I never envisioned working 160 meters because I live on a city lot in Oklahoma City especially QRP
and an EFHW 80-10 meters. My IC-705 and the AH-705 tuned the antenna on 160 meters. Probably only
getting 1-2 watts to the antenna maybe but I was there and can say that I worked 160 meters.

Recovering from the FLU.  Wif gave me 1 hour to operate, then
back in the house to rest.  Thanks for the 150 QSOs I made in 1
hour.

Ten-Tec Omni VII at 95 W to a 40' tall Inverted-L antenna

First time I tried this contest, and only the first few contacts I have ever made on 160 meters in
52 years of being on the air.  I gather that the challenge of this contest is mostly in hearing weak
signals through the noise.  I ran 100 watts to a dipole that's short for 80 meters, about 10 meters
off the ground.  I operated for a total of about 90 minutes, made 60 contacts, that was enough and
fun!

I live in MD with my station in EPA as a remote

Operated in the ARRL 160 Meter contest this year as a low power
mobile
from Stonington Point, CT about ten feet from the ocean. used an Icom
7100 at 100 watts and an old school 2 MHz marine band helically
loaded
whip antenna about 12.5 feet in length mounted on a Tacoma 4x4. Used
a
simple LC matching network at the base of the antenna to resonate it
anywhere in the 160 meter band.  No external radials were used, just
the truck body for a counterpoise.  Encouraged by my results, was
able
to hold a frequency most of the time and made a majority of contacts
on CQ runs.

I just made a casual effort in this contest to test my equipment and hopefully to find some new DX. 
The ARRL 160m Contest is not known for much DX participation, so I was not surprised that no new DX
was worked.  I did not hear any Europeans.  The new reversible BoG receiving antenna worked
extremely well, much better than I imagined it would.  It was interesting to see west coast stations
suddenly popping in after about 0500 Zulu.

RIB WAS USED WITH VERTICAL ANT ALL LOCATED ON AN UNINHABITED ISLAND

Only during the last 2 hours of night here on saturday. Not good cdx,
only 17 QSO. Sunday morning, only the last hour of night. I had the
good idea to stay more in bed. It was worse than saturday. Only VO1HP
QSO. NP2J and K1ZM never heard me. See you next year. 73

G3DR - part of the celebrations of the RSGB  success in spanning the
Atlantic on 24 December 1922 with (G)5WS

Conditions average on Friday/Saturday and below par on Saturday/Sunday. On Sunday I could hear many
of those I worked on Saturday but few others. 
QRN on Saturday didn't help and  furthest QSO west was STX. Hopefully contitions better for CQ160! 
T and  doublet antennas plus West Beverage for RX.
Jeremy G3XDK

(G) 5WS - the first amateur station to get across the Atlantic, east
to west, in the Transatlantic Tests of December 1922

Last time I did this contest was 2003, so, I'm still a newbie.    
One antenna: Marconi T at 70ft with lots of copper in the floor thanks to Vic.

Rig:YAESU FTDX3000, PA:HENRY 3K Premier,
 
Antennas:
Delta loops(NW-SE) (SW-NE) full size,verticaly polarized
Single wire Beverages,300m to 325 degrees,100m to 285 degrees and 160m to 50 degrees,(TNX to Jan
OK2ZAW!)
Beverages complemented by a HA5IW preselector-preamplifier.

Despite the better RX setup we had lower score this year.
Poor propagation Only 2 QSOs at the 2nd night.

Thanks for all QSO's! 

Vy 73's es DX! 
  
Yuri(HA4FB), Charlie(HA4XH),

difficult conditions to say the least!

I enjoyed the contest.

Really bad condex on 1st night.
Hope to see you/all again next year.

I enjoyed the contest.

Antennas all had ice HANGING all over them until the sun broke out

Rig K4D. Antenna 144' doublet at 60 feet with ladder line.

Between S9+ noise and trying to use an 80m dipole, I did ok but not well HI Think I worked most of
Colorado stations available!

5w to 53' sloper, apex at 30'. 160m QRP is a real challenge! Except for a short run (10 Q's in less
than 30m at 6AM, Saturday morning), had to really work to make and complete contacts. Still, I enjoy
this contest for the challenge. It is also my favorite 160m contest due to lots of activity. Thanks
to all who put up with my almost non-existent signal!  72, Bill

K3CCR is the club station at the Collington continuing-care
retirement community at FM 18OW in MD, just east of DC. For 2022
ARRL 160 M, I (N3UM) was the only CW op available; I did SOHP U.
My goal was to beat the 1.16 M score I claimed in 2021 ARRL 160.
Nope; I got 1.02 X the QSO pts in 0.96 X the BIC hours, but 0.83
X the total mults to claim 0.85 X my 2021 score. Why The band
was ~dead to EU or W6/W7 on the second night. At start I ran for
180 Qs 2202-2356Z, plus 43 sects; N to ONE, S to SFL, and W to
MN and STX, but no DX. I then clicked spots 0005-0210 and 0238-
0254Z for 126 Qs + 15 mults, 6 DX (3 NA, 2 EU, 1 SA) + 9 sects;
S to VI & PR, W to AZ and MT. From 0300-0347Z I ran at 69/hr for
54 Qs + NL, CO, & XE. Hoping to get more mults, I clicked spots
0348-0458Z and got some; UT, ND, OR, & 4 in CA plus 51 Qs. I ran
for 10 Qs but no mults 0501-0510Z, and quit to sleep. At QRT I
was +10 in Qs but -12 in mults vs 2021. Back on 2220-2338Z I ran
for 104 Qs at 80/hr, with good sigs out to MN but no mults. To
find mults, at 2348Z I clicked spots to clear the bandmap, ran,
and clicked again. A few repeats of this got 84 Qs but just 2 DX
mults by 0310Z; EA and ZF, very weak. Clicking 0311-0357Z got 19
last Qs and NV, very weak. I tried till 0410Z, but got NO more
Qs, run or click; band was so bad that most ops also quit early.

remote from RHR W2/Morse FN31aq 100watts and dipole

"Conditions to Europe were below average this year."

I really hoped this multi-band 160-10 Meter fan dipole temporarily
hung across neighbor's back yard to a tree on empty lot would play
well in the test, but not so!  The 100' long 160 meter element with
4 coils just doesn't play, especially after losing 25 of my 100 watts
to long feed line loss.  Someday!!! Lol!

Unitl Saturday afternoon, I'd been off the air since moving on
February 28 this year.  Neither the shack nor the antennas system
is complete, but it was a joy to be operating again.  Used only
an inverted L with a 92' vertical section and six radials for
both transmit and receive and just 100 W.  Electricain has still
not completed installing the 250 VAC line.  After I clear up one
source of line noise, I think the new QTH will be much quieter
than the old one had become.

Although I have been a ham for over 50 years, this was my first 160M contest.  It was fun.  I'll be
back when I have something besides a low-slung double zepp resonant somewhere around 40M and matched
for 160.

Lots of good receivers out there to hear my weak signal.

Participation seemed down this year.

This was my sixth year doing the ARRL 160 contest from my cabin at Loon Lake, WA â?? north of
Spokane in Eastern Washington.  I arrived at the cabin the day after a major snow storm which left a
couple feet of snow, which made setting up a challenge.  Fortunately, Stan (KC7XE) had lent me a
pair of snowshoes which were extremely useful.

Back home in Sunnyvale, I can only dream about putting up crazy-big wire antennas on Top Band.  But
at the Loon Lake cabin during the winter months when all the neighboring cabins are vacant, I deploy
big wire antennas with total abandon â?? extending well beyond my propertyâ??s boundary. 

My transmit antennas this year consisted of an inverted-L (75ft vertical, 80ft horizontal) and an
NVIS dipole up 50ft on a hilltop (effective height ~150ft).  The inverted L was my primary transmit
antenna and out-performed the dipole at distances greater than ~500 miles.  I normally deploy ~50
ground radials under the inverted L, but this year because of the snow I only deployed 25 radials.

I also had a separate receive antenna: a low dipole located 500ft away on higher hilltop.  I really
enjoy using Elecraftâ??s diversity mode with the vertically-polarized transmit antenna going to my
left ear and my horizontally-polarized remote receive antenna going to my right ear.  It was very
cool listening to a weak signal via diversity mode as it would drift back and forth between one ear
and the other as a result of propagation.

Major RFI on Saturday night (-80dbm) severely limited my QSO count that night.  I eventually located
a couple power strips in the cabin with built-in surge protectors that were blasting out RFI. 
Removing those helped.  But an apparent secondary noise source was harder to resolve, probably
because being out in the woods the local power company doesnâ??t do a very good job of maintaining
the power lines and their pole top transformers.  As a result, I encountered serious noise on Friday
night and again Sunday morning (-87dbm).  The noise abated for awhile Saturday night and early
Sunday (-98dbm), which was when I made more of my East Coast and DX contacts.

This year, I operated in the low power (100 watt) category, made 265 contacts, and finally completed
160 Worked-All-States.

Conditions did not seem great.  When CQing, often
I had stations calling I could not pull out (sorry!).  When
calling others, it was sometimes a struggle or they could
not pull me out despite having worked them in the
past.  Not much DX.

I was running 1200 watts to a 45' high inverted L over
60 or so radials.

poor propagation, band never opened to the East Coast.

I operated as K6VO from my remote station in Parks,
Arizona.  I have a 30' high inverted L there over a limited
radial field.  I ran 400w with an IC7610 and a KPA500.

I think I was hearing pretty well, but others did not seem
to hear me as well as from my California station.

Thanks for the QSOs ---  Dana

Thank you to a great group of CW operators!

Installed an Inverted-L just two days before the contest with the
the help of Ed K1NUH.  I only have one ground radial.  He also
helped me install a Loop on the ground.   I think my location of
the Loop on the Ground was too close to some underground and
above ground networking cables. So over all the Loop on the
ground did not seem to be much help running the IC-7610 in
diversity.   Glad to work some fellow PVRC members from my local
Colonial Captiol chatper.   I feel by Sunday I have run out of
stations to work.   I should be more of a night owl to really get
the western U.S. mults over night.  160M operators do seem to be
very behaved and friendly.   Next weekend is 10M contest on the
other end of HF,  Ill need to re-configure the 160M antenna to a
10M one.

K8RR was SO HP non-assisted in this 2022 ARRL 160-Meter contest, for only 25.3 of a the 42 hours.
Yeah, as for many of us, staying up all night and sleeping during daylight isn't natural, or as easy
as it was when younger! I set out to beat my ARRL 160-Meter Contest personal best of 978 contacts in
2018, this being my first all-in, solo effort in three years free of cancer and other illness,
except tinnitus. (I can only imagine how many of us are coping with ongoing illness or the endless
vexation of tinnitus). But, passing 1,000 Qs wasn't in the cards this time. To me, it seemed that
mediocre band conditons affected copy, range and apparent participation, as indicated by only 15 to
20 Qs in some overnight hours Saturday and Sunday while calling CQ. It was strange that so few west
coast stations were heard here in NE Ohio. Even many east coast stations were blanked out early on
Sunday. I missed WTX, SB, EWA and AK in the US and PE, SK and NT in Canada, worked few Caribbeans
and only two Europeans. Finally, an even 800 contacts were made to 77 sections and 8 countries, with
a claimed score of 138,040. That's not too shabby for this electrical noise-riddled old small-town
contester. My Inverted-L phased with an Active Receive Vertical by my DXE-NCC-2, the AL-1500, along
with N1MM+ and best-ever (so far) Yaesu FTDX10, all did pretty amazing things. So did all the
stations who gave gracious repeats and so many contacts. Thanks to all the great 160M opertors,
especially those with patience! Apologies to those I couldn't copy. I look forward to working you in
2023! Happy Holidays and 73, Rod - K8RR

Had antenna problems. Need to replace existing antenna. CU next time around
73, K9GX

20 W for 2.75 hours with my 80 M inverted "L" and rig tuner.

Hard work hearing signals this year!

Lots of grandkiddos around, so did not get on at sunset or the evenings until they went to bed.  No
receive antennas up yet, so no need to run higher power.  I heard a dozen mults out west, but could
not raise them.  Working on a Titanex vertical, so the signal will improve in the future.

I live in an apartment in the heart of Philadelphia. I got a stealth
end-fed over the summer, and to my delight it tuned on 160 meters. I
still feel stunned that I worked 28 stations QRP.

Lot of fun! Had some problems at times but not bad for a 1/4 wave dipole-73

Had hoped to do more of the contest, but the time I had was good.

"Just handing out contacts"  Disclaimer: I am not an optometrist so keep it away from your eyes.

K3/10 running 5 watts to a 45' tall TEE top vertical. Thanks for your copy of my QRP sigs. Band
seemed weak from here, might have been my antenna setup. Had S9 noise in early evenings, and S4-5 at
early mornings. Is that urban noise  Thanks for the Q's, and C U next time. 73, Dan  ke0tt

Saturday was definitely better than Friday at least from my Midwest RF black hole location. Although
I didnâ??t pick up as many multipliers this year than previous efforts, Iâ??m finding contests such
as this challenge me to do more runs and ultimately improve my rates and score. My 160 meter H-loop
and K9AY RX loop continue to be well worth it. Running barefoot has been a challenge, perhaps some
day I can warm the wires up a bit. Thanks everyone for the Qs and see you throughout this winter
contest season!

73,
Bob, KE3K

Operated off and on through out the weekend. I wish I could of spent
more time in the contest. I ran QRP and really appreciate everyone who
stuck in there with all the exchange repeat's.
KF0XV

Worked just about everyone I heard.

Last check of the remote station before heading back to Montana

Had great fun Friday night chasing NE9U and KB9OWD for the top spot SOALP.  Alas, I had to hit the
sack and they left me in the dust.  Need to figure out receiving antennas at my lowly suburban
locale to increase my mults!  I did hit my goal of 100k+ points, so I'm happy.

Where were NM and WTX?  Didn't work WTX until 1200Z Sunday morning, and never found NM, and none
called me.  The Canadians seemed harder to hear this year, as well.  At least noise wasn't a huge
problem, unlike last year's second night.

My homebrew switching network I installed just prior to the 2022 CQ 160m contest works a treat!
(photo attached).  It converts my 40m 1/2-wave diple into a T-loaded vertical worked against radials
on the ground.

Great fun, and great job by all the folks that finished above me in this category.  You've got me
thinking about next year already!

73, Jim KK0U

40m horizontal loop, 30 feet off the ground.

Ok, I can understand not hearing a multitude of east coast
stns in these horrible condx but where were all the W6s
even most WWA stns were weak.  I could sometimes hear

I ended up with 100 - much better than I thought I could with an inadequate antenna and the amount
time that I spent during the night (rather, the lack of). I neither stayed up late nor got up early.
I was QRP 5w on Friday night and worked 13. On Saturday, I modified my antenna and could use 100w
with my tuner, so I decided to switch to LP with 100w or less. About 80 Qs were on the 2nd night.
One of the stations who answered had a 6 in the callsign. Being in SC around 7 PM my time, I was in
shock when he sent EB. On Sunday morning before 8 AM, I snagged about 8 QSOs.

Conditions seemed down compared to 2021. Absorption appeared to be higher and
signals over 1,000 miles were weak. I used the same setup as 2021, made 3 times as many contacts
that year. Rain gutter on house, with a wire connected to the top of it running over to a nearby
tree. SWR low, did not need a tuner. All contacts "hand made" -  5 watts, hand key, & logged on
paper.

A bum tooth kept me from enjoying more of the 'test.

What little I listened to the band throughout the event I found good signals and low noise.  Since
my score was going to be dismally low anyway, I jumped up to ASSISTED with the hope of seeing an
Alaska spot on the DX Cluster Sunday morning.  Alas, no such spot appeared.  While I have all states
confirmed on 160m, AK is the only one not confirmed via CW.  Oh well, some day, I suppose.

Did not expect as many daytime contacts.  First 160M contest at QTH of N0LBY.  Loads of fun.

QSB, QRN, QRM. 1st 160M contest, minimally effective short vertical in small backyard in antenna
prohibited subdivision.

9TH ARRL 160 METER CONTEST

Thanks to Dave, K1TTT, for the use of his fine station!
I live in NYC, can you imagine what it is like to work 160 from a Superstation?

An hour into it my folded counterpoise antenna developed very high SWR. No hope of fixing it this
winter.

2022 ARRL 160M Contest

Operated remote using my Flex Maestro from Orlando, FL where I was attending the FOC Florida event.

Hunted states to finish 160m CW WAS from new QTH.  Missed NM.

Six or seven hours; 55 logged, night have busted a few; 300-500W to 144 ft long wire 35ft up as a
sort of inverted L or vee. 9:1 unun, no counterpoise but the outer shield of coax to massive choke.
Amazing!  I could hear and make these contacts (many sections and 2 dx with my very modest code
skill. Thanks to all who tried to pull me out of the noise.

Part-Time QRP effort, 5W to a 20 foot wire,
Just seeing if I could make any contacts
with QRP and a short wire thrown in a tree.
Tnx for the QSOs. GO ARIZONA OUTLAWS!
-73- John N6HI

First night I was greatly hampered by RFI part of the time. I only had my vertical to receive on.  I
missed 23 mults, probably a personal worst.  The RFI did clear up in time to work 4 JA's in the
morning.  Second night was a complete bust.  The band appeared to be worked out and I was only able
to S&P one additional mult.  CQ'ing produced about a QSO every 5 minutes, and all were west of the
Rockies.  After the contest, I reinstalled my loop receive antenna (as I described in NCJ in 2009)
to get ready for the Stew Perry, in case the RFI is still with me then.  Apologies to all the
stations who got the alligator treatment.  Only operated 11 hours.

N6RK

Put up a somewhat inverted L antenna. 45 ft. vertical and 90 feet sloping back to fence post 4 ft at
end. Mostly a NVIS ant. I'm sure but did work first JA ever on 160! Tnx JA5DQH,good ears!

Had fun with a low slung 1/2 wave 160M antenna. 73 all!

Club: KCG
Inverted L on tx (80' vertical, rest hor. to NE, with 6 1/4wl radials) worked flawless, but can't
say the same about the E/W elements of my 9-circle. Lost a unity gain preamp on first night, making
me pretty much deaf to the west. N and NE beverages worked well, but even 800' to the NE could not
pull in much EU dx, just OM2VL for my only qso across the pond. Was surprised to hold a few runs
both evenings. Insomnia never materialized, so my operating was just evenings, for a total of 6.5
hrs. It was a lot of fun. Thanks for all the QSOs friends... Rich

Fun, high A numbers limited distance.  But had fun until the SPE amp blew up.  Again.

Fun contest as always. Conditions seemed down from last year. Using
the same low 160 dipole as last year. Made 43 more Qs than last year
and score was better, but sections and DX down. This is the first
160 contest in a very long time I did not get PJ2T in the log. Heard
him many times loud, but could not get him to hear me. NO EU made it
into this receiver or log. Strange conditions. Hoping to have a much
better antenna planted for 160 season next year. 125' of wire and 120'
of continuous connected gutter system wrapping our house just doesn't
cut it! 73 Gene, N9TF Clarksville TN... Retired!

Remote switch at N3IQ failed after 1 hour Friday night.
Replaced switch with temp one and ran LP as ND3F Sat/Sun.
Arrays worked well on TX/RX. Conditions Poor here.
Had fun.  Thanks for the Qs.

This was my first ARRL 160 meter contest to participate in. Thanks to all that tolerated my mistakes
and weak signals from my postage stamp yard antenna. I had fun but it was a challenge. I need to
learn how to stay up late! Thanks to all!

73,
Den ND4U

Conditions were down this year, and the local rain did not help. I used a loading coil with two
radials on a 33-foot vertical for an antenna, running a KW.  It was good for contacts out to about
1000 miles.  Thanks to those who hung in there to pull me out of the noise.  There were many
stations who could not hear me.  Over the years, I have have achieved a WAS on 160 meters by
participating in this contest, so it is always fun.

My first ARRL 160. My first CW contest with my Flex. Note to
self: Don't change the RX antenna on 160 to XVTR. A lot more BIC
than I expected. Friday evening and Saturday morning were tough
becase it seemed as if no one could hear me. Saturday evening my
antennas started working. Canada and C6AGU's powerful signal were
the only DX. Very fun running assisted! Click and work.

long wire antenna up 30 feet. Peter, NO2D.

Ole Topband aint what it used to be...
Cycle 25 doing its thing, very poor conditions

Very bad condx this year

Great propagation conditions during Friday night. But disaster on Saturday (zero QSO on my side).
New beverage 305m long to NA helps me achieved my best result in this contest.
My working conditions: TRX SunSDR2DX, Ant Inv L, Rx ant Beverage 305m to NA, N1MM+.
73! Tom OK2PTZ/OK6Y

TNX, 73!

What to saY!,.1st i may be at work but not this wend!Eureka!I can do
this wonderfull contest i thought!Than.. Started around normal but
fastly conditions were bad to very bad!Endeed 1st night with 200qsos!
I asked me to come or not second night! Big chaos i should save my
time and stay home added 45 more qsos or so with hours "0" to "5" qsos
per hour!Sun is alive i'll give off SB 160m for a while! Tks for
qsos,verry sorry for the ones i never heard! See you soon  Oli

Conditions not the best as I could not hear any west coast
stations.

My first time in this contest, and my first time operating
160m. What a blast! I look forward to next year and much
more "top band" operation between now and then.

Licensed Since 4 September 2020

Strange conditions! I could hear many stations that simply could not hear me ... very frustrating,
and unusual. I generally top 200+ QSOs in any 160M contest with my little Butternut vertical, so
this was much the poorest showing I've made in years.

Lost lot of time find why kept loosing Rx audio intemittent
headphone adapters! YUK Also used SDR as Rx great fun!

427 * 68 SECTIONS + 3 DX = 61486 in 4:24

poor from my station that temp 160m antenna not doing the job will try again next year 73

My 160m antenna tuner died 40 minutes into operating Friday night. I was NOT happy and was off the
air.

It was great to see the wild contest activity!  I sincerely wish there were more activity on Top
Band the rest of the year!  I had a genuine compromise antenna, an 85-foot EFW only 30 feet up, and
was pleased to have several easy contacts.  It confirmed that I was really getting out.

Lazy-H antenna

Thanks for the contacts and fun on the radio. 73 - Dan, W1QK

Throughout the contest hours I operated, it was amazing to hear QSB, sometimes rapid every 2 seconds
or over a 1-minute period. I have a simple 43' vertical bottom loaded for matching. Operating QRP
has its frustrating moments, but it is part of the 160 meter game!

ADDED 4 MISSING CONTACTS FROM WORKSHEETS INTO ELECTRONIC
LOG.. K9KJ WAS A DUPE IN THE ELECTRONIC LOG AND WAS FOUND TO BE
KG8CW AND CORRECTED.

Lengthened my ZS6BKW (modified G5RV design) antenna by 80' each side half way through the contest. 
Wow, 3x the number of stations worked.

W3TB in Franklin TN

IC-7610 & EFHW

Poorest Condx in years

Band was deaf to the East Coast

First night condx poor, better second night but my noise floor higher due to rain.

The QRN was low both nights and propagation
seemed good, so I decided to run this QRP. Many
thanks to all who patiently pulled out my whisper
of a signal! I had a great time. Thanks for the QSOs and 73,
Ron (W8RU).

Typing the 599 for each Q IS A PITA.

During my visit to W1AW last month, learned that W1HQ is the callsign for the ARRL Lab. What a
coincidence that my first contact in the contest was W1HQ!

I used N1MM Logger+, Maestro and WKFlex with Winkeyer USB.
I guess I forgot to log C6AGU.  N1MM is giving no credit for countries worked (US, Canada, Bahamas
that's how I discovered I didn't log the QSO).
I cannot control my RX antenna via remote yet, so there were probably 20 callers I could not hear. 
Latency was a big problem and it likely confused a dozen or so hams who called me but I missed their
exchange (NIL).  And I logged about a dozen dupes.
I could tell QRP wasn't going to be much fun so I tried LP.  It made no sense to use HP if I
couldn't hear the weak ones.  As it was I think I was still getting out better that I was receiving.
 I think I had some RFI in my WiFi, as I could see the connection fade every time I transmitted.
I was visiting my Daughter's family.  My Grandson's and Son-in-Law and Daughter were priority.  But
most of the 160m activity happened at night, so I didn't missed too much.   I had some pretty good
runs by being late to the party.  Those run were fun! 

I don't know if it was propagation, poor reception or both but I missed a lot of sections out West. 
I forgot to leave mY RX antenna pointing West.  Instead I left it pointing East and really didn't
need it or use it.  Callers from AZ, OR and CO were loud and clear.  Missed NM, both Washington
sections and all of the California Sections.
Forgot to take a picture of my remote setup.

BAND NOISY BOTH NIGHTS STORM STATIC S2
USED SHORTENNED L VERTICAL (ALPHA DELTA160/40 M SLOPER) 90 FT LONG
NO CARRIBIAN STATIONS HEARD

I had fun and was fairly successful with 29 CW QSO's. Some people were
not hearing me with my low and short dipole antenna wire, but I was
very pleased to get Iowa - N0NI. Thanks for the good 160 Meter
opportunity here.

This is an interesting contest, low power wire antenna. S&P
part time, missed opening bell of the contest. No propagation
west from here in WI. Was looking to NV, KL7, or KH6.
At least NV, KL7 and KH6 would be a stretch from here.
73 all es tnx for Q's.

Conditions were poor all weekend and very high winds Friday night caused a lot of power line noise
bursts that made life difficult.  Also had some Friday night QRN from lightning SE of Indiana.  My
QSO numbers were way down this year as were my sections worked but part of that was due to missing
prime time both nights.  There still is something special about 160 meters that makes ever QSO
remarkable.  Thanks to everyone for another great 160 meter contest.

Just popped in to help some locals.

This is another WQ6X dual-OP 160 operation from East Bay (EB)
While most of my OP time was the evening/night shifts for NX6T, some
time was spent seeing how far the 8JK Cobra sloper could reach, when
you consider that it is an 80-meter antenna, hardly 160-efficient.
The MFJ-949E antenna tuner made for a reasonable SWR, tuneable via
the FT-2000's slow but capable built-in ATU.
This contest gave me another opportunity to push the limits of the
Stereo-Cw facility I've written so much about in the WQ6X contest Blog.
Speaking of which, you can see the blog at: http://WQ6X.Blogspot.com

started with my usual 5wts but it was impossible so went to 100w and better :)

The N6RO team decide to have a multi-Single and use WU6P call for this year's
ARRL 160 contest.   Dave WD6T (remote), Ken K6RO and Nian WU6P did the
operation,  Matt WX5S and Chris N6WM provide support.

At the start of the contest team use the day time work some west cost locals.
Then the traffic starts to build up and we can have some good run time here and
there.
Conditions in general are down from last year: first evening, though we made
reasonable QSOs, still lackluster with no W1/W2 making it. We never had a real
opening to EU, and the opening to JA is short, though happed earlier(09Z) than
before, and the usual time (11Z) JA opening does not happen. When we are at
Saturday morning, we are slightly behind our previous year QSO numbers, hoping
the 2nd night we can fill more on the missing sessions and working more Country
multipliers. 

Second day, things getting much worse. There comes the local rain all night,
where we feel even most W8/W9 getting absorbed.  We also feel maybe due to poor
condition, many operators choose to short their operation time.  Activities are
dramatically lower than previous day.   We did not work any DX other than JA at
2nd night. JA comes in at 09Z and at 11Z, but signals are very week and we have
to work hard to pull it out.

The PG&E power sudden outage for an hour during the contest does not help
either. 

There are for sure many memorable moment, like you can feel the joy from the
other side, when you two struggle the last 2 minutes trying to get that small
piece of message passed and finally succeed, which happened many times in this
contest. And in the lonely time calling CQ with no activity, suddenly there
comes up one, better yet, he is a formal CWAcademy student of yours, and the
best part, shortly after you received a message from him stated that is his
first ever 160m QSO. Makes the rainy night warms up.
Things keep getting you excited on contest and looking forward for the next one.


Again, thanks for everyone's QSO and appreciate your hard work make it happen.