 0 21 1.7
SC 20 0 0 0 0 0 20 1.6
WPA 20 0 0 0 0 0 20 1.6
NH 19 0 0 0 0 0 19 1.5
ME 18 0 0 0 0 0 18 1.4
GTA 18 0 0 0 0 0 18 1.4
NTX 17 0 0 0 0 0 17 1.3
KY 16 0 0 0 0 0 16 1.3
MO 16 0 0 0 0 0 16 1.3
CO 16 0 0 0 0 0 16 1.3
ONS 15 0 0 0 0 0 15 1.2
NLI 14 0 0 0 0 0 14 1.1
WMA 14 0 0 0 0 0 14 1.1
AZ 14 0 0 0 0 0 14 1.1
SFL 13 0 0 0 0 0 13 1.0
IA 13 0 0 0 0 0 13 1.0
SNJ 12 0 0 0 0 0 12 0.9
ONE 12 0 0 0 0 0 12 0.9
RI 12 0 0 0 0 0 12 0.9
AL 12 0 0 0 0 0 12 0.9
VT 11 0 0 0 0 0 11 0.9
KS 11 0 0 0 0 0 11 0.9
WCF 9 0 0 0 0 0 9 0.7
AR 9 0 0 0 0 0 9 0.7
QC 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0.5
WV 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0.5
DE 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0.5
MAR 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0.5
OK 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0.5
LA 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0.5
MS 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0.5
NNY 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 0.4
OR 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 0.4
PR 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.3
UT 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.3
ONN 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.3
VI 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.2
ID 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.2
SD 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.2
ND 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.2
WWA 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.2
NV 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.2
NE 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.2
MT 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.2
ORG 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.2
NM 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.2
SV 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.2
PAC 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.2
NL 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
PE 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
AB 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
EB 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
SK 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
EWA 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
SB 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
SF 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
SCV 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
SJV 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
MB 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
LAX 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
SDG 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
BC 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.1
------------------------------------------------------
Total 1268 0 0 0 0 0 1268
U.S. Call Areas Worked
Area QSOs Pct
--------------------
0 104 8.2
1 136 10.7
2 143 11.3
3 151 11.9
4 182 14.4
5 70 5.5
6 21 1.7
7 44 3.5
8 137 10.8
9 115 9.1
--------------------
Total 1103 87.0
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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