Saturday, February 15, 2014

MFJ 1788 and ARRL CW contest

The K3 doing it's work
I was able to get in a few hours in the ARRL CW contest this afternoon and  operated only on 15m. My output power was QRP 5 watts into my balcony mounted MFJ 1788 iso-loop. I was pleasantly surprised with the results I was able to make 40 DX contacts in 23 different countries. I was not able to make any 1,000 mile per watt contacts but I did come close at 4500 miles (using 5 watts). I found the noise floor to be just great and the EU stations were just booming in. There were some stations that did have trouble with my signal but over all exchanges were made first time.
My SWR was in around 1.4 to 1 and it was very simple to adjust the SWR as I went up and down the band. You just have to get the hang of tuning the loop and it is a simple push of the fine adjustment button and your all set to go. This evening I tried 40m and there was lots of EU stations but for some reason I was not able to make any contacts so after a short time I shut things down for the evening.
Tomorrow I am going to try to make some contacts with less than 5 watts and hopefully get some 1,000 miles per watt contacts.
Some of the highlights were:
Tunisia
Balearic Island
Finland
Alaska
Nicaragua


4 comments:

Hans said...

Nice to see that, after all the problems with your antenna, your system is working fine.
Good DX, 73 Hans, PE1BVQ

Jspiker said...

The Tunisia contact is one I don't have in my book but I was able to work Aruba, which is a new one for me. 40 DX contacts in 23 different countries is impressive. It sounds like the new antenna is working great!

VE9KK said...

Good morning Hans, I am very happy with the results and it confirms the antenna is working. The only thing I have to work out now is I am not able to get any decent SWR on either 20m or 10m.....one step at a time.
Mike

VE9KK said...

Good morning John, I was pleased to get Tunisia in the books and I am trying QRP......less than 5 watts today to see how that works for me.
Mike