Some Contesting Activity and comments from ZS6DX/ZS2M.
I am always trying to improve my results while having fun at the same time! Even if I do not have the time to compete seriously in a contest I still spend as much time as possible just as practice, as the old saying goes, "The more I practice the luckier I get!". I generally prefer CW contests and contests where you can work anyone, is more fun, There is no bigger frustration than hearing some rare DX only to find that you cannot work him because of some silly contest rule!
Contests ZS2M participated in during
2024
2023, a restart of contesting at ZS6DX/ZS2M?
Well, maybe, when I am writing this, end of August
2023, I have only made a
few contacts in contests this year mostly to just practice. Most of the
contests I did make contacts in where the "worked all XX" kind of contest
where, as a "DX" station you can only work one area of the world, as mentioned
before I find these contests both frustrating and boring as you often hear
stations you would like to work but you are not allowed too.
I did
(briefly) look at the local contest scene again but "silly rules" still rule
here, now the HF contests are run on 3 bands, but not at the same time, 3
different times slots AND there are 30 minute gaps between the slots, sorry
"Silly" is putting it mildly, nowhere else in the world....
There is
still a SARL field day contest in a few days, need to go study the rules to
see if these "strange" rules have polluted all the contests, if not it might
be fun to test my "field" station and setup at a nice spot I identified a
while ago on the foothills of a local mountain.
The main contests,
remaining this year, that would be of interest are the two large CQWW
contests, the SSB and CW legs. I do not think I have the energy to do either
of them for the full 36 hours but maybe picking a single band, that is only
open for a limited time of the day, could be fun. I have done that in the past
and it was not only fun but it also produced good results.
Update 20/1/2024:
I just got back from the bush after
the SARLSummer QRP contest. To be honest it was a total waste of time! The main
problem was the timing of the contest, from 9:30 local time till 10:30 on 40m
and then from 10:30 till 11:30 on 20m. The problem is 40m closes at around 8am
in the morning and only opens again after 4pm, 20m only opens in the
afternoon.
So whoever decided on using these time slots for a QRP
contest is totally clueless as far as propagation goes!
Anyway, even
though I only made 4 contacts I am happy with my station, everything worked
well and it was easy to setup. The only thing that failed was my portable
station CW paddle, the return spring broke but it had issues before so it is
time to retire it. I really
need a new compact CW paddle! Fortunately the FT-817 supports "microphone
keying", you can use the up and down keys on the microphone to send dots and
dashes, actually works quite well once you get used to it. It does limit my
sending speed to around 22-25wpm but for local contests that is fine, I have
never worked a local station at faster speeds than that anyway.
I did
take a few photos of my portable station as I was planning a small report on
the contest, now I am not so sure it is worth the effort so I might as well
post a few photos here.
Ready for the contest, Yaesu FT-917, ATU-100 tuner
(was not needed but you never know with a new antenna), feeding a EFHW antenna
in an inverted L configuration kept aloft with a Comet 8m portable mast. Power
provided by 2.2Ah 3S LiPo batteries, turned out that 1 was enough despite a
LOT of CQ calling. Battery voltage monitored on a cell level.
Other than the mast everything fits into this small backpack.
Radio showing voltage after lots of calling, I would normally change the
battery when it drops below 11.4V
Keeping an eye on the LiPo voltage, you do not want to discharge them below
about 25% This was after an hour of calling CQ frantically on 40m
My spot in the shade, Baviaans mountains in the background.
The next round of this QRP contest is later during the day and in autumn so it
might give better results. I will check propagation during the selected time
slots closer to the contest before making a call if it would be worth the
effort to compete or if it will be a waste of time again like this round.
Update 27/11/2023:
I managed to spend time in the CQWW CW contest this past weekend, enough time
to make it worth actually entering the contest. It was not a full-out effort
as I was not really prepared, I went into the contest only planning to work a
few DX stations, mostly entities on bands that I still need but I ended up
having so much fun, putting in many hours that I decided to enter the contest
in the Single Operator, All band, Unassisted, QRP category with the "24 hour"
overlay. I decided on the 24 hour limit as my stations was not really setup as
a full contest station with far too much equipment on the desk in less than
ideal positions so it became uncomfortable very quickly!
I had lots of
fun and worked some good DX but then things turned sour! My full report can be
found in the link below.
Contests ZS2M participated in during
2023
CQWW CW contest 2023 With Results
Contests ZS6DX participated in during
2015, the first full year of contesting since my return to Amateur radio:
Contests ZS6DX participated in during 2014, a new beginning in contesting for me:
Update 15/12/2014:
With the contest season now behind me I can say that I am quite happy with
the way it went. In the beginning of the year I only had a wire antenna up but
that was fine as I was concentrating on getting my CW up to speed again.
Later in the year, before the CQWW CW contest, I managed to get the A4S
yagi in the air and it was a huge improvement even though it is so low. For
2015 I will try to raise it by at least 5-8m and maybe supplement it with a
hex beam for more bands. The Butternut HF2V antenna for 40m really made a
difference on 40m and I am sure in the coming winter it will be even more
effective.
Contests ZS6DX participated in during 2003:
Contests ZS6DX participated in during 2002:
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