I didn’t really expect to operate this DX contest, but I’m glad I did. I discovered that I’ll need a better 20 meter antenna before Sweeps, as I seem to have an intermittent connection somewhere on the 20m dipole. This antenna is at a ladder line fed dipole at 50 feet, so it should be working well enough. I was unable to load it properly. I’ve decided to ditch it in favor of a coax fed dipole in the same location. I have a vertical that I will probably deplaoy as well-just in case.
I was also happy to hear 15 meters open on both days. It has been a while since I operated a contest with my favorite band open enough for my piddly rectangular loop. Piddly or not, the 15&10 meter nested rectangular loop is a good antenna when conditions are better. It requires only one support, has a 50 ohm feedpoint, and I can turn it 90 degrees to favor a different direction. Not as good as a yagi, but better than what I had before, and its a good SWR across all of 15 meters and the contest area of 10 meters.
I was also able to spend some time checking out the new locations on the 80m and 40m dipoles. I expect they will do a good job during sweeps, as they both seem to hear much better than before. I’ll find out soon enough, as I hear rumor there is a popular domestic contest coming soon. Sweeps!
Summary: Band QSOs Zones Countries ------------------------------ 160: 0 0 0 80: 2 2 1 40: 5 2 4 20: 8 6 6 15: 66 12 34 10: 7 5 7 ----------------------------- Total: 88 27 52 Total Score = 19,592
Leave a Reply