NEW 160M SLOPER WORKED PRETTY WELL.  NEXT TIME,
QRO PERHAPS

wire antennas, at 25 and 32 Ft. AGL/5430 MSL/DN35RW/LOW Power
entry.

Band condx to EU great Friday evening, but not so good Saturday
evening.  Never heard anything past west coast USA.  Thanks all
QSOs. See you next time.

Moved to this new QTH a few miles from the previous one where I had operated the ARRL160 Contest
since 1987. I haven't been able to get my 160 meter antenna put up yet and hadn't planned to operate
the contest this year. Then, on Saturday morning I got the idea to try and load up a temporary 39'
vertical I've been using for the HF bands. I added a single 128' counterpoise about 3' off the
ground to the antenna, and placing my manual ATU at the base of the vertical base loading it for 160
meters. I used the antenna on Saturday night and early Sunday morning and it worked well enough to
make some contest QSOs. My most distant QSOs were CT to the NE, C6 to the SE, Hawaii to the SW, and
one Japan station this morning. Power was 90 Watts from a K2/100. I should have a real 160 meter
antennal in place in time for next year's ARRL 160 contest. Thanks to all who worked my mimimal
setup.

First time participating in a top band contest. Random wire and 50W
means I'm only as good as what the weather allowed. Sick kids during
that weekend also restricted me to only a few hours late at night.
Next year will hopefully be better.

IC-703 250 Hz filter 60 foot top loaded verticle

QRP is hard.

always a big chellange for my to work in that contest with my small set up, IC7610,100W es endfed
26m @15m, but lot of fun

worked VY2ZM just with 5 watts, he hears the grass growing

Thanks to my hosts Bego and Raul for another pleasant weekend at the hills.

Many thanks to Manolo EA8DO for host me his station. This was a remote operation. Also thanks to all
USA/VE stations for his hard work to decode my very long call.
Best 73 CU next year.

Jesus EA1DAV.

Checklog, difficult QRM receiving at my city-lot QTH here

Just for fun.

Conditions god for me Saturday, poor Sunday mornings.

It was good to participate in ARRL 160 using an original callsign from
the Transatlantic Tests of the 1920s. G6XX was used by RSGB for the
fourth series of Tests when it was heard all over North America. The
weather and radio conditions were not great with little heard here
from the west coast. The second night was slightly better with some
additional ARRL/RAC Sections able to be worked further west. Best
propagation was between 3am and 4am here and this was the only time
when running was quicker than searching and pouncing. Thanks to
everyone who managed to pull G6XX out of the noise.

Rig: IC-781
Ant: Vertical (28m)
Rx ant: EWE

Nice to work many friends on Top-Band.

First time in ARRL160.
The first night I collected most of the QSOs, around 150.
Despite signals were not loud (in average), I had a couple of hours with decent  runs. The sunrise
brought some interesting QSO with Middle-West USA and boosted  signals in general.

The second night was kind of boring. Most of the signals were around the noise floor, almosy all the
QSOs were S&P and some stations (even loud) didn't hear my signal, just kept calling CQ.
A couple of hours before the sunrise, the already bad conditions deteriorated further. The band
became deaf for me, beside this I heard TM6M working a lot, but almost nothing heard down to here.
So I waited for the sunrise gifts... where I heard K7UT very weak, but didn't have a chance to work
him. Other than this nothing else, the band went quickly quiet.

Overall, it's hard to break into the USA pileup... USA stations are busy working other locals most
of those I could not hear.
Even sometimes I had the doubt -while running CQ- the callers were not for me, so I changed QRG many
times.

The actual number of QSO is less than 206, I guess by 15 at least. The logging SW counted not valid
QSOs in the total, btw the points are correctly calculated.

Overall it has been a good experience, althought quite boring.
Thanks everyone for the QSOs.

73's
Luca IK2PFL

I enjoyed the contest.

I enjoyed the contest.

I enjoyed the contest.

I QRV on a single OP low power. This yerar the condition was
better than the last year.
I QSOed with 25stations 736 points in 2021,
I QSOed with 58stations 986 points in 2020
I QSOed with 71stations 2832 points in 2019,
I QSOed with only 25stations 1680 points in 2018,
I QSOed with only 25stations 768 points in 2017,
I QSOed with 42stations 986 points in 2016,
I QSOed with only 10stations 126 points in 2015,
I QSOed with only 11stations 110 points in 2014,
I QSOed with only 16stations only 330 points in 2013.
I QSOed with only 47 stations only 2580 points in 2012.
First day, When the sun set time in JA,
We JA could hear only west coast the U.S.A. stations,
The condision was very very poor!
It is very difficult to get answer from U.S.A. station
in the first day.
I used my MV (Micro Vertical antenna) 12mHigh on my blcony +
Elecraft K2 tranceiver.
My MV antenna was only 3.6m length and it was up only 12m
high from my balcony of my small condminium.
I was surprised that I could QSO many U.S.A. stations with
my MV antenna!

Thank you all stations!

I enjoyed the contest.

TS-990S 200W
8mH Inverted L

I enjoyed the contest.

I enjoyed the contest.

I enjoyed the contest.

Finally got a 40' tower up at sunset Sat. to support an inv. L, then had
to set up the station. Originally was going to enter SOULP but decided to
go whole-hog. Set the radio/amp on a patio table Field-day style so was
exposed to the overnight desert cold. I finally quit at 0330 when I
couldn't feel my toes any longer. The inv L worked very well but had
rhythmic QRN that made weak signal copy difficult. Got in a little over
8-1/2 hours.

ran qrp to a 53 foot end-fed wire sloper. Happy to work ove 50 stations on 160  with my inefficient
atenna system!

WOW,
Great conditions Friday night!
If it weren't for the intermittent MFJ  tuner it was terrific!
It would be nice if stations on a run would send their call more often. I heard a pileup that went
on for 3 minutes with no ID until the guys kept asking "CALL"?

K3CCR is the club station at the Collington continuing-care
retirement community at FM 18OW in MD, just east of DC. For 2021
ARRL 160 M, I (N3UM) was the only CW op available; I did SOHP U.
My goal was to score >100K, and to get 100 more Qs than my best
total of 547 Qs in 5 ARRL 160 tests 2016-2020 doing Multi-1 with
W3GB. I did it, with 651 Qs and a claimed 116.4K. A bit late
starting on an ~OK run freq, I got 54 Qs and 20 sects W to IL
2209-2259Z. At 23Z I moved 1 kHz to a good run freq, and got 151
Qs and 22 more sects W to KS and NM in 2.1 hrs, 71 Qs/hr. Then
in 1.9 hrs 0127-0323Z I clicked spots for 71 Qs, SV & 3 EU + 2
NA DX mults. I ran again 0324-0404Z for rare WTX & 61 Qs in 40
min, 92/hr. Rate was good clicking spots 0441 till 0548Z QRT; 81
Qs, 51/hr + MT, UT, ID, & SCV. Kp=3 made W6, W7, & EU sigs weak.
At QRT, 412 Qs and 80 mults. Back on at 2330Z Sat, I ran for 49
Qs in 40 min, 78/hr. Rate then died, so I clicked for 120 Qs
0011-0349Z, 33/hr for 3.6 hrs, steady but slow. And, I scraped
up 6 last mults; SK, WWA, + 1 EU & 3 NA. Run rate was good again
0353-0434Z, 44 Qs at 64/hr. Got 26 more Qs clicking 0441-0517Z;
last 6 Qs took 9 min. Missed NNY, EWA, NV, WY, MB, and 5 in CA
and hard ones AK, PAC, and NT. For 13 of 15 DX mults, only 1 Q.

Antenna is 120 foot long wire 6 Feet in the air (Hidden in a privacy fence in a gated community)

I Wish I had a place for an antenna!!!

The ARRL 160 Meter Contest is my all-time favorite, but without an antenna it's like pulling teeth! 
Lol!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Severe power-line and atmospheric noise and Beverages covering
eight directions removed in anticipation of moving to a new QTH
made for very poor receiving capability.  As a result, I operated
just 466 minutes.  I apologize to all the callers I would have
normally been able to copy.  The only European I copied was TM6M
who called in at the right moment.

Lots of noise, but still lots of fun.

Lots of activity. Always weird to have a contest where
the DX stations don't have to send an exchange. And
they give extra points too!

How I miss the old days in Ohio with switchable KD9SV beverages

Conditions not good here. Had a S-9 noise level both nights but still managed to do ok.

Thanks to all stations worked. Low noise receive loop antennas really helped hear the weak stations.
Noise levels on the band were higher friday night due to a CME that day. Satureday night conditions
were quieter. Lots of fun!

What Category do you end up defaulting to when you forget to tell the XYL that you have an
"important" contest this weekend?  SO1RHP2DP = Single Op 1 Radio High Power 2 Dinner Parties 
(credit my contest mentor Dan K7SS - thanks for all your coaching and inspiration Dan WA!!!)

Could not make the effort I wanted to make but had great fun! Feel like I owe a big thanks this top
band season to a couple other guys too who have made a huge difference in my performance and
enjoyment of this 'addiction' - 

Jim Brown - K9YC - thanks for the coaching on the design of my Inverted L and TX choke.  Your
pointers on symmetry of my 4 elevated radials and the effect of that RG400 choke on my antenna's
efficiency and pattern have been fantastic.  If I can hear 'em, I can work 'em - thank you sir!!

Andy - DL8LAS - thank you for all of the coaching on email about proper set up for my RX antennas
has been invaluable.  While I am finishing my chokes for the upcoming beverages, incorporating your
instructions for choking and grounding my 400' Loop on the Ground have made a huge difference in
what I can hear. Thank you Thank you!

And finally thanks to all of the ops who had to endure what probably sounded like an awful fist once
in a while.  I am 100% remote and the 'Robust' (NOT) DSL circuit at the remote end would "drop a few
bits" from time to time making my responses a little rough to copy I am sure.  Not that I am
incapable of a few errors on my own of course.  I like to send everything by hand..

Lots of fun and looking forward to the next Stew in a couple of weeks!!

Night one ended with over 300 in the log doing all S&P.  I only
stayed up till about 1:30 and then rose again at 6 AM to add
about another 30 QSOs and maybe one or two Multis.  Ended the 1st
night with about 70 Mults.  Only added about 160 QSOs and and 3
Multipliers on the second night.  I did some calling/running on
the second night to put about 45 QSOs in the log.  Grabbed a few
more QSOs S&P starting at 6 AM on Sunday.  I only got my EFHW-80
converted to 160M Inverted L a few days befor the contest.  Added
one radial on Friday just before the contest.  Second contest
with the RF-Kit amp but did encounter some shack RFI only on
160M.    Still looking for Alaska to complete my 160M WAS.

BACK AFTER 7YR QRT. WHERE ARE THE KL7 STNS USED WIRE ANTENNA AT
49 FT.

Amp broke so went low power!

Loads of fun for the entire crew.

sure wish those that are sending at 35+ wpm would realise that they get skipped over by a whole lot
of people because we don't want to take the time to listen several times to get their call correct.
Just plain rude!

Band conditions were not as good as last year, but the contest was still fun.

I bought a 160 Sloper antenna in September in hopes to do some
chasing on the Top Band. Stan, KC5UYF at cablehelp.com. I have a
fiberglass mast so I had to run a wire down to a ground rod to
complete the antenna. Previously I had tried an inverted Windom
but results were lack luster. Couple days before the contest, I
tried some propagation checks on FT8 and was surprised at what I
saw on pskreporter, lighting up most of the eastern portion of the
United States. There still wasn't a lot of Western or European
contacts being made but it was better than the inverted Windom. I
did S&P, not having the time to sit and run but it was fun just
the same. Heard only 2 European stations and then by Sunday
morning, Hawaii came booming. Was able to work KH7X and that was
exhilerating to the see with only my meager setup and 100 watts.

Band but also know 100 watts just isn't enough. Project plans for
later down the road. Look forward to the next!

TU 73

Using elevated Inv L base at 9ft

K3/10 at 5 watts to various wires on site, working against two 125' temporary radials laid on the
ground. Thanks for your cpy of my QRP on your end.  Band seemed weak with QSB here, but maybe it was
inferior antennas, who knows. C U next time, 73, Dan  ke0tt  MN

Despite some noise from holiday lighting and switched mode power supplies in the neighborhood, and
getting a late (24 Hr) start in the contest due to family activities, I really enjoyed this year's
contest and gave it a decent effort. My 160 meter H-loop continues to perform well. The K9AY RX loop
is worth it's weight in gold for being able to provide directivity and pull stations out of the
noise. Thank you to all whom I was able to work and to provide the MI mult to.

I sent NTX but the station I used remotely, K5TR, is in STX.
I don't see a way to tell you this other than a soapbox comment.
I did this by (tired) accident.

2021 ARRL 160M CONTEST

Just happened to hear a local.

Condx were decent and the band was quiet. The modified 6BTV vertical burned up the top wire poly end
insulator three times before the insulator was replaced by two glass spice bottles taped together.
Thanks to all for the contacts.

Fially got the receive antennas back up. Wish  a few others had them, as they were plenty strong but
could not hear me.... CQd right in my face, then weak stations far away heard me fine.

Bested my score from last year, but I'm about at the limit of what I can improve, given my antenna
situation.  Thanks to all the ops that pulled out my 5W signal!

Will need to grow more aerials out at the farm. . .

Had fun. First contest in 40 years.  I had computer crash right before the start, so the first night
was all hand entered into N1MM.  Paper log and a dupe sheet, just like in the 80s! My times and
freqs will be a little off. All was well the second night. My low to the ground EFLW antenna was
awesome on receive, and horrible on transmit. Next year!

Plenty of activity, even 2 hours before sunset and 2 hours after sunrise. Only missed 5 states and a
couple provinces. Worked some DX, too. If only I could stay up all night anymore!

CONDX OK FIRST 12 HOURS.  MUCH WORSE FOR DAY 2. NOISE AND WEAK SIGS

Usually by the ss cw weekend we have a lot of snow
on the ground or it snows right then. Hardly any this year
until - u guessed it - the 160 contest. Snow static, s9 noise
level added to my power line noise making 160 a true
challenge more than usual 'cause at Sun sunrise only 2 qsos!

Great fun using globe scout 65 with two xtals at 40watts.
random wire at 20ft. pencil and paper logging. neat qso was
VE3YT who slowed down to my 13wpm on a straight key hi.
tnx for the event.   jim kw3u

Just testing antenna for an hour or so.

It is very hard to understand all of the "DUPES" that were
incured durning the contest.  With the use of computer logging is
seems impossible to actually DUPE.  Do the operators just not pay
any attention at all

Heard but didn't work PJ2T with a low wire connected to the rain gutter. Worked ZF9CW and C6AGU !
Thank you for your good "ears!"

All contacts were "hand made" ie. hand key, logged on paper. Radio old TS-850 with intermittent
visual display.

Wish I had had a LOT more time to play in this contest - looked like conditions were outstanding!

8TH ARRL 160 METER CONTEST

Thanks to Dave, K1TTT, 
for the use of his fine station!

This operation was part-time, and via remote.

Great activity, wall to wall! Must get my SAL30 fixed as know I was unable to hear many callers at
the margin. The tower vertical with two radials fifteen feet high seemed effective. Limited time.

Threw up a wire in the neighbors tree to pass out some QSO's. Had a good time. Thanks for all the
folks for digging my weak signal out of the noise.

2021 ARRL 160M Contest

I was going to share my station with Jim, W4TMO, remotely, but he
had other commitments, so I went single-op. Just using my
inverted-L over FCP for both tx and rx because falling branch
destroyed my K9AY. I'll need to repair it, that's for sure.
Reception was VERY noisy, S7 most of the time. Running was
difficult with so much hearing loss. But, I did manage to have a
good time on occasion! Thanks for the Q's. 73

Fun- trying new EFHW; need to improve installation

Trying new 240 foot dipole draped in semicircle around trees - about 30 feet.

QRP, 5 Watts to a 20 foot end-fed wire.
Jumped in again this year for a bit, proved once again
that 20 feet is too short for a 160m antenna!
Happy to meet some fellow Outlaws on top band.
Thanks to all for your patience and the QSOS.
GO ARIZONA OUTLAWS! -73- John N6HI

High local background noise of S9 using rooftop loaded, bent,
inverted-V rooftop dipole (see photo on my QRZ.com bio). Signals got
stronger Sunday morning. I's kinda nice to be able to make reliable
top band contacts from a one-bedroom rented apartment by "borrowing"
the flat roof of the building and a handy iron sewer vent pipe.

The way the remote station and local computer were configured, I couldn't access an amp or send a
computer message. Had to resort to paddle sending and low power which was certainly more challenging
than a more typical, fully automated, high power, in-person effort. Had a lot going on at home, too,
so only played around for a few hours. Band was extra quiet "in" Truckee but lots of stations with
fairly good signals just kept CQing in my face. Mainly S&P but finally got a few
runs going on Saturday night. I really like this contest and need to find more
time and get properly set up next year.

I regret that I was unable to put in more time to this year's 160 meter test. I managed 24 contacts,
in 2.5 hours, ranging from Minnesota in the east, to San Diego in the South. I was running an
Elecraft KX3 with 5 watts output to an 80 meter Radio Works Windom antenna. Qth is Portland, OR. It
is amazing what even 5 watts can do on 160. Hope to be back next year. Happy Holidays. 

73,

Steve N7VS

Not too bad, all contacts were made on a moxon cut for 20 meters 40 feet up 
  running  150 watts and an ATR-30 tuner.

IC-7100, VIRBOPLEX SINGLE PADDLE, ARDUINO KEYER, INVERTED L OR LOOP, TU ALL GL 73.

Fantasatic conditions Friday night. Laid off too early due to
bieing tired. Overall score suffered as conditions Saturday were
much poorer. Fun contest.

Felt great to be radioactive again after moving.
Was not going to miss this contest. Did not want
to ruin my streek of operating in this contest.
This year makes 26 in a row. Still moving in the
moving in process, but was able to cobble together
a low dipole of sorts to be able to operate. One
leg is ~130' of 14gau wire attached to a short roof
mast above the gutters at 17', and the shield connected
to the gutters for the other half. There is ~120'
of continuous connected gutter around the house.
It loaded nicely, but basically a ground and cloud warmer!
It was a grind as conditions were not the best, but it
was great to be radioactive again, especially for my
most favorite contest of the year! 73 Gene, N9TF

Rig:  K3
Ant: Dipole, K9AY RX

It has been a few years since I had an antenna on 160, just finished putting this one up 20 minutes
before the contest started.  Not much to write home about, but it works.  
Thanks everyone for the contacts... 

73, Sandor - NB1N

Had a great time fun contest finally on top band again after 2 years antenna and   tower came down
in 2019 xmas storm now bigger better HI.

Super conditions this weekend. A blast to operate!

Just some time spent for troubleshooting and testing a modified rx
antenna. Fr night seemed less noisy and a little busier than Sa night.
Not much DX. 73, Wolf

New long wire at 30 feet exceeded my expectations.

Decent conditions firts night and morning, worse later
My highlight was being called by JA and KH6.
Second night spoiled by RFI coming from nowhere, most
likely temporary camping of hunters

Murphy hit hard with Amp failure, Only on 11 hours, but had fun still!

Thank you very much for all contacts during ARRL 160m. First night better conditions, but most weak
sigs from NA. I didn't call on N3AD, VA3AR, N4WW, VA3CW, KC4D, KB1W, K3CCR... SRI. I used IC-7700,
PA OM Power, 1,5 kW OUT to 30m vertical with small ground system (only 76 radials 8-10m long). Any
receiving antennas. Congratulations to winners. See you again. 

73+DX, Vladimir
OK1Z/OK1DKZ

Bad CONDX. Heard about 7 stations but only two heard me.

The PJ2T operation in ARRL 160 this year was a 'hybrid' affair: Geoff W0CG/PJ2DX at the station on
Curacao, and Jim W8WTS and Jeff K8ND/PJ2ND at their respective homes in Ohio operating remotely. The
station worked well, with solid DSL networking for a change!

North American stations were weak all weekend, but the noise was low.

Lots of qsb and weak signal at start! 03&04z were best hours by nrs of
qsos! Hard to have a run qrg for long 1st night! Was hard after work
500kms drive to be back Sat evening!Happy to work some W.Coast! I'll
be back.Tks for qsos.Oli

Licensed on May 1, 2020

K3, 1/4-wave wire

Licenced in 2020. Flexradio 6600. Antennas: ZeroFive ZF43GP,
Alpha Delta DX LBplus

This was my second ARRL 160 m contest. It has been interesting developing antennas for this band on
a suburban lot, and as a VHFer interesting to watch the propagation. In addition a lot of the VHF
calls show up here too so lots of fun. Nice to work so many of the CCO gang here! Congrats on the
100th anniversary of the first transatlantic tests too... 73 dana ve3ds

First QRP effort. Challenging but fun.

Inverted-L wire antenna for TX, 200m Beverage N-E for RX.
Rig iC-7610 with power attenuator. QTH is in the city of Toronto, FN03HT.
I was running only 7 milliWatt output QRPp during the entire contest
That is 600 mVrms on 50 Ohm, as was monitored by oscilloscope. My SWR is 1.1 or better
A study I found on the WEB stated that a bee using 6 to 10 mW power to fly, depending
on its weigh ( 0.11 ~ 0.25 gram ) A single LED using similar power at 5 mA current.
My greatest appreciation to the 18+ fellow hams who played along with my weak signal
experiment. Most of them made it to the top of the score board not by chance.
We almost managed a 1000+ km contact, but that did not quite make it into the log
My sincere thanks to N2ZX for making extraordinary effort finishing a QSO with me.
I also have to give mni tnx to others who tried to read my signal but failed because of
noise or the condx.
Nevertheless, I got 18 QSO-s logged, the average distance is 432km,
N1LN being the biggest "dx" at 873km, not bad with 7 milliWatt.
QRPP works, and the feeling was the same again when I made my first HAM radio contact
in 1968. ARRL-160 is a great contest, it brings out the hams with the best ears for
the weak signals. I had a lots of excitement and fun.
Thanks for everyone who participated,
73, Ben - VE3NZ

COLD OUT SO BREAKS TO FEED WOOD STOVE

Only Single-Element Wire Antennas Used......

Operated QRP, loading my raingutters and downspouts as a TX antenna. I used a 15 x 15 foot Loop on
the Ground for receive. Rig: Kenwood TS-590SG @ 5W.

Better score than last year, but 300 watts did not make a lot of difference.  With 4 receiving
antennas the Beverages still ruled the day.

Thanks for all the QSOs.

First time in 160 M contest.

Used an end fed 40 M vertical sloper with my IC 7300 and it seemed to
work fine.  (At least it tuned fine...)   ;-)

A personal best this time around.  I knew I would miss Saturday so really worked at it Fri night
with about 75% worked..  First Eu QSO on Saturday at 1930 but missed period 2100-0230.   Missed NL
section ...if there was anyone else on, didn't hear them. 

QRN was intense Sat requiring many repeats.  The unterminated BOG (resonant at 1900Khz) worked very
well along with the K3 Noise reduction (NR F1-2).  I tried using the K3 APF but have never found it
to be very effective, too much fiddling with the width and tuning.  The brain space "auditory
bandpass filter" is much better!

15 dupes called in. 8 of them after 0630 Sunday. Surprising!

Thanks to all who called me.  I was delighted to be on to make NL available!

73 Frank VO1HP
K3 remote + KPA500+KAT500
Tx: Saltwater 56ft Inverted L + New FCP
Rx: 225ft unterminated BOG NE-SW adjacent to ocean.
Send comments and correct

File under "it seemed like a good idea at the time."  That is, working a 160 test in storm season
with 90 watts and an inverted L antenna.  One BOG facing NE.  Never even heard or saw spotted NNY,
KY, or MB, and missed most of the 6 and 7 call area.  Thanks to K7UT for calling me - forget busting
pileups on the 6's and 7's that got spotted!  Also appreciated the EU that called in to me, and
their patience with asking for repeats.  On the plus side, this was my first halfway serious CW test
in a long time, so the practice was needed and appreciated.  Sorry for all the QLF!  Nice to work
some old friends.

WOW!   Excellent band conditions and quiet noise floor this year.  QRP is always a challenge.  Two
full-size phased verticals fed with hardline helps gets every milliwatt out.  Rig Flex 1500.

Glenn W0GJ
Iowa

Where was EU?  Conditions were very good overall.  Lots of participation from domestic stations. but
not as much DX as I was hoping.  Nonetheless, great to see all the activity on 160.

I only got about an hour to play in this contest this year.  We are at our new QTH and it was good
to see that my little 84â?? Random Wire sloper and my KX3 at 50W was able to make contacts.

Thanks for the contacts. Thanks to the ARRL for sponsoring the
contest. 73 - Dan, W1QK

P/T effort!  Only available Fri night/Sat morn.  Had 18 5-pt QSOs/15 unique DX entities.  Best
hourly rate was 91 QSOs/hour (btwn ~0400-0500Z), best 30 minute rate was 128 Q's/hour (start at
about 0355Z).  Band was pretty quiet but best Eu sigs were just barely above my noise.  First ARRL
160m contest with my 3 elevated radials and slightly relocated/readjusted feed.

Worsening general local QRN and a frequent persistent buzzing (an add'l 1-2 S-units above general
noise - holiday lights maybe??) hampered my QSO rate and ability to pull out weak sigs, even when
listening on my manually switched in RX antennas).  A half-size point terminated Pennant RX antenna
(15 ft x 7 ft) oriented ENE was added very recently and helped a bit with Eu callers but needs added
amplification.  My HF 5-band Hexbeam as well as my quiet 88 ft doublet were also used occasionally
as secondary RX antennas.
Sorry to those I just could not pull out of the noise...I tried all RX antennas I had on my small
noisy suburban lot.

East of Mississippi:  heard/missed only WCF, PR.  Never heard NNY.
Missed states:  NE, NV, UT, WA, WY, KH6, KL7
DX:  12 Eu countries plus C6, PJ2 and ZF in Caribbean.

Added about 50 QSOs after starting back up 75 mins prior to my sunrise (in under 1 hour of op-time)
b4 final QRT.

TNX to all for the QSOs!  Hope many will join us for Stew Perry TBDC this year (being held the
Saturday *prior* to Xmas this year!)-- C U then.


Icom IC-7300 at 100w; primary TX/RX antenna: 5/16 wave Inv L (partial sloping vertical radiator
approx 105'/over 65' [170' wire], horiz bend up near 75'), with matching series cap at feed, 3
elevated 65' non-resonant radials (at 10-12' above soil) and modest [detached] ground screen of 18
various length wires over 'poor soil conductivity'; secondary RX antennas (via manual switch): 
half-size Pennant on Eu/Afr, HF Hexbeam, and 88' doublet.


73,  Bill  W1WBB

Only had a couple of hours to play in this one. I missed being able to join the W2GD Contest Crew. 
Ant: Inv L @ 50'
Rig: Icom IC-7610
Amp: OM-2000A+
Software: Win-Test V4.28

This contest was a first for me.  I've not operated 160 meters in any real sense before.  Then the
Transatlantic Centenary stories and events, and the Radio Station SAQ Grimeton event, got me
thinking it would be fun to try the band.  

A friend had a shortened dipole with big loading coils which he constructed years ago.  So, after
putting up a couple more ropes in the trees, up went the shortened dipole and on went the receiver
... and I was immediately rewarded with S9 noise.  I had to laugh ... but kept on going.

After lots of adjustments and FT8 testing (and after pulling my main circuit breaker as a test to
make sure the noise wasn't coming from my house), and with little idea what to expect in this
contest â?¦ Friday night I was ready to give it a try with the shortened dipole ... in a somewhat
lower noise configuration.  The contest started and I was amazed to see the participation and the
number of CW signals coming in.  My CW was rusty, but the event was terrific.

Since my goals were to have fun and learn, during the daylight hours of Saturday, I returned the
shortened dipole to the original configuration.  I had previously seen this configuration was
noisier, and it had also seemed to be better as a transmitting antenna.

Saturday night arrived and I started tired, after a day of antenna adjustments and tuning.  The
noise was quite a bit higher, which made digging out many signals a real challenge, but I could see
the transmit signal was reaching further.  

In this contest I was very impressed with the number of people participating, and the willingness of
many operators to stay in there and work hard to complete contacts, when the signals were near or in
the noise.

After the contest I did more reading on receive antennas.  I built one and did a little testing, and
was surprised how a relatively simple design can improve the signal to noise ratio on 160 meters.

Overall, this 160 meter event was very enjoyable and a real learning experience for me.  

As always, my thanks to ARRL (and it was great to have the W1AW station operating during the
contest), and to all the participants, for making this all possible.

Thanks again,

Craig, W2NTN

Could only operate Day 1 of this contest due to family obligations.  But cndx were great from the
git go until 3:30 am EST when rates finally began to taper off. Good cndx to US and EU.  Wkd  KH6
but didnt hear KL7.  Sensational rate of 60/hr kept the juices flowing.

Rig: IC7610-ACOM1000 + N1MM+
Antenna had  some defects this year: 1. the UNUN  was removed/needing replacement; 2. the 27  
radials were still coiled up and hanging from the walnut tree at the time of the contest; 3. so, the
only ground was my 11 yr old trusty 8 ft ground rod.

And it didnt seem to make  much of a difference, judging by my rate.

Great fun!

First time ever operating the ARRL 160m contest.  Score wasn't all that good, but I had fun and
learned a lot.  Now I just got to work on getting a better rx system...

IC-7610 & EFHW

From Mendocino, CA

Short vert + 100 Watts = Great fun!

100 watts to an 80M wire inverted L 35 feet high over desert soil -
base loaded.  Limited ground radials on a small-town lot. No separate
receive antenna; power poles along back fence.  Didn't hear much DX.
Had fun, with similar results to last year's contest.  73 Keith W6SIY

Antenna 160m vertical portable.

Recently constructed Flag RX antenna proved its worth, despite needing orientation for minimum
noise.  A low power entry seems appropriate until this is done.

box

Great fun! This was the first real test of my reworked 160m
antenna and I was pleased with the results. PJ2T gets the
"best ears" award for hearing my 100w on the first call.
Thanks for the QSOs and 73, Ron (W8RU).

Nice condx; many good sigs and ops.

Why not make the obligatory signal report optional? 

To eliminate the chance of error and make logging easier, everyone gives a totally meaningless "5NN"
(599). 

If the contest log did not require it; besides reducing the logging workload, we would be free to
give accurate, more useful true signal reports.

After many years of mostly night time categories I look
forward to some daytime operating on 10 through
20 !  With sunspots returning it should be fun.

Not a contester but this was fun. Determined to only copy all by ear
and send with paddles. I am usually comfortable only at 20 WPM and
below so It was good high speed CW practice.

Operated remote from Tokyo, Japan

My PC failed. I lost 24 hours but finally worked out a solution.  My new K9AY RX antennas worked
great!

I had CW fun. Unfortunately, I missed the first night and rested. I
did do OK on Sat. late-night, including getting Canada contacts. Glad
that the low band waves were perfectly clear. Thanks.

This is my 5th contest, each year my score increase's. S&P,,
spent more time, even though it was part time. Conditions were
OK Antenna is a 80m inverted V wire at 51 fed with ladder line
and twisted together at the tuner as a Marconi antenna. I get
flat swr across 160m with the tuner in single wire position. I
have worked DX but none in this contest. Was fun being on 160m,
as a club I see SMC is in 1st place. GO SMC.  Tnx for q's. 73

Just one hour to see what rate I could get.  195 in 60 minutes was fun.

Hi all. Not a big effort here. Only on to give out some Q's and
have some top band fun. My ant. is 128 ft. wire attached at the
base of my Hustler 6BVT. Goes up app. 30ft. vert. the slopes up
to 40ft then drops back dowm to a few ft above grd level. All on
3 thenths of an acre. Hi HI 73 from N.C. Mark WG8Y

conditions were better on Friday night for me as far as QSB.
Was very happy with my Half Wave EFHW-8010-HP FOR 80 METERS But used it as a 
160 1/4 wave.I got the idea from Steve Ellingtons you tube video N4LQ.
Was running and working stations all over and just 300 watts.
For those with a postage stamp sized property this is the answer to having some fun on
160.
I don't think its the answer for wwdx on 160 but we will see how many countries it will work.
Merry Christmas to all
and thanks very much for hearing me puny signal
merrill 
WK2G

HOA wire but had fun...dick

Always a great contest.  Unfortunately, my antenna is far from adequate, so if I heard them I worked
themâ?¦ just couldnâ??t hear that many!  Friday was great worked 60 in an hour doing S&P. Saturday
night couldnâ??t find(hear) many new ones, but still put a bunch in the log.

TThis was another ad-HOC WQ6X portable operation from W7AYT's
QTH in Concord.
While most of my OP-time was spent running NX6T remote, Saturday evening
gave me the opportunity for a live test of the recently "tweaked", WQ6X
8JK Cobra Dipole array, in an attempt to discern it's 160-meter pattern.
I dunno if I accomplished that, however I certainly had fun Calling CQ
and noting  the RBN Stats.  AT NX6T, the 160-m Tri-Square offered
us low-angle antenna gain unmatched by the lowly (low in height)
8JK array. LooK for the story about this at - coming soon
to a Blog near you:
http://WQ6X.Blogspot.com.

Z 3 4 K  is  CHECKLOG ONLY !