Sunspots are up and the DX-peditioner's are out. This is a great formula for getting some nice QRP DXCC counters. I had a free evening after a very busy run over the last few weeks so I sat down in front of the KX3 to work a little DX or at least try to work some new QRP DXCC countries. On the menu were K9W from Wake Island (KH9), XR0YY from Easter Island and 5J0R from San Andreas. Not a bad selection of nice DX on Monday night.
My first target was K9W. Wake Island isn't on very often, so if you have a chance to work them you should, you never know when the island will be on again. At my QTH, northeast of San Antonio, TX, all three stations were coming in nicely, but with good propagation they are heard by many and the pile-ups were significant. I started chasing K9W on 12m, working up, however the operator wasn't paying much attention to NA, so I moved up to 10m where they were working NA/SA. After 10 minutes of chasing him up and down the band, I got them in the log at 00:59z. One down, two to go.
Next up 5J0R on 30m. I called for 15 minutes, no luck and the pile-up was huge. There was then a spot for XR0YY on 10m SSB working simplex. A quick QSY netted a QSO on the first call at 01:18z. Cool. Two new QRP DXCC counters in 20 minutes. Only one more for the trifecta, so back to 5J0R on 30m. Another 20 minutes of calling and no QSO. I stepped away from the radio for a while and came back to their 20m SSB station. I had him in the clear a couple of times, but couldn't manage the QSO, so I called it quits for the night.
Overall a successful night of QRP DXing, my QRP DXCC count is now up to 159. Upward and onward.
QRP/DX IS
Good morning Mike, on the weekend I ran into the pileups for these stations and as you said they were huge! Unlike you I just moved on and tried to net some same old same old QRP contacts. I was not able to really make any contacts but all was not lost as I had another great time on the radio.
ReplyDeleteVery nice work getting the new ones with QRP power to boot!
Mike
Yes, I was pleased with the results. I am #1 Honor Roll on QRO, so going back through the list with QRP gives DXCC a fresh feel and I am continually surprised at how many I can work, through significant pile-ups, with only 5 watts. The K9W guys are out there another 10 days or so I think, so the pile-ups should become more manageable as the days progress.
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Mike AD5A
Good catches, Mike...and positive momentum for Banaba and Juan F in the next few days!
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