[RSM] ARRL DX CW- Recap

[ed_richardson at shaw.ca]

I heard Rob VE4GV and Jessy VE4JBB making noise this weekend.  Also heard
Cary using the W1VE station. Generally 80/40m were in pretty decent shape
for this time of the cycle.

Class: SO Unlimited HP
QTH: 
Operating Time (hrs): 28.1 
Location: Canada 


 


Band

QSOs

Mults

	

160:

11

8

	

80:

50

35

	

40:

218

81

	

20:

401

97

	

15:

74

35

	

10:

0

0

	

Total:

754

256

Total Score

578,308

 

Club: Radiosport Manitoba 


Comments:     [email] <mailto:ed_richardson%40shaw.ca>      2020-02-17
02:40:31


Most folks seem to think conditions were pretty good for this time of the
cycle. I would agree that 80 and 40m were better than I have seen than for
quite some time. 20m seemed pretty typical. Openings were longer, stronger
on Saturday than on Sunday for this QTH. 10m was non-existent. Checked
several times each day. 

 

15m was open to only to the south, the Caribbean and south America as usual.
Not a strong opening but still available. The one surprise was working EI7M
via a skewed path Sunday. One other G station was heard but could not hear
me. This is promising of better days ahead. 

 

20m was pretty typical. Opened to Europe around sunrise and closed with a
thud around sunset. Europe was strong and stable for about 90 minutes and
then started to fade so that by noon local, only a very few top tier
stations could still be heard. The opening to Japan and Asia on Sunday was
better than Saturday. No usual auroral flutter on the JA signals was a real
nice feature.

 

40m was the star this weekend. The band opened to Europe about 3 hours
before sunset. Signals were loud and free of flutter. The band noise was
also unusually low. Worked most of my mults well before sunset. Conditions
only got worse after sunset. Likewise, 40m opened to Asia just after local
sunrise. Forgetting to check the band in lieu of working 20m in the morning
likely means leaving a lot of mults unworked. 

 

80m is a challenge from this postage stamp size lot. The noise level is high
and receiving antennas just aren't a viable option. the surprise this year
came with 10 minutes left in the contest when I did a quick check of the
band and was surprised to hear plenty of European stations. For most reading
this, that would not normally be a big deal, but when we hear Europe on 80m
in VE4, it is cause for a celebration. So here was that mystical greyline to
Europe and we were actually experiencing the bump in signal strength we have
so often heard tales of. Added 6 new mults in the last 5 minutes. 

 

160m was a disappointment. I am not sure if it was conditions or just a lack
of activity. Working zone 8 was tough from here this weekend. 

 

There are some really good CW ops out there. Just amazed at their speed of
copying and responding. My respect and admiration to them all. 

 

We now get to do it all over again in a couple weeks on SSB. 

 

73 Ed