There are relatively few daredevils who dare to compete in the lower shortwave bands in global amateur radio contests such as the CQ WPX SSB Contest. The difference between 5W and 1kW is 23 dB, which is a huge amount (almost 4 S). So why voluntarily enter such a category? Because it’s hard!
After the CQ WPX SSB Contestin 2021—which I competed in on the 40-meter band—and subsequently the CQ WW DX SSB Contest in the same year on the 80-meter band using QRP power, I chose the 80-meter band for this year’s WPX contest. QRP.
These global contests usually create their own propagation conditions. However, this time, the magnetometer showed significant fluctuations before the WPX Contest, and the aurora borealis also appeared. These phenomena are commonly referred to as a “blackout” by the general public. Yes, that can’t be ruled out, but even on a smaller scale, it has a significant impact on the propagation of radio signals.
There’s nothing we can do about it, though. All stations will have to deal with it. I decided not to waste my energy on the first night and just get up early in the morning. And that’s exactly what’s happening. But the band is half-empty, and on top of that, after a few dozen contacts, it suddenly goes silent without me even managing to log any rarer stations. There’s more noise and crackling in the audio than usual.
More contacts start appearing in my logbook in the late afternoon, but it’s still very difficult. It’s not even hard to find an open frequency to call on. On one such frequency, SQ3M comes in, and after the contact, he sends a spot to the DX cluster. This usually signals the arrival of a pile-up. On Sunday, I also received such DX spots from LY7M, DK6SP, OM1APT, and DK7R. They brought in a few callers, but didn’t create any major pile-ups.
I kept making contacts until late at night and then took a four-hour break. Early Sunday morning, however, didn’t bring any significant improvement in propagation conditions either. This is evident in the fact that signals from the largest stations in North America are receivable. There were indeed a few weaker signals, but they were very, very difficult to understand. With QRP power, there was no point in wasting time trying to make contacts. Before the next break, the log shows approximately 170 contacts and 50,000 points.
CQ WPX Contest SSB 2023 OM0A number of contacts by hour
CQ WPX Contest SSB 2023 OM0A DXCC
So there was still a chance to do something about it in the final hours of the CQ WPX SSB Contest. And it was indeed noticeable that propagation conditions had improved. Not dramatically, but still. From poor to below average. But time was running out, so I had to rack up contact after contact. In the end, there were 242 contacts and just over 92,000 points. Congratulations to Milan OK1IF (OL4W), who scored just over 128,000 points under these difficult conditions. A truly excellent result!
My contest setup remained unchanged: a Yaesu FT-1000MP with SDR at the intermediate frequency, and an inverted Vee antenna on an RDM-12 mast. I also recorded signals from the CQ WPX SSB Contest, which you can listen to here.
Thank you to everyone in my log for tuning in to my QRP signal, and I look forward to hearing from you again!