200 confirmed countries on CW and SSB and Digital...
donderdag 30 oktober 2025
CQWW SSB Single Op Assisted Low Power 10M - first impressions
After I had sworn last year never to compete again in the non-assisted category of the CQWW contest — due to the excessive FOMOM (fear of missing out multipliers) stress — I decided this year to participate in the low-power category, albeit assisted.
This, too, is a challenge.
You instantly know where the multipliers are, and you can usually hear them fairly well, but actually working them is another matter. You constantly end up in pile-ups with high-power stations, while the clock keeps ticking and running isn’t an option.
Operating with 100W, however, gives a much better sense of the antenna’s performance. That was my main concern this year: to answer the question — does a 5-element Yagi really make a difference compared to a standard 3-element Yagi?
In other words, can I build my station around a 3-element multiband antenna — such as an Ultrabeam VL2.3 — or should I (also) invest in several monoband Yagis?
The answer is clear: the antenna definitely makes a difference. I received numerous superior signal reports. With these excellent propagation conditions, 100W was enough to work the entire world on 10m. Sure, 1500W would have improved efficiency, but that’s about it. And this time no QRM complaints from neighbours.
For the future, it’s clear that in addition to the 5-element on 10m and the 2-element on 40m, I should add a 5-element (Momobeam?) for 15m and a 4-element (DXBeam?) for 20m.
Compared to last year, there were two major improvements: the entire contest was recorded, and the voice keyer was properly configured this time, resulting in excellent modulation.
That I had to run above 29 MHz is just a detail. It probably cost me quite a few QSOs (and a bit of ego), but the upper part of the band is much quieter — which should have had a positive impact on my error rate.
>1000 QSO with 132 countries and 38 zones as a fantastic multiplier result. I only missed ZD7, and zone 1 was so briefly open that I didn’t make it either. I also noticed that very few stations, even in the HP category, worked more than 38 zones. The icing on the cake was KH6 as my final QSO — worth two multipliers.
The ON record in SO(A)LP 10M will surely have been broken — propagation conditions were truly exceptional.
Onward to CW, as SO(A)HP 10M…
vrijdag 10 oktober 2025
back on 160 meter band
I’m active again on 160m.
The inverted-L antenna I used before could be reinstalled without any issues, and the old measurements are perfectly reproducible.
At the moment, I’m only using 9 radials, each 1/8 wavelength long, which I hope will to be buried in the ground during wintertime. In a few weeks, additional temporary radials will be added.
The SWR is OK within my operating (CW and FT8) range of the antenna and is 1:1 with the help of the TunerGenius.
Over the past few evenings, 230 contacts have been logged, including 3 new countries (CU, OD, and T7), bringing my total number of unconfirmed entities to 99. Since I never received confirmation from JT1CO a few years ago, I hope to reach 98 confirmed DXCCs within a few weeks — just 2 more to go for 10-band DXCC.
The other day I picked up a single signal from ZS1J, unfortunately too brief to make a QSO, and yesterday I was heard in ZD9 and in Antarctica by DP0POL, but no one was active there at the time.
The most important thing is that the antenna clearly has potential. One of these days, the BOG will be connected so I can improve my receive performance.
zondag 17 augustus 2025
Final Countdown
The Final Countdown starts today.
Exactly 100 days left until the biggest change in my radio career, with more impact than any transceiver, amplifier, or antenna.vrijdag 15 augustus 2025
SO2V with flexradio 6400 and N1MM+
As described in the previous post, I have configured N1MM+ in SO2V mode to work with the FlexRadio 6400.
To recap: the 6400/8400 only has one SCU (unlike the 6600/8600 which has two), which means SO2R is not possible. However, two “slices” can be received simultaneously, but only on the same antenna. On the other hand, N1MM+ interprets the two slices as two radios because two COM ports need to be configured.
In short: to make N1MM+ work in SO2V mode with a FlexRadio 6400/8400, the configuration needs to be set up as if it were SO2R. At least, that’s my experience. Other opinions are welcome in the comments section below this blog.
The settings need to be adjusted at five different levels: DAX, CAT, N1MM+, SliceMaster, and CW Skimmer, which does not make things any easier.
1. DAX:
Here it’s important that both RX and IQ streams are enabled. Last time I had to restart the SMART-SDR software several times to achieve this. But there is a much simpler solution: if no panadapter appears, you need to select one in the SDR screen on the left in the DAX panel. Contrary to what you might expect, this is not the same DAX button as the one to the right of X/RIT. IQ-streaming is importart because it is the input for Skimmer.
Using all this software is a field of expertise in itself. Especially when certain features are used only occasionally, important items are quickly forgotten.
2. CAT:
Here the key is to provide a COM port for both slice A and slice B.
The choice of COM ports is entirely up to you, as long as they match the N1MM+ configuration and are not already in use by another Windows application.
VFO 1 (also called slice A) in my setup is linked to COM6, while VFO 2 (slice B) is linked to COM10. I also need a PTT link on COM7 (and COM11 for slice B), a Winkey link on COM9, and a UDP port 12060 (on the picture it is 12061, but better set it to the standard 12060) for sending spots. I’m not entirely sure how well this last one works, because the spot management is handled by SliceMaster (see below).
Finally, outside of contest use, there’s also TCP port 5003, which is used by FT8-WSJT.
.
3. N1MM+ configuration:
As mentioned earlier, the choice of ports is free, as long as they match the CAT software settings within SMART-SDR.
Here are the parameters per port, with the most important note being that “SO2R” must be checked — not SO2V, even though the latter might seem more logical.
Configuration of the broadcasting :
Port 7811 is used for a home-made application in Python that does a realtime QRZ.COM lookup of every worked call.
4. SliceMaster:
This software makes it easy to link external programs to SMART-SDR. During contests, I use it for Skimmer and spot management; outside contests, for example, I can run two WSJT sessions simultaneously — for instance, listening at the same time on 50.313 MHz and 50.323 MHz.
The most important settings can be found here:
5. Skimmer:
This decodes the CW signals for the two separate VFOs and adds them to the Telnet server. It’s very important that the Telnet session from N1MM+ is linked to Skimmer and not to a DX cluster. For this reason, the password in the Skimmer configuration must be disabled.
Below are the different configuration screens for Skimmer slice A and slice B:
Never use the reserved channels, always take IQ RX1 and IQ RX2.
maandag 4 augustus 2025
EU HF championship 2025
Because a planned BBQ was canceled, I unexpectedly had some free time to participate in the European HF Championship. Getting the SteppIR up in the air was a bit too much work, as the boom plate (see previous post) still needs to be mounted. I wasn’t expecting any big results, so it was a good opportunity to run a few tests:
1. Test of the new 80-10m Windom antenna, bought during the recent sale at WIMO.
I already have sufficient experience with the 160-10m version, but since that antenna is over 80 meters long, installation takes quite a bit of effort. I purchased the smaller version so I could hang it on the north-south axis, as opposed to my G5RV which has to be hung east-west. The advantage of a Windom antenna is that it has a short leg (toward the house) and a long leg (toward the garden).
According to the manual, the antenna works on 80/40/30/20/17/10m—so not on 160m or 15m. On 160m, the analyzer showed an SWR between 1.7 and 2, and it was perfectly usable across the band. 15m indeed required more effort from the tuner, but it still managed to match it well enough for operation.
For this contest—where DX yields no points and the coverage area is very similar to the fieldday in the Restricted category—this was the ideal antenna.
The idea is also to test this antenna in the context of field days. That’s why I chose to hang it at “only” 14 meters (Field Day rules allow 15m) and to operate with a maximum of 100W (as prescribed by the Field Day regulations).
Log analysis indeed shows two nulls to the north and south, just as expected. However, the benefit now is that the northern null covers mostly water and very little land.
With 775 contacts across all bands, the result exceeded expectations.
This map, based on the ADIF file, has been created with "https://qsomap.cqgma.org/ADIF_to_Karte.php"
2. Test of the Flex6400 + PowerGenius + TunerGenius combo.
I was particularly interested in how this setup handles rapid band and segment switching, and whether the mandatory 20ms delay causes issues in CW—specifically, not hearing the first dit or dah.
Since I wanted to participate in the low power category, I set the drive power to just 1W. This resulted in output power ranging from 75W to 85W, depending on the band, which was sufficient. After all, I wouldn’t dare run a 100W transmitter at full power for hours straight during fieldday. On 160m, the output just exceeded 90W.
To configure the tuner, I went through all bands before the contest so the values would be saved in memory. During the contest, it felt as if there were no switching delays. This thing works perfectly.
The amp—still quite noisy even at minimal output—did throw a single SWR error. Cause unknown, but acceptable given it’s a wire antenna. However, it also completely froze once (a hard reset was required). That’s less acceptable. Sure, it all works over a LAN with various types of traffic, but that shouldn’t be a problem.
3. Test of N1MM+ in SO2V mode.
The configuration cost me a lot of time and frustration. I’ll write a separate article about it for future reference and to help others. In short, the FlexRadio6400 (and 8400) does not support SO2R since only one antenna port can be used (antenna ports A en B work like a switch) at a time. But 2 slices can be configured and they are able to receive simultaneously. However, N1MM+ must be configured as SO2R (not SO2V) because each of the two "slices" requires a separate COM port and is therefore treated by N1MM+ as two separate radios.
There were also the expected issues with using DAX and IQ streaming to feed the two skimmers and forward the output to N1MM+ (Telnet and port issues).
IQ streaming, in particular, caused problems—due to the SDR software—because the second stream sometimes wouldn’t start for no apparent reason. Power-cycling and restarting resolved the issue. This will be a focus for future contests: let the system run for hours beforehand so that nothing needs to be configured at the last minute.
The result, however, was fantastic—ideal for a wire antenna (or a tribander with a single coax).
Two bands were received simultaneously the entire time, and for the first few hours, I only did S&P. Running would likely yield more contacts, especially in the high power category, but even with just 80W, I could generate solid rates simply by clicking from station to station.
When enough red (multipliers) showed up on the second band, I could switch instantly and start again. This gives a massive strategic advantage in any assisted category. It's nothing like cluster input, because each skimmer signal was received on my own antenna and was instantly workable.
This is how you win Field Days with a minimum number of operators.
The contest itself was pleasantly busy, and I had enough time to configure the global layout on the screens.
Since I pushed through to the bitter end (2 AM is a real grind), there was no more competition left within ON. My neighbour, ON5JT, was a good competitor during the first hours of the contest, but then stopped operation at the evening. Our (few) signals were quite comparable.
My score will be somewhere in the top 25, not bad for an multiband wire antenna that isn't made for 15m.
donderdag 31 juli 2025
Prototype of the home designed alu plate arrived
Once again, a small stone has been laid in the river of ongoing projects: an aluminum plate, designed by myself, that aims to solve the shortcomings of the mini-tiltplate.
Although the tiltplate plays a crucial role in my station for antenna selection, it comes with several limitations:
-
Each type of Yagi boom requires a different solution. Usually, the boom can be mounted inside the tiltplate, but for certain types—such as the 80mm square boom—more complex technical workarounds are necessary.
-
Aligning round boom tubes is a slow and painstaking task.
-
For larger antennas, my mini-tiltplate is inadequate due to a lack of sufficient mounting points.
-
When a vertical boom truss is required, the mini-tiltplate offers no solution.
After much thought, I’ve come up with a solution that addresses all these issues: an adaptive aluminum plate that fits the chosen antenna perfectly. It is pre-mounted on the antenna boom and can be easily connected to the tiltplate using seven M10 bolts, with respect to the karlock security system.
Ensuring that the antenna hangs perfectly horizontal is now achieved with two adjustment screws spaced at the correct distance—no more hoping that things will align properly once airborne, but rather having certainty in advance. That makes a real difference.
My first prototype plate was delivered this week.
Fixed vertical positioning, independent of the used antenna.
This plate can easily accommodate both the OB5-10 with a round boom in combination with the SteppIR, as well as the OB2-40 with an 80mm square boom.
The Dutch company (www.laseropmaat.nl) that cut the plate works with input based on a DXF file. It was a bit of a throwback to my mechanical AutoCAD drawing days—over 30 years ago—to get this drawn. LibreCAD is a free piece of software that can generate this type of file.
The result meets all expectations. I was a bit nervous checking whether any measurement errors had slipped in—but fortunately, everything turned out perfectly.
The next step is getting the Yagi back in the air.
This opens the path for the use of several bigger monoband antennas that can be installed within minutes.
Abonneren op:
Reacties (Atom)