Contest scores

This page keeps track of my past radio contest scores so I can remember how I did and what my best results are. It probably doesn’t mean a lot to anyone else, though. I know I’m never going to be really competitive, so my goal is to compete with myself and best my previous high scores.

These are the contests I go out of the way to participate in and submit a log:

• ARRL January VHF
• ARRL September VHF
• CQ WW DX SSB
• CQ WW 160m SSB
• New England QSO Party

And then these are contests I sometimes participate in, or would like to get serious about:

• ARRL DX
• ARRL August UHF
• ARRL Sweepstakes
• CQ WW VHF
• NH QSO Party

2019

ARRL 160 CW

ARRL September VHF

Lots of equipment failures in this contest - 6m radio was broken on Saturday, transverter switch didn’t work, 6m moxon occassionally had too high SWR, 23cm transverter was broken on Saturday, the 13cm antenna had too high SWR, and the 9cm transverter was misconfigured. We fixed several things for Sunday and were able to put together a decent score, but Saturday really killed a serious effort.

ARRL 10 GHz and Up

This was my first year doing this contest. I operated one day of each weekend - first from Hogback and then from Equinox. My best contacts were with Kearsarge from Hogback, and Mt. Washington and Saddleback PA from Equinox.

ARRL August 222+

This was my first time roving in this contest. I only got out one day due to weather, didn’t have all the bands I wanted, and only roved from two sites. It was still a lot of fun and I think I’ll do it more seriously in the future.

ARRL June VHF

This was my first real solo rove. I borrowed Sean’s transverters and used my own antennas. I operated from three grids in southern New England on Saturday, four more in northern New England Sunday, and made a couple extra stops to grab extra microwave contacts along the way. This was very successful.

CQ WPX SSB

ARRL January VHF

A snowstorm on Saturday night and Sunday wiped this contest out, so Sean and I just cobbled together makeshift rovers from whatever mobiles and other gear we had and worked from two grids. Most of the microwave contacts came from visiting AF1T’s house and using his spare gear. The light contacts were from homebrew equipment.

2018

ARRL 160 CW

CQ WW DX CW

ARRL September VHF

ARRL June VHF

CQ WW DX SSB

CQ WW 160m SSB

Much lower score this year due largely to going hiking on Saturday, thus going to sleep earlier on Friday and not wanting to operate as much after I got home on Saturday.

ARRL January VHF

We did a run and gun rover operation hitting 14 grids and using loops on the car to minimize setup and tear down time. We also added two microwave bands with tiny yagis to work several people on six bands. This really seems like the way to go roving.

2017

ARRL 160 CW

CQ WW DX CW

My first time operating a CW contest.

ARRL Sweepstakes SSB

CQ WW DX SSB

This year I just worked everyone I could hear. I didn’t try until Saturday night because I knew it would be too busy for me to ever get through, though I managed some 40/80/160 contacts. Sunday was was much less busy so that’s where the majority of my contacts came from.

ARRL September VHF

Poor band conditions or relatively few operators meant our multipliers were way down. Equinox was an especially poor showing. We showed up earlier but also had equipment problems, but it probably didn’t matter. We still managed to get almost as many points as last year by hitting a lot more grids and getting lots more contacts on 6m and 2m.

New England QSO Party

We operated from a rental house in Windsor County, VT because there was no multi-operator high score so we would almost be assured of a record. We operated the entire weekend, though Sunday afternoon was very slow. The antenna was a full-sized 80m inverted vee that I built and hung up in a tree in the front yard.

CQ WW 160m SSB

I made more of an effort to compete, working everyone I could hear. It didn’t result in more contacts than last year but I think I got more Canadian and DX stations which brought my score way up.

ARRL January VHF

Very poor propagation prevented us from getting out of New England at all, but we still managed a record score from my house. We tried CW and MSK144 modes for increasing our grid totals, but it didn’t matter. We quit early because of how slow it was.

2016

ARRL Sweepstakes SSB

I focused more on trying to get a clean sweep than a high score, which meant I tended to skip over a station if I already had that multiplier. I think getting a clean sweep in just the SSB contest is unlikely.

CQ WW DX SSB

ARRL September VHF

This was our first time roving. We got to Equinox late and were limited to only about 80 minutes of operating time before the road closed, and then weather on Sunday prevented us from operating from Kearsarge so we had to go back to Hogback. We added a 1.25m transverter and beam which meant that band was at least as useful as 70cm.

CQ WW 160m SSB

I focused more on getting US states for 160m WAS instead of my score.

ARRL January VHF

This was the first multi-operator contest. Conditions were not good.

2015

CQ WW DX SSB

I didn’t seriously participate in this contest but uploaded a log to help out the people I made contacts with.

ARRL September VHF

For this contest, I ran more coax allowing me to get back up on 1.25m FM which added a couple more mults to a really good total. Even though 6m and 2m contact totals were low, I did very well with the multipliers on each.

ARRL January VHF

I added a 70cm beam to the stack, which meant I didn’t have enough coax and had to use the 1.25m run for it. This gamble paid off, as I made more contacts on 70cm SSB than I would have on 1.25m FM.

2014

ARRL September VHF

I added large beams on 6m and 2m from someone who was moving, which definitely increased my grid and QSO totals. This was the first VHF contest I felt like I was really operating in.

ARRL January VHF

First VHF contest. I used a dipole for 6m, an HT for 2m, and an FM mobile for 1.25m. It was a very slow event for me.