K2AV 2025 ARRL 160

[Guy Olinger]

Call: K2AV

Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: NC
Operating Time (hrs): 20.4

Total: QSOs 920, Sections 78, Countries 10, Total Score 164,824
 Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Wow, this was peak sunspot type 160 or really, really bad band. No Europe
at all, never heard here. Very hard working CA sections, very hard. Missed
K7RAT SDG AK EWA ID WY ONN TER. Still managed to work PAC, and mandatory
K6RO and K9AY. Long time sure fire Idaho WJ9B was very loud, but from
Florida :>(( . Dunno if that's a permanent move.  Really had to scramble
and dig.

Still learning how to use my K4D in weird conditions. Had to use PRE1 to
get some stations up out of the noise. That's really strange on 160.

Was great fun on the online scoreboard back and forth a long time with
whoever was running the now club station W0AIH (RIP Rev Paul, miss you
still). Whoever the op, finally put me away with an obvious late Saturday
pickup on all the west coast stuff I couldn't even hear. 7 more mults
really hard to overcome in those kinds of conditions. Congrats on a nice
score. You're makin' 'AIH look good. Online scoreboard a great device for
improving BIC.

Thanks to all those who stuck with me trying to get fills.

K4D + KPA1500, Inv L over FCP, still no RX antenna, use 40m vee for
diversity RX. One of these days... I keep saying that.

Club score looked really good on the Online Scoreboard. I wonder if a
club's online scoreboard population is statistically representative, e.g.
represents a trustworthy and common percentage of scores. Our chapter
system is responsible for a collection of population centers, rather than
the usual one big central cluster.

I leave the scoreboard on because it keeps me in the contest, and smacks me
when I take too long & too many breaks. And it's fun scoring versus someone
who obviously knows I'm trying to keep up with them, in or out of PVRC.

Regarding lightning QRN, that was the quietest in a really long time, but
it may just have been the propagation blanket.

73 and hope to see y'all in the Stew Perry.

Guy K2AV