100 DXCC in 100 DAYS QRP Challenge finished

I finished the 100 DXCC in 100 days QRP. Almost can't believe I finished this as it is not a easy challenge at all. When I first read about this concept on NY4G Ariel's blog I thought this would only be possible to accomplish for those that are retired and have almost unlimited time for the hobby. Luckely Ariel published the rules and I decided to participate because there was no actual time limit. Anyway I accomplished this in only 79 days and that was totally unexpected. Ariel sent me a nice certificate via e-mail, thanks for that.

Analyzing the whole log is interesting. 79 days is a long time and sometimes I had excelllent propagation, sometimes not at all. I didn't have time every day, only on the dates that are in the log. I managed to work at least one or sometimes more new DXCC every day I spend time on the radio.So actually, if you only count the days that I was active, I did 100 DXCC in 33 days! Sometimes I really doubt I would work a new one and then in the end I suddenly managed to work it. There were surprises and there were days that I struggled to make a QSO anywhere. I even modified my FT-817 at day 67 to work A45XR from Oman which I had seen spotted the days before on 60m. And incredible, after modifying the rig first QSO was with him on 60m JT65. After day 76 I thought I would not going to make it within 100 days, just 24 days left, you know how fast time goes! I decided to take part in the CQWW WPX SSB 2016 with QRP to hunt primarely for DXCC to ad to the challenge log. And successfully I did! Well, at the end of the contest I counted 100 DXCC...however Z6 Kosovo (worked 2 different stations in the contest) is officially not a valid DXCC and so I stranded at 99. Can you imagine how this was on my mind! I had to make that last one. Had some radio time again tuesday evening after the contestweekend. Hunted for several DXCC I heard and saw spotted on the cluster but it's hard with only 5W. At the end saw T77C spotted on 40m CW and 2 calls later I was in his log, mission accomplished! After the challenge finished Ariel wrote me he had been analyzing the log:

I also analyzed your log with some interesting findings.  Your first half came rather easy as many of the DXCC entities are close by.  You were averaging about 1300 miles per QSO.   Then you had to go out much further in distance.  At the end you were averaging close to 2500 plus miles per QSO.
Antennas make all the difference for QRP.  K4SV averaged about 4200 miles per QSO with his big SteppIR with 4 elements on 20m at 90 feet.  I only have a 2 element wire beam on the high bands which allowed me to average 3800 miles per QSO.

Most memorable and amazing QSOs:

OD5ZZ Lebanon (worked 15m SSB from my mobile with the modified DV27 antenna his signal 9+30dB), JY6ZZ Jordan (SSB 17m), AP2IA Pakistan (15m JT9 ATNO for me), PZ5RA Surinam (on 10m PSK63), FR4QT Reunion Isl. (10m SSB), 7P8C Lesotho (10m CW), ZL3NB New Zealand (30m JT65 ODX 17939km), VP8LP Falkland Isl. (20m PSK125), A45XR Oman (60m JT65), NL7V Alaska (20m SSB) and actually the last 20 DXCC in the challenge log are all special!

A few QSLs received from the QRP QSOs in the challenge log

It has been a incredible experience and I'm glad I took the opportunity to take part in this event. If you're looking for a goal within the hobby I can certainly recommend this challenge.