[TVARC] ARRL 160M Contest from the Bahamas

[George Briggs]

What an adventure!  I took my K3 transceiver, a power supply, a mini CW paddle that Dennis (N0SMX) loaned me, and
a lot of antenna wire to the Bahamas this past week.  The purpose of the trip was to volunteer in the Hero World Challenge
PGA golf tournament, but I thought I would combine some ham radio with the golf trip.  My first night there I threw some wire
over the balcony and worked a couple of stations in Texas on 40M.  The next night I built a 40M dipole and threw one leg over
the balcony and ran the other leg across the floor of my hotel room.  I was able to work my brother Peter, K3ZM, but there was
a lot of fading (QSB).  Friday evening the ARRL 160M contest started.  I have a tradition of working K3ZM in this contest no
matter where I am.  So I strung about 90 feet of wire together, and I started lowering it over the balcony.  Much to my chagrin,
the guest in the room below mine started yelling up at me from his balcony.  He objected to my antenna wire.  Not wanting to
run afoul of hotel security, I pulled my antenna back into my own room and considered bagging the whole thing.
Finally, I decided to give it one last try by laying out my 90 feet of wire in lines back and forth on the floor of my hotel room.
With little hope of success, I fired up the rig.  While I was doing all this, Karen, KN4GQP was snapping pictures of my “antenna”
and forwarding them to WB2VYK, N4FP, NP2B and NP2C with a bit of a chuckle.  When Karen told Marty that my objective was
to try to work K3ZM in the 160M contest, Marty sent us the frequency that Peter was CQing on, since she and Wayne had been
listening to the contest from Ocala.  So I tuned to that frequency and found K3ZM.  He was the loudest signal on the band in
the Bahamas.  He called a contest CQ and stood by.  I sent my callsign, C6ADM.  For a few seconds there was silence.  Then
Peter sent something like:  R R R WOW, C6ADM 599 VA.  I responded R R 599 C6.  Peter thanked me, sent 73, then proceeded
on with the contest.  Talk about shock, amazement, disbelief, all of the above.  I tried to contact other stations who were in the
contest, but no one else could hear me – even the station in the Bahamas who was calling CQ contest.  Zero, zilch, nada...

Wayne and I went to 40M to try a QSO.  I heard him 579, but he said I was puny weak and unreadable.  We then tried 80M, which
was more of a bust.  So I coiled up my “antenna” and packed up my K3.  I have read contest reports that say that 160M was
incredibly quiet over the weekend.  Lots of contacts were made that might not have been made under normal band conditions.  I
guess my QSO with Peter was one of them.

73,
George K2DM / C6ADM
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