CQ WW WPX CW 2012

When I started in the CQ WW WPX CW Contest I was convinced, that I would not get the same high score as last year. But afterwards, it turned out to be better than expected.  I had more time to spent on the air, because this year I had only one birthday during the contest.

Working with the lowest possible power is great fun, but when a running station is answering one station after an other, I have to change my way of operating by increasing the power to a much higher level than is needed for a QSO with the lowest possible power or to come back later. The last is usually the best tactic.

When I hear a strange call, I don't pay much attention to the DXCC or other details, but I try to work him as fast and as accurate as I can.  I first worked ST2AR "from the banks of the river Nile" and later made a dance of joy, after checking the details on QRZ. In the last 10 minutes of the contest I could make a QSO wit HK1NA and BV7S.  

The total of DXCC worked is more than 40. I already received about 27 eQSL cards for QSO's in this contest.  I always try to be accurate, but VK turned out to be an other more common DXCC, when I received the eQSL card.

The FT-817 has a highest power of 2.7 W after a serious mismatch, so QRP here is 2.7 W or less. This loss of 3 dB can not spoil the fun. I spend most of the time on 20 m and 15 m. The conditions on 40 m were not so good. But I had much fun with low power. Many of the QSO's are good for more than 1000 Miles per Watt.

Geen licht

21 juni 2012. Het was vanacht de langste nacht. Ik wist het niet, maar we hadden vanacht ook geen licht.  Gelukkig werden we, op mijn vrije dag, om kwart voor zeven wakker gebeld door een vriendelijke achterbuurvrouw, om te vragen of wij ook geen licht hadden. Niet dus. De klok stond stil op half één. Ik heb me omgedraaid om door te slapen, tot mijn battrijgevoerde, kwartsgestuurde wekker zou aangeven dat het half negen was. Tijd om wakker te worden en naar fitness te gaan. 
Om half negen bleek dat we al weer licht hadden.
We horen bij de drie en een half duizend huishoudens die al weer aangesloten waren. Om één uur, lieten ze op het nieuws  beelden zien, van de twee transformatorhuisjes die door de bliksem getroffen waren. Dat zag er heftig uit. Het hele winkelhart van Nieuwegein en ook het gemeentehuis, zit nog steeds zonder licht. Mijn vrouw zei dat sommige winkels dicht waren en er in andere alleen met gepast geld betaald kon worden.
Er wordt aangeraden  een zaklantaarn bij de hand te houden en kaarsen in te slaan. Ik kom net terug van een wandeling in Amelisweerd en ik hoorde dat er nog steeds 13500 huishoudens zijn, die nog geen licht hebben.  En dat zal nog wel even duren ook. 

Up date: Na 26 uur hadden de laatste huishoudens weer licht.

Knuffelpad

On Easter Saturday we walked the Knuppelpad (bat path) on landgoed Oostbroek. Our youngest grand daughter calls it Knuffelpad (hug path). hi

The water behind us is a former arm of the river Rhine, the ancient border of the north of the Roman Empire. This water has been a part of the river Rhine. But the water is now separated from the river Rhine. I took the picture of the four of us, with the camera facing to the east.

On the right side is (was) the Roman Empire. At that time this part in the Netherlands called Germania Inferior Inferior means low lands. Not unimportant! hi.

At the Bat Path

Writing QSL cards.

Sunday walk. Around Plas Middelkoop. With grazing Highland Cooows. 

Op de kinderboerderij.

Groningen

We have been away for a few days to Groningen.

       

We stayed in the  Hampshire hotel in the southern part of the city Groningen, aan het "Hoornsemeer".  

The first day we visited the inner city of Groningen. At first we walked and later we decided to take the bus (nr6) to the railway station.  We walked past the museum into the inner city.
La Place restaurant on the roof of V&D offers a nice view of the Martini tower.

The second day the weather was very good, so we went to Haren to visit the Hortus. 

The most spectaculair part of the park was the Chinese garden.

In the Bamboo bush we photographed some frogs.

The last day we did more shopping and bought a new lamp and a few interesting books bij De Slechte.
A picture of the most famous tower in the city of Groningen.

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.

CQMM DX 2012

I just sent in my Cabrillo file for the CQMM DX contest. I had some trouble to make the entry. I logged on paper and made a Cabrillo file in Excel. But the robot refused my entry based on version 2. So I used an online webform to make the Cabrillo file in version 3.

We were invited out for a birthday, so I only had time on Saturday and only made one QSO before we left on Sunday. I used the Lowest Possible Power in each QSO.
I started, late around 19:45 local time, so the propagation to Europe was good. At first I made some more than 1000 Miles per Watt QSO's in Europe. About one hour later the signals from North and South America came through.
The signal of N2MM was stronger than S9. Carol was S8 through the 10 dB attenuator, so the QSO could be made with 80 mW. The exchange was 599 NAY . The Y means YL.  Later AA3B was also worked with 80 mW.
It is years ago that I met AA3B with just less than 100 mW, so you don't hear me complaining about the propagation. hi.

This CQMM DX contest brought 3 new DXCC's: FM, OX and CE.  
Martinique with 360 mW, gives a very nice QRPp more than 1000 Miles per Watt QSO.

This survey, showing the bands is also interesting. To North America was slightly less power needed at 15 m than on 20 m. Notice that the difference between 80 mW and 360 mW is just ONE S-point. 4x is 6 dB is one S-point.
By comparing the info in both tables, you can find out, on what band each DXCC was worked.
21 out of 28 QSO's were more than 1000 Miles per Watt QSO's. This is a staggering 75%.

Still using the Internet Explorer

Blogger has changed the navigation to make a new Blog entry. They changed it in a way that the Internet Explorer is NOT working.
I have used the Google browser Chrome for a while. But  the Chrome cuts and pastes differently from Internet Explorer giving problems with in copying and pasting of tables and data from lists, like the WSPR database. So I already went back to the Internet Explorer.
Now I must use the Google browser, if I want to make a new Blog entry.
So Chrome is still installed, but for all internet surfing I only use the Internet Explorer.

Stange things

Sudenly my standard browser is not good enymore for Blogger. So I can not place my new entry about the first results of the CQMM DX contest.

CQMM DX coming up this weekend

The CQMM DX is a very special contest for QRP sytations.
A QRP station is recognized by it's exchange. E.g. SAQ meaning South America QRP. So as a QRP station you immediately known, that the QSO is a 2 way QRP QSO, when you receive such an exchange.

Last year I had great fun in the CQMM DX contest. Look at this Blog entry of 2011.

In the CQMM DX contest of 2011, I was surprised by the excellent propagation, which made it possible to work with stations in South America and North America with just 1 W or 2.5 W.

Next weekend there will be much activity from South America, so join the fun in the CQMM DX in which you can work every station.

Click for the CQMM DX website or Rules 2012

A61Q United Arab Emirates

After reading about disappointing conditions in other Blogs, I did not expect, to make any QSO's today. But I went to 18 MHz and I did heard EV1R. At first I wanted to use 2.7 W, but then I realized that the signal was rather strong, so I used 360 mW. With 360 mW and 941 miles this QSO is good for 2613 Miles per Watt. hi
After this QSO I stayed on 18 MHz and made a QSO with EA5AR using 2.7 W. Ric gave 549 with QSB.

United Arab Emirates
Then I heard A61Q calling CQ DX on 15 m. With a distance of just more than 3000 miles, according QRZ, I choose a power of 2.7 W.

Now several stations were answering and at first I mingled with these other stations, but without success. With 2.7 Watts, I am not the "Pile up King", so I decided to wait for the right moment to give my call and in the mean time I listened to the mode of operation. This payed off, much sooner than I expected.
For me the United Arab Emirates (A6) is a new DXCC in QRP. With 2.7 W and 3189 miles this FB QSO is good for 1181 Miles per Watt. hi
Thanks to A61Q with his excellent ears

I just found that A61Q uses eQSL. So I will send an eQSL. hi

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.

UBA DX CW Contest (2)

In most contests, I use the lowest possible power in each QSO.
Also in this contest I started with search and pounce with low power.
But because a station from the Netherlands is a wanted station in this contest, I also tried to called CQ myself, using 2.7 W.
Very occasionally I was heard by more than one station, who would than call at the same time. But on other moments my QSO-rate dropped, when I called CQ. So then I would go back to S&P after a few QSO's.

QSO-rate
I calculated that I made one QSO in two or three minutes, while searching on the band, answering stations that are calling CQ.
When not too many other stations are also answering, I don't have to wait long to make a low power QSO.
I tent to answer, with more power than needed, when I have to wait for a longer time.

The bands
14 and 21 MHz were good. On 14 MHz the lowest power was used.
On 14 MHz 80% of the QSO's were made with QRPp and on 21 MHz only 50%.

When the S-meter goes up, the power goes down.

UBA DX CW contest

The UBA DX CW contest is a very nice contest. Such a DX contest gives the opportunity to work everyone. On Saturday I used the lowest possible power in each QSO. On Sunday I also gave CQ my self in a few QSO's. I worked mainly station from Europe. The antenna is an Inverted Vee.

UBA DX 2012 - PA1B

The table shows the worked DXCC's. The numbers in red are more than 1000 MPW QSO's. After a quick count I realized, that I made much more 1000 Miles per Watts QSO's, than I expected.
45 QSO's out of 72 is 63%

ARRL International DX contest 2012

I really took it very easy in this contest. I used to have great fun with QRP, but this year I spent limited time in the contest. I worked 9 different states in 12 QSO in CW with QRP.
With a power of 2.7 watts or less, all the QSO's are good for 1000 Miles per Watt. hi

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.