What a Contest !!!!

What an incredible 48 hours on the bands!!  It has been a long, long, time since I have done that well in a contest, especially as QRP.  In fact the only part of the world I did not hear, or work, was the middle east.

There were so many stations calling from the US Virgin Islands I believe a discount airline must have had a seat sale to that destination.

I managed to get contacts on every band except 160m, and while I could faintly hear stations calling "CQ Contest" on that band, I could not hear them well enough to work.

10m while not that busy, was indeed steady.  I must have worked a quarter of my contacts here.  It wasn't crowded and the stations were well spaced out.

15m was pretty good.  It started off quiet and then, when operators realized it was fully open, it got very busy.  My 148' long wire inverted "L" worked great here.  In fact I broke through the wall to get a JA station on Saturday evening, not bad for a QRP station !

20m was a total zoo.  Signals on top of signals which were right next door to an extremely loud signal...and so the band went.  Having said that though I found it very easy to make contacts once I kicked in the FT-950's Notch Filter.....not sure what I would have done without that this weekend !!

The downside?  LIDS tuning up on top of stations in QSO, at one point I counted 7 tuner uppers on top of a VK3....all at the same time.  Many American stations operating SSB out of band around 7.060 - 7.090.  You guys know you're not allowed there....so why do you do it?  The stupid thing is they were way out of band and calling with their callsigns, and most of the DX stations were also working split up into the US portion.  Just stupidity at its finest, that rare station isn't worth losing your ticket over!!

My other big bitch is the stations that didn't know the exchange, come on guys, read the rules.  You need to know about allowed band changes, how much time off must you take, the exchange, and a whole other pile of other information.  It was obvious that many had not read the rules at all.  I'm a firm believer that contests like this one is not the place to practice on if you're a beginner.  It's very fast paced and most of the ops seem to have little patience for those who fumble along.

On that subject I have to praise OY9JD in the Faroe Islands, who battled with ops from a certain country who obviously don't know their ABC's or 123's.   I was waiting my turn to call him and was listening to his rhythm as he was calling for "the station with Alpha Juliet".....Holy Cow, the frequency just exploded with every callsign in the book....other than the "Alpha Juliet".  I don't think that op ever made it through the wall, I know I didn't.

That's another basic contesting skill that's becoming very rare: LISTEN to the DX station, he runs the show.  I can't figure out why some ops insist that when the DX Station calls for "Threes", they think it means them.  All you hear is "Nine", "Seven", "Two", and every number under the sun.  LISTEN.

Overall it was a great weekend.  I managed to put 129 countries in the log, which I believe is a record for me during a contest.   We will have to see if we can beat that at the end of the month during the CQ WW WPX Contest.

ARRL Int DX SSB Contest

Coming up this weekend is the ARRL International DX SSB Contest.  Thus kicks off at 0000 UTC on March 5th and runs till 2359 UTC on March 6th.

Rules can be found HERE.

Things are all set here at the QTH, the FT-950 is working perfectly and both antennas are working very well.  Given the amount of high winds we have had here this winter I'm surprised they're both up in the air!!

I'm just awaiting a leave pass from the "Honey-Do" list and I'll be all set!!   I always enjoy this contest as there is always lots of good DX to be had on just about every band.

Maybe I'll even here, and perhaps work, the ever elusive VA3QV this weekend.....

CQ 160m Contest

I thought I would try the CQ 160m SSB Contest on Friday evening, I've never taken part in this contest before.

Using my 148' inverted 'L' and my 80m OCF Dipole, both antennas tuned up quite well on 160m.  The band seemed to be in great shape.  It was wall to wall signals right across the band, and doing the "Hunt & Peck" system it was easy to pick the stations off.

You will see from the map below that both of my antennas are compromises on 160m, but I did get out, only to the eastern side of the continent, but still not bad for two antennas that are not cut for that band.

Best DX of the contest for me was either PEI or Florida, and I must be honest, I never heard any mid-US to west coast stations at all.

So this rounds out a very quiet month here, interrupted only for my 60th Birthday celebrations.....I have to tell you all, I don't feel 60, in fact I don't feel any different than when I was 40....and hopefully it will remain that way for a long time !!

I am already gearing up for next weekends ARRL International SSB DX Contest...starts at 0000Z on March 5th till 2400Z on March 6th.....AND.....don't forget the clocks go ahead next Saturday Night !!

Busted Weekend

Last weekend both the Vermont and British Columbia QSO Parties were held......except I never heard anyone from either place on the air, SSB or Digital.

What was it....lousy propagation or a lack of participation?

Seems strange that I wouldn't hear anyone from either location, especially as I was working stations from all over North America, both on SSB and PSK31.

Oh well, as they say: "Better Luck Next Year".

2016 Winter Field Day.....the aftermath

Winter Field Day this year was a great success!  This has to have been the year with the most participants ever.  The bands seemed to be alive with people calling "CQ WFD" on both SSB and PSK31.  Not as busy as Summer Field Day, but just as much fun.

Many of you will know that WFD was at one time sponsored by SPAR, the Society for the Preservation of Amateur Radio.  That organization folded up late last year and a new organization was quickly formed to keep the idea alive.  I have the privilege to sit on the Executive of that organization as the sole Canadian representative.

It was a lot of work to get WFD up and running this year, but it was really worth it, and obviously from the result we have seen this weekend, I think we did a good job.

Just a note on WFD 2017.....there will be some rule changes coming as a result of what we learned this year.

At 1645 on January 30th, just before it all started, the propagation report was: SFI=114.  SN=49.  A Index=3. and K Index=0.  Not bad, but we have had better....but given that the solar cycle is dying we can't complain.

About 80% of my contacts were done via PSK31.  This is the very first contest I have done using any digital mode, but it won't be my last....I have a great time with it.  My contest macro's worked very well, and I only had to make two very small changes after I started.

Not only North American stations took part.  We had stations from Cuba, Belgium, France, Holland, the UK, and Poland take part which was really nice to see.

Over all I had a total blast and can't wait for summer field day in June......even if it does mean mosquitoes !!

Provinces and States that I worked this weekend.

Saturday, 1700 UTC January 30th to Sunday, 1700 UTC January 31st. 

Winter Field Day 2016

Also coming up at the end of the month is Winter Field Day........this year it's under new management as SPAR has folded up and faded away.  Taking the place of SPAR as the sponsor is the Winter Field Day Association....Link HERE for the rules, etc.

This will be the eighth year our Club has taken part in this event.  The cottage we had booked for this event was cancelled on us, so the club is not sure what we are going to be doing, but we will be doing something......probably at one of the members workshops.

Winter Field Day also has a very active Facebook page HERE.

This is a great opportunity to operated for 24 hours under less than adequate conditions and to test your emcomm capabilities under winter conditions.  Given the fact that this large country of ours has many months of ice, cold and snow a year, it's something we need to practice.   Not every emergency happens in summer.

It should be noted that Winter Field Day is NOT just for North American stations.  Feel free to participate no matter where you are.

NAQP 2016

Coming up this weekend is the SSB portion of the North American QSO Party........I'd almost forgotten about it to be honest....

Last year I didn't do very well in this contest so I'm hoping for a large improvement this year.  I think with the second HF antenna up in the air the I should do OK, at least I'll have 15m this year....

Brought to you by the fine folks at the National Contest Journal, it lasts for only 12 hours, and runs from 1800 UTC January 16 to 0600 UTC January 17.

The up-to-date rules can be found HERE.