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So far, 2010 has seen only two days without sunspots, and while sunspot numbers have not been especially high, HF propagation has been showing some signs of life, pumping up expectations for this year's ARRL DX CW Contest.
"If conditions on 15M are like this (past) weekend, and we get a few 10M openings, it promises to be a very interesting event," says John Crovelli W2GD, who will be part of a Multi-Two effort at EF8M in the Canary Islands.
A check of 15 meters in the CQ WPX RTTY contest this past weekend did show a decent amount of action between Europe and North America, which could certainly let some stations challenge the hold that Caribbean stations have had on ARRL DX in recent years.
10 meters was also showing signs of life, with action between North and South America and even some spots between the USA and Africa and Asia.
"M/2 class is very competitive, and it will be a challenge to overcome the obvious distance advantage enjoyed by Carib stations," Crovelli added.
Last year's top Single Operator scorer will be back on from a different QTH, as Scott Redd K0DQ will try to be active from the contest station of W4RX on 1800 foot Mount Weather in Virginia, about 60 miles to the West of Washington, D.C.
With a lot of snow recently in the DC region, Redd told radio-sport.net he was worried that it might prevent some much needed antenna and station work before ARRL DX.
"Actually, it seems pretty similar to access to VY2ZM last year....need a snowmobile to get in," Redd said.
As for the chances of repeating as the top Single Op overall, Redd was realistic.
"I’d say it’s an uphill battle," Redd acknowleged. "W4 is not W1, let alone VY2."
While Redd looks to win again in the Single Operator High Power category, there are several winning streaks on the line on the W/VE side of this contest.
Ed Sawyer N1UR has won four straight Single Op Low Power titles; Chas Fulp K3WW has won two straight Assisted titles and Team W3LPL has won three consecutive Multi-Multi CW crowns.
Outside of W/VE, several well known US and Canadian contesters will be in the Carribean looking for victory again this year, led by John Barcroft K6AM, who will be back in the Cayman Islands at ZF2AM, and by Yuri Onipko VE3DZ, who this year travels to Barbados.
"I will set up a station myself," Onipko told radio-sport.net, as he will "bring my own radio and Spider Beam for 10-15-20."
"I don't know, if I can win with this setup," the WRTC 2010 qualifier said, "But, of course, I will try."
The 2010 ARRL DX CW Contest begins at 0000z February 20 and ends at 2400z February 21.
And don't forget that the ARRL DX SSB contest is two weeks later, starting at 0000z on March 6 and ending 2400z March 7.
St. Vincent is the largest island of the group known as the Grenadines, between St. Lucia and Grenada.
For Cree, it has proven to be a good QTH for his low power efforts, as his call is routinely in the mix in the ARRL contests. In the 2009 CW test, he finished 5th in DX Low Power, which was won by Andrew Bodony P40LE (K2LE).
Cree told radio-sport.net that his setup is nothing special.
"HF antenna is just a 3-ele yagi, about 35 feet up," he said in an email last week.
"Although I often operate from the same QTH, between visits everything is stowed away. I arrive on Wednesday evening, so have 48 hours to erect the temporary tower and raise antennas."
"I guess to significantly improve I need to find a way to stay awake longer," Cree said, mentioning something that a lot of contesters might understand.
The English contester dreams of improvements at J88DR, but only so much.
"Space is limited at my QTH, so no chance of a big vertical for instance - radials are also impossible."
Still, J88DR is a familiar call for US and Canadian hams, especially on the low bands.
"I find it surprisingly easy to run on 160 & 80, despite only having 100 watts," said Cree. "I guess the DX call-sign makes it so! Certainly from home in England it would be very difficult to hold a frequency."
On Topband, Cree uses a loaded dipole that he hopes to get "slightly higher this year."
Finally, his propagation outlook for this year's contest is one that many would like to come true.
"I am hoping and expecting better propagation on 10m this year - it can't be worse than last time! Hopefully the 15 and 20m openings will be slightly longer, especially in the evening."
