CQ WW CW Contest

The contest is over and I had a lot of fun working DX.   I don't have the best antenna system and my power amplifier isn't enough to cut through any pile up, but I do alright.  I can usually work the ones I want to, and for those I cannot work -- they'll have to wait.

A good friend asked me about the new DX that I might have worked -- if any of the contacts will be all-time-new-ones (ATNO) and I remarked that I hadn't yet worked any new ones, but perhaps on certain bands some are new.  As I try to fill out the slots for 5BDXCC it becomes apparent that I still need a few.

I passed by the 205 mark on DXCC Mixed some time ago and now it's just a matter of the "islands and rarely visited countries".   Perhaps a few continental countries are in that list -- especially the Middle East and parts of Africa, but I'm still confident that I can reach them -- eventually.

And, as I wrote that reply to my friend, I checked my log software.  I asked the software to check my progress on CQ Marathon and lo and behold I must have added 6 new ones -- but for just this year.  Still not ATNO's, but it was good to boost the CQ Marathon totals. The CQ Marathon is a great thing -- it definitely keeps me pushing on working new DX and in a few weeks it will all start over again at 0.  How wonderful!

My friends on H44WA are wrapping up their DX'pedition.  What a ride for them.   9 bands and a lot of Q in just a short amount of time, if you think about it.  I'm pleased that they got good use out of the 10m and 15m VDA antenna that I made for them.  I also am glad that the capacitance "hat" I machined out did the trick on their low-band antenna.   It was really fun to see so many of their contacts on that band.

I'm just trying to round-out the year with a good effort on MST.   The daylight savings time moved the hour back so it adjusts my work schedule a bit so I can fit in the mid-day slot of the MST.

After the CQ WW CW contest, I turned the dial up to the phone portion of 40m and CQ'd.   I was surprised to hear a bunch of LZ's (Bulgaria) come back and I had a succession of them.  One was even like "Can you stay and listen for my friend, sort of thing", from LZ.  That was fun.  I explained to some of the other W's that took my call I don't' do a lot of SSB these days and in fact I make it a point now to write out a QSL card for the SSB contacts.  Why not.