Station   Op      Category  QSOs   Sects   Ctys   Score
---------------------------------------------------------
K5NA      K5NA    SO HP     1168     78     20    237,748
W5KFT     K5PI    SO HP      148     48      2     15,100
N3BB      N3BB    SO HP A    142     48      5     15,847
W5AC      NT5TU   SO LP      380     67      4     54,812
W5ZL      W5ZL    SO LP      174     50      2     18,616
KI5DR     KI5DR   SO LP       41     17      0      1,394
AC5AA     AC5AA   SO LP       22     13      0        572
AF5Z      AF5Z    SO LP A    152     47      4     16,116
N5TW      many    MS HP     1008     77     12    184,230

N5TW ops: W5TA, KE5C, N5TW

"This is still my favorite contest, even though it is harder to score well from Texas. I have been working on my receiving antennas, and I thought I was hearing better this year than I was last year. But still, there were quite a few weak signals that I just couldn't pull through." - K5NA

"I operated around four hours on and off, 100% S&P. I never heard KH6 or KL7, but briefly heard ZF2US around 0300 UTC, but he was pretty weak, so I figured I would come back when the band opened more; but, I never heard him again. I should have tried when I had the chance. Last year, I worked KH6, KL7, and a couple of Caribbean stations with the dipole at 30' and 100 watts. Either the antenna works much worse at 20', or the bands were not as good as last year. I'm getting more comfortable operating CW around 25 WPM, although I probably couldn't ragchew this fast, operating the contest was comfortable, and I was getting most of the callsigns on the first try." - KI5DR

"I came into the shack on Friday night after work, because I was curious to see how our low-hanging dipole in the middle of campus (surrounded by thousands of computers, monitors, and other sources of radio noise) could perform with 100 watts. I ended up staying till 7:00 AM Saturday morning. I was able to work everyone I heard eventually (except PJ2T), but I think people heard me better than I heard them, because I had to do a lot of ESP, and there were a few ghosts I just couldn't pull out, so I guess I was an alligator - albeit a very tiny one. Weak signals had very obvious QSB, but after a couple of fills we'd get almost a QSO." - NT5TU (@ W5AC)

"My line noise has become so bad that I had to operate with the Yaesu FT-1000MP's noise blankers on full-bore, and even then I was deaf. The use of these ruins the front end, and so I get to hear K5NA, N5TW, K5NZ, K5TR, and assorted loud friends CQing over the entire band (not their fault - it is the byproduct of the noise blanker system in my receivers.) The loud stations I was able to hear are to be complimented. My repaired sloper seems to get out OK, but I am a serious alligator. Clearly, something has changed out here, and I must focus on tracking down the line noise source, and getting it cleaned up." - N3BB

"The great thing about this hobby is that even after 46 years of hamming, I am still experiencing first evers. This was my first ever 160 meter contest - I had a great time and learned a lot. Working somewhat against me from the start was that my W9INN dipole worked very well above 1850 kHz, but was, for all practical purposes, a poor excuse for a dummy load below that frequency. I was able to make a few contacts down as low as 1830 kHz, but those were hard won. Had I not tried to kill myself three weeks ago by falling off the ladder whilst tweaking the 80 meter segments prior to CQ WW, I would have undoubtedly made the appropriate adjustments to the 160 segments in time for this contest." - W5ZL

"KE5C and W5TA did most of the operating, and we were trying out KE5C's new Ten-Tec Orion, which worked great! We mostly used my 4-square in OMNI-mode, and used the Orion's diversity capability to listen on Beverages in one ear and the transmit antenna in the other ear. This worked really well, and the Orion's front end really changed the way the bands sound for the better - great job, Ten-Tec!" - N5TW

"I got on a little on Friday evening and Saturday morning using an inverted L and 100 watts. Intermittent, weak power line noise prevented some QSOs, but was more of a nuisance than a limiting factor. I must build a receive antenna if I'm to do well on 160/80." - AF5Z

"I had a family get-together planned on Saturday in Burnet, so I went to the W5KFT Ranch Friday night and made a few contacts. I didn't get on the air until almost midnight, and only made a few dozen contacts before turning in. I was on again a little before 6:30 AM local time, and conditions seemed pretty good. I heard two JAs and worked one of them. I also worked two KH6s." - K5PI (@ W5KFT)

"There was too much going on this weekend to attempt even a semi-serious run at the contest. (Semi-serious is as serious as I ever get in contesting, and on 160 meters with only an Butternut HF2V vertical, there is no hope to even place above bottom 25%.) But I did get on with the Ten-Tec Orion to check out the receiver. While the band was quieter than usual (noise-wise) I had no problem with working weak stations right near K5NA or N5TW. I've pretty much decided I'm going to buy one of these rigs next year some time when I can put together the money for it." - AC5AA

"This was the most in charge I have felt operating the N5TW station. This was partly because I've operated N5TW enough to know how and when to use the 4-square and the four bi-directional beverages which give eight choices of directional gain. However, using my own radio, a new Ten-Tec Orion, also helped me to feel comfortable even though I am still learning the Orion, and the N5TW station offered a whole new set of conditions and challenges. Compared to past years, I failed to work very few of the weak ones I heard." - KE5C (@ N5TW)