Monday 28 November 2011

CQ-WW-CW 2011




Let’s set the record straight right from the beginning. I am no big contester, nor do I have large or efficient antennas at my disposal. In fact, the only half decent HF antenna I have up at the moment, is a homemade rotatable dipole for 10M.

Due to various reasons, I could not give the contest my full attention and could only devote a few hours to the event. I decided to take part using QRP and only work 10M.

I am pleased to say that conditions were very good and I made a fair amount of QSOs, including some nice new DXCC entities. I worked 39 stations in the first 24 hours, all on QRP, then I got a bit impatient and felt a bit frustrated losing out on new and rare countries. I then operated QRO for the remainder of the contest. What a difference it made to the QSO rates! I managed to work a further 110 stations in the 8 hours that followed. I guess that is a pretty poor performance by all contest standards? BUT, during this single contest I managed to work 60 DXCC entities, 23 zones and 8 all-time new countries.

I was using N1MM Contest logger. What an amazing program! Each and every time I use it, I discover new little tricks and features. It sure makes contesting much easier and it is pleasure to use. Needless to say, my log has already been uploaded to LoTW, my own HRD log as well as to the CQ-WW contest robot.

73, Pierre ZS6A



4 comments:

  1. I wish I had the courage to try N1MM software. Everyone speaks so highly of it, I decide to give it a try but am then turned off by the endless amount of info on the N1MM website. Looks like a steep learning curve...am I wrong about that?

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  2. Hi John,

    The N1MM contest software is awesome!!

    Getting the software installed and getting it to communicate with the Radios, Internet and the CW keyer might be a slight hurdle, but it is totally worth it.

    I have used the software on quite a few occasions and I find new tricks and tools embedded within the package each and every time I use it.

    Using N1MM is dead easy, learning the finer points take a bit longer.

    Have fun !

    Pierre ZS6A

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  3. I guess that's my next step - connecting the logging s/w to the rig. During CQWW I thought I was going to burn the VFO's axle up by constantly spinning it up & down the band to go after a mult. A click of the mouse would have made things much easier and faster with less wear & tear. Maybe by the ARRL DX Contest...

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  4. Interesting thoughts I really enjoyed your blog.

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