The AFRICA DX all band all mode 24 hour contest

The 2nd ALL AFRICA-DX contest

1200Z Saturday 17 September to 1200Z Sunday 18 September

The objective of this all mode contest is to stimulate contesting from Africa. All participating stations worldwide may work any country during the contest period, QSO’s with amateurs from Africa is encouraged as reflected in the higher points being awarded in the scoring mechanism. 

African DXCC entities are defined as those valid per the ARRL DXCC AF Listing published at the time of the contest.

Please note the use of the term Africa and not South Africa. We strongly encourage all African stations to take part in this event. The rules are in no way biased in favour of any one single group or country within Africa. We would like nothing better than seeing a bunch of African stations active during this 24 hour event.

This will contest will be beneficial to all concerned. The station worldwide will benefit from increased activity from Africa on all bands and modes, this will bolster their much needed empty DXCC band / mode slots. On the other hand, the Africans will benefit due to the fact that the world outside of Africa will be turning there beams towards Africa for a change and this will be a great opportunity to be at the centre of activity, with its associated benefits, pileups and hopefully finding new entities towards their own DXCC status.

Rules can be downloaded here:

http://africadxcontest.blogspot.co.za/2016/09/africa-all-modeinternational-dx-contest.html

  

A N1MM+ contest template is available here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwxhBtZxalIfMFJyVXRtRkZYeGM/view?usp=sharing

With a bit of luck that this may in time become a popular annual event, I sure hope others feel the same.

CW Pileup simulation – Pileup Runner

Some years ago I discovered and wrote about the free program “Pileup Runner” created by Alex VE3NEA

I recently rediscovered and started using this fantastic tool on a regular basis.

I am a little surprized that something this good is kept under wraps. We seldom hear any reference to this program. 

This is an awesome tool to improve one’s accuracy with copying and logging of CW under very realistic on air conditions.

http://www.dxatlas.com/pileuprunner/

http://zs6a.blogspot.co.za/2012/10/cw-pileup-simulator-pileup-runner.html

Pileup Runner V1.4

CQ WW CW 2014 - My first 100+

I most certainly enjoyed the weekend doing what I like most, that is chasing DX on CW.

I am fairly pleased with my results, considering I don’t have any decent antennas to speak of. My best antenna is a rigid rotating dipole for the ten metre band, some 8m agl. The rest of the antennas are simple low wire dipoles.

As a rule I don’t monitor my progress during a contest nor do set specific goals. However, late on Sunday I realized that I had already worked some 90 countries on 10m. As I had never worked 100+ DXCC entities during a single contest, I then I set myself that goal since it seemed within reach.

For the most part I operated in “search and pounce” mode, which is fairly slow but at least could chase the country and zone multipliers I needed.

I tried “running” a few times and the QSO rate was much higher, but found it rather stressful, mostly because I am not as proficient on CW as I would like to be. I find it rather daunting to be at the sharp end of a pileup, I need to practice my pileup skills. Maybe if I used Morse Runner more often I would become more skilled in being able to extract calls from the quagmire.

I was very happy that I was able to reach my goal: 106 DXCC entities worked (on a single band) with a few extras for insurance.

My total score for SOSB(A) 10m = 152,066

ZS6A CQ WW CW 2014 score

ZS6A CQ WW CW 2014 stats

Clear operating procedure

The following extract is from the QRZ.com profile of Alexey HC2AO

 http://www.qrz.com/db/hc2ao

“I don't like to specify JA only or EU only but there may be times when I will stop the pileup and address a specific geographic area. Please respect that and give a chance to the hard-to-get guys in zones 17,18,22, 23, 29, 37 especially on 80 and 160. You CAN call at any time if you are in AFRICA, PACIFIC, ASIA (excluding JA since I'll call JA specifically), OCEANIA.  North American HAMs please be patient on low bands 160 through 40 at EU, AS sunset-sunrise time frame.”

I am very pleased to see that some rare entities understand the problem that DXers outside of North America, Europe and Japan have. Calls are often made to selective geographic areas normally: NA, EU and JA. Where does it leave the poor DXers in Africa, Oceana, Pacific and Asia?

To address this issue they (e.g. Alexey) find it prudent to include the clause above within their operating procedure:

Give that man a “Bells” !