Sun Still Not Cooperating As ARRL DX Returns For 2009; Carribean Gets DX Edge Again

By Jamie Dupree NS3T  radio-sport.net 
Posted February 16, 2009

2009 has not seen much change so far in the way of better solar conditions for the HF contest bands, as the one sunspot that showed up in the days before the ARRL DX CW test was actually from the old Solar Cycle 23.

"Radio amateurs can really use the propagation that comes with an active Sun," said one sunspot blog last week.

If conditions are like there were for last weekend's CQ WPX RTTY test, then there might be some challenging times, as stations in North America and the Carribean reported very slow going on the first night of that contest.

What it means is that the formula for victory in this year's ARRL CW is pretty much what it's been for a number of years: DX stations have the advantage from the Carribean and maybe Africa and Hawaii, while US and Canadian stations have to find a way to squeeze out needed mults from Europe on all bands.

"There is not much to tell about strategy," says Yuri Onipko VE3DZ, who won Single Op honors in 2008 from Belize.

"If you are in the Caribbean and use decent station, all you need to do is run like crazy," Onipko told radio-sport.net, "And try to move missing multipliers by the end of the Contest."

One of the more competitive categories this weekend is sure to be the DX Single Op Low Power battle, which was won by David Farnsworth WJ2O. He will be back in the Turks and Caicos Islands again this year as VP5DF.

In 2008, WJ2O edged WP3C by 67,000 points, with H7/K9GY third, VP9/W6PH fourth and V49A (K0EJ) fifth on the DX side.

"This year I will be in YS (El Salvador) instead of YN Nicaragua)" said Eric Hall K9GY told radio-sport.net. Sure would be nice to win it but have to see how things pan out."

Hall has been thinking for a year about what he could have done to squeeze out some extra points. It's pretty simple, really - stay in the chair and operate.

"Biggest thing for winning it would be to not take so much off time. If I would of done a little more opg last year I might have won it," he added.

While Hall treks back to Central America, over on Bermuda will be the familiar call of Kurt Pauer W6PH, marking his tenth year operating from the QTH of Ed Kelly VP9GE.

"Same strategy as always," Pauer said last week. "Stay on the band with the greatest footprint and weak Europeans. Check 15m and 10m occasionally during the day."

Pauer admits overcoming stations in Carribean is difficult for him, because of his proximity to the East Coast.

"They have a distinct advantage in the available footprint of propagation from the Caribbean. As a result I don't get the same multiplier total that they do. VP9 has similar propagation to the mid-Atlantic states," he said.

But that does bring some advantages.

"I expect to do pretty well on 160 and 80 meters with relatively simple antennas due to my proximity to the northeast where there is the greatest density of potential contacts."

Back down in the warm sun of the Carribean, Mark Speck K0EJ will head from Tennessee to Nevis again this year.

"I plan on it being another Field Day style set up," Speck told radio-sport.net. My entire station (rig/laptop/ps/antennas) weighs in at 25 pounds."

"My "goal" for the contest is 100 QSOs/pound - made it handiliy in 2007 but was just a little short in 2008," he told radio-sport.net.

"I've never had a "top score" - but for a low power SO1R contester to do well I think it's pretty much a function of keeping your butt in the seat and always trying to be on a band open to USA when USA doesn't have propagation to Europe," Speck said of his strategy.

"This year I will just play the hand I am dealt and will do the best I can. There will be great ops with superior hardware elsewhere so I don't expect to win but I DO expect to have FUN!"