HF band conditions are improving and solar cycle 25 is providing us with some great opportunities to work DX(distant) stations from all around the World. 10 meters is now open most days and Technician class operators have phone/voice privileges right in the heart of the band. A simple half wave dipole antenna for this band is easy to construct and does not take up a lot of real estate with an overall dimension near 16ft.
This weekend is the CQ Worldwide Contest. Many large contest stations wait all year for this event and the HF bands will be full of interesting call letters that you may only hear during a contest such as this. A modest station and a couple hours can net many contacts. Some folks will achieve DXCC(DX Century Club) by working more than 100 different countries during this contest weekend.
The exchange is simple: Single report and CQ Zone. Everyone is a 59 in a contest and the CQ zone for Oregon is 3.
Complete contest rules can be found at the link below.
SSB: October 26 – 27, 2024
CW: November 23 – 24, 2024
Starts: 0000 UTC Saturday
Ends: 2359 UTC Sunday
Ryan Poteet, KC7TAK
Assistant Emergency Coordinator, South County
Clackamas Amateur Radio Emergency Service (CARES)
503.544.3258