I just cruised for new band counters during the contest. Activity was amazing on 10 meters and I occasionally wanted to try to run a bunch of Europeans, but that is not the goal now. I worked 16 new band counters and made several observations.
Conditions were so hot on the higher bands that things seemed pretty lackluster on 160 thru 40. I guess people wore themselves out on the high bands, and they were also open way into the night. My noise level is high, but I have been hearing OK and there didn't seem to be as many stations on compared to other years. On 80M, I tried P3, 7O, etc, but the European wall was impossible to break through. I did work a few new Europeans but anything desired by EU was out of reach for me. 40 was full of stations, but I didn't find much I needed.
I usually try to get ZF5T on all bands but missed out on 20 and 160 somehow. 160 was tough. I have an inverted-L with a single elevated radial and thought I would get a few SA/CA/Carib stations, but not much success. I worked ZF1A but that's about all on 160.
Spotting, at least on DX Summit, seems to be pretty slim during contests. I never find it to be too helpful, but RBN was more useful if I had a target in mind. Otherwise, it was doing it the old fashioned way, turning the knob.
Has anyone received confirmation from ZD9W? I sent my OQRS on 10-22. He is probably waiting until the other stops are finished before confirming. Not that I'm anxious or anything, but that will be 6 new band counters for me. I'll get a few from H44WA, 7O73T, XW4DX, PR0T, VK9XY, and others when OQRS opens up for them.
I may have to think about actually working the ARRL CW DX contest in 2024. 10M would be a hoot. I could do it at the BAT station with QRO power and do 10M single band. I could even get a little sleep that way.....something to think about, and that's probably all I will do...
73,
Dennis/RZ
