Saturday, November 26, 2011

Update on CQ WW CW contest

The Elecraft K3 in action
It was a  late start to the contest it was  10:30am local time Saturday when I got into it and the bands were just hoping!! I started on 10m and over the coarse of the day just jumped between 10m and 15m. In the past 20m was the staple for me and most of the contest I would just camp out there. So far in this contest I have not even seen 20m as the other two bands were great with DX. I am operating 99% of the time QRP at 500Mw's. I am very surprised at the results and how far such little power can go from my attic dipole. Now and then I would pump the power up to 5 watts if I they were having trouble making me out. Now running this low of power does mean lost of repeats on my part (thanks so much for all the op's and their patience) so my QSO rate is really down. I did try 40m this evening but it's very busy with station that are running loads of power. The one station I did contact in Europe I finally made it to him at 50 watts. That for me is WAY to high as far as power goes I am just not sure at that level if I would am causing any interference to neighbors electronics. So I just shut things down for the night and am hoping to get on Sunday nice and early and take advantage of 10,15 and possibly 20 meters. Hope to see you in the mix up!!!

1 comment:

Bert, PA1B said...

Hello Mike, great to read about your QRPp experience. It gives so much fun. If you are heard but not copied, you only have to "double" your power, to be copied immediately correct. If you go from 500 mW to 1 W, this can still be a 1000 MPW QSO, if the distance is more than 1000 miles. your indoor attic fan antenna is doing a great job.
Good luck in QRPp, 73 ,Bert