PACC and CQ WPX RTTY

In the weekend from 13-14 Februar was the Dutch PACC contest and also the CQ WPX RTTY.

For us as Dutch HAMs,the PACC is the most important one.

The CQ WPX is a 48 hours contest.Started at 0:01 saturday till sunday 23:59.

I also started at the begin of the contest,because i wanted to have some qso's in this contest as well.And the time the PACC is on...that the contest i will be in.

Propagation was very good on 40M.I could work alot of NA stations.Last QSO made before i got a little sleep was at 3:42.This was number 119 in my log....

At 7:29 i was back at the radio and back in the CQ WPX.I started again on the 40M band,but only European stations here and not much new to work.After 20 minutes i went to the 20M band,that was already open.But here also mostly Europeans that i could work.After 1 1/2 hour i went back to the 40M band again.Here i looked around some and started to call CQ on 7051.

After one hour on the 40M band,i went back to 20M.My last station logged before the PACC started was ZL1BYZ.
At 17:00 UTC i went from the PACC back to CQ WPX and was able to work Phil,KL8DX..confirmation via eQSL and LoTW came fast after the contest was over.

As i didn't hear much stations for the PACC i decited to stay in the CQ WPX.Could work till 20:30 stations on 20M,but the band was already getting to close down.So i went again to the 40M band.propagation was again very well,was able to work Francisco,YV5LI.At 1:16 i went QRT for bed.

I started the CQ WPX again after the PACC contest was done.First qso made again was around 13:12 UTC.propagation on the 20M was better then it was on saturday.I was able to work YB,XU7,E21,VU2,A61...

At 19:00 i went qrt for a little break..and was back at 21:40 UTC.

I was listening on the 20M band..thinking it was closed,but..no way.i still could hear some stations fron NA and also very strong Francisco,TG9ANF.It was very strange to work him at this time of the day,but did make me very happy as well.

After this qso i went back to the 40M band...till 23:30 UTC.Total i made 464 QSO's in the CQ WPX contest..almost 300 qso's more then i had in 2009.

Total points where 532980 !!!You bet i could sleep very well after this.

The PACC contest

At 13:00 UTC on saturday i did start the PACC contest.First looking for a free space,but the freq. was already very busy.So i went searching for stations in the contest.

I was able to work a few stations on all of the bands i am allowed to transmit on.PE4BAS,Bas and PD5JFK,Jelle are two of them.Also both did send eQSL's straight after the contest was over.Thanks guys for the QSO's and the points.

On the first day the contest didn't go well for me.Couldn't get a free freq. to call on and didn't find much stations who where calling in the contest.Around 17:00 UTC i did stop the PACC and went to the CQ WPX.So now and then i listened over the band and did pick some stations out for the PACC.Last station logged before bedtime was around 0:27.

Sunday mornig at 8:30 i was back at the radio and in the PACC.I first went to the 40m band,worked a couple stations.Nice was to work PA0AA with Peter that time as operator,PD1RP.Little later i went to the 20M and did hear Henk,VK2GWK giving point in the PACC.I could work Henk as well via Long Path.

After 30 minutes on 20M i decited to go on 40M and find a free freq.I did find one and did start calling CQ......wow..i never had such a pile up :) This made the bad start from the day before good again.I did work alot of Dutch stations as well.I think this year more PD stations where active then the years before.Good sign.

At the end i got 329 qso's logged and 57 Multies.Total points given from N1MM is 18.753.

I did join this contest for the 4th time and this time was the most succesfull.We have to wait a few months to see what place i am from the Dutch Novice stations.

This weekend was for me very good.Made in 2 contest almost 800 qso's !!

ARRL 10meter Contest

The past weekend,12-13 Dec.,was again the ARRL 10M Contest.

Always a very nice contest,but.....as the band is not always open....also difficult.

The question was if it would be open for the contest weekend.

I was also active in 2008 and want to try to get a better result this year.

I started at 9:00 UTC.Got my first station logged at 9:17.This was 9H6A on CW.

So it seems that the band is ok for Europe.As i can use the computer for CW mode,i always try to do mixed mode in the contest,so also this year.

Propagation wasn't very good,i got 10 QSO's logged till 11:12 UTC.Mostly EU,besides C4N.

At 11:16 i did copy ZS6GF on SSB with real 5/7.After worked him i got 3 more stations from South Africa,ZS6JPY,ZS6BRZ and ZS9X.

Very strange to get the propagation to ZS,but not less happy with it,hi.

Wasn't active the whole afternoon and last station logged on saterday was at 17:37.

Still not bad...had now 26 QSO's logged...

Sunday i started at 8:30 UTC.

Started to listen on the CW and worked H2E at 8:34.

Was active till 10:00 UTC,because we had to go somewhere.Still worked 14 stations in this time.We where back at 15:45,worked 3 stations and then it was diner time.

After diner again to the radio and.....propagation was open to SA.

Got very strong stations from Brasil,Argentinia and also Uruguay.They where sometimes 5/7-9 but with strong QSB.It was just a job to work them fast,before the propagation would drop again.

Did work:

PY5KA,AY4D,LR2F,PY1BMB,ZX5J,LU1HF,CX5BW,PY1NB,PY2SEX,PQ5B,CW5W,PY5RB,

PY0FF and PY2LSM.

I did work PY2SEX on CW and on SSB.

At 19:00 UTC i had to qrt and thought that later the band would be closed.

But when i looked at 21:54 i could still hear 3 stations very loud.They where European stations,but i didn't have them in my log,so i worked them.

Very strange propagation on the 10M band in this weekend.

Total i got logged 74 stations.

On CW 29 qso's and 17 DXCC's

On SSB 45 qso's and 15 DXCC's

Total points in N1MM where 6592

My goal was again made.I got more QSO's logged as in 2008.Also more points then ofcourse.

It was very nice to see that the band was open with nice openings on saterday to ZS and on sunday to SA.

Also it was strange to work UK stations in this time of the year on 10M.

Also nice to work PE4BAS in the contest.

I hope that in 2010 propagation will increase and that the ARRL 10M Contest will be even a bigger succes as it was for me in 2009.