CQ WPX SSB 2013 Contest in coming weekend

In the coming weekend CQ WPX SSB 2013 will, once again, attract hundreds of worldwide contesters in one of Ham Radio`s greatest celebrations.

I couldn't be absent, as I haven`t been since 1994, when I was first licensed as SV1DKL.

This year, I have decided to take on 80m as SOSB(A)80/LP and set a new record for SV5-land.



I will use my FT-2K@100w and my base-coupled Inverted-L antenna. I hope conditions will favor my LP signal.

Of course, all of my contest operation will be recorded and be available at a later stage through my searchable contest audio database, which can be found here: http://www.sv5dkl.eu/Audio

CU on air during next weekend

100 DXCC entities on 160m ... at last !!

Looks like the new low band antenna system is working great.
In the last 45 days 10 new ones have been worked on 160m, where until now, I couldn't get on-air decently.

Living in a block of apartments within the boundaries of a city doesn't make for enough space or low man-made noise for 160m operations. Still, I managed to erect a 27,5m Inverted-L with 56 random length radials on the rooftop, which made the difference !!

Finally, I can hear DX on 160m and they can copy my signal, too !!

Last DXCC worked this morning on 160m SSB was Pedro NP4A, summing my TopBand`s worked entities to 100 !! Tnx, Pedro.

Pedro is also using LotW, so now I am waiting for his confirmation.
With NP4A in the log, 9BDXCC has been achieved and in the following summer, I intend to devote some time on 6m, where I also didn't have a decent antenna system until recently, in order to also reach at least 100 DXCC entities in the "Magic Band" and get achieve the most-wanted target of 10BDXCC.

If you need SV5 (Dodecanese) on 6m, send me an e-mail in order to arrange a sked, especially if you live in a rare DXCC entity !!

Unbelievable use of English on-air !!

I can't stop thinkink & laughing about this, so I just had to share it with my readers.
In order not to personally insult anyone, no names, callsigns, or Greek call areas will be mentioned.

Browsing late one night on the SSB part of 75m, I stopped by a frequency where Greek amateur radio stations were working DX (SVxxxx & company !!).
One of the guys, who apparently got the strongest signal, at least, here in Rhodes, was misusing English language in a really funny way.

So, when you give the signal report to the correspondent, it is not always "five-nine" even at cases where he is barely a Q5, and in NO case should you give a "Fight Knight" or better, a "Fight Night" ... !!!

Either of the two latter could lead to peculiar hallucinations or personal injury, so it's better to stick to the initial "Five-Nine", to my opinion ...

And before I stopped holding my belly from laughters, here we go again: Mixing "Over!" with "Roger Roger ??" is still something that had never crossed my mind in the past !! I wouldn't want to be named Roger and be the correspondent of this fellow ham ... it would cause some kind of mix-up for sure ...

Nevertheless, still it is very good that even people with little knowledge of foreign languages, enjoy their stations by getting on the air and doing their best to work DX stations. Actually, this specific guy received the best signal reports amongst all others in the company !!

Keep up the good work, guys !!

I will be happy to monitor your transmissions.
 

EU-27-A Award

DARC's DCL Contest Logbook is constantly upgrading and updating. After moving the system to a newer and faster server, they are also integrating new awards, that can be applied, checked, confirmed and paid solely through DCL site.

For a small period of time, they have available a nice award, the EU-27-A, which is applicable to all DCL users that have worked all 27 members of the European Union. They even have several classes of the award, depending on how many bands one has worked all 27 EU member countries.
For 5-bands and higher classes, this award presents outstanding achievement and is greatly appraised by DCL.

I was, possibly, one of the first to check my points against this award, and I was lucky enough to be awarded the Nr.1 award for 5-Bands Mixed Mode.

Below is the pdf version of the award, while waiting for the paper award to arrive.

Thank you, DL6MHW for the nice and fast service !!

Meanwhile, I also applied for a couple more awards that are integrated with LotW, one of them is for a Trophy-style Gladius wooden sword, so keep in touch while I will be posting more info and photos, as the awards arrive !!

73s from Rhodes Island,

Stathis, SV5DKL

Rate is King !!

I have just recently come across a very interesting web site with loads of contest statistics.
It is evidently known I am a statistics fan, so I dug into this site and was happy to see they have a QSO RATES statistics section. You know, WW, per continent, per power category, per DXCC entity and so on. They even have the whole hour-logs, too, for anyone's review !!

Here is the link to the best rates in Europe/Single Operator category:

http://rate.pileup.ru/?op=SINGLE-OP&tx=ONE&c=EU

 

 

,which is my usual category entry.

 

Browsing the results, I was happy to see my callsign come up at relatively high rankings in SSB/HP and CW/HP sections and also sharing 1st place with MD2C at Low Power CW section !!

 

Several other Greek Amateur Radio Stations are amongst these listings and at high rankings, too.

 

It seems that making the logs public has led to this (and other) outcome.

 

Kudos to Valery, R5GA, who has done a tremendous job at pileup.ru and I am anxious to see his next steps. 



Paid off ...

My efforts in last year's CQ WPX SSB & CW contests paid off nicely.
Nice paper awards arrived yesterday in the mail, which are depicted below.

Now setting off to my plans for 2013's CQ WPX contests. To be announced soon !!

 

73s from Rhodes Island

Stathis, SV5DKL

 

HST updates ...

Well, it looks like 2013 is a fruitful HST year. Lots of events, new targets set, new friends made, new travels enjoyed ... well, sure that is better than sniffing what your radio neighbours are saying on the local VHF frequencies, waiting for the worst time to attack them ...

So, back to the good stuff ...

Take a good look at this article on IARU's Region 1 official web site and read on Oliver's (Z32TO) list of HST events to take place this year. Bulgaria's BFRA is organizing two main HST events, one is the 1st Balkan HST championship, scheduled to take place end of May and of course, the 11th World High Speed Telegraphy Championship to take place between 22 and 26 September. Both of these events sound quite interesting to me and since they are being held in my neighbourhood, I will attend one of them for sure, and try to make some plans to attend the other, too.

A bit sooner, in the first 5 days of May, HST World Cup wil be held in Serbia by SRS. Sounds like a nice event, too, but it's Easter time here during that period and I cannot make any plans to attend.

There is also going to be held the DTP by DARC in Germany, and another event in Belarus, but those two are more "local" events, so I will just be monitoring the athletes' results.

The vast majority of you out there, is unaware of what exactly happens in HST Championships and how they are organized. Well, thanks to my good friend Vicky, SV2KBS, please find below a couple of links for the current HST rules in effect and also the current World Records per sport and per category:

HST Rules

 

HST World Records

 

Also, if you go to www.youtube.com and search for "High Speed Telegraphy", you will come across a few very interesting videos, to give you a glimpse of what is going on there.

 

Moreover, in the site of RufZ software you will find a new tag named "Movies" ... most interesting videos in there, too !!

 

Finally, below is the link to the 1st official Bulletin of the 11th World HST Championship to be held in Borovets, Bulgaria. Those of you that are interested, read it on and examine the possibility to join in.

 

1st Bulletin

 

73s from Rhodes Island

 

Stathis, SV5DKL



2000 WPX prefixes confirmed in LotW ... Ready to apply for WPX Award of Excellence

Just today I reached 2000 WPX confirmed prefixes solely from LotW confirmations.

Of course, much more have already been worked here (about the double !!), but it was a challenge to see this number showing up in LotW`s roster.

I have already been awarded the WPX mixed award and also I`ve been endorsed for the WPX mixed 20m, WPX mixed 15m, WPX mixed 10m, WPX mixed North America, WPX mixed Europe, WPX mixed Asia, WPX CW and WPX SSB awards.

Next step will be to apply for the WPX Award of Excellence which includes a beautiful engraved plaque for my trophies wall, after applying for WPX mixed 40m, WPX mixed 80m, WPX mixed South America, WPX mixed Africa and WPX mixed Oceania endorsements, for which I am already liable to apply, since my LotW confirmations allow me to do so.

Here is my current WPX standings in LotW:

Your Logbook WPX Account (SV5DKL - DODECANESE)

Account Status Award Selected Applied Awarded Total WPX Mixed * 775 0 1225 2000 WPX Mixed 160M 210 0 0 210 WPX Mixed 80M 441 0 0 441 WPX Mixed 40M 807 0 0 807 WPX Mixed 30M 270 0 0 270 WPX Mixed 20M * 704 0 331 1035 WPX Mixed 17M 295 0 0 295 WPX Mixed 15M * 883 0 421 1304 WPX Mixed 12M 280 0 0 280 WPX Mixed 10M * 821 0 301 1122 WPX Mixed 6M 105 0 0 105 WPX Mixed North America * 201 0 192 393 WPX Mixed South America 97 0 0 97 WPX Mixed Europe * 323 0 766 1089 WPX Mixed Africa 102 0 0 102 WPX Mixed Asia * 105 0 150 255 WPX Mixed Oceania 68 0 0 68 WPX CW * 871 0 625 1496 WPX CW 160M 204 0 0 204 WPX CW 80M 328 0 0 328 WPX CW 30M 258 0 0 258 WPX CW 40M 605 0 0 605 WPX CW 20M 645 0 0 645 WPX CW 17M 205 0 0 205 WPX CW 15M 925 0 0 925 WPX CW 12M 218 0 0 218 WPX CW 10M 637 0 0 637 WPX CW 6M 67 0 0 67 WPX CW North America 269 0 0 269 WPX CW South America 66 0 0 66 WPX CW Europe 769 0 0 769 WPX CW Africa 82 0 0 82 WPX CW Asia 176 0 0 176 WPX CW Oceania 48 0 0 48 WPX SSB * 831 0 538 1369 WPX SSB 160M 7 0 0 7 WPX SSB 80M 157 0 0 157 WPX SSB 40M 370 0 0 370 WPX SSB 20M 599 0 0 599 WPX SSB 17M 117 0 0 117 WPX SSB 15M 672 0 0 672 WPX SSB 12M 75 0 0 75 WPX SSB 10M 805 0 0 805 WPX SSB 6M 56 0 0 56 WPX SSB North America 234 0 0 234 WPX SSB South America 75 0 0 75 WPX SSB Europe 686 0 0 686 WPX SSB Africa 69 0 0 69 WPX SSB Asia 176 0 0 176 WPX SSB Oceania 53 0 0 53 WPX Digital 637 0 0 637 WPX Digital 80M 64 0 0 64 WPX Digital 40M 128 0 0 128 WPX Digital 30M 19 0 0 19 WPX Digital 20M 372 0 0 372 WPX Digital 17M 30 0 0 30 WPX Digital 15M 374 0 0 374 WPX Digital 12M 32 0 0 32 WPX Digital 10M 76 0 0 76 WPX Digital North America 68 0 0 68 WPX Digital South America 15 0 0 15 WPX Digital Europe 424 0 0 424 WPX Digital Africa 32 0 0 32 WPX Digital Asia 84 0 0 84 WPX Digital Oceania 16 0 0 16 * = Award has been issued Stay tuned for my progress on WPX awards programme. 73s from Rhodes Island Stathis, SV5DKL

DXCC Challenge 1400 points reached ... next stop ... 1500 points !!

Back in 6th September 2012, I had reached the 1300 points mark in LotW`s DXCC Challenge confirmations. Read this post.

In just 3 months, I got today to the 1400 points mark, especially after many DXpeditions I had worked in the past uploaded their logs into LotW. Each DXped gave me a 6-point addition on average.

Here is my current DXCC & DXCC Challenge standing in LotW:

Being damn proud of this, I will move on the next stop, being the courteous 1500 points mark.

... One small step each time ...

73s from Rhodes Island

Stathis, SV5DKL

1994 - 2012 Review

Best wishes to all my radio friends for the New Year 2013.

Completing 18 years in Amateur Radio, I thought I'd check out my all-time statistics, leading to a general review of what has been accomplished so far ...

As far as quantity is concerned, at the end of 2012 my QSO totals are 82.051 QSOs. And below is the QSO dispersion per year:

 

 

2012 was the most fruitful year, numbering about 12000 QSOs...that is almost 33 QSOs / day ... not bad !! Of course, the main reason for this high number is my participations in all major contests, plus many minor ones.

 

 

Band preference is the next statistic ... initially I thought 15m would prevail, but after seeing the below bar chart, I recalled the thousands of QSOs made with my 2 element Cubical Quad on 20m, when I used to be SV1DKL back in Athens.

 

 

But, what about continental dispersion ??? Well, I didn't expect the unexpected, so EU has my vast majority of my QSOs. AS and NA share the next place and as expected, OC and AN, with their reduced ham population, are far low in the list.

 

 

Last interesting statistic is the Mode preference. Again, I was suspicious that A1A would be the winner, but J3E still heads the race, with a marginal difference of about 2000 QSOs. F1B, as expected, rules the 3rd place and then come all the rest ...

 

 

That's all for now !! Most possibly, next review will be made when my 2nd decade as an Amateur Radio operator will be over ... I hope by then the magic number of 100.000 QSOs will have been reached.

 

73s from Rhodes Island and HNY to all.

Stathis, SV5DKL







 

Interference on 3780 KHz by National Broadcasting Station ERA of South Aegean

Until recently, one of Greece's National Broadcasting MW Radio Stations, called ERA of South Aegean (or ERA of Rhodes, for some!!), transmitted with power output of 100 KW on 1494Khz AM.

So far, OK ...

They decided, for some reason not known to me, to QSY their TX frequency to 1260KHz. They kept on announcing the frequency change from all their official frequencies (on AM/FM/SW).

The QSY took place a few days ago and guess what ... I tuned my FT-2000`s receiver on 75m band and ... there it is ... the proud and strong 3rd harmonic of ERA is right on 3780KHz (1260 x 3) with a nice 5/9+30db carrier ...

Actually, I get a 5/9 interference carrier from 3774 to 3786 (when in AM) and from 3772 to 3789.5 (when in LSB).

My QTH`s distance from the antennas of ERA is about 3 kilometers, but several other radio amateurs from our area that live farther, have cross-checked and confirmed the exact same interference.

Obviously we are in front of a known-source RF interference which is conflicting with the Amateur Radio Service. And, of course, it is not hard to guess that no study has been elaborated, in order to find out about this conflict, before deciding the change of frequency.

It is just funny, because Amateur Radio Community has battled hard to get broadcast stations off the 40m band, with obvious positive results, and now, for no reason, another QRO broadcasting station`s harmonics are invading our authorized and worldwide legally authenticated radio spectrum.

Just have in mind that in accordance with the official IARU Region 1 Band Plan, the portion of 3700-3800 KHz is preferred for SSB contest operation, and most important, 3760 KHz is Region 1 Emergency Centre of Activity which could easily be interfered by the aforementioned harmonic. Moreover, the portion of 3775-3800 Khz is used by priority for Intercontinental Activity (DX).

The HQ of RAAG has been informed by me on this issue and they are going to take imminent and evasive action about it.

More news to follow ...

Stay tuned!

1st Balkan HST Championship - Letter of Intent

As European Communications Manager of Greek Telegraphy Club, I was sent via e-mail the official invitation (Letter of Intent) for the 1st Balkan HST Championship, to be held during May 31st, 2013 - June 2nd, 2013 in Lovech, Bulgaria.

The President of the Organizing Committee is Panayot Danev, LZ1US and BFRA is the Organizing Authority.

You may read the relevant LoI by clicking here.

Unless something serious will be in the way, I will be there and participate in the Males category.

73s from Rhodes Isl.

Stathis, SV5DKL