Category Archives: Contesting

IOTA World Winner :-)

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

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

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 :-)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 :-)

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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