Saturday was the February version of the North America QSO Party RTTY contest. The contest lasts 12 hours and a single op can work 10 hours of the contest. Max power is 100w which makes it a bit easier for folks like me without an amplifier. Conditions here in Northern NJ were very windy so my wire antennas were blowing around. It stayed very windy the entire contest.

For the exchange in this contest, it’s your name and state/province (or just name if you are outside NA). I configured my exchange macro to just send my name and state once and I had 5 or less repeats the entire contest. Conditions seemed to be good enough that I was coming in loud and clear, so just sending TU DAVID NJ K2DSL was all that was needed. Also in this contest, after the 1st contact with a station, they have your exchange since it doesn’t change, so that helps with repeats too.

I got on at the start (1800z – 1pm ET) and the going was a bit slow at first. I would have expected for activity right from the start, but it took about 1 hour or so before activity picked up. Started on 20m scanning S&P and then hit 15m and 10m S&P. 15m wasn’t very active either but that seemed to pick up about 2 hours later and 15m was loud and wall to wall stations. 20m activity also picked up too but 10m wasn’t very productive any time I checked, which you can tell from my score summary with just 27 contacts. I always hope for more 10m activity, though it  could be me with just a dipole vs a nice 10m or tribander beam.

I first switched to 40m at 7pm (oo0oz) and had a straight hour of S&P averaging 1 contact per minute.  I checked out 80m for the 1st time at 9:30pm (0230z) and in 30 mins again average 1 contact per minute. I tried a couple of runs earlier on 15m and 20m but it was more productive to just tune around the bands and work stations. I was averaging about the same rate when doing S&P or when I was calling CQ. Finished up the night bouncing back and forth between 40m and 80m.

Maybe some folks waited 1 hour at the start and got on a little later and stayed on later. 40m and 80m was certainly busy at the end of the first 10 hours so maybe that’s a strategy to consider for next time… or waiting 30 mins or taking a 30 min break in the middle and taking advantage of 40m and 80m later in the evening.

I noticed that somewhere around 390 Qs I had surpassed last years score with 31 less contacts logged. The reason, though I didn’t look very closely when I happened to notice, is that the multipliers on 15m and 10m this year was 38 vs those same bands last year producing just 13 multipliers.  I surpassed last years total QSOs with about 35 mins left for me to operate.My goal is typically to improve on my previous best for any particular contest.

I ended up working 15 stations on 4 bands and another 31 stations on 3 bands including V31RR (op AA4NC) in Belize who had an excellent signal. I didn’t work any stations in ND, ME, VT, DE or WV in the US and 6 provinces in Canada. I did work many regulars (WA5ZUP, N2BJ, AA5AU and others) along with KX9X who is the ARRL Contest Branch Manager. Log was submitted right after the contest and uploaded to LoTW and eQSL.

Here’s the score summary from N1MM:

 Band    QSOs  Sec   DX
  3.5      52   26    0
    7     134   41    2
   14     159   42    4
   21      78   23    2
   28      27   10    3
Total     450  142   11

Score : 68,850

Here’s a map of the contacts made using http://levinecentral.com/adif2map (click to enlarge):

Next contest is the ARRL DX SSB that starts Friday and I’ll only be able to operate Fri night if I get on the air as I’ll be travelling next weekend with one of my daughters.

See you on the bands,
K2DSL

This past weekend was a big ARRL CW contest. In this contest US stations make contacts with non-US stations and non-US stations work US stations. No US to US contacts except with Hawaii and Alaska. US stations send their State and non-US stations sent how much power they are running.

Friday night after getting home from work and having something to eat I got on the air. It seemed unusual with the first 2 contacts being Asiatic Russia and the stations coming in so strong. They were running 10x plus the power I was running but they didn’t have any issue copying my 100w. Over the next couple of hours I worked more Asiatic Russia stations, Hawaii stations and Japan stations. At 9:30pm ET (0230z) I worked 5 Japan and 2 Hawaii stations in 15 mins. Worked a few statioins on 40 m and called it a night with only 29 stations in the log.

Woke up Saturday morning not feeling well so I didn’t spend a lot of time at the radio. I took frequent breaks throughout the day. But conditions were good and there was a lot of activity whenever I was on. Started out on 40m working Caribbean stations and European stations and even another Japan station and Hawaii station. Switched to 20m for a while, than 15m and 10m. Hit all 3 bands whenever I got on. Early Saturday evening I heard DP1POL in Antarctica again and worked them on 20m. I had previously worked that station as well as a couple others in Antarctica. DP1POL was already confirmed on LoTW on Monday morning. Sat evening I worked TI5W on 80m for the first station in the contest worked on all 5 bands I could tune up. Even though I wasn’t feeling well I stopped with 296 Qs when I shut things down on Saturday night.

Sunday morning conditions seemed to be similar to Saturday and pileups on some stations had become more manageable. I was able to tune the bands and pick off stations at a pretty good clip. I even found A45XR in Oman without any pileup and worked him on the first call for a new DXCC entity. Like DP1POL, A45XR uses LoTW and my new one was already confirmed by Monday morning. I also found 4U1ITU in Geneva without any pileup and worked them quickly. I had previously QSLed via the bureau for 4U1ITU but didn’t have anything back yet, so I’m sending a QSL direct to get this one confirmed for another new one. I also worked EA9EU in Ceuta. I don’t have that DXCC confirmed yet though I’ve worked that station before and a few others without any luck getting a QSL. Might need to go the direct route on that one too.

I shut things down before the end of the contest so I could head over to my clubs monthly meeting. I finished up with 530 contacts encompassing 90 different DXCCs worked in one weekend with 100w and wire antennas. I worked 5 stations on 5 different bands and another 18 stations on 4 different bands. Germany, Hungary and England were the entities with the most stations worked over the weekend. I made 11 contacts each with Japan and Hawaii and 8 contacts with Alaska and 6 contacts with Asiatic Russian stations.

Here’s a map of the stations contacted created with http://levinecentral.com/adif2map/ (click to enlarge):

Here’s a score summary from N1MM:

 Band    QSOs    Pts  Cty
  3.5      23     69   20
    7      59    177   41
   14     222    666   77
   21     177    531   74
   28      49    147   27
Total     530   1590  239

Score : 380,010

See you in the next contest which will be the NAQP RTTY contest this weekend.

73,
K2DSL

I saw a couple of posts about some upcoming online seminars (webinars) being given by the Potomac Valley Radio Club (PVRC). There are 2 webinars on the N1MM contest logging program which I use and 1 webinar on an introduction to digital contesting.

Though I’m familar with N1MM and digital contesting, I’m sure there will still be many tips that I can pick up. If possible I will try and make all 3 sessions though I’ll be travelling for the first one and that might be a tough one. The past webinars I participated in  that were given by the PVRC I found tremendously helpful.

Here’s the info that was recently posted regarding the webinars. First go to the referenced link below to register for free and just remember to come back at the time of the actual webinar.

Title:  N1MM Logger in Depth:  Part 1 – Overview
Date:  Tuesday, February 28
Time:  9 PM EST (Wednesday, February 29 – 02:00 UTC)
Registration (free):  https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/611548330
(registration link also posted on www.pvrc.org under the Upcoming Webinars link)
Part one of a two part series provides a overview of the N1MM logging program.
Series presenters include:
Pete Smith N4ZR
Steve London N2IC
Larry Gauthier K8UT
Rich Ferch VE3KI

Title:  N1MM Logger in Depth:  Part 2 – Digital Modes and Multi-Op
Date:  Tuesday, March 6
Time:  9 PM EST (Wednesday, March 7 – 02:00 UTC)
Registration (free): https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/222788522
(registration link also posted on www.pvrc.org under the Upcoming Webinars link)
Part two of a two part series provides a overview of the N1MM logging program.
Series presenters include:
Pete Smith N4ZR
Steve London N2IC
Larry Gauthier K8UT
Rich Ferch VE3KI

Title:  Getting Started In Digital Contesting
Date:  Sunday, April 1
Time:  3 PM EDT (19:00 UTC)
Registration (free):  https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/982837010
(registration link also posted on www.pvrc.org under the Upcoming Webinars link)
Steve Ford, WB8IMY, QST Editor / Publications Manager provides a beginner-level introduction to digital contesting with a discussion of equipment requirements, software and techniques.

73,
K2DSL

Last weekend was a big RTTY contest, but I was going to be away starting early Saturday morning and not returning until late Sunday evening, so I was gone for almost the entire contest. All I was able to operate was a few hours at the start of the contest on Friday evening after work.

Here’s my N1MM score summary for the 150 contacts I made Friday evening:

I didn’t work any exotic locations but it was nice to hear the diddles in the headphone for a while. This weekend is the ARRL International DX CW contest and hopefully I’ll have some more time to participate. There’s some new DX for me I want to work that will be active and I’ll probably target those on Sunday if the pileups are big on Saturday.
73,
K2DSL

There were a few QSO parties this weekend and I made some contacts in them, all on SSB phone. Looks like combined I eeked out 45 contacts in all.

In the Delaware QSO Party I made 5 contacts – 2 on 40m and 3 on 80m.

In the Minnesota QSO Party I made the most contacts of any of the contests with 27 total Qs with 23 of them on 20m.

In the British Columbia QSO Party I thought I’d hear more activity and only ended up with 1o contacts, most also on 20m.

In the Vermont QSO Party I made just 3 contacts, 2 with 1 station.

Now time to watch some football – Go Giants!

K2DSL

Saturday was a 12 hour BARTG RTTY Sprint contest starting at 7am ET (1200z). I got on a couple hours after the start and activity was pretty good. What wasn’t good for me was the noise on the bands with 20m, 15m & 10m seeming very noisy and only stronger signals were being decoded. 10m activity was lowered than I would have wanted and I’m not sure if it was just me or just not a lot of activity there.

Based on discussion posts on the RTTY reflector after recent major RTTY contests, I adjusted one of my macros to remove the CQing stations call sign from being sent when I send my exchange. For example, I used to send WA5ZUP TU 123 123 K2DSL and modified it to TU 123 123 K2DSL. Didn’t notice any downside from doing this, at least in this contest where I didn’t experience multiple stations on the same or near overlapping frequencies where they might be confused on who I was sending my report to.

During a check on 10m to see if I could hear anyone I saw a spot for GU0SUP at 1400z. For me he was strong but dropped out right when he was sending his report. Took a couple retries by Phil but he came back up nice and strong. Thanks for hanging in there for me.

I think I worked HZ1PS from Saudi Arabia on 15m, but a station kept covering up his acknowledgement. I put him in my log so I’ll get dinged if I’m not in his log and he won’t get dinged if I am in his log.

I worked RU0LL late on 20m. He was very strong and I had a perfect copy on him. You can see in the map below he’s the only contact I had with someone near Asia. I heard a couple of JAs but none very strong and that could hear me. I didn’t find any KLs in Alaska or KHs in Hawaii when I was on.

I hit 243 Qs around 7:30pm (00:30z) which was the same as last years total Qs. The score for the 243 contacts was 60,750 this year vs 37,908 last year with the mults being the reason. I hadn’t even gone to 80m at this point and was going to take a bit of a break. I got on a bit later and worked 40m and 80m a couple of times before calling it a night/contest making an additional 68 Qs over last years effort. Thanks to everyone for the contacts!

Here’s a map of the contacts created using ADIF to Map (click to enlarge):

Here’s my score summary from N1MM:

 Band    QSOs    Pts  Are  DXC  Con
  3.5      34     34    0    0    0
    7      70     70    1    1    0
   14     106    106   10   13    2
   21      82     82   16    2    3
   28      19     19    8    0    0
Total     311    311   35   16    5

Score : 79,305

Next weekend is the SuperBowl and I’ll be focusing on rooting the NY Giants onto another win!

73,
K2DSL

This past weekend, along with the NAQP SSB contest was the January VHF contest. I spent Saturday working the NAQP contest and on Sunday I was going to either drive around and work 2m & 70cm from my car in the 4 grid squares (FN20, FN21, FN30 & FN31) for anyone in the area, or work from my home. With the snow the day before I didn’t feel like clearing off the roof of the car, so I decided to make some contacts from home. I thought I’d get on once, work the locals, and get off, but I did a bit more than that. I really was going to spend Sunday focusing on football. Though the NY Giants were playing at 6:30pm ET I wanted to also watch the other playoff game between the Ravens and Patriots.

I have a Diamond dual band vertical I use for FM operations but also can use it for SSB, though it’s not very efficient, especially on 70cm. For 6m, I can tune up the G5RV. Again, not extremely efficient, but it works. In most cases, if I can hear a station, they will hear me. So I configured N1MM, connected the antennas, and fired up the radio. I made some local contacts on 2m and 70cm and checked 6m. I made mostly local 6m contacts and then took a break waiting for one of the locals to get on in the early afternoon. I kept checking back from time to time taking a quick scan of the bands, though really on 6m had much of any activity. I worked a couple on 6m, and then switched to 2m to work them there and only a couple I even attempted on 70cm.

In some radio checks throughout the day, Florida started coming in. When they come in, they are as loud as the locals and working them is cake on 100w and my G5RV. Sometimes they come and go in the matter of a minute and sometimes they are there for a long time. On Sunday they seemed to last for a while (15+ mins) and booming in. I ended up logging 6 Qs to GA, 6 Qs to FL, 1 to AL and 1 to MS. I didn’t log a MS station on Saturday during the NAQP SSB but log a MS station on Sunday on 6m in a random check of the radio. Go figure!! Even worked a couple of stations on 6m I worked the day before on HF.

Here’s my score summary from the contest:

 Band    QSOs    Pts  Grd
   50      39     39   15
  144      14     14    5
  420       3      6    2
Total      56     59   22

Score : 1,298

Here’s a screenshot of the contacts using http://levinecentral.com/adif2map (click to enlarge):

Once the Giants playoff game started I didn’t get back on the radio. The Giants won and head to the SuperBowl to face the Patriots again, like they did 4 years earlier. Hopefully, the outcome will be the same!

73,
K2DSL

Didn’t have any other plans for Saturday so I was able to work the NAQP SSB ham radio contest.  A single op can work 10 of the 12 hours and max power of 100w – not a problem for me as that’s my max.

Bands seemed noisy most of the day. We got 5-6″ of snow overnight and throughout the morning so I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. I shoveled the driveway twice before the contest started and used the contest as an excuse to not shovel any more. I started on 15m & 10m and it was a bit slow going and a bit noisy across all the bands throughout the contest.  I spent 100% of the contest working S&P and bouncing between all the bands (10m – 80m). I just didn’t feel that I’d be as productive calling CQ, even on the lower bands in the evening.

I did enjoy hearing one op give his name as IDIOT for his exchange. Around 0000z I started to hear some closer states on 20m that were much louder than normal. I recall RI, MA and MD sounding extremely loud on 20m around that time and it seemed odd not just for me but the other ops as well. I also worked the HK0NA Dxpedition. They were operating on 15m SSB split and took a shot working them after they had been on 15m for a long time. Got real lucky and came back to me on my first attempt. Better lucky then good. I also worked them on 20m RTTY Sunday morning.

I had passed my 2010 NAQP SSB score when I hit 242 Qs this year vs 347 Qs in 2010 because of I had 121 mults in the 242 Qs vs 87 mults in the 347 Qs. I ended up with a total of  287 Qs and 135 mults which is almost 1 mult for every 2 contacts which is pretty good. I didn’t log the usual tougher states (NE, WV, MS though CT and ME weren’t logged this time either). What is also odd is I didn’t log a Quebec contact on any band. Normally they are a dime a dozen.

Here’s my score summary:

 Band    QSOs    Pts  Sec   DX
  3.5      63     63   28    1
    7      57     57   28    0
   14      91     91   36    1
   21      47     47   26    1
   28      29     29   14    0
Total     287    287  132    3

Score : 38,745

Here’s a map of the contacts made using http://levinecentral.com/adif2map (click for a larger view):

Very friendly contest and speaking with the ops, even briefly, is nice. Last night my log was uploaded LoTW, eQSL and sent into the contest.

Today I’ll get on VHF and work some of the local club members that are making contacts in that contest. If the snow doesn’t melt off the roof of the car, I won’t go mobile and work them from my home.

73,
K2DSL

Happy New Year everyone!

It was a very busy weekend for me that prevented me from getting on the radio for about 6 hours during prime time on Saturday and 9 hours during prime time on Sunday. That left me with early morning and  late evening operating which is reflected in the bands I was most active on. During my operating time there wasn’t a lot of DX, though I did manage to hit all but VT, ID and DC in the US and a few Canadian provinces.

I noticed a few stations that were dropping the last character of each of their transmissions and it was occurring regardless of what was being sent which eliminated it being just a bad macro. It wasn’t that they were weaker either but just completely dropped. With it being a few stations, I wonder if they might have been running a common program that had an issue.

I also noticed a few stations sending 5NN. which is actually slower in RTTY than 599. But at least they were on and participating.

I didn’t work anything new, though on Sunday after I got on there was a VK station calling CQ and ending his exchange with “… QRZ LONGPATH”. He was an easy copy for me and worked him on the first try.

Here’s a map (using http://www.levinecentral.com/adif2map ) of the contacts made during the RTTY Round Up (click for a larger view):

Here’s a zoomed in view of US contacts made (click to enlarge):

Here’s my score summary as generated from N1MM:

 Band    QSOs    Pts  Sec  DXC
  3.5     134    134   22    0
    7     111    111    8    7
   14      88     88    2    8
   21      66     66   13   17
   28      37     37    7    4
Total     436    436   52   36

Score : 38,368

My log is sent in and upload to LoTW and eQSL. See you in the next contest!

K2DSL