2023 Scandinavian Activity Contest

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The 2023 Scandinavian Activity Contest was held from 1200 UTC Saturday 14th October to 1159 UTC on Sunday 15th October.

I spent Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon on grandpa duties, but I did manage some time in the contest late on Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening.

The contest aims to promote amateur radio activity in Scandinavia and encourage amateur radio communications between Scandinavian and non-Scandinavian amateur radio stations.

Scandinavian Prefixes.

Svalbard & Bear Island: JW
Jan Mayen: JX
Norway : LA – LB – LC – LG – LI – LJ – LN
Finland: OF – OG – OH – OI
Aland Islands: OFØ – OGØ – OHØ
Market Reef: OJØ
Greenland: OX – XP
Faroe Islands: OW – OY
Denmark: 5P – 5Q – OU – OV – OZ
Sweden: 7S – 8S – SA – SB – SC – SD – SE – SF – SG – SH – SI – SJ – SK – SL – SM
Iceland: TF
Greenland is included as a Scandinavian prefix, although it is located in North America.

I ended up with 83 QSOs and a claimed score of 3,735 points. The claimed results on the website show that I am leading my category at this stage – Single Operator All Band Low Power.

Most of my contacts (46) were on the long path on the 20m band, followed by 19 QSOs on the 15m band, and 18 QSOs on the 10m band.

Thanks to everyone who called and thank you to the contest organisers.

2023 Oceania DX Contest

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The 2023 Oceania DX Contest was held on the weekend just passed, Saturday 7th October 2023 from 0600 UTC, to 0600 UTC on Sunday 8th October 2023.

I entered into the Single Op All Bands Low power category. I ran the Yaesu FTdx101MP and 100 watts during the contest. My antennas were the 5-element tri-band yagi @ 50 feet and the 40m rotatable dipole @ 55 feet.

I made 785 QSOs with a claimed score of 859,500 points.

The majority of my QSOs were on the 20m band (385), followed by 10m (196), and then 15m (125).

I worked a total of 61 different DXCC entities during the contest:

  • Alaska
  • Argentina
  • Asiatic Russia
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Belarus
  • Belgium
  • Bulgaria
  • Canada
  • Chile
  • China
  • Colombia
  • Corsica
  • Costa Rica
  • Croatia
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • England
  • European Russia
  • Federal Republic of Germany
  • Fiji
  • Finland
  • France
  • Greece
  • Hawaii
  • Hong Kong
  • Hungary
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Ireland
  • Isle of Man
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Madeira Islands
  • Mexico
  • Netherlands
  • New Caledonia
  • New Zealand
  • Northern Ireland
  • Norway
  • Oman
  • Philippines
  • Poland
  • Puerto Rico
  • Republic of Korea
  • Scotland
  • Slovenia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Thailand
  • Turkey
  • Ukraine
  • United States
  • Wales
  • West Malaysia

The map below shows my contacts around the world during the contest.

I went to bed at a respectable time on Saturday night, about 11.30 p.m., and didn’t get back into the shack until about 8.30 a.m. on Sunday morning.

I was down about 200 QSOs from last year when I won the category. Nonetheless, I had a lot of fun again this year and I would like to thank everyone who called me, and thank you to the organisers of this great Contest.

CHU Time signal, CANADA

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CHU is a time signal radio station operated by the Institute for National Measurement Standards of the National Research Council of Canada.

The signal is broadcast on three frequencies:

  • 3330 kHz (3Kw)
  • 7850 kHz (10kW)
  • 14670 kHz (3 kW)

The station was started in 1923 by the Dominion Observatory in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with a call sign of 9CC on an experimental basis until 1928.  In 1938, the call was changed to CHU.

Below is a short video of my recent reception of CHU on 14670 kHz. and an earlier video from 2022 of my reception of CHU on 7850 kHz.

References.

  1. Signal Identification Guide, 2023, <https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/CHU>, viewed 8th October 2023.
  2. Wikipedia, 2023, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHU_(radio_station)>, viewed 8th October 2023.