For those who want to get their feet wet in DX, try the 7-8 March ARRL Phone DX contest. It will be on all bands & Logs do not have to be submitted. It is a great chance to work some new countries. The Contest exchange is a signal report and state (59, Virginia). The DX wants to talk to you, so 100W and modest antennas will get you many QSOs. Have fun. Detailed info below.
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Set aside your CW key, and shake those dits and dahs out of your ears. It’s time to get your voice in trim or to program your digital voice keyer. The
SSB weekend of the ARRL International DX Contest http://www.arrl.org/arrl-dx is Saturday and Sunday, March 8-9 (UTC).
The DX will be looking for stations in the US and Canada. There are entry categories for single ops and for multi-operator teams as well as a choice of power levels in each category, from QRP to full legal limit. In other words, there’s a place for Big Guns, Little Pistols, and everyone in between. Excitement and enthusiasm levels will be high, and it’s a terrific opportunity to boost DXCC totals too.
The ARRL International DX Contest events offer great opportunities to expand your knowledge of MF and HF propagation and to tweak
your contesting skills. The basic objective is simple: W/VE amateurs work as many DX stations in as many DXCC entities as possible on the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meter bands. Participating DX stations work as many stations as possible on the 48 contiguous US states and Canadian provinces. US stations send a signal report and their state and DX stations send a signal report and their output power.
The action gets under way March 8 at 0000 UTC (Friday, March 7, in US time zones) and continues for the next 48 hours until March 9 at 2359 UTC. By the way, if you’re planning to do this one without any digital voice assistance, keep those lozenges and maybe some hot tea and honey handy.
Jim Owen, K4CGY, was the first place winner for VA in last years Phone DX contest. This shows that you don’t need a top contest station to get the job done.