Award for the IARU HF 2011

I enjoyed participating in the IARU HF World Championship 2011.
After I came home from my holiday, I discovered that I had not sent in the Log. At first I was disappointed, but then I realized that the activity that the contest offers, provides the opportunity to make interesting QSO's.  I had great fun with QRP and QRPp in 125 QSO's, of which many are 1000 Miles per Watts QSO's. Despite the deadline I sent in.

At the time I sent in the Log, I wondered whether my log would be marked as check log or would be ignored.
The contest robot immediately replied with a e-mail, in which he stated that the Log was received ***AFTER DEADLINE***. And in the same mail the robot kindly thanked my for participating and for submitting the log. hi.

Click on the
label: IARU HF
at the right to see the
related Blog entries.






A while back, to my surprise, I received a beautiful
Award for the IARU HF World Championship 2011.
Country winner:  First place - Single operator - CW only - QRP
It's great fun to participate with QRP and QRPp, but it's even more fun to receive an Award.
I very much like this gesture of great sportmanship.
So my thank goes to the Contest Commity of the IARU HF World Championship. (VE6SH and his team)

Forgot to send in the IARU HF Cabrillo file

In June 2011 I participated in the IARU HF World Championship. As you remember, I made two entries in my Blog about this contest. Probably I was so busy with the Blog and the preparations for the holiday, that I did not send in my Cabrilllo file. When I found out, I sent the file today.
The robot gave the usual information about all the categories.
The robot even kindly thanked my for participation and for submitting the log and even pointed out an ignored line.

But what ever. I had great fun in the IARU HF.
In a long time, I made a QSO with 8 mW. Click here to read.
And made many QSO with the Lowest Possibe Power and a number of more than 1000 Miles per Watt QSO's. Click here to read.
I wonder if my log will be marked as check log or will be just simply ignored.

In the last line the robot stated:
Log received 40 days, 5 hours and 23 minutes after deadline. hi

IARU HF Worked DXCC Coutries

In the IARU HF World Championship, I used
the Lowest Possible Power in nearly every
QSO using a FT-817 that can be adjusted to:
360 mW, 800 mW, 1.8 W or 2.7 W and an
Inverted Vee.
For a power lower than 360 mW, I use
homebrew attenuators.

Worked DXCC Counties
In the IARU HF 2011 I worked 36 DXCC counties.

Propagation
If I compare this overview of the IARU HF contest with similar overviews from 9 years ago, when the the number of sun spots was higher, the difference is that the UA stations that are worked with 8 to 80 mW now, in 2003 could be worked with 5 mW to 50 mW.
This influence of declining sun spots over the years is far less than the daily fluctuation.
In every contest it's still possible to work with QRPp and make more than 1000 Miles per watt QSO's

Activity
It is great to participate in a contest with "World Wide" activity.
This activity is almost as important as the propagation.
I met stations with Excellent Ears and many stations with very good operators.
As you can see, I had great fun with low power.
Thanks to all these fine operators.

IARU HF 2011 Lowest Possible Power

I did not use a fixed power, in the IARU HF World Championship, but I used the Lowest Possible Power in nearly every QSO.
After a destructive mismatch, a few months ago, the power of my FT-817 is reduced. So now the power can be adjusted to: 360 mW, 800 mW, 1.8 W or 2.7 W. The antenna is an Inverted Vee.
But notice that even with a power of 2.7 W, every QSO with Canada or the USA is good for more than 1000 Miles per Watt.
The stronger the received signal, the lower the power that I use.
When a station can hear me, but can not copy, I immediately double my power which is a step of 3 dB.
For a power lower than 360 mW, I use homebrew attenuators.
Click for info on attenuators.
Because I use the Lowest Possible Power in ech QSO, I search and pounce.
It's hard work, in which you need perseverence and patience.

From my contest notes on paper:
I worked YR1C with 36 mW on 14 MHz. His signal was very strong, still S⁺ through the 10 dB attenuator. After first working 5 other stations, he heard my call and immediately responded with my call (not correct) and my report. I corrected my call and gave my report. Now the frequecy was clear, so he received my signal with a good readability and the QSO could be completed easily.

An other station with a very strong signal was R3HQ, which I received with S⁺ + 20 dB. I first tried 8 mW, but I worked him with 18 mW.

The lowest power I used in this contest, was in a QSO with RU1A. I received his signal with S⁺⁺ through the attenuator of 20 dB. I met the team of RU1A before with exteme low power. I knew that this station has Excellent Ears. So I went for the really lowest power. I started with 3.6 mW. They were very busy answering other stations which I could hear, but also that I could not hear. In the proces of answering the CQ's, I already increased to 8 mW and to 18 mW, after question marks, that were not for me. Then after 10 or more calls, I realised, that the signal that I received, was so ear shattering strong, that 3.6 mW could work. So I went back to 3.6 mW. By the 15th time I called, my signal was heard, but not copied, so I increased to 8 mW and made the QSO.

An other station with Excellent Ears is VY2ZM,
which I worked with only 360 mW. Outstanding!

Working with low power is not so difficult.
YU8HQ was S⁺ on 10 meters, so all I did was reduce to 360 mW.
S50HQ had so many callers, that he could not hear me with 800 mW. When I came back later, the frequency was clear and the QSO was made with 360 mW. Both QSO's are good for more than 1000 MPW.

Results

In the contest 125 QSO's on 5 bands are made.
In this survey you can see the power that was used for each QSO, for each band.
Please notice that on 40 m 81% of the QSO's were made with 800 mW or less. On 20 m 54% of the QSO's.
The distrubution the number of QSO's over the power catagories is entirely determined by the propagation.

More than 1000 Miles per Watt QSO's

71 out of 125 QSO's (57%) are more than 1000 Miles per Watt QSO's.
Even with 2.7 W it's possible to break through the 1000 MPW boundary.
The most spectaculair results are found on the 20 m band.
* In every contest it's still possible to work with low power and make more than 1000 Miles per watt QSO's.

Activity
It is great to participate in a contest with "World Wide" activity.
This activity is almost as important as the propagation.
I met stations with Excellent Ears and many stations with very good operators.
As you can see, I had great fun with low power.
Thanks to all these fine operators.

QSO with RU1A with 8 mW

As a milliwatt enthusiast, I often make QSO's with the lowest possible power.
In the IARU HF World Championship 2011 I met RU1A.
Their signal was S⁺⁺+20 dB. Thus S⁺⁺ through a 20 dB attenuator.
When I was answering for the 10th time or more, and my signal was still not heard, I wanted to increase my power. But then I realized (again) that the signal was very, very strong. So I kept answering with 3.6 mW and my perseverance payed off.
He did hear my with 3.6 mW, but he did not copy my call, so I immediately went to 8 mW. Then my call was copied immediately and the QSO was made.

Большое спасибо to the fine operators with their Excellent Ears at RU1A.

This is the card that I received for a QSO with just 1 mW in 2004 .
Click to read more.

Sun spots or no sun spots, it is still possible to make QSO's with very low power.
.