ARRL 160m CW with 6500

Steve Gw0gei

I had a play in ARRL 160m cw contest on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday morning, in between doing 12 hour section in UKEI contest this weekend. 6500 performed well and I managed to give the GW dxcc mult to a few stations using my special contest call GW9J.

 ARRL 160-Meter Contest

Call: GW9J
Operator(s): GW0GEI
Station: GW9J

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

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 45  Sections = 28  Countries = 0  Total Score = 2,520

Club:

Comments:

Part time effort as also doing the 12 hour section of new UKEI dx contest on
80m-10m. Conditions seemed better on Sunday morning. Using Flex 6500, PA, into
160m inverted v dipole at 50ft.

73

Steve gw0gei / GW9J

k0eoo

Nice Steve, I wasn't able to spend very much time on this contest.  I did 58 contacts....



I think I worked 6 or 7 countries, mostly in the Caribbean.

Burt Fisher

I wanted to join in this so I made two contacts one in Delaware and one in Maryland:
 ARRL 160-Meter Contest

Call: K1OIK
Operator(s): K1OIK
Station: K1OIK

Class: 100 watts
QTH: Cape Cod
Operating Time :  15 minutes

Summary:
Total:  QSOs =2  Sections = 2  Countries = 0  Total Score = 2? or was it 4?

Ken - NM9P

I was only able to operate 5 1/2 hours on Friday night from about 10:15 p.m. to about 3:45 a.m. Saturday Morning  (EST).  Using only my 160 Offset Fed Dipole at about 35 ft.  Scored about half what I did last year.
Still not too bad for a limited operation - Single OP, Assisted, Low Power - but I don't think it will be a contender.  I started out only looking for HI & AK stations, trying to polish off the last two for 160 Meter WAS.  But I never heard them.  I was able to nab CA, OR, WA, UT, NV, SD, ND ID, MT, NM, CO, and other hard to find western states on 160.  (Hard from Indiana, anyway.)



I haven't had time to reconfigure my Dipoles to the tower or Build the Inverted 'L' for 160/80 yet.
Perhaps for the CQWW 160 contests....?

Ken - NM9P

Joe Bales

Did not hear Alaska here in Virginia.  Virginia is awful for the North West area on 160. I did snag many Washington contacts which I needed for WAS 160 and got them confirmed on LOTW right after contest.  I still need the elusive ND and UT and the ever tough Alaska to secure WAS on 160.  I worked SO Assisted about 700 watts - High Power category.  Did manage 16 DX countries 8 in Europe and 2 of them new ones for me.  Only at 51 confirmed on 160 towards DXCC -  Fellow ham snagged Fiji during the contest and already LOTW confirmed.  It got very tough finding new ones towards the end.  I worked a little over 13 hours.

 Band     QSOs     Pts  Sec
   1.8         344     736   74
 Total      344     736   74
Score: 54,464
1 Mult = 4.6 Q's

K1UO Larry

2 points per QSO in an ARRL/RAC Section X # Countries + Sections = 4 X 2 = Total ARRL 160M Test SOLP (Single Operator Low Power assuming no spotting assistance) final score of 8

AWESOME Bert!!  DOUBLE what you thought you had.

Actually your Country total should = 1 (USA)  and that would make a corrected total of 12 points in the Test.

Burt Fisher

12 points!!! Can I win if it is scored by hams living on my street?

Ken - NM9P

Nice, Joe!
I didn't even get CQ Skimmer running for this contest.  I might have done a little better if I had, but i hadn't had time to clear up my DAX problem before the contest.  It has been a very busy month, and the rest of December will be, too!

Perhaps by the next 160 Contest I will get the Inverted 'L' up and rebuild my shielded magnetic receive loop.  (the tuning and impedance transformer were a rush-job compromise because I didn't have the right cores when I built it.) I am contemplating buying one of the loop preamps that Lee referred to in one of his posts, but I don't really want to spend $200 at this time of the year.

As it was, i didn't  think that a QSO rate of aomit 26 over the whole 5 1/2 i operated S&P was too bad considering my low dipole and low power.  I was too tired after getting back to town on Saturday night to do anything.  A few more hours might have been pretty productive.

Ken - NM9P

Craig K9CT

Steve et al

Nice to see the Flexradios in action in the ARRL 160 contest. 

I operated in the SOHP Unlimited category. My score: 

Total:QSOs 1527 Sections 82 Countries 33 Total Score 381,915

I was using a Flex Radio 6700 and had it setup to do SO2R on the same band. That worked very well. I had an RX antenna that is isolated enough that I could get within a few KHz of my TX signal. The radio is full duplex so you can listen while TXing. I did not have any overload anywhere in the band with my strong signal and full band of other strong cw signals. I used N1MM Plus in SO2R and listened in Stereo or Focus on Other Radio most of the time. I shared the same TX antenna and amplifier. I also had a prototype Maestro interface that was next to my keyboard for S&P. It was very easy to see the spot to run in the crowded band. My TX antenna is a 5 element array that uses a full size driven element and four passive T top elements (director/reflector) that can be rotated every 90 degrees. I usually used it omni except when working EU or DX stations. My main RX antenna is the HiZ Circle 8 and the diversity and second rx antenna was the SAL30. It is about 1200 feet from the TX antenna. I also have a 180 foot high dipole that I can select or combine with the vertical. It helps with closer stations as it is really a low dipole on the band.

N1MM Plus is not setup to allow same band SO2R...but it worked. I have corresponded with their team and they are considering some adaption for the Flexradios. What didn't work? You could not do direct frequency input to the entry window nor could you change bands on one slice and try to get back to 160m...it would lock you out. Everything else worked FB. 

73, Craig K9CT

Steve Jones gw0gei

Nice set up and score Craig. I am considering an upgrade to the 6700 and good to hear that n1mm team are considering some flex specific enhancements. Good integration with contesting software is what we need. I have changed my general logging from logger 32 to commander suite for that reason. Hopefully one day n1mm plus will support the api rather than cat. 73 Steve gw0gei / gw9J

Tim - W4TME

**** hath frozen over.  Burt participated in a contest.  Where are my nitro pills???  Elizabeth, I am coming to meet you!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwPZu9L-CP0

Walt - KZ1F

Tim? You remember Fred Sanford??? Take it as a compliment.

Walt - KZ1F

OMG Ken, that is awesome! Back at the RI qth I worked Israel on 160 and was elated for months. The 160 ant and tower in RI is featured on my qrz page. That was my only really good dx as I recall on 160.

Tim - W4TME

I do very well.

Walt - KZ1F

Well, excellent use of a vintage expression.

Ken - NM9P

LOL!  I almost had to grab my own nitro pills!
Burt, I hope you don't mind some good-natured ribbing!  

But be careful...it only takes a few hits of the contesting drug to turn you into an addict...

I can see it now...

"Hi!  My name is Burt, and I am a contesting addict.  
It all started on 160 Meters last year.  
I only made a few contacts and I thought I could handle it...."

"Then I snorted some lines of 10-10.  
That led to ARRL Sweepstakes,
and finally I was mainlining CQWW straight up..CW even!
I kept telling everyone that it wasn't a problem.  I could quit any time I wanted to......But I finally had to admit it...I AM A CONTESTER!"

If you need a sponsor, I am here for you.....

Ken - NM9P

Burt Fisher

I am an addict but to teaching kids, when one teacher had illness in her family I was more concerned about me not teaching her class than the illness in her family. That is not right.
That said rib me all you want. There is zero chance I will ever want to contest, I have a life.

Ken - NM9P

All in good fun... But seriously, Thanks for your dedication to teaching. My dad taught 4th - 6th grades for 39 years. I benefitted from his love of learning, and his love of teaching. He taught me some math tricks when I was a third grader and then had me show his sixth graders so that he could challenge them with "You guys can learn this. My 8 year-old can do it!"

Walt - KZ1F

And what does that say about the rest of us???? My last contest was in '89, as I recall.

Burt Fisher

I brought my 8 year old daughter into my high school electronic class to take a practice ham exam, with code. She scored the highest. And what does that say about today's high schools?

KY6LA_Howard

It says a lot more about the quality of current teachers

Burt Fisher

Actually it says FAR FAR more about the parents  and today's society (trophies for everyone). In many cases teachers do the parenting. Tell me Howard, when was the last time you talked to a kid

KY6LA_Howard

Every day to my grandkids. Yes the current rules "don't offend every' one by not giving them a trophy" is an issue as it fails to prepare them for real life competition where only the winners get the trophy However the major cause of the decline of US education is the overly powerful teachers unions who have gutted the system so poor teachers cannot be fired and there is no accountability or performance measures. A second cause of the decline is the eman'icipation of women. Smart college educated women used to only have two choices,,,get married or teach school. Now, those women have access to high paying competitive corporate jobs so for the most part you get second rate people teaching. I said for the most part. BTW I did teach at the college level for a short while before embarking on an entrepreneurial career.

Burt Fisher

Poor teachers can be fired if only the administration makes a small effort to do evaluations correctly and follow procedure. Evaluation instruments are very detailed. Teaching college has zero to do with teaching public school. Knowledge of the material is the only requirement for college, classroom management is required for public schools added with people skills.
A not dissimilar situation exists in ham radio where you can pass the test with minimal knowledge of radio. The Flex requires a user to make an effort as skill is required

Walt - KZ1F

You are 100% correct Burt, the parents own 90-95 percent of the problem. When we were kids if parents got a call from the school, it was assumed they were correct no matter how much as kids we protested to the injustice of it all. And, ya know what, the school (teachers) were right. I've seen parents say to teachers,"No, my kid doesn't have to do this homework you assign. I don't bring work home with me, neither should my child". When we were in HS, it used to be occasionally if we had the balls to, we'd bunk school. Yes, that would generate a phone call and the truant officer would be on the lookout but now, if you're 18 you can just opt-out of classes or even the school day. The biggest problem as it relates to this that we, as a society made is saying an 18 yr old is an adult. Rather than lowering the age, they should have raised it. But that's a different conversation.  And, of course, NCLB also means NCGA (no child gets ahead).

What I do find interesting Burt is in that other conversation some months ago, you jumped on me for implying the amateur radio test was about on a par with the application for a CB license. Now it sounds like you are pretty much agreeing with that. Doesn't really matter though, is what it is.

The Flex requires a user to make an effort as skill is required

Huh? There are those that routinely can't operate a K3S because their forget or ****-finger the controls. The 990S I think requires a Certificate of Completion or so many CEU to operate as it too is run by programs and those programs need the user data to be configured.

The other 5%-10% There are bad teachers and just as any union sullies their reputation by defending members that should be let go or should not be given raises or promotions, so too with the teacher's union. Sometimes, for the good of the whole you have to be wiling eat a few of your own.

KY6LA_Howard

@W7NGA I have been called many things in my life, most of which I deserved But I have never been honored with the title of 'idiot or ****" before I suspect that you really meant to say iconoclastic which is a title I deserve for daring to challenge conventional thinking. But then I have been rather well rewarded for doing exactly that all my life so I must be right more than I am wrong. I could go into a long treaties on the failings of the USA education system but i did already point out some rather obvious causes I did have 3 kids who went through it. All 3 did private grade schools which were excellent. Two did private high schools which were excellent. One did public high school which was marginal at best in spite of being in LaJolla, CA. Two did orivate universities which was superb One did public universit UC Berkeley which was marginal by comparison. The one who did public high school had to work her but off to catch up in the private university My experience with the highly unionized public school systems has been rather negative to say the least Yes I know I should not extrapolate from my small sample size as there are some excellent teachers toiling in the public system. But fortunately my grandkids are all in private schools. @Burt I take great exception to the blaming the parents ethos of the teachers unions as an excuse for teachers not doing their jobs. I grew up in an immigrant ghetto where parents rarely spoke English, worked long hours and had little or no interaction with their kids schools. I went to public schools. We had homework that our unlettered parents could not help us with. But we had excellent dedicated teachers, weak teachers unions so bad teachers were quickly removed and bright females teaching. A significant number of my peers became successful professionals because we had good teachers., Not because of home life or our parents being able,or even willing to assist us. When I ran companies, I could never get away with the excuse that my products failed because it was my clients fault. Yes...that is exactly the excuse you are using to justify our failing education system

Burt Fisher

Take your **** great exception Howard and stick it where your pompous lack of knowledge in the real world is. I work with dedicated teachers. Private schools are no comparison to what real teachers have to deal with. Those schools can kick kids out without just cause. Public schools must teach and in many cases raise children when parents are off playing golf, buying Montana sized TVs. There was a day when if a kid got in trouble the kid got in trouble, today parents come in with lawyers. I recently had a kid whose parents had boats, great vacations etc, but the child wanted me to constantly give her hugs, she gave me her address, phone number. She wanted attention, not gifts.  The immigrant ghetto where parents rarely spoke English set a work ethic and gave love. 90% of the problem with education is in the home.
A kid this week said, "take me home."

W7NGA

Apologies Howard. I thought you were saying that the decline of civilization was partly due to the emancipation of all women. Or something moronic as that ... I misread your statements.

Walt - KZ1F

Burt, in our experience on paper you're right the contracts generally have language about 2 failing review, where offial reviews have to be scheduled. This has its own problems as a bad teacher will have the kids do book work that period or some such. But when it gets to the action stage the teacher or union threatens legal action and the district generally demures at that juncture.. What the union should do is tell the offending teacher they are on their own. Of course, perhaps they legally can't say that. However Howard's claim of second rate is nonsense. Teachers, any place we've lived, are required to have a minimum of a MEd and often have PhD s in education along with subject matter advanced degrees. The students may get summers off, rarely do any teacher.

KY6LA_Howard

@Dan. Glad you understood my point. That smart women today who used to form the bulk of the teaching profession now have much more lucrative opportunities today. While I applaud the emancipation of wome as they add much to our society the unintended consequence has been a general lowering of the teaching profession. @BURT. I know it's pointless debating with you..it's always someone else's fault not the teaching profession for the failure to teach. I travel a lot and I have lived and/or worked in over 40 countries. As an observation...the stronger and more powerful the local teachers unions, the lower the quality of the end product. In California where I live, we have perhaps the strongest teachers unions, they have bought an paid for our legislature.. We have the highest paid teachers in the country and the worst performance === i.e. Our kids are ranked the lowest in every category. Yet we hear the constant refrain. We need more money. Bottom line: In the long run, the poor state of our education system will hurt our international competitiveness.

Burt Fisher

Howard I know it's pointless debating with you..it's always the teacher's fault, because you are the expert on everything. If it is the teacher's fault why do I become a better teacher when I have more Asian students. Why am I better teacher when my students have parents that are involved with their education? Why are the teachers in the highest income town on Cape Cod more successful (even though their pay is average) than teachers in the lower income towns? Do you think Mr. Know it mostly All that it could be related in any way to the parents?