CQ WW DX CW contest 2015

On Thursday before the contest, a fellow HAM helped my to repair the inverted V. The whether was sunny with no wind, so it was nice to work on the roof. We replaced a part of the 300 ohm ribbon, where it was broken and we checked the connections in the top of the Inverted V.

I decided to repair the inverted V, in stead of using the 15 inch cylinder dipole. The dimensions of the Monster cylinder dipole and it's height 4 m above the ground, allow the antenna work on frequencies of 21 MHz and higher. But now I wanted to use not only 21 MHz, 14 MHz and 7 MHz.

It was great. On Saturday I could make a total of 24 QSO's, all with S&P. The inverted V was working very well. Most QSO's were with European stations on 40 m, 20 m and 15 m. Later I made 4 QSO's with North America. In all the QSO's on Saturday I needed the full power of the FT-817, which is 3,6 W on 20 m and 2,7 W on 40 m and 15 m. That I needed "full power", was only a matter of propagation.

On Sunday morning I immediately noticed that the propagation was better. The signals were stronger than on Saturday. After about 10 QSO's with 2.7 W, the signals became stronger. The S-meter went up, so I could make QSO's with 360 mW. In the first QSO with 36 mW the received signal was S9 + 10 dB. This QSO was a DUPE, but I took my change and really enjoyed that OM7M gave a report, so we made the QSO with QRPpp. I very much enjoy this friendly attitude. 

After this QSO, I came on a quiet part of the 20 m band and I made QSO's all over Europe and two QSO's with North America all with just 360 mW. Then I heard a station from Japan. Luckily it was very quiet on the band (20 m) and with the 3th call, the QSO was made with 3.6 W. I did not dare to go lower. 

The next 30 QSO were made all over Europe, with 360 mW, except when I needed 3,6 W. When the signals incidentally went up to S9 + 10 dB, it was possible to reduce to 36 mW.

It was great. I very much enjoyed to work with the lowest possible power from QSO to QSO on Sunday.

UBA DX contest 2015

This weekend I participated in the UBA DX contest.
The conditions were not very good , but I still made 27 QSO's with S&P in CW.
I could make 1 QSO with less than 100 mW, 3 QSO's with 800 mW.
The rest of the QSO's was made with 3 or 4 watts.

Rigth at the start, I heard YT1A.
Vladans signal was very strong, so I reduced my power.
With the FT-817 set to 800 mW and with the "PA1B 40 dB step attenuator" set to 10 dB,
the power to the antenna is reduced to 80 mW.
With a distance of more than 900 miles, this results in more than 11000 Miles/Watt.
This was the only QSO with less than 100 mW in this contest.

After that I made QSO's with 800 mW to 4 watts.
The FT-817 here gives less than 5 watt with full power, after a serious mismatch.
This is less than 4 watts on 14 MHz or less than 3 watts on 21 and 28 MHz.

The ribbon of the Inverted V is not yet repaired.
As long as there is no wind, all is OK . See the post on the PACC 2015 Click.
But with a wind force of 6 on the scale of Beaufort , it was not always easy. hi.

PACC 2015

I did not expected much of the PACC, the annual contest from the Netherlands,
because of my antenna.

One wire of the 300 ohm ribbon of the Inverted V is damaged.
With no wind all is OK, but . . .
Frequently the wire does not connect briefly, when the ribbon moves in the wind.
While transmitting the SWR jumps briefly and on receive, the signal disappears shortly.
With S&P I have to repeat my call or exchange sometimes when the wind blows,
In several other contests in the last weeks, I could make QSO's with 8 mW, when the
propagation is very good, and there is NO wind. hi.

I started late and managed to make two QSO's, using Search and Pounce with 3.6 watts on 14 MHz on Saturday. (TA and UR)

In the first QSO on Sunday morning on 21 MHz my call was copied immediately correct
with just 360 mW. But then it took more than 5 times and 3 Watts to give my exchange, 599 UT.
When the ribbon moves, the signal briefly disappears.
After the QSO was completed, I realized that the power was NOT the problem,
because my call was received with 360 mW.

After that QSO's, I made 2 x 5 QSO's  in two runs of 10 minutes with S&P, all on 21 MHz. Not bad.

I did not expected to make many QSO's on 7 MHz, since this is a busy band.
Also I was convinced, that giving CQ would not work with the antenna in this state.
So I answered a CQ on 7 MHz.
Immediately after completing this QSO (with S&P), I was called by an other station.
The station went up in frequency, so I followed and answered.
After the QSO, 5 other stations came along, one after the other, without my calling CQ.

This is very unusual for my, because in major CW contests, I often use the lowest possible power with S&P.  hi.

With no (or little) wind, I now decided to call CQ.
So in the last hour of the contest I made many QSO's by calling CQ, between a few occasional gusts of wind.
In total I made 50 QSO's. WOW.

Even 2 QSO's were made with more than 1000 Miles per Watt, using QRPp.
I had a great time.

CQ WW DX CW 2014

I had great fun in the CQ WW DX CW contest of 2014.
I had my inverted vee repaired just in time for the contest.

But most of all, I was very curious, how fast the
PA1B Fast and Accurate 40 dB Power Attenuator
would be in a large contest with enormous activity.

I am very happy with the attenuator.
As I mentioned before, the fast attenuator can be switched instandly.
So I am immediately ready to answer a CQ.

I started on 10 m and went to a lower frequency each time a band closed.
At times when the signals were getting stronger, I tried to use a lower power in the next QSO's.
On 40 m the band was too busy to use a very low power.
When I was on 40 m, the other bands were closed, so all other operators were also on this band.
So I made most QSO's on 40 m with 3.6 W. (Category less than 5 watts)

The inverted V works fine.
Since a long time I could make a few QSO's with less than 10 mW.
I used a power of about 4 watts down to 1.6 milliwatts.
The two QSO's in the column of  2.5 mW in the table were made with 1.6 mW and 1.8 mW.
(500 mW means more than 250 mW and less than 500 mW)

The start of the CQ WW DX CW contest

23 dB   Click to enlarge

After repairing the Inverted V, I took part in several contests.
The first contest was the CQ WW DX CW contest.

I was eager to use the 

"PA1B Fast and Accurate 40 dB Power Attenuator" 

in a contest with a large activity.

In the first 5 QSO's were made with 3 watt to 400 mW.
After 5 QSO's the signals were getting stronger, so I could use the attenuator. With signals over S9, it was possible to make QSO's with a power of 72 mW and 36 dB.

The 18^th QSO, with RM5A, was the first QSO below 10 mW with 7.2 mW. So this was very promising.

YZ7Z - 1.8 mW       RM5A - 7.2 mW 

The 19^th QSO with YT7Z was made with 1.8 mW with the attenuator switched to 23 dB and the set on 360 mW.
An attenuation of 23 dB gives a power ratio of 1/200.

Math:
23 dB is 10 dB + 10 dB + 3 dB
The power ratio is 10 * 10 * 2 = 200
So the power is 360 mW / 200 = 1.8 milliwatts.

With one hand on the keyer and one hand on the switches of the attenuator, I can switch the power in a "milli"second.  Now I never miss an opportunity to answer. hi.

Immediately after each QSO I note the power of the set and the position of the attenuator in dB.
Further I calculate and note the power.

Inverted Vee repaired

300 ohm ribbon repaired

Today I repaired my inverted V antenna after a long time.
He is flying high again.
Before placing a new pole, I repaired the 300 ohm ribbon.
I smelled solder smoke for the first time in months.
The wear and tear on the roof had damaged one of the wires of the ribbon.

I glad I am in time for the CQ WW DX CW of this weekend

Doorvoer bij het dakraampje op zolder

Ingepakt

PACC 2014

The PACC is the annual contest from the Netherlands.

In other contests I always work with search and pounce with very low power, but in the PACC
I operate by giving CQ myself. Most QSO's were made with the highest power of my FT-817.
Last year the top of my inverted vee broken during a storm. I repaired the antenna temporarily.
One wire lays on the roof. Still I managed to make more than 130 QSO's.

I notice a difference with this antenna but the differences  due to changes in propagation, are larger.
I made more than 130 QSO's with 29 different DXCC's, with less than 5 watts.

Because we had visitors I could not start at 12:00 utc.
I did not wake up early on Sunday.

SOAPBOX:  
 De top van de Inverted V hangt slechts een paar meter boven het dak, nadat ik hem weer
provisorisch opgehangen heb, na een storm verleden jaar. Een draad ligt gedeeltelijk op het dak.
Tot mijn verbazing maak ik nog vele QSO's met QRP en zelfs met QRPp.
Dit wijst er op, dat de propagatie belangrijker is dan de antenne.
Ik maakte 138 QSO's met 29 DXCC landen met 500 mW tot 5 W in de contest.
Bedankt voor de activiteit in de PACC.

As a milliwatt and QRPp enthusiast very much like the "DX contests" in which every one works every one.

OP1A  in the PACC  2011

SP DX contest

Poland - Voivodeships

My objectives
As a milliwatt enthusiast I tried:
* to make as many QSO's with the
   lowest possible power
* to make as many 1000 Miles per Watt QSO's as
   possible
* to work as many different prefixes as possible for the
   BQC- Marathon.

1000 MPW
The distance to many of Voivodeships is more than
500 miles  from my QTH in JO22na.
Only the distance to the Voivodeships Z, B, D and
a part of W, is less than 500 miles.
With a power of 500 mW, and a distance of more than 500 miles,
these QSO's will be, more than 1000 Miles per Watt QSO's.

Crippled antenna
This year I did not expect much of my Inverted Vee.
Last year the top broke and I fixed the antenna temporarily.
The top is now just 2 meters above the roof.
And recently I found out, that the 300 ohm ribbon is damaged, so only one wire is still connected
But the antenna worked better than I expected.
Click here to read about the state of the antenna.

1000 Miles per Watt
The number in red, show the QSO's with more than 1000 Miles per Watt.

South America in the CQMM DX with my crippeled Inverted Vee

I was looking forward to the CQMM DX contest.
It is a very fine contest with a lot of activity from South America.
I know from earlier contests, that I could still make QSO's with  Europe, Asia and North America with low power, with my crippled antenna.
On Saturday I made 9 QSO's with Europe with a power of 5 watts down to 100 mW.

But I was wondering if I could make a QSO's with South America.

On Sunday afternoon, after I switched to 28 MHz, I heard a station from South America.
At that time, I did not know whether the distance would be more than 5000 miles,
so I decided to use 2.5 W.
I use 2.5 watts and I used a lot of patience to make a QSO with PW2D.
The frequency must be absolutely clear, so I had to stay cool for a long time. hi

With a distance of far more than 2500 miles, this QSO is a more than 1000 Miles per Watt QSO.
Later I heard other stations from South America, but they could not hear me, even with 5 watts. hi
The changes in propagation, are more important than the antenna.
So I say thanks to the fine operators of PW2D.

Ribbon of the Inverted Vee damaged

Last year the top of my Inverted Vee broke.
I fixed the antenna temporarily, so the height of the antenna was reduced with 2 meters.
When I wanted to replace the broken stick by a new one, I noticed that the
300 ohm ribbon was damaged.
Obviously the ribbon had made contact with the rough tiles.
Wear by continually moving over the rough tiles by the wind took its toll.
One wire of the ribbon was completely gone over a length of 5 cm. (2 inches)
So only one wire  of the inverted vee is connected.
Actually my antenna is just one wire of 10 m.

CQ WPX SSB

On Saturday I made 7 QSO's in the CQ WPX SSB.
I wondered if I could make QSO's in phone with my crippled inverted V.
Last year the top broke.
I temporarily repaired the antenna, but one wire lays flat on the roof.
In the last months, I noticed that I need more power than before in CW contest QSO's.
Also I had to rediscover the "tuner settings" for each band, after the antenna had changed.

SSB also works
Using SSB in stead of CW gives a lot more QRM in the house.
Sometime I want to hold the microphone to my ear, to listen. hi
Saturday afternoon I had one hour to operate, in which I made 5 QSO's on 21 MHz with
LZ, IS0, I and EU.    I responded to signals that were S+.

Tuning
In the evening I went on, but could not be heard. The in coming signals were S+, thus strong enough, but my QRP signal could not be heard. After not being heard by 3 different very loud stations I checked my power.
After tuning with CW, as I always do, I had forgotten to switch back to SSB, so I had no power at all.
After that I made two additional QSO's. Then I had to QRT, since the XYL went to bed.

Your signal is weak
On Sunday morning I easily made 5 QSO's on 7 MHz over short distances with DL, ON , PA and G.
Many operators told me that my signal was weak. But I have no tower, no Yagi, a less than perfect Inverted Vee and QRP and still managed to make QSO's, somtimes pushing the operating pratice to the limit at both ends.
Using QRP and a simple antenna, shows that Progation is more important than the Antenna. hi.

HA-DX contest 2013

I enjoyed working with my new Inverted Vee in the HA-DX contest. At the end of 2012 Walle PE2WJW repaired my antenna which was damaged in a storm late November. The HA-DX contest was the first DX contest,  in which I could test the new antenna.
The new antenna works well.

When I started on Saturday afternoon on 20 m, I heard HA8MD with S8 +20 dB, so I immediately made a QSO with just 8 mW. This first QSO was also the QSO with the lowest power in this contest.
After that I made 4 more QSO's with very low and very low power: HA8IB - 36 mW, RA3RFA - 800 mW, UA2FL - 36 mW and HA1ZH - 360 mW.
A very good start. After that I got on the bike, because it was sunny whether.

On Sunday mornong I made QSO's on 40 m, 20 m and 15 m.
After the contest I went for a walk in the park. Not because it was sunny. It was snowing and there was wind. The very small snow flakes were moving almost vertically, so I could'nt resist. hi

In all QSO's I used the Lowest Possible Power with search and pounce in CW. So the used power in each QSO, is a very good indication of the propagation at that moment.
When I use the lowest possible power, it not always easy. Sometimes I have to give my call many times before my weak signal is heard. The frequency must be absolutely clear.

26 Out of 34 QSO's are made with more than 1000 Miles per Watt, considering the distance to the worked stations.  hi

Inverted Vee repaired

After the Inverted Vee was damaged in a storm, I found Walle PE2WJW willing to go onto the roof. For a week we were looking at the whether. Yesterday the "window for dry whether" was width enough to go onto the roof. Walle first recovered the feeding ribbon and top part of the old Inverted Vee from the roof. I attached new wires (indoors) and Walle installed the new antenna on the roof again. It was dark already, when the job was done.

That evening I listened for a short while. I did hear some activity, but the signals were weak.
The next day I made a QSO with 360 mW with Laszlo HA6NL in the OQRP contest.
Good for more than 1000 Miles per Watt.

I find it difficult to compare antenna's.
Before the the repair, I made a few QSO's in the Croatian CW (Click) on the remaining wire of the damaged antenna. At that time the signals were very strong.
I just looked in the Log and found out, that I also made a QSO with HA6NL with in the Croatian CW.
Laszlo's signal was very strong, 10 dB over S9, so I used 36 mW. hi

So I think that the new antenna is working well, but that the difference is caused by the propagation.

Croatian CW contest

I had great fun in participating in the Croatian CW contest, on a wire of 10 mtr.
I did not expect this amazing result with my crippled antenna. The inverted Vee lost one of it's wires in the storm in November. I used the remaining wire that lies partly flat on the roof.

I had to take it easy, so I did not make many QSO's. But I still had fun. On Saturday I started with 5 QSO's on 40 m, in which I had to use 2.7 watts.

After 2 more QSO on 40 m on Sunday morning , I went to 20 m. I was surprised by the signals on 20 m. The signals were very strong S9 plus 10 dB.
So I immediately decided to use the lowest possible power.

With the pre-programmed messages and the pre-programmed serial numbers in the Morse Machine, I effortlessly made the QSO's on 20 m. 

Please notice:  Propagation and Activity are much more important than the antenna.

Who would expect, that I could make 4 QSO's with just 36 mW on a wire of 10 mtrs. Well, I would'nt.
All the QSO's on 20 m are made with more than 1000 Miles per Watt. So I don't complain about my antenna, but I am grateful  for the excellent propagation.

Half an Inverted Vee

While I was in the hospital the storm damaged my antenna. 
Since I have to recover first, I can not repair the antenna. I found a HAM who is willing do the repair. In the mean time I will use the half Inverted Vee. hi

The top of the antenna came loose and dropped to a point 2 mtrs above the roof. Later the wire that is (was) visable on the photo broke. The wire on the opposite side of the house lies partly flat on the roof. Much to my surprise I managed to make a few contest QSO with very low power. 2.7 W down to 36 mW. 

Attenuators and tuning

50 Ohm attenuators
The attenuators shown on the PA1B Attenuator page are all very accurate 50 ohm attenuators. The accuracy is obtained by placing two, or more,  resistors in parallel, to form the required ohmic values very accurately, with resistors from the E12-series.
But the accuracy of the attenuators is also dependent on the termination of the attenuators. 
When the attenuator is terminated with 50 ohms, the attenuator will show also an input impedance of 50 ohms and most important, will give the right attenuation.

Setup

The attenuator will be placed behind the set. The SWR-meter is not shown in the drawing, but is placed between the attenuator and the tuner (transmatch). I work with this setup, as long as I work with the attenuators and by doing so, I made many fine QRPpp QSO's, using an inverted Vee as antenna.

The right setup.        Tune, as accurate as possible, for a SWR of 1:1,

Tuning

Tuning is done with the attenuator on bypass (0 dB). Tune carefully to get a SWR of exactly 1 : 1. When the SWR is 1:1, the input of the tuner will show an impedance of 50 ohms, so later with the attenuator switched on, the attenuator is terminated with 50 ohms and the attenuator will give the right attenuation. It's very important to tune for 1:1 as accurate as you can, to get a termination with 50 ohms for the attenuator.

SWR

I got an e-mail from a follow Blogger, Mike VE3WDM. He was using the autotuner of the Elecraft K3. The K3 is connected to  the SWR-meter, which is connected to the attenuator, which is connected to coax to the antenna. Mike wrote that he had a SWR of 1.6 : 1, with the attenuator on by-pass. Since the autotuner is in the set and the SWR-meter is behind the set, this means that the coax to Mike's attic antenna shows an impedance of 31.25 ohms or 80 ohms. (50/1.6 or 50x1.6)

The e-mail of Mike made me realize, it is not possible to use the autotuner in the set, together with the attenuators. The tuner has to be behind the attenuator. However, it is always possible to use another (homebrew) tuner behind the attenuators. Mike later said that he will place a tuner behind the attenuators and will turn off the tuner in the set . 

So place the tuner behind the attenuator and tune as accurate as you can to get a SWR of 1 : 1, to get the right attenuation. 

K3WW with 100000 Miles per Watt

When I went into the ARRL international DX contest, the first station that I heard was K3WW. K3WW is a station with Excellent Ears.
The signal of Charles was stronger than the usual S8.
The signal was over S9, so I decided to try a lower power than the usual 360 mW and I switched to 36 mW, using a 10 dB attenuator. I expected that I had to use more power, but to my surprise we made the QSO with just 36 mW in CW, using an Inverted Vee.
My FT-817 only gives 360 mW instead of 500 mW after a serious mismatch, but I still have great fun with low power and 1000 MPW.

The distance between my QTH JO22na and K3WW in FN20ii is 3725 miles.
With 36 milliwatts this gives 103000 Miles per Watt.
Thank you Charles for the fine QSO. Hpe cuagn in the next contest.

Russian DX 2012

Last week I participated in the Russian DX contest. One of the support wires of the inverted vee was broken, so the wire ran from the top of the mast to the raingutter and then vertically along the house to one meter above the ground. Still I made QSO's with very low power.

The conditions on 14 MHz were good, so I used to lowest possible power.
On 7 MHz I had to use the maximum power of 2.7 watts in all QSO's.
The most remarkable QSO was made with PW7T with a power of 2.7 watts.
The numbers in red are indicating more than 1000 Miles/Watt QSO's.

QRPp How is it possible

When I started as a HAM, 20 years ago, I used my homebrew transceiver HM7, from Solid State Design, page 214...218, with an Inverted Vee, to work many different DXCC countries in Europe in CW. Because my power was only 500 mW, I had to look for stations, that I received with 599 or more, so the other station could hear my QRPp signal of 500 mW.
During daylight hours my RST would be 559, or even lower.
Please notice that a power of 500 mW is only four S-points weaker than 100 Watts.
See the PA1B QRPp page.

D and E layer
The radio wave is not attenuated when it is reflected by the E-layer. (Total reflection) But during daytime the signal is attenuated by the D-layer, when it passes through the D-layer.

During daylight hours, the signals are attenuated by the D-layer, which is absorbing

I discovered, that when darkness fell, the signals from the south of Europe would be very loud. So this made it easy, to make QSO's over a distance of 1000 km or more. When the D-layer disappears during the night, the signal can reach the the E-layer without attenuation in the D-layer.

The E-layer reflects the signal without attenuation

When the D-layer disappears, there is no attenuation in the radio path. The signal is reflected by the E-layer without attenuation. The attenuation of this sky wave is (only) 6 dB for a doubling of the distance. So the signal will be very strong.
At first, I did not realize, that my own QRPp signal, could also be an earsplitting 599, until I got genuine report from Italy, that my signal was S9, while using just 500 mW.

How low can you go

I was wondering, what the lowest possible power would be, if I would reduce my power in that situation with this excellent propagation.

If I reduced my power, so my RST would be 559, the difference is 4 S-point. This is a reduction in power of 4 x 6 dB = 24 dB which is 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 = 256.
So I could reduce the the power from 500 mW to about 2 milliwatts.

I was surprised by the low value, that I calculated, but this value is very realistic.
From 2001 on, I made many CW contest QSO's over more than 1000 Miles with 2.5 mW and 5 mW,
using PA1B homebrew attenuators.

I discovered that the frequency must be absolutely clear, when you use very low power.

Inverted Vee repaired

Friday afternoon the whether was good with no wind and a nice temperature. So my wife said: why don't you go on the roof to repair you antenna. I fixed the broken wire, before dark. This evening (Sunday) I listened, but there was no activity. I did not test the antenna in a QSO, but I suspect it will work well.