So far its ….
55 contacts in 37 different DXCC entities giving me one new one which brings me up to 143 unconfimred and my confirmed total is holding at 94….
Now the 55 contacts is nothing to brag about… Most serious contesters could do that in about one hour of calling CQ Contest… But I was not contesting… I was using the contest to hunt for DX…
However things are still not looking that bad as some of the 55 contacts were made with unconfirmed countries and some of those are also LoTW users so if they are active then I stand a chance of getting a few more on the confirmed list…
The contest went well for me as I was not really contesting but rather looking for DX contacts. I had hoped that I would add 5 DXCC to the unconfirmed list and I only added one. However I also had hoped to shorten the unconfimed list as well and I know that once the logs are submitted I have a great chance of claiming that is shorter…
Antartica (#1 on the map) still eludes me…
On that topic I had also wanted to get the 7th continent in the log… Well remember that I said that normally if I can hear em I can work em??? I never even heard them…. The cluster said they were there…. I heard the stations working them… but not them… I guess that dream will continue till the next major contest…
There were a couple of highlights for me…
The first was getting KA3DRR in the log… Scot is a fellow blogger (check my blogroll on the right hand side of your page) and its always neat to make a contact with someone you have knowledge of… We have tweeted back and forth as well as exhanged comments etc but this is the first time we have ever chatted via radio…
The second was getting a couple of Japanese stations in the log on 15m. With the first one I was pleased and with the second one I was more than pleased… Finding that the 2nd contact is on LoTW made it even better as that was (is) an unconfimed DXCC for me and hopefully very soon that will change…
There were also things that were learned…. At the top of the list of things I want to get working … A voice keyer…. It would make my voice last so much longer… not to mention not disturbing the others in the house when I get excited and forget to lower my voice when trying for the rare ones…
Check out the above video….Its all software controlled and I believe I can wire it up with my headset and have it vox activated… There will be more on this later but… it should be in place for the ARRL Sweeps in November…
On the topic of headsets… I need to get my old headset fixed… The one I replaced it with works but… Not as comfy on my ears after sitting for hours listening to static… I gotta get the old one rewired …. Its only a simple soldering job (eyes are tired and my hand shakes) so its on my list of things to get done…
I also must get my 80m capabilities back again…. The built in tuner on the FT 450 will not tune up the S9 vertical on 80m and that will be an issue during the Sweeps (as I want to give out lots of contacts from the new Ontario East (ONE) Section) and really will be an issue during the RAC Winter Contest in December.
I made the mistake of selling my LDG Autotuner (above) when I re did some stuff here in the shack. I was going to use a Yaesu FC 40 remote auto tuner to feed the S9 Vertical at the antenna end of the coax.
The FC 40 (above) (which I had had for years) just did not work out as expected with this antenna setup so…. I sold it as well… and never replace either one yet… Looks like its going to have to happen very soon as I have about a month before the ARRL Sweeps…
Lots of stuff better happen in the next month…
Enjoy the rest of your weekend…
73bob
Tags: amateur radio, amateur radio contesting, Amateur Radio DX, CQ WW SSB Contest, KA3DRR
