Articles and information about DX or distant stations outside the North American continent. Topics include working DX, DXpeditions, DX Stations, DX related antennas, software, and equipment and more.
I’ve had a chance to operate on the 6m Band this past week. We are approaching the prime time for the summer Es (E-Skip) season here in the Northeastern United States. I was fortunate to catch a typical limited DX opening on the 6m band between our location here in New England and Europe…
The spring 6m Es season is well underway here in New England. We are beginning to see some DX opening to Europe daily. As a result, I thought that it might be a good time to share some information about 6m DX openings using some examples captured during a recent operating session here at AB1OC-AB1QB. The link above contains the details.
The article illustrates what a typical 6m opening to Europe from here in New England is like. It also includes some information about how to monitor the 6m band to spot short-lived DX openings when they occur.
FT8 mode, JTDX software, and PSKReporter are described in the article at the link above. These are useful tools for monitoring propagation and working contacts on the 6m Band.
I hope that you’ll give the 6m Magic Band a try this Es season!
The 2020 Dayton Hamvention has been canceled, but you still have the opportunity to attend Contest University from the comfort of your QTH! The organizers of Contest University will be holding a free Virtual Contest University via Zoom on May 14th.
Contest University is a full day of educational presentations. The world’s most skilled contesters share their knowledge. You will learn not just how to operate in a contest but skills that are useful for all ham radio operators:
How to improve your station
All about propagation and when to operate to get the most and most distant contacts
Information on setting up your digital station and operating digital modes,
What are the best performing transceivers based on testing by Rob Sherwood, NC0B
And much more!
Fred, AB1OC, and I have been attending Contest University for many years and we learn something new every time. Contest University is highly recommended for our Student/Teacher Contesters as well as all of our members.
This past weekend was the CQ World Wide WPX SSB contest. I haven’t worked a lot of contests from my home station, but I have some free time on my hands with this COVID-19 pandemic going on, so I decided I’d give it a shot.
AC1DC Station
I have been very lucky and probably a little spoiled to have been able to use AB1OC/AB1QB’s station, which is an amazing station, for past contests. So, let me start by telling you a little about my home station. I’m running an Icom IC-7300 with an Elecraft KPA500 500 watt amplifier. I’m using the Buckmaster 4-band OCF Dipole for an antenna on a push-up mast from Max-Gain Systems at about 35 feet high. Definitely not a bad set up, but it’s not a big-gun station either.
My main goal for jumping into the contest was to have fun and try to finish off my DXCC. I have over a hundred countries and do have my DXCC through QRZ, but I’ve been stuck at 97 confirmed for quite a while on LOTW. I figured this would be a good contest to knock off a few more countries and hopefully get them confirmed.
The CQ WW WPX is a 48-hour contest in which amateur radio operators worldwide try to contact as many other operators as possible in that time. The exchange is a simple signal report and a progressive serial number. What is really fun about this contest is that each different prefix is a multiplier. As you make more contacts with unique prefixes your score really shoots up! It is fun to watch your score after each new contact.
My station seemed to be getting out pretty well as I searched the bands. I never called CQ and only searched and pounced, but looking back may have been able to try running on 40 meters – especially as the contest moved into Sunday. I didn’t operate the whole time but spent a fair amount of time on and off throughout the weekend.
In the end, I wound up with 222 contacts. 163 of those contacts were unique prefixes for a total claimed score of 72,698 points. I contacted 32 different countries and of those only two were countries that I did not already have.
By the end of the weekend, I accomplished my first goal. I had a blast! Even if I did fall short on getting three more confirmed countries for my DXCC this past weekend has shown me that you don’t have to have a super-station to join in on the fun of contesting.
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