CQ WW CW Contest /QRP

Last weekend was wet and cold here in UK, so I was able to spend a bit more time than I expected on the CQ WW contest. We are right at the bottom of the sunspot cycle - the SFI was 68 and the A index 1 so about as quiet as it gets, but I decided to try the QRP (low power) section just to see what I could work.

Saturday was very slow with 15m hardly opening at all. I heard US East Coast stations late in the afternoon but could not work them so I had to content myself with European zone 14, 15 and 16 stations. Sunday was a bit better with two in Asiatic Russia in the morning. 15m hardly opened at all but I was lucky enough to work Netherland Antilles, which was a bit of a result. Late in the afternoon I worked a run of US stations, including one in the mid west, on 20m.

In total I worked 76 stations in 28 countries and three continents with about 4 hours of total operating time, which is not too bad for low power in very quiet conditions.