CQ WPX 2024 Log Check

CQ WPX log check results arrived in my email a little while ago. No busted calls!

************************** Summary ***************************

       6 Raw    QSO before checking (does not include duplicates or missing exchanges)
       6 Final  QSO after  checking reductions

      16 Raw    QSO points
      16 Final  QSO points

       6 Raw    mults
       6 Final  mults

      96 Raw    score
      96 Final  score

    0.0% error rate based on raw and final qso counts
    0.0% score reduction
      0  (0.0%) not in log
      0  (0.0%) incorrect calls
      0  (0.0%) incorrect exchanges
      0  (0.0%) missing exchanges
      0  (0.0%) duplicates removed
      0  (0.0%) calls unique to this log only (not removed)

********************** Results By Band ***********************

            Band   QSO   QPts  Mult

   Raw      160M     0      0     0
   Final    160M     0      0     0

   Raw       80M     0      0     0
   Final     80M     0      0     0

   Raw       40M     0      0     0
   Final     40M     0      0     0

   Raw       20M     0      0     0
   Final     20M     0      0     0

   Raw       15M     0      0     0
   Final     15M     0      0     0

   Raw       10M     6     16     6
   Final     10M     6     16     6

  Raw        All     6     16     6        96
  Final      All     6     16     6        96

************************ Multipliers *************************

  IO5   KP2   NP4   P49   PJ2   S55

Portable operating and Hamsats

Added a couple new books (that are not ARRL Handbooks!) to the collection.

Portable Operating for Amateur Radio was one I’d been wanting to get for a few months now to support my portable operating ambitions, and I happened to find a copy on the shelves at a used bookstore. Seems like a pretty good book with some useful information for different styles of portable and mobile operating.

Front cover of Portable Operating for Amateur Radio by Stuart Thomas KB1HQS. The cover features a man kneeling on a mountain top summit holding a microphone connected to a radio on a metal frame backpack.

A copy of Amsats and Hamsats (an RSGB publication) also happened to be on the shelf too, so I thought I’d pick that one up too. Aside from listening to the ISS repeater when it goes overhead, I haven’t looked into doing much with amateur radio satellites yet but I’ve always thought it would be interesting and fun. This book seems like it’s got a decent collection of information in it.

The front cover of Amsats and Hamsats by Andrew Barron ZL3DW

CQ WPX (SSB) 2024

I started to play a little bit in the CQ WPX (SSB) contest this past weekend (March 30-31 2024) using the 10m antenna in the attic over the garage. There was a decent amount of activity on the band, mostly from the Caribbean and South America, with a smattering of European stations.

I had logged 6 contacts when I learned that I was making the light on the garage door opener turn on and off.

I’ll have to find some ferrites to put on the wires going into the garage door opener to see if that helps.

Contest: CQWPXSSB
 Band     QSOs     Pts  WPX  Pt/Q
    28       6      16    6   2.7
 Total       6      16    6   2.7
Score: 96
1 Mult = 1.0 Q's

ARRL DX (SSB) Contest 2024

Spent a bit of time dabbling in the ARRL DX (SSB) contest this past weekend using the 10m dipole in the attic. In the process, I also discovered that the 30 or so meters of coax running from the shack to the outside, coiled up and hanging on the side of the house, also receives on 10m although not very well.

I was tuning around the band, hearing a few intelligible but faint signals, when I realized I had the radio on the wrong antenna input. When I switched over to the antenna input the 10m attic dipole was connected to, everything got much much louder.

I was hearing lots of DX activity on the band over the weekend. Most of my contacts ended up being on Sunday morning when I managed to work a few EU stations. Tuning around the band and working a few stations in between doing other things got me a total of 14 QSOs.

Not bad for a couple pieces of wire hanging from the rafters. Now I know the dipole works reasonably well.

Contest: ARRLDXSSB
 Band     QSOs     Pts  Cty  Pt/Q
    28      14      42   14   3.0
 Total      14      42   14   3.0
Score: 588
1 Mult = 1.0 Q's

NC QSO Party 2024

Got W4BXC on the air again for part of the NC QSO party. Band conditions were about the same as yesterday, although didn’t hear quite as much DX on 10m today as I was hearing yesterday.

As usual, 40m was about the only band I could hear NC stations on. Toward the end of the contest, I started hearing one or two up on 20m, but none I hadn’t already worked on 40m. Did pretty well this year with 58 QSOs, including 4 out of the 6 bonus stations, and 38 counties.

Contest: NC QSOPARTY
 Band     QSOs     Pts  Mul  Pt/Q
     7      58     116   38   2.0
 Total      58     116   38   2.0
Score: 4,458
1 Mult = 1.5 Q's