A two element 40 meter vertical array has been installed at SEØX this weekend. The array is built using fibre glass poles and the two verticals are facing North America with the intention to improve DX scores in contests. The Comtek PVS 40 phasing system is used which allows for endfire patterns in NW or SE and a broadside pattern in SW/NE.
With 40-60 radials the system should produce around 3dB gain in endfire directions with a front to back ratio of around 20 dB, thats over average ground. Being close to the sea I have no intention of using more than sixteen radials, but already with eight radials the antenna system performs about 1 S-unit better than the old 40 meter wire vertical and has a good f/b ratio. The radial system will be improved to 16 radials per vertical.
I am looking forward to see how this antenna will perform in the CQWW CW contest this upcoming weekend. Hopefully it will improve the 40 meter scores from last year.
Elecraft recently announced that they are adding an Audio Peaking Filter (APF) to the K3 transceiver. The DSP APF filter is modeled to perform like analog APF filters such as the praised one found in early Yaesu FT-1000D transceivers. The filter is easiest described as the opposite of a notch filer as it applies gain to a very narrow passband and attenuates anything outside this passband. This is especially useful when trying to pull extremely weak signals out from the noise.
During the weekend I tried an early beta version of the firmware with the APF filter and it worked very well for enhancing readability of weak signals. In some cases it really made a difference allowing me to copy signals otherwise not readable. In my opinion the filter works very well, listen to the A/B tests below to form your own opinion. The two recordings of BU2AQ where made on Topband using a pennant RX antenna pointing North East. Both recordings starts with APF engaged, then after a few seconds the filter is toggled off/on.
Unfortunately the beta firmware posted before the weekend was very buggy and it has been withdrawn for now, but I expect Elecraft to post new updates within a few days.
SMØMDG Björn will be active in the CQWW SSB Contest this weekend from CQ3L together with DJ6QT Walter and DJ6KS Knut. We will enter in Multi-Op Single-Station and DJ8OG Matthias will use the other station CR3L in a Single-Op effort.
Propagation in the SSB portion of the SAC 2010 Contest were weaker than in the CW portion two weeks earlier and it is reflected in the lower number of contacts, especially in 10 meter where only 4 contacts where made.
Despite the slow propagation the final score was an improvement compared to the SAC SSB 2009 Contest. Compared to SAC CW 2010 a few more multipliers where also collected in the SSB part of the contest.
SAC SSB 2010 Score Card
Thanks to you all in the log, CU in the next contest!
Follow the SM0MDG CW Skimmer monitoring the 160 meter band 24/7 on the Reverse Beacon Network. The beacon is using a SDR-IQ receiver using a Clifton Laboratories Z1501 active antenna with a 3 meter whip and will show you the Callsign, frequency, CW speed and signal to noise ratio (S/N) for signals received.
The 2010 edition of the SAC CW Contest was fun as usual. Apart from being a race between teams and individual operators the SAC Contest is also a contest between the Scandinavian countries. I entered in the SO-HP category using the SE0X call.
My personal goal for this contest was to beat last years result and log at least 200 contacts more than the 1.098 logged in the 2009 SAC CW Contest. Another goal was also to sleep less than last year, preferably only 1-2 hours to get the most out of the lower bands.
The start went well and the speed held up good through the afternoon. Both 20 and 15 meter provided multipliers and contacts, but it was clear that the higher bands where not in top shape. In the evening 20 and 40 provided lots of action and later also 80 meters added to the scores including some nice DX contacts. Only a hand full of contacts where collected on 10 meter around 15:00 UTC and a few more during Sunday.
After a little more than 19 hours of operation the contest ended with 1.370 contacts logged and a claimed score of 547.578 points.
I had made no plans in advance to participate in the RDAC – Russian Districts Award Contest this weekend, but couldn’t resist the temptation to spend an hour chasing a few points for fun.
I decided to do a single band effort and since it was morning and 10 meter was open, the choice was easy. Ten was in decent shape making it possible to work all parts of Russia, including the closer UA2 and the more distant UA9 stations came through with good signals.
I was on the air for a little more than one hour effective time logging a total of 125 contacts mixed mode summing up to a claimed score of 2.500. A small number, but it was fun to participate.
Our recent MSØINT IOTA expedition to the Flannan Isles has been nominated by the Clipperton DX Club for the Expedition of the Year trophy in company with excellent expeditions as K4M – Midway and E4X – Palestine. The winner will be decided by voting at the Clipperton DX Club website here. You can vote starting today.
SEØX ranks #1 Sweden Single Operator in the CQWW SSB contest 2009 according to the official results published in the current issue of CQ. I was very happy to see the final result and it feels very nice being number one SM single op, even beating the assisted single ops.
The IARU HF Championship is a 24 hour challenge making it perfect for a single operator entry. In addition to chasing IARU zone multipliers participants also chase IARU HQ station multipliers. My personal goal was to improve my #1 SM single operator results from 2009, therefore I entered in SOHP SSB.
The contest kicked off in high tempo from the start, but during Saturday night the QSO rate slowed down. At one point I considered to re-enter into the mixed mode category to be able to get some action from CW. Early Sunday morning the pace picked up again and I decided to stay in the SSB category. At that time I also set the final goal to 1.300 contacts and 800.000 points which would be a big improvement of the 2009 result.
The most reliable band this time was 20 meter where a total of 677 contacts where logged which is three times the contacts made on 40 meter, the second best band. 15 meter was open but not in its best shape, but it did provide equal the number of zones to 40 meter. 10 meter provided less than 100 contacts, mostly through sporadic E but also a few occasional AS and SA DX contacts.
Lower bands where a bit of a challenge due to exceptionally high static levels. On 80 meter the static crashes where at times 20 dB over S9 making it very hard to work any DX. The pennants didn’t help much, it was just too much static in the air. On 40 meters the static was higher than normal, but here some NA, SA and AS DX stations came through.
Before the contest I decided not to bother with a Topband TX antenna, therefore no stations where logged on 160 meters.
The final result was good considering the challenges. In 18 hours and 45 minutes I was able to log 1.824 unique stations, 88 zones and 111 HQ stations resulting in a (claimed) score of 860.078 points.
The IARU HF Championship 2010 was a fun event, and it was well wort the effort of operating in 30-34 Celsius for 19 hours. Now it will be interesting to see how the results compare.
SEØX ranks #1 Sweden Single Operator in the CQWW SSB contest 2009 according to the official results published in the current issue of CQ. I was very happy to see the final result and it feels very nice being number one SM single op, even beating the assisted single ops.
