Category Archives: Contests

ARRL International Grid Chase Underway!

Don’t forget that the ARRL International Grid Chase is now underway and runs all of 2018.  While there is an implication that this is a “special” event, it really isn’t.  Any contact you make that is confirmed in LotW counts.  … Continue reading

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160 Meter Contest in the Bag

The contest ended at 11 AM local time, so it’s in the bag.  I finished with 302 contacts (only 17 DX contacts).  I was on for 5.75 hours on Friday and 5.25 hours on Saturday, so 11 total.  Probably spent … Continue reading

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Wonderful Band Conditions for 160 Meter Contest

I’m only noodling around, running S&P mostly to find new states or countries.  Band noise floor is about -110 dBm, which is pretty quiet.  A few signals are 70 dB above that.  Most are 35 dB above the noise floor.  … Continue reading

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Amazing LOTW Participation in NEQP

I just uploaded my New England QSO Party log to LowT and was expecting a few confirmations.  I was stunned when I saw that 60% of the 163 QSOs I uploaded were already confirmed not even 48 hours after the … Continue reading

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New England QSO Party Fun

I don’t recall ever operating in the New England QSO Party before, but several emails were circulating encouraging activity, so I thought I’d give it a go.  Conditions were OK on the lower frequency bands — not a lot of … Continue reading

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Winter Field Day — Satellite Success

I joined Newport County Radio Club, W1SYE, for their Winter Field Day again this year. The weather for New England was fantastic — in the low 40s dropping down to the upper 20s at night.  The only downside was a … Continue reading

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Amazed at 400th Anniversary of Cervantes Radio Event

I am absolutely blown away by what the URE (Union Radioaficionados Espanoles – their equivalent of the ARRL) – put together to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes.  The event last for only THREE WEEKS, starting September … Continue reading

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GOTA Summary – Field Day 2015

I’ve been organizing the GOTA operation for my club’s Field Day for the past several years.  Each year our goal is to max out our GOTA contribution, a goal that we’ve never met.  Depending on your definition, we either did … Continue reading

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Field Day Irony

Well Field Day 2015 has come and gone, and I was able to snag another satellite contact to help garner some bonus points for my club (Newport County Radio Club) — Thank you NX9B, I was W1LY on the other end. Despite … Continue reading

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Satellite Uplink Calibration

I finally had some time to ensure that my SatPC32 program was correctly calibrated to my Icom IC-9100 when using any of the three available linear transponder satellites.  While SatPC32 deals with doppler corrections (assuming the PC Clock is accurately set … Continue reading

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