ARRL 160-Meter Contest
Call: W9AZ
Operator(s): K9CS, AK9F, K9NR, K9FO, WR9L, K5SMX, WB9Z
Station: WB9Z
Class: M/S HP
QTH: IL
Operating Time (hrs): 34
Summary:
Total: QSOs = 1526 Sections = 78 Countries = 16 Total Score = 291,682
Club: Society of Midwest Contesters
Comments:
First, a massive storm blasted through Illinois Thursday evening and Friday
morning, dumping loads of ice and snow, toppling trees and disrupting power in
a path from St. Louis through the middle of the state. We dodged the center of
that bullet, as the worst was about 60 miles west of us. When we got underway
Friday evening, the general feeling was that it was going to be a great DX
weekend. What a disappointment! Even though the A & K numbers looked
favorable, the low frequency absorption levels seemed high and apparently
choked off a lot of the expected EU DX. Friday evening just did not generate
any EU DX, and even though the earlier QRN from the storm eventually dissipated
leaving the band fairly quiet, the EU gray line came and went without any EU
action. In fact, the west coast stations that early in the evening were loud
faded down significantly. The comments of other stations in the upper Midwest
about weak signals from California and no EU DX seems to confirm that we were
the victims of some polar generated high absorption. Our rates were quite high
and held up well into the night fed by domestic stations, and though weak, we
could still pull in the west coast stations on the Beverages.
When the sun came up Saturday, host Jerry WB9Z noticed something awry out in
the field and upon investigating found a portion of the key NE Beverage had
collapsed from the ice and wind and was on the ground and contacting the NW-SE
Beverage. He had it repaired after a miserable hour or so of wind and cold in
the muddy field. Though ready for Saturday night, weâ??ll never know if we
actually missed any DX due to the loss of that antenna,
Saturday evening finally resulted in some of the higher latitude DX, and though
we ended with a few more contacts (+16) than last year, our DX count was off
significantly at 20 less than 2005.
Transmit antenna: 160' Series fed vertical with 120+ radials
Receive antennas: Multiple Beverages and pennants
Missed were PR/KP4 and NWT/VE8
DX worked:
HC (Ecuador)
HK0 (San Andres)
CO (Cuba)
XE (Mexico)
YV (Venezuela)
C6 (Bahamas)
HP (Panama)
ZF (Cayman Is)
PJ2 (Curacao)
P4 (Aruba)
PY (Brazil)
G (England)
F (France)
I (Italy)
UT (Ukraine)
GI (Northern Ireland)
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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