LooKing back to previous blogs I've written this time of year would seem to confirm that.
For 2020 I wondered how different (if any) the contest would be this year.
Doing a Blast-from-the-Past LooK-Back, I've played the 160 Contest for the last 5 years.
- [x] - 2019:WQ6X teams up w/NX6T for Wonderfully Quiet 160 GiG
- [x] - 2018: WQ6X joins crew-NX6T for ARRL 160 contest
- [x] - 2017: WQ6X joins N6KI for ARRL 160 Contest
- [x] - 2016: N6KI & WQ6X dual-OP 160 Contest as NX6T
- [x] - 2015: WQ6X runs 2015 ARRL 160 contest remotely
With all that history and the weird events of 2020 leading up to December, I had no clue what to expect. Adding to the wonder of it all is the recent sudden increase in the Solar Flux Index (SFI)
as planet Earth emerges into solar cycle 25.
Unlike other contests the ARRL-160 GiG begins early at 22:00z on Friday afternoon - 2pm PST.
In my opinion the start/end times for this event clearly favor east coast operators as the contest begins just as 160 meters opens up there. On the left coast 160 doesn't open up for at least
3 hours. Dennis (N6KI) and I were the principal OPs in this GiG altho as I was not ready to
start immediately, Axel (KI6RRN) put 78 QSOs into the log and over 2/3's of the multipliers.
By 03:15z I worked out a remote connection from Alameda by way of VNC Viewer and RCForb
to run the k3 on STN-1 @NX6T in Fallbrook. For nearly 3 hours I managed to take the QSO
count to #209 before turning it over to N6KI.
By the time of my 1am wake up call Dennis had taken the QSO count to #352. I was anxious
to keep the trend going until sunrise. Then, after 7 QSOs a strange thing happened - while I could type characters into the QSO line, suddenly none of the function keys nor the enter key worked.
In attempting to resolve the problem, the computer was inadvertently shutdown rather than rebooted. It was then we discovered that the reboot switch for STN-1 in Fallbrook had failed. Being this was a remote operation, in the middle of the night there was no one to restart the hardware; essentially, we were down for the night. The only upside of this was my getting a full nights sleep for a change during a contest weekend.
In the early afternoon, a visit was made to Fallbrook to reboot the computer and prevent accidental shutdown from becoming a problem. By 01:00z I was back in the remote operating chair dividing time between running frequencies, S&P'ing anyone in the bandmap and occasionally adding a new section to the list.
For this years 160 contest an incessant dit-Sender showed up; a local station I have encountered before. I should not be surprised by this as "everybody knows" that 1818.18 is the international DiT frequency; at least in the San Diego area. More than likely we are SO LOUD at the Dit-stations' QTH he merely has to turn on his spectrum analyzer and THERE we are. I have a pretty GooD idea who this IDIOT actually is - we have a spectrum analyzer (and directional antennas) as well. As for the IDIOTS on the 1805.05 National Tuneup Frequency (NTF), it's not so easy to determine the culprits.
For the rest of the contest, N6KI & WQ6X were on the LooKout for those illusive 11 multipliers and maybe a few countries while we were at it. The country bonus came on Sunday morning just before sunrise. Signals from: 4A50RH, JA5DQH, HL5IVL, JA4CQS, and JE1CKA faintly made their way to Fallbrook and thankfully into the log. Having spotting assistance available as a multi-OP operation made it easier to know where to look.
Section-wise, by contest end we still needed: CT, NNY, WTX, WV, MAR, NL, MB & NT.
Surprisingly enough, previously rare sections like ND, NE and NH were plentifully easy.
Previously WV has no longer been tough, altho WTX & NNY continue to frustrate us.
When it was all over, according to the 3830Scores website, NX6T took an easy 1st-place for
San Diego (SDG) section and a 2nd-place for the SW Division; not surprisingly we were trounced
by the Arizona Outlaws (AOC).
DiD YOU work the ARRL 160-meter contest?
Is NX6T in YOUR LoG?
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