This is the tenth year since I obtained my amateur radio license, but it's also the second time I've participated in a ham radio competition. As a "complete beginner" in the competition, after experiencing the fun of CQWW last year using the XieGu G90N and Wonton antenna, I have been closely monitoring the registration dates for several competitions (CW was still at the stage of simply copying numbers), and fortunately, I completed the most important task of the first half of the year in mid-March, so I decided to participate in CQWPX to satisfy my curiosity.
I. Pre-race preparation
1. Strategy Selection and Development
Regarding the duration of participation, the competition on March 29th and 30th fell on days when I didn't need to be on-call at work, and there were also no major commitments in the days leading up to the event. Therefore, I decided to apply for a day off on March 28th to set up the antenna and tent at the venue, participate in the competition all day on March 29th, and finish the competition before 4 PM on March 30th.
Regarding equipment, after the CQWW competition last year, I purchased a JYR223 Yagi antenna from BH7JYR. The initial tests in my backyard showed good performance, so I decided to use this antenna along with the 6-meter pneumatic mast I had purchased before as my primary antenna. Additionally, considering that there was a TB-WIRES group in CQWPX, I decided to bring along the WA-4 Winton antenna I used during last year's CQWW competition, paired with a 7.2-meter lamp pole, as a backup antenna. The radio remains the same as last year: a XieGu G90N, which is easy to use and I am familiar with its settings.
Regarding the operational strategy, as a newcomer to competitions and participating in the QRP category, my goal is to do my best, focusing on familiarizing myself with the competition and enjoying the process. Achieving 100 QSOs and scoring around 18,000 points would be sufficient.
Thanks to the convenience of the current internet and the widespread adoption of AI technology, as well as the selfless sharing of individual experiences and insights by teachers on their personal pages and forums, this competition strategy was primarily based on BA5CW's "BY5EA 2021 CQWPX SSB MS HP: A Reflection," and BH4TQX's summary of the 2024 CQWPX QRP mode competition (which achieved first place in China and second-best overall score in Chinese competition history). Furthermore, inspired by BI1QJQ's use of deepseek to develop a competition strategy within the HF competition group, I decided to also use deepseek. This involved using a Yagi antenna with three bands and a Wonton antenna located at my QTH in Xi'an, while abandoning elements such as full-band scanning. The following segmented communication suggestions were generated:
The DeepSeek proposal has some inaccuracies, but its timing allocation strategy could still be useful.
2. Site inspection
The author's residential area does not have the necessary infrastructure for fixed antenna installation, and they typically only use a temporary 5.6-meter pole antenna that can be propped up against windows for occasional communication. Therefore, they chose to set up their station outdoors.
Before the competition, I personally surveyed several high-altitude camping sites and parks near Xi'an, selecting two relatively good locations. One was the "Blue Mountain Valley" camping site in Lantian, which had good facilities, but it faced east and had some obstructions. The other was the "Starry Night Camping Site" on Mount Lishan, with excellent altitude and no major obstructions around it, but it lacked almost all facilities, making it difficult to support competitions lasting 24 hours or more. After considering all factors, I chose the Blue Mountain Valley camping site as the competition venue. This decision also laid the groundwork for subsequent events.
3. Setup Preparation
On the afternoon of the 28th, I drove to the designated camping site with all my equipment and tent. However, upon arriving at the location, I encountered the first problem: the pre-allocated area was being reconfigured, and compared to last year, a roughly 5-meter high earthen embankment had been added on the eastern side of the field, effectively blocking the direction from 15 degrees to 140 degrees. Fortunately, the European direction remained open, so I decided to stay in place and set up my equipment according to the order of the tent, Yagi antenna, and Wonton antenna.
II. The Competition Process
DAY 1:Early in the morning, I followed the pre-determined strategy and rotated the Yagi antenna to 25 degrees to participate in the contest. However, after the competition started at 8:00 AM, a second unexpected event occurred. First, it was discovered that there was very little propagation in the 20 meters band above. Subsequently, the venue owner arrived and informed us that someone would be using a nearby location, with the hope of removing the large Wonton antenna that was occupying space. This also prevented the use of the 40-meter band in the rear.
While frustrated, I suddenly remembered that BA5CW, our instructor, had mentioned in the competition group that YB direction could be a priority for communication. So, I immediately lowered the Yagi antenna and adjusted its direction to 180 degrees, instantly connecting with DU1EV in the Philippines. Subsequently, I connected with several other participating stations in Thailand, Nepal, Malaysia, and Australia. However, I was constantly interrupted by work calls, and I also had to take time to dismantle the Wonton antenna. By noon, I had only managed to connect with less than 20 stations. Realizing that this level of efficiency wouldn't work, I proactively adjusted the Yagi antenna's direction to 310 degrees, aiming towards Europe. While munching on crackers, I alternated between scanning frequencies in the 10-meter and 15-meter bands. This finally improved my connection efficiency. However, the camping chair was incredibly uncomfortable; every two hours, I felt my back pain making it difficult to sit upright. Finally, after connecting with B7O at 8:15 PM, I decided to end the day's communication efforts (after having connected with BI8AQ at 7:50 AM, I had initially misheard BI9AQ, which caused a temporary mental overload). I then ate my only complete meal of the day: a self-heating rice meal with canned beef.
DAY 2:After waking up in the morning, I still felt determined to make contact with North America, so I pointed the Yagi antenna towards both North America and Japan. As a result, I was able to pick up several weak signals from North American stations, but I couldn't get through to any of them. However, I did manage to connect with several Japanese stations.
I then turned the direction to 180 degrees and continued scanning for Southeast Asian radio stations. In the afternoon, I turned the antenna towards Europe, where the signal strength was as strong as yesterday. I quickly connected with several European stations before finally connecting with OL730PLZ, a special station in the Czech Republic, at 4:00 PM. With this QSO, I ended my contest.
III. Some interesting things and future plans
Briefly summarized a few notable radio stations from the competition:
Maximum volume: BD7MM (True thunder)
Available online: BI7JMD and BG0DLA (You can usually hear the voice of the caller when scanning)
The best sounding ones are BA7MT and BP0P (you know what I mean).
The most surprising connection was with 9N7AA (which surprisingly connected within a group of large towers).
The most frustrating aspect of the entire experience was 5Z4A (I could clearly hear their call, but they couldn't respond).
The callsigns are the most difficult to copy: OL730PLZ and HG25TISZA (My initial reaction was that I must have misheard)
Additionally, on the first night of the competition, we unexpectedly received food from our camping friends in the adjacent camp. We ate freshly roasted sweet potatoes and homemade braised pork (they also gave us chocolate bars and individual rations).
Due to the timing of the WAPC (China Province) competition coinciding with the C-class exam period, there were no new competition plans for the first half of the year. If possible, I plan to participate in the July IRAU HF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, the September ALL ASIA DX CONTEST, and the October CQWW SSB. Additionally, I need to find a suitable location for setting up my equipment. If anyone knows of any good locations in Xi'an, please let me know. Thank you very much!
Finally, if you are interested in participating in the competition, I recommend visiting the following websites or forums, where you can find a wealth of information and resources.
1.https://www.qsl.net/ba5cw/index.htm
BA5CW teacher's personal website provides information on mainstream competition rules, the history of domestic competitions, ideas for setting up competition venues, and strategies for participation.
2.https://www.hellocq.net和https://forum.hamcq.cn/
Currently, some of the most active amateur radio forums in China have many HAMs posting their competition summaries there, which are very valuable for reference.
I hope everyone can connect to more and further radio stations! 73!
闽ICP备2021006864号-7
闽公网安备35020602002794号