This year we wanted to seriously compete in CQWW CW from the ED1R contest station. While the station is equipped reasonably on all bands with Yagis and verticals, there were no dedicated receiving antennas available - yet. Out of my former contest participation from other stations, I know that when it comes down to winning a CQWW, dedicated receiving antennas are a must-have. Beverages provide great directivity and reduce the EU clutter significantly.
This year I had to honor to be invited by the Qatar Amateur Radio Society (QARS) to operate the CQ WW SSB contest with them. The station is set up in a field day style on the northern tip of Qatar, about 100km away from the capital Doha. We are directly located at the beach and used almost exclusively vertical antennas. A73A entered in the category Multi Operator / Multi Transmitters, running 6 Stations in parallel. Keep on reading for some pictures and lessons learned.
A few days ago I had the honor to be invited for dinner with the VP8ORK Microlite DX-Pedition Team. Before leaving from Ushuaia, southern Argentina towards the Islands of South Orkney the team assembled itself in Buenos Aires. Thanks to the LUCG (LU Contest Group) and especially the help of Claudio, LU7DW we had a fantastic barbecue in one of the famous parrillas of Buenos Aires. While writing this, the VP8ORK is already QRV. If you haven’t worked them yet, go and give them a call. Here are a few pictures of this evening:
