Friday, October 19, 2012

QRP DXCC #79, #80, #81, #82

On 10/16 Rodriguez Island 3B9SP on 17m CW was #79. It was a good path that night on 17m.

That same evening, also worked Azerbaijan 4J5A on 30m CW for #80

The next evening, I worked Dominica J79WE for #81 on 20m. I worked him again two days later on 30m CW.

That same evening on 10/17, I also worked South land RI1ANF also on 20m for #82.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

DXCC QRP #78

Swiss Station calling CQ on 17 meters HB9TNW turned into a short ragchew. He had a Hexbeam and an ICOM 7700. I had my KX3 and the ZS6BKW wire dipole. He gave me a 439 signal report while I gave him a 579. He was running 250 watts to the beam.

Friday, October 12, 2012

QRP DXCC #76 and #77

#76 Israel 4X170RISHON on 40m.   Early in the morning around 700 AM local, 40m was quiet and long, a good combination, New Zealand station running a contest and asking for numbers ZL3IO.was bagged as #77.

DXCC QRP #72 TO #75

Well on 10/12/2012 D3AA was calling loudly on 20m - so I worked him first at 100W.  He was so loud that I thought I could work him again at 5W.  Sure enough, he answered the call while working Simplex.  He did not have such a big pileup this time.

On the same night and on 40m, Costa Rican station TI2KWN working a straight key was calling loudly on 40m.  He was a bit deaf and so it took a few tries to get him at low power.

I had a good path to Eastern Europe on 30m.  E71A Bosnia-Herzegovina was also loud and I was able to work him on low power.

The next station was just a few clicks away and was calling loudly on 30m PZ1DV.


Tuesday, October 9, 2012

DXCC QRP #71 5N7M

This came as a courtesy of N0TR who spotted them calling loudly despite poor propagation conditions. N0TR called me on the 2m while I was mobile on the way home. Upon arriving home I thought they had already QRT. W4KA called and said they were back on frequency. They copied my call sign on the second call.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

The Quest for DXCC QRP

The quest for DXCC and QRP began after I built the KX3.  Before August 11, I had 47 QRP DX contacts.  I had already achieved DXCC but not at QRP power.  The ARRL has confirmed me on 113 DX entities

48:  ES55 Estonia on August 11, 2012
49: YT3M Serbia (same date)
50:: S53M Slovenia (same date)
51: UW5Q Ukraine (same date)
52: SO2R Western Sahara (same date)

Number 48 through 52 sort of came through easy - all on the same date and with rather light pile-ups if any.

53: LA1J Norway on August 16, 2012

It took 2 more weeks before I could get the next two.

54: EA6NB Balearic Islands September 11, 2012
55: ZS1JX South Africa (same date)

It took another 2 weeks before I could get the next bunch.  I had to start watching the DX Clusters.

56: KP2/K5WE US Virgin Islands - September 24, 2012
57: AD4Z USA (I had plenty of these - so I picked one from the September QRP Sprint
58: EW7LO Belarus - September 27, 2012
59: FY8PE French Guiana - September 28, 2012
60: OP4F Belgium - September 28, 2012
61: CU4ARG Azores - September 29, 2012
62: 8P6DR Barbados - September 29, 2012

The pile-ups are starting to get larger on the next few

63: ZA/OK1DX - Albania on October 1, 2012
64: HC2SL - Ecuador on October 2, 2012
65: ER1DA - Moldova on October 2, 2012
66: 5N7M - Nigeria on October 2, 2012

I had worked the next stations before but at higher power.
67: TG9ADM - Guatemala on October 4, 20t12
68: EI3KG - Ireland on October 5, 2012
69: HP1/IZ6BRN - Panamat on October 6, 2012
70: IS0IGV - Sardinia on October 7, 2012

I tried to work the Italian DXpedition to Chad TT8TT but the pileups were too big and the stations too strong.  The other expedition is the one to Angola D3AA and the same problem there.