#CQWW DX SSB 2026 review

Contest: CQWW DX SSB 2026

Station callsign: PA6G

Radio: Icom IC-7300 @100W

Microphone: Heil ProSet IC

Antenna 1: Inverted-V doublet 2x22m @12mh

Antenna 2: 3 band experimental Halo @16mh

Antenna 3: Gainmaster 1/2wave for 10m @16mh

Antenna 3: 4 element LFA for 10m @12mh

  A lot of fun in this worldwide contest. One of my favorites. You can work 100 DXCC in a weekend with a little effort. I worked 110 this time, last year I worked 122 DXCC but propagation was a lot better then. Not that I complain about propagation this year, it was excellent at times. I was surprised the 10m was open. If you listen outside the contest you rarely hear a station. 10m is still my favorite band but I encountered a small problem this time. The com port I use to communicate with the rotorcontrol froze every time I made a transmission on 10m, and that's the only band I need a rotor for. So what was happening here as I never had this before? It was obviously RFI getting into the computer and I quickly found that I used a longer network cable for internet since a few weeks. It could act as an antenna and pick up strong signals. The solution was fast and effective, three ferrite chokes were enough to eliminate the problem. I was glad to have automatic rotor control back during the contest, simply click ALT+J and there goes the antenna exactly to a wanted or heard DXCC. At that same moment you can concentrate on other things. If you are used to it you never want to miss it again.

You see, I use a lot of ferrites along all cables. I don't want to pick up QRM from the computer and of course my computer doesn't need the RFI from my radio.

Receive during contest

I always surprised by stations that are well over S9 on my side and do not hear me and other callers at all. What is going on here? I've noticed this at many contests and even had an e-mail exchange about it with a station long time ago. Their explanation was that the antenna was pointing in another direction. But I don't believe this, if the antenna is pointed into another direction why do I still receive such a station with S9 ? It also occured to me that propagation is not always reciproke, the path it takes to reach me could be not there the other way around. That happens often on groundwave and scatter propagation and on long distance DX. That could be an explanation. But this last weekend it happened to me very often, could be coincidence of course. Stations can have a lot of splatter from nearby stations, however if this occurs it is simply a matter of searching for a better frequency. Last explanation could be the use of very high power and in a multi station configuration other station could suck away the signals even when they use very good bandpass filters. Whatever the explanation is for bad RX it is very annoying for the other station. Especially when such a station is received with a very strong signal strength. On the other side of this are the stations that receive very well. One of them certainly was AH2R from Guam, received with a tiny signal at my end and worked on both 10m and 15m. And what about the American stations I worked on the very busy 40m band. Luckily there are a lot of stations that have an excellent receive. 

Unwritten rules

It is a normal procedure when calling on CW to send QRL? first. And SSB operators should always ask if a frequency is occupied as well. However, during this contest I noticed some, mostly east and south european stations, that didn't respect that. They just start calling on your running frequency. I know, it has always been like that. Is it on purpose or are they the same stations I mentioned before, without a good receiver? Worst thing was what happened to one of my hamradio friends, he asked if the frequency was occupied and no one answered, he started running. I heard him and spotted him on the cluster. But then, some south european station started calling and told my friend to go away because he holds the frequency for over 2 hours. Who owns frequencies on the HAM bands? As far as I know no one. Please be kind and ask if the frequency is occupied...

DX

I'm not really a contester, I'm a DXer. I love the struggle to work stations as far as possible on this earth. Especially love it when it takes effort.And some of the DX I worked took a lot of effort. Signals on 10m were not that strong and sometimes I went on to a next station to check the DX later. This is one of my tips: write down the frequency of the DX you want to work but is too weak or too busy and check it out later. You can be lucky later on or unlucky when propagation or the station has been gone. It is always a gamble of course but it works for me. VK9DX Norfolk Isl. was a lucky catch as well as AH2R Guam Isl. on both 10m and 15m. I missed the Alaskan signals on 20m, but suddenly I worked a very weak W1AW/KL7 on 20m late in the evening. Well just look what I worked in the contest on the map below. And yes, before asking, the Alaskan station is not plotted on the map because the locator is unknown.

31,5 hours of contesting is a lot for me. It certainly was longer as last year. Was it worth to sit behind the radio for such a long time? To me it was. It's my hobby and I love to work DX. This is very relaxing for me. And it is fun to write about it afterwards.

As always, when the 10m band is open, I spend way too long on this band. I got a very good antenna for this band so this is were I can make the best DX and the most mulitpliers. And although most of the contacts were on other bands I enjoyed the 10m band most. Below you can find a list.

I made a small video during the contest with an old digital camera from my dad. I found it somewhere on the attic. It makes surprisingly good videos. I will publish it later on the blog.

Thanks to everyone that has contacted me during the contest. I met a few very familiar calls and at least on fellow blogger. It was a pleasure to work you all. 73 and till next year.

  

Are we still safe in Europe?

   Recently there are reports in the news about a new OTH radar being build by Russia near Kaliningrad. I wonder if this will have another impact on the amateur radio frequenties as we all know OTH radar QRM on 20m and 10m and several other bands. 

Picture made with AI

I'm starting to get a little concerned about what Russia does with such an radar installation. From what I read on the internet they can detect missiles, jets etc. from a distance of 3000km which is in fact covering the whole of Europe. Of course you could do this for defense, but who is kidding who...

I'm living near a big seaport with large datacenters and one of the biggest power plants in our country. It is a very strategic site. And I repeat, I live very close to this. Recently they report unindentified drones flying over the area at night between one and eight O'clock. Especially in the weekends. And not only in this area but at a few strategic areas in my province. It is very disturbing and I'm a little concerned about this as well. It could be anything of course, but I don't like it at all. No one knows were the drones are coming from but since I live close to the coast it could be they are launched from a ship.

I'm sure this is not only happening in my area but in other (strategic) areas and countries as well. I wish I could do something about it but for ordinary people this is impossible. We can only just wait and see what happens. Hopefully the world and our area will not be on fire in a very soon future...

Winslow J-37 Signal Corps trainingkey

    The third straightkey in my series about the keys I got from the real estate of PA3BCB Gerard. This time a J-37 key from the cold war era. Earlier keys in WW2 from this type had a steel or nickel lever, Winslow Tele-Tronics Inc. went over to fabricate the keys with matte black coating to prevent reflection and corrosion between te 1950's and 1960's.

The baseplate with the 2 bananaplug connectors is typical for use at training sites. That way they could quickly connect the keys to telegraphy boards and networks at the trainingbase. The baseplate is formed like that to wind the cord on it. It is really made for quickly connect and disconnect. Wind the cord and put it in you pocket.

Of course I wanted to clean the whole key and disassembled it. Here you see a detail of the strain relief made with paracord. A special gutter in the baseplate is made for this. Although I didn't keep the complete old connection cord I decided to keep this strain relief detail.

Use of the Winslow J-37 at the US Signal Corps

The AN/GSC-T1 Code Training Set: This was the definitive standard for Morse code training systems in army barracks. The system consisted of a central console for the instructor (who could generate Morse signals or interference) and dozens of student desks. The desks and audio distribution boxes (jack boxes) were equipped with banana plug sockets, allowing students to quickly connect their own J-37 keys. [1, 2]

AN/GTC-T1

The EE-81 / EE-95 Morse Instruction Sets: These were more compact, portable units designed for teaching Morse code in the field.

Modification ("Mae West" style): In the post-war years, the Corps of Engineers or technical services manually modified many J-37 units. A wooden or Bakelite baseplate with sockets was attached to the bottom, and the wiring was securely fastened using army-green lacing cord (the green string) to withstand the rough handling by hundreds of students. 

Many thousands of service members toiled for hours using setups exactly like this to earn their Morse code qualification in the cold war and Vietnam war era.

Polished and shiny J-37 straightkey ready to use.

Of course this key, as a cold war key, should be used to work at least one Russian station.