Better late than never, here is a short summary of the WPX CW Contest where I entered in the SOHP Assisted category. In this contest the 10 meter band was cooking with Es and this band provided lots of contacts and multipliers for a change.
As the topband season has ended and the topband vertical is in storage, 40 meters was the band I focused at when not on 10 or 20 meters. 15 and 80 meters also provided many contacts but fewer multipliers, so they had to take a back seat this time.
Another goal of this contest was to test CW Skimmer with the SDR-IQ receiver and feed discovered spots to the N1MM band maps. This worked really well and I was surprised what kind of signals Skimmer was able to decode just using the SDR and a Clifton Labs active antenna. Some really nice DX spots where passed on to the band map.
The contest ended with 1272 contacts worked with 619 prefixes resulting in a final claimed score of 1.419.367 points. 40 meters provided most points but 10 meter was just two contacts behind which is a good evidence of the excellent Es.
CU in the IARU HF World Championship 2010 July 10-11, but before that I will be active from Flannan Isles EU-118 together with an international team as MS0INT.
The 7SØX team had a fantastic weekend in the CQ WPX SSB contest. Our aim was to defend the #1 SM Multi-Op Single TX HP position from last year and in addition we also wanted to improve our score from 2009 to make us more competitive on a European level.
The team of four operators, F4BKV Vincent, SMØMDG Björn, SMØMLZ Patrik and SMØNOR Ulf gathered for lunch and transportation to the SEØX station at midday on Friday. At the station preparations went smooth and after a nice dinner and some catching up over a coffee we went on the air with a competitive mindset.
The first overnight part of the contest was pacing on well and Saturday we had a nice opening on 15 meter to harvest in addition to the predicted action on 20. The second overnight shift was slower than the first, but the pace picked up during Sunday with another good opening on 15. During Saturday we logged 55% of all contacts and the rate between runs and S&P was 60/40. During Sunday the runs where not as productive and around 60% of Sunday’s contacts where obtained by S&P.
On Sunday the 10 meter band opened briefly to the East. Only 16 stations worked but some nice DX including VK, HS, VU, YB, 9M2 and UA9 which is nice for a change.
The final result of the weekend is a total of 1911 station logged (excluding dupes) and 959 prefixes resulting in a total (claimed) score of 4.267.550 points, a nice increase from the 2009 score.
Look for 7SØX being active from the SEØX contest station this weekend in the CQ WPX SSB contest. F4BKV Vincent, SMØMDG Björn, SMØMLZ Patrik and SMØNOR Ulf will be defending last years #1 SM position in the Multi Op Single TX category, but the ultimate goal is to improve the overall EU ranking.
It is time to summarize another contest weekend as ARRL International DX SSB Contest has come to an end. This time we packed our stuff and went to SM0MLZ Patrik’s station SGØX we entered in the Multi-Op Single-TX category. Due to some initial computer struggle (thanks to Winoze 7) we started about one hour late.
This time 20 meters was the work horse band and it provided 70% of the total points and 58 multipliers. Second was 40 meters followed by 15 and 80 meters but the contact rate and score where considerably lower on those bands. On Topband only one contact where made and 10 meters never opened. With one man short in the team we did not operate the full contest, after 31 hours on the air we finished with 642 stations on the log and a claimed score of 236.898.
Before the weekend we where really hopeful to get the 40 meter monobander up in the air, but as we arrived to the station we realized that this would provide a too big challenge making us unable to take advantage of the daylight openings on 20 meter.
Photos from the ARRL SSB weekend, click to enlarge:
Team “X-men” with SMØMDG Björn (also SEØX), SMØMLZ Patrik (also SGØX), SMØNOR Ulf (also SFØX) and SMØUXX Erik (mr X!) will be active in the ARRL International DX Contest SSB this weekend. We will enter in the Mutil OP Single TX category with the call SGØX.
Hopefully we will be able to get the 40 meter 2-element yagi up in the air in time for the contest, that would certainly spice up the scores.
Lets start with the conclusion; SSB contesting on 160 meters is fun and very challenging, but SSB and Topband is not the best combination, especially if you are in a country with only 40 kHz permitted band space.
The SSB part of the 160 meter contest was a lot slower than the CQWW 160 CW Contest a few weeks ago. I don’t believe propagation is to blame, it was rather the fact that there were fewer participants but more QRM this weekend than slowed things down.
Most of the stations logged where from EU and European Russia. Propagation was not strong enough for more than a few DX contacts, especially there is a lack of JA in my log. From NA only a few big contest stations where heard and logged resulting in only 4 state multipliers compared to the 39 logged in the CW test.
Entering in the Single Operator category I logged a total of 478 unique stations in 53 countries and 4 US states. The final result is a claimed score of 140.904 points, just a fifth of the CW result.
The Multi Op Single TX effort by SM0MDG, SM0MLZ, SM0NOR, SM0UXX and SM5VFE in CQ WPX 2009 resulted in the #1 SM position according to the official results released by CQ magazine. Check the scores here or read the article here.
In my opinion CQWW 160 CW is one of the most fun, exiting and challenging contests. Topband is the “Mt Everest of DX” pushing the operator and his equipment to the limits. A topband addict constantly improves his station, listens to noise and statics for hours before keying and he never gets an overdose of sleep. Now, add a contest to this and you have the ultimate challenge!
I arrived at the station at noon on the contest Friday to have time to repair my vertical that gave up to the the pressure of a recent winter storm. Luckily, the weather was good and I had the hardware needed to repair the antenna in time for the contest.
The contest started off Friday night in a comfortable pace, propagation was a little weak but there were enough to do in EU to keep me awake. At 04:44 I rested the key and took a two hour nap as it was hard to keep my eyes open, then came back for another hour and a half before getting breakfast.
After a beautiful Saturday with some outdoor activities and a short afternoon nap I was back on the air at 15:45 ready for action. At 17:04 the first JA was logged and the firs NA was logged 22:02, compared to the night before Saturday night and Sunday morning provided a lot more non-EU contacts but also a lot more action over all. Already when breaking for breakfast Sunday morning I had improved my score dramatically compared to 2009.
CQ WW 160 2010 Score Card
Sunday night I finished the CQWW 160 CW contest with 1.119 contacts logged and a claimed score is 670.215. The filal score of 389.844 in 2009 landed me a #2 SM ranking so naturally I am looking forward to see if my improved score this year will be competitive for #1.
The topband vertical at SEØX, an inverted L, broke in the winter storms rendering the antenna useless. Because of the remote location and the heavy snow just before the CQ WW 160 weekend I was not sure if I was able to repair or replace the antenna in time for the contest.
Broken topband vertical before repair
The good news is that the weather was permitting on Friday. Although cold with temperature at -10 celsius and half a meter of snow, there was plenty of sunshine and only light winds which made repair possible. The antenna was brought down around lunch time and the top section was replaced. Before sunrise the antenna was up again and it is now ready for the CQ WW 160 CW contest that starts in a few hours.
Point of collapse
Before repair the top 6 meter of the 19 meter high inverted L was made of parts from an 18 meter Spiderbeam mast. The aluminium section below the fiberglass pole deformed and broke in a way I have never seen before. The flexible fiberglass pole bent extensively in the wind, and after a storm in December the aluminum tube was deformed but the antenna was still standing and working fine. Three weeks later the aluminum had taken so much beating that it broke apart and the top section fell down.
New topband Inverted L, after repair
The top part was replaced with another aluminum pipe and the antenna is now ready for CQ WW 160. Next repair job is to replace the broken elements on the 10 meter mono, but that wont happen until the weather is warmer.
Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year from SEØX to You! Maybe Santa will bring some new toys and I am sure 2010 will bring a lot of fun radio activities and contests.
Better late than never, here is a short summary of the WPX CW Contest where I entered in the SOHP Assisted category. In this contest the 10 meter band was cooking with Es and this band provided lots of contacts and multipliers for a change.
Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year from SEØX to You! Maybe Santa will bring some new toys and I am sure 2010 will bring a lot of fun radio activities and contests.