CQ WPX SSB Contest #contest
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Had a fantastic weekend playing on the CQ WPX Contest. I joined in not to score points, but to try and work some DX and work some of the DX which I've only worked on FT8 on SSB too and boy did I have a great time.
My setup at home was my ICOM IC-7300, with LDG tuner, Inverted Sloping 'L' EFLW for 80m, Inverted 'V' for 20m and GPA-80 Vertical for all other bands, although I can get the EFLW and Inverted V to tune on several bands too. I operated unassisted. With just 50w, from the transmitter, not at the antenna, I worked 162 QSOs, 50 unique DXCC entities, 2 new DXCC entities and Australia twice on the same day on 2 different bands. Highlights were obviously working 2 different stations in Australia on 2 different bands, working China, the 2 new DXCC entities which were ANTIGUA & BARBUDA and FRENCH GUIANA. It was also great to make Tony, G4L (G4LDL) my last call of the contest and he was a multiplier too! We had spent the last 2 hours pretty much following each other up and down 20m and 40m. On a couple of occasions Tony heard me trying to work a couple of DX, hopped in with his 400w to work them and then got them to listen for me. Unfortunately, on both occasions the 50w just wasn't cutting it, but it was nice to be offered the chance. Great spirit of Amateur Radio and helping each other out. Here's my QSO map:  A great weekend of radio! 73 Dom, 2E0WHQ |
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Tony (G4LDL)
Well done with your 50w Dom. I managed a fair few on 10m including China, Indonesia & a fair bit of S America. Would have liked CY0S on SSB but didn’t find him nearer the end. It’s obvious I know but even with 400w an omnidirectional antenna is not the best for the higher bands – you just hear too much. Fortunately I have a Wellbrook loop which helps. Pity we couldn’t get those across the pond stations to hear you Dom but thanks for the spot afterwards. I had loads calling me after that and worked a dozen or so in the last 6 minutes. They were still calling when time ran out. Perhaps I should consider assisted in future!
73 All, Tony G4L/G4LDL.
From: sdarc@groups.io <sdarc@groups.io> On Behalf Of Dom - 2E0WHQ
Sent: Monday, March 27, 2023 2:58 PM To: sdarc@groups.io Subject: [sdarc] CQ WPX SSB Contest #contest
Had a fantastic weekend playing on the CQ WPX Contest. I joined in not to score points, but to try and work some DX and work some of the DX which I've only worked on FT8 on SSB too and boy did I have a great time. |
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Hi everyone, Dom, I also did the CQWPX for the same reason, nothing competitive. I’ll probably worked 4/5 hours. I would like to understand where I got to, so I wonder how did you do the map? I’ve done the same thing on the RSGB, but don’t know how to do it
for CQWPX.
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Sent from Jeff M0UHF
On 27 Mar 2023, at 15:19, Tony (G4LDL) via groups.io <tony.ldl@...> wrote:
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Hi Jeff,
I use QSO Map. I'm not sure how Marc get's his maps, possibly from Log4OM, but QSO Map works great for me. Just create yourself an account, it's free, unless you want to contribute and make a donation and then you can just upload your ADIF log file. For CQ WPX I was running N1MM+ as my logging software, as I prefer the layout of that to Minos. At the end of the contest, I just generated an ADIF file, which I can then use to import to QRZ.COM for my personal logging. The log generated by N1MM+ won't contain the locators, so I upload to QRZ.COM first, which will add the locators and then do an export from QRZ.COM to a new ADIF with locators in it. Possibly sounds a bit of a faff, but it literally takes about 5 minutes. https://qsomap.org/ Shout if you get stuck! 73 Dom, 2E0WHQ |
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Jeff,
I do the same as Dom, very straight forward once you know how, then I load the ADIF file into this : http://tools.adventureradio.de/analyzer/ Personally I like this better than QSO map, no registration even required and more functionality. Marc |
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Thanks Marc,
I wasn't aware of the Log Analyser Website, but I've bookmarked it now! :) I'll ask James if he can add that to the useful links on the SDARC website. I've just re-done my CQ WPX log using the Log Analyser Website for comparison.  I think I agree that it looks better in this. 73 Dom |
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Hi Dom,
There are lots of features to play with. You can have thick or thin lines, icons instead of lines, callsigns showing, different colours for modes or bands, etc... Marc |
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Graham (G4OED)
Well done all.
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Thanks for the link to the map site, Marc. Here are my efforts on 15m SO-LP. 235 QSOs, 205 prefixes and 67 DXCCs. 95,325 points claimed. All on a Hamstick dipole at 8m. Graham G4OED  On 27 Mar 2023, at 16:17, Marc (M0KYB) <marc@...> wrote:
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Hi Graham,
That's quite interesting that we did pretty similar, as far as coverage. The only big difference being the West coast of America. You'll also notice that one certain large country took no QSOs from me. ;) Were you running 100w and did you turn your dipole at any stage? Which way was it beaming? Dom. |
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Graham (G4OED)
Hi Dom,
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I did turn the dipole - often!. It didn’t make much difference to reception, but I’m sure it affects how I get heard. The only problem was that I kept hearing stations I wanted to work whose bearings were at right angles and, as I haven’t got a rotator on it yet, that meant frequent trips into the garden. The radio was running at full power, nominally 100W, but when I was transmitting, the average power showing on the ATU was seldom over 50W. I did start by avoiding that large country, but hearing other G’s working them got the better of me!! Talk more on Thursday. Cheers Graham G4OED On 27 Mar 2023, at 17:29, Dom - 2E0WHQ <domwilko@...> wrote:
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Good morning all, Graham, I wonder if you were using much processing power and how high was your audio set? This will increase your output power. You need to build up as much audio to get the power out of the radio, but of course not to the point of distortion
and room audio noises being picked up will take away your audio. It is quite normal for your radio to show only half its power on SSB.
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Sent from Jeff M0UHF
On 27 Mar 2023, at 18:48, Graham (G4OED) via groups.io <grahperry@...> wrote:
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Graham (G4OED)
Hi Jeff,
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Thanks for the comments. My compression is set at 4/10 and the mike gain at about 40%. When I’m talking the ALC does approach the top of the scale, so I’m wary about going any higher. I’m not too worried about the set-up as I’m only using a Hamstick dipole and all my contacts were obtained by S&P, so I think I had a reasonable result. Graham G4OED On 28 Mar 2023, at 11:13, Jeff M0UHF <jeff.elliott45@...> wrote:
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Hi Graham, there is no need to worry if your audio goes over on the ALC, but if you can keep it around the top end, you won’t get a lot of distortion or bad audio. Just use it as a guide to keep an eye on it. I would definitely increase your audio settings
if it was me when contesting. It’s not so important when having a rag chew or something. I decided to do the contest toward the very end few hours and managed 90 contacts and I worked stations up to 11,000 km. mostly I was using and fed Antenna about 36 1/2
m long. On the higher frequencies, I was using a cobweb at about 6m The radio was an old Yaesu FT2000.
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Sent from Jeff M0UHF
On 28 Mar 2023, at 11:57, Graham (G4OED) via groups.io <grahperry@...> wrote:
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