5 years, the GiG was run with a non <69 solar flux index (SFI); in fact the SFI peaked at 87
(less than 60 days ago it was stuck at 70).
The SP-160 contest was my first operation from the San Diego contest club's alternate operating
site in the Anza Valley (altho 4,000' ASL). As Fallbrook was officially "dark" for the SP-160 weekend
I decided to also run a remote operation from STN-2 (instead of running 160 from Concord), giving me the advantage of running HP from a QTH 900' ASL (altho NoT as noise-free as Anza).
I had originally planned to run as W6M, which (not finding any other ops) never happened. Instead, WQ6X made a High Power appearance on 160 in between a couple shifts running ANZA Station #1
for NX6T. LooK & FeeL wise, Anza seems just like the setup in Fallbrook - EXCEPT, being away from dozens of RFI producing homes and buildings the noise-level is AMAZINGLY Quiet; at least on 160 for the SP-160 GiG. Next time I remote into Anza, I will make it a point to give the other bands
a THOROUGH Sweep.
is computed based on the relative Km distance between your Grid Square and the square of the station you are contacting.
Another reason the noise-level at Anza is so low is thanks to the use of a 3-el "Tri-square" vertical arrangement with 120-degree beamwidth to NE, SE & W. I heard (and worked) JA stations as NX6T that I had no hope of hearing with the Inv. VEE in Fallbrook. In fact only JA5DQH was worked from Fallbrook.
Because there are no multipliers, SP-160 scores seem considerably low, in comparison to most other contests; a score's relative BiGness is relative to the contest itself. As you can see, my 201 QSOs netted a WHOPPING 814 points.
NX6T netted a 4th place for USA and a 6th place overall. While we were tops on the West
coast, the contest organizers probably don't recognize that as anything special.
I've never seen such an array of sub-categories in ANY radiosport contest. I thought CQ
magazine contests had a LoT of options until I submitted my log for the SP-160 contest.
DiD YOU participate in the Stew Perry Top Band Distance Championship?
Is WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?
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