May 28-29 2022 I took part in CQWW. I don’t generally contest but I had been sticking around the house in case the XYL needed anything as she was under the weather.
I gathered my IC-705 and CHA tactical delta loop and strung it up in the backyard. I don’t have a lot of space as we’re in a new development. I’ve also chosen not to erect a massive antenna in effort to keep peace with the neighbours.
I started to casually enter contacts into HAMRS while making use of the IC-705’s CW incrementing features and after a while I decided that I should instead get out my laptop instead and log in N1MM. It was the first time that I put it to use and its a great piece of software for contesters.
You don’t need to look at the software too long to determine why it ranks so highly amongst ham’s who contest on the regular. I imported my ADIF and continued on after updated the numbers (they didn’t transfer over seamlessly).
I pecked away on the bands over the course of the weekend and was able to rack up over 50 contacts while hardly trying. I had such a great experience that I just purchased a winkeyer to setup in anticipation of field day at the end of the month. I’ll let you know how it turns out and document the setup.
If you’re wanting to get started contesting I would say just go ahead and do it. Its a lot of fun. Just make sure you read the rules and listen to an exchange or two before jumping into it. Once you make some contacts you’ll need to find out how to submit a log. N1MM makes it quite easy. Here is a copy of a generated log for reference.
START-OF-LOG: 3.0 CONTEST: CQ-WPX-CW CALLSIGN: VA6TI LOCATION: AB CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP CATEGORY-ASSISTED: NON-ASSISTED CATEGORY-BAND: ALL CATEGORY-POWER: QRP CATEGORY-MODE: CW CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: ONE CATEGORY-STATION: FIXED CATEGORY-OVERLAY: GRID-LOCATOR: DN39OR CLAIMED-SCORE: 2790 NAME: TYLER ADDRESS-COUNTRY: CANADA OPERATORS: VA6TI EMAIL: CREATED-BY: N1MM Logger+ 1.0.9397.0 X-SOURCE: CQ-WPX LOGCHECK QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0147 VA6TI 599 0001 NX5M 599 0336 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0150 VA6TI 599 0002 KC7V 599 0115 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0153 VA6TI 599 0003 AC6T 599 0620 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0156 VA6TI 599 0004 NA6T 599 0109 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0157 VA6TI 599 0005 N5JJ 599 0746 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0159 VA6TI 599 0006 WT7TT 599 0654 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0201 VA6TI 599 0007 K9LJN 599 0354 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0204 VA6TI 599 0008 KK6P 599 0981 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0210 VA6TI 599 0009 NU5A 599 2246 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0211 VA6TI 599 0010 K3LR 599 0131 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0213 VA6TI 599 0011 N4XD 599 0471 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0218 VA6TI 599 0012 N7IR 599 0444 QSO: 21000 CW 2022-05-29 0225 VA6TI 599 0013 N5EE 599 0586 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0252 VA6TI 599 0014 K6WSC 599 0436 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0259 VA6TI 599 0015 W9MR 599 0291 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0301 VA6TI 599 0016 WD6T 599 0907 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0310 VA6TI 599 0017 WH7T 599 1183 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0313 VA6TI 599 0018 N2BA 599 0888 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0316 VA6TI 599 0019 AJ6V 599 0888 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0318 VA6TI 599 0020 NH7T 599 1288 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0434 VA6TI 599 0021 NR6O 599 1054 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0439 VA6TI 599 0022 W6TK 599 0621 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0448 VA6TI 599 0023 AA6IO 599 0064 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0450 VA6TI 599 0024 N6GP 599 0145 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0452 VA6TI 599 0025 N6TTV 599 0164 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0455 VA6TI 599 0026 N5YT 599 0926 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0457 VA6TI 599 0027 KW9A 599 0434 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0514 VA6TI 599 0028 XL3A 599 0255 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0518 VA6TI 599 0029 KK5I 599 1544 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 0521 VA6TI 599 0030 KT5J 599 2578 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 1349 VA6TI 599 0031 K5UV 599 0648 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 1407 VA6TI 599 0032 NS0R 599 0550 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 1421 VA6TI 599 0033 VY2TT 599 3003 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 1426 VA6TI 599 0034 KZ5D 599 1303 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 1443 VA6TI 599 0035 NA6TT 599 1282 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 1449 VA6TI 599 0036 AD0LI 599 0653 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 1450 VA6TI 599 0037 NR60 599 1303 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 1503 VA6TI 599 0038 WA8ZBT 599 0542 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 1515 VA6TI 599 0039 WX0B 599 1743 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 1521 VA6TI 599 0040 NX6T 599 1484 QSO: 14000 CW 2022-05-29 1524 VA6TI 599 0041 WZ4F 599 2061 QSO: 14048 CW 2022-05-29 1650 VA6TI 599 0042 NT6Q 599 2455 QSO: 14051 CW 2022-05-29 1713 VA6TI 599 0043 WM6A 599 1361 QSO: 14041 CW 2022-05-29 1721 VA6TI 599 0044 WA6KHK 599 0805 QSO: 14061 CW 2022-05-29 1911 VA6TI 599 0045 NF6A 599 1020 QSO: 21043 CW 2022-05-29 1926 VA6TI 599 0046 K6NR 599 1110 QSO: 14002 CW 2022-05-29 1934 VA6TI 599 0047 ND7K 599 2546 QSO: 14009 CW 2022-05-29 1939 VA6TI 599 0048 WR30 599 2718 QSO: 14023 CW 2022-05-29 1940 VA6TI 599 0049 NA8V 599 2203 QSO: 14028 CW 2022-05-29 1942 VA6TI 599 0050 W9EWZ 599 0551 QSO: 14040 CW 2022-05-29 1943 VA6TI 599 0051 K9CT 599 1721 QSO: 14046 CW 2022-05-29 1944 VA6TI 599 0052 WD9CIR 599 0585 END-OF-LOG:
All in all a few contacts were likely missed as the speeds are quite high but it was a blast and it left me wanting to do more of them.
73, Tyler