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CQ WorldWide CW 2010

By On · 1 Comment · In Amateur Radio

The contest was a strictly Search & Pounce affair at TF4M, with the goal of searching for DX and adding new countries to my log, with an emphasis on 160 meters.

I made a few QSOs on all of the higher bands, including one contact on 10m with CR2X – the only station heard on that band over the weekend.

Call: TF4M
Operator(s): TF4M
Station: TF4M

Class: SOSB(A)/160 HP
QTH: HP85FP

Summary:
Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
——————————
160:  198    21       73
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Total:  198    21       73  Total Score = 18,612

Comments:

Hunted for DX during the contest mainly on 160.
A full effort was out of the question as I am recovering from serious illness.
Conditions were poor the first night and abysmal the second night.
Quite happy with the result = 10 new ones on Top Band.
Highlight of the contest was working ZL8X on 160.
Using a K3 + KW into the most powerful 160m antenna on the planet – The Arctic
King. ( http://tf4m.com/archives/1824 )
Also very pleased to work VE2XAA/2 for Zone #39 on Top Band.

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Because of the poor conditions, it took me in some cases two hours of calling to raise some of the stations, especially in the Carribbean and South America.    Others in the same area were raised on the first call.  It makes me wonder if some of the Weekend Warriors are doing their homework?   It is relatively easy to build a transmit antenna for Top Band, but for serious results it is necessary to have separate receive antennas.

I use an array of 4 bi-directional Beverage antennas up to 400 meters long to be able to hear the weak signals on Top Band.

All things considered, this was a very productive weekend although the Aurora made conditions somewhat difficult especially the second night of operation.

The only disappointment was that Zone 37 never appeared on Top Band.

UPDATE: DEC 16, 2011   The Certificate for 1st Place HIGH POWER CW SINGLE OP ASSISTED 160M = NEW ZONE RECORD received.

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ZL8X – First Ever QSO with TF on Top Band

By On · Leave a Comment · In Amateur Radio

A large DXpedition is underway in the Kermadec Islands using the call sign ZL8X.

The DXpedition web site has a link to a Web Cam into the active volcano on Raoul Island.

I have been listened for the DXpedition´s signals  since the start of the DXpedition and for the past week I have only ever heard a slight flutery trace of their signals, certainly  not workable on the higher bands from my northern location.

Conditions have been poor with a slight Aurora, but during the CQ WW CW contest I heard their signals for a few minutes and was able to raise them on Top Band.

I transmitted a kiloWatt into the most powerful transmit antenna on the planet – the legendary Arctic King designed by TF3DX and I received the signals from ZL8X with a 400 meter long Beverage antenna in the direction of 323° .

In addition I used two cascaded preamplifiers on the receiver – Elecraft K3 with 250 Hz filter – for a total of 30dB receive gain to be able to hear these extremely weak signals.

This is possible due to the extremely low noise level in my location, I experience a noise level which is probably 60 dB less than in populated areas.

This QSO would also  not have been possible if the operators on Raoul Island had not set up a powerful station on 160 meters.

The distance from my location to ZL8X is 15,700 km.

I believe this is the greatest accomplishment of the Arctic King until now.   All Hail the King !

For insight into the effect of the Aurora on 160m conditions in TF please read the article by TF3DX by clicking on the “JA-TF 160” menu button above.

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ZL8X
 
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TF3DX surveys the King

By On · Leave a Comment · In Amateur Radio

The designer of the Arctic King, Villi, TF3DX arrived to inspect and salute the King on Thursday along with his brother Gunnar.

In between measurements, we rummaged in my “junkbox” (several outbuildings) for High Voltage RF Capacitors and adjustable Inductors which will crown the King at a later date when 80m capability will be added.

Villi operated TF4X casually in the Oceania DX Contest – CW and in between consuming good food and wine, we also watched the stars and the Aurora and a historical First Ever QSO was made in this contest with KH6ZM in Hawaii on 160 meters.

IARU 2010 by OH1RX

By On · Leave a Comment · In Amateur Radio, Visitors at TF4M

Jouko, OH1RX who was on a Salmon fishing trip visited my area with his group and operated TF4X in the IARU contest.

Conditions were rather poor, but this was to be expected at this time of the year.

Antennas and equipment performed without incidents.

Jouko commented to the contest organizers:

“Great experience to work agn from ultima thule at Thors fantastic  station. Bands are never kind to the ops above 64N, but his time it was a real uphill. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed couple of low band mults from TF!

CUL agn de Jouko OH1RX”

It was an honour to have such an accomplished contester operate my station.

I hope to see OH1RX again perhaps for a serious effort one day.

OH1RX wrote about the contest on his web site.

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First Worked All Zones (WAZ) – 160 meters from Iceland

By On · 4 Comments · In Amateur Radio

update March 15th 2010:  I have been awarded certificate number 342 for the 160 Meter WAZ award.

The certificate will be endorsed with this statement: ”  1st 160 WAZ from Iceland “.

To give an idea of the difficulty of this award, the 5 band WAZ Certificate has been awarded to 1674 stations (80m,40m,20m,15m,10m) and only 806 stations have worked all 200 zones.

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I have applied for the Worked All Zones Award for 160 meters.   This is one of the oldest and most prestigious award in Amateur Radio – having its start before WWII, and 160m is the most difficult band to accomplish the award on.

Only 335 stations have qualified for the basic award and only 143 stations worldwide have accomplished contacts with all zones on 160 meters.

I applied for the basic award (30 Zones) with an endorsement for 36 Zones confirmed.

Since I applied for the award, I have received the QSL card from XE2WWW (Zone 6) and I have requested QSL cards from several stations in Zone 9 bringing the total number of Zones worked on 160 meters to 38.

I am still missing Zones 2 and 37, which should be fairly “easy” to work once there is activity from these areas.

This is the first WAZ 160 issued to a TF station.

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TF4M QRPp

By On · 1 Comment · In Amateur Radio

Coming into the shack, I heard LA3XI call CQ on 1821.5 and since the amplifier was off, I decided to give him a call with the K3 cranked down to 0.1W (100mW !)  and he came right back with a 559 signal report.

I don´t know how accurate the built-in power meter of the K3 transceiver is, but it is clear that the Arctic King works well.

I looked outside and there is a full moon and light visible Aurora to the North.


I am not generally interested in QRP and even less in milli-watt power levels, but I am amazed by this.

A minute later, I tried this with an OZ station calling CQ, he got my call as TF3M and gave me a 579, but refused to acknowledge a correction of my call even when I called him with a KW.   Sorry OM, this QSO was not logged.

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ARRL DX CW 2010

By On · Leave a Comment · In Amateur Radio

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.

My score turned out to be good enough for 7th place World Wide.

ARRL160 2010

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.

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The Arctic King Rocks!

By On · Leave a Comment · In Amateur Radio, Visitors at TF4M

CQ 160 Contest – TF4X #2 in Europe, #3 World !

Yuri, K3BU operated TF4X in the CQ WW 160 meter contest in the Single Operator High Power category.

A solar flare about a week before the contest started caused worry that conditions would be poor.   The band seemed to have recovered nicely, but the Aurora Index stayed high during most of the contest and it became clear that conditions were disturbed.

Iceland is greatly affected by any Auroral disturbance, much more so than neighboring countries and Yuri observed, for example, that my Great Beverage antennas showed almost no directivity during the contest.    I know for a fact that they work very well, but during the weekend it seemed that signals appeared to come from all directions simultaneously.   I understand this may be due to a high arrival angle during disturbed conditions.

Some juicy DX was worked, two KH6 stations for example, it is only recently that the historic first QSO with KH6 was made from my station – this is quite remarkable considering the disturbed conditions.

The raw score is as follows:

1643 QSOs

51 States/Provinces

80 Countries

Total Score = 1,317,729

At present TF4X has the second highest reported score in Europe and is #3 worldwide.   This may of course change as and/or when other stations report their scores, but it is incredibly satisfying to see all my hard work being justified with such superior results.

Note: The final score was #2 EU and #3 WORLD ! ( NOTE: #3 among stations outside North America – two canadian stations were in places #2 and #4 putting TF4X in #5 overall. The reason for this is that North American scores are separate due to the scoring system)

Note:  The Diploma has arrived.  It puts TF4X in #6 Overall and #EU

It was quite illuminating to observe such an experienced operator running my station – at times I feared that my amplifier would literally melt, but it performed to my full satisfaction and there were no equipment/antenna issues whatsoever during the contest.

Yuri wrote in his comment to the 3830 Reflector:


Last minute adventure to the Aurora zone, taking up Thor’s invite.
Being rusty from dormant period, problems with equipment setup,
drivers, but got ready for the start.
Stories about Aurora wipeouts made it a big if.
Thanks to Thor and his magnificent station it ended up being fun and decent
score, even if coming short of beating the Eu record.
The background noise is probably the lowest in the world allowing to
hear lot more of the juicy stuff than working it.
Thanks for wonderful hospitality and station from Thor, TF4M and all the QSOs
and points. Lot of dirty clixing signals and rude behaviour by “CQ pirates”.
Will have more later.

Yuri, TF/K3BU

I used my PERSEUS SDR receiver to record the entire contest 1800-1900kHz.   The recording obviously contains the entire contest effort of TF4X and in addition it contains the contest effort of everyone else heard at my location.

This consumes two hundred GB of data, please contact me if you are interested in specific time periods.

A new chapter in the History of Amateur Radio has been written.

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