CQ WPX SSB Contest 2018

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!

Klaus, 4E1A, during WPX SSB contest 2018

The analysis of log data gives a good snapshot for the current propagation conditions from the Philippines.

CQ zones reached with time (local Philippines) and average frequency. Yellow: long path.

10 m band was open to Japan, Korea and China

INFEX 2018 – DX1ACE

The 2018 International Friendship Exchange (INFEX) and DX Contest took place on Feb 17th, 2018. DX1ACE participated from the National High School Dasmariñas.

OCF dipole for 40, 20 and 15 m on a 12 m fiberglass pole and commercial v-shaped multi band dipole
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Girl scouts having fun with the radio
Dasmariñas National High School

80/40/30 m Dipole

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.

VSWR_30m
10.1 MHz Impedance (141 – j34) Ohm – VSWR 3
40m_VSWR
7.1 MHz Impedance (40 + j1) Ohm – VSWR 1.24
80m_VSWR
3.6 MHz Impedance (27 – j5) Ohm – VSWR 1.9

Bread Baking Gallery

I am baking my own bread for years already, but in the past I did it mainly with a bread baking machine using commercial yeast. In September 2017 I started my own sourdough, and over the last couple of months the breads became better and tastier. End of November 2017 I bought a kitchen machine, so that I can knead the dough with the machine. Important for a good bread is a slow fermentation of the dough. Usually it takes at least 16 to 24 hours from the first dough to the final loaf.

potato-walnut
Potato-Walnut Bread
Light white Spelt

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