2013 ARRL DX CW contest

This was my first ARRL DX CW contest. Propagation conditions here in North Idaho were excellent for QRP.


My 5W station and simple dipole attached to my roofline at about 20 feet and open wire twin feedline worked almost all parts of the world: from Central & South America to Europe, Africa, Asia (Russia and Japan) and New Zealand.


15 and 10 meters were really hot during daylight hours and are where I made most of contacts. 20 meters, at least for me, was dead, netting me just 1 contact. 40 meters was just OK.


I set a goal for myself to work 100 stations with the time I had available. I ended the contest just before time ran out with a contact to Guam, which was contact number 101.


My KX3 performed like a champ on a set of 8 rechargeable batteries. The rig's ability to dig weak signals out of pile-ups and sometimes marginal propagation conditions was very impressive.


My best contacts were Montserrat and Senegal which I never expected to work. Conditions were so good I worked Montserrat on multiple bands.


Looking forward to next year's contest!

2011 RSGB IOTA CW contest

At around 1700 hours local time I set up my S9 31 foot vertical in the back yard with 16 radials. Had my station set up up outside on the patio about 50 feet from the antenna. My original plan was just to test out the OHR 100A on the vertical after having no success on the dipoles wrapped around my house.

Propagation was strong on 20 meters with lots of contest calls. Checked the contest calendars and discovered that this was the weekend of the RSGB 2011 IOTA! Decided to jump in to road test the new rig and keyer.

The OHR 100A was putting out about 3 watts. I spent the first few hours trying vainly to make a contact. Then finally made an IOTA contact with KU8E in Georgia! Followed that up with an IOTA contact with KL2AX in Alaska. Notched 12 other contest contacts including ZL1TM, EA8URL (Canary Ialands), W4S (Special Station in Florida) and W6UX on Anacapa Island off the coast of California.

By around 2300 local time, 20 meters had pretty closed down for me in Idaho.

Really enjoyed the contest and it was great to return to 20 meters after many years!

2010 CQ WW CW contest update

More DX success this morning during the 2010 CQ WW contest. I worked ZL8X (New Zealand), my farthest DX to-date (over 7200 miles by Great Circle. Also worked several Hawaii contesters.

My first ARRL CW Sweepstakes

I had a blast! The last time I participated in a contest was the 1970's as a Novice! (Remember the old annual Novice Round-up contests?) This time around I was operating QRP on 40m and managed to notch 39 contacts. Not bad for my first effort and only operating for a few hours.

I really appreciate what a great little rig my NorCal 40A is. The keyer worked flawlessly and made it possible for me to keep up with the Big Dogs with speed if not with power. I worked 20 states, including Alaska, Florida and Maine.

My goal for the 2011 CW Sweepstakes is 100 contacts. I still plan to run QRP, but I'm hoping to be active on more than just 40 kHz of 40 meters.

First NAQCC Sprint

Now that I've got my NorCal 40A on the air, I decided to try my first contest: the NAQCC Sprint which ran 0030Z - 0230Z this evening. There was one change to the frequencies due to a PJ DXpedition expected to cause QRM near QRP freqs. Unfortunately the shift to 0710 and up, left me out in the cold since my 40A only covers 7023-7066. Undaunted, I left work early to get home in time to join the fun.

40M was in good shape until about 0100Z at which point QRN went through the roof. It appered to be some kind of environmental noise as it started with a distinct "click." Regardless, I pressed on. Mostly listening through the QRN and occasionally sending my CQ NA. 90 minutes later I called it quits - QRN was just too much.

Came out to talk with the XYL and told her I didn't make any contacts because QRN was too intense on 40M. Mentioned it was odd how QRN seemed to switch on very suddenly. She suggested that maybe it was the lights. (We had installed these IKEA track lights ourselves some weeks ago.) I decided to see if perhaps my QRN source might be the lights. Fired the 40A up again, heard the QRN as usual. Had the XYL shut off the track lights ... presto! QRN disappeared!!

So, even though I had no success on the NAQCC Sprint, I did learn that I need to make sure the track lights are off when I'm on the air. I guess it was all worth it.