Contest contacts

This past weekend, I had a some time to spend in the contest. Saturday, we went to an event is San Pedro called Steam Carnival, and Sunday, I had some things around home to get done. But there was still plenty of time to make a few contacts in the CQWW SSB contest.

Before the contest, started up the logging software (win-test), tested the equipment, and tuned up the linear for ten meters. For me, if I am able to start at the very beginning, somehow it makes me more interested in doing well in the contest. If I get a late start, or if I am not setup & ready prior to the contest, I am not as motivated to get started. This is especially true for those other contests that have a serial number in the exchange.

Friday afternoon, as the contest started, the band was filled with stations from Asia and the pacific. Starting at 28.300 Mhz, I tuned up the band and tried to work each DX station I could hear. Occasionally, I would turn the beam to South America. The station were packed up past 28.600 Mhz, and continued to 28.800 Mhz. Some stations were just too close together to get a contact with each of them. Many of the callsigns were familiar from prior contests, but it was good to hear a few new calls among the mix. I was not on for very long, but was on long enough to get me started.

I didn’t get back to the contest until Saturday afternoon. The logging software was still running, the antenna was pointed to Asia, and the linear was tuned up. Having had a start the day before, I was eager to get back into the contest. Once again, I went to 10 meters to dial up and down the band making contacts with those not already in the log. This time I stayed until the band started to fade out (or until I started to fade. I am not sure which…).

Sunday morning, I was able to get on the air shortly after the band opened to Europe. The stations were packed in all the way up to 28.900 Mhz., which was much higher in the band than I had heard in a number of years. After being in the contest for a few hours, I tuned across ZS9M and jumped into the pileup. It took awhile to get through the pileup, but after making a contact, it was time for something to eat. Then, something came up that kept me away for the remainder of the contest.

This year, it was not a serious contest effort. All the contacts were hunt and pounce. There were many long periods where I was not on the air, but I did enjoy putting some stations in the log. My log has been submitted as 10 meters, single operator, high power. Now to start thinking about the CQWW CW contest on November 29 & 30, 2014.