The CW CQ Worldwide DX Contest takes place this weekend, but you don’t have to jump into fray to take advantage of the contest. Many of the guys working the DX stations are already in place and testing out their stations. I’ve worked a couple already, and have heard a couple more. P40T in Aruba, for example, was quite loud here in Michigan on 40m this evening.
So, don’t wait until Saturday. Get on the air now and work some DX.
In another post, I compared the Yaesu FT-991A I’ve been using for the past couple of weeks to my ICOM IC-7300. There are lots of things that I think the IC-7300 does better than the FT-991A, but here’s one that I really don’t like.
When you set the clarifier (RIT on ICOMs), it changes the frequency that the rig sends over the computer interface. So, if I’m tuned to a station on 7028 kHz, and set the clarifier to -20 Hz, the frequency that my N3FJP logging software thinks that I’m tuned to is 7027.98 kHz, and if I don’t reset the clarifier before I log the contact, then frequency recorded will be 7.02798 MHz.
To me, that’s just wrong. I’m tuned to 7028 kHz, not 7027.98 kHz.
YLs on CW are sometimes as rare as, well, hen’s teeth (pun intended). A week ago, though, I managed to work two of them in a row: Amy, KT4E, in Knoxville, TN and Bonnie, WB4FSF, in Sanford, FL. Both are great ops (both are members of the First Class Operators’ Club) and I enjoyed our contacts.
Speaking of making contacts, the bands have had some decent, if not good, propagation lately. Maybe if we keep beating on the ionosphere, it will yield some better conditions.