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| LED RFI |
Where we live, I have a very quiet noise floor and have enjoyed it for years. Recently, however, while operating on 40 meters, I noticed an offending signal on the Icom IC-7610 waterfall display. The noise repeated approximately every 15 kHz. If a CW signal happened to fall within the hash, I was unable to hear it.
This CQ WW WPX contest was my first major contest in a few years, as we are usually away on vacation and I end up missing it.
This year, my best bands were 20m during the daytime and early evening, before moving over to 40m later in the evening. Overall, the early evening and nighttime hours seemed to be the most productive, with both 20m and 40m really opening up.
During the daytime, I just could not get a good run going. At times, it felt like I was simply calling “CQ Contest” into the ether with very little response. Because of that, this contest turned into mostly search-and-pounce for me, with only the occasional attempt at running.
Throughout the daytime hours, I kept VFO A on 20m and VFO B on either 15m or, at times, 10m, constantly watching for openings. When conditions looked promising, I would jump down to those bands and was able to pick up additional contacts on 15m and 10m. Most of my 10m contacts ended up being with South America.
One thing that definitely kept me in the radio chair was the weather. It was quite chilly here, with daytime highs reaching only 8°C and evening temperatures dropping to around 2°C. In fact, I even had to break out the portable heater I use to keep my hands warm. I find that when my hands get cold, they just do not work as well on the keyboard when entering call signs and serial numbers.
This was also the first major contest for my new Icom 7610, and I am happy to say it performed flawlessly throughout the event.
I have been running my WSPR desktop unit for almost 24 hours to get a better feel for band conditions ahead of this weekend’s CQ WW WPX contest. The bands I focused on were 10m, 15m, 20m, and 40m, using my Hustler 4BTV antenna. The results showed that 40m and 20m have been the strongest bands, while 15m has been relatively weak and 10m has been virtually non-existent. The evening hours appear to be when band activity really picks up and could provide my best opportunity for strong run rates. We’ll see how it all plays out, because before you know it, Sunday evening will be here and another contest will be in the books.
