CQ WW CW 2025

There was some discussion whether to do another multi-op for this contest, whether M/2 or M/S. Certainly it was a challenge when we entered M/2 with just 3 operators in 2023. Could I put together a team of 4 or 5 good operators this year? I wasn't sure, and I wasn't sure whether to make the attempt. There was only lukewarm interest among the few I canvassed.

With several ongoing challenges with my station and the difficulty of getting ready in time I decided to do another single op this year. I could deal more comfortably with station issues since I'm familiar with them. It was also an opportunity to see if I could surpass my 2024 result where I put over 5000 contacts in the log for the first time. Another opportunity might be years away since the solar cycle seems to be firmly descending from its peak.

First up was fixing problems before the contest. Here's a summary:

• My home brew prop pitch rotator controller repeatedly corrupted the display during the SSB weekend and failed completely the next day. I could still turn the motor. Since I didn't want to have to run to a window (with a powerful flashlight at night) to determine antenna directions I set to work. I replaced the LCD and took the opportunity to modernize it with the latest variant that has stable contrast and uses serial (I2C). That didn't fully cure the problem. Replacing the Arduino Uno did fix the problem. It was stable and reliable during the contest.
• I put the Acom 1500 amplifier back together after hopefully resolving the faults it was experiencing. It suffered an arc fault during the contest but otherwise performed well. I'll have to dig into it again.
• The 160 meter gamma match was arcing when the power exceeded about 700 watts. I did a thorough inspection of the components and wires. One plate of the series variable capacitor was slightly out of true. I carefully straightened it and the arc fault disappeared. Hopefully it'll stay fixed for the ARRL 160 meter contest this weekend. The damage may have happened when I added the switch for the 30 meter antenna.
• Wind damage to the northeast-southwest was repaired hours before the contest started. I temporarily pinned the problematic section of twinned wires to a PVC pipe. I'll find a permanent solution later.
• I couldn't figure out the details of N1MM and SO2R-Mini configuration to seamlessly switch between conventional SO2R and 2BSIQ. I can do it with separate function key files but that is difficult to substitute on the fly. DX Log does this better. I ended up with my usual configuration and a promise to myself to sort it out in time for the next contest.

I planned to do even more but winter weather arrived early. The ground is now frozen so there is no convenient way to do concrete work until spring. The rotatable side mount for the lower 15 meter yagi is complete, yet the antenna remains firmly attached to the tower. I had hoped to get it done before the contest for stacking gain to east Asia. It isn't difficult work but I need better weather and a helper on the ground.

I was a little anxious leading up to the start of the contest even though I was as ready as I could be. It might be surprising to hear that I don't really enjoy single-op contesting. I feel isolated and uncertain of my abilities, and worry about the mistakes I will make. It takes time to get into the right frame of mind. Then 0000Z arrives and I become too busy to entertain negative thoughts.

My primary concerns were whether I could do enough 2BSIQ to push my QSO higher than in 2024, and how the poorer conditions would shorten the European runs on 15 and 10 meters. I was less concerned about 20 meters and the low bands. I knew I had a big challenge beating last year's score and surpass 5000 QSOs. I should also note that unlike many serious competitors, I do not practice. That is one reason why I am rarely if ever near the top of contest results.

In the end I fell short. I was disappointed but not surprised. What really stunned me was the score by my friend Vlad VE3JM. Our stations are of a similar size and only 150 km apart. Even so he beat me by more than 50%. That's humbling. Well, I do know how he did it: aggressive and almost full time 2BSIQ. 

The question I keep asking myself is whether I care enough to work at my 2BSIQ skills. No, not really but maybe it would be fun to try. As I said above, I don't practice contesting skills other than the occasional smaller contest -- I made 1000 contacts in the LZ DX contest the previous weekend. Unless my attitude changes my scores will decline along with the sunspots over the coming years. 

Enough about that bit of personal angst. I'll figure it out, one way or the other. Most of the station improvements I'm planning don't hinge on it since they add value to all modes of contesting.

What went right during the contest:

• There were only a few minor technical glitches. It could have been worse considering how complex my station has become.
• I punched through most multiplier pile ups with one call. There are advantages to big antennas and high power.
• Many double mults (zone and country) answered my CQs on all bands. Examples include VK6 on 80, TZ, TF, 9J, ZD, 3B8, DU, BY and more. Running is a surprisingly good way to work mults. After all, many of those operators are casual contest ops and avoid the stress of a pile up.
• I had no difficulty operating close to 48 hours. There were many unavoidable short breaks and a short sleep break the second night. I followed the same strategy last year. I probably would have been okay without the brief sleep, however those were the overnight hours when few stations were available to work. Had 20 opened to Europe after their sunrise I would have stayed in the chair.
• Propagation wasn't great but it was good. As almost everyone noted, Saturday's mild geomagnetic disturbance disappeared on Sunday. The low bands also improved the second night.

What went wrong:

• The recently repaired Acom 1500 amp suffered an arc fault in the RF deck while running on 10 meters. As I said in my 3830 report, it made a loud "FOOM!" sound. But I kept running and turned the transmitter to its full 100 watts while I considered what to do. I shrugged then reset and warmed up the amp. The pile up was lessened but still going strong when the amp came back online. There were no more failures during the contest, however I reduced power slightly just in case.
• I regularly abandonned 2BSIQ and even SO2R when the European pile ups were intense (which happened on all bands from 40 to 10 meters) or callers were very weak. The need to concentrate made focussing on the other radio difficult. Others with more skill can do it, but not me, at least not yet.
• I had one longstanding problem with N1MM that, for whatever reason, depends on computer processing speed. It only happened a few times probably because I was unassisted and the high rate of skimmer spots was absent. 

The lists of positives and negatives are quite short. There was no drama for me in this contest, and that's good. Yet I still didn't do terribly well. Sure, I'm not competitive but I would like to do better.  

More automation and better choices with audio routing (which receivers play in one or both ears) will help, and I aim to work on those gaps. But technology can't compensate for poor operator skill. Travel to a remote island could also be helpful my score. But the truth is that I don't really enjoy running even though I do it pretty well, and 2BSIQ more than doubles the amount I don't enjoy it. Yet do it you must, and lots of it, if you are to do well. Having a big signal makes running easier but more intense; running with QRP only works when you are a rare multiplier.

 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  175    10       41
   80:  659    16       66
   40: 1079    29       90
   20:  998    30       82
   15:  881    28       91
   10:  766    23       82
------------------------------
Total: 4558   136      452  Total Score = 7,038,360

The shortness of the high band openings to Europe cost me a lot of contacts. 2BSIQ could have made up the shortfall by maximizing use of the shorter openings. Stations to the south and east, with longer openings, would suffer less from not doing 2BSIQ.

With regard to other statistics, my dupe rate (not included in the totals) remained at about 2%. My multipliers increased, in countries but not zones. That reflects my occasional multiplier sweeps on one radio. It is those extra multipliers that kept me within 500,000 points of last year's score. Of course log checking could change that. 

What about the highly competitive SO AB HP category that I entered? I didn't participate in the live scoreboard because I am too low to be of interest and I don't really care how others are doing. For now all I have is what was reported to 3830. It doesn't include all participants since a few won't post or delay their post. Read the detailed reports of the top scorers for insight into their strategies and preparations. If you prefer video you should check out the Q5 channel on YouTube for extensive interviews with the main players.

Here's a 3830 screenshot taken while writing this article, with one or two top scorers yet to report:

My raw placement is about the same as last year. It should be obvious from the clustering of scores that a little 2BSIQ could have raised my rank by 4 or 5 positions. What I have to decide for the future is whether I care to try or focus on organizing multi-ops for this contest. Nearby good CW contest ops are difficult to find, either being uninterested or preferring to enter as a single op from their own stations.

An important point to note about these incredible scores is that the operators value running over hunting; that is, it is better to accumulate QSO points rather than multipliers. 2BSIQ for nearly 48 hours is very difficult so there has to be a reason. The thing is that many of the multipliers you need will call you. Those mults are single ops and multi-ops that mix running and hunting; they don't just run.

I worked few of the top SOAB HP (unassisted) on more than two or three bands, since we're all mostly running. Yet I worked many of the assisted single ops and multi ops in semi-rare locations on all 6 bands. When they hunt they call you. You won't work the perpetual runners (whether one radio or two, rare mult or not) yet it works out in the end. 

Even with his intense 2BSIQ operation, Vlad VE3JM is unlikely to retain his top-10 rank. He surpassed his own objective but without sporting a country prefix more attractive than VE there is little hope for improvement. I'm okay with that but others travel to do better. And if you have the skill then why not? It's fun, and instructive, to see how far upward they can push scores.

There are many more stories I can tell about the contest, but I don't want to bore readers. However, one that I would like to end with is about someone else. That is my friend Chris VO2AC in the photo. Although he and his family live in eastern Ontario (where he's VE3FU), he is from Labrador and that is where he built a remote station. It's a relatively rare multiplier in many contests, including CQ WW (zone 2).

He makes a point of watching cluster spots and working his friends on as many bands as possible. I worked him on 5 bands but refused an offered move to 160 since I'd already worked Yuri VE2IM (VE3DZ) there. Chris travelled to Goose Bay for a family function and CQ WW CW occurred during his travel back to Ontario. He operated his remote from VO2, VE1 and VE3. In the picture he's operating the contest from the Halifax airport.

After the contest I watched the reports coming in to 3830. I was particularly interested in my category despite my modest score. Compare yourself to the best if you want to learn how to improve. I've spoken to Vlad VE3JM about how he does it. I've learned a few things from him and I've implemented some of it. I don't know how far I'm willing to stretch myself in pursuit of higher contest scores.

Now that the contest if over the bands are far quieter than during the weekend and even the days before the contest. This is typical. Although anti-contesters (not the non-contesters) like to complain about how we fill the bands on many weekends, when we're not there the spectrum is severely underutilized. Even the contest focussed DXpeditions have vanished. 

Contesters are among the most active hams, not just on contest weekends. We rag chew, DX, experiment with digital modes and generally make frequent use of our privileges. I hear the same contester call signs on FT8, the DXpedition pile-ups, the DX themselves, on VHF, top band and more. When we rest following a major contest, the bands become eerily quiet. 

Postscript

While I don't wish to end on a sad note, I received bad news today. My friend and fellow contester Cary VE4EA passed away. Since losing his tower in a storm several years ago he was very active as a remote contest operator, utilizing stations in Canada and the US. Mostly he used the station belonging to Gary VE4YH, who is himself not a contester.

We teamed up for a remote M/S entry in the recent ARRL Sweepstakes CW contest from VA1EET, the station being built in Nova Scotia by Kevin N5DX. SS is slow enough that we had plenty of time to chat and joke between QSOs. I also spent a lot of time with him when I visited Winnipeg this summer. He'll be missed.

20 Meter 2-element Yagi With Bent Reflector: First Models

More than a few times I've mentioned that I am not happy with the TH6. Since I have it I use it but now only as a "multiplier antenna" pointing south. Yet it still has and causes problems. These include: narrow bandwidth and loss due to the traps; interaction with the 40 meter yagi beneath it; high SWR when wet; and, high coupling to the Europe pointing 15 and 20 meter stacks. And, it's very old, leading to questions about its future durability. But after 40 years I've certainly gotten my money's worth!

Its replacement doesn't need to be a tri-band yagi, nor does it need to have high gain. A group of several small yagis for each of 10, 15 and 20 meters could suffice, and might offer more flexibility than one tri-band yagi that either can't be shared, or can be shared at high expense (high power triplexer and filters). I see no need to spend a lot for what is really just a multiplier antenna. It only has to perform well enough to punch through the pile ups.

I've temporarily set aside 10 and 15 meters since, being smaller, those are easier yagis to design and build. A 20 meter yagi can be quite large, with 3 elements typically placed on an 8 or 9 meter boom. While that will easily give me more than 8 dbi across the band, considering its size I decided to look at smaller antennas. I can live with 7 dbi and perhaps even 6 dbi if it has other positive attributes.

These are the criteria I came up with:

• Lightweight: I'd like it to be reasonably small and light. Since it won't be rotated, I want to see how little aluminum I can do this with.
• Simple: The design and construction should be straight forward.
• Performance: Low SWR across the band (better for solid state amps); good but not great F/B and F/S; and (per above) within 1 to 2 db of a full-size 3-element yagi.
• Isolated element: By insulating the elements from the boom the interaction with the nearby 40 meter yagi can be eliminated. 

My first attempts focussed on 2-element yagis. This category includes Moxon rectangles, hex beams, and other element configurations. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. The following are the configurations considered in this study:

From the right are a conventional yagi, Moxon rectangle, "spider" beam style yagi and a yagi with a half-bent reflector. All of these yagis are unidirectional to the right. The latter two use wire for the bent bits, and indeed the reflector for the vee-shaped reflector is all wire.

A conventional 2-element yagi has poor F/B, good F/S, reasonable gain and SWR with a matching network. The bandwidth over which these metrics are best is narrow, perhaps 100 kHz on 40 meter. Outside of that it quickly gets worse. This is not a popular style of yagi for the low bands.

When we double the frequency to 20 meters that's still barely half the 350 kHz band. If you operate CW or SSB, but not both, perhaps that's sufficient. But not for me. We can do better with one of the other designs, so I'll say nothing more about the conventional 2-element yagi in this study except as a baseline for comparison.

The Moxon rectangle has excellent SWR and F/B across 20 meters, and even on 40 meters where it has to stretch farther due to the much larger bandwidth (by percent). I put this to good effect on my 40 meter reversible Moxon. However a Moxon's peak gain is worse than a conventional yagi due to a portion of the elements turned inward. 

As with all four of these 2-element designs, peak gain occurs at or below the band of interest. That's simply the nature of 2-element yagis due to the phase relationship between the elements. With more adjustable yagis of 3 or more elements there is more latitude on where to place peak gain and F/B. Not infinite latitude since, due to the nature of passive, close-spaced parasitic elements, there are constraints on the phase and amplitude relationships.

The Moxon rectangle, while not overly large on 20 meters, requires tubing for all element components. The designs on the left use less aluminum by using wire for the element tips. Cost, weight and wind/ice load are reduced. On the other side of the equation, tuning these designs for optimum performance requires precision in the tip spacing and interior angle. NEC2 does poorly at this so I used NEC5 for my models. 

I chose wire tip angles that allow a cord or rigid insulation to fasten the wire to the more rigid tip of the driven element. That required multiple iterations to optimize performance and mechanical layout. While I can't claim that I achieved the best possible performance, I believe I've come close. Close enough, that is, to evaluate and compare these designs.

The 3 designs are primarily evaluated for SWR (direct feed, no matching network) and gain. F/B and F/S are not major objectives considering its intended use as a fixed direction multiplier antenna -- work the mult and move on, no running or rag chewing.

Before diving into the modelling results, here are my motivations for looking at these particular 2-element yagi designs:

• Conventional yagi: Simple and well understood, with the maximum gain but relatively poor F/B and SWR bandwidth. It also uses the most aluminum.
• Moxon rectangle: Again, a well understood yagi design with relatively good F/B and excellent SWR bandwidth. But it's an awkward antenna to build and raise. Recall what I went through with raising the 40 meter reversible Moxon. 
• Vee-shaped reflector: It is, in a way, half of a Spiderbeam 3-element yagi. It is lightweight, but at the cost of gain and F/S, with SWR not as good as a Moxon rectangle.
• Reflector with bent tips: It is intermediate between the conventional yagi and the one with a vee-shaped reflector with respect to weight and cost. It is also intermediate with respect to gain and F/B, with still good F/S and excellent SWR bandwidth.

Although I knew all of this before the modelling study, there is value in confirmation and spending time to optimize performance; there is no need for hasty reasoning. After presenting the results of the modelling I'll come back to explaining why they perform as they do.

First, the free space azimuth patterns in 100 kHz steps from 14.0 to 14.3 MHz. I skipped the upper 50 kHz since I rarely operate there and performance is little different from that at 14.3 MHz. Rather than tables (as I've often done in the past), I'll present the data as overlaid traces. Pay attention to the outer ring gain on each chart since those differ for each antenna.

It is no surprise that the conventional yagi has the most gain. The greater the parallel portion at the centre of the elements the greater the sum of the currents. However, inter-element coupling is poor in a conventional yagi so that the gain bandwidth is not great. That said, the gain bandwidth isn't all that different for the others, except for the relatively poor gain performance of the yagi with a vee-shaped reflector. Gain is pretty good across 20 meters for 3 of the 4 designs.

F/B is not very good for the conventional yagi and for the vee-shaped reflector. Surprisingly, the Moxon rectangle is not as good as the yagi with the bent wire tips reflector. At least it was a surprise to me. 

F/S is relatively poor for the yagis with full or partial wire reflectors. This is expected. You can gain an insight by imagining yourself in space some distance directly off the side of each yagi. When you look at the conventional yagi you see almost nothing since the elements are pointing at you; an ideal dipole has no collinear radiation. For the other antennas, the amount of reflector that you can see is non-zero, with the least for the Moxon rectangle and the most for the vee-shaped reflector. Hence the relatively poor F/S.

Again, these are not fully optimized designs. It is likely possible to squeeze out a little more performance, in particular the yagis with a vee-shaped or bent wire tips reflector. The distance to and angle with the driven element are critical since small differences cause large performance changes. Critical coupling is called critical for a reason!

Next, let's look at the SWR across the 20 meter band. The conventional yagi uses a beta (or hairpin) match and the others are directly fed at the centre of the driven element.

The Moxon SWR could be improved with more fussing. I didn't bother since small changes will have little effect on the pattern. The same is likely true for the vee-shaped reflector. That said, the SWR at the band edges will be almost the same when the SWR is optimized to dip 1 at one mid-band frequency. 

All designs other than the conventional yagi do very well. Few transmitters would complain. Keep in mind that environmental factors (interactions with the tower, guys and other antennas) will in most cases cause deviations from perfection more than what you see on these plots.

At this point it was time to stop. I have time over winter to mull over the possibilities. At the moment the reflector with bent wire tips looks attractive: <1 db gain below that of a conventional 2-element yagi with good F/B, F/S and SWR bandwidth. Other than the conventional yagi these antennas are a little complicated to raise onto a tower, just as it was for the 40 meter reversible Moxon.

A 3-element design would be better, especially mechanically since the driven element will be pulled equally from both sides; the wire tips and cords of the parasitic elements "guy" the DE. But the antenna is larger, more complex and with only modest performance improvement. But only about 1 to 1.5 db gain improvement can be expected.

Due to interactions that I am likely to encounter in my station I did not attempt to make this a multi-band antenna. It is likely that I'll have a 20 meter mono-band yagi and a separate 10 & 15 meter yagi to replace the TH6. The latter may very well be a multi-element two-band conventional yagi with interlaced elements. Again, these are early thoughts not a definite plan. I'll develop models when the time comes.

Note: Dimensions are not shown for any of the modelled antennas since I used constant diameter tubing and bare wires rather than tapered tubing and insulated wires. These can be adjusted when and if it comes time to build the antenna that I settle on. Dimensions were selected to be approximately average element diameters. Booms are between 3 and 3.2 meters (~0.15λ), with variations made to make the wires fit the space while being connected to the DE tips.

Acom 1500: Intermittent Faults & Other Problems

Intermittent faults are the worst problems to find and repair. Unless there is a clear set of steps to reproduce the problem it can remain elusive. It is equally true of hardware and software. There is a lot of both in a modern ham shack.

Several months ago my 4-year old Acom 1500 amplifier began to periodically trip the protection circuits. There was no unique cause or consistent pattern in the protection code data. In a few case there was the soft "pop" sound near the front of the amplifier cabinet. A reset and all was well again. Then the faults became more frequent, whether transmitting or not, and whether online or in standby. It was perplexing.

A cursory inspection inside showed nothing obvious, no carbon tracks or other physical signs of distress. With close to 3000 volts in the B+ supply there are many potential paths to failure, whether a weak capacitor, dust or loose connection. Typical suspects such as the tube (4CX1000) and vacuum relay did not appear to be to blame.

Since I have a spare amplifier (3 in total) I set the 1500 aside until I could decide how to proceed. There are no factory authorized Acom service centres in Canada and it is inconvenient, to say the least, to ship heavy and fragile equipment to the US or overseas. Inquiries among friends generated no useful insights. It was a puzzle and concerning but there was also no urgency. I fretted having an expensive piece of equipment forcibly idled.

When I returned to the amp some time later I got my first clue to what might be happening. At times during normal operation the plate current (Ip) would read 0 ma. That's a very odd reading when there's a kilowatt of RF being transmitted. The same would happen when idling or transmitting without input. But again, only sporadically. There was no pattern, and a fault still occurred from time to time. I had no good ideas on how to proceed so I set it aside again until about two weeks ago.

This is a recent picture taken after I appeared to have resolved the problem. Once I narrowed the cause to measurement and protection, specifically Ip, (or one of the causes) and did my best to deal with it, I installed a physical meter in the Ip measurement circuit. Since the digital display on the amp cannot show instantaneous deviations of Ip, I hoped to spy any instantaneous anomalies by putting the meter where I could see it while operating. The microammeter only lightly loads the circuit and was calibrated with a series trimmer pot.

Unfortunately this circuit assumes that the current pickup in the B+ is working. There is no good or really safe way to splice in my own. Ip is indirectly measured by detecting the voltage across a precision low value resistor that is in series with the B+ line. The resistor is indicated by the arrow in the picture of the mains PCB and rectifier/filter assembly; The resistor is on the latter. Only low voltage DC is presented to the Mains PCB.

There are two stages of processing of the detected voltage. There is one op amp on the Mains PCB and another on the Control PCB. A 3-pin cable runs from the detector to the Mains PCB and a 5-pin cable runs from there to the Control PCB. All are circled. The physical meter taps into the Ip pin on the 5-pin cable, which is between the Mains and Control PCBs.

One immediate suspect was the connectors. It is not uncommon for oxidation or other flaws to creep in that degrade continuity. That can result in a 0 reading or a spike when it makes and breaks connection. I pulled and cleaned every connector of this type throughout the amplifier, and there are a lot of them. It has to be done carefully since moderate and evenly applied force across the connector is needed. It is easy to cause unintended damage on those with many pins. The pins are approximately the same dimensions as Dupont connectors, both in pin size and 0.1" spacing.

There is no good way to know whether the connector work made a difference. All one can do is run the amp and see if the intermittent fault returns. I did that but I then also took another step. 

I opened, inspected and vacuumed dust of all compartments in the amplifier. I then blew high pressure air through the inaccessible areas to remove more dust. It's a useful step though not without risks. These include contact damage, air pressure damage and static discharge. The latter is a greater risk this time of year when the relative humidity is low.

Nothing was damaged by the cleaning. That was a relief despite my confidence in proceeding. I was as careful as I could be, especially around microprocessor circuits. I also disassembled the front of the amp and exposed the Control PCB. With care, and magnifying glasses, I inspected the measurement components and connectors. No flaws were found. All the PCBs are now very clean.

I went through the RF deck with lights and mirrors to see under and behind components. I did the same for the tube compartment, top and bottom. There was dust inside the chimney so I cleaned it and the air filter. The antenna selector board was also inspected and subjected to air pressure to blow out any hidden dust.

When all was done and the amplifier reassembled, it worked. That is, there have been no faults since, other than a power on fault that detected a connector I had forgotten to push back on. Oops. Since then I've worked many stations, SSB and CW. CW can be a better test due to the repeated on-off "spikes" of a high power carrier. This weekend I used it and the Acom 1200S to make over 1000 QSOs during the LZ DX contest. So far so good. 

Is it truly fixed? Of course I can't know that without identifying the ultimate cause. Perhaps after 4 years it was simply time to clean the inside of the amp, any amp. All that I'd done until now was to periodically clean the air filter.

Repair work came to many hours. I doubt it would have been more economical to ship it to another country since an intermittent problem takes time to find, and they of course charge by the hour. If they recommend board or component replacement, assuming they also fail at finding the fault, it would be even more expensive. Since working around the high voltages inside a tube amplifier requires care and skill, it is not recommended for the inexperienced. Every ham has to make the judgment call for themselves. 

Solid state amps only appear to be safer since there are no high voltages beyond the mains supply. However the power supply and circuits deal with the same power level. No kilowatt-class amplifier is a safe space. Be careful if you choose to do as I have done. I'm no expert but I do have experience working on amplifiers.

I hope that if nothing else you enjoyed pictures of the inside of the amplifier. As I understand it, the Acom 1500 is no longer being manufactured. The industry migration to solid state continues. A well designed and maintained tube amplifier can last a lifetime. With few new ones on the market, they have to. 

DXing in 2025

There was a time in this blog when DXing featured more often. Other than in the context of 6 meters I've said little about it the past few years. The change was not intentional, it just happened. On reflection I realize the reasons why. I've changed. That is worth a short article.

DXCC is easy to achieve, far easier than ever before. Here is a partial list of why that is:

• DXpeditions are announced well in advance, with schedules and operating plan.
• Human and skimmer spots are rapid and have alerting services, so you are always one click away from working them.
• Remote shacks mean you can work them from anywhere, anytime.
• DXpeditions have multiple stations which divides the pile ups, making them easier to penetrate for even the smaller stations.
• FT4/8 levels the playing field. It really doesn't matter where you transmit and how strong you are as long as the DX station decodes you. Hunting and timing (skill) mean very little.

In days of yore, DXing was not so easy. Here are some of the reasons why:

• Discovering that there exists a ham in a distant, rare country was difficult. Often we would only learn of activity after the fact. A lot of listening and luck (and personal networking) were required to learn of their existence. 
• Time is precious. Yet a lot of it was needed to regularly scan the bands.
• Travel was far more difficult that it is today so DXpeditions were not routine. Not all were announced in advance. Many were "surprises" due to work assignments, scientific expeditions, or simply hams enjoying the surprises they created.
• Split operation was less common since equipment often didn't support it, especially the ability to listen to two frequencies at the same time to quickly find where the DX is listening.
• With no spotting networks or just a small circle of DXing friends (if any) to alert us of an activity, rare DX was easy to miss.

Those are examples that quickly came to mind. There are certainly others. However, that isn't my point; rather it's that it is much easier than it once was. Nowadays you would have to be living under a rock to miss the activation of a rare DX entity.

Therein lies the problem, if it can be regarded as a problem: DXCC is easy with a small station and routine for the rest of us. In this fall's CQ WW SSB we logged more than 100 countries on 4 bands. It wasn't so very long ago that an achievement like that was uncommon. Now it's routine.

This has bred entitlement -- believing that we deserve to log the rare DX -- and impatience with reaching key DX award milestones. But if it was easy, what has actually been accomplished?

In my case the modern ease of DXing has resulted in mild lethargy and disinterest. I don't react quickly when the DX is spotted, unless it's truly rare or on a band where they are difficult to work, such as 160 meters. Filling up band slots to reach new DXCC Challenge plateaus is becoming less interesting. No matter, the numbers keep climbing on my LOTW account (Logbook of the World).

Some of this is due to the size of my station. I'm a big gun now. Quite often I crack deep pile ups with one call. Where's the fun in that? To compensate, many times I'll use lower power and a non-optimum antenna to practice my pile up skills and to make the chase more interesting. Skill development and practice was a major preoccupation of mine when I ran QRP with small antennas. Now I have to artificially recreate those conditions.

Despite the many changes making DXCC and even Honor Roll so much easier, these awards remain coveted by new and long time hams alike. I track my progress even though I have never applied for any DX award and I probably never will, no matter how stratospheric the achievement level.

That said, during a DX contest I take great pleasure in running up the country count as high as I can in the 24 or 48 hours of the event. It is a worthy accomplishment to do so while also making as many QSOs as possible. The challenge is one of deciding when and where to run while concurrently hunting for countries, whether assisted or unassisted. 

I am easily motivated to work DX in contests but the rest of the time, except for rare countries, 6 and 160 meters, and occasionally under difficult conditions, it doesn't mean all that much to me anymore. Times change and so have I. I use the available technology regardless, and I enjoy doing so. It's just that the accomplishment means little to me most of the time.

But putting rare DX in the log is far easier than it once was! There is no pride in drudgery, and to be honest that's what it once was. DXing was a game won by the well-connected, the wealthy (with their big stations) and retirees with lots of time to scour the bands. Technology levels the playing field. As much as we gripe about the price of equipment, it is not expensive hobby to build a station that allows one to work lots of rare DX.

Time is also not the impediment it once was. We can receive alerts, operate our stations remotely with widely available applications and product, or we may work from home just a few steps from the shack. These also level the field.

The main differentiators now are the willingness to pay attention (accept interruptions), following DXpedition schedules, perhaps "donations" to facilitate confirmations, and of course skill. The latter is still of significant value -- listen to most pile ups and you'll understand. Witness how many chasers are their own worst enemies.

Despite the negative tone of this article I still chase DX and I am certain to keep doing so. The allure of communicating across the globe with someone sitting on the beach of a remote island never pales, no matter the relative ease compared to years long past. It's enjoyable if not quite so exciting. Hams new to DXing are excited to work the rare ones and that is vicarious pleasure to enjoy as well. It's good to see enthusiasm in the newcomers to our great hobby. 

Will DXing eventually fade as one of the attractions of amateur radio? Perhaps. It is not easy to predict the future. By what I hear in the pile ups, that day won't arrive for many years.

To Rotate or Not To Rotate

In the lead up to CQ WW SSB, one of my challenges was rotators. I hate them. So do many hams.

These mechanical devices suffer from all manner of ills that seem to manifest just when they're needed most. I am perfectly capable of working on these beasts -- from the smallest TV rotators through to prop pitch motors -- though I'd rather not. They're finicky, full of messy grease and tend to reside at the top of towers under a large load bearing down on them where they're difficult to service. Getting them down from the tower, temporarily supporting the load and then putting them back after repair can be difficult and dangerous.

I am not the only one muttering about these pesky devices. One of the all time most popular articles on this blog is the one about refurbishing a Hy-Gain Tailtwister rotator. I doubt that readers of articles like that have affection for their rotators. Despite the availability of alternatives, which we'll come to, often the cure is worse than the disease; there are pros and cons for any approach to direction selection.

Many contesters won't put it with rotators at all, deeming them not worth the effort, or the risk of failures during major competitions. Instead they deploy a variety of fixed yagis and electrically switched directional arrays. Just click and you're pointing where you want. Sounds nice but it is rarely as simple as that.

The subject for this article occurred to me as I was preparing the station for CQ WW SSB. One of my many projects this year is to make the lower yagi of the 15 meter stack rotatable. It's always more complicated than anticipated. First, the rotator I had in mind had a broken direction pot. The pot I scavenged from an old rotator also turned out to be broken. So I bought a Ham-IV at a flea market.  Although the controller has a minor glitch that needs repair, the rotator itself seems fine, inside and out. I have spare controllers to pair it with.

Next, there are control cables to be run from the shack to the rotator shelf. Luckily I buried enough heavy and light gauge cable in the last trench that I dug. But it took time to run cable up the tower, do the connections and splices and then route a cable into the shack for the controller. I got that mostly done. 

Third, while up the tower completing the side mount bracket and wiring, I discovered a serious problem with the mast. So I set aside the project to fix that before the contest. Then the rain began to fall. (Sigh.) In the end the antenna remained fixed on Europe. I'll try to have it done for CQ WW CW.

It may seem intelligent and forward-looking to decide to forgo rotators entirely. Put up a few more antennas and problem solved! As you can probably guess, it isn't so simple. First, consider how many directions of coverage you need, whether for general operating, DXing or contesting.

The global bearing map centred on my QTH gives some scope of the challenge. There are 6 critical directions: Europe, Africa, South America, US south, US west and midwest and east Asia. It is coincidental and convenient that the long path for each DX path is approximately along one of those directions. Others regions of the world can't count on that.

It should be unsurprising that I have Beverage receive antennas for those 6 directions. I originally planned for two more but the returns would be minimal. I don't miss them. My 80 meter vertical yagi has 4 of those directions. The main lobe is wide enough that east and west have some gain and there is its omnidirectional mode, plus a high inverted vee for broader coverage.

The high bands are another matter. The competition is more fierce so that more gain is highly desirable. But more gain is at the expense of coverage: a narrower main lobe. I often point the yagis of my high band stacks in different directions (spray) to take advantage of multiple paths open at the same time.

Perhaps it is not as bad as that. Consider the azimuth pattern comparison (right plot) of 2, 4 and 6 element yagis. The narrowing of the main lobe is necessarily accompanied by a narrower beam width. But that a relative comparison. On an absolute basis those long boom yagis do pretty well at the edges of the main lobe, and often have a wider SWR bandwidth. Therefore fixed (non-rotated) high-gain yagis don't impair coverage by much. 

Of course you don't get something for nothing. All that energy in the main lobe comes at the expense of elevation pattern beam width (left plot). Stacked yagis can solve that restriction by enabling a variety of elevation angles lobes and nulls which the operator can choose from.

Well then, if reducing or eliminating rotators isn't as dire as it might at first appear, what must be done to achieve similar coverage? There are many possibilities for station builders to consider. Here are what may be the most common:

• Rotating tower (K0XG system, left panel): All yagis rotate together, usually pointing in the same direction, but not always. Contesters require more flexibility than this system allows. This is an expensive solution with few remaining in the business. Or you can build your own, if you dare.
• Stacked yagis on a rotating top mast: Commonly called a Christmas tree due to the usual practice of putting the largest yagi at the bottom and the smallest at the top to minimize bending stress.
• Ring rotator (TIC, right panel), swing gate (centre panel) or 120° ordinary side mount: Allows all or partial rotation. The mechanisms can be complex and expensive, and a swing gate can place significant torque and bending moment on the rotator and tower.
• Side mounted fixed direction yagis: Usually complementary to a top rotator, either as part of stacks or independent. I have several of these in my station.
• Reversible yagis, fixed or rotatable, wire or aluminum: Some of the solutions are the least expensive and simplest, such as reversible wire yagis. For example, my recently built reversible 40 meter Moxon with 260° coverage.
• Multi-direction, electrically switched arrays: These include 4-squares, vertical yagis and BSEF arrays, with the latter more often built for low band reception. They are more commonly found on the low bands where rotatable horizontal yagis are difficult and expensive.

Whether the yagis are rotatable, fixed or reversible, there are many considerations that you must be addressed for optimum performance. It would be shame to go to all that expense and work for naught:

• Interactions: Between yagis stacked on one tower, whether or not on the same bands, guy wires, antennas on other towers, interaction in some orientations and not others.
• Optimum height and direction combinations may be attainable with careful system design and layout.

If you insist on rotators, you may escape some of the above downsides at the expense of others:

• Mechanical failures and repair: If you've read my blog for a while you'll know that this is a regular feature. Indeed, one of the most popular articles is about refurbishing a Hy-Gain Tailtwister rotator. Clearly I'm not alone. Prop pitch motors, despite their many positive attributes for large antennas and turning towers (see above), are not easily serviced. I have seen similar troubles with Prosistel, Yaesu and other models. Rotators deal with a lot in a hostile environment. Maintenance and service are inescapable.
• Availability of parts and service: With the demise of MFJ and the product lines they bought from defunct companies, Hy-Gain rotators -- perhaps the most popular in North America -- will become increasingly difficult to service. Spare parts are being hoarded by non-MFJ rotator repair shops. When the part supply runs out they may become irreparable.
• Rotatable side mounts: These are mechanically challenging, especially on self-supporting towers, and in most cases entail custom builds. You are on your own. They also create their own unique kinds of interactions from and to other antennas and guys. I have one with partial rotation and another is under construction.
• 
  Cables and controllers: Copper is expensive! The taller your towers and the further they are from the shack, the greater the expense of wiring them. They are also prone to environmental woes ranging from animals to weather. Controllers also fail, and some brands are more fragile than others. Parts and service (see above) are becoming more difficult.

This trail of woes turns many hams away from rotators. There are also the many controllers required. Where do you put them and how do you manage them in a multi-op contest station? My station is small enough that I can stack them up between the operators but this does not work well in bigger stations. 

In those cases it is better to use software applications at each operating position. Of course it is to be expected that occasionally another operator will turn a yagi you're using either because it's shared (see below) or on the same rotator as the yagi they're using. Point and click can be a deceptively convenient alternative. Of course the software and network interface adds complexity and therefore another point of potential failure.

But to effectively exclude rotators is difficult. Those with small stations may not worry about it, accepting that in some directions their antennas will have deficits. However, if you are building a "big gun" station for contesting, there is much to consider when rotators are excluded:

• 
  Interactions: The more antennas, the greater the potential interactions. These can be largely avoided with careful planning, but cannot be eliminated. It is a judgment call as to whether an interaction is serious enough to matter. A popular alternative is bliss through ignorance.
• Sharing: Use of multi-band directional antennas such as tri-banders can reduce the number of antennas, if you purchase quite expensive BPF and triplexers. These will have to use non-trapped or loaded elements since two high power transmitters will very likely destroy those components.
• Towers: Fixed yagis in multiple directions, optimized for stacking and interactions, requires more towers than in big stations that utilize rotators. For scroungers, used towers are available at reasonable prices, however you need to transport them, plant and raise them and then maintain them. With big towers failure is not an option: when one comes down it can take down one or more others unless they are far apart (see next bullet).
• Land: Lots of towers and optimum placement takes land. A typical guyed tower requires ~1 acre of land, and you the space to arrange their placement to minimize interactions while also permitting installation of wire antennas and room for heavy equipment and tramming. There is inexpensive land available in this part of the world, if you can deal with the isolation and lack of civilized comforts. Otherwise prepare to pay a lot.
• Service: Working on towers with many yagis is more difficult than on those with fewer. You have to climb on and around them, avoid tangles when raising and lowering them, inspecting and replacing hardware, dealing with asymmetric load stress and many, many runs of transmission lines and control cables. The nature of maintenance changes but not the magnitude and the risk.

My final message? A big contest station entails lots of work and expense, and ongoing maintenance. That's the case whether you choose more towers and antennas or fewer of them plus rotators. The differences can be found in switching and control systems, and operating procedure. Choose your poison. Either path can lead you to success, however you define it.

An Unwelcome Guest: Self-RFI

The modern world is full of devices which generate RFI. Few people notice because hardly anyone listens to OTA (over the air) broadcasts these days, or when they do it's local rather than fringe reception. As hams we notice. On the bright side, we can now operate a kilowatt in a densely populated area and not have neighbours pounding on our doors during a major contest. How times have changed.

Unfortunately the RFI we suffer is often self-imposed. We use the same devices as every other household and we experience their negative effects. Even though we can turn our devices off, add filters or carefully screen our purchases, problems will persist, either because of what devices our family members have and use or because amateur radio equipment also generates RFI or is not immune to its effects. We can be our own worst enemies.

It is especially annoying when the guilty equipment is found in our shacks. Transceivers, computers, audio peripherals and more can be the source or victim of RFI. It occurs more often than you might expect. When I was preparing the station for CQ WW SSB there were several issues that I spent time tracking down and resolving; some are so intermittent that they might still be lurking to show up later.

In this article I'll mention what I'm calling "self-RFI" problems that I dealt with leading up to the contest. I had allowed some to fester since I was the only one affected. I didn't want guest ops to have to be taught the how and why of working around the issues. It should be my problem, not theirs.

Audio rectification is a common form of RFI. With two kilowatt transmitters active at the same time there are many opportunities for it to manifest. It happens even though, for the most part, the audio connections to our rigs are designed to block RF or bypass it to ground. Headsets have two audio paths, mic and headphones, at risk.

I keep a bag of ferrites near at hand for dealing with these types of issues. It takes less than a minute to wrap the cord around a ferrite RFI suppressor. When it happened with the Koss SB45 headset a few years ago, the problem was resolved in less than a minute. I kept it there ever since. It's a little heavy so I try to keep it on the desk rather than dangling in midair, where its weight can damage the cord and pull down on one ear. 

Thankfully its mate on the other radio and those brought by my guest ops didn't experience the same problem. But I made sure everyone knew where to find the bag of ferrites.

USB and video cables can radiate RFI due to the high data transfer speeds they operate at. They are similarly susceptible to a high RF environment such as our shacks -- if it can transmit it can receive. Good quality cables are fully shielded and grounded at both ends, and protected from common mode with ferrite cores at both ends. Quality is such that they don't always work or work well enough in a high RF environment.

This is the back of a small Windows PC running one of the stations. There are commercial USB and video cables with a built-in cylindrical ferrite core. Between them is the USB cable to the CAT connector on the transceiver with a ferrite that I installed. All have a matching ferrite at the other end. I added the cores to the CAT cable when I previously experienced intermittent drop outs.

I did the same for the rather long USB cable to my home brew Arduino-based antenna selector. Again, there were problems before I made the addition. 

You'll notice that I selected rectangular (split) cores designed for HF and cheap import cylindrical snap-on ferrites with unknown specifications. The latter work pretty well so I keep using them. Perhaps I got lucky since their uncertain source can make for a risky online purchase. 

The USB ferrites did not fully protect the antenna selector. Therefore I added another to the 12 VDC power cord the day before the contest. There were no RFI incidents all weekend. It can be difficult to say whether that was the work of the ferrite suppressors or just luck. Regardless, they will remain. Fully encasing the antenna selector would be even better but that would be difficult due to the multitude of connectors. Perfection is nice but not always necessary.

I saved the most curious case for last. Ever since acquiring the Acom 1200S I experienced occasional problems with the control screen and buttons due to RFI. It happened on most bands and antennas but not all. There was no obvious single cause of RF ingress. 

The first symptom was that the buttons would fail to work. However the amp continued to operate normally. Band changes had to be by RF detection (I don't use external band control at present) and there was no ability to switch the amp offline (OPR/STB). Although it's annoying there is no real need to do anything, just keep operating.

The second symptom, always preceded by the first, is that the screen would freeze. Although the amp continued to operate normally, there was no way to know the power output, reflected power, or PA temperature. That's a bigger problem. You can probably continue with the same band and antenna but eventually the lack of feedback becomes unacceptable.

The third symptom, always preceded by the first two, is that the screen goes blank. Now you're flying blind even though the amp continues to operate normally. That is, for a very liberal interprettation of "normally".

The cure is simple: cycle the power, since that button at least still works. That can take up to 30 seconds, which is okay most of the time but not while running in a contest. You'll lose contacts, and your run frequency.

There are only 4 connections to the amp: RF in, RF out, PTT in and mains power. Putting a ferrite core on the PTT line had no effect. The day before the contest I added two cylindrical and one rectangular core to the power cable. I included the cylindrical cores because only a few turns of the thick power cord fit onto the rectangular core.

I added all three at once rather than test each addition since I was running out of time to troubleshoot the problem. Luckily that did the job. There were no amp glitches due to RFI for the entire weekend. 

There was one more issue that caused a headache during the contest. Whether that is considered RFI is a judgment call. Let's see what you think.

With the 15 meter stack pointed to Europe and/or Asia, those antennas and the south pointing TH6 on the north tower point at each other -- they're 60 meters apart. Of course the TH6 isn't used on 15 meters when that happens since the other radio must be on 10 or 20 meters to use the TH6, however it's a tri-band yagi that will happily accept 15 meter signals. The 1200S sees a few watts of RF at the output connector and decides it's a fault. The protection circuit takes the amp offline.

That was really irritating. We could not use the TH6 when that happened. Had the TH6 been on the other radio (band selections reversed) there would have been no problem since the Drake L7 has no protection circuits and in any case doesn't care.

Unfortunately there is no good solution to the problem other than upgrading my station to use high power BPF (between the amp and antenna) rather than the 6-band switchable low power BPF that I use. That's an expensive solution to an intermittent problem. There are alternatives that I will have to explore. This new problem and other ongoing issues may spell the end of the line for the TH6 in my station.

I fully expect that I have not seen the last of self-RFI issues in my station.

CQ WW SSB 2025: M/2

After skipping CQ WW multi-ops in 2024, we're back! It was quite a chore preparing the station to host guest ops but somehow I got it done in time. Although there were so many loose ends that I expected many technical problems to crop up during the contest, they didn't. The problems that did show up were quickly resolved. The work was responsible for the gap in my blog activity this month.

The setup 

The station is similar to what we used for M/2 in 2023, with a few important differences. The Acom 1500 tube amp is out for repair and has been replaced by the Acom 1200S. A no-tune solid state amp has advantages but is not without issues. These are discussed later in the article. The Drake L7 continues to power the second operating position. 

The IC7610 replaces the FTdx5000MP in the left position. The more recently acquired 7600 is on the right with the L7. The advantage of using similar rigs is that operators are less confused when they change chairs. They aren't exactly the same and that caused its own confusion. I am unwilling to invest in a second 7610 that will only be used several weekends each year, if that. I made adaptors so that any electret headset with stereo 3.5 mm plugs would work with both radios. I supplied headsets or the operators could bring their own.

Antenna selection software is unchanged, with the GUI on the middle PC (screen is off). There wasn't time to rewrite the software for this contest. I started but there is a long way to go. Winter may provide the quiet time I need to get it done. Despite the need to reach for the mouse and glance far to the side, there weren't many operator errors. 

The old prop pitch motor controller was replaced with my home brew Arduino-based controller. All the rotator controllers are centrally located, within reach of both ops. I have a ground issue that affects the rotators and especially the home brew device. Until that's resolved I added a software tweak to reset the 1602 LCD after each use since the display is easily corrupted by power issues (a known problem with that module). 

Software GUI for rotator control might be better (I've used those elsewhere) but are not a priority. They are more necessary for remote operations which is not currently planned for my station.

The operators sit close to each other so it is vital not to shout into the mic. As contesters we do tend to do that while chasing multipliers even though it is not only unnecessary but can cause distortion. Perhaps more importantly, it disturbs the other operator. Idle ops also needed to converse quietly or leave the room. We weren't shy about telling others to shut up or leave. I was guilty more than once!

The team 

The only returning operators from 2023 were myself and Dave VE3KG (sitting at the left radio). Shel VA3AA (right radio) was keen to join the team and willing to drive the several hours from west of Toronto. In the middle is new contest op Matt VA3UMM. I can be seen pointing out a few things to get him oriented. 

After listening in for a while (audio splitter) we set him up to run stations for a few hours. That was a gentler introduction than S & P since the latter requires the additional skills of tuning, monitoring and understanding spots and mults, selecting antennas and more. He did very well. Expect to hear more from him in the future.

The contest 

 Band     QSOs     Pts   ZN  Cty  Pt/Q
   1.8      89     176    9   18   2.0
   3.5     441     937   18   63   2.1
     7    1933    4914   34  119   2.5
    14    1479    4152   36  139   2.8
    21    1989    5682   37  137   2.9
    28    2072    5916   36  150   2.9
 Total    8003   21777  170  626   2.7
Score: 17,334,492 

As you can see we did pretty well. It helps to have a big signal since few will go out of their way to log another VE3. Only one station thanked me for the mult. That was on 160.

From the average points column (on the right) it is apparent that we worked many US stations (2 points) on the low bands. We would ordinarily work more except with little DX appearing on 80 and 160 there was no reason for them to be there. Presumably sleep was more important than working a few Canadian stations (very understandable).

On the high bands it was mostly Europe (3 points). We paid close attention the N1MM AMQ window to chase spots whenever a CQ went unanswered. Since there are no SSB skimmers (yet) it is important to spin the VFO when the rate slows since many stations, including mults, are not spotted. We were configured to spot all S & P QSOs, which is a feature everyone should use in phone contests.

We had enough operators to keep both chairs occupied for the full 48 hours. The only exception was overnight when enduring the low activity could become so bad that it was refreshing to periodically walk away for a few minutes. During the day an operator would immediately fill the chair when an op needed to take a break. We made no schedule -- my only rule was that if you've been operating for some time and you see someone hovering over your shoulder, it is polite to cede the chair to them. I have an intense dislike of rigid schedules, as do many of the contesters of my acquaintance.

My preference is to let guest operators do most of the operating. This weekend I took on both overnight shifts to let them rest and be fresh for the high band runs to Europe. I get to operate as a "big gun" every day, including most contests throughout the year. Other than Vlad VE3JM, who's station is a similar size, the others don't regularly have the opportunity. 

I manned my new espresso machine to happily act as barista. I was regularly slinging single shots, double shots and Americanos. We had so much good food on hand, healthy and otherwise, I suspect we all gained a little weight over the weekend.

The station

The day before the contest I found it necessary to make a few last minute station changes. Over the past 2 years there have been many configurations, equipment changes and software updates. There were a few unpleasant surprises while I was setting up for M/2 operation. I really ought to have started sooner and saved myself the anxiety. A few hours of intense effort had the computers properly networked and my home brew software working as they should.

One last minute headache was recording the function key messages for the new operators. So much has changed within Windows, N1MM and equipment interfaces. Luckily we found workarounds at the last minute and got everyone set up just 15 minutes before 0000Z.

One thing I did get done in advance of the contest was ridding the station of RFI. I put ferrite cores almost everywhere I had a known problem. That seemed to work since, unlike in previous contests, there were few issues this time. This is an important topic that is worth its own article so I'll defer the description of what I did and why until then. 

Outside the shack, there were numerous antenna jobs to be completed. With the return of cold weather I was able to go into the bush to repair Beverage receive antennas damaged by storms and summer growth. I did that 3 times in the week preceding the contest. 

The radials for the 160 meter shunt fed tower needed to be rolled out for the fall/winter season. I completed that Friday afternoon. A few radials were made of narrow gauge wires which got horribly tangled while being unrolled. I got but one untangled. I don't think we lost too much effectiveness on 160 by having 15 instead of 16 radials!

I ran out of time finishing the new rotatable side mount for the lower 15 meter yagi. I wanted it to have stacking gain toward east Asia and the Pacific. The QSO potential is low but there are many multipliers to be sought. For us, these paths tend to be marginal so that another 3 db of gain would be very welcome. I should have it ready for the CW weekend.

The 40 meter reversible Moxon performed admirably. This is rapidly becoming my favourite antenna. It freed the 3-element yagi for the longer path openings such as to Asia and the Pacific, and the occasional long path opening. They make a great combination. 

On 80 meters we were mostly restricted to the omni-directional mode of the 80 meter vertical array. Its yagi modes work no higher than 3650 kHz. This is a deficiency that I have on my to-do list. Those with 4-squares have gain and directivity from 3500 to 3800 kHz. I have to work a little harder to achieve that.

The 80 meter inverted vee was problematic since its SWR is high on most of the SSB part of the band (3700 kHz and up) and not really usable with the solid state amp. The L7 was fine with both the inverted vee and the 40 meter 3-element yagi in the SSB segment where its SWR rises. I used the L7 and 3-element yagi with great success on 40 to work the Pacific and east Asia after sunrise.

One antenna that did not work to expectations was the TH6. It is fixed south as a multiplier antenna to work the Caribbean, Central and South America. It may have a loose connection since the 1200S often went offline when using it, even in those parts of the high bands where the SWR is low.

Lessons learned

The Acom 1200S is not a suitable amplifier for contesting. It is generally a good performer but with many quirks that emerge during contests. The list is a long one that I won't delve into here. This is not an indictment against solid state amps or of Acom. LDMOS devices have limitations. I will have to give the matter some thought. The amp is unlikely to be replaced anytime soon.  

I'm increasingly unhappy with trapped and inductive loaded yagis. In comparison to other antennas, the TH6 and XM240 perform poorly, with narrow bandwidth and loss higher than I'd like. The XM240 is on the ground and I am unlikely to put it back up as is. Either I sell it or convert it to a Moxon. The TH6 is a greater dilemma since I have nothing handy or economical to replace it with. Having a south pointing tri-bander remains very attractive for multiplier hunting without needing to turn other yagi. Again, I'm not yet sure what to do; there are several alternatives I'm considering.

The 80 meter array really needs to become a yagi on SSB. Having just an omni-directional vertical cost us contacts and multipliers. Maybe I'll get there in time for next year's CQ WW contests. Certainly the low bands will become increasingly important in the coming years as the sunspots fade away. As noted in an earlier article, I am proceeding with improvements methodically, step by painful step. 

Accurate logging isn't easy for new contesters when the rate is high. It is too easy to send/say the call correctly and type something different. Also, many stations will not correct their call when you send it with errors -- their score doesn't suffer. Experienced contesters recognize calls and know how to use the check partial feature to confirm calls, and will check that the pre-filled exchange is correct (zone in CQ WW). It is easy to forget how complicated this can be for those new to the game. New operator training is key.

The same goes for propagation, knowing where and when to look for rate and multipliers. There is too much to remember from past experience. Top contesters make notes based on their and others' previous experience and from public logs. Being a fervent DXer is not sufficient to do well in major contests.

Inexperienced contesters run more effectively than they S & P. Just point and CQ, and watch the contacts fill the log. Hunting requires a wider range of skills and an ability to adapt to the prevailing conditions. We have lots of S & P features integrated into the major contest logging applications that make it easier to spike the score when runs subside. Learning how to use them and coming up with effective tactics can be difficult skills to acquire.

Sharing a contest experience with good friends is tremendous fun. However, bringing new contesters into the fold, whether young or old, is tremendously rewarding. Get over the anxiety and make it happen. We can all do our part. It's good for us and for the future of the hobby, and contesting in particular. I intend to do more. 

An memorable contest is the sum of many small stories, not simply the final line score. There is one small story that I'd like to share that I found amusing. On 40 meters at sunrise I was running west coast and Pacific stations, with occasional forays to work multipliers. While running I was called by a very weak station starting with an F. Another try brought a K and then, I believed, a 5. I thought it was FK8IK, except that would have been a dupe. After working a few W6/7 stations he was still in there trying to get my attention. I was finally able to determine that it was FW5K. That was a little embarrassing. I thanked him for sticking around and giving me the mult. This wasn't the first time I was called by a DXpedition from a rare entity during a contest and I'm sure it won't be the last. Running can be a great way to rack up the multipliers. 

TTS (text to speech) is rushing at us like a freight train. Within a year we should expect most of the best contesters to be using it to break records in phone contests. The rapid integration with N1MM is driving its use. Let the computer send the calls and exchanges while you copy calls and exchanges on the other radio. SO2R and 2BSIQ will become accessible to everyone, just like on CW and RTTY. No longer will you need the rare talent of being able to listen and speak at the same time.

Top tier contesting is expensive! In this blog I've shown how it is possible to design, build and raise towers and antennas on a budget. Most won't, but it can be done. But that's just the RF side. Once you enter the shack the challenge is completely different. Transceivers, amplifiers, networking and control systems are not so easily built or purchased cheaply. If you want it, be prepared to spend. 

I've reached the point of diminishing returns outdoors and now I face a dilemma: I have to decide how far I want to go, and how fast, depending on how important this side of amateur radio is to me. There is no easy answer. It can't be done with a small budget. 

Wrap up

We were all smiles at the end of the contest. You really can't ask for more than that. We'll win no plaque but we challenged ourselves and did very well in the M/2 raw scores ranking. Positions may shift after log checking but that doesn't matter too much. 

VE3 is not an attractive prefix in the major contests. Our geographic position, while better than some, will probably never host an overall winner. We do what we can with what we have and learn to appreciate what we get. For me, that's enough. 

Of course I'll use the lessons learned to make improvements but those are to do better in future and not with the dream of winning. Being the top M/2 in Canada wins no accolades, or plaques.

There will be only a few changes when CQ WW CW arrives a few weeks hence. I'll probably do another single op entry though that might change. I like to challenge myself. However, improving my score over last year will be really difficult, if only to endure for 48 hours while doing more 2BSIQ than ever before. This may my last chance since the solar cycle will decline over the next several years and I will be old when the next one, perhaps my last, arrives during the next decade.

Whatever I decide, I hope to work you in the upcoming contests. 

Photo credits: VE3JM for the team photo and the one of me on the tower.