Before the contest: the usual story. Workload and bad propagation made for a low level of enthusiasm. But I wanted to get on and make a few contacts. My plan was a casual SB40 so on Friday evening I mounted the vertical. I'd go unassisted. Just park and call CQ. I'm only in this one for the fun so no chasing mults, no maximizing the score, no S&P, no SO2R. Only one man and his F1 button (or 'enter' for that matter with N1MMLogger's ESM). The goal was to relax for a change...

I got up on Saturday at around 04.00 utc which is 06.00 local and after breakfast and watching the rerun of the late night TV news I made my first QSO at 04.54 utc. Not much going on and I got bored pretty soon. One hour later I quit with 73 QSO on 40m. I went outside and started some work in the garden.

By noon on Saturday I returned to the shack to give it another try. Where to go with the tower not up and the tribander only 9m high? 20m? 15m? Why not try 10m? Much to my surprise I discovered 10m was full with quite loud signals. Full being up to 28060. Loud being S7 or more. Hey: SFI = 68 and it's ten meter! I parked on 28061 and launched a CQ. In little over half an hour to lunchtime I made 64 QSO on 28 MHz. I ate lunch and went back up. I had about one hour until I had to leave to the city to get our picture taken. We both need a new ID card as the old one is about to expire and we need to apply with a picture on a special format. So bye bye ten meter with 201 QSO logged. I expected to get back at around 15.30 utc so that would leave me with a closed 10m band. Or so I thought...

At 15.44 I came home and ran upstairs. 10m still alive and kicking! Woohoo. It became clear that SB40 turned into SB10 and I started what would become the fastest hour in the contest. Between 1600 to 1700 utc I logged 110 QSO amongst whom 3V8BB for a nice DX mult. On 10m! Right now! How sweet... I worked a dozen more at 1900 utc but that was it. I called it a day. I wouldn't return on 40m because I already took down the vertical. There was a threat for T-storms and who needs 40m anyway when you've got 10m  HI.

Sunday 05.30 utc. 10m already alive! Mostly local stuff but half an hour later a first loud UA9. Great! The rate was steady and some more 3 point DX called from within a 5000 km range (UA9, EX, 4L, 4K etc). At 07.58 utc regular HS0AC called me. On Ten, remember: SFI = 68, bottom of the cycle. Orgasmatic! The pace picked up a bit with EU stuff and the occasional UA9 but bingo again at 10.17 when HS0ZCW called. Nice DX but too bad not a new PFX. My hopes were high: what's next from the East? Less than 4 minutes later: YB0ECT. Yes! VU2PTT continued the amazement this morning and at 11.04 it was time for yet another surprise. VO1MP with my 5el for 28MHz pointed to 90° which is about 150° out of his direction. It wasn't a big signal but very workable and an easy multiplier. And very early in the morning on his side! I turned the beam to 300° (W / VE) but in vain... A couple of minutes later with the yagi back to 90° it was E21EJC who surprised me. A nice and totally unexpected DX cake on Ten so far but it needed a cherry on top... JA6WIF took the honor at 11.26. I couldn't believe it: a JA on 10m... Should you need remembering: SFI = 68, bottom of cycle 23! He was weak and turning the beam slightly into his direction sealed the bargain.

I went on until 11.40 and then I ate and we went out for a bicycle ride. There was an event held on several locations throughout the village here and we went from stop to stop. Since I wasn't into this contest very seriously I decided to do the XYL this favor. Nevertheless I was very glad to get home because a) my bottom hurt because I'm not used to sitting on a saddle for over 3 hours and b) I wanted to work USA on 10m and now was the time! So back in the shack at 15.13 but the band had lost it by then. I already had 600 QSO on 10m. With SFI = 68! Bottom of the cycle! Did I mention that already? I decided to move the beam more west away from W / VE and got called by two PY in a row. Then D4C called me. What a thrill to have that followed by a UN and TC (=TA) on the back of the beam.

Before shutting down I wanted a quick run on 20m. My guess was that USA would be eager to work the OQ5 prefix because I hadn't been on 20m yet. But I only worked a few and they were weak. K3ZO was hardly S6. Go figure. I made 89 QSO on a disappointing 20m and threw the towel. I skimmed (no pun intended!) 28 MHz another few times in the course of the evening but nothing happened. I'm sure I would have worked one or two W's if the tower had been up. The catch of the day:

Band      QSOs    Pts  WPX
     7      73     174   59
    14      89     167   40
    28     614     722  301
Total     776    1063  400
Score: 425.200

I'll submit SB10 HP unassisted with 217 322 points claimed. When writing this 3830 has already disclosed a top claimed in this class of more than 800k by RW2F. I guess it'll be a '1st ON' paper once more. It was fun to make some contacts again after a long period of inactivity. I hope to do a full option effort in IARU, I hope the K3 will be here and working by then. And I hope to put up the K9AY loop. Lots of hopes...

Last week DL8WPX sent out a mail about the updated web site for the WAE contest. It showed that some ON3 held the Belgian record for CW LP with a whistle score. I knew for sure that the current CW LP record was held by ON4IT/A who beat me in 2002.

I discovered WAE CW in by accident 2001 together with ON4IT, who is even younger than me. We got to know each other on VHF because we lived in the same town and we were both youngsters. We got our HF tickets at about the same time and were looking for some DX on 20m that Saturday in August. The year 2001 offered propagation and we were eager to work USA. That was such a blast being new on HF. Only we didn't know why all those guys were sending 'QTC?'. Later on we looked that up and decided that it would be fun to try the next year. So we practiced copying QTC's and off we went in 2002. I was still living at my parent's place equipped with this impressive antenna farm: one wire and ATU. ON4IT had even less (a shorter wire) so he went to operate ON5YR's place. ON5YR is the one who got me hooked to contesting before bailing out himself. He has a tribander and resonant antennas for 40/80. What could I do against that? So ON4IT had better ears and a better signal so he could harvest more mults and more QTC's. Hence ON4IT/A holds the ON record in WAE CW for LP since 2002. I didn't break it from here in 2003 or 2004 because conditions took a plunge and I had no antennas. Later on I bought an amp and went HP. Except for 2005 which I forgot all about...

I wanted to do justice to ON4IT and our mutual history so I sent a message to DL8WPX asking to review the records and restore ON4IT as record holder. He replied that after investigating the matter, not ON4IT/A held the CW LP record but OO5ZO. That was my special prefix call in 2005 and the first WAE from here with a tower and a big yagi and resonant antennas on 40/80. So there you go: I hold the LP record for Belgium in my favorite contest and didn't even know it.

I haven't produced much since then in WAE CW:

• 2006: http://lists.contesting.com/_3830/2006-08/msg00448.html
• 2007: http://lists.contesting.com/_3830/2007-08/msg00491.html

My target is snatching the HP record before my LP will be crushed. It is easily done when the propagation to JA/VK/ZL and US West Coast returns in a few long years. Both for the HP record as well as the LP record. Can't wait for that!

When I came home this afternoon, I found my microHAM DB37 cable to connect the coming K3 to my MK2R+. What a big cable that is, with lots of plugs. Pitfall: everyone is talking about the 'DB15' or 'sub D 15' connector on the rear side of the K3. To me this is a 15 pin connector with 2 rows (13 + 15 pins). It turns out it is a small 'VGA' style plug with 3 rows. I haven't seen a real K3 nor looked at the drawings. So I downloaded the manual and indeed: it's the 3 row version. I had the wrong image in mind.

I ordered one week ago directly from microHAM and the cable was delivered today. But there's more. While unpacking the cable another delivery van arrived. I signed for the parcel that contained my new antistatic mat with matching bracelet I ordered in the UK. It is strongly advised to use this to assemble and fit options into the K3 transceiver.

I was trying to be a cheapskate and avoid buying this item. But a posting on the Elecraft reflector threw the advice in my face to buy one. Of course deep down I knew I just had to do this. It is only a small investment compared to the K3/100 and the extra second receiver I ordered. But on the other hand, the bookkeeper in me said that small purchases left and right make a bug sum spent in the end. My biggest problem was that a Belgian online reseller asked 80 Euro ex S/H. An Elecraft user group subscriber pointed me to a UK address. I paid half the Belgian price but S/H included. Ordered on Saturday, unpacked today. The only downside: it's a green mat while the online picture showed a blue one. I prefer blue   :o)

Now I can count down to the delivery of the K3. Should be 3 weeks or so. Fingers crossed!

I am a big fan of The Simpsons and have been since the early nineties. Today's episode featured principal Seymour Skinner as a ham radio operator. Ain't that cool?

There is a link to this subject: http://www.mail-archive.com/amradio@mailman.qth.net/msg17481.html

Finally a wise posting on the topic on CQ-Contest: Skimmer going on vacation by K1KI and K1AR. I especially like the phrase "let's get back to posting information that helps readers learn to be better contest operators". That's what I said before: usefull information is drowned in endless Skimmer musings. So they'll be discussing this at the Dayton Hamvention? Should be fun (not!). Anyway it was time for me to take a stand. You want skimmer? Then use it. But maybe it would indeed be wise to keep it out of "unassisted" and make it "assisted". Not an easy one. I have nothing against CW code Readers. If it gets someone on the air and provide more contest contacts for everyone: GREAT! But Skimmer might indeed be one bridge too far. On the other hand: the actual advantage remains to be seen. My K3WWP daily read pointed me to a Skimmer Petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/skimmer/  I am not someone who easily signs petitions but I chose to sign this.

Europe's biggest online ham seller WiMo announces:

The inventor of the well renowned Fibreglas Telescope Towers, Walter Spieth (DK9SQ) has decided to close his business DK9SQ Funktechnik after more than 30 years of active duty. His well known products (masts, SQ Vertical, SQ Loop) will still be available - we will continue to produce these fine antennas.

My ham career is based on DK9SQ masts! From late 2000 when I got my HF ticket, I have had at least one of these in use.

• My first 'real' antenna at my parent's place was a 20m inverted V supported by the DK9SQ mast.
• The first time I went portable on HF was at the XYL's parental house was with a DK9SQ mast.
• My strongest DX on 40m was ZL6QH: S9+20dB in WAE CW 2002 on a DK9SQ mast.
• My first contest from our own QTH (April 2003, EU Sprint) was with a DK9SQ mast.
• My first real DX on 80m was 50% thanks to a DK9SQ mast...

Needless to say I like these things, although they are not perfect as you can read in my eHAM.net review. You should be careful too because these things bend a long way but sure do break in the end. And they get brittle by UV exposure over the years. To the left a rare picture of myself taken during the very hot summer of 2006. BREAKING NEWS: I was working on my new 80m vertical when a fiber glass pole couldn't take it anymore. It was NOT a DK9SQ but another brand and I got a factory replacement: the element somehow was weaker and cracked...

Some nice new goodies on LotW. The 3B7C logs were uploaded too. But those aren't on the list because I already have a paper QSL card and credit for this entity. DXCC status is 200 confirmed (LotW) and these 9 new confirmations. I need to check my DX4WIN log to see how many new ones I have confirmed on paper. That's the easy job. Then to find those specific cards in the big pile of processed QSL. Or wait until I get these confirmed on LotW. Probably the latter as my DXCC envy is overruled by the disgust of digging through QSL cards. ON4BHQ told me he had quite a few cards in his latest 'buro batch' printed and sent by GlobalQSL. Including one of mine which I sent him to check the speed at which the cards travel from their facilities to the receiving end.

That turns out to be quite OK. Four months between uploading and receiving a card taking into account the extra delay a card to ON gets. ON4BHQ informs me that the cards are of very high quality. I'm pretty curious as I haven't touched a GlobalQSL card myself. I'm sure there will be a few in the truckload of incoming cards that are waiting for me to be picked up and sorted / answered.

Over the last week the results came out for two smaller contests. Smaller yet big fun. Come to think of it: any CW contest is big fun. Current solar conditions aside, of course.

• 9ACW contest: ON5ZO finished 23rd out of 76 logs with 547 QSO.
• LZ DX contest: OQ5M finished 13th out of 271 logs with 900 QSO.

I like LZ DX a lot: 24h CW right before the CQ WW CW. Great way to check the station, monitor propagation and sharpen CW skills. I really did almost every contest in 2007. A night and day contrast with the first half of 2008. I hope to be back late 2008. Well, it shouldn't take a long as the end of the year to be back.

I just ordered a microHAM cable to connect the anticipated K3 to the MK2R+. A bit expensive for what it is but I really don't have the time to hunt for the parts and to solder everything together. Hmm, the parts are probably all in my private stock. Let's stick to "no time" which means no motivation. I finished a shack decoration project this week. More on that later. I need to take some pictures which implies cleaning up the shack.

As it turns out my hunch about 7QP last weekend was right. I talked to K7GK and he said K7ZSD's log for 7QP didn't show any EU. Cranking up the tower would have been in vain - so my guess was right and spending the sunny weekend outside with the XYL was a better time investment than spending it in a hot shack.

Stay tuned for more non-interesting ON5ZO facts.

Nothing happening in the shack. I planned 7QP and NEQP but after two days of hard labour in the garden I couldn't get myself going to crank up the tower. We finished the trimming job last night around 17.00 local. Shave 60 meters of spruce trees both sides and cut off 50 to 80 cm. After this body wrecking job and a light sunburn I watched the online DX cluster. Many spots for both QSO parties but only W-to-W spots. SFI = 68 and A = 10... Why even bother?

While the stack of unprocessed QSL cards must be growing, I found the time to digitize some contest awards I received recently. OK, I admit: I had them digitized by my nephew with my dad's scanner. I wonder how big the box with unsorted and unseen QSL cards has grown by now. The box is waiting for me at the club's QSL manager's place. The little space in the club's QSL sorting closet is way too small, even for my monthly load. Each month I get approximately half a shoe box. The list with Summer Projects is growing. Add item: "Plough your way to half a year of incoming QSL".

	Left is the culprit for the tons of QSL cards. I finished second in the RRDXA Most Active Operator 20007 program. 23.366 contacts: that should get you some QSL cards. This year won't even get me in the top ten...		Holyland DX Contest 2007. Working dozens of 4X/4Z stations in a row. Again an enjoyable event I skipped in 2008.
	Best RRDXA score in the IARU contest for SO HP CW. I hope to be back this year. That should be the first contest with the K3 transceiver. And maybe a K9AY RX loop?		EU Sprint 2007. I did two out of four. A third was operated from here by Denis K7GK. My target since 2003 has been to operate all 4 sprints and be ON Country Winner as many times. Maybe next year?

A new month just begun so it's time to do the monthly CW Freak run. CW Freak is my favorite CW trainer. I like the 25 QSO run with increasing speed. I don't quite dominate the scores though. My WWYC friend Fab DJ1YFK does. He gets over 100 WPM. One-oh-oh WPM is no typo. Talk about a CW Freak. Respect Fab! I'm glad he doesn't call me at that speed in the contest. I would look even more a LID then  HI. To the left you can see how I just did. That is my monthly average. I do feel that I'm less active on the air but with no warm up I still copy well above 40 WPM without errors which is well enough to start a contest. My weak point is the S and H above 45 WPM. I always get those mixed up. Same with 2 and 3 when it's really fast.

This last run I copied a fast CO....Y so a lot of DXing on HF made me type CO8LY. Bingo! I always get a thrill in the contest when you take a shot at a call starting from a partial and it turns out to be right. You can't buy or learn a thing called "experience".

Take a look at DJ1YFK's YouTube movies. Especially his CW Freak effort movie.