This time last week Ashley and I were up at Gilwell Park again for the 160m section of the VK Trans / Tasman contest.
We spent about 2 hours installing a halyard on the north face of the tower to make raising temporary antennas, like a 160m dipole, easier than before. After completing the halyard we raised a 160m dipole.
This took us a little longer than planned as we kept getting trees branches in the way.
Once we settled into the contest mode I worked the first hour and Ash worked the 2nd and third hours. This worked out well as I was able to keep my regular sked with VK3AJ on 40m. We had a good QSO proving that with a better antenna than what I have at home I can make better signals. I worked the fourth, Ash worked the fifth and I work about 20 minutes into the sixth hour. Just enough to get to 100 QSO and still make it home at a reasonable time.
Once home I checked last year’s log and found that the last hour in 2008 was our most productive hour of all. Perhaps we should have stayed with it.
At the end of the 160m contest we had 102 QSO in the log. A better effort than last year but still well behind several other stations.
I think our score is improving as Ash get his technique polished up.
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