46 and counting…

DXpeditions are funded in many different ways.

• Sometimes the operators will fund themselves entirely bearing all personal travel and equipment transportation costs.
• Sometimes a DXpedition will be funded by a group or organisation who’s members have an interest in that DXCC entity being activated.
• Some DXpeditions might be sponsored by equipment manufacturers.
• Some DXpeditions may be sponsored by the individual donations of many hams around the world in support of a rare entity being activated (often one that they personally need).
• DXpeditions can also be funded by any combination of the above methods and of course other methods not listed here.

The crux of all of this is that there is often a degree of ‘obligation’ to make sure that those sponsoring the DXpedition get a fair chance at working them. This is where it can get a bit tricky.
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Dean Amateur Radio, Life... 3C0C, ARRL, DXCC, dxpedition

Well, where to start? I’d hoped that I might be able to work a few new ones over the weekend as the bands were alive with CW stations taking part in the CQ WPX contest. I’d also hoped I might be able to work a few stations from those countries identified in an earlier post for which I need LoTW confirmations towards my CW DXCC (there are of course many more but I consider these to be potentially easier to work).

In addition to all of the CW activity there was also the small matter of the E4X operation from Palestine which I hoped to work for a new one. The CW pile-ups earlier in the week and been huge but as luck would have it they seemed to focus on SSB and RTTY over the weekend and I managed to snag them on 20m RTTY on Saturday evening as the pile-up thinned out. I also worked TL0A in Central Africa on Sunday evening (also 20m RTTY) for another all time new one (number 178).

The WPX CW contests didn’t offer up any new ones but I was pleased to work a few of those countries mentioned in that earlier post. I also worked a few CW new ones. Conditions weren’t great but they did seem to improve from Saturday to Sunday (with the sunspot number up to 45 on Sunday).

Highlights of the weekend were:-

• Working E4X on 20m RTTY for new one #177.
• Working TL0A on 20m RTTY for new one #178.
• Working Colombia and Bonaire for new ones on CW.
• Argentina, Belgium and Slovakia CW now confirmed at LoTW.

So not a bad weekend. Two all time new ones, 2 new ones on CW, 3 more CW countries confirmed at LoTW (and hopeful of a few more), 136 contacts in the WPX contest spread over 54 countries. And all of this on my bit of wet string!

Dean Amateur Radio CW, DXCC, E4X, RTTY, TL0A, WPX

This weekends WPX CW contests is fast approaching. As usual I’ll be hoping that there are a few new ones to work. This year though I also have another objective in mind.

I have been reviewing my Logbook of The World (LoTW) confirmations and in so doing I have drawn up a shortlist of 20 of those countries I have worked but where I still need a LoTW QSL. Many of these are countries I should have no trouble working and none of them are particularly rare.

Algeria, Argentina, Azores, Belgium, Ceuta & Melilla, Crete, Gibraltar, Greenland, Ireland, Japan, Jersey, Macedonia, Malta, Northern Ireland, Senegal, Slovakia, Svalbard, Tunisia, Turkey, Wales

Some of these would usually be overlooked as I tune the bands looking for more exotic DX. Not so this time - if I can snag 15 of those 20 I will have the required 100 LoTW confirmations to submit my CW DXCC application.

The trick now of course is to work as many stations as possible from each of those countries in the hope that at least one from each country uses LoTW.

Dean Amateur Radio contest, CW, DXCC, LoTW, WPX

The eagle eyed reader might notice a few discrepancies in the total number of countries (DXCC entities) I have worked - I had previously claimed 177 countries but I have recently revised that downwards by removing Kosovo from the list. My total is now accurately stated as 176 countries worked.

Last year (2009) a number of stations operated from Kosovo with YU8 prefixes as speculation grew as to some form of Kosovan breakaway from Serbia. There was some discussion at the time as to the validity of these callsigns and the likelihood that Kosovo would eventually be recognised by either or both of the ARRL (who run the DXCC program) and the international community. Mindful of the ‘work them now, worry about it later’ maxim I logged any YU8 stations I worked at the time as Kosovo, just in case.

However, things didn’t happen in line with the speculation and in the course of tidying up my log I have recently amended all of those contacts to be Serbia. Just in case anyone was wondering how or why I’d ‘lost’ a country.

Dean Amateur Radio, Totally random DXCC

As of today I have 127 countries worked on CW. That’s about 127 more than I expected back when first licensed in 1991! Back then it was SSB all the way even though the 12 word per minute Morse test was still a requirement for access to the shortwave bands.

I do have a few Morse contacts in the log from those early days but they really were few and far between. The ease with which I could make contacts on 10m and 15m SSB meant that there was little incentive for me to knuckle down and spend time perfecting the fine art of CW and achieving CW DXCC seemed nigh on impossible.

Fast forward to June 2007 when, having been back on the bands for the best part of two years, I decided to dust off the cobwebs and get back on the bands with a bit of the old Morse code. I used a cheap old Chinese straight key for a while but then moved on to using the keyer in an Icom IC-703 working CW contests with about 8 watts output into my 20m dipole. I subsequently moved on to a K8RA iambic paddle (a beautifully engineered bit of kit which I am still trying to really become proficient with) and higher power levels (although always well under 100 watts). I also adopted computer keying for contests and DXpeditions where the exchanges are short and sharp.

The net result of all of this is that since June 2007 I have worked those 127 countries on CW. In the same time period I have worked 121 countries on RTTY and only worked 96 countries using SSB (where the overall country total is now at 112). A reflection of the relative levels of activity on the respective modes where, as you can see, SSB is currently my least used mode. How things have changed since those early days!

Dean Amateur Radio CW, DXCC, morse code, SSB

Using only Logbook of The World (LoTW) confirmations I applied for my mixed and 20m DXCC awards several weeks ago. Last week the certificates arrived and today I found some nice simple frames for them. They look very good and I’m now looking forward to getting the necessary confirmations (on LoTW) to apply for the phone, CW and RTTY awards.

Ever since I first became interested in amateur radio I have wanted to get my own DXCC certificate. Of itself it’s not the greatest of achievements but it’s always nice when you realise a long held ambition and I get a real sense of achievement when I look at them.

Here they are in all their newly framed glory!

DXCC certificates for mixed and 20m awards

Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures 20m, DXCC

No disputing it, it’s a fact. With my compromise antenna, in marginal situations, it is very likely I’ll hear him better than he hears me (working on the basis he probably has a better antenna than mine). So, if I want to work him, I need to radiate enough of a signal for him (or her) to hear me. No antenna means I radiate no signal.

I hear and read a lot of comments from hams in antenna limited situations similar to my own lamenting the fact that they can’t put up the kind of antennas many other hams are using. To all of them I say “do not despair and just put up something…anything!” It will radiate a signal and you will work people. Granted not as many as those other hams with the big fancy antennas but you will make contacts.

Case in point, my current antenna which is (as previous posts have mentioned) a compromise multi-band wire that seems to work quite well (despite the losses recently identified in the previous blog entry) on 20m, 30m and 40m and that will additionally tune and work on 80m, 17m, 15m and 12m. I suppose 7 band coverage on 12 metres of sloping end fed wire isn’t too bad and with this antenna I have worked some nice DX in the past 18 months (116 countries) including:

Alaska, Anguilla, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Barbados, Bermuda, Bonaire (Curacao), British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Desecheo Island, Dodecanese, Faroe Islands, Grenada, Hawaii, Iceland, Iraq, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Martinique, Mauritius, Montserrat, New Zealand, Nigeria, South Africa, St. Maarten, St. Vincent, Sudan, Suriname, Svalbard, Tajikistan, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Venezuela and Western Sahara.

This includes 15 all time new ones taking my DXCC total from 162 to 177. Not bad for a pretty simple compromise antenna!

I hope that this blog entry will illustrate to many of the newer hams out there, who are similarly limited in what antennas they can erect, that simple compromise wire antennas can work. I know that there are better antennas and I know that many will always say that “more…higher is better” but the simple truth is that not everyone can get “more…higher”. In those circumstances always remember that something is better than nothing so put up what you can and work some DX!

Dean Amateur Radio, Life... antenna, DX, DXCC

I like chasing DX and I’m always interested to see what DXpeditions are planned for the months ahead. A good resource for this information is provided by Bill Feidt, NG3K, on his website. The ‘Announced DX Operations’ page lists most of the scheduled DXpeditions.

I regularly scan the listed operations to see if there are any scheduled to DXCC entities I need. There usually are! I then break this down into those I ‘expect’ to be able to work and those I don’t expect to be able to work, based on my setup and my experience of relative strength (or absence of) signals heard from those parts of the world.

I then also consider which modes the respective operations prefer because I know I’m unlikely to work many on SSB, due in large part to my operating mostly at night when the rest of the house is asleep, but also due to my relatively poor signal. I find that CW really is my best option most of the time!
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Dean Amateur Radio DX, DXCC, dxpedition

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

First things first - I’m not by nature an award chaser. However, entry to the DX Century Club (DXCC) is something I’ve had in mind ever since I was first licensed. It’s the award that most hams will identify with as being the one to work toward.

There are various DXCC awards for the common modes of operation and for stations contacted on any of the individual amateur bands but the most basic of all is the ‘mixed’ award for confirmed contacts with 100 stations across all bands and all modes.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, a few days ago I applied for the DXCC mixed award and the DXCC 20m award…through the ARRL Logbook of The World. I’ve been a LoTW user for about 4 years now and I used only LoTW confirmations when applying for the awards. This is a lot easier than submitting precious QSL cards for checking. Payment is all done online and I hope to receive the certificates before too long.

All being well I’ll soon be in a position to apply for my DXCC RTTY (currently 84 confirmed on LoTW) but beyond that I need to work hard at increasing my CW and SSB totals (currently 80 and 65 respectively). Time to hit the bands and make some contacts! CQ de G0RIF…

Dean Amateur Radio ARRL, CW, DXCC, LoTW, QSL, RTTY, SSB