RBCC Participated in a limited single operator capacity in the ARRL 160 Meter CW contest. Personal illness limited operating times along with not having ideal antenna setups for 160m.
This was mostly a test to see how well existing antennas at Remote Base Location Alpha would work on 160m. We were quite surprised to see the end fed 40m phased array, which is electrically only 1/4 wavelength on 160m, load up with a low SWR. We attribute this to the magical properties of voltage fed antenna concepts.
Contacts were easily made but range was limited – only North American stations were contacted.
In the future we would like to have a dedicated 160m or combination 160m/80m switched Inverted L for transmit and low noise receive antennas with a beverage focused on Europe. This would be a good project down the road when the solar cycle forces more prioritization of the lower bands.
Remote Base Contest Club 