On the last weekend of October, radio amateur shortwave bands come to life with a lot of signals. What causes it?
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History CQ World Wide DX Contest
CQ World Wide DX Contest, one of the most prestigious international radio amateur competitions, has its roots in the middle 20. century. It was held for the first time in 1948 under the auspices of the popular American magazine CQ Amateur Radio, which focuses on amateur broadcasting and amateur radio activities. This competition gave radio amateurs around the world the opportunity to make connections with other contest stations in as many different countries and zones around the world as possible.. Thanks to its versatility, it quickly became a favorite among radio amateurs of all levels.
The competition is divided into two weekends: first weekend for the CW (telegraphic) mode and the other for SSB (phonics). Contestants in the CQ World Wide DX Contest are awarded points for connections based on distance and zone difference. Scoring and classification system, which takes geographical zones into account, motivates radio amateurs, to establish connections even with less accessible locations, thereby increasing the value and attractiveness of the entire plant.
Thousands of radio amateurs participate in the CQ World Wide DX Contest every year, and this race is today one of the largest and most famous events of its kind.
CQ World Wide DX Contest category selection
I have already participated in this competition 14 times. I tried both single and multi categories. QRP performance (do 5W), LOW POWER (do 100W) the QRO. In 2011 I became the winner of the Xtreme category in the world.
I consider the choice of category very important. Why? Propagation in the shortwave band is highly variable. From excellent conditions, when it is easy to connect with a radio amateur on the other side of the world after very bad, when it is not possible to make a connection for more than a few tens of kilometers on some shortwave band.
Despite extensive research, no one knows exactly in advance exactly what the conditions of propagation will be.
CQ World Wide DX Contest 2024
After consulting with Oliver OM0RX, who has a lot of contest experience, I decided on the LOW POWER 20m Assisted category. Assisted means the use of any technology or other resource, which provides the call sign or multiplier identification of the received signal to the operator. This includes, but is not limited to, the use of a CW decoder, DX clustra, DX website (eg. DX summit), local or remote technologies for decoding call signs and frequencies (eg. CW Skimmer alebo Reverse Beacon Network) or assistance from other persons. The equipment is classic: Yaesu FT-1000MP transceiver with INRAD filters and SDR output, 100W to 2-element moxon antenna on RDM-12 masts.
What technologies and resources do I use in the contest??
DX Cluster
A DX cluster is a network of computers, which allows radio amateurs around the world to share information about the reception of other stations' signals (called. DX spot). It works like a database, where radio amateurs send data about the stations they have just received, their call signs, frequency, mode of operation (eg. CW, SSB, digital fashion) and place. This information is visible to other users, who, thanks to them, learn about the activities of remote stations and can make decisions, whether they try to establish a connection.
DX clusters are mainly used during contests and hunting for rare DX stations, when it is important for radio amateurs to get information about the availability of specific stations on different bands as quickly as possible.
DXMAPS
Page DXMaps.com is intended for monitoring and displaying current activity on amateur radio bands around the world. Combines information from DX clusters, real-time news and various other sources, to provide users with an overview of current connections (called. DX spots) on specific frequencies and bands. In addition, the site offers interactive maps and tools for monitoring signal propagation conditions, which is useful for radio amateurs, who are trying to find out, on which frequencies and in which areas are the right conditions for establishing a connection.
The site thus serves as a useful tool for radio amateurs, so that they can more efficiently plan and execute their connections on the DX bands.
Livescore contest.run
Page contest.run is a server for displaying live scores during amateur radio competitions (contexts). It allows participants and spectators to follow the progress results in real time.
It is a motivator in the singles category. Thanks to that I can see, that the other contestants are progressing and if I don't want to fall behind, so I try harder. It's similar to using sports apps for running, for example – you see your data, but also data on the activities of other friends.
Ionogram Pruhonice
Ionogram is a graphical representation of the properties of the ionosphere, specifically, the reflection heights of different frequencies of radio waves. It serves to monitor the ionospheric layers (such as E and F layers) and makes it possible to estimate the propagation of radio waves through the ionosphere, which is important for radio amateurs and other branches of radio communication. The ionogram displays data such as frequency and reflection height, thus helping to identify the most suitable frequencies for long distance communication.
A typical ionogram shows, how transmitted frequencies are affected by the ionosphere and where their reflections or penetrations occur, which is crucial for predicting link quality between remote locations.
Let's contest!
I get up a little after five, since Benjamin is already awake. I dedicate the morning to the company of my family and shortly after seven o'clock (5OUT) I'm starting. There are many interesting stations on the band! With incredible ease I invoke stations like WH7T whose ZM1A. After a few tens of minutes I have 16 Zones, more than a third of the world. Connection I am ZL7IO a few minutes after the contest, I made the connection to a normal brand as well.
WH7T
This is how he passed Chris ZL7IO
Why? I use the contest brand OM0A with the contest. So DXCC credit is not added to my OM0AAO tag. I do not consider myself a collector of DXCC countries, but I already have a large number of DXCC countries. Additional DXCCs are added only thanks to expeditions or contest activity stirs up a certain station, in the country, which I don't have yet.
During the day, the spread changed and European stations gained the upper hand. Apparently due to the good opening, many stations moved to higher bands and several times I managed to go to the challenge even with 100W and 2-element moxon antenna. You I moment, when he spotted me PE2K:
You can notice on the screenshot, that I have 29 zone a 94 countries. I will equal the Slovak record on Saturday evening, which is a big surprise. After all, neither my equipment nor QTH is exceptional, no? I have 30 zone a 99 countries.
Contest efforts are often interrupted by family circumstances. So I didn't fully utilize the evening's spread potential. I end Saturday with 564 connections to 109 countries 31 Zones. This represents 125,000 points.
I also have goals set in N1MM+ (goals). They are the hourly number of connections of the previous OM record OM7LW. From the livescore I can compare EE3O and Michal IH9/OK1M in this category. See who made excellent use of the opening, which he had available.
What will Sunday bring?
I start significantly earlier. Signals are weak, they barely move the S-metro. But they are understandable. While on the 10m band I have fairly significant interference in my QTH, so 20m is a balm for my ears. Distant interference appears here and there. For example, someone sends RTTY on the frequency of a rare station. But I do not register local interference at all.
For example VP2MDM
The connections are slowly increasing, because the band yawns with emptiness, but I appeal all the better. I'm finally collecting connections for 3 body. It is now very efficient to tune by band and search because the DX cluster does not yield many possible connections.
I don't see any possibility. This happens about 11.55 UTC. It means, that at that moment no further connection is possible, about which information would come from the DX cluster or I manually recorded it in the log. This phenomenon usually occurs at the end of contests. But it's just imagination, which does not last long. They are registered 863 contacts. The number of countries hasn't changed since morning and I'm desperately waiting for some stations from Africa. At the same time, I already have almost 200,000 points! Doubts, that a thousand connections could be made are getting smaller and smaller. So predicted Oliver OM0RX. However, I know from experience, that there are fewer connections on Sundays.
Several times I managed to start a pile-up on a challenge, and so the number of connections increases by leaps and bounds. In the meantime, I take longer breaks and spend time with my family. That's the tax for contesting from home.
I look out for the evening opening. I suppose, that station, which will be retuned from higher bands, on Sunday they will focus more on 20m and bands, where they had not spent so much time before. Yes, it is so. But everyone is interested in connecting with them! For connections like s 3B9KW (Rodrigues Island) the wait is long.
Egypt is also rare. But I was more lucky with that one, because he had been on the band longer and in the moment, when I found him, apparently only a few stations called.
And yes, I'm over the border 1000 contacts. Even with a reserve. It's at the end 1070 connections and over 250,000 points. On a single band… no other contest brings such magic except CQ WW! There are finally those zones 36. They all are 40. Even from a small Slovak village, you can connect with the whole world.
