9V1KG – 4E1ADW – 4E1A
The results for the CQWW WPX Contest 2018 are out for CW and SSB. I was able to achieve in both modes #1 in the Philippines for all bands, low power. In CW, first time ever, I became continental winner for Oceania.
Equipment: IC-718, 100W, Inv. Vee dipole for 40 and 80 and 3 el Spider beam for 15 m and 20 m. For 10 m I just matched the Spider beam with a matchbox.
Today I tested the first time my new solar power setup for portable operations. I am using a 60 W PowerFilm foldable solar panel and a 5 A MPPT charge controller for a LiFePo4 4S battery. The whole weight is 1600 g including the 5 m connection cable.
It was cloudy day and the sun was most often covered by clouds. The panel is only exposed to 1/3 up to max. 1/2 to the full sunlight, if it is there.
Using a power analyzer, the data show a 1.4 A peak current and 19 W peak power. I was able to charge 10 Wh in about 2 hours. Next time I will try to get the panel under full illumination in the sun and measure again.
The analyzer shows current, voltage and power and in addition peak values for current and power as well as total energy (power integrated over time) in Wh.
Over the weekend March 25th/25th I participated in the CQ WPX Contest SSB, category Single Operator, Non-assisted, Low Power. Although propagation was not favourable, I could make more than 1000 contacts and achieve more than 1 Mio points (raw score). Having fun!
The analysis of log data gives a good snapshot for the current propagation conditions from the Philippines.
10 m band was open to Japan, Korea and China
The 2018 International Friendship Exchange (INFEX) and DX Contest took place on Feb 17th, 2018. DX1ACE participated from the National High School Dasmariñas.
For the lower bands I am using a 40/80 m trap dipole. In order to become qrv on 30 m, I added a radiation coupled lambda/2 element for 30 m, using 10 cm spreader. After cutting the additional wire to the right length, the resonance on 30 m is exactly at 10.1 MHz. The additional element has no influence on the resonance for 40 and 80 m, but the impedance on 30 m is with 150 Ohm significant higher than 50 Ohm.
I just installed a VHF/UHF antenna in Tagaytay, and tried to find a list of relay stations. It is quite difficult at the moment, most of the information found in the web was outdated. Here a short list of repeaters, I can access.
My spider beam is up for one year now in Tagaytay. Unfortunately we have a lot of wind here, and the element wires of the beam started tangling.
I can only get it down in March or April, to check and bring some more tension to the lines and wires.
