The last few weeks I participated in two contests: CQ WW DX SSB and Ukrainian DX Contest.

I don't try to win... I do it just for fun for one day or a few hours.
During a contest I use a different computer setup than during normal operation. Normally I use Ham Radio Deluxe for logging. In contest mode I use N1MM Logger. It's the perfect software for contesting!

During the CQ WW DX SSB Contest I made 100 QSO's (claimed score 10336) and during one and a half hour in the Ukrainian DX SSB Contest I made 33 QSO's (claimed score 4400) on 20 meter.

On the left you see my Shack during the CQ WW DX SSB Contest.

I did a small experiment with a webcam and some streaming audio/video software to put a live stream on my website during the contest.
That stream will be available in the next contest here on my website. With that you can hear and see what is happening in my shack.

Ulysses ©ESANASA will hold a media teleconference Tuesday, Sept. 23, at 16:30 UTC, to discuss data from the joint NASA and European Space Agency Ulysses mission that reveals the sun's solar wind is at a 50-year low. The sun's current state could result in changing conditions in the solar system.

Ulysses was launched by Space Shuttle Discovery in October 1990. It headed out to Jupiter, arriving in February 1992 for the gravity-assist manoeuvre that swung the craft into its unique solar orbit. It orbited the Sun three times and performed six polar passes.

Ulysses was the first mission to survey the space environment above and below the poles of the sun. The reams of data Ulysses returned have changed forever the way scientists view our star and its effects. The venerable spacecraft has lasted more than 17 years - almost four times its expected mission lifetime.

Is this gonna change the sunspots on solarcycle 24 and the conditions? Will there be a maximum in 2011?

As I was searching the internet for information about the CEPT Novice Licence I found out that there is not a single website where all the details are collected. Even the European Radiocommunications Office Document Database website is not complete and on some parts it will give you the wrong information!

Last week I bought a new footswitch at a nearby music store. It's a Roland DP-2 Momentary footswitch, normally used for keyboards.

The guy in the store told me that the footswitch will "close" when pressed. But it was just the other way around.
So I had to take my soldering iron to change connections on the internal switch. A few minutes later it worked as a proper Push To Talk footswitch. And that for only 13 euro.....

In combination with my Heil Pro 5 Headset it works great.
No unwanted transmissions as I sometimes had when operating on VOX mode with background sounds I produce sometimes.

It took a few minutes to get used to pushing the switch with my foot at the right moment when I wanted to talk on the air. But after that learning period I don't want anything else when using my headset.

After posting the video of the pile up Fred KH7Y had on tuesday morning I couldn't imagine working him.
But on wednesday morning just before the pile up started we had a QSO. It was very hard for both of us but we succeeded. Unfortunately I had to go away from the shack a little later and that was just before the signals and conditions went up.

I made a small video from the KH7Y pile up from this morning.

You can also watch my videos on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/PD3EM

Last weekend I participated in the IARU HF Championship Contest for a few hours.
For normal operations I use Ham Radio Deluxe but I decided to use a different program for contest logging: N1MM Logger. That software works really great for contesting!

I was in my shack for a few hours during the contest. Some nice conditions where on saturday afternoon on 10 meter when I logged D4C. I made a total of 64 QSO's, 132 points and 44 multipliers. That results in a score of 5808 points.

Well, not a great score but not bad for my first contest running on 25 watts. You might find me on the air more often during contests.

On the left you can see how my PC screen looked like while operating with the N1MM Logger software.

QSL PD3EMThere has been a problem with the Dutch QSL Bureau recently. They had a wrong callsign (PE3EM) registered for me. That could result in a few QSL cards sent to me via the Bureau coming back to you. Please give it a second change and sent a new card for me via the Bureau. They have my callsign PD3EM now correctly registered.