I received my 160 WAZ Certificate in the mail today.
I have worked and confirmed 38 Zones, still missing Zones 2 and 37. All contacts were made using CW.
Currently viewing the tag: "The King"
A spring tide coupled with an atmospheric high pressure of 1025HP resulted in the lowest tide I have yet seen in Otradalur.
I took a few photos of the Arctic King during the storm. When I examined the photos, I noticed that the attachment to the bottom part of the insulator of the right-hand vertical wire had broken.
This was quickly fixed and no damage resulted.
A foggy day at TF4M
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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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.
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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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.
Siggi, TF3CW was going to activate TF4X in the CQ WW 160 meter contest, but unforeseen circumstances caused him to cancel.
Yuri, K3BU, has stepped in and will operate the station in the Single Operator High Power category.
I sincerely hope that there will be no sun spots and no Aurora.
This may be the last chance in our life time to enjoy these fantastic conditions on Top Band.
I also hope the activity will reflect this – it would be so very cool if Yuri was able to work All 40 Zones in the contest !
It is interesting to note that I have followed the Tesla Radio Club project for years and several times I have been on the verge of writing to Yuri to invite him to my station !