CQWW CW contest 2015 - a great effort by EI2KM

I had the pleasure of taking part in the CQWW CQ contest 2015 with the EI2KM team. We were based at Doug EI2CN's QTH in County Louth. We used one transmitter only. Our final QSO count was over 4,100, with a claimed score 4.8 million points.

Operators were Alain F8FUA, Stephane F5UOW, Doug EI2CN, Declan EI6FR, Anthony EI2KC and Don EI6IL. Our best band was 40 metres, with over 1,000 QSOs.  Next best was 80 metres, with 919 QSOs, we had 938 while 15m. We made 452 QSOs on top band. We had the pleasure of using a four square receive antenna on the low bands. Equipment was an Elecraft K3 and contest software was Win-Test.

Rates were good a lot of the time, with nice pipelines to North America at times on 15m and some great action on 40m. Declan EI6FR ran through the night from midnight Saturday until around 6am Sunday morning on the low bands.

I have to say it was a real pleasure to hear the likes of HS0 Thailand, YB Indonesia and such far away places calling me on 40 metres. 

But it was a very sociable occasion and in addition to the contest activity there was plenty of chat among radio friends.

Fantastic band conditions for CQWW SSB 2015

CQ contest . . . EI2KC taking part in CQWW SSB contest 2015.

I took advantage of excellent band conditions during the CQWW SSB contest to work some new band slots and enjoyed dipping in and out of the contest. I wasn't actively participating, so to speak, but did enjoy my limited activity. All my activity on the 10 metre band was carried out with my Antron 99 antenna. It's a fabulous antenna on that band when conditions are good. And conditions were surprisingly excellent.

Here follows a summary of the nice contacts made (including a few that were non-contest QSOs):

4L0A Georgia - 10m SSB - new band slot.
XW1IC Laos - 10m SSB - new band slot.
SK3W Sweden - 10m SSB - new band slot.
AH0K Mariana Islands - 10m SSB - not a new slot but fab condx meant I got him with one call!
V47T St. Kitts & Nevis - 10m SSB - new band slot.
HG150ITU Hungary - 20m CW - last of the HA/HG special ITU call signs needed for gold award.
CR6T Portugal - 15m SSB - can't believe I needed Portugal on 15 SSB - new band slot!
TK/PB8DX Corsica - 15m SSB - new band slot.
C91B Mozambique - 17m SSB - operated by my friend Beth MW0VOW. New band slot!

4U70UN United Nations HQ - 12m CW - new country on 12 metres. Delighted to hear them strong.
4U70UN United Nations HQ - 17m SSB - new band slot.
A71CV Qatar - 40m SSB - new band slot.
4O3A Montenegro - 80m SSB - new band slot.
VK4SBB Australia - 10m SSB - not a new slot but an indication of the fantastic propagation.
C37N Andorra - 10m SSB - new country on 10m!!
TK/PB8DX Corsica - 10m SSB - new band slot.
4U70UN United Nations HQ - 17m CW - another slot.
VP2V/N3DXX British Virgin Islands -10m SSB - new band slot.
4U70UN United Nations HQ - 20m CW - new country on 20m!!!
KL7RA Alaska - 15m SSB - a late QSO and a nice surprise at 19:21 local time - new band slot!
JD1BNA Ogasawara - 30m CW - a non-contest QSO. New country on 30 metres!!
4U70UN United Nations HQ - 30m CW - a second new country on 30m!!

Below is a video I made during the contest. It shows my QSOs with A73A (Qatar), VU2PAI (India), VR2XAN (Hong Kong), VU2CPL (India), B1Z (China), A61ZX (United Arab Emirates), and VK4SDD (Australia), all on 10 metres, and all using the Antron 99 antenna.