Sunday, July 10, 2011

2011 IARU Contest

This is one of my favorite contests  and for me this year the warm sunny day was calling my name just as loud as the contest was calling me, so I made a comprise. I operated in the contest during the morning and early afternoon then Julie and I went for a walk to a local festival that happens in town each year at this time. We came home to have dinner and watch a movie together. Then it was to the radio room to see how 40 meters was doing and it was doing great! I entered the contest in the QRP low power CW category (as always) so how were the
Julie caught me getting ready for the contest
conditions up this way.......I was very surprised to find 10 meters open and in full swing. For the first time in a long time I was making contacts on 10 meters. There was not only openings down into the U.S but Europe as well.  Not sure how propagation was doing at the time of the contest but I did  have to do lots of repeats which even with QRP I didn't have to do in the past. I have made it a practice not to check the propagation conditions before a contest. I do this because in the past I have found if the
forecast looks poor it shapes my attitude for the contest. When I finished with 10 meters it was off to 15 meters and it was slowing down some, all the openings were state side only. 20 meters was starting to heat up during the early afternoon so over I went. My evening exsploration of 40 meters was great. In the past with my other attic antennas 40 meters only provided contacts into the U.S. The Alpha Delta got me into and all over Europe for the first time. Unfortunately by the time I headed into the radio room to attack 40 meters it was late and I was very tired. So my run on 40 meters only lasted a short time.

How did I do this year
Total contacts          48
Score                      3220
E.U contacts           16  (10 of which were IARU member stations)
N.A.                        32  (2 of which were IARU member stations)

So how did the new Alpha Delta DX-EE preform......it was great !!! I have to enter a few more contests so I can give it a fair evaluation. I did have some troubles with the SWR as was mentioned in my last post. I thought I had fixed the problem but after a short time in the contest my SWR climbed back up again.....that's for another post.

 Some shots of the afternoon visit to the festival 
Some local talent
Checking out the venues

8 comments:

Bert, PA1B said...

Hello Mike,
Congrats on your new Alpha Delta DX-EE. Working Europe on 7 MHz with an indoor antenne is great. On 7 MHz I only worked Europe with my inverted Vee. Seems like the DX-EE, even indoors, is doing better than the inverted Vee. hi
I worked VY2ZM, a station with Excellent Ears, on 20 mtrs with only 360 mW. hi
73, Bert

John AE5X said...

That's great that 10 was open for you. I checked it periodically but never heard a peep. Not much on 15m either - 20 and 40 were the money bands, as usual.

VE9KK said...

Good afternoon Bert, I too worked VY2ZM out of P.E.I and he has a great website at www.vy2zm.com you should check it out. Also I do believe the DX-EE is working just fine just have to get the SWR bug sorted out although the K3 tuner brings it down to 1.1 SWR. I am also running LMR-400 coax which as very low loss so that helps as well.

VE9KK said...

John I was shocked to hear activity on 10 as well and for me 20 was not to bad either but I was late getting there.

Jspiker said...

Hello Mike,

While only working a few in the late evening on 20 meters, they were the ones I REALLY needed. Two of them were at distances better than 5,000 miles. Didn't realize this contest was even happening until I tuned in....

It was a great contest... even for QRP'ers.

VE9KK said...

Yes it is a contest that I look forward to each year and operate QRP all the time.

Casey Bahr said...

Mike,

I had a thought about your high SWR problem. Is it at all possible that moisture could have gotten into a connection point or into the coax before or after installation?

The only other thing I can think of is that metal expansion is distorting things when it's hot, but that seems unlikely.

Nice summary of the contest, great job! I must try a few myself. Contesting seems to be one of those stages all hams go through, hi!

Adi said...

Hi,PF my friend for your QRP.
Best 73s-yc1bjx