From the ARRL WEB:
The weekend of February 20-21 will be a busy one for CW operators as the 2010 ARRL DX CW Contest takes center stage. First started in 1927 as the ARRL International Relay Party, the ARRL DX CW contest lays claim to the longest running contest in Amateur Radio. Stations from all around the world — from Australia to Zimbabwe — should be active for this great event that takes place on 160-10 meters (contest QSOs are not permitted on 60, 30, 17 or 12 meters).
Stations in the US and Canada work only DX stations — Alaska and Hawaii are considered DX for this contest — and DX stations only work the US and Canada. DX stations will be trying to make QSOs with all US states and Canadian provinces as they can. The contest exchange is simple: US and Canadian stations send a signal report and their state or province, while DX stations send a signal report and the amount of power they are transmitting with.
I operated in the Single Operator, Single Band 160 meters (SOSB/160) category and I made 376 contacts with 56 States/Provinces for a total score of 63,000 points.
Conditions were poor, as the 160m band has not recovered from the massive Aurora a few days earlier.
Despite the poor conditions all US States except South Dakota and Idaho were worked.
I used my K3 in diversity mode with the USA rhombic feeding one receiver and two phased Beverage antennas 400 meter long in the other receiver.
Most stations worked were very low signal levels, at the same time stations in EU were pounding in at times with the usual Key Clicks.
The K3 handles these conditions well and although hard, working the contest was a pleasure.
The high points of the contest was being called by VK6GX (Australia) and OA4TT (Chile) for a quick exchange of reports.
My score is higher than last year´s top EU score (ON4UN – 61,548 points) by a small margin, so I feel that I did well despite the tough conditions – the score is most certainly a TF record.
It is possible to follow the scores on the DXWatch web site – SOSB/160 World – SOSB/160 EU.
I recorded the entire contest and you may listen to your QSO with me.
