2009 CQ WW DX Contest – The after math

All these days I was trying to analyse the results of my operation. All I want is to know the capabilities of my station and how to improve it.

A tool to get my log and present it in various forms for analysis was required, so I did the usual web search, but I found only one tool that could help. Unfortunately, it is restricted to US regions only. I also tried to import my log to Ham Radio Deluxe because it has a mapping feature, but after some tries, I realized that in order this to work, each callsign needs to have the grid locator information. I could not get this info for all the callsigns of interest so I had to do it my way ! (note: there is available the Ham Radio Deluxe Utilities that can poll the QRZ.com database and resolve this info, but you need a subscription for this).

My solution was  to develop a small application that would analyse my data in any way I want.  It was a weekend project to implement the basic functionality required, that is, find the maximum distance worked as well as display the DXCC entities worked on a map.

An overview of the DXCC entities heard is shown on the map below (each entity is displayed only once)

Overview of DXCC countries heard worldwide

The most distant station heard was PJ4K in Netherlands Antilles, at a distance of 9425,4 km.

The main distribution is over Europe, with no African stations at all, something that I did not expect, since I have heard lots of stations from Africa with the same setup.

Overview of DXCC countries heard in Europe and Africa

A close-up of the European map shows that (at least) almost all Europe is within my reach

Detailed view of European DXCC countries  heard

Most of the DXCC countries heard were expected because previous coverage analysis showed that they are well within my station capablities for this part of the solar cycle. But, there is a big gap to the east despite the predictions of VOACAP.As I said before, lots of Chinese and Japanese stations were on air but I could not hear them.

I can think of two main reasons for this gap. The first one is that the placement of my antenna is so bad, with its proximity to the building and to various metal objects affecting the radiation pattern more than I had estimated. The other reason is that the stations were burried deep into the noise, which was  quite significant . I believe that these two reasons are related and by improving my antenna the situation will change dramatically!

With this data in hand, the next target is my antenna. I allready have some things in mind that I would like to try.

Despite the fact that I did not have any luck with US and AS, the analysis showed that a total of 141 DXCC countries were heard! This by itself  leaves room for a lot of  fun!

73, SV3DJG

2009 CQ WW DX Contest – The Big Practice

I am not yet active but I spend lots of hours listening on the bands. One of the activities I like most, is listening to contests. It is a great opportunity to test my station’s capabilities, learn new operating techniques, become more familiar with the bands and propagation and of course, see if I can (or could) handle it!

After I read a lot of tips how to survive from a 48-hours contest , I planned my sleeping and feeding hours, targeting to be “on the air” for at least 36 hours. My intention was not actually to participate, but pretend I operate by simulating as much as possible the real conditions.

This was my plan in details:  As long as I would be “on air”, I would just search in the bands for stations calling CQ. Each station was evaluated as workable/non-workable  using some rules depending on the signal strength and station distance. In addition, I always assumed that the station used a beam antenna , so  depending on the station he worked previously I could assume whether he was beaming  at my direction or not. If the station was evaluated as workable, I would log him and continue.

I tried to be as much pesimistic as I could in my scenario,for example, if a station from Canada was received at S2 , even if I could hear him into the noise, I was rejecting him as non-workable. I was also adjusting the time required for a (virtual) QSO depending on the number  of stations calling him, signal strength, distance etc. The minimum time allocated for a QSO was 30 sec and my average was 1.5 minute, depending on conditions.

My station at the moment consists of 3 HF transceivers (1 Kenwood TS-140 and 2 TS-850) and a 20m dipole located at 15m above ground (non-rotatable), fed through open wire and a tuner. I actually can match the antenna from 80m-15m although I have not performed any tests on how effective it is. I really wanted to see how this setup will perform!

So, here is a summary of what  I learnt from this  operation:

• I could only hear stations within a quite short range. There were casses where JA’s, W’s, K’s,VK’s and VE’s were worked from Italian stations and I could not hear anything at all!
• TS-140 could up to a point withstand the signals during the contest, but the TS-850 was the one that did the hard job.
• I really need to sleep well before the contest and follow my schedule! My real operating time was limited to only 15 hours!

As an indication,  I provide the score calculated by N1MM (remember,  I never really worked those stations!)

        Band    QSOs    Pts  Cty   ZN
         3,5      68      71   30    5
           7     158     203   48   11
          14     147     186   43    8
          21      72      83   27    7
       Total     445     543  148   31

    Score : 97.197

In reallity this would not be a bad score for a beginner, but I estimate that even if I tried to be pesimistic, the score is too optimistic ! I estimate that in real operation I would perform much worse than that. This simulation assumed that I run on 100W…if I had “operated”  in QRP,  the results would be totally different !!!

I now have to analyse my notes and see what I can impove !

73, SV3DJG