RSGB IOTA Contest 2012 Score (Island - SO12CW LP)

RSGB Island On The Air 2012 Contest is now over and once again I was there to contribute with EU-001 IOTA reference to the contest's success.
Last year I took part in the 24hr CW only HP Assisted category for the IOTA Fixed section, but this year, due to several daytime familt obligations, I just had to cut it down and enter the 12hr CW only, Unassisted LP category.
Still, this year's result amazes me, since it is just under 100k points less than 2011's respective score, but in half the partcipation time.

In summary, in 2012's RSGB IOTA Contest I managed to do this:

80m: 34 QSOs, 340 QSO points, 16 IOTA references
40m: 182 QSOs, 1490 QSO points, 44 IOTA references
20m: 350 QSOs, 2320 QSO points, 47 IOTA references
15m: 237 QSOs, 1560 QSO points, 26 IOTA references
10m: 21 QSOs, 195 QSO points, 7 IOTA references
--------------------------------------------------------------
Totals: 824 QSOs, 5905 QSO points, 140 multipliers > 826.700 points

As every year, EU IOTA's participation was vast and I may also have worked a few new ones during the contest. Relatively bad propagation on 10m, 15m was normal, 20m was good to the West while open, and 40/80 were marginal OK for EU.
Sad not to see much IOTA activity from SA and OC. Maybe propagation was not favouring contacts with those areas from my location.
If my submitted score is not deducted too much from RSGB IOTA Contest Committee log checking, I may have broken the IOTA Contest record for this specific category, set by IM0/DL2RMC last year with 767.136 points !! We'll just have to wait and see ...

73s

Stathis, SV5DKL

8B DXCC through LotW confirmations only !!

Gary, CU2JT, was kind enough to confirm our 30m QSO we had a couple of days ago, in LotW, summing up my LotW 30m cfmed DXCCs to 100 !! Many thanks, Gary.

With this last confirmation, I finally reached 8B DXCC through LotW confirmations only, for 80/40/30/20/17/15/12 and 10 meters.

Now, a bit extra effort should be made for obtaining 100 LotW cfmed DXCCs on 160m and 6m, the two most interesting HF edges.

Time to get back to work now, later on today I am starting my preparations for this weekend's RSGB IOTA contest. Will run in IOTA FIXED SOA CW 12Hrs category from Rhodes Island, EU-001. If you happen to hear me calling, please give me a call.

73s

Stathis, SV5DKL

CY9M - St. Paul Island DXpedition - IOTA NA-094

Maybe one of the most interesting DXpeditions from a rare DXCC is about to take place between July 26th and August 1st, 2012. Personally speaking, I will be happy to work an all-time new one for my SV5 callsign, and I will be happier if that happens with our girl Vicky, SV2KBS, at the keys of CY9M, her being one of the 10 experienced operators already on their way to St. Paul Island.

Click on the following CY9M logo to visit the DXpeditions's official web site:

I'd like to wish good luck to the Team and I'll try to work them on as many band-slots as possible.

IOTA chasers be prepared !! This is your chance to work NA-094 on many bands.

73s and enjoy the pile-ups !!

Stathis, SV5DKL

IARU HF World Championship 2012 - SX0HQ

Finally, the time has come, again, for one of the most interesting (to my opinion) HF contests, the IARU HF World Championship. For newcomers, but also for the experienced contesters, please have a look at the updated rules of the contest at the official site of ARRL here.

Once again, I will have the honour to be part of Greece's RAAG HQ National Team SX0HQ, manning the CW portion of 15m, shared with my good friend Tony, SV1ENG. My shift will start on Sunday, July 15th at 0000z until 1200z.

As this is a worldwide class contest, on-air behaviour of every participant should be exemplary, respective to the stature of this event. The easiest way to achieve this is by following the DX Code of Conduct, which SX0HQ strongly supports and utilizes.

For more info on IARU contests, visit the official web site here.

Looking forward to hearing you on-air during the weekend.

73s from Rhodes Island, Dodecanese

SV5DKL

Echter HolzHammer and HolzHammer Diplom have arrived !!

On the 22nd of June 2012, I was awarded with the HolzHammer Diplom and the Echter HolzHammer Trophy, following my application sent to Dieter, DF2KD, award manager of HolzHammer Club. This is really a distinquished trophy to make a fine new addition to my Ham Trophies wall. Both were registered to my old callsign SV1DKL, since I could apply for those with QSOs made under that call.

The Echter HolzHammer has registration nr. 2717:



,while the HolzHammer Diplom has registration nr. 3584/22.06.2012.

Many tnx to Dieter, DF2KD, for his fine services and whoever wants to check if he is liable to apply for this fine Trophy, please check the following URL for all details:

http://www.ov-g22.de/html/hh-diplome.html

Sorry to say, info are only in German language, though not tough to make out the gist. Furthermore, your application QSO details, may be entered directly to an online form provided by the HolzHammer Club.

Good Luck and 73s from Rhodes Island.

SV5DKL

1st Balkan HST Championship - Bulgaria - Summer 2013

BFRA through its representative, Panayot Danev, has informed us that they intend to organize the 1st Balkan HST Championship during the summer of 2013 (June or July). It will be a weekend event (Friday to Sunday) and its aim is to attract HST competitors from all Balkan countries.

HST athletes will compete on 3 sports:
1) Callsign Receiving Test, through RufZ software, according to the official rules,
2) Morse Runner Test (Pile-up simulation), according to the official rules, and ...
3) Transmission Test, mixed text only, in 5 character groups.

More info & details of the event will come out by mid-November 2012.

Personally, I really want to participate in this HST event, where I will meet with good old friends of mine and enjoy a mini-vacation in a neighbour-country.

Have a nice day and a cool week !!

73s from Rhodes Island.

SV5DKL

1A0C on-air !!

Well, SMOM is very close to Greece, but anyway, I did miss them on 17m-6m.
So, today I worked 1A0C on all of those missing bandslots, in just 1 hour. Got them on 17m CW, 15m RTTY, 12m SSB/CW, 10m SSB and I did work 1A0C on 6m CW , but it is not on Clublog. I guess it was a pirate operation, one of many we have witnessed lately, from several DX calls. I shall look for 1A0C again on 6m in the next days...
So, as an update, my current worked DXCC Challenge is raised up to 1869 until now. Next target ... 1900 !!

July 3rd update: Looks like I am OK on 6m, too!! Valid operation, no pirated call. Tnx !!