ARRL 10 Meter Contest

I was really looking forward to the ARRL 10 Meter Contest this year. With the sunspot numbers increasing as Solar Cycle 24 takes off, propagation on 10 meters has been excellent over the past few months. When 10 meters is open, it can be really open and 5 watts into a magnetic loop can be extremely effective. Another advantage of this contest is that DC is a separate multiplier and the DC mult is highly sought after. As far as I know, only KE3X, K2PS, 4U1WB, and myself were working SSB from DC. My plan for the contest was to build a full size vertical antenna, which would be both theoretically more efficient than the magnetic loop and omnidirectional. While I could turn the magnetic loop as the band opens to different areas, due to interaction with the iron balcony railing, the loop will not tune to an acceptable SWR at certain orientations on 15 meters and above (I've tried numerous tricks, such as squashing the coupling loop to no effect). As such, the loop is generally oriented in a northeast/southwest direction.

On Friday night, I cut five wires for the 10 meter band. I attached one to a crappie pole and set it out on the balcony, while attaching the four others as radials. The antenna had a fine SWR for the phone band on the first try. Unfortunately, the noise level was S9+. Most manmade noise is vertically polarized and, thus, a vertical antenna picks up all the plasma and LCD TVs and other electronics in the apartment building, so I scuttled those plans and went back to the loop.

The contest started at 0000Z, or 7pm on Friday night here in Washington. Unfortunately, by this time on the East Coast, the band is generally closed except at the very peak of the solar cycle. I tuned around and found 4U1WB from the World Bank HQ calling CQ from about 2 miles northwest of me and worked him to get the DC mult right away. I tuned around some more and didn't hear anything, so I went about 10 kHz up from 4U1WB and called CQ myself. Calling CQ with 5 watts on SSB into a small antenna isn't generally a ticket to success, but after a couple of calls, KW3W in Maryland called and right after him, W3DM in Virginia called. I called CQ a few more times, and then shut down for the night satisfied that I had gotten the local mults out of the way.

I woke up at 1100Z and tuned around the band. Hearing nothing, I went back to bed and woke up at 1200Z. At 1200Z, I still heard nothing, so I went back to bed again and woke up at 1300Z. I was finally able to hear activity at 1300Z and started off with a call to W4NF in Virginia followed quickly by HI3K in the Dominican Republic and P40K in Aruba. Two more Dominicans came after, HI3CC and HI3TEJ. I wasn't able to work a European station until 1530Z when I was able to get through to DL2WMB in Germany. The rest of the day was mostly frustrating as I was unable to break many of the pileups. I worked a few western US and Canadian stations plus Carribean, South America, and Mexico. Some of the interesting DX was FY8DK in French Guiana, J68UN, the Buddipole team in St. Lucia, and CE3CT (ex-CE4CT) in Chile who I never have any trouble working in any contest. I went QRT as the band died out around 2230Z.

I was back at it at 1300Z. Propagation to Europe sounded better, but it was very uneven. Most of the stations were weak and unworkable for me, but E7DX in Bosnia was absolutely booming and I worked him with no trouble on the first call at 1331Z. I only worked three more Europeans the rest of the contest: PI4DX in the Netherlands, OP2A in Belgium, and EB2AM in Spain. The rest of the contest I could only work the Carribean, South America, Mexico, and the western US. I spent way too much time in pileups and had to take several breaks due to frustration. I just couldn't break through to many of the stations. I think it's time to invest in the W4RT One Big Punch speech compressor to give my audio some punch to break through the pileups.

My 3830 summary is as follows:

ARRL 10-Meter Contest

Call: N8HM
Operator(s): N8HM
Station: N8HM

Class: SO SSB QRP
QTH: Washington, DC
Operating Time (hrs): 15

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
   CW:           
  SSB:  56     34
-------------------
Total:  56     34  Total Score = 3,808

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

My goal was 100 QSOs. Fell way short. Couldn't break through many of the
pileups. This score would have been good for 9th in the world last year, but
I'm sure it won't be close to that this year now that we actually have
sunspots. Happy to hand out the DC mult to those who pulled me out of the mud.
Thanks for the QSOs. See you for a few hours at least in the OK RTTY contest
next week.  

Rig - Yaesu FT-817ND
Antenna - Alexloop Walkham Portable Magnetic Loop

This score would have been good for 9th place in the world in the Single Op SSB QRP category last year. However, I'm sure that this score will place quite a bit lower than that given the vastly superior conditions on 10 meters this year.

Next week, I'll make a few contacts in the OK RTTY Contest during the opening to Europe on 15 meters on Saturday morning, but I'll probably only stay on for a few hours.

Here is the QSO map: