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F-exam issues Dave Casler eQSL cards HAMNET IOTA JOTA DARES ARRL HRDlog.net QRZnow QRZCQ DX MAPS


Long : 4.30664 E (004° 18' 24'' E)                              
Lat : 52.05249 N (52° 03' 09'' N)

QTH locator : JO22db
ITU Region 1
ITU Zone: 27
CQ Zone: 14
DXCC zone: 263

send me an email     Write2Me Gastenboek 

Country:
The Netherlands
Les Pays Bas
Die Niederlande
Los Países Bajos
I Paesi Bassi
荷兰
ネザーランド
नीदरलैण्ड
הולנד
هولندا

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the PD3TRU & PC4Y webpage

 A SUMMARY

 

Map showing my location in The Netherlands (Europe)

 

 

 

 

 



Glossary of terms of the above Solar-Terrestrial Data. In brief: High SFI (> 100) and low K (< 4) are providing for good HF DX conditions.

 
Number of countries (entities) worked

My career started as a wireless officer. I have done that from 1965 - 1974, serving on board freighters and passenger liners like the s/s Statendam and the (old) s/s Nieuw Amsterdam. So 'wireless' is rather familiar.

I did my N exam in 2011. My call sign then was PD3TRU. The first QSO with my legacy and vintage YAESU FT-7 was on april 23rd 2011 at 09:15 UTC with F8CSL. A memorable day to reach the middle of France with only 10 Watts in the antenna. It was my first QSO after I stopped being a 'sparks' 37 years ago. A true adrenaline boost. On March 5th 2014 I successfully passed my F exam. From here on my call sign is PC4Y. I have chosen PC4Y for a reason: my first ship I worked on as an independent R/O was the KNSM m/v ATTIS with call sign PCVY.  For nostalgia reasons I just added one dot to the V and made it a 4 in CW language. The button below gives access to the F study I did with the help of the VERON ham radio club and the very useful help from PA0WV.

F-exam issues HAM-Radio.nl 

Some four or five spots in the above map are incorrect, like the one in Alaska and the one in the Gulf of Guinea. Apparently these guys have their coordinates incorrect in their profile. It didn't help to adjust their locator coordinates afterwards.


Ask Dave

Clicking on the above button gives access to a series of interesting
HAM Radio topics and answers from Dave Kesler KE0OG

My logbook is updated in HamRadioDeLuxe with daily updates to LoTW, QRZ.com, eQSL, HRDlog.net and QRZCQ. LoTW clearly gives the most QSL's but no QSL cards. eQSL gives nice electronic QSL cards and QRZ.com is giving disappointing results w.r.t. QSL's. Some figures: On 1 March 2017 I have made 5169 QSO's from both the PD3TRU and PC4Y call signs. I received 1692 QSL's from LoTW (32,7%), 1465 eQSL cards (28,4%) and 966 confirmed QSO's from QRZ.com (18%).

Some of my latest activities during the past months.Latest days now on top as per request from many visitors And only the last 12 months or so are published. Older data is removed.

Thursday 21 March 2024. Joined the NTC QSO Party. But got called away after 15 minutes. So it is a short list of only 11 QSO's in the 40 meter band with my Yaesu FT-450. See map below.

Sunday 10 March 2024. Joined YOTA for one hour or so. Made 21 QSO's. The youngest was 14 years of age, the eldest was 83 years of age. Great to hear so many stations participating.

Evaluation category

QSOs

Points

Multipliers

Claimed score

Single Operator 3 bands

21

54

19

1026

Weekend 24/25 February 2024. UBA CW contest. Many participants. Busy and open bands. It was nice, although I only worked Europe for some reason. And I had to quit as I had unexpected transmission problems. They appeared both on the FT-450 and the FT-991A, so I assume it must be an antenna problem or tuner issue. But even when I bypass all of the cables and switches between transceiver and antenna the problem still exists. It is an intermittent problem, so it is kind of difficult to tackle. Click on the map below to get the full info. So I only made 72 QSO's.

Weekend 17/18 February 2024. ARRL DX contest. Only US/Can stations. I only worked 24 stations as there were just to many other things to do this weekend.

Thursday 15 February 2024. NTC QSO Party during one hour. Made 26 QSO's. Was busy in the band (40 mtrs)

Weekend 10/11 February 2024. Joined the PACC contest in CW mode. Made 260 QSO's; an all time high for me in one contest. Worked the 10, 15, 20 and 40 meter bands. It was fun and exhausting :) . See map below. Click on the map to get the full picture. It again became apparent that when sending out the CQ yourself, the results are much better than when you respond to a CQ (quantity wise that is)

Callsign: PC4Y
Category: SINGLE-OP ALL LOW CW


Band     Qso    Cancelled  Dup  Point  Penalty  Mult        Score
160M       0            0    0      0        0     0
 80M       0            0    0      0        0     0
 40M      16            0    0     16        0    14
 20M     148            0    0    148        0    34
 15M      73            0    0     73        0    17
 10M      23            0    0     23        0     4
-----------------------------------------------------------------
         260            0    0    260        0    69            0

Weekend 3/4 February 2024. Joined the EU-DX contest and worked 58 stations in the 15, 20 and 40 meter bands. CW only. Ended #387 in the SOAB category.

Evaluation category

QSOs

Points

Multipliers

Claimed score

Single Operator All Band CW Low Power

58

534

79

42186

Weekend 27/28 January 2024: Firstly resolved an unpredictable error with the transmissions: the transceiver went blank during key-down and came back to live when key-up. After deduction through reduction (bypassing of all interconnecting cables, auto-tuner, switches etc.) it turned out the coax connector on the antenna cable was faulty. So the antenna cable was replaced as I couldn't quickly fix the connector. Then I joined the French REF contest and worked all the bands including the 80 meter band. Liked to be able to work Martinique and French Guyana. Also heard New Caledonia, but they didn't hear me unfortunately. See map below. You may expand the map by clicking on it. Worked 61 stations in total during Saturday afternoon, evening and Sunday morning for a few hours only.

Weekend 20/21 January 2024. Joined the HA-DX contest here and then totalling 100 QSO's in the 10, 15, 20 and 40 meter bands. All of a sudden my xmitter went blank in the 15 meter band. Reducing the xmit power to 60 watt kind of solved the problem, but I assume it is an antenna issue that needs investigating on a later moment.

Evaluation category

QSOs

Points

Multipliers

Claimed score

Single Operator All Band CW Low Power

100

507

66

33462

Thursday 18 January 2024. Joined the NTC_QP event, but only made 3 QSO's in the 40 meter band due to poor conditions. Didn't hear thing on the 80 meter band.

Sunday 14 January 2024: Joined the DARC 10 meter contest for approx 1 hour. And added one DX: Saudi Arabia HZ1HZ. All other QSO's were mainly within Europe.

Band QSOs Pts Mul Mul2

160m 0 0 0 0
80m 0 0 0 0
40m 0 0 0 0
20m 0 0 0 0
15m 0 0 0 0
10m 18 18 0 9

Summe 18 18 0 9 ==> 162

Friday 12 January 2024
: Received an e-mail from ARRL about the validity of my TQSL certificate which ends on Jan. 31. So I had to update my certificate and could follow the instructions. My updated TQSL is now valid for an additional 3 years.

New-year GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

Weekend 18/19 November 2023. Joined the LZ (Bulgarian) CW contest for two or so hours in de 40, 20, 15 and 10 meter bands. Mostly Europe and a few US QSO's.

Weekend 11 / 12 November 2023. Joined the PA Beker contest this weekend. On Saturday for CW on Sunday for SSB (LSB). Only worked the 40 meter band. The 80 meter band was quiet. Made 35 CW QSO's and 14 LSB QSO's. The logs were sent and accepted.

Having worked many contests it becomes clear to me that the best results are obtained when I select a frequency and start calling instead of responding to calling stations. The other advantage is to be one one frequency instead of dialling over the entire band. The disadvantage: I feel obliged to remain on that frequency and continue calling as many stations want to contact you, whereas if you are responding to a calling station, you can quit whenever you like.

Wednesday 25 October 2023. Had a QSO with T2C  the Tuvalu German DXpedition adding one DX to my count. Now 147 DX worked. Mostly CW. Also worked W1WCC; an amateur station in the previous offices of Chatham Radio WCC. I have worked WCC very often as R/O on board the ss Nieuw Amsterdam and the operator of W1WCC had been a WCC operator for 15 years between 1970 and 1985. So it is very likely we have worked one another during my maritime days. Spent the morning hours on board the ss Rotterdam PI4HAL club station. It was very busy with visitors. Nice!

Thursday 19 October 2023. NTC QSO party. 29 QSO's. I stayed on a fixed frequency for a change and called NTC. Freq. 7036.60 kHz.

Wednesday 11 October 2023. The YOTA 2023 award came in:

Weekend 16/17 September 2023. SAC contest! Worked 62 stations in the 15, 20 and 40 meter bands. It was fun. Many participants. See map below.

Results Marconi Memorial Contest: received per mail on Sunday 10 September 2023

Band QSO Ctry Points
10 1 1
15 9 6
20 38 24
40 1 1
80 0 0
160 0 0
TOT 49 32 1568

Saturday 2 September 2023. Joined the CW Ops contest for half an hour and made 11 QSO's. Only worked the 20 meter band.

Weekend 26 and 27 Augusts 2023. YO DX contest during 24 hours from SAT 12:00 till SUN 12:00. Joined for some time here and there. Made 60 QSO's. See map below. If you click on the map a more detailed map will be presented, but this will only last for one month.

Nice to have worked Japan again for a change. It was the only station I heard at that time of the day in the 28 MHz band: JA6GCE.

Friday 25 August 2023. DARES field exercise in the county of Zuid Holland with three field stations. This is me in the picture below, working from Kijkduin near the dunes and the North sea. Useful lessons learnt again as it was quite some time ago that we had a field exercise, due to COVID.

Thursday 17 August 2023. Received the EUHFCW championship raw score:

# Call Op
40m
20m
15m
10m
Clm QSO
Clm Mult
Clm Score
Category
Bands
1 PC4Y PC4Y
30
40
17
7
94
73
6862
CW – Low Power
All

Thursday 17 August 2023. NTC QP (QSO Party) from 19:00 - 20:00 hrs. Only worked the 40 meter band. Only 17 QSO's. But good conditions with lots of QRM.

Saturday 5 August 2023. Joined the EU HF CW contest for some time and worked the 15, 20 and 40 meter bands. Made 94 QSO's. See map below.

Saturday 29 July 2023. Joined the IOTA CW contest for one hour or so and made 27 QSO's. Worked the 15 and 20 meter bands.

 

Saturday 29 July 2023. Worked 1A0C on 14,024 kHz (one up) at around 11.25 local time, adding one DX to my list. Worked with operator EA5C. QSO is confirmed in their list on: http://www.1a0c.com/online-log/

Saturday 22 July 2023. Joined the YOTA CW contest. Worked the 15, 20 and 40 meter bands with moderate DX conditions. Only worked Europe. Heard one Chinese station, but he/she didn't hear me. The youngest operator I worked with was 8 years of age; the oldest operator was 82 years of age ☺ .

Evaluation category

QSOs

Points

Multipliers

Claimed score

Single Operator 3 bands

51

113

40

4520

Saturday 8 July 2023. Only had one hour for the IARU HF CW contest and made 29 QSO's, only within Europe. And I passed the # 11,000 QSO's in LOTW of which almost 50% were confirmed.

Weekend 1 & 2 July 2023. Marconi Memorial Contest. Joined for some time here and then. Only 51 QSO's but fun. Conditions were moderate.

Weekend 29/30 April 2023. Joined the UKEI CW contest for some time. 52 QSO's in the 15, 20 and 40 meter bands. It was fun again.

Saturday 22 April 2023. YOTA CW contest. 15, 20 and 40 meter bands. 38 QSO's. PIctures below. First: global overview. Second: focus on Europe.

Thursday 20 April 2023. Joined the NTC QP (QSO Party). Made 20 QSO's in the 40 meter band. It was fun again.

Thursday 23 March 2023. Replaced my HF choke filter as the HF reception showed a lot of rapid volume changes. Research showed the choke filter to cause the problems. I had a spare one luckily, so the problem was quickly resolved.

Saturday 18 March 2023. Replaced the tri-band vertical as the 2 meter band didn't work properly anymore: high SWR and automatic reduction of power by the FT-991A. The 70 cm and 6 meter bands still worked fine. I had ordered the new Diamond V2000 some time ago already but had to wait for better weather: no wind, no rain and pleasant temperature. This Saturday showed 14 degrees Celsius temperature, no  wind and no rain. So no more excuses: today it had to be done. My son came to help me with this somewhat cumbersome job: climbing the roof of the barn, bring down the mast that consists of 1 meter elements, dismantle the old antenna en mount the new antenna on the appropriate mast element. Connecting the current coax cable and just before hoisting it all up into the air, I checked the antenna on the FT-991A. Luckily it showed the 2 meter SWR of 1 and likewise on the other bands. Hoisting the mast and the antenna was quite a job as the guy ropes got entangled in the nearby tree. But all is well that ends well and after some two hours the new antenna was up  and running. I also enhanced the guying with line tighteners, allowing maximum tension on the guy line. Testing it all on Monday 20 March in the Hague-round on 145.450 MHz I got a 'twenty-over-nine' from distant stations. So I am happy.

I tried to disassemble the old V-2000 but couldn't find a way to disassemble the PL plug at the bottom. I'll ask around for advice. The story goes that the reason for the antenna failure could be a faulty capacitor nearby the PL plug.

Thursday 16 March 2023. NTC QSO Party. 20 QSO's all in the 40 meter band.

The ARISS tracker

Real-time position Space Station

Real time tracker

The following frequencies are currently used for Amateur Radio ISS contacts (QSOs):    Voice and SSTV Downlink: 145.800 (Worldwide)
    Voice Uplink: 144.490 for ITU Regions 2 and 3 (The Americas, and the Pacific and Southern Asia)
    Voice Uplink: 145.200 for ITU Region 1 (Europe, Russia and Africa)
    VHF Packet Uplink and Downlink: 145.825 (Worldwide)
    UHF Packet Uplink and Downlink: 437.550
    UHF/VHF Repeater Uplink: 437.800
    UHF/VHF Repeater Downlink: 145.800

Get to know the space station

 

  Some pictures of my shack

Radioshack information: Registration number at Dutch Administration: 6629107.
Above pictures are from May 2011 onwards.

Antenna:
G5RV junior, best suitable for 160, 80, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 meter bands with an external ATU and ATU extender, sloping dipole. Highest point apporox. 10 meters. Lowest point: 4 meters.
Diamond V-2000 vertical for VHF/UHF (6 m, 2 m and 70 cm) usage. Height of the antenna: approx. 10 meters.
Diamond X30N VHF/UHF (2 meter and 70 centimeter) antenna for field work.
MFJ-1768 Yagi for the 2 meter and 70 cm bands, also for field work.
MFJ1022, active indoor antenna for receive only.

ATU and other auxilliary equipment:
MFJ 925 autotuner, MFJ 914 auto tuner extender.
Tigertronics SignaLInk USB to connect the audio from FT-450 to PC and vice versa. For digi modes.
SWR meter
TNC-X modem for Winlink usage
SignaLink USB for Digi modes
Dummy HF antenna
K-PO power unit
13.8 Volt distribution panel  MFJ-1128
West Mountain Radio PWRgate PG40S, allowing automatic battery backup when regular power fails.
90Ah GEL battery system with USB, Neutrik and Anderson Powerpole connectors.

Software:
Ham Radio de Luxe with DM780 software for transceiver control (CAT), logging and digimodes version 6.5.0.199
N1MM for contests
Winlink 2000
RMS (Radio Mail Server)

Transceiver (RIG):
YAESU FT 991A
YAESU FT-450AT

max. output: 100 Watt
All amateur bands, incl WARC and (modified for) all maritime bands
CW, SSB, PSK31, FM and C4FM on VHF and UHF incl. 28 MHz and 50 MHz.

and:
YAESU FT-60E
output: 5 Watt
VHF/UHF, 144 MHZ and 430 MHz amateur bands.
FM

and:
BAOFENG UV82-HP
hand held for 2 meter maritime, 2 meter amateur and 70 cm amateur bands.
Output 8 Watt
FM and FM Radio bands.

and:
YAESU FT-7900 dualband (2m and 70 cm) transceiver
modes: FM and AM.
Output 50 Watts (2 meter) and 45 Watt (70 cm)
Attached to my TNC-X packet modem to work with Winlink (Paclink) thru the PI8HGL RMS on 144.850 MHz. Try me on PC4Y@winlink.org

and:
vintage YAESU FT-7
max. output: 10 Watt
bands: 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters
CW, USB and LSB only.

Extra receiver:
Vintage SAILOR R-104
MW, LW and SW 80 and 160 meter bands
AM, A1, A2 and USB only.

Straight CW keys (Junker and Kent), a Begali paddle and a HAM Gadgets Master Keyer MK-1 complete the ability to use Morse during the QSO's. Click here for the CQ serenade

I am a member of the PI4HAL association and work the on board radio-station mostly one day per week, using a Yaesu FT-897, an ICOM-271, ICOM-765, a Skanti and/or a Yaesu FT-1000. The station is on board the former cruise ship s/s Rotterdam and is now a hotel/museum ship operated by WestCord hotels.We have a team of about 10 operators and 5 technicians. We are still looking for more operators as it is our ultimate goal to operate the shack every day of the week. So if you are interested please don't hesitate to visit the PI4HAL site (click on the logo at the left) and send an email. Or you can send me an e-mail. HERE you get access to the PI4HAL newsletters (in Dutch). Every Wednesday at 09.00 UTC we have a VHF round thru either the PI3RTD or the PI3RAZ repeater (2 meter band). The PI3RAZ repeater can also be accessed thru echolink. So one week is thru PI3RTD and the next week is thru PI3RAZ visa versa.

I joined the NTC in November 2021. They have a QSO party every third Thursday of the month from 19.00 - 20.00 zulu, in the 80, 40 and 20 meter bands on frequencies around the official NTC frequencies, 3.568, 7.038 and 14.068 kHz. Any HAM operator can apply for membership. https://www.qsl.net/ntc/

 

I also joined the DARES foundation in 2011 and have already done quite a few field tests. I am part of a so called SIGCO team.

 

Free counters!

 

Why is a ship called she ? A ship is called a "she'' because there is always a great deal of bustle around her. There is usually a gang of men about, she has a waist and stays. It takes a lot of paint to keep her good looking. It is not the initial expense that breaks you, it is the upkeep. She can be all decked out. It takes an experienced man to handle her correctly. Without a man at the wheel, she is absolutely uncontrollable. She shows her topsides, hides her bottom and, when coming into port, always heads for the buoys. When you see her lying at the berth, you are proud of her like she is your attractive girlfriend.

Extra proof:

Why she is a ship, or a ship is she:

We always call a ship a She, And not without a reason, For she displays a well-shaped knee Regardless of the season. She corns the man whose heart is faint And does not show him pity And like a girl she needs the paint To keep her looking pretty. For love she’ll brave the oceans vast, Be she a gig or cruiser, But if you fail to tie her fast You’re almost sure to lose her.


          me in the shack     | Gerard in the museum | Wil and Karel at the antenna's

Announcement from Agentschap Telecom:

On 3 December 2015 at 00:00 hrs the 60 meter band became available for Dutch hams.

As per 1 April 2017 significant limitations have become effective though.

F

15 watt e.i.r.p.

5,351.5

5,366.5

s

So the usage of the band is now limited to between 5,351.5 MHz and 5,366.5 MHz with a max power of 15 Watt EIRP. We used to have the band from 5,350 MHz to 5,450 MHz with 100 Watt PEP. So I don't think this band is still very attractive for DX. The full legislation can be read HERE (in Dutch). Want to know how much EIRP is in relation to PEP? HERE you can find the calculator.

On Tuesday 24 November 2015 I saw Andorra station C37N had confirmed our QSO in LoTW completing my 100 DX count in my DXCC Award tally from ARRL LoTW. So I have applied for 'the Certificate'. See below.
 

DXCC
Award
New LoTW QSLs LoTW QSLs in Process DXCC Credits Awarded Total
(All)
Total
(Current)
Mixed 0 0 100 100 100

At the beginning of this year 2015 I had hoped to achieve this goal this year and so I did even well before the end of the year. Of course most of the credit goes to the hams who have confirmed our QSO's in LoTW. Thanks YL's and OM's.

My chances of getting a 200 DXCC credit Award are small as I have worked most of the DX's I can reach with my current station set up. But who knows? Writing 1 March 2021, I have 121 DXCC's though as a few QSO's from quite some time ago have recently been confirmed, like Bermuda, Cuba, Albania, Ceuta and Melilla, Uruguay and San Marino. So I am still adding to my list. Like the one from ITU HQ.

In addition to the 100 DX list, the latest 28 additions as per July 2022 are:

DXCC Entity Mixed
ALGERIA 7X2ARA
AUSTRALIA VK2DX
BERMUDA VP9HQ
BONAIRE PJ4X
CAPE VERDE D4Z
CEUTA & MELILLA EA9/DL7DF
COSTA RICA TI7W
CUBA CO8LY
FAROE ISLANDS OY1CT
FRENCH GUIANA FY5KE
GUERNSEY GU4FOC
IRAN EP2A
ITU HQ 4U1ITU
JAN MAYEN JX/LB4MI
KYRGYZSTAN EX8MJ
MALTA 9H3AK
MOZAMBIQUE C92ZO
NEW ZEALAND ZL1BBW
PERU OA1F
REPUBLIC OF KOSOVO Z60A
SENEGAL 6V7S
SURINAME PZ5T
THE GAMBIA C5GCJ
TUNISIA 3V8SS
TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS VP5/W5CW
URUGUAY CX7CO
UZBEKISTAN UK8IF

The following Dutch call signs are also listed in the ARRL tally for 100 DXes worked. And Martinique was added as # 129 on 24 February 2024

PA0LUX, PA1JIM, PA3MRO, PC4M, PC4Y, PC5ACO, PD0JMH, PD1AKL, PD2J, PE1PRP

On the top of the list is 4X4DK who has worked 394 DX entities! I wonder though how that can be as ARRL says they have listed 'only' 340 DX entities. Wim PA0WV explained me how: in time quite a few entities have disappeared (like e.g. the DDR) and others emerged.

Lesson to learn and use Morse code:

 

Much to my surprise I received a 'worked 100 grid squares' award on my old call sign: PD3TRU, which I have not been using since March 2014. The big black dot in the lower left corner is in fact a golden 'Certified QRZ authentic' stamp that my scanner wasn't able to reproduce apparently J.

Image of QSL card with burning ship ms Prinsendam

Click on this picture about the engine room fire on board the m/s Prinsendam/PJTA and the rescue of well over 500 passengers and crew on 4 October 1980 in the stormy Gulf of Alaska. It still took a week for the ship to sink beyond salvage. Listen to the MP3 audio file with the SOS transmissions starting with the transmission of 12 long dashes of 4 seconds each (twice) to activate the Automatic Alarm Systems which ships had installed those days giving an alarming chime in both the radio room and the bridge during times the R/O was off duty. See also this article. I remember to have sailed under captain Wabeke when he was a first officer on the s/s Nieuw Amsterdam/PGGF (/PJRS when under the Antillian flag).

PC4Y as a rookie R/O on board s/s Nieuw Amsterdam (1969)

Click HERE for ancient Morse transmissions from various coastal stations

CW Forever

 

  • You must have at times,
    Thought into the past,
    Where some things go out
    While others last
    What comes to my mind is
    The old Morse code,
    That has weathered the storms
    From any abode.
     
  • To talk with ones fingers
    Is surely an art,
    Of any info you
    Care to impart,
    In most conditions
    The signals get through,
    While the same about phone
    Is simply not true.
     
  • Those dits and dahs
    Cut through the trash,
    Of near by noise or
    Lightning's crash.
    To the sensitive ears
    Of the hams receiver,
    Who records this data
    With ardent fever.
     
  • He knows he's doing
    Something unique,
    (in such poor conditions,
    That's quite a feat)
    To roger the message
    That came off the air,
    These brass pounders
    Sure do have that flair
  • They say Morse ops
    Are a dying breed,
    But don't despair,
    There's always that need,
    That when conditions get rough
    for the new automation,
    Be rest assured,
    There'll be need for your station.
     
  • CW is dying?
    Believe it never,
    This mode will be 'round
    Forever and ever.
    But one thing is sure,
    What we really need,
    Is to relay our knowledge
    To the younger breed.
     
  • To carry the torch,
    Long after we're gone,
    To send Morse code
    Through the air like a song.
    When at last,
    Silent keys pull that lever,
    We can rest in peace,
    It's CW forever.

 

 

 

Written by:
Jim Hatherley, WA1TBY (SK)


A promo video about HAM radio. Made in 2014 by VERON. In Dutch. But pictures speak for themselves.


Every now and then I get the question: 'what is the fun of a contest ?' 'It is often not much more then a quick exchange of some data and then on to the next one'. Well to be honest, this is what I thought in the beginning as well. But let me try to summarize the fun:

  1. There is a lot more activity in the air than usual. If you ever doubt if there are still hams around: listen to the radio during a contest.
  2. It is an art to distinguish the various stations from one another when they are tumbling over each other. They cannot help it really because when you participate in a contest and pick a frequency say in the 20 meter band, you cannot hear your fellow hams in the same region in that band.
  3. It is a nice addition to your logbook. In one weekend or one day you can easily add a hundred (or a thousand) QSO's in your log and receive many eQSL cards (and/or hard copies).
  4. You hear stations you have never worked before.
  5. It is nice to notice so many stations actually hear you! It proves your setup is working fine.
  6. Often a plaque is provided that can decorate your shack.
  7. A multi operator contest in e.g. a club station is adding to the fun as you meet fellow hams.

Of course there are also some reasons why NOT to join the contest:

  1. Lack of time. A contest often runs a whole weekend (48 hours) or a whole day (24 hours). If you cannot join the contest during a couple or hours, you are missing some of the fun, like # stations worked or # increasing exchange number. This is the main reason for me NOT to join a given contest.
  2. Lack of experience. Well this is not really an excuse as you can only build up experience by doing it.
  3. Contests that require a serial number (exchange number). It can be de-motivating to hear a station giving a serial number up in the hundreds, where you just fired up your system and starts with 001.
  4. Bad conditions, like an Asian contest or Oceanic contest, where the stations can hardly be heard (in my region).
  5. Nobody hears you. Can be due to poor conditions or your own system setup. Remember: the antenna is much more important than the transmit power.

In addition there is a major choice one has to make: do you wish to send out the CQ, or do you wish to respond to the CQ's. Of course you can also decide to do both. But the operating practise differs somewhat between the two options. The option to respond to a CQ is far more relaxed than the option to send the CQ as many stations will then try to make contact with you, often causing lots of QRM. If you want to go for the highest scores you'd better send out the CQ yourself. The advantage to send out the CQ yourself is you can remain on the same frequency or have to change frequency only a few times, whereas if you respond to a CQ you will have to work the whole band in every band. When you send out the CQ there is yet another consequence: you will have to take and send the call sign of the one who responds to your CQ. If you only respond to a CQ all you most often will do is send out your own call only once, where upon the contester will answer you by sending your call and RST and additional info that is required by the contest rules.

Form my own experience: you can make far more QSO's when sending the CQ than when you only respond to a CQ within the same time frame.

It would be interesting to hear other reactions. So don't hesitate to contact me: pc4y@veron.nl

# 16 of the 25 participating Dutchmen (PA). I made 100 QSO's in the 2024 HA contest