#83 Cayman Islands

I was happy to see ZF1A from the Cayman Islands confirmed Our contact from the recent 10m contest.I've had other contacts with other Hams from the Caymans but this must be the first one using LOTW.I expect a few more to trickle in from other DXCC's and I plan to participate in the upcoming ARRL RTTY RU contest this coming weekend so I might add a few more then. I've also heard KC4AAA from the south Pole on 20m but the pile ups are big. He actually takes the time to talk to contacts instead of a quick signal report. It does make the pile ups  last longer but its fun to listen to the exchange.

73---Tim

2012 RAC Winter contest & E51E

This is the fourth year I've participated in this contest and have improved My score each year. This is always a congienial and fun contest and this year was no different. It started at 0000 UTC December 29th  and runs 24 hrs ending at 2359 UTC December 29th. As always My time actually contesting was but a fraction of  the contest period  with Me pulling the plug early Friday night and starting again  Saturday morning. The bands did not seem to be really good at this northern Minnesota location ,with 10m a now show! Probably should have tried 160m later Friday night but was just too sleepy.
  I did stumble a bit with My typing skills and needed to remember to change the frequency manually on N1MM because My CAT connection from My FT-950 to My PC is not working. This did cause a little "dupe" confusion! Very embarrassing! I also fat fingered the "O" and "0" several times--not cool! Besides those operator error issues,My equipment worked well! I ran this contest as a single operator ,all bands,low power and SSB only! I used My Yaesu FT-950 into either a ground mounted Butternut HF6V vertical or a 260' Dipole depending on the band.
  I had contacts on 160m thru 15m with the most contacts being on 20m. I was able to contact 12 of the 13 Provinces and territories only missing (NU) Nunavut and contacted 10 of the 14 RAC Official stations multiple times between the bands. I also had 3 DX stations and many USA contacts.Plus I had a station from Hungary I contacted who I found out was in a different contest! During My time on 15m I heard E51E from a small island in the South Cook chain and made a contact with Him--neat!
  This was a very fun contest!  Here are the results: 120 QSO's,28 sections for a total of 33,544 points.
During this contest also had some "lake effect" snow to make it a perfect Winter contest!
73---Tim

#82 Nicaragua

My contact during the recent ARRL 10m contest was confirmed with YN5ZO from Nicaragua for confirmed DXCC # 82. This was one of a few contacts during this contest I had hopes of a confirmation. I've worked Nicaragua before on both RTTY and Voice but until now I had not worked anyone who used LOTW. Still hoping for a few more !
  Christmas Eve Day-- where did this year go? I've had some medical issues this Year but overall I'm doing well with a good outlook towards 2013. On this blessed Holiday I'm thankful for Family ,friends,a steady job, etc,etc :)) May God bless You!  Hope to hear you on bands!!
 73---Tim

2012 ARRL 10m contest

I had planned to operate this contest as much as possible but I was quite sick for the whole week before so I ultimately only operated for a limited time. During the different days and time I did operate the conditions were very unusual. Sometimes it seemed like a VHF contest with the "E skip" type of pipeline propagation and other times like a meteor scatter event. Whole parts of the United States I never heard( Canada too) and other parts were like a direct pipe. The same could be said about South America and less so with the Carribean. I never heard a single European station which was really weird.
  The first night-Friday was the pipeline to Georgia and surrounding states. Next morning was South America and later Saturday evening was again the USA but more of the Northeastern seaboard States. I never had a chance to operate Sunday so I don't know what the conditions were like but I have heard the last several hours were good.
  This contest also gave Me a chance to compare My ground mounted vertical against My new 10m Yagi. The yagi is only at 20 feet high but definately out performed the vertical for almost all contacts. Propagation  might have played a role but I'm very satisfied with My new Yagi. Its great to have aluminum in the air even at a lower height. I did have many times of trying to break pile-ups where some QRO power would have been nice. I even tried "running" a frequency a few times but truthfully was too tired and weak to have delt with any pile-up!
  I added three Countries i've worked before but have never been LOTW users- I hope these new contacts are!! It would be nice to add some more DXCC totals! This was a very poor showing but under the circumstances I was just glad to participate. Did have a few "dupes" at Me- one was I believe two stations directly on top of each other. I didn't hear the others full call but He must have heard mine!
  Here's the damage-- 64 QSO and 32 mults for a little over 4000 total points. Below is a screen shot of the DXmap website of the 10m activity on Saturday. notice the western tip of Lake Superior doesn't show any activity reaching it! Yes--thats where I am!

  73-- Tim    more snow on the way this weekend!!!

Trinidad and Tobago added to total

I just noticed My contact with 9Y4D from Trinidad and Tobago was added to My LOTW account. We had a short QSO in October 2011 on 20m SSB. This gives Me 81 confirmed DXCC's of 101 worked. Slowly getting there!!
  While on the ARRL site I noticed big changes with LOTW now and in the near future. They have added a link to see current log status so We're not in the dark about processing times. For instance tonight looks like they are about 9 days behind!! Wow. It was indicated LOTW will be down for maintenance and new equipment soon-- This Friday? Hope it helps with the traffic and cuts down on the processing times.
  I'll write My 10m contest experience soon when i have time. Very limited contest for Me. Till then----
73---Tim

5T0SP and a pedestrian portable!

Its always fun and satisfying to contact a new DXCC and I was fortunate to contact 5T0SP in Mauritania twice so far. Mauritania is in western Africa just North of Senagal and this DXexpedition is active from November 24th to December 10th. I just happened to see them spotted on 40m at 0300 UTC running split on 7.160 and tuning there I found them about S3 on My ground mounted Vertical. Not a huge pile up but I had no luck with a contact so I continued listenening and spent time on the computer. Eventually I heard them increase to S7 or more so I gave a call- third time surprisingly was a charm. He repeated My call and I hoped He had it right because it sure sounded like a "J" was missing. Luckily  checking their website the next day verified it was correct . I also added them to 15m with just one call thr next morning!! Amazing!! They are also LOTW users so I will have another DXCC to make My total 81 verified and an even 100 worked.
 The same day I was checking 17m and heard an exchange between two portable stations. I listened for awhile and realized one was in My town. Steve- KD0ETC was operating pedestrian portable from a picnic table in a local park. The temperature outside was a balmy 20 degrees fahrenheit and He was having a great time! When He finished his QSO I contacted Him and had a very nice chat. He has operated portable from many local parks and even has a website explaining his set-up. It can be reached from his QRZ page. Maybe when I retire I'll have time for some warm weather portable operation.Sounds fun!
 73---Tim    Remember the ARRL 10m contest this weekend!!!
PS- just added 5T0SP on 20m SSB !

Remember upcoming 10m contest

The ARRL 10m contest starts at 0000 UTC December 8th and runs until 2399 UTC December 9th- - for Me that means this Friday at 6:00PM  CST to Sunday at 6:00 PM CST. Usually not much action Friday night although the bands have been open ocassionally so I'll try to check it out.
  I've been watching the email reflector I'm a member of and observed the recent 10m RTTY contest wasn't too great up north although the 160m CW contest sounds like conditions were pretty good and last weekends CQ WW CW contest was excellant! I thought about the RTTY contest this past weekend but have not been up to any radio activity. I've been very ill but on the mend now -- hope lots better by this weekend!!
 73---Tim