[TVARC] ARRL 160M Contest from the Bahamas

[Frank M]

George, all you had to do was invite the gentleman on the floor below up to your place for a drink. Then he would likely hold the other end of the antenna for you!!

Frank KA1AF 


> On Dec 4, 2017, at 1:50 AM, George Briggs <k2dm at att.net> wrote:
> 
> 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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