2013 ARRL 160 Meter Contest (Dec 6-8) Results

5 comments on “2013 ARRL 160 Meter Contest (Dec 6-8) Results”

1. Since I know that I won’t be in this contest any more, I’ll go ahead and post my results. I discovered that my Elecraft KAT-500 ATU did a reasonable job in making my amp happy with a SWR of <1.5:1. It didn’t make the antenna radiate/hear any better, but the amp was happy. Looks like my furthest “DX” was Iowa. 🙂 I put in a total time of just under 2 hours.

   ARRL 160-Meter Contest

   Call: K3IU
   Class: Single Op HP
   QTH: RI
   Operating Time (hrs): 2.0

   QSOs = 79
   Sections = 32
   Countries = 0
   Total Score = 5,056

   73, Ken K3IU

2. Call: KS1J
   Operator(s): KS1J
   Station: KS1J

   This is the first time on the contest in a few years. I spent a few evening hours. Like Ken said conditions were fair. Better Saturday night. The new 160 Inverted L with sloping horizontal did okay. Snagged a few EUs. Amazingly low QRN for the entire contest. No static crashes or other noise. Didn’t stay up late enough for West Coast. But plenty of Q’s here in the North East. Then after that not much.

   Class: Single Op LP
   QTH:
   Operating Time (hrs): 10

   Summary:
   Total: QSOs = 424 Sections = 52 Countries = 10 Total Score = 54,436

   Club: CT RI Contest Group

   Jim KS1J

3. Limited action this time. Didn’t get on ’til sunset Saturday….and didn’t lose much sleep The wee hours into EU were very good for answering my “EU EU EU CQ”… and had big pileups with stateside calling. W1OP seemed to be busy handing out RI…so I hope everyone got RI Okay. Will post bigger scores in the CQ 160 in Jan and Feb. 73! — John, W1XX

   Call: W1XX
   Op: W1XX
   Station: W1XX

   Class: Single Op HP
   QTH: RI
   Operating time (hrs): 5

   Summary: Qs = 372 Sections = 58 Countries = 20
   Total Score = 68,628

   Club: CTRI Contest Group

4. Contest: 2013 ARRL 160M CW
   Call: W1AN
   Station: W1AN
   Category: SO HP Non-Assisted
   Score: 203,111
   Operating Time: 19 Hrs
   Club: The Great CTRI Contest Group
   
   QSOs  Sections Countries  Score
   -------------------------------
   836   68       33         203,111
   

   I worked non-assisted in this one as I didn’t see much advantage in running with the packet cluster since my plan was to find places to park and call CQ. I should have spent more time using the second VFO to look for more to work during the slow periods. The power line noise, plasma TV noise, electric fence pulses and now some switching wall wart power supply somewhere in the neighborhood at 90Hz intervals kept the K3 at a tight 50Hz-100Hz bandpass setting. I don’t think working SSB would have been any joy.

   Euro stations were workable early evening. They were looking for stateside only in this contest so it was nice to have them call you. It was a constant competition between stateside and EU where I would often need to switch from the vertical to the EU beverage repeatedly while running. Often EU station were heard 10 to 20db over S9 and you didn’t need the beverage all the time, but I found for this contest I will need a beverage in the west coast direction to favor W6 and W7. Less participation from W6 or W7 or just conditions. I don’t know.

   I missed several west coast mults. PAC, SB, SDG, NV and AK, along with ND, SD, MB, NL, NT and SK are those that didn’t have the pleasure of working me. I did hear SDG and NT who were answering other CQs. I was surprised to not hear the usual KH6s and KL7s which normally are easily workable on 160M. Very few from the Caribbean and SA were worked.

   My station transmit antenna for 160M is an 80 foot +/- “T” vertical made from 450 ohm twinlead. I have only 12 or so full length radials, which is far from the recommended number. The 560 foot beverages favor EU and JA.

   I worked KS1J, K1DM, W1CTN and W1XX.
   I hope all who participated had an enjoyable time as conditions were pretty good.

   Who’s ready for the 10M contest? If there is interest we can operate a multi here.

   73,
   John W1AN

5. To all here is my QRP log. I hope everyone had fun. This will be my last QRP operation in this contest as your really have to wait your turn to work stations when you run 5 watts.
   When you run 5 watts on 160 even a 100 watt station is a rock crusher and you really get stepped on.

   Radio Ansonia Post Action Report

   ARRL160 Summary Sheet

   Start Date : 2013-12-06

   CallSign Used : W1CTN
   Operator(s) : W1CTN

   Operator Category : SINGLE-OP
   Band : ALL
   Power : QRP
   Mode : CW
   Default Exchange : CT
   Gridsquare : FN31LM

   Name : DAVE ARRUZZA
   Address : 32 BENZ STREET
   City/State/Zip : ANSONIA CT 06401
   Country : USA

   ARRL Section : CT
   Club/Team : CTRI CONTEST GROUP
   Software : N1MM Logger V13.10.2

   Band QSOs Pts Sec
   ————————–
   1.8 198 408 46
   ————————–
   Total 198 408 46
   Score: 18,768

   Rig : FT2000 @ 5 WATTS OUTPUT

   Antennas : 1/4 WAVE INVERTED L – 70′ VERTTICAl x 35 100′ RADIALS

   Soapbox : After playing this contest QRP for 2 years I have determined that with 5 watts
   I have a solid range of 700 miles with 100% copy and no fills. I worked as
   far west as Wyoming and east to TM6M in France. I also worked both KP2’s. QRP is
   rough in this contest as there are so many loud stations that can just bury a
   5 watt signal.
   Chair time: 6 hours

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