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 first NA entered the log at 22:02. Compared to Saturday morning Saturday evening and Sunday morning provided many more DX 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.
Update: The SINGLE-OP HIGH record set by SE0X stood strong for 11 years. In 2021, SJ2W narrowly surpassed it with a score of 626,322 points, edging out SE0X’s 615,219 points from 2010. SJ2W is a superstation located in northern Sweden.
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.
Point of collapse
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.
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.
I was not really planning a serious effort in the ARRL 10 meter contest this past weekend because of other engagements. But I did make a few contacts in the test for fun on Saturday logging V51 and a few Europeans via scatter. When I realized that the band wouldn’t open, I saved my energy for Topband as it had been in good shape Friday night and I planned to be active again on Saturday night and Sunday Morning.
Sunday after breakfast I tried a few calls on 10 meters again and after a few stations logged in a slow rate, the band opened up a little and I was able to work several EU stations including a number of Russians and Ukrainians. The increased contact rate got my adrenaline pumping and I logged a total of 98 uniques contacts scoring 9.800 points before I had to go QRT. Not much, but considering that propagation at least a sign of life!
The annual ARRL 160 meter contest was a success last year as SEØX won the #1 SM SOHP award. This year the goal was to improve the score from last year and if possible defend my #1 position, but that might be a tough task if more logs are submitted this year.
This year I decided to be active both nights, as long as possible. US East Coast sunset is around 21:30 UTC and our sunrise is around 07:30 UTC which would provide a total of 19,5 hours of meaningful operating time. Of that time I was active 12 hours and it was really tough work.
Friday night and Saturday morning it was not possible to get a run going, only the US big guns where heard. When they where logged together with a few Canadians and dependencies, there where nothing more to do on the band. I heard the bigger stations working at a good rate, but I could not hear the stations they where working. I guess propagation was too weak to allow for the smaller stations to cross the Atlantic Ocean an drop down in SM. I decided to get a little sleep around 02:40 UTC. I was up again at 05:00 UTC and logged a few more stations into my sunset.
On Sunday evening during East Coast sunset the big guns started to show up again on the band, together with a few stations not logged the night before. I was not sure if this because of better propagation or if they have not been active the night before, but the new calls logged lit my hope. After three hours I had swept the band many times and the QSO rate was low so I decided to take a nap to recharge myself and let the band reload with new stations. Three hours later I woke up to a different band! The big guns like K9DX, KC1XX and others where still around and they where strong, but when I started do search and pounce I found many new stations on the band. In the few hours before my sunrise I had doubled the number of contacts in the log including a couple of West Coast contacts. I was even able to stir up a little run which felt like a big improvement.
The result was 150 logged stations and a total score of 16.200 which is small compared to other contests, but with a limited number of stations to work on the most challenging band I am definitely looking forward to see how my effort will rank in SM and EU.
All in all a tough weekend with not so much sleep, but lots of static and fun!
I need sleep, lots of sleep… after 33 hours of decoding CW it is time to lean back, recover and reload to get ready for the ARRL 160 meter contest next weekend. But first lets summarize WW DX CW 2009.
No sun spots and shorter daylight hours led to lower propagation and less action on higher bands compared with CQ WW SSB a month ago. 160 meter provided the highest number of contacts thanks to the new antennas and a few good Topband runs. 40 meter was “broken” the first night, improved on Saturday, but it was not until Sunday evening that the band really started to rock with that heavy activity and contest QRM you just love. 20 and 15 open both Saturday and Sunday, and 15 was open to NA for a long time on Sunday afternoon. 10 meter was closed and only a handful of contacts where “forced through” using lots of (will-) power. Almost 1500 stations where logged which is about 500 stations below the result of CQ WW SSB.
CQ WW CW 2009 Score Card
The K3 really showed off this weekend as I decided to give the DSP noise reduction a chance to impress, and it did. I was using NR all weekend which really helped bringing down the noise and statics on lower bands. I am not a fan of using DSP noise reduction on SSB as it produces too many artifacts, but for CW it works fine. Setting the RF-gain right above the noise level together and using NB made the static backdrop less fatiguing.
And the filtering in the K3 just rocks! At one point I was trying to copy a weak JA calling for me when someone fired off a few hundred dits in my passband. I quickly shrunk the passband to 50 hz and was able to shut the door on the jammer to copy the JA perfectly.
Another fun contest weekend is over, now back to cleaning the log!
Again it is time to fire up the station at SEØX to be active in CQWW CW this weekend. I will be competing in the Single Operator High All Band category. Antennas for all bands are operational and special attention will be paid to the 160, 15 and 10 meter bands.
The 10 meter yagi at SEØX is broken… again! The tip of the front director have been broken “clean off” in a way that reminds me of a classic movie quote by Clint Eastwood:
‘this is a 44 Magnum the most powerful handgun in the world, it will blow your head clean off and you have to ask yourself one question, do I feel lucky?’
Well, I don’t (feel lucky) as this happened several times! As a matter of fact it happened almost every winter in recent years and I assumed it was heavy gusts of wind overpowering the aging material of the beam. Now I am not so sure anymore…
Antenna tip cut clean off
All elements where recently replaced to avoid the problem, but apparently it did not help and the rough costal wind won another victory over mankind. The aluminium you are looking at in the above photo is only 14 months old, and I am amazed how neatly cut the element is. Time to bring the tower down… again.
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.
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.
I was not really planning a serious effort in the ARRL 10 meter contest this past weekend because of other engagements. But I did make a few contacts in the test for fun on Saturday logging V51 and a few Europeans via scatter. When I realized that the band wouldn’t open, I saved my energy for Topband as it had been in good shape Friday night and I planned to be active again on Saturday night and Sunday Morning.
The 10 meter yagi at SEØX is broken… again! The tip of the front director have been broken “clean off” in a way that reminds me of a classic movie quote by Clint Eastwood:
