FARS - CQ World Wide 160 Meter CW/Phone Contests 2025

FARS CQ World Wide 160 Meter CW/Phone Contests 2025

FARS is participating in both the CW and Phone CQ World Wide 160 meter contests. The CW contest occurs on the weekend of January 24-26, 2025. The phone contest occurs on the weekend of February 21-23, 2025. These are both night time contests operating from Friday 22:00 UTC through Sunday 22:00 UTC. We are using the radio station located at Maryknoll to participate in this contest and using the FARS radio call sign K6YA during this contest.

Full details on these contests are on the CQ 160 Contest page.

Station Schedule

Although these contests start on Friday, FARS is only participating Saturday evening through Sunday morning.

CW - Saturday-Sunday: 6pm-8am, Jan 25-26 PST
Phone - Saturday-Sunday: 6pm-8am, Feb 22-23 PST

Location

23000 Cristo Rey Drive, Los Altos, CA
Note that this event is happening at the amateur radio station located on the Maryknoll property. This is the same property we use for Field Day, but in a different location on the property. Contact Phil, KA6MZE to participate or visit.

Participation and Visitation is Limited

Due to limited parking, facilities, and evening quiet, attendance is limited. Bring your own food and water, if needed for your visit. Note that there are no restroom facilities on site. Anyone wishing to participate or visit during the event needs to make arrangements with our Radio Officer Phil, KA6MZE in advance.

Since this is a single band contest, we are using the 160 meter wire antenna permanently installed at that station. Also, 160 meters is a night time band, so our operation is only during the evening hours.

Since operating 160 meters requires a rather long wire antenna that is difficult for most hams to deploy, this is a good opportunity to work 160 meters. During the summer months, the 160 meter band (1.8-2.0 MHz) suffers from a high degree of atmospheric noise that renders communication on this band difficult. In the winter months, the noise on the band is much lower. For this reason, 160 meter contests occur during the winter months. Talk-in frequency for this contest is the W6ASH repeater on 440.800 MHz (-) offset PL 100.0Hz. experience contesting on 160 meters aka “the top-band.”
73, Phil Hawkins, KA6MZE, FARS Radio Officer and K6YA Station trustee

KA6MZE

Phil, KA6MZE, organizes this event, so contact him if you want to participate.