[TVARC] ARRL DX CW Score for K2DM

Tue Feb 24 08:28:31 EST 2026

Fantastic job, George!  Your BIC stamina is amazing. How long did it take
for the circulation to return to your derriere?

73 de TE

On Tue, Feb 24, 2026 at 8:36 AM Pete K2PS via TVARC <tvarc at mailman.qth.net>
wrote:

> You operated for 39 hours?!!  At your age?
>
>
>
> Awesome.
>
>
>
> 73, Pete, K2PS
>
>
>
> *From:* tvarc-bounces at mailman.qth.net <tvarc-bounces at mailman.qth.net> *On
> Behalf Of *k2dm--- via TVARC
> *Sent:* Monday, February 23, 2026 9:39 PM
> *To:* TVARC <tvarc at mailman.qth.net>
> *Subject:* [TVARC] ARRL DX CW Score for K2DM
>
>
>
> Clubmates,
>
> My summary writeup for the contest that I posted on the unofficial scores
> website (3830 scores) is included below.
>
> As Pete, K2PS described in his summary, Sunday conditions were not as good
> as Saturday, especially on 10M.  I made 755
>
> contacts overall in the first 24 hours, with 137 of them on 10M.  Unlike
> Pete, who operated solely on 10M, I didn’t even take a peek
>
> at 10M until Saturday morning – 13 hours into the contest.  On Sunday (the
> second 24 hours) I made 342 contacts, with only 28
>
> of them on 10M.  There just wasn’t enough activity for me to put in much
> time there on Sunday.  Instead, 15M was my money band
>
> during daylight and 40M carried the load at night.  The rest of my story
> is told below.  In case I sounded a bit braggy at the end of my
>
> 3830 writeup, it is because I have won the QRP category for the U.S. in
> this contest about 7 or 8 times over the years.
>
> So, who else played in the contest?  I know that Ray, ND8L, got on for a
> few hours.
>
> 73,
>
> George K2DM
>
>
>
>
>
> Call: K2DM
>
> Class: SOAB QRP
>
> QTH: NFL
>
> Operating Time (hrs): 39
>
>
>
> Summary:
>
> Band  QSOs  Mults
>
> -------------------
>
>   160:   19    14
>
>    80:   67    35
>
>    40:  226    58
>
>    20:  290    59
>
>    15:  337    63
>
>    10:  170    52
>
> -------------------
>
> Total: 1109   281  Total Score = 934,887
>
>
>
> Club: The Villages Amateur Radio Club
>
>
>
> Comments:
>
>
>
> I know, I know -- After the 2025 edition of ARRL DX CW I announced my
> retirement
>
> from putting in a full QRP effort.  It was all over the news.  Or perhaps
> a full
>
> effort in any category.  Yet there I was two weeks ago confessing to my
> friends
>
> that I was planning one more QRP entry.  To show that I was serious, I even
>
> jumpered the CW extensions on the 80M inverted V antenna.  I moved my K4
> from
>
> the house to the shack and bought some snacks to sustain me through the
> long
>
> weekend.  All my favorites:  Twizzlers, Lance crackers, flavored potato
> chips,
>
> oatmeal/raisin cookies, soda pop, and even some bananas and soup.  Then I
>
> hunkered down to struggle for almost every contact all weekend.
>
> Funny thing, though.  It wasn't as much of a struggle as I remembered from
>
> past years.  My basic technique is to do S&P up a band, stopping at open
>
> frequencies to toss out a CQ or two.  In the past I would occasionally get
>
> answered by one or two stations.  This year my S&Ping was frequently
>
> interrupted by a handful or more stations calling me.  What the heck??
> These
>
> people were throwing me off my game!  I had to keep checking my output
> power to
>
> make sure I was really QRP.  DANG!  Brother Peter, K3ZM later told me that
> he
>
> was surprised I was QRP because I sounded loud.  I was also told that I
> had been
>
> spotted a number of times.  Thank you to those who spotted me!  The slog
> became
>
> more fun.  And not only was I getting more answers to CQs, I was successful
>
> sneaking through a number of pileups on multipliers.
>
> A serious thrill was having P44W answer my CQ on 10M Sunday afternoon.
> John
>
> ALWAYS pulls my call out of pileups, and it was fun to actually have him
> call
>
> me!  It was also fun to work VP2M on 160M.  For 20 years I lobbied the
>
> Montserrat licensing authority to shorten my suffix from three letters
> (VP2MDM)
>
> to two letters (like VP2MM).  Franco took only a few months to get VP2M.
>
> Congrats!  It's FB hearing that call in contests.
>
> A couple of final thoughts.  Many thanks to the handful of QRP DX stations
> who
>
> answered my CQs.  5W to 5W -- sweet!  Also thanks to those stations who
> hung
>
> with me, asking for repeats, until we completed the QSO.  I heard this
> happen a
>
> gazillion times to other stations over the weekend, so it wasn't JUST
>
> because I was QRP.  But as a QRP entrant, I was especially grateful.
>
> My final final.  If you beat me this year, you EARNED it!  I'm still
>
> hearing CW in my head.
>
> 73,
>
> George K2DM
>
>
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