ARRL 160-Meter Contest - 2023
Call: WA2VYA
Operator(s): WA2VYA
Station: WA2VYA
Class: Single Op HP
Class Overlay: Limited-Ant
QTH: STX
Operating Time (hrs): 20
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 402 Sections = 66 Countries = 6 Total Score = 59,400
Club: Central Texas DX and Contest Club
Comments:
ICOM IC-756PROIII, Tokyo Hy-Power HL-550FX Amplifier
160m Inverted Vee, apex at 39' (13m)aka Limited Antennas.
This was the first contest I could really test my Inverted Vee in a contest,
after recent work was done to get it in working order. Thanks, to buddy, Tony,
K4QE, the antenna had been made ready for duty a few months ago.
I was looking forward to seeing what I could do with the antenna during the
contest.
Living in Texas, the contest started well before sunset, so at first it was very
slow. However, once it was dark after 2329 UTC, the band opened nicely to the
north and I was able to run stations and was receiving calls almost every round.
It was very enjoyable to have callers instead of silence; and not having to
repeat my callsign and exchange. I was pleased the antenna was working so well.
Conditions sounded above average, even great, compared to what I am used to
hearing from here. Until what came next.
Unfortunately, once the band opened, I was also greeted with propagation of
constant loud crashes and noise in the receiver from thunderstorms along the
coast of the Gulf of Mexico just offshore and running in a line from about 150
miles east of here; from near Houston to the Florida Panhandle. This affected
the rate, since I was eventually reduced to digging out one letter or number in
each iteration of attempting to make a contact with each caller (thank you all
for your patience).
The loud crashes and associated noise got worse over time. I finally just took
breaks totaling more than 2.5 hours; and called it an early night at 0628 UTC.
When I got back on the air at 1115 UTC, well before sunrise, I was hoping to
hear the equivalent of clear skies after storms had dissipated. Checking the
weather, I noticed the thunderstorms had moved east only a short distance and
were still dropping a lot of lightning bolts and banging away in my ears. One
might think in December they might give it a rest, at least after going all
night. But, NO.
Hoping for more cooperative weather the second night, the storms were still
around, close enough to be a major nuisance and the band conditions in between
the crashes sounded way down compared to Friday night. I could not get much
going either running or answering other callers.
160m does improve after local midnight, but Saturday/second night was a slog.
I am sure others closer to all of the commotion had it worse than I did. The
lack of W4 and W5 stations heard or worked from the east was apparent.
Particularly absent were signals from Florida. We did seem to finally get a bit
of a reprieve late in the contest.
It was fun anyway, at least after Friday night. Ultimately, I was pleased with
the antenna performance here and the contest generally. I just wish Mother
Nature would give it a rest in Texas and along the Gulf Coast.
With the storms, there was not a lot of DX to be had, but KH6AQ was worked early
and consistently heard throughout the rest of the contest, including well after
sunrise here. Thanks to those who traveled to activate HR, P4, PJ2, V2 and ZF;
and to the VE and XE stations who joined us. From here, I was able to work most
Sections, but W1 and most of W2 were in the skip zone (missed ME,NH,VT,EMA,RI,
ENY, NLI). So, was the Pacific Northwest until late in the contest (missed
EWA). West Virginia was not heard or worked! Typically, there is a pipeline
from this part of Texas to West Virginia, on every band. Beyond the Lower 48: No
AK or KP2.
Thanks to all of you for the contacts and hope to work you in the upcoming ARRL
10m Contest.
73, Frank WA2VYA
Cedar Creek, Bastrop County, Texas, Grid Locator EM10ga
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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