The First 100 Years Are The Hardest

I was able to get my 100th country confirmed on LotW last month, qualifying me for the DXCC / CW Mode Certificate.  My first CW contact was confirmed with K4KCG from the Kentucky Contest Group back in June 2021 when I first learning CW and relying completely on CW macros.  I focused on completing the WAS Triple play award in January 2022 before focusing on DXCC. I continued to improve my CW skills, practiced my sending, but it wasn't until April 2022 that I joined the Straight Key Century Club SKCC and made the personal commitment  to completely avoid electronic keyers and macros when possible.  The majority of my contacts from that point on were made with either a traditional straight key, or a sideswiper, which is like a paddle but is a fully manual version of the straight key with horizontal action.   Along the way I got the pleasure of working many countries during contests - the ARRL International DX contest is a good way to pick up many new countries ...

I'm impressed with the performance of the WO9B Spark Plug EFHW antenna today on 15M. The band was in good condition and not nearly as crowded as 20M. Plus I got to revisit Tyler State Park - a place I haven't visited since the late 90s when I used to spend "bachelor thanksgiving" camping here with the guys. Nice spring weather made the day even better! 73 Chris de WX7V  

I put in some seat time - maybe 5-6 hours Friday night to Sunday morning for the 2024 ARRL-DX International CW Contest.     I worked 81 countries total, 350 contacts.   25 unique countries on 80M, but 50 unique countries each on 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters.   Raw Score: 1041 Qpts x 226 Mults = 235,266 - Note: The raw score, QSO points and mult totals are estimates based solely on the individual log contents and are not used during subsequent log checking. Rig was Flexradio 6600, with Carolina Windom Dipole for 80/40M, and Hexbeam for 20/15/10M.   Antennas are up about 35 feet.   Chris de WX7V

The DXCC is Amateur Radio's premier award that hams can earn by confirming on the air contacts with 100 countries. You can begin with the basic DXCC award and work your way up to the DXCC Honor Roll.    I was able to get H44WA - SOLOMON ISLANDS - 10M confirmed on Friday for  my 100th country confirmed via LoTW for CW. QSL K4KCG - UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - 20M CW (CW) QSL TG9ADM - GUATEMALA - 30M CW (CW) QSL C6AZM - BAHAMAS - 40M CW (CW) QSL PG4I - NETHERLANDS - 40M CW (CW) QSL DL1DGS - FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY - 40M CW (CW) QSL OA4DX - PERU - 40M CW (CW) QSL KP4JRS - PUERTO RICO - 20M CW (CW) QSL AH6KO - HAWAII - 20M CW (CW) QSL JM7OLW - JAPAN - 40M CW (CW) QSL F6HKA - FRANCE - 40M CW (CW) QSL CO7FR - CUBA - 40M CW (CW) QSL SN2B - POLAND - 40M CW (CW) QSL HK1MW - COLOMBIA - 40M CW (CW) QSL PJ2ND - CURACAO - 40M CW (CW) QSL VE3TM - CANADA - 20M CW (CW) QSL XE1RE - MEXICO - 15M CW (CW) QSL HQ9X - HONDURAS - 15M CW (CW) QSL HD8R - GALAPAGOS ISLANDS - 40M CW (CW...

 ARRLs Winter Field Day 2024 is in the books.  Spent about 2 hours and made all contacts on CW.   Winter Field Day is a communications exercise. WFD is held on the last full weekend in January and enables operators to practice portable emergency communications in winter environments as the potential for freezing temperatures, snow, ice, and other hazards present unique operational concerns.  I worked from my remote stations near Richland Chambers lake for about 2 hours on Sunday and got about 20 sections logged,  all via CW.  Too bad I had work a work commitment and had to shut down just as I was getting on a roll! Chris de WX7V

 I was able to get four activations in this month - consolidating posts and pictures from our private facebook groups to document here for future reference.   First Up was a New Years day activation at  K-4419 ID Fairchild State Forest in the Piney Woods area of east Texas.  Nice and relaxed outing, this was my 42nd. activation since September 2021.   To bad Texas State RR State Historic Park isn’t registered, would have been a nice 2-fer.   The pine trees were magnificent and truely inspiring! January 5th:  I  had a great pair of activations today in Bonham Texas.  On the way to my last activation I ran over something on the highway and had a blow out.  No such issues this time!   81 contacts in all,  thank you hunters!   First I activated the Sam Rayburn House State Historic Site first.  The noise floor was quite site (S8/S9) and I was about to give up after making 5 contacts, but before I k...