PACC 2025 QRPp

I participated in the PACC contest for a limited time this year.
Last year I had the experience, that a power of 360 mW works just as well as a full power of 3.6 W. hi.
So this year I started immediately with QRPp with 360 mW.

I made a total of 40 QSOs with 360 mW on 20 meters with CW on a end fed antenna.

Miles per Watt

Breaking the 1000 Miles per Watt barrier, sounds harder than it is.

After all, with 360 mW, each QSO over a distance of more than 360 miles (576 km) is a "More than 1000 Miles per Watt" QSO.

With a power of 360 mW and a distance of more than 360 miles in each QSO all 40 QSOs are good for1000 Miles per Watt.

In the table the QSO's are sorted by DXCC.
The QSO over the shortest distance is with a station in Switzerland (HB9) with a distance just over 360 miles.

The longest distance covered (3545 miles), was with a station in the United States (K) and gives 9850 Miles per Watt.

I didn't expect every QSO to yield more than "1000 miles per watt". Hi.

CW

My CW was a bit rusty on using the bencher, after months of inactivity.

Furthermore, I have to hear every call twice, to copy it completely and preferably without errors.

PACC 2024

Ik heb genoten in de PACC van 2024.

Low Power
Omdat ik als Low Power enthousiast, zo veel mogelijk het laagst mogelijke vermogen wil gebruiken, geef ik in de meeste contesten zelf geen CQ, maar draai over de band, om sterke station te vinden en dan een QSO te maken met laag vermogen.
Door deze werkwijze ben ik geoefend in het direct juist ontvangen van volgnummers. Maar een call moet ik meestal twee maal horen om,  hem volledig en correct te nemen.

End fed

End-fed bij PA1B

Omdat ik op alle banden wilde werken, heb ik van te voren besloten om in de PACC uitsluitend met de end fed te werken.

Mijn end fed bestaat uit meer dan 20 meter draad.
Hij wordt gevoed via een lintlijn van 300 ohm.
Om te zorgen dat deze antenne in mijn achtertuin past, heb ik "Linear loading" toegepast.
De draad wordt eerst over een lengte van 6 meter terug gevouwen en daarna ook weer heen te vouwen.
Meer  info: <<End fed met Linear Loading>> Klik.

S&P
Zoals gebruikelijk, ben ik gestart met S&P. Of wel over de band draaien en sterke stations beantwoorden met 360 mW. Na 3 stations op 21 MHz gewerkt te hebben, was de koek op. Er waren geen sterke stations meer, die ik nog niet gewerkt had.

CQ op 14 MHz met Full power
Het werd tijd om zelf CQ te geven. Ik koos er voor om naar 14 MHz te gaan, omdat ik daar meestal veel QSO's kan maken. Uit gewoonte startte ik met CQ geven met het volle vermogen van 4 W. Dat ging prima. Dat wil zeggen, er waren momenten bij, dat ik door 2 of meer stations besprongen werd. Dan hoor je de eerste letter van één van de calls, dan één lange "piep" en dan de laatste letter van een andere call. Toen ik daar genoeg van kreeg, besloot ik om het vermogen terug te schakelen naar 360 mW. Dat zou mij wat lucht moeten geven. Niet dus. Hi.

CQ op 14 MHz met 360 mW
Het terug regelen van het vermogen, scheelde bijna niets. Regelmatig werd mijn CQ in CW door twee stations beantwoord. Dat is prima, want men hoort mij. Maar ook heel lastig, want ik moet een call meestal twee keer horen, om deze volledig te nemen. Maar het leuke was, dat ik op deze manier maar liefst 24 achtereen volgende QSO's met 360 mW kon maken. Dat is smullen.

7 MHz met 3 W
Na het eten ben ik verder gegaan en toen heb ik omgeschakeld naar 7 MHz. Daar heb ik, zonder daar eigenlijk over na te denken, het volle vermogen van 3 watt gebruikt. Over zaterdagavond en zondagmorgen leverde dit 68 QSO's. Twee station waren zo hard dat ik die met het grootste gemak met 450 mW kon werken met S&P.

CQ met 360 mW op 14 MHz en op 21MHz 
Op zondagmorgen werd het tijd om weer naar 14 MHz te gaan. Aangemoedigd door het goede resultaat met het CQ geven met 360 mW op zaterdag, ben ik direct gestart met 360 mW. Dat ging uitstekend. De stations rolde binnen, soms over elkaar heen. Hi. Dit resulteerde op 14 MHz in 26 QSO's en op 21 MHz in 16 QSO's, allemaal met 360 mW.

48% met QRPp
Door het succes op 14 MHz en 21 MHz met laag vermogen, werd 48% van de in totaal 151 QSO's met 360 mW gemaakt.

DXCC's en 1000 MPW
De tabellen hier onder geven een overzicht over de gewerkte DXCC landen en met welk vermogen het QSO gemaakt is. Maar liefst 48% van de QSO's is gemaakt met QRPp, dat wil zeggen minder dan 1 Watt. Van elk QSO houd ik op papier bij, met welk vermogen dit QSO gemaakt is.

1000 Mijl per Watt
De rode aantallen in de tabel geven aan, dat deze QSO's gemaakt zijn met "Meer  dan 1000 Mijl per Watt". Dat leidt ik af aan de hand van de afstand en het gebruikte vermogen. Met een vermogen van 360 milliwatt, levert een QSO met een station op meer dan 360 mijl afstand, een Meer dan 1000 Mijl per Watt QSO op. Eenvoudig toch. Op 7MHz werd ik in eens aangeroepen door K1ZZ. K1ZZ bevindt zich op meer dan 2700 mijl. Dus ook dit QSO is goed voor meer dan 1000 Mijl per Watt.

PA1B in de PACC 2024 Overzicht van DXCC landen

PA1B in de PACC - Band overzicht

Rig: FT-817
Antenna: End-fed Sloping down to the east.

Veron HF day meeting

This year I attended the Veron HF-day because of the interesting readings together with Henk PG7H. I was surprised to meet a fellow blogger, Bas PE4BAS. We met Bas PE4BAS and Tjip PD2TW, who had made the long trip to Apeldoorn. Bas and I had a lot to talk about during the lunch that we had later.

Bert PA1B and Bas PE4BAS 

I very much liked the two readings about the Aleksander alternator transmitter in Grimeton in Sweden by mr. Ola Hernvall.
I enjoyed the interesting reading about FT8 by Jan DL1JAN. Later it was great fun to see Jan, presenting a small quiz in which he accidentally, showed the answers before the questions. (hi). Luckily Jan shows a great resilience.
We applauded for Bas for reaching the 2e place in the PACC in the Low Power category. FB. But what I call low power, is very low power to the rest of all amateurs. Hi.
Further there was an interesting reading about working DX. It was interesting to hear how the DX stations, try to pick up also QRP stations.

PACC 2017

In the PACC 2017 I made 51 QSO's. In most QSO's I used 800 mW by giving CQ or by using S&P.  The 20 m was good for most of the QSO's.

Friday before the PACC I made an End fed antenna with about 20 meters of wire. Just as my holiday antenna's the wire is feeded via a twin lead that acts as counter pose and impedance transformer. I applied linear loading to make the wire fit in my garden. This antenna is a great success.

Inside Europe I could make QSO's with QRPp running with just 800 mW. With 800 mW all QSO's over a distance of more than 800 miles (1280 km) are good for more than  1000 miles per watt. After the contest I counted 38 QSO's with more than 1000 miles per watt in my log.

The power of 800 mW was not enough in every QSO. I had to increase my power to 3.6 W, to work K6ND and P3YA and a few other stations.

The antenna is a great success.  I could run with QRPp with a power of 800 mW.

As a milliwatt enthusiast I often use the lowest possible power from QSO to QSO in other contests. Then I use Search and Pounce. (S&P) But when I give CQ, it is more difficult to copy the call than when I use Search and Pounce. Most of the time I must hear the call twice to copy the call. 

I enjoyed meeting operators that were patient. FB.

Auxiliary antenna for the PACC

At first I did not think about contesting at all, because my inverted V is damaged. In the summer I had great fun with my cylinder dipole with Monster cans on 15 m with a power of 3 watts.

PACC
When I was on the Veron club meeting, I heard that the avid contesters were preparing for our annual contest from the Netherlands, the PACC. So I also got inspired to participate.
But with what kind of antenna?

Antenna?
I did not want to use the indoor cylinder dipole with Monster cans. Because of it's low height of 4 meter above ground level, a power of 3 or 4 W would be needed. And with winter propagation, it is not even sure, whether the 15 m band will be  open.
But most of all I wanted to participate with QRPp on 20 m.

End fed wire
So I begun thinking about an outdoor antenna. With more height I can use less power. To limit the activities on the roof, I came up with an end fed. I had a wire that was too long. But I decided to put it up and see. So on Friday afternoon before the PACC I ended up with this end fed.

End fed with twin lead feeder. PA1B

To get the power into the wire, without radiation in the shack, I use 300 ohm twin lead. The  twin lead also acts as an impedance transformer. I always use a tuner with my antennas. So whatever the impedance at the end of the wire may be, as long I can adjust the SWR to 1:1 it's fine with me. The twin lead has to be long enough to tune. A twin lead of 4 meters works fine on 14 MHz.

I use this type of feeding by twin lead for all my end fed holiday antenna's since 2001.

Cylinder dipole in PACC

Booster - Cylinder dipole 22"

In the PACC I used a new cylinder dipole, that I have build recently.
I built the Booster to experiment with larger cylinders and a larger coil. To go below 15 m.

The  Booster  has two cylinders, that each are made
of 4  Energy Booster  cans of aluminium, that are cut open and bolted together. The length of each cylinder is 22 cm. The wing span of the dipole is 22 inches. The coil former has a diameter of 110 mm and the coil has 15 turns. The taps are two turns apart. The Booster resonates at 10 MHz.

The cylinder of 4 cans PA1B

On Friday I made the coil and just before the contest I made the taps on the coil. During the contest I used the taps that are two turns apart. The Booster could not be MATCHED with the taps 4 turns apart. I suspect that the impedance on the end of the twin lead in the shack is too low, or too high, for my symmetrical tuner. So I switched to the taps that are 2 turns apart. I later realized that I did not try taps that are one turn apart.

I started with checking the MATCHING of the Booster on 15 m, 20 m and 40 m. Matching on 15 m and 40 m is very easy. Matching on 20 m is difficult.

Before the PACC, I made the first QSO with the   Booster   on 40 m, with 7S6WRD from Sweden. My RST was 339. hi. Not a very strong signal, but it works.

PA1B in the PACC 2016 

PACC    

I made a total of 32 QSO's with the Booster. 25 QSO's were made on 40 m with 3 W and 2 QSO's with 150 mW. On 20 m I made 5 QSO's with 4 W.

I had no intention to make hundreds of QSO's, but I wanted to know, how the Booster would work. 

Saturday

On 15 m and 20 m there was no activity, So I started on 7 MHz. The first 3 QSO's were made with 2 Dutch stations (PA) and with F5IN, all with S&P. Then I stopped to visit some friend.

Around 17:00 utc, I started again on 40 m. I decided to give CQ. To my surprise, I was visited by stations from DL, HA, OE, OK (4), SM and UA (3). I was pleasantly surprise by the stations from Russia that answered my CQ, over a distance of more than 1300 miles.

Sunday

Sunday morning on 40 m gave a mix of stations from PA and DL. When the propagation peaked, I could QSO with PI4CC and with DL5JQ using just 150 mW. WOW. But in the next QSO's I needed a power of 3 watt. hi.

At about 11 utc I went to 20 m and made 5 QSO's with 5 DXCC countries, all QSO's with 4 W.

During the contest I frequently went to 20 m and 15 m. Most activity was on 40 m, as you can see in the table.

The Booster is doing fine on 40 m and 20 m. I worked 10 DXCC countries from the dormer window with the Booster at a height of 7 meters above the ground.

Cylinder Dipole by PA1B  -  Taps two turns apart
Click to enlarge

Cutting the cans  -  Mooi schaartje hè.

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

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.

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

PACC with QRPp

Although I had to take it easy, I had fun with QRP and QRPp in the PACC.
I found out that calling CQ was to much for my.
After just 3 QSO's, with 360 mW, in just less than 3 minutes, I had to take some rest.

So I decided to work in a relaxed way, with Search and Pounce.
I worked with Search and Pounce from 2.7 watts down to 1.8 milliwatts
When the S-meter goes up, my power goes down.

I frequently alternated S&P and calling CQ, with just 800 milliwatts.
While calling CQ with 800 mW, I made a total of  30 QSO's , in a number of short run's.
In the last 15 minutes of the contest I made a run of 13 QSO's with 2.7 W.
To my surprise, I noticed only a small difference between 800 mW and 2.7 W.

I worked YT6T with 8 mW and LZ6C with only 1.8 mW.
It's a long time since I could make QSO's with less than 5 milliwatts. hi
The signal of LZ6C wasvery strong:  S9 plus more than 20 dB.

PACC 2012

Sinds eind december ben ik niet meer actief geweest in contesten.
Ik had eigelijk niet zo'n zin in de PACC en het was maar de vraag of ik wel tijd zou hebben vanwege andere bezigheden. Toen de PACC gestart was, wandelde ik nog heerlijk in Amelisweerd. Ik was daar al in maanden niet meer geweest en het lekker weer was, om te wandelen. Om 12:33 utc logde ik dit reigertje.

Op zaterdag heb ik hoofdzakelijk CQ roepende stations geantwoord. Op zondag morgen heb ik in het laatse uur van de contest 37 QSO's gemaakt door zelf CQ te geven. Dat is meer alle QSO's op zaterdag. In totaal maakte ik 64 QSO's

Since the end of december I have not been active in contests.
I did not feel like participating in the PACC and it was to be seen, whether I could find time because of things, that had to be done in this weekend. When the PACC started, I still enjoy a walk in Amelisweerd. I had not been there in months, and it was nice weather for a walk. At 12:33 utc I logged this "reigertje". (small heron)

On Saturday I mainly replied stations calling CQ. On Sunday morning, in the last hour of the contest I made 37 QSOs while giving CQ. That is all the more QSOs on Saturday. The total number of QSO's is 64.

Kromme Rijn bij Rijnauwen