ARRL 10-Meter Contest - 2023
Call: ED8X
Operator(s): LU9ESD
Station: EF8R
Class: SO SSB HP
QTH: Gran Canaria
Operating Time (hrs): 33
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
CW:
SSB: 3607 179
-------------------
Total: 3607 179 Total Score = 1,290,948
Club: Araucaria DX Group
Comments:
Finally a contest from EA8!
What a great honor and pleasure to wrap up this dream year of 2023, operating
from the world-famous “Magic Mountain” with its rich history and legacy.
A huge thanks to my good friend Juan EA8RM and the entire Magic Mountain staff
for allowing me this amazing adventure!
Without RM's insights and tips, I would have felt completely lost not knowing
the propagation and openings from here. GRACIAS JUANILLO!!
Also, a big thanks to Manolo EA8DO for letting me operate using his callsign
ED8X for this contest!
The only thing I did when I arrived a couple of days before the contest was to
put one of the antennas that was pointing to EU, to point it to NA instead. I
also added a vertical dipole for diversity on the second receiver. This setup
gave me 8 ele fixed to Europe, 6 ele to NA, and another 6 ele rotatable.
The location is breathtaking. I never could have imagined the reception a
vertical dipole at 6 meters high could achieve in this spot. None of the
antennas are more than 10 meters off the ground. The terrain itself provides the
height, about 500 meters above sea level, almost surrounded by the vy close
ocean. The name of the place is well earned: this place is magical.
The propagation was good, at times excellent, but I felt there was a significant
lack of participation. It seems we are far off the numbers from the previous
solar cycle maximum, for example, D4C's record of 4800 QSOs in Phone. While I
strongly believe that contests maintain a certain level of activity and interest
in our hobby, we must not confuse the increasing number of logs received (due to
the widespread use of computers) with the actual number of participants and QSOs
made. Hopefully, we can find ways to bring new people into the hobby and promote
contest activity to change the trend. Maybe the people are still there, but
sitting (or not) in front of their computers, forgetting that the FT modes were
created to fill that gap during the solar cycle minimum...
Beyond that, I continue to be thankful for these unique opportunities, to
everyone who trusts me to have these experiences, and to all the thousands of
colleagues who were in my logs throughout this amazing year of 2023 for me.
Cheers to all of you! Merry Christmas and an excellent 2024.
See you next year!
Manu LU9ESD/AC1NU
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