Yup I ran them both!
I spent Friday and Saturday night running the 160M contest. I ran low power with my umbrella vertical. As compared to last year with about the same amount of effort, I was able to complete about 50% more QSO's in about 13 hours operating time total. Quite an accomplishment for me at 346 total. I had added another 8 radials to my radial field so I am up to 18 now and about 2000' of copper on the ground. The efficiency of the antenna has improved for sure. I am pretty pleased at the performance.
Unfortunately, I am not happy with my receiving loop. Not the antenna itself but the placement of the antenna. Right now it is in my back yard about 3 feet above the ground. It allows me to hear well but not well enough. I am able to hear local stations work DX that I can barely hear above the noise floor. The Flex 5K hears very well on other bands so I am pretty sure my loop needs some elevation to function better. I could switch over to the umbrella for receive but the noise is horrendous with that vertical in my suburban location. Even during the contest, I felt that I was being heard better than I could hear. So back to the testing grounds with the loop.
Sunday morning was spent on the 10 Meter RTTY contest. Quite a contest, but with the conditions it felt like I was operating in the contest that no one bothered to participate in!! The morning started with a YL from ZS land that I monitored rag chewing with someone from W5 land. The band was open to South Africa to be sure. Shortly there after, stations started popping up here and there in the RTTY section of the band. There was quite a few DX stations on the air and they were fairly easy to work. Several state side stations as well. The contest was fun, any time I am pounding on the RTTY keyboard I am having fun!! Maybe next year the conditions will be better.
What the heck is with people? Why do they insist on jumping on the DXpedition transmit frequency just to agitate people? Sending UP UP UP and LID and ASS to the poor sole that forget to set his split the first time he transmits is not helpful to any one. PT0S was an atrocious display of behavior both on the internet and on the air by the self appointed Band Cops. The same old game of on the air jamming and the internet cluster comments were the worst I have ever seen. These people should be ashamed of themselves. The guys from PT0S did a fantastic job with the circumstances they were dealt. Get over it band cop and please go away.
Until next time
73
Ron
WM9Q
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