Creative Competition in Radiosport and Toastmasters Part-6: Similarities and Differences

As a Toastmaster and a radiosport enthusiast, competing and competition is a BiG part of what I do.  As the month of November moves into December the major Dx, Domestic and QSO Party GiGs are largely behind us, until January of 2022 when the calendar repeats itself, all over again.

In radiosport, the new year opens with ARRL RTTY Roundup (RU) and several NAQP QSO parties. 
In Toastmasters, January brings us the club-level competition phase of the International Speech and Evaluation contests; club winners will compete in their area-level contests in February, the Division-level GiGs in March and the District competition events ending the month of April.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While Toastmasters contests are markedly different from radiosport GiGs,
operationally, they have much in common:

• Competition events have "strict" timing requirements.
• In Toastmasters there is a speaking area, outside of which the speaker cannot go. 
  In radiosport, all equipment and antennas must be within a specified geographical operating area; typically 1,000 feet across.
• Speech contests have judges and a chief judge.
• Radiosport contests have LCR's - "Log Checking Robots" (i.e., contest adjudication software) and a contest committee to oversee and analyze the results.
• There is a significant difference between radiosport and Speech Contests. 
  In Toastmasters Speech Contests, the winners are known before the event concludes. 
  In radiosport, it can be days, weeks and even months before the top-winners can be determined by the LCR's and finally adjudicated and published by the contest support community.

In speech contests, while delivery is a BiG aspect of the overall judging criteria, a winning speech begins with a good premise, well formulated and rehearsed content, using an attention-grabbing opener and a reminder-forever-ending. 

In radiosport how accurately we deliver the exchange is a big part of our success.
"Content" is what we send when we press a particular contest logger function key. 
Poorly devised (or lengthy) CQ messages will confuse/bore potential calling stations. 
Whether voice or Cw how fast (or slow) you deliver the exchange information may be the
determining factor as to whether the station on the other end (as well as stations listening in)
are able to copy the information successfully the first time.

In Dx contests, stations with limited English -speaking skills should REHEARSE saying the
callsign and exchange information, having amateurs fluent in English critique their speaking delivery.  

In Toastmasters, speech evaluators and Ah/Um counters accomplish the same goal. 
Frequently an evaluator has said something or pointed out something that enabled me to upgrade
the speech content and/or delivery enroute to a contest-winning finale.  In preparation for upcoming speech contests, I rehearse speeches in my office and deliver the latest rendition to the Tuesday meeting of the Alameda Tongue Twisters - my home club.

In radiosport, rehearsal comes in many forms.  Working shorter, less-demanding contest events
train my listening skills for epic events train my listening skills for epic events like the November Sweepstakes and the 48-hour monster GiGs like the CQ and ARRL Dx contests and the WPX
(Weird Prefix) contest.  Computer software like contest pileup trainers help keep us in practice between relevant contest weekends.

Because my work involves neurotherapy, using custom-developed neurofeedback exercise
protocols, I can work the brain, enabling me to attain deeper states of focus and increased mental stamina.  This is extremely useful in Cw contests as I've discovered an innate ability of the parietal lobes of the brain to replay recently-heard Morse code snippets rather than struggle to "remember" what was just sent.  As it turns out, Biofeedback and Neurofeedback can also be leveraged to bring about improved speaking presentation skills.

While Toastmasters and radiosport competitions are dramatically different,
more things they have in common include:

• We are encouraged to give the best performance we can at any given moment
  in the competition.
• There is no such thing as perfection.  We can always do things differently/better.
• Altho we are rated from 1st-place to nth place when it is all said and done,
  the only one we are really competing with is ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You've heard me say: "When in Doubt CHEAT! (But within the Rules). 
If you've forgotten what I mean by this Click [HERE] to read my blog comments about that.

Are you a Toastmaster or Radio Amateur (or BOTH)?
Do You enjoy healthy competitions?
    - If NoT, WHY Knot?
    - If so, how did it turn out?

Maximizing the Art of Experimentation: Part 3

My involvement w/Amateur Radio has always involved experimentation, from refurbishing an
early 50's Heathkit AT-1 transmitter (at 7.5w), achieving Worked All Continents (WAC) on 40-meters, all the way to the current Stereo-Cw / Stereo-Ssb tricks I play with receive audio.  I have written about the audio experimentation side of things in past Blog entries on experimentation:

• [X] - WQ6X-Sound Processing: Maximizing the Art of Experimentation.
• [X] - External Audio Filtering: Maximizing the Art of Experimentation - Part 2.
• [X] - The DR. Validates Cascading Audio Filters
• [X] - More Lessons Learned from Listening to the DR.
• [X] - When in Doubt: CHEAT (but within the rules)

On the antenna end of things, 8JK phasing Cobra dipoles and raising a full-sized wire-based
Log Periodic array for 80- and 40-meters during Field Day atop Mt. Abel in Southern California
(8250' ASL) represent how far out experimentation can get.

One of my operating axioms is to take something (be it vintage technology or contemporary)
and leverage the benefits of that technology towards the goal of maximizing operating efficiency.  Toward that end, to open 2022, a Yaesu FT-2000 (dual-RX) transceiver has been moved into the
Main operating position of my WQ6X portable (it's on wheels) operation from Concord (in the East Bay - EB - section).

Utilizing analog IC-chip technology (the Autek QF-1A from the 70's and the MFJ-752 filters from the 80's and 90's) to the digital (DSP-chip) technology of the 90's (MFJ-784 and JPS NIR-10 & NIR-12 external DSP filters) to the DSP facilities built-in to the FT-1000mp (audio-based) and the FT-2000
(IF-based).

Originally, these individual technologies were not really intended to be run cascade, the way I do
with the Stereo Cw/Ssb techniques.  Of course, there is always a risk that one filter in a cascaded audio-chain can inadvertently generate ringing (negative-feedback) or create unintended ground loops (A.C. hum).  Then again, a 15-band (per channel) audio-equalizer can specifically filter out
an offending hiss or hum; again, maximizing the Art of Experimentation.  

As each iteration is made, I turn to a weekend radiosport event to test the configuration under live operating conditions.  I guess it could be said that this is yet another example of my operating
axiom: "When in Doubt: CHEAT (but w/in the Rules)".

Cascading audio also feeds my need to twiddle knobs; more units bring a near-infinite arrays of
knobs to twiddle.  Knob contributes to the psychological feeling of being more in control of how a given operation is run.  When audio is "properly" balanced between Left and Right, a more pleasing audio aesthetic effect is created.  

Bottom-line: if a given setup is more enjoyable to operate, I will spend more time in the operating chair looking for weak/obscured signals that I might have given up on w/o the signal enhancements.  A properly run Stereo-Cw operation creates an ARC of calling stations, from the Left, mid-center and, to the Right.  This creates a pleasingly special effect add an increasing-level of comprehension,
which is part-aural and part-psychological.

In between operating shifts during the CQ-160 Cw contest, time was spent working on the issue
of properly splitting and processing Left and Right channel audio snaking its way thru a myriad of analog-IC and DSP-chip-based filters, before the Rockville mixer and generic switch box which sends the processed split audio to 1-of-3 speaker arrangements or a 1/8th" patch panel feeding whatever headphone arrangement is 1/8" compatible.

Overall, I prefer using Own-Zone wireless headphones allowing listening to the final-processed audio anywhere in the vicinity of the little wireless (hockey puck-like) transmitter.  Then again, it's frustrating to be doing my bizniss in another room and hear "QRL?" followed by a "CQ Test".  Because I have no way to send "QRL QSY" from the other room II [temporarily] lose the frequency; altho all too often after 5 minutes of no callers they move on, and I have the Run Frequency back.

A downside to the Own-Zone wireless approach is its propensity for being BOMBARDED by stray-RF from the ladder-line feedline to the 8JK Cobra array, primarily used for the 160 to 15 meter HF bands.  For 10-meters a 3-element Long John yagi gives rotatable directionability.  It has also been noted that rotating the yagi (even if it's not being used) can sometimes change the RFI overload in the wireless headphones.

With such a high-concentration of radio waves in such a small space, even tho the power levels never exceed 100 watts, signal collisions are inevitable.  Frustrated by a lack of signal output levels, a 20-watt mini amplifier was returned to the operating position with reasonable success.  That it "just fit" into the cubby-hole just above the 4-channel Rockville sound mixer adds to overall flexibility.

 

 

As I've mentioned in previous blogs on stereo audio processing, with 7+ devices variously interconnected "ground loops" are also inevitable.  

 

 

 

Then again, back to my "When in Doubt CHEAT (but w/in the rules)" edict, sending the audio thru a 15-band/channel audio equalizer can eliminate any after-the-fact artifact, with little-to-no degradation of signal intelligibility.  

 

Part 4 of this Blog series will focus specifically on the world of audio equalization.

Stay TUNED!

WQ6X Walks a Wandering Contest Weekend

Overall, after the JIDX contest, April radiosport activities are relatively quiet affairs as we move thru to the end of the month.  The weekend of April 23rd certainly confirms that observation.  The Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA) run their monthly meetings on the 4th Saturday of each month, taking advantage of this Quiet Period.

I wrote a BloG about this phenomenon months BE-4 the online visit from Bob Heil (K9EID).  Afterward, I tuned around the bands looking for callers in the following radiosport events:

• [X] SPDX RTTY Contest
• [X] Helvetia Cw / Ssb Contest

Increasingly, I actually favor RTTY contests over Cw or Ssb, as the events seem more relaxing. 
Due to the poor turnout on RTTY, I experienced virtually no QRM, except from stations who purposely zero-beat my RUN frequency (Ex: 14086.86) and call CQ.

In most RTTY contests, over the years, Japanese participation has noticeably increased. 
The ONE exception to this is the weekend of the SPDX RTTY contest; also that weekend
was a Japanese domestic contest (not unlike our November Sweepstakes or NAQP GiGs)
on Cw.  40-meters (in particular) was LOADED with Japanese callsigns, all working each
other only.  At 10:00z an undecipherable higher-speed RTTY station  made the scene,
transmitting non-stop for several hours, until it faded into the after-Greyline noise.

Hoping for non-JA Asian participation, I turned to the Asian Russian military beacons, looking
for clues.  The "F" beacon (Vladivostok) has been AWOL for weeks.  The "M" beacon (Magadan) usually accompanies the "K" altho this weekend it was either off-the-air, or unreadable due to weird propagation paths between the SF East Bay area and Eastern Asia.

Due to the nonsense going on in the Ukraine region, I guess I should not be surprised to experience erraticness in other areas of their "system".  Then again, while Switzerland is not that far removed from the Ukrainian conflict, the Helvetia GiG lumbered-along quietly.

The Helvetia contest (being a European-based event) is always a disappointment to me on the
Left-coast of the USA.  The high-point Swiss stations are barely discernible on the West coast
w/o access to the antenna system I have access to when running remote from WA6TQT in Anza, California.

Except for the 3-element Long John yagi for 10-meters, the rest of the antenna system possesses little hope for working into Europe.  Unfortunately, 10-meters was hardly open at all during the weekend; certainly not to Europe.  I think of the Helvetia contest as an affair between Europe
and the East coast (or upper Midwest). 

While HB stations were heard (and many more spotted), no European stations ever came back
to my calls; I'm sure they would've appreciated making multi-point contacts as well.  

As I say all too often:  "Oh Wail - there's always next year".

 

What about YOU?  Did You play in those radiosport contests?

What was YOUR Experience?

WQ6X Works a WEIRD CQMM Weekend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While technically this was an 8-contest weekend, in reality, only 3 events actually ended
up in the log: the CQ-MM contest and 2 poorly participated QSO parties:

• [X] - CQ MM - South American contest
  
• [X] - MQP - Michigan QSO Party
  
• [X] - ONQP Ontario QSO Party
  

 Like other contest disappointments, every year I hope to finally hear Chinese stations, in their own contest and never do.  There were NO Chinese spots during the weekend; not even for the CQMM GiG.  Both QSO parties were poorly participated; I worked more MI W8 stations and VE3's in the CQMM contest than in their respective QSO parties.  HuH?

Being a Brazilian sponsored contest,  CQMM encourages plenty of South American activity. 
Looking at DXMAPS, it was clear that the East coast USA stations had a DIRECT pipeline to South America; explaining their higher scores overall (USA to SA contacts are worth 3 or 6 points apiece).

Questionable space-WX throughout the weekend put a damper on signal quality.  40, 15 and 20 meters produced more-or-less the same number of QSOs, altho the 40-meter SA Q's were worth 6-Points  80-meters produced only a handful of QSOs, despite calling CQ throughout the contest. 
Oh WAIL, next year, I guess - yeah RIGHT!

Sunday was spent mopping up contacts on 20 and 15 (10-meters was a 1-QSO no-show).  While
the ONQP had a 2nd run (on Sunday), the only VE3 station making it to the log sent me their ONQP exchange during a CQMM contact (I quickly switched to the ONQP log, enter the QSO and switched back to calling "CQMM w/o missing a QSO).

In the middle of it all, more Russian beacon monitoring found the "M" beacon weak on Saturday morning and AWOL on Sunday.  The "K" beacon no longer sends "K K K K" and then pauses; now
it ID's every 1.5 seconds like most of the other Russian military beacons.  The mystery of the Asiatic Russian letter beacons continues on.

During the weekend I heard several calls for the Holy land contest, yet NONE for the YU DX contest; the same as last year.  As for CQMM, approximately 20% of the calling stations OBVIOUSLY had not read the rules; they probably had no clue what "CQMM" even meant.  They would either send
me their state code (we were sending Serial #'s) or send me their name and QTH.  In this Blog post,
I included links to the event rules that YOU should have read PRIOR to each contest participation.

DiD YOU engage in any radiosport events during Easter weekend?

DiD you read the rules FIRST?

Is WQ6X in YOUR LoG?

WQ6X Works a 7.5 Contest Weekend

The 2nd weekend in April should have been an 8-contest affair except that listening around the bands throughout the weekend resulted in no GC-Cup activity heard, altho like last weekend, most of this GiG's activity was happening in Europe (the other side of dirtball earth).  

On the North American side of the globe, things were a bit mixed.  In addition to JIDX (more-or-less
at the bottom of each band) and the state QSO parties (more-or-less middle of each band), above them are the ever-present SKCC Weekend Sprintathon and WES Cw activities; and, above them,
the digital and RTTY sub-bands.

To UP the entered contest entry count on the WQ6X page of the 3830-Scores website,
WQ6X engaged in the following radiosport events:

• [X] - Dual-OP the JIDX contest
• [X] - GAQP - Georgia QSO Party
• [X] - NDQP - North Dakota QSO Party
• [X] - NEQP - Nebraska QSO Party
• [X] - NMQP - New Mexico QSO Party
• [X] - IG-RY RTTY Contest
• [X] - The Yuri Gagarin Contest

The JIDX GiG was wrapped around all of the above-mentioned radiosport events.  My achieved-goal was dual-OP'ing the JIDX event, which began @07:00z (midnight in California).  My night shift did Not begin until 09:00z, giving me time for sleep and making a few "JA" QSOs as WQ6X before remoting in to NX6T's multi-Single operation @WA6TQT's QTH in Anza (San Bernardino County).  On Sunday, while N6KI submitted our 5-operator log, WQ6X submitted a 9-QSO single-OP single-band (40-meter) entry; but then, I am getting ahead of things here.

In JIDX contests, during the 2am to 6am operating periods, most of the operating time is spent on
40-meters waiting for 80-meters to eventually open up towards Japan.  On Sunday, when I took over at 3am (10:00z), N6KI hard largely worked everyone on 40 meters and suggested I switch over to
80-meters once the caffeine kicks-in; and again, I'm getting ahead of things.

Saturday afternoon (after playing in the RTTY and all 4 QSO parties), I was assigned to the "Mult" station (STN-1) from 1pm to 3pm, while K7ENA ran 20-meters on STN-2.  At 3pm I took over STN-2 just in time for a wonderful 15-meter opening; surprising considering the HORRIBLE Space-WX. 
15 minutes before my 5pm shift ending, my WIN-7 computer (in Concord) developed a process-loop, requiring a complete reboot as the only way out; missing out on what was left of a consistent pile up.  

Luckily, my relief operator managed to more-or-less re-gain the momentum; the Japanese stations were lining up to get their 2-points and hand us [hopefully] a new prefecture.  In the JIDX contest
we receive multiplier credit for prefectures on each band, offering upwards of 300 multipliers in
just 30 hours.

At 6:30pm (01:30z) I remoted back in to the STN-2 operating position in time for 15-meters to
wind down and 20-meters to advance from mult-status to running a full-on frequency while STN-1 continued to hunt for leftover multipliers on 15 (unfortunately, 10-meters never came thru; for either NX6T -or- WQ6X).  

By the time the JIDX run shift was over, the NDQP and NMQP GiGs were ancient history. 
GAQP still had one hour left for the day so I ended the evening's operations searching for GA stations, before a rest period, knowing that Sunday offers us one more GO in the NEQP and GAQP QSO Parties.  After sleep and a refreshing Cherry Pepsi, I took over STN-2 at 3am.  Those 3 hours seem to WHIZ by FAST.  80-meters cooperated with me adding nearly 75 JA QSOs to the 80-meter log alone.

Virtually EVERY early morning 40-meter shift I have some sort of errant QRM to deal with. 
Calling CQ on 7017.17 I immediately encountered Indonesian Ssb QRM that was NoT there
before I called CQ.  Saturday morning for about 15 minutes, we encountered some sort of PULSE radar in the vicinity of 40-meters.  Finally, out of frustration, I quickly tuned the band looking for the center frequency of the radar signal; at which time it immediately ceased.  Coincidence?  We'll never REALLY know, will we?

When the weekend was all over, a look at the 3830 Scores page for this contest brings BOTH NX6T and WQ6X GooD News.

To reiterate something I have said summarily, radiosport activities keep us on the air every weekend while making station improvements throughout the intervening weeks.  While we may not be able to change what is happening 1/2 a world away, we can at LEAST "listen in", receiving more of the REAL truth about what is REALLY going on, while the radio OPs there know that we ARE listening, ready to assist whenever we can.

Participating in different-mode events is NoT only more FUN, it keeps me multi-mode prepared, should the need arise.

What about YOU?  DiD YOU participate in the 8-contest weekend?

What events did your operations favor?

Is WQ6X or NX6T in YOUR LoG?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This JUST in - as of 9/2/2022 NX6T took 1ST-Place for Multi-Single.

WQ6X Welcomes Bob Heil (K9EID) for ARCA (Amateur Radio Club of Alameda)

A couple of years back, I quietly stepped into the role of club president for the Amateur Radio
Club of Alameda (ARCA).  During my 5+ year tenure with the club, we have hosted a variety of
guest speakers: especially when we were meeting live every 4th Saturday at the Alameda hospital (now we meet virtually via Zoom).  Indeed, I have presented an array of different topics; especially
in the arena of Radiosport contesting.

On April 23rd, I had the pleasure of introducing the amazing Bob Heil, founder of Heil Sound
Company in Illinois.  Overall, Bob regaled us with a photo-backed story of his life via the lens
of the world of audio engineering and Amateur Radio.  Along the way, he gave us a number of
live demonstrations demonstrating the concepts behind the various audio-enhancing devices
he has invented, and Heil Sound Company has developed.

While Bob is certainly UP in his years, I would never guess that as his presentation style is that of
a barely 40-something radio amateur.  The different individuals Bob has worked with over 60+ years
is astonishing.  It could easily be stated that Heil Sound technology has played a not-insignificant role in the circuit designs of virtually every commercial transceiver sold today.

What is amazing here is that Heil Sound techniques are little more than focused exploitations
of some very BASIC audio principles.  My FAVorite audio technique (Stereo-CW) uses a subset
of those principles.

Audio & RF involve nearly the SAME principles, differing only in frequency. 
When you REALLY GET that, a WHOLE New World of possibility is presented to you.
Have YOU become BORED w/Amateur Radio operations?  Maybe, all that is required
is a revamp of what you hear.
Thank You Bob for showing us how to make it all FUN again.

Oh, and Bob.... to show that I WAS paying attention, the MAGIC Number is: 2,500Hz.

WQ6X Wades Thru a Weird Radiosport Weekend

 

As radiosport weekends go, this one was weird; I thought the Weird Prefix Contest was LAST weekend - It Was.  On the menu was the EA RTTY contest, starting @12:00z and 3 QSO parties: MSQP, MOQP and LAQP; beginning at 1400z.  Don't these people know that I like to sleep in on Saturdays?

Unfortunately, from the beginning, my SF east bay location was riddled w/atmospheric noise from a handful of solar storms throughout the weekend.  As I write this on Monday morning, leftover effects from the storms have not yet subsided.

While it is true that I may have missed out on a number of Ssb QSO party stations, running Cw
only, I was disappointed by the low turnout on in-state stations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri (the Show Me state).  The EA RTTY contest didn't fare much better in Western North America; if I had been running from Europe or even New England, I would've encountered 100's of stations for the log, including some Russians having nothing to do with the mess over there.

Also noticeably missing were stations from Japan.  In previous years, many JA stations easily made it into the WQ6X log.  Unfortunately, propagation to Europe from my signal-vortex location in Concord is extremely lacking.  I was hoping for more USA and Canadian stations to pad the contest logs. 
Of course, as I always say every contest "Wait 'til next year!"

Now when it comes to the MOQP, I really can't say that the low turnout is surprising. 
The county activation map made it clear that only 49% of the counties would be activated. 
Contrast that w/California's CQP GiG where all 58 counties are activated every year.

At least Missouri gives us two different days to look for MOQP stations or call "CQ MO WQ6X/6 WQ6X/CA".  Unfortunately, there were several non-Missouri stations calling "CQ MO" with no identification that they were NoT in MO until you called in.  For example, K0DME should
have signed K0DME/CO.  Conversely, WX8C should have signed WX8C/MGM, letting us
know he WAS in Missouri.  N0BSO should have signed N9BSO/STL for the same reason.

I queried all such stations, hoping they would "get the message" and ID properly. Not surprisingly of course, they didn't.  Then again K4BAI/GA, made it immediately clear that we was NoT in Missouri, saving EVERYONE a lot of time.

Of course, my "CQ MO WQ6X/6 WQ6X/CA" calls were responded to by stations who OBVIOUSLY didn't get it.  I have written up this problem up before ([CLICK HERE] to read that).  Let's review this situation, shall we?  When I call "CQ MO WQ6X/6 WQ6X/CA":

• Do you know what CQ MO means? 
  If NoT, then you should not call me.
  If you know that I am looking for MO and you are not in Missouri, then you should Not call me.
• If you DO know this is the Missouri QSO party
  If you don't know that WQ6X/6 and/or WQ6X/CA means I am not in Missouri, then you should NoT call me.
  If you DO know that WQ6X/6 and/or WQ6X/CA means I am NoT in Missouri, then, you should NoT call me.

It's REALLY that simple.  Am I MISSING something?
Even Albert Einstein understood the world of radio communication.

Similar to last years QSO parties, the MSQP and LAQP events were a large disappointment. 
What good is running a QSO party if there is very little in-state participation?  Additionally,
lumping CW and Digital station entries is either disingenuous, misguided, or BOTH.
Ending these QSO party events at 02:00z (7pm PDT) makes no sense at all. 
JUST as 80, 40 and even 160 begin to open to the Southeast, both QSO parties
are over - Bummer Dewd!

A major upside to the weekend was giving the Yaesu FT-2000 a thorough RTTY workout. 
The built-in IF and DSP filtering to the transceiver, largely obviates the need for external filtering
to effectively decode RTTY signals; the actually RTTY audio is taken from the last audio stage and sent directly to the RiGExpert unit (the interface to my Windoze 7 PC used for contest running).

The only thing this configuration is incapable of is Stereo-RTTY; then again, no matter the transceiver, the audio for the Stereo-RTTY method needs to be intercepted Before the RiGExpert unit receives its audio.

Despite all the political upheavals happening around dirtball Earth, it's nice to know that we can transform this "Mr. Toads Wile Ride" into useful emergency preparedness training exercises; which
is how I view radiosport contest events to begin with.

What about YOU?

DiD YOU engage in radiosport activities the 1st weekend of April?

If NoT, WHY Knot?

If SO, how DiD it all turn out?

160 METERS: A Whirrrl'd Unto Itself - Part 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the 1st installment of this particular Blog topic, I randomly offered two 160 contest graphics
- one for the Stew Perry 160 contest and one the CQ 160 GiG) - to fill out the blog entry. 
The impression might be assumed that I was slighting the ARRL-160 contest, when in fact,
I believe the ARRL 160 GiG was the 1st of all the exclusively 160-meter events: altho, like the
Stew Perry GiG it is a Cw only contest (fine by me).  I believe the CQ-160 Ssb contest was/is
the first of its kind.

Because 160-meters is largely a nighttime band, I think an interesting addition to all these
events would be to double the QSO-points for contacts made before 18:00 your local time.
With computerized LCR (Log Checking Robot) software used by contest committees, it
should be relatively easy to determine what the time of day is in your particular time zone.

One of the things that fascinates me about
160 is the "localness" of communication possible
using antennas with [so-called] NVIS directional characteristics, yet with monster antennas like
the 3-square vertical array @WA6TQT's Radio Ranch (essentially 3 switchably-phased 128' broadcast towers), the world can be worked. 
Of course, having access to 1.5kw amplifiers feeding those antennas makes a BiG difference. 
Then again, some amazing 160-contest scores have been submitted by QRP stations.

Overall, jam-packed band conditions are encountered far less on 160 (than other HF bands) as fewer stations are comfortably 160-capable.  Then again, many stations that ARE able to run 160, due to their NVIS-nature cannot be heard far away anyway; so overall, pileups on
160 are of a different nature than on the shorter wavelength bands.

One of the secrets to success on 160-meters is working the GREYLINE. 
This phenomenon occurs every sunrise and sunset.

 

During Greyline periods, there is still proper atmospheric ionization on BOTH ends of the circuit, approximately 1 - 2 hours before/after sunrise/sunset.  While other bands can experience greyline phenomenon (namely 80 & 40), on 160, w/o taking advantage of greyline propagation, working certain areas of the world is virtually impossible.  Unlike the 40 - 10 meter bands, there is no propagation activity, requiring that we physically tune the bands and/or look for callsign spots to determine
when the band is open, and to where.

Then again, another approach is to utilize the RBN spotting network, call CQ and note how
many skimmer receivers can actually decode our signal.  I've written things about the RBN. 
[CLICK HERE] to read about it.

Being at opposite ends of the HF spectrum, 10 and 160 meters are unique challenges. 
The challenge of 10-meters is largely a daytime phenomenon, while the challenge of the
160-meter band occurs largely at night.

What about YOU?

Do you ever find time to play around on 160-Meters.
What is your FAVorite frequency there?