CQ WW CW Contest

The CQ WW CW Contest is one of the biggest contests of the year. Unfortunately, I cannot copy CW at anywhere near contest speeds. The nice thing about this contest is the easy and static exchange. So I set up Ham Radio Deluxe with three macros: "N8HM," "5NN 5," and "5 5 5" and let it do the decoding. I can recognize my call and "TU" pretty easily, so between the computer giving perfect decodes on computer-sent CW and my ears, I could pretty much copy anything that was being sent.

I entered this contest with the goal of finding new DXCC entities to work towards QRP DXCC. Prior to the contest, I was at 98 entities (97 worked from this QTH plus a QSO with Hawaii while I was pedestrian mobile on the Pacific coast in Oregon), so I was very hopeful of completing QRP DXCC during the contest.

I started the contest on 20m right at 0000Z and found V26K in Antigua and Barbuda for my first QSO at 0003Z. Shortly afterwards, I found C5A in The Gambia, a new DXCC, and was determined to work him. Three hours later (with some breaks from calling to maintain sanity), at 0308Z, he was in the log for QRP DXCC entity #99. Just needed one more!

Screenshot of QSO with C5A in Ham Radio Deluxe

I went on to work HK3TU and then called it a night as 20m was starting to close down and I lack any legitimate DX antennas for lower bands.

I woke up just after 1300Z and worked C6AAW in the Bahamas before moving to 15m where I worked ZF1A in the Cayman Islands and PJ5G on Sint Eustatius (my first PJ5, but I have worked PJ6 before, so it was not a new DXCC entity). I continued to work European and Carribean stations over the next couple of hours before finding ES7GM in Estonia to complete QRP DXCC. After this, I headed to the bar to watch the Michigan State football game.

I returned home at around 2100Z and worked three more stations on 15m - HC2SL in Ecuador, FY5KE in French Guiana, and VE7GL in British Columbia -  before shutting down for the evening. I decided not to go back to 20m that evening and just took a break.

At 1300Z, I was back at it, working Europe on 15m. At 1351Z, I found OH0Z on Aland Island for QRP DXCC #101. At about 1530Z, I moved to 10m and at 1544Z, I found VP2MWG on Montserrat for #102. At 1553Z, ED9M in Ceuta started calling CQ very near to where my dial was and I worked him first call for QRP DXCC #103. That was my last new one of the contest. I did work VY2SS on Prince Edward Island on 15m for a new Canadian province. I went QRT at 2200Z as 15m started to die down and fatigue was setting in.

My contest summary as posted on 3830:

CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

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

Class: SOAB QRP
QTH: Washington, DC
Operating Time (hrs): 

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:                    
   80:                    
   40:                    
   20:   5      3        5
   15:  38     12       29
   10:  24      9       19
------------------------------
Total:  67     24       53  Total Score = 13,629

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Comments:

Worked a total of 42 countries in 15 zones, including 5 new ones which gives me
a QRP DXCC total worked of 103. Thanks for the QSOs!

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

And the QSO map: