AB1OC Operating In The 2014 ARRL DX Phone Contest

I had the opportunity to operate in the ARRL DX Phone Contest again this year. The object of this contest is for W/VE stations to work DX stations and vice-versa. I competed in the Single Op High-Power Assisted category again this year. In spite of my limited operating time (about 25 of the available 48 hours), I was able to pretty much duplicate my score from last year’s 40+ hour effort.

DXCCs Worked In The Contest

I worked a total of 109 DXCC Entities (97 in the first 24 hours) and 31 of the 40 CQ zones during the contest.

QSO Rates During The Contest

As you can see from the picture above, I had some great runs on 10m, 15m and 20m. The 20m opening on Sunday was one of the best that I have ever experienced. I had multiple QRP (5 watt) stations in the Middle East and Europe come into our station at RST’s of 59+! I also had several VK’s and ZL’s call me long path during this opening while I was running into Europe.

Final Claimed Score

I was pleased with my final score of a little over 2M given my limited operating time. I was able to complete just under 2,000 contacts during the contest with 10m, 20m and 15m being my best bands in that order. The contest was great fun and a good warm up for the upcoming 2014 CQ WW WPX Phone Contest.

– Fred (AB1OC)