No better therapeutic session than a good CW contest. I'm good to go for a few weeks now. I had a blast! I like ARRL DX CW very much. Working tons of W/VE and knowing you can't win anything except a #1 Belgium. Can't win - can't lose so this contest is always minimal stress and maximal fun. For once the WX cooperated and I could raise the tower to the full 21m. This meant that I could deploy the 2el 40m vertical dipoles (LP/SP) and that the L wire for 80/160 would have its maximal vertical component. No wind, no rain, no snow, no T-storms. Just quiet weather and not too cold. Welcome situation for a change.

I do SOAB(A) most of the time. Sometimes I wonder why because I hardly click the bandmaps and almost never spot stations myself. If you'd check my log, you can see that almost all my QSO's are made on my running frequencies. But I like to see what happens. I'm by no means a 'CW skimmer guy' so I use it to see how propagation moves. And it makes for some interesting reading (NOT!). No SO2R this time. I'm glad to work W/VE on one band already as it is! Before the start, I had set myself 2 goals:

• Make 1200 QSO's at least...
• of which 50 on 160m with 10-15 multipliers on Top Band.

I started Saturday morning around 02.00z. I hate the first hour of the contest where everyone tries to get a good start and situations sometimes get out of hand. Or at least in my perception. Doing a casual effort so why not sleep a few hours first? 48 is too long for me anyway. I started on 40m and the rate was acceptable but nothing more. After 2 hours I moved to 80m and back and forth to 40m. I was saving 160m for my Saturday sunrise. Sacrificing the 80m vertical antenna to convert it to a compromise 80/160m has a good and a bad side. The bad part is that I most certainly have something less for 80m now. I can feel that. The good part is that on 160m my DX performance is much better than with the low coil-loaded inverted V. Anyway I tamed the beast and on 80m I was not too happy. Was it the propagation? Or is it the antenna? No way to tell. I was glad to finally move to 160m where the first callers were amazingly loud. I soon worked 25 contacts of which 14 mults on 160m so my target there was almost met with still one morning to go. After sunrise things slowed down with hardly no one coming back on 80m although the band was open late and so was 40m. Around 09.00z it was time for breakfast and a nap.

Around 13.00z I was back in the shack, later than anticipated. The plan was to run 20m if possible but the bandmap showed 15m spots. I couldn't hear anything so I ran 20m with some goods rates. I tried 15m again and made only 6 contacts. This was expected. I made 300 QSO on 15m in 2007 and only 50 in 2008. Now it would be even less. So be it. The rates were good on 20m and I tried 40m LP around 15.30z. This wasn't a success and the LP opening was better last year. I stuck to 20m until 18.15z when I went downstairs for dinner and to watch some TV with the XYL.

It wasn't before 22.45z that I returned to the operating chair for the second night. I stayed on 40m for almost two hours and the rates were better than the night before. At 00.45 I moved to 80m which was poor again. Antenna or propagation? I switched between 160 and 80 to return to 40m. Around sunrise (06.30 to 07.30) I climbed up to 80 contacts on 160m with 26 QSO. Compared to 30/7 the year before. You could credit propagation but I think it's due to my new vertical antenna on 160m. Target #1 (the 160m goal) was met. I tried 80m again but only made 1 QSO and settled on 40m for a change. At 08.51 I quit for a nap and a shower. I planned to be back earlier on 20m than on Saturday.

Back at 12.15z. Checked 15m. It showed life. Well... life? The usual suspects from W1 (MA / CT / NH). I worked 4 stations followed by the mandatory QSY to 20m again. I had a good short run there and QSY'd to 15m again where I tried to run. Only a handful came back so I S&P'd the band and I noticed how signals were coming in from other places deeper inland and were getting stronger. I hoped for an opening and felt that it was possible. I settled low in the band and started CQ'ing on 15m. Soon after that the band opened up pretty decent to current propagation standards and someone threw me on the cluster. All hell broke loose but I was glad to be stirring that cauldron! I made about 120 QSO in that hour so it was a very good rate, necessary to get some score on that band.

The stream of callers stopped and the opening faded. When things slowed down, a spot appeared for my friend W1EBI on 20m. I wanted to call him but not waste time by retuning the amp. So I put the amp in stand by and worked him barefoot with 70W. So George, if you wonder why my 'KW' was so weak, that is why. Target #2 was met with 1227 QSO in the log. So back to 20m at 14.40z. The rates were pretty good to splendid and I really sucked 20m dry. I could run the band to W6/W7 pretty late. That's only possible when the tower is cranked up to 21m. If the tower is down and the tribander low, the band closes much earlier. At 17.09z I picked a weak "3WW" out of the callers. "3WW" could be K3WW but the signal was too weak for that. So my brain told me right away it was my friend K3WWP. John is great in being small. He works QRP CW with minimal antennas. We have worked in the past but the current propagation does not allow for QRP and indoor antennas to be worked like a breeze. But it worked this time and I greeted John because he might not recognize OQ5M as being ON5ZO. It's always a pleasure to work people you know. Like K7GK @ K7ZSD. Too bad we only crossed on 20m and 40m. Last year he brought me Oregon on 80m too but I didn't work that far on 80m this year. The west coast mults were absent on 80m. Again: propagation or antenna? By the way I didn't even try the 40m LP opening on Sunday because I had too much fun on the higher bands.

A funny thing happened. I was running on 20m when a persistent I6** called me. After a few times I wanted to get rid of him and sent "I6** 5NN KW". He returned "KK5M 5NN 500". So he must have logged KK5M in the state of KW...

At 20.15 the log showed 835 QSO on 20m so I moved to 40m which is pretty early but my guess was that I might work some new multipliers which would make up for the loss of rate. I stayed on 40m but it wasn't a huge success apart from being called from Nebraska. Let that multiplier bell ring! For the last hour of the contest I tried 80m again. My mult count there was low and only 170 QSO. Biggest disappointment. At least I worked 2 extra multipliers. K1JB was handing out ME but I wasn't the only one needing that. This brings out the worst in people. I worked him and saw a red spot for VO1MP. Another multiplier I needed and also here the situation was getting out of hand. The new KRX3 option in the K3 came in handy. I noticed he was listening slightly up to pick calls and soon after that I logged the NF mult. Back to 40m for the last 15 minutes and I was thrilled to be called by a W5 to log Arkansas as the last multiplier of the contest.

I am very happy with my score. I claim over 1 million compared to 600k last year. I made 500 QSO more. In retrospect I could have done better by sleeping less and maximize operations. Maybe I would have put down a top X score then. But then again the pressure to perform would kill the laid back approach and minimize the fun. So all in all I had a great weekend on the air. One very satisfied contest op says 73 ES QRU...

Managed to work K5D on 80 CW this morning. Got home this afternoon and checked 20m CW. K5D QRV with S5-S6 signal. But again: the audience didn't read 'Operating Split for Dummies'. So there's always the odd caller who calls simplex. It can happen to everyone. And as if that isn't bad enough, there are a dozen morons jumping on the case. Like when K5D came back to my call. I knew he was calling me but I wanted the confirmation so it took 3 times 'OQ5M OQ5M PSE CFM?'. What a mess. These occasions sure bring out the cream of the crop lids.

The best part was the guy asking "DX IS KP5?". Obviously it wasn't enough for the K5D op to ID after every QSO. Do these guys actually listen? Receive? Copy CW? These lids are probably the kind that need to bash contesting. And only make one CW QSO a year. While typing this, there is another specimen calling CQ close to K5D and being haunted by a pack of QRG cops. *sigh*

The thrill of working DX but *NOT* K5D which brings out the worst in the EU pigs. They're very loud on 40 CW right now but the EU behavior is a shame so I quit. I can hear them pretty good on 80m SSB but they run 'by numbers'. So no K5D.

Suddenly a spot for PJ2/N4QQ shows up on 1820. I go there and he's a true S9 but quite some big guns calling him. I take a shot and send my call. Through the callers I hear him giving '5NN' but no one replies and the callers in the pile up remain quiet (unlike K5D). Then he comes back again: 'OQ5M 5NN'. Woohoo, a new one on 160m and worked first call. A good start of the day...

NOTE: Half an hour later I work JT1CO/6Y1 on 1830 for yet another new one on Top Band! 

Got home, cranked up the tower to give it a shot. Only audible signal at this time (16.10 utc) is 20m SSB (S9+). Working by numbers? Oh boy... He's working EU #4. So I patiently wait. He starts #5 and works a handful (not more!) then disappears for three minutes and suddenly pops up without giving his call and works another 3 or 4 stations then jumps to #6. By numbers? DUH!

The 2nd RX works and I'm trying to use it. The good thing is that the obnoxiously overdriven Italian now splatters on both the DX QRG as the QSX. I'm going to try CW which is the only mode I care about. Bet they won't use the stupid number system there!

NOTE #1: Worked 'm on 17 CW 16.32 

NOTE #2: Worked 'm on 30 CW 17.40 

It's been over 14 days since my last posting. Not a lot happened on the ham front and that's the only thing I care to write about.

I did finish the installation of the KRX3 into the K3. It took 3-4 hours at an easy pace and it worked without any problems. Now the real question is: what am I going to do with the second receiver? I've never had access to this feature so I'll need to look into that. I must express my amazement over the mechanical engineering of the K3 and all its options. Everything fits. And I take my hat off to the people editing the assembly instructions. It's so clear and well documented, you just can't go wrong. Superb rig, perfect design and customer care you can only dream of. I can't wait to replace the remaining TS-850 with a new K3.

A couple of days after I finished the assembly I had to be in the shack to pick up some papers. I looked at the setup and I was really in the mood for some DXing. A split second later I thought: it's in the middle of the afternoon - with these conditions, what are you going to work? And I went downstairs. Tree N6TR recently wrote on the CQ-Contest reflector: "Contesting is something that many hams find annoying". At least in contests there are hams to be worked. What else? Apart from the G's and DL's selling genuine BS on 40/80 SSB - that's what I find annoying!

Last weekend I tried to play on 20m in the WPX RTTY contest but it went soooo sllloooooowww that I threw the towel. I'm not really an RTTY lover but I can take it for some time IF there is rate. There wasn't any so I quit. I finally submitted my CQ 160 CW contacts as checklog. And there is some "QSL direct" to be replied to. A card from Nevada thanking me for the contest mults on 20m in both CQ WW's last year. And I got a QSL from Vermont: "Almost DXCC on 30m now". Great! 30m is my own Magic Band. I love it so much. About eight years ago it was me sending off cards with a note like "TNX for new DXCC". How time flies when you're having fun. You could have some fun then, working USA 24/7 on 20m and working K6 on 15m with a simple wire and barefoot rigs. Come on sun, you've been bugging is for too long now!

This weekend ARRL DX CW. I always do that one casually. It will be a nighttime affair once again. And then UBA DX CW. I'm really longing for some good contest action (read: run stations at +100/hr in CW). Let's hope...

About two weeks ago I thought it was finally time to honk the K3's horn on eHam's review section. Soon after that someone wrote to ask what I thought of the rig's audio. I think it's good but I never reflected on this aspect of the rig. It turns out he is the owner of a K3 that according to him has poor to abominable audio. Quote: "It has the worst, thinnest, screetchiest audio I have ever heard in all the tranceivers I have. The RX eq has little effect. After a couple of days of fiddling with this thing, checking settings, loading the latest firm ware, I sent it back to Elecraft. I'm hoping they will be able to do something with it.". I surely hope so too! That said: how is the audio? I've never listened to the built-in speaker. I only know that it's far less noisy than the TS-850's audio circuit and that I like what I hear.

Tomorrow it's building time. After whining about the delay in my KRX3's delivery thanks to Belgian customs and the bill attached to that, it's finally time to open the rig and mount the receiver module. After all, it has now been gathering dust on my table for over 4 weeks. No complaints about that though. I need to hurry because I promised my club to lend them my antistatic mat and since they'll soon be needing it, I'd better start. I just removed the rig from it's operating position and put the patient on the operating table. Surgeon ON5ZO's first job in the morning. I hope the operation will go smoothly and that the patient will recover after anesthesia.

Other than that, I ordered a nice bag (link) to take the K3 to... well it ain't going nowhere for now but you never know... Received a couple of direct QSL cards, visited Belgium second biggest ham fair on Sunday, read that LZ DX 2008 results are out. Two and a half months after the contest. That's fast! Don't look for my score on top, it's way down. Glad that 2008 is over   ;o)