Indigo Foxtrot…

My contest approach is one of working stations to give a few points away but not really entering the contest myself. Rather I like to take advantage of the activity that the contest invariably brings to try and work a few new ones, or if nothing else, to at least see what kind of DX I can work with my modest setup.

The bigger CW contests are usually where you can find and work a new one (obviously this gets harder over time) but this past weekend I didn’t hear a single station that would have been a new one for me. I did hear some good DX stations I wasn’t able to work (Brazil and Aruba spring to mind) but my policy is to not dwell on trying to work stations in countries already logged, rather I keep on tuning to see what else I can find.

On 20m I logged 29 countries (highlight was San Marino) but it was apparent, for me at least, that peak conditions were pretty short lived before signals were dropping down into the noise. This is where 40m really came to the rescue in as much as I spent several hours on the Sunday evening slowly tuning up and down the band, eventually logging 33 countries on that band (highlights being Venezuela, Cayman Islands and Jamaica). I had a quick look at 15 on Sunday afternoon but signals were mostly weak with me although I did log Madeira Island as the lone contact on that band. Total contacts numbered 85 in total (not many granted but then I spend most of my time tuning & listening to find the stuff I’m interested in).

All in all it was a bit disappointing not to log a new one but given I didn’t hear any of those I’d hoped I might be in with a chance of snagging, not too bad an effort for a bit of casual giving away of points. A total of 48 DXCC entities logged with no more than 80w output (often running 25-30w due to local breakthrough issues) and a pretty simple wire antenna. Not bad given I’d set myself a target of 50 going into the contest. It just goes to show what you can do with CW, busy bands, a simple antenna and a bit of patience.