Not often is this seen on 10m |
VE9KK the world of CW blog would not be complete if I did not partake in the ARRL International CW
DX contest. As always I skipped the opening session Friday evening mainly because my limit is 40m and due to the time, I would have limited operating time before the band closed down for the evening. The contest was very well attended along with great propagation numbers. Now having said that on Saturday the space weather numbers were off the charts and some in my local contest group felt it could had been an error on WWV's part as they were showing 343 and other sites such as Dominion observatory were in the 160s. In any case, the numbers were great and in most logs including mine, 10m displayed the largest contact numbers as sure sign propagation was good.
For about 90% of the contest I ran and when it go slow I did some search and pounce. Now running in a contest like this you get HUGE pile-ups and it showed me I have to get more serious with pile-up practices using software such as Morse Runner. I have to be honest in saying at times the pile-ups were overwhelming and hard to pick out any call.
The action on a map view |
My Hustle 4BTV worked like a dream and at times my SNR numbers in Europe were great according to the Reverse Beacon Network. One of the challenges was to find an empty spot to call CQ contest. Often I would have to find a new spot as other ops would unknowingly move in. Not a big deal as it's all part of contesting. Entering these contests always helps out my CW skills to improve my skill but towards the end of the contest on Sunday evening I pulled the plug at 23:30 UTC with only a 1/2 hour to go. I was not hearing code anymore just noise and simple calls like M2T were a challenge so it was time to end things and go have a nice glass of red wine and relax.
One of the highlights was contacting fellow blogger Bas PE4BAS on 10m and 15m.
4 comments:
Wow Mike, 1000 contacts. That's great, you did well. It was great to work you again. We know each other for so many years via our blogging sites. And now finally we are able to work each other. Our hobby is great. 73, Bas
Good evening Bas, I was very pleased I was able to hear you in on 10 and 15m. Your signal here was in around S4-S5 and I was able to pick you out from the pile up.
See you in the next contest,
Mike
VE9KK
Hi Mike, 10 meter will be very interesting band now cycle is 25 is going up. Btw I changed my blog URL: https://amateurradiopa0k.blogspot.com/ 73 Paul PAØK
Hi Paul, thanks for the info about your blog change I have updated my blog roll.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
Post a Comment