Other than working Kurt @HB9AFI/P on HB/SO-001 and Matt @OE6FEG/P on OE/ST-467 on Saturday morning I devoted my weekend to the 10m band operating in the CQWW CW Contest. If you are interested you can read my blog about how I went on at Catterblog
73 de Phil G4OBK
Nice one Phil.
I heard you calling and tried to respond - to give you G/SP-015 (as presumably you already had CQZ 14!) - but you were very weak and so I presume I was inaudible to you with my 5 watts.
I did a good session on the Saturday morning on 15m, and then a much less busy session on 10m on the Sunday. I presume there was a bit of mild Sp.E on Sunday as everything I heard and worked was either Russia, Cyprus or Madeira!
Thanks for trying Tom. I am sure we had F layer propagation on the Sunday. South America was workable for several hours in the afternoon. In the CQWW the first G you work gives you the point on that band and the mult also but further G QSOs count as nil, but I would have been glad of the Cloud in the log. Pleased you could hear me, but a small beam and 400 watts against yours is no match hihi. I did work GD (MD0CCE Bob), a few GM stations, I missed GW (Heard GW9J who is GW0GEI) working some good stuff but never calling CQ. Channel Islands were no show as was Shetlands which counts in CQWW. I did get IT9 Sicily though and that is also a counter. G6XX was strong. The RSGB Contest station, you must have heard them, not sure if they were all band or just 10m. I went on 160m last night before I went to bed and VY2ZM came back to me first call and I was only using 20 watts. He was stronger than many of the EU stations and was sat on 1810 KHz I think for the whole contest. Serious is not the word for guys like that!
73 Phil
Had noticed you on HamAlert, Phil, and had in mind to tickle you with a pic from above the fog. But had assumed then that this was your CW weekend – so no distraction from outside!
Vy 73 de Markus, HB9DIZ
Thanks for sharing, Phil.
Nice report and qsl, some of the special call signs were really challenging, especially when sent beyond 40 wpm. I also noticed that some stations wouldn’t sign their call frequently which is quite annoying when doing S&P not assisted.
As I wasn’t sure whether 10 metres would open enough to have fun, I opted for 15 metres (SOSB LP). Band conditions were fantastic. It was a fun weekend. Hope condx keep up for a while…
73, Roman
Great to hear from you Roman and Markus. I only decided to go into the contest when I saw the SFI on Thursday and realised that Saturday and Sunday could be made different to all recent lockdown days by taking part! Luckily my XYL is agreeable to this sort of thing as long as it not every weekend! Not sure what HamAlert is Markus, which made you aware of my operating in the contest - I am unaware of what it does…
Yes Roman, I found the same - very frustrating to have to listen to a station running make 5 to 10 QSOs without identifying and then when he does, finding out he is already in the log!
Glad you found 15m busy and full, I imagine you had a longer day than I did with the extended propagation time.
VY 73 Phil
Good to hear that the contest was a bit of a change, Phil!
Yes, 15m was already open to the east when I switched on the rig Saturday morning. The last Caribbean stations could be worked after our sunset.
Originally I planned a casual participation but with the variety of stations being qrv I soon changed to a full blown effort.
The path to JA closed early, which was a pity. But the afternoon openings into NA were a blast.
I haven’t seen 15m in such a shape for some years!
73, Roman
Hi Philp. @G4OBK
I loved reading your blog, with your comments on the CQWW CW. I was also active this year SO(A)AB HP. The propagation was better than last year. But he still lacks a lot of joy. I remember those years …
A pleasure to listen to you at SOTA !!
73 de Dani EA5M
