Part H:

2013 & 1972 CQ WorldWide DX Contests

Updated 2/03/2018

DX and Contesting

As a long time operator, I love contesting and HF. In particular I like to "Chase DX", meaning contacting in the various countries and zones around the world.

I participated in the annual CQ WW DX Contest in the fall of 2013. There were numerous Alaskan contestants.

In spite of the competition, AL7X prevailed in the "Low Power SSB" Category. This is the class of stations running 150 watts or less - not to be confused with the QRP category.

The radio I used was the Icom IC-7410; the antenna were the Hex Beam and the 75/40 meter trap dipole.

This was a good showing, I got the award shown in the photo, as well as a similar award for the "Classic" category.

Normally propagation during constests do not favor Nome. In this year, things were not too bad, and good operating, skills, luck and perseverance got me to the top of the Alaskan pile!

(Addendum - 2018) I also note that I also won the CQ WW DX contest for Alaska in 1972. This was 41 years before the 2013. My call sign back then was KL7GDO. I used a Swan 2-element triband beam at about 45 ft, a trap dipole for 75/40 and the radio was either the Swan 350 or the Yaesu FT-101 with no suffix later like the later FT-101A or FT-101E.

In those days I ran an amplifier, the Heathkit SB-200, with about 700 watts input, about 450 watts output. I still have the amplifier, but I am scared of plugging it in!

(End 2018 addendum)