A bit of a mixed bag really with no new ones, not even one, but some nice DX worked, especially on 40m on the Sunday evening. Overall I made 85 contacts (a result of more tuning & listening than transmitting) with 48 DXCC entities logged over the weekend in several sessions on 15/20/40m bands. Details on a separate page which is here - CQWW CW contest 2009 - summary - or linked from the Radio menu above.
the 48 countries logged - CQWW CW Nov 2009
On a less serious note I have to award my ‘biggest signal on the band’ award to G3WW who was booming into Lichfield at S9+60db at very least. I’d be interested to know just what antenna was in use to get such a big intra UK signal.
Dean Amateur Radio antenna, contest, CW, DXCC, morse code, propagation
…this time from a new country for me, Bermuda. This is for a CW (morse code) contact with Yuri (as VE3DZ/VP9) in the CQWW WPX CW contest back in May.
The colourful VE3DZ/VP9 QSL card
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Here you can see the nice colourful card showing a nice view of the island basking in the sun. I sent my card direct to Yuri’s postal address (a PO box) in the USA soon after the contest in May so by my reckoning it’s taken about 4 months for the return card to reach me. That’s pretty good.
I send many direct QSL cards, usually to stations that either don’t have a bureau facility or choose not to QSL via a bureau. It can take years to get a reply and anything within 6 months is pretty good!
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Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures Bermuda, contest, CW, morse code, QSL, WPX
Advocates of CW (Morse code) will often cite its advantages over other modes like phone (by which they usually mean single sideband (SSB) these days). One of those advantages, a side effect of it’s narrow bandwidth (meaning that the transmitted energy is ‘focused’ into a narrow signal), is its ability to ‘get through’ when other modes can’t. They’ll tell you that CW will get you the QSO more times than any other mode, such as for instance when conditions just won’t allow you to conduct a phone contact.
Case in point - this years RSGB (radio society of Great Britain) IOTA (islands on the air) contest, held this past weekend from noon UTC Saturday to noon UTC Sunday. It’s usually a good measure of both your antenna and conditions because many of the participating stations on islands will be running modest power with simple antennas (unlike other major contests where the ‘big guns’ are out with their huge antenna systems and powerful amplifiers). Bottom line is, in the IOTA contest your station needs two basic attributes - good ears and a good radiated signal. This boils down to one fundamental component - your antenna (or antennas). If you can’t hear them you can’t work them and if you can’t make them hear you you also can’t work them.
What I found when trying to work a few of the stations was that more often than not it was VERY difficult getting them to hear my SSB signal (and even those who could hear me were reporting me as ‘weak’). Using CW on the other hand usually resulted in them replying to my first or second call.
Over the weekend I worked around twice as many stations on CW as I did on SSB (all of them European stations on either 20m or 40m) and all of the SSB contacts were hard work! Not to mention those SSB stations I tried to contact and just didn’t get through (after calling several times even when there were no other apparent callers). A very clear demonstration that, all else being equal, CW will get you the QSO where SSB might not.
Dean Amateur Radio antenna, CW, IOTA, morse code, RSGB, SSB
Following the recent post regarding countries worked since moving to Lichfield, I had a quick check last night to see what progress I’d made towards my DXCC objectives.
Just to recap - I aim to work at least 100 countries on SSB, CW and datamodes (RTTY and PSK31). I also want to work 100 countries on each of 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 30 and 40m bands (basically all the bands where my antenna works).
In the first instance I’m concentrating on getting the 100 countries on each mode and the scores to date are:-
- 109 countries on SSB
- 116 countries on CW (morse code)
- 129 countries on datamodes (117 RTTY, 74 PSK31)
- 168 countries worked in total
Of the 168 countries worked I have 151 confirmed (QSL received) with 146 by paper card and 110 LOTW (Logbook of The World).
Dean Amateur Radio DXCC, G0RIF, morse code, PSK31, QSL, RTTY, SSB
Mindful of being out for much of the day it was an early start for day 2 of my contest effort. They say that the early bird catches the worm and it was oh so true on this occasion when I snagged KL7RA in Alaska for another all time new one at 06:33 UTC followed by KH6MB in Hawaii a few minutes later.
I managed about 4 hours in total, on and off through the day, finally shutting down around 21:30 UTC mindful of work the next morning. In total over the two days I logged 122 contacts in 52 countries with 3 all time new ones and 1 new US state (Idaho), not bad for a seriously compromised antenna and no more than 75 watts output.
the 52 countries worked - CQWW WPX (CW) 2009
Dean Amateur Radio contest, CW, morse code, WPX
Clear blue skies & soaring temperatures outside but I managed several hours on 20m with brief excursions to 15 and 40m. I managed to work 2 all time new ones in the form of A62A (UAE) and VE3DZ/VP9 (Bermuda) and the overall QSO/country count for my modest first day effort was 91 contacts in 43 different countries.
Day two is now well underway but as it’s another beautiful day we’re off visiting family for a BBQ so not sure at this stage if I’ll add to my day 1 numbers. Even so, I’m very pleased with the haul so far especially after a little antenna surgery immediately prior to the contest…of which more in a later post.
Dean Amateur Radio, Blog BBQ, contest, morse code, WPX
I mentioned in an earlier post that I was hoping to work YS1G on CW (morse code) this week for an all time new one in the form of El Salvador. It’s looking very much like that will be a lot more difficult than I expected.
I have so far heard them on 17m late into my evening and on 40m early my morning. I’ve not yet heard them fully readable and there is deep fading on their signal. At best they are peaking 475 on my random wire antenna but only for a few seconds at a time. Most of the time they are inaudible down in the noise.
I will listen in a few more late evenings in the hope propagation peaks on one of those nights. Early mornings are more difficult but I might get one last chance early morning on Saturday the 23rd when they report that they will be on air ‘early GMT’ before packing up to head back to the UK.
I’ll keep fingers crossed but for now my expectations are revised to a ‘nice if it happens’ rather than the ‘expecting to work them’ of previous weeks.
Dean Amateur Radio, Life... antenna, morse code, propagation, YS1G
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The QSL card arrived today and a very nice card it is, befitting the dxpedition itself which was a slick, well run affair.
I was very pleased with my 30m CW contact because prior to the night I made the contact I’d struggled to hear them at all. Add to that the huge pile-ups I was convinced I’d never get through. But, on the night of the 22nd February 2009, they were much louder so I set about making a few calls, trying to find my way through the pile-up. Half an hour later they were in the log.
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The very smart K5D QSL card
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I’ve had some good successes on morse code over the past year or two with VP6DX and K5D as two contacts of note. I next hope to work El Salvador for an all time new one later this month when a British team will be operating exclusively on CW as YS1G. Fingers crossed there is some decent propagation come the time.
Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures dxpedition, K5D, morse code, propagation, QSL
6Y8XF - Jamaica
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Nigel (G3TXF) made 2,100 CW QSOs operating as 6Y8XF from Montego Bay in Jamaica for the 2009 Commonwealth Contest. One of those, on 40m, was me.
I’d worked Jamaica many times previously but I was still waiting for a confirmed contact. I know Nigel is a serious QSLer so I was pleased to get him in the log and even more pleased when his QSL card dropped onto the mat this morning. |
Thanks to Nigel Jamaica is now confirmed, this despite my earlier moans (see March 15th) regarding my poor antenna setup and performance. It’s fair to say that the antennas at the other end more than made up for my bit of wet string - check out Nigel’s excellent site at http://www.g3txf.com where he has a write-up of his Jamaican trip and some nice pictures of the station he was using.
I also had a QSL card this week from PJ5NA (James) on Sint Eustatius Island in the Dutch Antilles. I was really pleased about this one because it was a very difficult 30m CW contact on a very noisy band. But it seems I got him and it’s one more to the confirmed total - now running at 165 worked, 144 confirmed (by QSL card), 148 total confirmed (I also use ARRL’s Logbook of The World where my total stands at 105 confirmed).
Dean Amateur Radio contest, morse code, QSL
The RSGB Commonwealth Contest, for those of you who aren’t amateur radio operators, is a 24 hour morse code contest where the aim is to contact as many stations as possible in countries comprising the British Commonwealth.
I’d been looking forward to this for a while having done well last year in so far as I managed to work 4 all time new ones over the 24 hour period. This weekend however was a bit of a disappointment with most stations of interest either not heard at all or way down in the noise.
I don’t think conditions were great but I attribute the disappointment mostly to my relatively poor antenna compared to last year. My 2008 efforts from a previous residence were assisted by resonant 20m and 40m dipoles. This year at a new home I am using a simple random length wire tuned by an antenna tuning unit. This makes for a far less efficient receive and transmit antenna. I think it’s time to explore how I can fit some resonant antennas into my new setup.
Dean Amateur Radio antenna, contest, morse code