Hit 2600!

 Neglected to post that I hit 2600 confirmed units a couple days ago.  Had some other "life stuff" to deal with the past couple days so wasn's active on HF or this.

Morris State Park Activation - 9/22/2025

 Decided to do a last minute, ad hoc activation of Morris State Park - one of my two "home parks".  Ran 20m FT8 and did 29 QSO's in about an hour.  Was a bit on the warm side, but still not bad.  I will be doing more in the coming months.  Signals were pretty decent too.

Strategic Re-alignment

 I have come to the conclusion that I was trying to do too much given the limitations that I have to work with in regard to my station configuration and limitations.  I looked at the results that I have achieved and the potential for future advancements.  I have had great luck in the DX realm, but it is getting more difficult to work the ones that I need due to the limitations on antennas that I can install.

The one area that I have excelled is in POTA - with close to 2600 confirmed parks, POTA WAS, and 20 entities confirmed - I am what you would call "competitive" in the POTA ecosystem.  Given that I do most of my hunting on FT8, I am very happy with my level of results.

So, from this point on I will be focusing mainly on POTA, but will still snag the DX counters when I can.  Same as with the WAS band states that I need on 80m, 12m, and 10m.  Of course I will go after the 250WAS after the first of the year!  I am putting 6m VUCC on hold for the immediate future as well as the FT8-DMC, etc. awards.

Contests will be used as opportunities to fill in needed slots for DXCC and WAS.  I have begun to integrate all of the existing web pages into one page.  

I do this so I can focus all of my effort in one direction that will provide the most return on my time and effort.  With a few exceptions, I can always find POTA station to work on the bands every day.  And I will be doing activations as well.

DXCC for 30m Achieved (Technically)

 This evening, I confirmed my 100th DXCC entity on 30m!  I have 99 confirmations in LotW and a paper QSL for number 100.  I would like to get at least one more on LotW so I don't have deal with sending in a card and the extra fees that would be included.  I am sure that I will get one before the month is over, but I won't be sending it in until I have at least one more DXCC to send in at the same time,

Contesting Placed On Standby Mode

 I have decided to put contesting on the back burner for the time being.  I will still participate during them in order to pick up counter for my awards I am pursuing, but I won't be mounting an effort to run up a score.  This is part of my re-focus on DX and operating awards.

Yesterday Was A Good & Bad Day For DX

 Yesterday was definitely a mixed bag for DX 9and HF in general.  Band conditions were in the proverbial toilet! Weak overall signal strengths, lots of noise, and really deep QSB.  I shut everything down around 1300 local it was so bad.

On the good side I got JT, EW, and YN all confirmed in LotW.  As far as LotW is concerned, that now gives me 97 confirmed on 30m, 148 confirmed on 20m, and 85 confirmed on 17m.  12m is still showing 97 confirmed.

New Standings Information

 It is now the beginning of the traditional "DX" season - and since this is the last one near the peak of cycle 25, I will be focusing on DX this fall and winter.  The goal is to get DXCC's for 40m and the WARC bands.  I am close on all of them as well as a 150-entity endorsement on the Data DXCC.

So, the standings will be updated the 1st and 15th of the month, and the standings will show worked, confirmed, and confirmed in LotW.  The main reason is because of the wild discrepancy in my Phone DXCC.  I show 28 more entities confirmed according to my logs versus what LotW shows.

The reason is that I submitted a 10m DXCC application well before LotW was even a thing.  When my DXCC record was integrated into my LotW account, they did not have records of the specific mode, so all of the confirmation were included in both the 10m and Mixed categories.  Even though all of the cards submitted were Phone contacts.  Also, I have a few paper QSL's that confirm band and/or mode entities that will have to be submitted separately.

Here is hoping that we will have an excellent DX season!!

"This Week In DX" Is Now "2 Week DX Synopsis"

 As part of the streamlining of this blog, I have replaced the weekly review of DX activity with a two-week running listing of new ones as well as newly confirmed ones.  There will be a fixed post at the top of the posting section of the blog that will have the date, band, prefix, entity name, and what the entity did for my numbers.  If the entry is still on the listing when the QSL arrives, that will be indicated by the entry being highlighted and the date of confirmation appended to the end.

I have removed all of the other data from the post as it was duplicated by the stats on the rightmost column on here.  I was going to start this on September 1, but decided to start it now.

This Week In DX - 8/17 Thru 8/24

• Have trimmed this posting format down for this week and the next.  Starting in September, there will be a running post pinned that will run for the entire month.
• Working the T8 was a very nice surprise Wednesday morning - given the poor solar numbers.
• Two new ones confirmed on 30m as well - now at 114 worked / 96 confirmed on that band.  30m has basically caught up with 12m based on the numbers worked / confirmed.

DX Worked
8/19    30m    Western Kiribati (T30)

8/19    30m    Wales (GW) CONFIRMED

8/19    30m    Ireland (EI)

8/20    20m    Palau (T80) ATNO

8/20    17m    Hungary (HA)

8/22    10m    Samoa (5W) CONFIRMED

8/23    30m    Trinidad & Tobago (9Y)

8/23    30m    Azores (CU)

8/24    30m    Latvia (LY) CONFIRMED

8/24    30m    Ceuta & Melilla (EA9) *

*Previously Worked

This Week In DX - 8/12 Thru 8/17

Getting this back on schedule where I will be posting this Sunday afternoon so the info will be from Sunday afternoon through Saturday night.  Have tightened up the FTx DXpeditions page as well.

Redid my Status Board and cleaned it up and will now only update it a couple times a week.  Trying to write on it when it is on the wall and having to reach across a desk does not help my poor handwriting one bit! I can take it off the wall as I used Commander strips to secure it.

The bands were pretty darn good Friday night and Saturday morning.  Worked 4 new ones Friday night/early Saturday morning on 30m - including an ATNO for the Digital DXCC.  20m was really good after sunrise on Saturday morning.  Copies several JA and YB station well into the early morning hours and actually work a KL7 around 0845 Local!  I normally don't see them on 20m until evening gray line propagation.

Saturday night and pre-dawn Sunday morning were good as well.  I worked an ATNO that I thought I would never work - Iran.  Very, very pleased with that one.

DX Needs Worked
8/13    30m    Suriname (PZ)
8/16    30m    Serbia (YU) CONFIRMED
8/16    30m    Scotland (GM) * CONFIRMED
8/16    30m    Guyana (8R) Digital ATNO
8/16    30m    Balearic Is. (EA6) *
8/17    30m    Iran (EP) ATNO

*Previously Worked

WAZ Needs Worked
None

WAS Needs Worked
None

DX Marathon
Zones 36 (-0-)
Entities 136 (+1)
Score 172 (+1)

DXCC Challenge
Worked        888 (+3)
Confirmed     782 (+5)

Plans For The Upcoming Fall/Winter Season

 It is mid-August, so that means the summer doldrums on HF will being ending soon (but not soon enough IMHO).  So it is now time to set out my plans and priorities.

First is finishing up my 40m, 30m, 17m, and 12m DXCC awards - all are within reach of completing them.  I will need to do a bunch of OQRS ones to get over the top.  Right now, it looks like 12m will be the first one completed with 30m not too far behind.  17m and 40m are tied for third, but I think that 17m will complete first.  I think I will have to wait for full on winter solstice to get 40m.  It is very possible that I will get all four completed by the time spring rolls around.  I hope to have 12m and 30m by Thanksgiving as I want to send off a major submission for DXCC then.  Add the 12m and 30m ones to get those in the bank as well as everything else that I have credit for on LotW for all of the bands.  I should also qualify for the 150-entity endorsement on the Digital DXCC as well.  

Second is to work on the rest of the WAS - mainly 80m and 10m.  I want that 5BWAS certificate on the wall really, really bad!  And it would be even better with three WARC band endorsement stickers on it!  So, I have to work on 12m as well.  With the yearlong event for the 250th anniversary of the US and the WAS award that will go with it - the first few months should be pretty wild!  I need to get a better antenna for 80m, which I plan on doing around the first of December.  I want to finish up my Phone WAS as well - I only need AR, MO, and MS.  I will prioritize those states during November SS Phone, as eventually I will go after the CW ones for the Triple Play Award.

Finally Got 'Em

 Finally received my FT4 and 15m Digital WAS endorsement stickers.  Not 100% sure what the issue was, but I have a feeling that it was never sent out for some reason. It doesn't matter now as I have them - and they are on the certificate hanging on the wall!

Now all I need is a few more for 10m (sitting at 46/44), 12m (48/47) and 80m (48/47).

This Week In DX - 8/4 Thru 8/11

Here is this week's synopsis of what I was able to work.  It seems that the tree removal did help the signals a little bit - and any improvement is OK in my opinion.

Band conditions were pretty poor this week, but was unable to really get on the air until Wednesday.  Saturday started off ugly with a geomagnetic storm.  It went thru Sunday as well.  The best thing was of the four new ones worked, three have already confirmed - and an ATNO was worked.

Revamped the format just a bit and added WAZ to the list as well.

GAINS (Worked/Confirmed)
Mixed (1/0)

Phone (0/0)

Digital (1/0)

CW (0/0)

80m (0/0)

40m (0/0)

30m (0/2)

20m (2/1)

17m (1/1)

15m (0/0)

12m (0/0)

10m (0/0)

DX Needs Worked
8/5    17m    Portugal (CT) CONFIRMED
8/6    20m    Denmark (OZ) CONFIRMED
8/7    20m    Kenya (5Z) ATNO
8/9    30m    Peru (OA) CONFIRMED

*Previously Worked

WAZ Needs Worked
None

WAS Needs Worked
None

DX Marathon
Zones 36 (-0-)
Entities 135 (+1)
Score 171 (+1)

DXCC Challenge
Worked        885 (+3)
Confirmed     780 (+5)

DXCC Trident Information On ARRL Web Page - My Thoughts

 Here is the information on this award.  There is no certificate offered, just a $95 plaque.  In looking at the rules, it pretty much allows contacts from 1976 forward to now.

To be honest, this smells like a "cash grab" to sell a plaque for something that a whole lot of DXers/contesters have already qualified for.  Heck, I am 36 CW entity confirmations away from qualifying myself, and I basically took a couple decades off ham radio.

If they would have offered a $20 Certificate, I would strongly consider trying for it - but not at $95!  So, I will not be pursuing it at all.

Tree is Down!

 Well, the tree has been taken down, but all of the debris won't be removed for another day or two - so I can't park the car in its normal spot.  I experimented with the Buddistick and the results were OK - but I didn't want to leave the whole rig out overnight.  So will try a different idea today using the ground spike I made over a year ago (that I have never used) and the 20m Ham Stick.  Will make some radials and see where that goes.

UPDATE

That worked fairly well - not as good as the car mounting, but pretty good.  Of course, the band could be a bit on the soft side as well.

This Week In DX - 7/28 Thru 8/3

This is a day early as due to the tree removal, I probably won't be capable of getting on the air until Monday morning sometime.  I am very curious to see if the removal of that tree improves my signal strength on both TX and RX.

Another decent week during the mid-summer period.   Ten new ones worked and half of them have already confirmed, not too bad.  Got a couple confirmed from last week as well.

I am pretty happy with my DX Marathon score so far this year.  Earlier this year, I estimated that I would only be around the 175 range at the end of 2025, I now think that I may be in the 185 range.

I may try this week to figure out what the issue is with 40m RF getting into the computer system and messing with the CAT commands.  This may require a complete reconfiguration of the operating position, but I won't know until I do some experimenting.  

GAINS
Mixed (-0-)

Phone (-0-)

Digital (+2)

CW (-0-)

80m (-0-)

40m (-0-)

30m (+5)

20m (+1)

17m (+1)

15m (-0-)

12m (+1)

10m (-0-)

DX Needs Worked

7/29    30m    Nicaragua (YN)*

7/29    30m    Guam (KH2) CONFIRMED

7/29    30m    Turkey (TA) CONFIRMED

7/29    17m    China (BA) CONFIRMED

7/29    12m    N. Cook Is (E51)

7/31    17m    Israel (4X)

7/31    30m    Denmark (OZ) CONFIRMED

7/31    30m    Benin (TY)

8/01    30m    US Virgin Is. (KP2)*

8/01    20m    Fiji (3D2-F) CONFIRMED

* - Previously Worked

WAS Needs Worked

None

DX Marathon

Zones 36 (-0-)

Entities 134 (+2)

Score 170 (+2)

DXCC Challenge

Worked        882 (+7)

Confirmed     775 (+7)

Current DX Goals

Well, it is too hot to go do POTA activations and it is summer, so the bands are kind of meh.  But it seems that 17m and 30m are pretty sweet spots during the late evening hours and (very) early morning hours.  So, I will be focusing on both of them to get the numbers up for DXCC on both of those bands.

As I post this 30m is officially at 104 worked / 86 confirmed, with one of the unconfirmed a deleted entity, so the actual worked number is 103.  That leaves 17 that need to be confirmed, but of those 2 of them were worked decades ago.  And one of the confirmed is via a paper QSL - and while I could submit that, it would drive up the cost of this award.  Bottom line is that I have just enough on this band to get the 30m DXCC Award.  I really need a couple more new ones on here!

On 17m the official numbers are at 93 worked / 80 confirmed.  On this band, all are potentially confirmable.  But that still leaves me with a deficit of needing at a minimum of 7 more entities on this band.  

On 12m, the numbers are 111 worked / 97 confirmed.  For 12m there are several OQRS contacts that I can submit for to go well over the needed 100 for the DXCC award on 12m.  But I would rather get "free" confirmations on LotW - so I will wait it out for a couple more months.

Realistically, I need around 110 worked on each of the WARC bands to be within the margin of error to get the LotW QSL's.  I feel pretty confident that I will make it I want to do a major DXCC submission around Thanksgiving, if at all possible, with 30m, 17m, and 12m all being submitted at the same time.

30m DXCC Milestone Reached

 Over the weekend I hit 100 entities worked on 30m!  It is now a horse race between 30m, 17m, and 12m to see which one achieves DXCC next.  It would take just one good 12m opening to cement that band as the next one, but with the current conditions that have been occurring - IMHO the race is between 30m and 17m at the present time.  Regardless of the winner, the submission won't be until mid to late Fall.

This Week In DX - 7/22 Thru 7/27

This was a pretty decent week for DXing as you can see.  Band was really decent on 30m and 17m and really drove the numbers up.  

GAINS
Mixed (+1)

Phone (-0-)

Digital (+4)

CW (-0-)

80m (-0-)

40m (-0-)

30m (+2)

20m (-0-)

17m (+6)

15m (-0-)

12m (+1)

10m (-0-)

DX Needs Worked

7/22    12m    Western Kiribati (T30)

7/23    30m    Haiti (HH)
7/24    17m    Luxembourg (LX)

7/24    17m    Angola (D2) *

7/24    17m    Benin (TY) - ATNO

7/25    30m    N. Ireland (GI)

7/25    17m    S. Korea (HL) CONFIRMED

7/25    17m    Finland (OH)* CONFIRMED

7/25    17m    Jersey (GJ) CONFIRMED

7/25    17m    Guam (KG4)

7/26    30m    Peru (OA)*

7/26    30m    San Andres (HK0) - Digital ATNO

7/26    30m    New Caledonia (FK8)

7/26    17m    Lithuania (LY) - Digital ATNO CONFIRMED

7/26    17m    Nicaragua (YN) - Digital ATNO CONFIRMED

7/27    30m    Peru (OA)*

* - Previously Worked Possibly NIL

WAS Needs Worked

None

DX Marathon

Zones 36 (-0-)

Entities 132 (+5)

Score 168 (+5)

DXCC Challenge

Worked        875 (+9)

Confirmed     768 (+5)

ARRL 2026 - Year Long Special Event WAS

Yesterday evening I received the ARRL Letter email which had the info for their new year long operating event for 2026.  To wit -

• Approval for a year-long celebration in 2026 to mark the semiquincentennial of the United States, including a commemorative ARRL US250 Worked All States award for contacts made during the year.

I will bet that it will be a LotW based event and that W1AW/x stations will be active.  Probably on the same vein as the VOTA event in 2024.  Will be looking for more info on this in the near future.

New Award From ARRL Incoming

 I received this snippet in an ARRL email today (ARRL Members Bulletin July 22, 2025)

"The Programs & Services Committee and Headquarters staff from the Radiosport Department, on the heels of creating the DXCC Trident award in January, are moving ahead with the creation of another new DXCC award — 10-Band DXCC — which will recognize those who achieve DXCC on all bands from 6 meters to 160 meters (excluding 60 meters). Higher achievement endorsements can be earned at the 200, 300, and Honor Roll levels, like the DXCC Trident. The 10-Band DXCC award challenges participants in the DXCC program to establish station capabilities and operator skills for dealing with myriad band conditions in pursuing DXCC across all 10 bands."

Note: 

According to rumor, we should be getting the official info on the DXCC Trident sometime this week.

Weekly Update - 7-22-2025

 I think I will try this again, but in a simpler format!

1)  This week I added a couple of points to the DX Marathon score.  I have surpassed what I thought I would get in total this year.  I now think I could hit 170-175 by the end of the year if I am lucky.

2)  Worked a couple of new ones on 30m as well as confirming a couple as well.  

3)  Confirmed one on 15m this week also.

4)  Definitely in the "summer DX lull" but have been pretty productive with greyline propagation.   Will continue that for ne next month or so.  Midafternoon is the WORST time for 20.

5)  Highlight of the week was working the Kazakstan station - a long time coming to rework that one.  Hope the confirmation comes soon.  Really looking forward to that one!

Legacy Unworked Entity Worked

 Last night around 2045 I worked a UN (Kazakstan) station on 20m!  Last time I worked this entity was 22 years ago on 20m CW in 2003!  I had worked it on 10m SSB several times in 1988-1989 and on 20m SSB in 2001.  I had never received a QSL from them.  The one I worked last night does LotW and uploaded a week and a half ago, so I am hoping for a quick confirmation!

Blog Update - 7/17/2025

1.  Updated all my stats as of yesterday morning and added WAS Triple Play and the pending DXCC Trident award tracking.  Will try and do that Wednesday mornings.

2.  Spent some time on 30m this evening trying to work some new one - and I succeeded!  Worked 7X (Algeria) for a ATNO on digital and a new one on 30m.  Also worked an IS0 (Sardinia) for a new one on 30m and HH (Haiti) for a new one on 30m and possibly to confirm it on digital.  I worked another HH station on 20m but didn't get any confirmation.  Also worked a SM (Sweden) on 30m for another new one.   That gives me 98 worked on 30m - so getting real close to DXCC on 30m, but only 82 confirmed.  Once I hit 100 worked, I will start to work on getting the confirmations for the missing.  Need 12 to hit the 100 mark, and have 4 OQRS Q's on Club Log - but don't know if they would be LotW or paper.  I do have one of my confirmations on that band in paper (Albania), so if I do it all LotW, I will need 13 confirmations.

3.  Speaking of DXCC - still real close on 12m as well.  I have 97 confirmed on that band and all are LotW confirmations.  I have 5 outstanding OQRS Q's that I could send off for and hopefully 3 of them will also have LotW confirmations.

4.  As of right now, I won't be submitting anything to ARRL until mid-fall (late October).  I want to do the 12m and 30m (and possibly the 17m) submissions all at the same time.  I am way behind on 17m - with 25 needed confirmations.  What I will probably do is work on getting 12m in the bag and then 30m - then I will have to hit 17m really hard.

Quick Update 7/6/2025

 Just a quick bit of information this Sunday morning...

1) I think I will work on POTA this week.

2) I should get my WAS endorsements this week (I hope).

3) Sitting at 207 confirmed with paper QSL's included.  I plan on getting a M2 loop antenna next year and have that ready to go for next year's Es season.  

4) The next purchase (in the early fall) is an 80m hamstick that will be resonant on the FT8 frequency.  I want that 5BWAS very, very badly.  

Update 7/2/25

 Been about a week - took a week off of hard-core radio stuff to do some other things as well as re-configure my operating position.  However - 

1)  Did get the endorsement stickers for 150/175 grids on my 6m VUCC!

2)  Got a paper QSL to confirm Albania!  That was an ATNO for Mixed, Digital, and 30m.

3)  Hopefully will get the WAS endorsements this week as well as I submitted it only a couple days after I submitted the VUCC endorsement.

4)  Will update my totals as soon as LotW is back up and running from its upgrade.

15m Digital WAS Achieved!

 Worked the last two states on 15m today - LA and IA!  Did a submission to the ARRL for it and the FT4 WAS that I have been sitting on for a long time, just waiting for another band to fall.  All that is left on HF are 80m, 12m and 10m!

6/25 Edit:
I picked up AL on 10m for a new one and LA for a rework this morning which gives me 46 worked on that band.  I plan on operating from home during field day and hope to work the rest of what I need on 10m FTx.  I also plan on working on my Phone WAS Mixed Band to get me just a bit closer to the Triple Play WAS.  

BREAKING NEWS

 Just received LotW confirmation for my 200th grid!  Still waiting for the 150/175 endorsement sticker.  Won't be sending in another endorsement until the 250 grid level.

Eulogy For WPX Award

As I have lamented in the past - the CQ WPX Award is dead and buried.  It doesn't seem to have any chance of being revived in my opinion.  Why the ARRL didn't "acquire" it when CQ Magazine folded is beyond me.  LotW is already set up to verify confirmed prefixes.  If they made it an LotW only award, the administrative overhead would be minor.  

I do like the premise of the award as it is a never-ending pursuit.  Same thing with grid squares, but with a lot more combinations.  Fortunately, there are some reasonable replacement programs available to fill this need, at least on FTx modes.  The FT4-Digital Mode Club and the FT8- Digital Mode Club both have WPX (and Grid Square) Awards that are tracked online and emailed certificates when you reach the threshold to get the specific award (like POTA does).  Check them out - I have provided links to their main pages and links to the awards that I have achieved.

Another Good Day On 6m & Future 6m Plans

 Another day with a lot of band openings - some very strong and some weak.  Seven new ones worked today with four already confirmed.  But that isn't the best part - I have now confirmed 201 grids on 6m!  If I can get just 2 more LotW confirmations, I will have the 200 needed for the next endorsement via LotW.

It appears that I did get 200 confirmed before I got the 150/175 endorsement stickers for the VUCC!  Totals are now 217 worked and 201 confirmed.  

I think I will focus on 6m for the foreseeable future and hope to his somewhere around 250 confirmed by the end of the season in August.  So, with that, I will start up a "cycle" of how I handle 6m.  

For new ones in May, I will wait until the first of July to give the station time to upload to LotW.  I will then check the date of their last upload, and if it was before the QSO date, I will send a card direct.  If they have uploaded after the QSO date, I will assume that it was a NIL contact.  Of course stations that are not using LotW will get a direct card.  This will be done in August for June contacts and September for July contacts.  August ones will be done in October.

I won't send in any more endorsements until around October/November unless I hit the 250 LotW confirmed before then.

Over the fall/winter I will work on developing/devising some type of better antenna (dipole?) that will improve my capabilities for the next season.  

Fantastic Opening On 6m Today

 6m has been basically open since (at least) 0700 Local today.  Still open somewhat at time of posting (1700 Local).  Band has been all over the place - East Coast, Southeast, Intermountain West, Northern Plains, and the Midwest.  Sometime really strong, other times really weak - but the signals are in there.

So far, I have worked 11 new grids and 1 new state (RI).  So far 7 of them have confirmed by LotW!  This now gives me 207 worked and 193 confirmed.  That breaks down to 190 on LotW and 3 paper confirmations.  I am getting really close to the 200 confirmed via LotW level - very close.

For WAS I have 46 worked and 43 confirmed (need to confirm CA, OR, and RI).  I have to work LA, MS, and NV - and HI.  I feel that I will eventually get LA, MS, and NV - but HI will need to be F2, and I think that that opportunity won't be there for the foreseeable future give the power restriction and antenna system I have.  But one can only hope!

UPDATE:

Less than 2 hours after I posted this, the band opened to LA, and worked two new grids plus the state.  One of them confirmed on LotW within minutes of logging them.  Now at 47 states worked / 44 confirmed -and- 209 worked grids with 194 confirmed.  Is it possible to hit 200 grids worked before I get my 150/175 endorsements?

Major VUCC Milestone Reached!

 Woke up this morning to a strong Es 6m opening (still going strong as I post this).  I just hit 200 worked grinds!  All FT8 and all QRP!  Will give a better report later.

Nice 6m Opening

 Had a nice opening on 6m this evening to the Pacific Northwest and Upper Great Plains.  Worked 7 new grids (three already confirmed) and a new state - Oregon!  Signals were pretty good too.  Been a bit since I have been on.  Did confirm three older contacts for three new ones confirmed as well today.  Been a very good day for 6m and VUCC.  Still waiting on the endorsement stickers - hope to get them this week.

Now at 196 worked with 184 confirmed!

VUCC Endorsement Finished

 Looks like my VUCC endorsement was approved and processed within the last couple of days.  Should be getting the endorsement stickers sometime next week.

2025 ARRL Internation Digital Contest

 I operated the ARRL IDC this weekend, and it was a decent contest.  The band was somewhat soft, but I did, IMHO, a decent showing.  10m was really poor with only 23 contacts made.  I did check it frequently, but most of the time it was closed down.  15m was just "OK", with some decent DX contacts made.  I made 38 contacts on that band.  While conditions were acceptable, there just wasn't a lot of signals to be heard there.  On 20m, I made 133 contacts and some decent DX contacts.  And 40m yielded 79 contacts and a couple really nice DX contacts as well.

Overall, I finished with a score of 1,375 which was down from last year.  My total number of contacts was almost identical, but points were down.  In 2023 my PPQ (Points per QSO) was 4.8, in 2024 it was 6.1, and this year it was 5.4. 

I do enjoy this contest, and the next event will be the World Wide Digital DX Contest in August.  I hope that the band will be in better shape then.

Update To June 3 Opening

 I did confirm Michigan and North Dakota from that opening as well as working New Mexico and Louisiana the next day on 10m.  I need to be patient and wait for the Es to open up to get the close in ones.   

Blog Changes & Changed Focus

As of posting this I have been QRV from this QTH for exactly 2 years, 1 month, and 10 days.  During that time, I have logged in total 9,984 QSO's on HF and 6m on all modes.  Of those QSO's 84% of them have been either FT4 or FT8.  I have worked 152 DXCC entities and confirmed 137 of them on the FTx modes.  I have worked WAS on FT4, FT8, and on 40m, 30m, 20m, and 17m via FTx.  And I am very close to 80m, 15m, 12m, and 10m.  I note this not to brag, but to illustrate that most of my activity is and has been on the FTx modes.  So, it makes sense to me to focus 99.9% on FTx operation for Contesting, DXing, and POTA for the foreseeable future.  I will still run SSB in the November SS Phone Contest - which will account for the rest of my operating time.

I do this for the basic reason that given my living arrangements, it is the most logical mode of operation where I can be somewhat competitive on the air.  If the FTx modes didn't exist, then I would probably be doing something other than ham radio.

Very Nice 6m (And 10m) Opening

 Got back around 1130 local and got set up on 6m, bands was just opening up.  East Coast had a great EU opening and worked a few new grids.  This opening went on for hours, and signals were pretty good - but there was one major problem.  The waves of European DX coming into the eastern third of the US.  I can understand why they would focus on that, I know I would have.  I did make a few contacts and worked three new grids.  

After around 45 minutes of seeing that I had "reasonable" signals to the east coast, but not a single reply to CQ's or even direct calls.  I decided to see if 10m had Es - and yes, yes it did.  And I profited greatly from it.

I started out with my 10m Digital WAS totals at 30 states worked, with 28 of them confirmed.  When the band finally closed around 1900 local on 10m, my total now is 43 states worked and 38 confirmed!  What was a poor showing on 10m digital is now pretty reasonable IMHO.  I worked the following:

GA - CONFIRMED
IN - CONFIRMED

KS - CONFIRMED
KY

MI

MN - CONFIRMED

NE - CONFIRMED

ND

SC - CONFIRMED

SD - CONFIRMED
TX - CONFIRMED
WI - CONFIRMED
WV - CONFIRMED

The last three new ones - KY, MI, & ND - all are LotW members, so I hope that I will get them soon.  The other 2 states - IA & UT - in the worked but unconfirmed column are older contacts, so they will need to be reworked.  I did hear an IA station today but wasn't able to snag it.  I will definitely spend more time during the day on 10m looking for another fantastic Es opening.   

New State Confirmed

 Confirmed AR today on 15m, so now sitting at 48 worked and 48 confirmed - need IA and LA to get Digital WAS for that band

Submitted 175 Grid Endorsement

 Got my 175th LotW confirmation this morning, so sent off for the 150 and 175 Endorsement stickers fore my 50MHz VUCC.  Actually have 177 confirmed - 2 of them are paper QSL's.  Currently at 186 worked with 4 of them two-year-old Q's that will require me to rework those grids plus one from this year who only confirms on QRZ.com.  That leaves 4 from this season so far that I have worked but not confirmed.  May need to send some cards at the end of June.

It Has Been A Moment.....

 I have been spending a fair amount (actually, almost all) of time on 6m as HF has been pretty soft with all of the solar activity.  I have upped my grid count (17 new ones confirmed so far) on 6m to the point where I am almost ready to send in for my 175 grid endorsement.  I do legally have 175 grids confirmed, but 2 of them are via paper QSL's and I would rather wait until I have 175 on LotW to submit.   

I have also been somewhat neglecting POTA, but that is also because of the soft HF conditions.  I may be getting a bit of an "antenna upgrade" here Monday.  My car with the antenna is parked literally under a big tree.  And vertical antennas and trees don't coexist very well, or so I am told.  On Monday the tree is coming down, and hopefully that will increase both RX and TX capabilities.

ARRL IDC is next weekend, and I plan on hitting that one hard!  Will run QRP with the FT-818 this year and run all of the bands 80m - 10m.  I hope that the bands are in good shape!

I will not be posting Weekly Updates anymore as it is more convenient for me to do a quick post when something occurs.  I will update the stats weekly if needed.

Weekly Update - 5/10/2025

DXCC Challenge

847 WKD / 741 CNF

DX Marathon
117 Entities / 35 Zones – Score 152

New DXCC Worked

#	Date	Band	Entity	QSL
1	5/3	15m	FO-A
2	5/4	30m	LA	Yes
3	5/6	30m	V2	Yes
4	5/6	30m	FM
5	5/8	30m	HC	Yes
6	5/8	30m	ER	Yes
7	5/8	17m	OZ	Yes
8	5/8	15m	SM
9	5/8	15m	TA	Yes
10	5/8	17m	EA6
11	5/9	40m	UA9

Project RETRO
No Update

WAZ
No Update

New WAS Worked

#	Date	Band	State	QSL
1	5/8	10m	VA	Yes
2	5/8	10m	MD	Yes
3	5/8	15m	WV	Yes

• Posting early as have an event this evening that I will be attending plus this is a “POTA Day”, so won’t be hunting DX!
• Nice surprise to work some new states (and confirm them) on 10m & 15m.
• Looks like I may be adding other DXCC awards to the wall later this year besides 12m. Currently the 40m, 30, and 17m confirmed totals are in the mid 70's.  The worked totals are in the mid 80's for 30m and 17m, and mid 90's for 40m.  While I may add a few to them all this spring/summer - next fall will probably put me over the top on several of them.  I could now do enough OQRS to get over the 100-entity mark for 12m but would rather do all of them at once.  If I was to bet, I would say that 30m will be the next one to hit the mark after 17m.

Received Endorsement Today

 My Mixed DXCC is now endorsed for 200 entities!

Weekly Update - 5/3/2025

Here is the take for this week:

DX Marathon
Entities - 115 / Zones - 35= Score 150

+3 Entities / +1 Zone From Last Week

DXCC Challenge
Worked - 836 / Confirmed (LoTW) - 733

+3 Worked / +8 Confirmed From Last Week

New Ones Worked 

(*Indicates LoTW confirmed as posting date)

4/27    10m    PJ2    Curacao*

4/29    30m    EA9    Ceuta & Melilla

4/30    30m    C5     The Gambia* (Plus Digital ATNO)

4/30    20m    VK9    Norfolk Is.

4/30    17m    UA0    Asiatic Russia 

   

Project RETRO Removals

4/29    17m    TG (Guatemala)

WAZ

New Zone (18) Worked

New Zone (35) Confirmed

Now at 35 Confirmed Zones

WAS

No Updates

Comments:

Been working a bunch of unconfirmed entities that I have worked within the past year or so, which is good as I may be able to finally cross the off of the list.

HF was in horrible shape Friday - only a half dozen stations on the waterfall around noon time!  Band is a bit better Saturday, but not by much.  the first part of the week was decent, but it tapered off quickly.

Reached 150 on DX Marathon!

 I hit the 150 point level this morning by working a UA0 in Zone 18!  For the class that I am entered into, last year the top scorer had 311 points.  So, I am in the 50 percentile bracket it appears.  I honestly thought that zi would only this 130 - 140 points for the whole year.  I think I need to review that goal.  Maybe 175 points by the end of the year?

DXCC Endorsement Completed

 My DXCC endorsement for the 200 entities sticker for the Mixed award has been completed by the DXCC desk.  I should hopefully be getting it next week or so.  I also added all that I had at the time to my 12m totals - and I did get one more confirmation after I submitted.  So I am at 97 confirmed on 12m - so close to that one!  

Weekly Update - 4/26/2025

 Here is the take for this week:

DX Marathon
Entities - 112 / Zones - 34= Score 146

+4 Entities / +1 Zone From Last Week

DXCC Challenge
Worked - 833 / Confirmed (LoTW) - 725

+15 Worked / +12 Confirmed From Last Week

New Ones Worked 

(*Indicates LoTW confirmed as posting date)

4/18    40m    FK8    New Caledonia*

        30m    J6    St. Lucia

        17m    5W    Samoa*

4/20    20m    TG    Guatemala

4/23    30m    LX    Luxembourg

4/24    17m    GD    Isle of Man*

        N/A    HC8   Galapagos (ATNO for Digital)

        17m    LA    Norway*

        17m    DL    Germany

4/25    20m    HL    South Korea (Plus ATNO for Digital)*

        17m    TF    Iceland (Plus ATNO for Digital)*

        17m    OE    Austria (Plus ATNO for Digital)*

        17m    S5    Slovenia

        17m    SP    Poland*

WAZ

No Updates

WAS

No Updates

Comments:

I am starting to like 17m more and more - this week 8 of the 15 new ones were on 17m, so those numbers really shot up on the scoreboard.  The bands weren't all that good at the beginning this week - a bit on the soft side IMHO.  But they did improve towards the end of the week giving me 4 new Digital All Time New Ones.

Still waiting for my latest DXCC submission to be worked.  From what I have been reading, it is about a two week wait.  Just lacking 3 confirmations now for the 12m DXCC.  I hope that by the end of the year, I will have the 12m and hopefully either or both of the 17m and 30m DXCC's on the wall.  I don't think it will be a stretch for having 12m up there by the end of the summer.

Closing in on 150 for the DX Marathon - I am frankly surprised at this, as I really didn't expect to get more than 135 or 140 points for it over the entire year.

Will start posting this on Sunday mornings local, as that is my normal "down time" on the radio.

Software Review - JTAlert 2.80.4

 Once you really start getting into DXing and/or award chasing - you need to be able to know when that is a new one on the band immediately.  And you need an interface between your logging software and the WSJT software as well.  There are two main applications to do this - one is called GridTracker and the other one is called JTAlert.  Both are good programs, but they have different strengths and uses IMHO.  I will not be reviewing GridTracker here as it, IMHO, is better suited for POTA than DXing.  I will be doing a review of it on my POTA page in the future.  JTAlert is by far the best interface software for DXing due to three main factors.  

First is the vast number of options that you have for tracking the data needed for DXCC, WAS, WPX, WAC, VUCC, or the DX Marathon.  You can also have it notify you for specific callsigns- very useful in the case of DX-peditions!  Paired with audio alerts, you can be doing something else in the shack and be alerted to something you may want to work.

Second is a panel called "Callsigns" - 

This is a graphic representation of what you have just decoded from the most recent time period.  The top panel shows all of the decodes during that time period.  The bottom blocks - which you can customize to the total number and what is displayed in each - let you know ASAP if there is something that you need to work.  The one above is set to display new or unconfirmed DXCC entities, decodes from US stations (for WAS), and DX decodes.  The combinations of how you can set this panel up are unlimited.  To the left is another related panel that shows my color setup for alerts.  They all show gray on the Callsigns panel above as none are "needed" for 20m DXCC, CQ Zone, or DX Marathon.  Note that in the Alert Types panel, you can quickly enable or disable notification of an indication on the Callsigns panel.  Also, if enabled, an ATNO will cause the call block to slowly pulse on and of alerting you to it.  Oh, and also at the very bottom it shows you what your delta time (DT) offset is to indicate if you need to re-sync your clock.

Third is a small panel called activity - which at first seems to be a minor feature.  But I think it is a critical provider of information that you shouldn't ignore.

This panel provides two pieces of important information that will greatly assist you in your DXing.  It shows the current count of stations that are on the air and connected to PSKReporter.  That is an important caveat - they must be online and connected to PSKReporter.  The good news is that almost all of those stations that have connectivity to the internet are connected.  The second is the current solar indices at the bottom of the panel.  Obviously this is important.  Hower the most critical information is the levels of activity - a very good indicator of which band is open and where you should focus your efforts.  If you pursue 6m, then this is very, very important.

Overall, it is my opinion that JTAlert should be very strongly considered for your go-to interface software for DXing and award chasing.

Application On The Way!

 Received an ATNO via LotW for A3 (Tonga) so sent in an application for the 200 entity endorsement for my Mixed DXCC.  Also applied some new ones to the 20m DXCC and preemptively submitted 96 credits on my (future) 12m DXCC. 

Blog Updates

 I have made the following changes to the blog:

1. Removed the Super Fox Keys issue list and the description of them.  They have either not updated them at the NCDXF site (the issuers), or no one is requesting them.  Most of the expeditions are using MSHV it seems.  So, in order to free up some additional space, I deleted them.  I retained the link to the NCDXF listing so you can check them if you are so inclined.
2. The Project RETRO page is up and running.  Note that it is not a listing of DXCC band needs, but a matrix showing my legacy worked but unconfirmed.
3. I have gone back and added labels to all of the blog postings in case you want to home in on a specific topic.  I did also delete a couple of posts that were superfluous.

And for some upcoming previews - I will be reviewing some software that is (IMHO) of significant use in FTx DXing, as well as some hints, trick, and tips to maximize your entity count in pursuit of your DXCC(s).  And there will also be some contesting tips as well.

Weekly Update - 4/18/2025

 Here is the take for this week:

DX Marathon
Entities - 108/ Zones - 33= Score 141

DXCC Challenge
Worked - 818 / Confirmed (LoTW) - 712

New Ones Worked 

(*Indicates LoTW confirmed as posting date)

4/11        15m    TG~ Guatemala*

            15m    GJ~Jersey*

            15m    VP2V~British Virgin Is.

            30m    VP2V~British Virgin Is.

            30m    EA~Spain*

            30m    S~Slovenia*

            30m    EA8~Canary Is.*

            30m    PA~Netherlands*

4/13        30m    DL~Germany*

            30m    ZA~Albania      ATNO

            30m    OH~Finland*

4/15        30m    CX~Uruguay

            30m    PY~Brazil

            30m    YO~Romania*

            12m    GU~Gurnsey

            12m    GD~Isle of Man* 

4/16        30m    HC-Ecuador 

            20m    EA9~Ceuta & Melilla

4/17        40m    VP2V~British Virgin Is.

            40m    PZ~Suriname*

            12m    3D2~Fiji

Older New Ones Confirmed

2/7/2025    12m    LA~Norway

2/25/2025   20m    KH0~Mariana Is.  ATNO

3/28/2025   15m    FJ~St. Barthelemy   ATNO

4/2/2025    30m    FJ~St. Barthelemy

WAZ

No Updates

WAS

No Updates

Comments:

I have been really working 30m the past couple of weeks, I was really negligent with that band, due to the lack of a decent antenna.  I currently have the  same issue with 80m.  I should have a lot more entities on that band as well.  It is at the top of my to-do list at the end of summer.  Right now, it would be a waste of time and resources to focus in on it.   It is a wintertime band, So will have that to look forward to this Fall/Winter.

Worked a Russian North Pole Expedition on 17m FT8 (RI42SP).  According to an online tracker for the station, it was located in grid AR05.  Not a counter for DXCC or WAZ, but still an interesting contact and well worth getting the card for it just to display.