[Elecraft] I used to hate contests!

Sun Dec 8 23:00:01 2002

On Sun, 8 Dec 2002 [email protected] wrote:

> Parker and John -
> Could you give details of your antenna for 160m - type, height, length, etc?
> Thanks Tim NZ7C

Tim,

My antenna is a 540ft loop of 12guage stranded wire, in a square (pretty
much) with sides running N-S and E-W.  It is fed at the N-E corner with
126ft (if I remember correctly) of 75-ohm coax.  This antenna/feedline
system presents a 1:1 match (no tuner needed!) at 1.855Mhz.

For the contest, the highest I operated was 1.866Mhz and actually spent
most of my time calling CQ between 1.801Mhz (love that one.  Seemed like I
got more returns there) and 1.818Mhz.  The antenna/feedline present a
1.8:1 match at 1.801Mhz but, the KAT100 tuned it just fine and the SWR on
the feedline didn't appear to hurt me much.

The band was almost silent (band noise that is) at 1.801 compared to above
about 1.830 so, I stayed down low to take advantage of the increased
dynamic range.

Anyway, thats the scoop on my antenna here.

My results for the 2002 ARRL 160M contest are:

Call Used: K4WTF 
(Except that hour I spent using Waynes call... Just joking!)
Transceiver: Elecraft K2 #2490
Entry Category: Single Operator QRP 5W
QSO Points: W/VE=358, DX=1
Multipliers: 50 Sections, 1 DX  Total=51
Hours of Operation: 26
Clamed Score: 36,771

Based on 2001 results, that score may win not only the OH section but the
Great Lakes Division for Class A (QRP).

That would be just too cool to win my first contest. :-)

73 de John - K4WTF