Category Archives: Contesting

IOTA World Winner :-)

Posted on September 19, 2018 by dh8bqa

Just got a mail from Oliver, DL2ARD, that we made it #1 world-wide in this year’s IOTA contest! 😎 It was great to have been part of the team! Let’s see how it fits next year. 😉

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IARU-VHF 2018 & Antenna Repairs

Posted on September 5, 2018 by dh8bqa

Before being able to do the IARU-VHF contest last weekend we had to do some serious antenna repair work. It was just 2 weeks ago when Uwe called to tell me something was broken, he could not tune the 2 … Continue reading →

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ARRL certificates now online

Posted on August 5, 2018 by dh8bqa

ARRL decided to put their contest certificates online (as most other organizations are doing, too). That means that everybody can now generate & download certificates for their contest participations in ARRL contests no matter the result. Earlier they just sent … Continue reading →

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Results of July VHF contest :-)

Posted on July 31, 2018 by dh8bqa

Claimed scores for the July VHF contest are out, see right side screenshot. It seems I was spot on with my assumptions. 😉 I’m sure I’ll loose a few points after logchecking but the margin to 3rd place is big … Continue reading →

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DK3R – EU-057 – IOTA 2018

Posted on July 30, 2018 by dh8bqa

A few month’ ago I received a phone call by Oliver, DL2ARD, asking if I would like to join their team during this year’s IOTA contest as they were still looking for another good operator. I’ve known Oliver for over … Continue reading →

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ARRL-10M 2017 results

Posted on July 25, 2018 by dh8bqa

A real pity DL2ARD decided not to go for SSB-only in this one as he usually does but also go for mixed mode else this would have been my first world win in ARRL-10M! 🙁 😉

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IARU-HF & WRTC 2018

Posted on July 15, 2018 by dh8bqa

It’s a pity I couldn’t join the fun in Jessen/Wittenberg with all the WRTC happenings. I did help a tiny bit during the last years with some PR work, i.e. writing articles, but QRL took it’s toll and didn’t allow … Continue reading →

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DARC July VHF Contest ’18

Posted on July 8, 2018 by dh8bqa

Well, I’m not sure what to think of this one. Equipment played very well. I didn’t sleep more than 2 hours so plenty of BIC time (“butt in chair”), too. Conditions were quite okay also but still only a bit … Continue reading →

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Small tropo opening into the U.K. tonight

Posted on July 3, 2018 by dh8bqa

Tonight was the usual first Tuesday every month 2 m NAC (Nordic Activity Contest) which is accompanied by the UKAC (UK Activity Contest) as well as the IAC (Italian Activity Contest) as well as the SPAC (SP = Polish Activity … Continue reading →

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A transverter interface for the ‘7300

Posted on June 24, 2018 by dh8bqa

After the quite good experience with the Icom IC-7300 during WPX-CW I thought it might be a nice idea to also try it out with a transverter on 2 m in the big VHF contest in two weeks. When searching … Continue reading →

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Weekend VHF activities

Posted on June 18, 2018 by dh8bqa

Unfortunately not that much to report. I had blocked the weekend for the IARU Region 1 50 MHz contest but conditions were basically non-existent. A few Meteor Scatter contacts every now and then, nothing else worth mentioning on Saturday. 🙁 … Continue reading →

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WPX-CW Claimed Scores :-)

Posted on June 7, 2018 by dh8bqa

Well, seems I was a lucky guy with #2 world-wide and hope the log check will not drop me behind LZ1NG. 😉 Guiseppe, IT9VDQ, clearly had the location advantage again (and is a great OP, of course) but beating LZ1NG … Continue reading →

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OH5Z’s reaction – bravo!

Posted on May 30, 2018 by dh8bqa

In my recent WPX-CW blog post I had commented on the bad signal of OH5Z. I was pleased to find an email by Timo, OG9X, one of the operators at OH5Z, in my inbox this morning. He allowed me to … Continue reading →

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CQ WPX CW 2018 & further 7300 experiences

Posted on May 28, 2018 by dh8bqa

Another CQ WPX CW is in the books! As usual I decided to do a 10 m single band operation. I just like the band, especially in sunspot minimum it offers a variety of propagation modes most people are not … Continue reading →

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Antenna work & VHF May Contest

Posted on May 9, 2018 by dh8bqa

Finally I had some time to go visit the guys and our station again last weekend. A distance of 2 x 700 km means I need to take Friday and Monday off for traveling and that is rather luxery in … Continue reading →

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CQ WPX SSB 2018

Posted on March 26, 2018 by dh8bqa

Initially I wanted to go the 700 km to the station and do the contest locally. Unfortunately two facts prohibited me doing so: First of all one of my grandmas died 🙁 and I had to spare 2 days of … Continue reading →

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ARRL-DX-CW 2018

Posted on February 20, 2018 by dh8bqa

Another contest in the books. 😉 Enjoyed operating the ARRL CW contest once more. Condx were not too good, i.e. 15 m only opened marginally and very spotty … Started about 4 hours into the contest but found even low … Continue reading →

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CQ WPX RTTY 2018

Posted on February 12, 2018 by dh8bqa

Just playing around a bit with the remote setup. Uwe, DL3BQA, was using our station on-site for a serious SOSB40 effort so I could only use 40 m when he was not QRV. Prior to the contest Heiko & Uwe … Continue reading →

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CQ WW 160 CW 2018

Posted on January 29, 2018 by dh8bqa

Time’s flying by that fast it’s incredible! Already end of January again and time for another CQ160 on CW. Participated in this one remotely again, about 600 W from my KPA500 into a 160 m “lazy loop” much too low … Continue reading →

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ARRL-10M 2017

Posted on December 11, 2017 by dh8bqa

Another interesting contest in the books! Although (of course!) not comparable to results of past years during sunspot maximum it was way more fun than last year. 😎 Due to other commitments I had a late start on Saturday, first … Continue reading →

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