[PVRCNC] K4TMC CQWW 160 SSB SOLP

[K4tmc at aol.com]

CallSign Used : K4TMC
Operator(s) : K4TMC

Operator Category : SINGLE-OP
Band : 160M
Power : LOW
Mode : SSB
Default Exchange : NC
Gridsquare : FM05

Name : Henry Pollock
Address : P.O. Box 1932
City/State/Zip : Raleigh  NC  27602
Country : USA

ARRL Section : NC
Club/Team : Potomac Valley Radio Club
Software : N1MM Logger V7.12.12

        Band   QSOs    Pts  Sta   Cty
         1.8     287     643   40    3
       Total     287     643   40    3

            Score : 27,649

Operating ("BIC") Time: 15 hrs

Soapbox:
The weekends prior to the contest had me scrambling through the woods trying 
to get a 160M NVIS-type dipole installed in the trees and down a ravine.  Wow, 
that thing takes up a lot of space!  Working two 130+ lengths of #14 THHN 
through the small tree limbs is a real time consuming job.  Then there was the 
job of getting it to resonate in the right portion of the band.  Weather 
conditions and other commitments left that array "not ready for prime time."  Y
ou may 
remember my earlier note of several weeks ago about the Cheap and Dirty 160 
Vertical (K3LR design), a quarter-wave inverted-L.  As was pointed out by 
several astute part-time antenna designers, I needed to add some more radials t
o 
make it play better.  So, in addition to the original 2 quarter-wave radials, I
 
added several more in the form of orange, yellow and green electrical 
extension cords (lengths from 30 to 100 ft) and a few extra lengths of spare wi
re (50 
to 100 ft).  I used alligator clip leads attached to the radial plate, then 
clipped to one of the male connector prongs on the extension cords (just in cas
e 
anyone thinks that by plugging them in might be the source of any received 
noise).  About a month ago, I had installed a 3/8 wavelength Inverted-L wire 
across the top of a 90 ft oak tree.  The wire was some of that 'flexweave' smal
l 
gauge (#20?) with a slick jacket.  Well, the high winds over the last few 
weeks made a real mess of that wire and had it tangled in the limbs and basical
ly 
unusable.  The end that I need to attach to the matching network was 20 ft up 
in the tree.  So, at contest time I was down to the quarter-wave inverted-L 
(70 ft vertical and 62 ft horizontal) as the only resonate antenna that would 
play, and there was a constant S5 noise level.  The dipole only reduced the 
noise to S3-4.

Wow!  I was not mentally prepared for this contest.  My previous effort in 
this contest several years ago was a disappointment; band conditions were bad, 
resulting in only a few dozen contacts.  I have spent the last two weeks each 
evening listening to the band trying to observe propagation conditions and 
listening to stations to determine communication ranges and paths.  About all I
 
determined was that the band is basically dead of stations except for the 
regulars that congregate on certain frequencies for lengthy chats and some "new
 slow 
digital mode at the bottom end using short and long tones."

A half hour before the contest start found the band pretty active with 
stations chatting about antennas and rigs.  But at 0000, the band exploded!  I 
could 
not find a clear spot anywhere below 1930.  With my quarter wave inverted-L 
resonant at the lower end around 1840, I could not get a decent signal out 
above 1900 due to the SWR.  As a result, I spent Friday night S&Ping up and dow
n the 
band.  The heavy QRN Friday night made it difficult to work the weaker 
stations; things were better Saturday night.

Saturday afternoon had me outside shortening the vertical to raise the 
resonant frequency, and adding some more radials.  Saturday night was more fun 
since 
I could operate over a broader range, but it was still hard to run with only 
LP.  Frustration set in around 1 AM Sunday morning when I could not find any 
more new stations.  It was interesting to note how the band got a little less 
crowded Saturday evening when VP6DX showed up.  

Sunday afternoon I decided to 'go for broke' and just run.  So I set up on 
1880 at 4:30pm just before the band opened and held my own there for 90 minutes
 
until a VE3 moved in about 500 Hz away.  Overall, the rate was slow (one 
contact every few minutes), but it seemed to be better than S&P at this point i
n the 
contest.  The VE3 and I slugged it out for a while, but he was making more 
contacts, so I gave up and went back to S&P.  And, for the last 10 minutes of m
y 
contest time, I found a hole at 1818, and had the best run rate of the whole 
effort. 

I was very pleased with the new K3's performance, and especially how well it 
held up with nearby strong signals.  K4XD, Rowland, about 1.5 miles away was 
S9-60+, but was no problem after moving a few KHz.  Those that commented during
 
the contest said the transmit audio sounded good; however, I will accept any 
post contest negative comments if there are any.  I had the speech compression 
at almost the maximum amount.  Notes on the Elecraft reflector indicate that 
this may need some more work by the Aptos gang.  Another nice feature of the 
K3 is the receive audio characteristics.  I did not suffer the fatigue factor 
that I had always had with the former rigs (TS850 and FT1000MP).  I did not 
feel the need to take frequent breaks to get away from the "noise".  This is a 
subjective thing, but I first noticed it when I used a K2 a few years ago while
 
I still had the 1000MP.  Earlier, with the TS850, I still had a TS830 which 
was also a less fatiguing rig audio-wise.  With the Elecraft receivers, it seem
s 
that it is easier to "pull-out" the voice audio from the noise, because the 
noise is not as irritating or distracting.  

I used N1MM Logger on one of those little Asus Eee PC laptops.  I did cheat a 
little - using an external Happy Hacking Lite keyboard and a new Acer 19 inch 
LCD monitor.  I installed extra RAM, loaded Windows XP on the unit, and it 
worked flawlessly.

The only serious equipment problem encountered was the MFJ-434 voice keyer 
repeat feature that refused to work.  So to make the run agony even worse, I ha
d 
to keep pushing the MSG 1 button for every CQ.  I also nearly freaked-out 
Saturday morning when I could not get the K3 to power up.  Turns out that the 
Radio Shack switching power supply ON switch is intermittent, even though the 
pilot light stays on.  The identical backup unit worked OK, but now I feel I ne
ed 
to replace both switches.

There were some extremely loud stations operating this contest.  At times, a 
lot of stations from certain areas were louder than others.  For most of the 
contest, I seemed to have a good path to GA, TN, OH and MD.  For the other 
states, things seem to be up and down.  But there were a number of stations tha
t 
seemed to be louder than others consistently throughout the contest - K3ZM, 
N3HBX, WE3C, WB9Z, N4PN, and W4PV.  The only CA station worked was W6YI who was
 
S9+ on Saturday morning.  The only DX worked were C6, XE and KP2.  The KP4 that
 
I consistently heard and tried to work, just did not seem to be hearing well, 
plus there was always a delay before he responded.  I wondered if he was at 
the Arecibo station using the dish to receive signals bounced off the moon.  
One thing is sure, the words "Tango" and "Texas" are not in his vocabulary.  I 
think I won the Worked All SC Contest Stations award.  I did not know that 
there were that many contesters in SC.

Even though I could hear them just above my S5 noise level, I did not try to 
work the VP6 guys.  I used their appearance as an opportunity to find a clear 
spot to make some short runs, and S&P some of the weaker domestic stations.  I 
was able to work some of the weaker mid-west stations, picking up a few more 
mults.

Overall, I really enjoyed this effort and look forward to next year.  First 
though, I have to deal with the PETA lawyers representing the deer with cut and
 
scraped knees from the trips over my radial wires/cords.  My defense is - I 
used brightly colored wires/cords.  Wish me luck.

73,
Henry - K4TMC
BTW, thanks for all of the PVRC member contacts
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