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Year: 2021

July 22, 2021 6M map

Update: Summer sporadic-E season on 6M

Long weeks of poor conditions from the Pacific Northwest still left room for a few great openings to Europe and Japan. As the 2021 Es season winds down, we recap how it all went.

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Anticipation abounds: 2021 6M sporadic-E season

Early indications are that 6M will have a good summer this year. For those new or getting back to 6M activity, here’s the current state of affairs.

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Recap: FT4 DX and NAQP RTTY February

The final weekend of February brought three pretty active contests — CQ 160M SSB, FT4 DX contest, and the NAQP RTTY.

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Recap: 2021 ARRL DX CW worst-ever outing

From the outset, Aurora levels were elevated and the K-index was bobbing around 3 or 4, forcing the A-index into the 20s. Want to hear signals on 20M with aurora? Listen in…

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Recap: 2021 WPX RTTY

Brief European opening on 20M and a hopping 80M band were highlights of WPX RTTY this year.

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Recap: BCQP and EU DX contests

The weekend of February 6 and 7 presented its share of challenges and opportunities for making contacts. Too many options may have worked against any one contest.

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Matching transformer for “loop on ground” and Beverage antennas

This is a companion piece to the post “Hearing through the noise on the low bands“. Why bother? After years of thinking about it, in early 2021 I finally got serious about building some proper matching transformers for my short Beverage wire antenna along the property line and a loop on the ground laying on…

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Zone Zero: February packed with activity

The month of February promises something for everyone, as several major international contests and some pretty neat regional activities fill the calendar. We’ll take a look at what’s on the near horizon in this episode of Zone Zero.

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Zone Zero: Top Band action in CQ 160M CW

The latest edition of the Zone Zero radio contesting podcast takes a look at the upcoming CQ 160M CW contest, and the antennas used for transmitting and receiving at a modest station that produces plenty of fun in the contests.

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Recap: 2021 BARTG RTTY Sprint

The British Amateur Radio Teleprinter Group’s annual 24-hour “Sprint” teletype contest was its usual challenge and a lot of fun.

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