2003 ARRL 160 Meter Contest

N9TTX -- Dec 26, 2004 17:19 ET

Well the Second year of operating the 160 Meter contest. Last year I tossed up the homebrew vertical, but his year due to weather and work conditions and schedules I did not tear down one setup and put up another, so I used the G5RV as the standard dipole setup and tuned constantly. So those trying to pick me out were probably having a tough time evidenced by K9BZ (Just across town from me) working a MN staion on 1st or second call, and then my finally making the MN contact after repeated tries. Not an efficient antenna, but it netted 100 QSO's with only 100 watts going out the wire. Frequency drift was my bane again...as well as meticulously re-tuning the G5RV every few KC's. It was a pain, but it was fun, and I got to know my 160 meter capabilities a whole lot quicker than if I was using a more optimized setup. Thanks to all who I made contact with. 73. Dave...N9TTX -- N9TTX

W1JQ -- May 17, 2004 12:58 ET

I said I'd be back, and I was. Just forgot to file a soapbox comment. Anyway, went from 4 QSOs to 200+, with an improvement in my score of something like 100,000%. Not exactly a record-breaking or leader-challenging entry. But still lots of fun. -- W1JQ

K1LT -- Jan 7, 2004 00:00 ET

K1LT operates in the basement of his unfinished (but fortunately heated) house while NZ8R takes pictures.

First ARRL 160 from new 15.6 acre QTH near Lancaster, Ohio. Transmitting antenna was 40 foot "T" with 40 110 foot radials. Beverages for 7 directions ranging from 500 feet to 1000 feet long. IC765, ETO 91B amplifier (thanks, K8ND). Hope to have the house finished by DX test! -- K1LT

W7DRA/0 -- Jan 2, 2004 13:35 ET

W7DRA/0 Blasting away with 5 watts

Again this year I visited my daughter and family, bringing along my modified HW16 with 6AG7 vfo. I ran only 5 watts which did cut down on the QSO total a bit, and I did not work the west coast at all. I am constantly amazed at the propagation from Nebraska compared to my house in Seattle! -- W7DRA

AK9F -- Jan 2, 2004 12:53 ET

The AK9F Multi-S group celebrates another successful ARRL 160 Meter Contest operating from the great station of WB9Z.

From left, Will K9FO, Howard AK9F, Jerry WB9Z, Don K9NR and Carl K9CS. This group has been teamed on 160 meters for over 20 years and consistently places in the top ten. The 2003 effort resulted in 1,353 Q's, 78 US/VE sections and 25 countries for a total of 291,696 points.

This year, we used the call AK9F to celebrate Howard's 50th year in amateur radio. First licensed in 1953 at 12 years old in Iowa, Howard was WNØZYC, then a short time later, upgraded to General and WØZYC.

The station transmits from a 160 foot series fed vertical tower with 120 quarter wave radials and receives with numerous Beverage and pennant antennas. WB9Z is located in the middle of the midwest's "Black Hole" on Jerry's farm near Crescent City, Illinois and is a member of the Society of Midwest Contesters. -- AK9F

KB2EBL -- Jan 3, 2004 06:02 ET

Had a Great time in the contest-am looking foward to next year. Rig was a Yaesu FT-847/5 watts into either an Inverted L or V as needed 73 all C U Nxt YR--KB2EBL -- KB2EBL

W1EOF -- Dec 28, 2003 06:24 ET

My first time on 160M contest and I'm hooked on the TopBand! I was totally unprepared. Jumped into the contest at the last minute using a quick lash-up on the feeders of my 80M dipole. It was a lot of fun to just relax and work stations. I picked up 26 states for my 160 WAS in the process. Next year will have a much better antenna setup for sure. -- W1EOF

K7OA -- Dec 25, 2003 15:39 ET

ARRL 160 Meter CW Contest 2003

As usual, a very interesting event. I didn't have much luck with 1 land or DX this year. Don't feel bad if you missed Hawaii and Alaska this year. I missed them too and that is very rare from this location. Thanks to all for the contacts.

I am sending a photo of my vintage station. RCVR National NC300 TX Johnson Viking 1 Viking VFO (with a real "glow in the dark" 4D32) Antenna 70 foot vertical with 8 130 foot radials

Keying the rig with a memory keyer, Brown Bros. paddle, and/or the computer in combination with a solid state timing circuit for full QSK.

73 K7OA -- K7OA

N0PB -- Dec 21, 2003 15:29 ET

I hadn't had the chance to look here until recently.. Noticed not many comments, so here is mine. I had almost forgotten the contest.. Wasn't real fired up since I never got the time to do more antenna work on the new tower.. All I had up at was a inverted-vee at 97 ft level. No receive antennas at all out yet. I decided to at least play around a bit beacause it had been quite a long time since I had been very active on the band. I had lots of fun and got to work several people I hadn't worked in a long time.. Almost had WAS the first several hours of operating.. Boy, my CW was terrible.. Where were the Alaska stations hiding? Only state I missed.. Great fun !! Maybe can be better prepared next time.

73, Phil N0PB Missouri -- N0PB

K0BJ -- Dec 19, 2003 11:54 ET

Kansas Low Power inverted L tx/rx

QSOs = 204 Sections = 57 Countries = 4 Total Score = 25,803 Operating Time (hrs): 3.5

As was the case last year, this was a one night contest for me as our club helped at WX0GLD in Skywarn Recognition Day. On top of that, I delayed my entry into the foray while watching the awesome Kansas State (W0QQQ) Wildcats' QRO performance against the formerly-QRO Oklahoma Sooners.

A second tower (54' tilt-pole) has been in the works here and I plan to run Beverages from it. Had hoped it would be QRV for this but the cold wx finally QRXed construction. Next year.......

Lots of fun to work T32WW after meeting those guys at the Rocky Mtn. Division convention in Estes Park CO. -- K0BJ

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