W1AW Triple Play

Now I have worked and confirmed the ARRL flagship station W1AW in all three basic operating modes:  CW (Morse code), Phone (voice), and Digital:

Starting back in 2021 with 17m phone, then 15m FT8 in 2022, followed by another phone contact on 15m that time in 2023, and just now got them on 15m CW to make the Triple Play.

In addition to these four with the mother ship station in Connecticut, I worked a few portable (proxy) stations in 2023 during the ARRL’s year-long operating event honoring all ARRL volunteers: Volunteers On the Air (VOTA).  All 7 QSOs were confirmed in LoTW.

 

Worked All States Using Phone Mode (Voice)

Since March of 2022 I have been stuck at 48 states confirmed in phone mode (voice, all SSB), needing only Alaska and Hawaii.  Last weekend was the big CQ magazine World-wide DX contest (SSB) and the bands were hopping.   Both AK and HI stations were showing up on the DX Watch spotter site so I dialed into their posted frequencies and kept calling as I heard the wanted stations. Both picked me up and gave me 59 reports (typical of contests, despite the real signal quality).  Then I had to wait for them to confirm on QRZ and/or LoTW, which took almost a week for both.

QRZ now shows a mixed-band phone mode endorsement on my United States award:

Also updated WAS status on my QRZ bio:

Still awaiting LoTW confirmation for Alaska, which will also result in a new/different major award that I will detail separately when it happens.

QRZ 250 Counties Phone Endorsement

With 339 phone mode (voice) contacts in my log I just got 250 counties confirmed (QSL) in QRZ via QRZ log or LoTW.

Nice to see the endorsement on my QRZ awards page:

This is due in large part to county hunting activities where most of the counties I intentionally pursue work SSB only, not CW or digital modes.  Plus this weekend’s big CQ magazine world-wide DX contest helped put me over the top.

Now looking forward to a 500 county endorsement, but that will take a really long time, I expect.

For fun, I mapped these counties, now at 261:

New NMO Trunk Mount and Low-Profile Antenna

The original NMO VHF/UHF antenna mount on my car broke its cable after years of tight flexing so I had to replace it.  Found the closest thing to what I had on Amazon and it has worked out really well.

A huge bonus is that it came with a low-profile (stubby) antenna, which I thought would be an ineffective gimmick that I would simply toss because the whole thing was only $30.  That or keep it on the mount as a weather seal when I did not have the 5/8 wave whip installed.

Much to my surprise, the stubby antenna (I think of it as the mobile equivalent of an HT “rubber duck”) performs rather well.  Driving around and on the driveway I can work the main county repeater which is located more than 10mi away, meaning I have an effective range of up to 50mi with linked repeaters. Reports have been good with clear audio using my 50W radio.

With the higher-performing 5/8 wave whip, I did not put it on the car unless I was on the radio because it is a little unsightly, and mainly because it would scrape the rear window and roof when I raised the trunk lid (almost daily).  Also, car wash would kill the whip; I’m thinking this one will tolerate my local car wash.

Besides having a reasonably functioning antenna always on the car, I now don’t have to deal with the negatives of having that longer whip, which I can pull it out of the trunk and install it if/when needed.  I also turn the radio on more often now without having to install the longer antenna.

Oh, and this time I routed the coax cable with more slack so as not to get tightly pinched with every trunk opening.

I usually avoid Chinese products but this one works very well at a great price so it’s a keeper (for now).