2023 CQ World Wide DX Contest CW

I participated in the CQ World Wide DX contest CW, the biggest event of the DX contest, with non-assisted, 10m band and low power.

Conditions had improved before the contest, and I stood at the starting line at 00:00UTC 09:00JST, hoping for a big 10m open.

I started running at as much as possible, free space at the higher end of the band, thinking that since I was on 100W, I would not stand out in the QRM, busy signal, and I spend a moment in the pile, but soon stopped, so I started picking up running stations as S/P from the lower frequencies one by one. This, too, soon ran its course and was sluggish. I achieved 150 QSOs in 3 hours in the morning, which was less than expected.

I am looking forward to the opening of Europe in the evening. As expected, the European area gradually began to open from noon, and the peak continued from around 16:00 to 19:00 Japan time in the evening, recording 100Q/H. 460 QSOs achieved here!

The next morning, I expected the opening of North America, but the conditions were not as expected due to a magnetic storm, so I could not increase the number of stations. However, Europe was good in the evening, and I were able to increase the number of stations. 840 QSOs achieved here!

On the last day of the contest, from around 7:00 am to 9:00 am on Monday morning in Japan, I wanted to increase the number of multis, so I finished the contest repeating Run and S/P. As a result 941QSOs.

The result was a satisfactory number of stations for me, but the number of multis was low.

Zone

S/P(False) and Run(True)

2023 CQ World Wide DX contest SSB on 10m band

Over the weekend I participated in the CQ world wide DX contest SSB on 10 meters low power, non-assisted category.

Conditions on 10mband had been down for a while, but I had high hopes for the US East Coast and Caribbean stations as they were sounding good at the beginning of the contest week.

However, only certain stations could be heard at the start of the contest, 9:00 AM Japan time on Saturday morning, and even, RUN, running at 100W, few were called. Moreover, the stations that could be heard were soon exhausted. Since the contest started under such conditions, I hoped for QSOs with European stations in the evening. Europe started to open around 3:00 p.m., and although I was calling , S/P, around at first, by nightfall I was running and getting called. 400 QSOs achieved here.

I expected to be in North America the next morning. However, conditions did not rise and were similar to the first day. I expected Europe in the evening on this day as well. It opened as expected and the time to RUN and be called seemed to be longer than the first day. I achieved 800 QSOs here.

The last time zone, Monday morning Japan time. Normally, I would have more multis for North American and Caribbean stations, but conditions did not increase and only 4 multis were recorded. Still, I were able to enjoy a strong 10-meter band from the past few years. Next up is WW/CW.

IC-7610, 6ele Yagi, N1MM

By the way, if you have ever looked at a map of the Japanese archipelago, you know that the archipelago is an island from northeast to southwest. From the continental United States, this means that the archipelago stretches almost straight from Area 8, which is located in the northeast, to Area 6, which is located in the southwest. In other words, Area 6, where my station is located, is 2,000 km further away than Area 8 when viewed from the continental United States, and is 1,000 km away from Tokyo, the capital of Area 1, which is located in the middle of the Japanese archipelago. So, QSO with North America is more difficult than 8 Area and 1 Area.

JA area map

2023 OC DX Contest Phone and JA domestic contest

During the weekend I was scheduled to participate in the OC DX contest Phone on 15m band during the day and a Japanese national contest on 80m band at night. 

I drove up the mountain about 600m and set up the HB9CV for 15m and the inverted V antenna for 80m at a height of 8m in a square with the sea in front of it. I started OC DX CW at 3 p.m. Japan time and was able to exceed 100 QSOs in about 3 hours. 

150 QSOs was close to breaking the record, but the sun was setting and it was getting cold on the mountain and rain was forecast for the next day, so I had to retire from OC DX CW at this point. I will try again this weekend to break the record for OC DX CW. 

By the way, I still hold the phone records for 15m and 10m.

Unfortunately, the direction looking down the sea was northeast and opposite to Oceania, as I was aware of the domestic contest in Japan.

Final results of 2023 CQ WPX contest SSB

 The official results of the 2023 CQ WPX SSB held in March are now available on the web and awards can be downloaded. This final result confirms my first place on the Asia continent, following ARRL DX CW/PH. 

I participated on 15m band until last year and achieved 1st place in Asia for both SSB and CW in this contest, and since the conditions on 10m band started to improve, I moved to 10m band this year and aimed for 1st place in JA with low power 100W. 

I am really happy to have won the first place in Asia.

2023 WAE contest SSB on 10m

Over the weekend, I participated in the WAE contest sponsored by The German Amateur Radio Club (DARC e.V.) on 10 meters single band at 100W. This contest only has a multi-band category and no single band. Therefore, I participated in this contest in order to check the band conditions and to contribute points to the European stations.

The conditions for Europe start to improve around 3:00 p.m. Japan time,06:00UTC, so I operated from that time until nighttime.

After the start of the operation, I was able to confirm a European signal there in the waterfall, so after calling a few stations, I started running. It did not become a pileup, but it was called bobbing. 

After a certain number of contacts, I can send QTCs, so I send QTCs in response to requests from European stations. Then, the European stations would spot me in the clusters. This situation continued for a while and I was able to contacts without intermission and accumulate points.

Since I was only operating on the 10-meter band, I did not have many stations to QSO with, but I was able to contribute points and monitor the band conditions. I am looking forward to WW RTTY at the end of this month and WW/PH/CW and ARRL 10m from October.

2023 All asian DX contest Phone 10m band

Last weekend I participated in the All asian DX contest Phone organized by JARL on 10m band at 100w. On 10m band, I could hardly hear any North American stations, but I was hoping for some European stations to open up in the evening as they were becoming more frequent.

The contest started at 9:00 AM Japan time. This is exactly the time for the North and South American areas open. However, I had some things to do, so I started the contest at 3:00 PM. This is exactly the time when Europe opens. However, I could hardly hear anything. 

I found out later that there was a magnetic storm and the conditions were very bad, and this continued until the end of the contest. 

The highlight for me was that I was able to contact with many YB stations. Even if the conditions are a little bit bad, I can still make a QSO with them, which is one of the things I'm looking forward to these days. Besides, YB is counted in Oceania, so the scoring rate is high.

Results

IC-7610, 6ele Yagi, N1MM

False (S/P) True (Run)

QSO Zone by time

Looking back at last year's contest

Looking back at last year's contest, my results on WPX PH/CW, WW PH/CW, 15m band Low Power clearly improved after upgrading my antennas to a 20/15m dual band 5-ele yagi. 

And since upgrading to a 6-ele yagi antenna system dedicated to the 10-meter band earlier this year to accommodate the rising conditions on the 10-meter band, I have had satisfactory results on ARRL DX PH/CW, WPX PH/CW 10m band low power.

There are only CQ WW PH/CW left this year. I really want to win. Of course, my main purpose is to have fun at the contests.

See you at the 10m band in CQ WW PH/CW.

2022 antenna for 20/15m band

2023 for 10m band

Final results of 2023 ARRL International DX Contest Phone

The final results of the ARRL International DX Contest Phone are now available. I was able to win a 10-meter band award following the CW contest.

In addition, I also achieved the Continental Record for both CW and Phone.

The final results of the WPX contest SSB/CW may have been published in the US-CQ Magazine, but not on the web yet, so I can't wait to see them.

https://contests.arrl.org/scores.php

IC-7610 20mH 6ele Yagi N1MM

61617 443Q/47M

Raw score 63309 - Final score 61617 (error of 3%)

2023 WAE Contest CW

Participated in WAE Contest CW with single op low power. Since a typhoon was approaching just prior to my participation, I reviewed the 40/20/15/10 meter V rotary dipole system as a precautionary measure before taking down the antenna elevator.

The antenna review went well, and the horizontal placement of the V-shaped dipole resulted in an improvement in directivity, which was a bit broad. There was no SWR deterioration as a result of this.

The plan was to keep the 10m 6ele yagi and participate on 10m single band, but with limited time and number of stations open, I decided to participate on multiband since the conditions on 15/20m were good and the combination of 100W output and a dipole antenna was still viable for the run. I decided to participate in the multi-band event.

Since I was not planning to win any awards, I enjoyed the contest and the pileups despite the limited time.

As for the QTC, the logging software N1MM made it possible to send out the data smoothly and comfortably.

As a result, I ended up with 266 QTCs in 267 QSOs and only 1 QTC left.

IC-7610 40/20/15/10m RDP 10m6ele yagi and N1MM

See you next contest

2023 ARRL International DX Contest CW Award

The awards of this year's ARRL International DX Contest CW have arrived. This is probably the first time I have won an award in this contest.

2022 CQ World Wide DX CONTEST CW Final results

2022 WW DX Contest Final Results Announced

I was 2nd in Japan in the RAW score, about 10,000 points behind the 1st place station, but after the log check, I was awarded the 1st place by a point deduction.

This gave me JA 1st place in JA for both SSB/CW.

Final result of 2023 CQ World Wide DX Contest SSB

The final results of last year 2023 CQ World Wide DX Contest SSB have been announced.

https://cqww.com/scoresph.htm

Awards available for download.

The equipment at this time was IC-7700 (100W), 20m high Nagara 20/15m band Yagi T2-5DX(20mH), 15m band working with 5 elements.

Previously, the boom length was about 8m with 4 elements, and the T2-5DX is just under 12m with 5 elements. I think this difference was well reflected in the results.

But this season, I sifted to the 10m band with 6elements Yagi. 

2023 CQ WPX SSB 10m Lo power

 CQ WPX Contest review by JA6WFM.

Over the weekend, I participated in the CQ WPX SSB contest on a 10m band.

The contest started at 00:00 UTC at 9:00 in the morning Japan time. Normally, the North American area is open and be able to hear a lot of strong signals. It was less.

I quickly exhausted all the North American stations I could hear and started running, but I was rarely called.

Fortunately, I could hear a lot of nearby stations belonging to Oceania, such as YB and DU, so I gave up trying to QSO with North America and turned my antenna from northeast to southwest to accumulate points.

At around 3:00 pm Japan time, 06UTC, QSO time with Europe will begin. A lot of stations were heard compared to morning North America and conditions. This continued until 12 UTC around 9:00 pm Japan time, and I was able to accumulate more points.

The second day was much the same as the first day. On Monday morning Japan time, the A index was down, so I was hoping for an opening in the North American direction towards the end of the season, but it only recovered a little from the first day, and I wasn't able to accumulate points as usual.

That said, compared to last year's conditions, this year's conditions were much better and I was able to achieve my target score. 

Hiro.

Audio review https://youtu.be/3wfqIMmuAtw

IC-7700(100W) 6ele Yagi N1MM

Time / QSO Zone

Running QSO(True) and S&P(False)

ARRL CW/SSB Raw Low Power 10m band

2023 ARRL DX CW/PH raw score

https://contests.arrl.org/rawscores.php

2022 WAE SSB Certificate

Arrived

HA Hungarian DX contest

On the weekend, I participated in the Hungarian DX Contest on multi-band.

I started at 21:00 JST/12:00 UTC on 15m band and did a few contacts, then early the next morning I did a dozen stations on 40m band and hoped for Europe in the afternoon.

I restarted to operate on 15m band at around 15:00JST/06:00 UTC, and looking at the band scope on 10m band, I could see that the number of signals was gradually increasing and it was getting busier. I shifted to SO2R at this point. At the peak of conditions, the 10m band was busier than the 15m band. I focused on 10m band until the evening, then returned to 15m band and continued SO2R operations with 10m band as conditions began to drop.

One hour before the end of the contest, at 8:00 p.m. Japan time, I was sitting by the window of the shack and felt a chill in half of my body due to the ineffective heating. It might have been the effect of an approaching cold air mass.

The 10-meter band was also gradually losing condition, so I finished here.

Next is ARRL International DX CW in February, and WPX RTTY before that.

IC-7700(100W) IC-7610 7MHzRDP, 21MHz5ele, 28MHzHB9CV

N1MM, u2R for SO2R

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Happy new year 2023

Have fun this year with the Contesting.

Received a nice award early in the New Year.