I have noticed a number of discussions on forums recently where radio amateurs are asking questions like:-
- Is it ok for me to work a contest station?
- Will I ‘muck up their logging’ if I’m not in the contest?
- Can I use a contest contact for DXCC purposes?
These are just a few of the questions asked - there are many more along similar lines. The simple answer to all of these questions is this - as long as you exchange the required information (according to the rules of the contest in question) and the contest station logs the exchange, it’s a contact the same as any other in your log. You don’t have to submit a contest entry for it to count.
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Dean Amateur Radio contest, DXCC, propagation
A tip for you. Planning late is the same as not planning at all. It you want to do anything properly make sure all he planning is done well ahead of the event. Case in point, WPX SSB 2010 when I’d ‘planned’ to get out and operate G0RIF/p from Piggot’s Bottom.
I say ‘planned’. It’s probably more accurate to say I’d ‘intended’ getting out and stringing up a few temporary antennas amongst the trees at Piggot’s Bottom - there had been precious little actual planning. It was a busy weekend one way and another so time was limited but come Sunday afternoon I had a chance of 3 or 4 hours on the bands. Time to get out and work a few!
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Dean Amateur Radio, Life... antenna, portable, SSB, WPX
Is your multi-band antenna compromising performance in favour of operator convenience? Have you chosen to forfeit efficiency in order to provision for operating on one or two additional bands? If you have I’d suggest you reconsider your antenna policy and adopt a ‘less is more’ approach, one that is sadly often overlooked these days.
When it comes to radiating a good signal on the HF bands less can often be more. By working on fewer bands (less) and by having dedicated resonant antennas cut for those bands you can often radiate much more of the transmitter power delivered to the antenna system.
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Dean Amateur Radio antenna, multi-band, SWR
Browsing the world wide web this morning I happened upon a forum thread about someone chasing the WAZ award. It got me thinking - how many zones have I worked to date?
This isn’t something I monitor or have much bothered about over the years but a quick check today shows I am only 3 zones shy of WAZ. Those three required zones are the following:-
- Zone 2 - Northeastern Zone of North America
- Zone 12 - Southwest Zone of South America
- Zone 29 - Western Zone of Australia
I’m quite pleased with that and I reckon I should certainly be able to knock of those 3 zones in the next year or so as band conditions pick up.
Zone 2 is the extreme north-eastern parts of Canada (VO2 and some VE2 prefixes), zone 12 includes Chile which isn’t all that rare (often active in contests) and zone 29 includes Western Australia and the Northern Territory (VK6 and VK8 prefixes respectively).
Now I know what I’m looking for it should be relatively easy to get the contacts. Getting all the QSL cards to confirm all those contacts is another matter!
Dean Amateur Radio, Totally random award, QSL, WAZ
I found an interesting discussion thread on the eHam.net forums recently debating the merits (or otherwise) of macros in digital communications.
The thread I refer to is here - Macros after calling. Annnoying or Lazy?.
I thought I’d express some of my own thoughts on the matter given that I tend to spend most of my operating time using PSK31 and RTTY digital modes.
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Dean Amateur Radio PSK31, RTTY
Further to my blog entry of 28th of February reporting my QSO with Ken (EY8/K4ZW) I have today received his very nice colourful QSL card confirming that contact. You can see the card here - EY8/K4ZW QSL card.
I sent my card to Ken direct at his home address in the USA soon after our brief contact. A big thank you to Ken for the QSO and for his prompt response in sending his card to me.
Dean Amateur Radio QSL
The annual BARTG RTTY contest took place this weekend just passed. Plenty of RTTY activity on the bands and conditions were pretty good.
Highlights of the weekend for me were working AL9A in Alaska for a new one on RTTY and WX7P for a new WAS state (Washington), both on 20m.
Other DX contacts of note were YB4IR, HZ1PS and CO8LY all on 15m and P40YL on 20m. I also heard 6W2SC on 10m but he was fading in and out quite badly. I called him a few times (more in hope than expectation) but no QSO resulted.
Less impressive was my 40m effort which amounted to a meagre 3 contacts. The band was surprisingly devoid of RTTY activity (at least during the times I was able to listen in). A shame really as I’d hoped there might be some rich pickings late into Sunday evening but it just wasn’t to be.
Looking forward now to the CQ World-Wide WPX SSB contest next weekend.
Dean Amateur Radio BARTG, DX, RTTY, WAS
…don’t fix it - just don’t! A simple rule but one we should all observe, always.
Case in point - I had a perfectly functional radio interface box for soundcard digimodes, RTTY (FSK) and rig control. Despite this doing a perfectly good job and not being broken in any way I decided to “fix it”.
The result of this is that having spent 4 days trying to get “a better” interface to work with my radio I am now back where I started.
The “better” box was returned and I still have my original, perfectly functional, radio interface box for soundcard digimodes, RTTY (FSK) and rig control - it isn’t broken and this time I won’t be trying to fix it!
Dean Life..., Totally random fact
This weekend sees the annual 24 hour RSGB Commonwealth (BERU) contest on the air from 10:00 UTC Saturday the 13th of March to 10:00 UTC on Sunday the 14th of March 2010. This is a CW (Morse code) only contest for amateur radio stations located in member states of the British Commonwealth. This means it’s usually easier to work some nice DX because the DX isn’t working the whole world! Pile-ups (such as they occur) are considerably less intense.
Band conditions seem to have been pretty good with the sunspot number up at 32 as I write (Sunday 09:24 UTC). Solar cycle 24 certainly seems to be making a difference because I don’t remember hearing anything like the number of VK and ZL stations I’ve heard this year. Add to that the fact that I actually managed to work New Zealand on 20m for a new one, Australia on 20m and 40m and South Africa on 20m it was a lot of fun. An added bonus was picking up another new one on Saturday afternoon, 5H3EE (Tanzania) on 20m.
All in all it was a good weekend even if I was unable to spend as much time on the bands as I’d hoped. I worked stations in Australia, New Zealand, Tanzania, Cyprus, St Vincent, Montserrat, Canada and South Africa. Much improved from last year and certainly enough evidence to suggest that next years contest will be even better. See you in BERU 2011!
Dean Amateur Radio contest, CW, morse code, propagation, Solar Cycle 24
It’s true, it really is pi day. Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_Day.
NB: this link directs you to a page with a lot of geek speak - you have been warned!
Dean Totally random pi