ARRL 2009 SS SSB is in the Bag

As most of you know, especially those who read my blog, the ARRL November Sweepstakes contest is done for another year. I worked it for about a total of 10 hours and ended up with 185 contacts and 62 sections worked. I have to admit that it was a lot of fun but now I'm tired and must get ready for bed.

A special thank you to all those that I made contact with. I have to say it was a superb job by all. I don't reckon I'll be in another contest for a couple of weeks. The next big one for me is the lustrous PSK31/63 Death Match, put on my the Michigan DX Association. If you are into the digital modes I suggest you get on the waterfall and give it a go. The contest is 48 hours and the winners for each category get swords for prizes. I hope to put in a much better show this than last. If I'm lucky I will end up with a nice blade to hang on the wall but of course that's stretching it.

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving everyone. God Bless you all.

73 de AJ4JD,
Tim

P.S. All logs have been uploaded to LoTW and eQSL.cc.

P.S.S. The preliminary results for the August edition of the NAQP SSB contest are posted. I ended up 35th overall in the 4 call area.

Got Contest?

Today starts the ARRL's Annual November Sweepstakes SSB contest. The objective is to work as many ARRL and RAC sections as possible. Work all 80 sections and you've made a clean sweep. The contest starts at 4:00pm EST and ends tomorrow at 10:00pm EST (2100z Saturday Nov. 21 - 0300z Monday Nov. 23).

I will be working in the contest from my little gun station, in the SOLP category so be on the lookout for my signal and make a Q with me on the different bands. Propogation seems to be on the upswing as of late so the contest should be interesting and fun.

I've been contesting for a very short time compared to many in Amateur radio, and daily I'm discovering new things on the internet about contesting. For example I've just recently joined up with the Tennessee Contest Group and found a plethora of information about contesting on their site and their Google Group Page. In so doing, this has led me to contesting.com where I have found a couple of lists of interest to keep up with and some very helpful blogs when it comes to contesting. I've even found some rather hilarious blogs on contesting. Just yesterday I came across the Fi-Ni report. I must have busted a gut more times than I can count reading the exploits of Cousin QRM and the members of the Lost Island DX Society. A must read for those with a sense of humor and especially to those who take things a little to seriously sometimes.

Anyway, my journey has just begun in the realm of contesting and I find it to be one of the funnest things to do in Ham Radio, that and chasing DX. So I'm sure I have lots more to learn and experience. While I may never be a Big Gun, I will always put my little pistol on the air and in so doing I have tasted the sweet taste of victory. Everytime I beat a previous score which I officially done during the Tennessee QSO Party (the results for 2009 are now posted on the site), and plan to do this weekend during the November Sweepstakes. Also, I've managed somehow to win a contest this year, which was pretty darn cool if I may say so. The PODXS070 80 meter Jay Hudak Memorial Sprint was held back on September 11 this year and I put my little pistol station on the air, and after 6 hours of operation I put in a worthy effort. To my surprise I ended up Top Dog by a mere 3 points.

If you've never contested before, what are you waiting for? It's a lot of fun, there are many contacts to make, whether you like to search and pounce or run, there's something for everyone. Get on the air this weekend during the Sweepstakes and give it a shot. I'll listen for you there.

73 es Good Luck de AJ4JD,
Tim

CQWW Results

As most of you know, this weekend was the CQWW DX SSB contest. Well knowing me and how much I like contesting, especially if there is DX involved, I worked it. Of course I didn't work the entire 48 hours, heck I didn't even work 24 hours of it. Being such a beautiful weekend and the XYL and harmonic being couped up most of the week, they were itching to get out as well as I. The Fall colors are absolutely wonderful here right now and it's possible that next weekend might not be so pretty.

Instead of devoting the weekend to contesting and putting the fam through the agony of hearing my call phonetically over and over a thousand times or more, I opted to only work the contest here and there throughout the weekend. Total operation time was roughly over 7 hours. Within that 7 hours time I was able to make 71 contacts to 44 DX entities and 14 CQ zones. Total multipliers came to 78 and total QSO points equaled 160 for a grand total of 12,480 points.

Here's the breakdown if anyone's interested:
15m DX: Argentina, Aruba, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, British Virgin Is., Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, England, France, Germany, Italy, Montenegro, Netherlands, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Slovak Rep., Spain, USA, Venezuela, Virgin Is.

15m CQ Zones: 03, 07, 08, 09, 11, 13, 14, 15, 20
Note: Prior to this contest I hadn't worked a whole lot of DX on 15m. This was indeed the most exciting part of the contest for me.

20m DX: Alaska (I don't know if this counts as a seperate country in CQWW), Canada, Cayman Is., Czech Rep., Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovenia, Ukraine, USA

20m CQ Zones: 01, 04, 05, 08, 14, 15, 16

40m DX: Barbados, Canary Is., French Guiana, Madeira Is., Martinique, Morocco, Portugal, Scotland, USA.

40m CQ Zones: 05, 08, 09, 14, 33

80m DX: British Virgin Is., Canada, Saint Martin, St. Kitts & Nevis, United Nations HQ NY, USA, Virgin Is.

80m CQ Zones: 04, 05, 08

So that's it in a nutshell. DX in bold above are new ones for me. Anyway that's the damage I've done. All logs have been uploaded to eQSL and LoTW. If you need TN confirmed, please feel free to send me a QSL if you worked me. I will be sure to send one back.

Until next time enjoy the reading, enjoy the DX, and most of all enjoy life. Next contest you will likely hear me will be ARRL's November Sweepstakes. After that you can read me during the MDXA PSK Death Match in December. If you hear me or see me in there, give a call, I'll be sure to try and pick you up. Oh I almost forgot, starting November 1st - November 15th we will be on the air as W4H celebrating the 470 Amateur Radio Group's 2nd anniversary. Check out the website for more information. I'll likely add a sticky up top the blog here in the next day or so for more information.

73 es God Bless de AJ4JD,
Tim

PODXS 070 1K Results and the Tennessee QSO Party

Good morning everyone. Well it's been a fun couple of weeks of radio and it's not over by any means. Last week you may remember that the PODXS 070 club was having their 1K Celebration. Well the results have been published and I finished a respectable 6th place which I'm quite proud of. Also I have to offer a bit of congratulations to K1GMD who finished 1st overall with a whopping 143,000 points. Also congratulations to all who participated, it was an absolute blast. Also, Robin (AJ4IJ), my XYL, she finished a nice respectable 14th and contacted Sasquatch. I'm looking forward to the 80 meter sprint this coming weekend.

So this afternoon and evening was the Tennessee QSO Party. I had a lot of fun working the QSO party. I thought I was going to have to share the radio with the XYL but she wasn't feeling very well today and opted to not participate this time around. I did much better this year as compared to last year. Of course it helped that I knew more about contesting as compared to last years TNQP and that we have our very own HF and that I worked it solo.

I did take a couple of breaks during the contest. Once was to run to the CVS to get Robin some cold medicine. Another time was a few minutes here and there to play with the dog outside. The last break was to run out with Robin to pick up pizza and then eat it once we got it back to the house.

So after operating most of the contest, I ended up with 166 contacts. The break down is as follows I had 157 contacts on SSB, 9 contacts on PSK31. I had a total of 78 multipliers. I ended up working 21 TN Counties, 33 states, 3 Canadian Provinces, and 3 DXCC entities not including Alaska, Canada, and the US.

The final score that I had tallied was 26,798 points. That's not official but that is my best guestimation. I guess in a couple of months we will see were the cards fall.

Anyway, thanks to everyone that made contact with me over the past couple of weeks. It's been a blast and I hope to catch you all on the bands and the waterfall again real soon.

73, good dx, and God Bless de AJ4JD,
Tim

P.S. All logs have been uploaded to LoTW and eQSL.

Not to Ill to Play Radio...Thank goodness for digital...

If it weren't for the Digital Modes, I wouldn't have played any radio this past week. I've been down with a bad sinus infection since Tuesday. Luckily, I'm starting to feeling better today. Since last weekend, Robin (AJ4IJ) and I (AJ4JD) have been working the PODXS 070 club's 1K celebration contest. It's been a 3 stage contest for the celebration. The first stage, last Saturday, was to work as many 070 members in 24 hours. The second stage was a scavenger hunt that went from Monday through Friday. You had to work 10 different things (i.e. Fur-Bearing Creature (part of name, call or qth), A tree (part of call, name, QTH etc.)). The third and final stage started Friday evening at 8:00pm EST, after stage 2 ended. The objective was to work non-070 members only and the kicker was that it was no calling CQ, search and pounce only.

I have to say that I worked a lot of DX this last week and a half during the celebration. It seemed that there was a lot of DX on 20 and 40 this weekend. We were working Europe quite frequently and the occasional South American station and plenty of North American stations. Everything, of course, was worked on PSK31 and with 50 watts. Some of the countries include: Italy, England, Scottland, Germany, France, Sardinia, Mexico, Cuba, Netherlands, Hungary, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Poland, Australia and many more.

So with all the logs uploaded to LoTW and eQSL, as well as having been submitted to the contest manager, all we can do is sit and wait for the results to be posted. For Robin and I, here is how we faired:

Robin
Stage 1: 28 contacts - 28,000 points (Each contact was worth 1,000 points hence the 1K celebration).
Stage 2: Found all 10 objects - 10,000 points (Plus another 5,000 bonus points if approved by the contest manager for finding all 10 making 15,000 points)
Stage 3: 13 contacts - 13,000 points
Total - 56,000 points

Tim
Stage 1: 43 contacts - 43,000 points
Stage 2: Found all 10 objects - 10,000 points (Plus the 5,000 if approved making total 15,000)
Stage 3: 26 countacts - 26,000 points
Total - 84,000 points

I don't know how that will place either of us in the contest, but regardless it was a lot of fun and sure did help to keep my mind off my illness this past week. I look forward to the endorsement for participating and I'm really looking forward to the next 070 contest, The Jay Hudak Memorial 80 meter Sprint. We will also be working the Tennessee QSO Party, from Union County Tennessee, I'll see everyone then.

Good DX and God bless.
Vy 73 to all
AJ4JD - Tim

Several Good Contests Coming Up

I was looking at WA7BNM's Contest Calendar online and I saw that there are several good contests coming up in August. This weekend is the Maryland/DC QSO Party running from1600Z, August 8 to 0400z, August 9 and 1600Z - 2359Z, August 9. Next weekend the North American QSO Party is running from 1800Z, August 15 - 0600Z, August 16. This ought to be a busy one. I worked it a bit last year but never turned in a log. The New Jersey State QSO Party is also next weekend from 2000Z, August 15 - 0700Z August 16 and 1300Z, August 16 - 0700Z, August 17.

The weekend of the 22nd and 23rd, two more State QSO Parties will be contested, Hawaii and Ohio. Hawaii's party runs 0700Z, August 22nd to 2200Z, August 23rd while Ohio's party runs from 1600Z, August 22nd to 0400Z, August 23rd. To round out the month, the Kansas State QSO Party is running on the last weekend of August from 1400z, August 29th to 0200Z, August 30th and 1400z, August 30 to 2000z, August 30th.

There are several other contests during that time, but for me those are the highlights. I will definitely be working the NAQP hard and heavy and will like try to make some contact during the various State QSO Parties. So look for me on the air during those times. Highlights for September include: Tennessee QSO Party, PODXS 070 80 Meter Sprint, Arkansas QSO Party, South Carolina QSO Party, Washington State Salmon Run, Texas QSO Party, and several more.

That's all I have for now. I have to go get ready for work now. 73 my fellow hams and good DX.

Until next time,
Tim - AJ4JD

Ho Hum Radio...

Well, it's been another week of hardly any radio. I thought about working the TARA Grid Dip, but instead I spent a wonderful evening hanging out with my XYL Robin (AJ4IJ) in the back yard around a camp fire. The next day we all went to the Frank H. McClung Museum on the University of Tennessee campus. We had went to the museum so our harmonic could see a real life mummy. You see, she and the XYL are going to mummify a chicken as a school project. This will cover many subjects such as math, science, art, and history. After the museum, we had to run to the library to pick up a few books on Egyptian culture and burial practices to help with the project. (I guess I should add that Robin is homeschooling our daughter this year.) After the library we had to run to the store and then drop our cousin off at home (she wanted to see a dead person too). When we got home I had to mow the yard and weed-eat it as well especially since I hadn't been able to do that in about two weeks due to all the rain we've had.

By the time I got all that done, it was too late to work the Grid Dip. That's okay because I've had a wonderful week and weekend nonetheless. I did make a few PSK contacts earlier in the week, two with stations in Belgium (ON4AXU and ON3SB), a special event in Canada (thanks for the QSO Michael VE3FRED), and Joseph in 3 land (NE3H). So this morning, I turned on the radio and the 10-10 International Summer Contest was still going on. I worked a big whopping 3 stations before we decided it was time to figure out what to do today (Check out our outdoor blog for the adventure today).

So that's all the radioing I've done this week. Like the title says, Ho Hum Radio. That's okay, the International Light House/Lightship week is now. Get on the bands and make contact with all the Light Houses you can. They are great fun to work. I worked a handful last year and hope to do the same this year.

That's all I've got for this edition, until next time....

73, Good DX to you, and God Bless,
Tim - AJ4JD

Contest Statistics since I've been a HAM

I thought it would be interesting to do a bit of analysis of my contest results since I became a HAM and got into contesting. I've worked a few contests since I became a HAM back in April 2008. Some I just made a few contacts just for fun, and some I've worked with serious competition in mind. So below is a list of all the contests I've worked and sent a log into.

Tennessee QSO Party 2008
Vermont QSO Party 2009
New Hampshire QSO Party 2009
Louisiana QSO Party 2009
North Carolina QSO Party 2009
Wisconsin QSO Party 2009
New Mexico QSO Party 2009
Florida QSO Party 2009
West Virginia QSO Party 2009
Mississippi QSO Party 2009
ARRL November Sweepstakes SSB 2008
PSK31/63 Death Match 2008
PODXS 070 31 Flavors 2009
PODXS 070 Three Day Weekend 2009
PODXS 070 40 Meter Firecracker Sprint 2009
ARRL Field Day 2009 (Not formally a contest)
CQ Worked All Prefix(WPX) SSB 2009

I can't find the results on some of these but where I can I have them listed below:

* Tennessee QSO Party 2008 - (In state low single op - 33 contacts, 25 multipliers, 1,650 pts., 33rd out of 43) and In State Team: 10,000 pts. 4th out of 5 teams.
* Vermont QSO Party 2009 - Can't find any results.
* New Hampshire QSO Party 2009 - Can't find any results.
* Louisiana QSO Party 2009 - Can't find any results.
* North Carolina QSO Party 2009 - Single Op Low Power - 33 contacts, 25 multipliers, 1700 pts., 50th out of 86.
* Wisconsin QSO Party 2009 - Single Op Low Power - 31 contacts, 18 multipliers, 837 pts., 2nd of 5 Tennessee low power operators.
* New Mexico QSO Party 2009 - Single Op Low Power - 24 pts. - 43rd out of 62.
* Florida QSO Party 2009 - Results not available at this time.
* West Virginia QSO Party 2009 - Results not available at this time.
* Mississippi QSO Party 2009 -Results not available at this time.
* ARRL November Sweepstakes SSB 2008 - Single Op Low Power, 32 contacts, 24 multipliers, 1,536 pts, 783rd out of 881, 20th out 21 Tennessee low power stations.
* PSK31/63 Death Match 2008 -Class II category - 12,865 pts, 25th, out of 72 class II operators.
* PODXS 070 31 Flavors 2009 - Finished 36th in the Medium Power Cat. 3 QSO's, 3 Mult.
9 total pts. Had some serious AC Line noise that day.
* PODXS 070 Three Day Weekend 2009 - I finished 15th stateside. 166 QSOs, 104 Mult. 800
Bonus Pts. 18,064 Tot. Pts.
* PODXS 070 40 Meter Firecracker Sprint 2009 - Official results not available at this time.
* ARRL Field Day 2009 (Not formally a contest) - Result not available at this time.
* CQ Worked All Prefix(WPX) SSB 2009 - Official results not available at this time.
* IARU HF Contest - Low Power Single Op Phone Only - 72 contacts, 44 multipliers, 8,184 pts. Official results not available at this time.

So folks, that covers it. I have to say that the IC-756 Pro 100 watts into a Windom Dipole at 30ft. does a pretty good job. Although not all contests have been done on that setup. A few contests have been done over at Dad's (KU4ME) on his IC-7560 Pro into a ZS6BKV dipole, or the 80 meter inverted vee.

So with that, the next contests I plan on working are: Tennessee QSO Party, 80 Meter Jay Hudak Memorial, North American QSO Party SSB, PSK 31/63 Death Match, and I'm sure a few others. It will be interesting to see how much better I do compared to last year in some of these.

Well I guess that's all I have for now. I'll say 73 and good DX to all.
Until next time when I talk about the European PSK Club...

God Bless,
Tim - AJ4JD