[Dx-qsl] ARRL DX Contest

Sun Feb 22 16:30:00 2004

Oops... didn't mean to "reply all" before there, sorry about that.

But having gone this far...

Peter,

I should have added that I got most of those on 40 about 3-4 years ago, as
the cycle was approaching and reaching it's peak.  Conditions were great,
the bands were hot, I managed to snag a few major DXpeditions at the right
time (I'm still kicking myself for missing CY9A on 80 this last summer, but
the way things worked out, the only night I could get to a rig to work
them -- their last night -- their 80 antenna was already down).

And yes, most of the non-contest QSO's were CW.  40 Phone DX has gotten to
be a lot tougher since the popularity of digital, as it's cut back on the
amount of elbow room for the DX phone band (not a complaint, just an
observation).  With 40 internationally expanding in a few years, THAT
headache should pass, I hope.

Working was the easy part.  Confirming... that took almost another year.
Some of that came from data mining -- checking through logs for QSO's that
were never confirmed, a few of which took a long time to confirm.  Still, I
have had some managers & stations never get around to sending that needed
card.

And of course, as soon as I got that 100th card for 40, the next bunch came
lickety-split.

Now, there's a group of mainly EU DX that tend to hang out around 3799,
sometimes venturing as low as 3791, until about 0600 - 0700 Z depending on
propagation & the time of year.  Sounds like you ran into some of my old
friends there (EI6S & crew on 3799, and there's also an LZ & friends down
around 3791-3793 +/- QRM).   I've sure missed talking to them this year, but
lack of antennas will do that to you!  All of them were a big help in my
getting a few of the tougher ones nailed down, and to date, ALL of them have
come through for cards either direct or via the bureau.

Oh... I should mention "relatively easy" is compared to working & confirming
them on 10 -20.  All have their challenges, it just seems a touch more
challenging on the low bands.

I guess with 5 Band close to wrapped up, next step is the WARC bands... I'm
around 30 confirmed on 12, 35 on 17 and 30... and 160 (I have FOUR confirmed
including the US & Canada <g>).  Those should keep me busy for awhile, once
I get back on the air.  And who knows, maybe one of these days, once I have
all the cards here, I'll actually stop procrastinating and APPLY for the
awards too! <g>

73, ron wn3vaw

"Life is pain... anyone who says otherwise is selling something"
--The Princess Bride

----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Dougherty" <[email protected]>
To: "Ron Notarius WN3VAW" <[email protected]>
Cc: "DX-QSL" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2004 3:44 PM
Subject: Re: [Dx-qsl] ARRL DX Contest

At 15:29 22-02-04, you wrote:

>John,
>
>Good luck on the 80 M DXCC quest.  I had about 30 -35 confirmed on 80/75 &
>about 60-65 confirmed on 40 when I decided to get serious about it.
Getting
>40 done was relatively easy (took just a few months) but it took me almost
3
>years to break 100 worked on 80/75.

Hi Ron,

I'm in about the same boat right now. From September till now I've snared
64 on 80 (about 41 confirmed, but most were worked within the last month so
it's still early to judge the cards). 40 is a major problem, though. I only
find DX on 40 during the contests (SSB), and I've been stuck at 76 now
since CQ WW last year. Even then, it's a BEAR to get Q's on that band in
anything other than CW. How did you do it "relatively easy" -- enquiring
minds wanna know!

On 80, I found going from 100 to 600W made a universe of difference, plus
some nice EU guys who will put friends from 4 different countries on when
you work them. I think I got 10 or more like that, including a GD. Got a ZL
confirmed the other day, BTW, with a 2-wk turnaround.

I tried registered mail to ER4DX, but I ain't holding my breath for ever
getting that entity confirmed on 80. UA2 is another glorious lost cause.

73 de Peter (W2IRT)
[email protected]

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