04 January, 2012

CQ DX Marathon and 2011 Activity

I just submitted data for all my radio contacts for 2011 to CQ DX Marathon. My log program is UcxLog by DL7UCX and I started by exporting the ADIF-log and then analyzing it with the recommended analysis program by AD1C.

In the process of doing the conversation I also happened to find the Contact Map tool from NS6T which generated this map from my 2000+ contacts in 2011. What it shows below it not so surprising - from my location in the south of Norway it is easiest to work Europe, Russia and the East Coast of the US, but it is nice anyway.
2011 contacts from LA3ZA, open in separate window for larger map.
My CQ DX Marathon result was 167 countries (165 real DXCC countries), 35 zones giving a total of 202 points which is a result I was very happy with. It was actually my highest country count in a single year since I got my license in 2001. Much of it must be attributed to the renewed activity of the sun last year which gave a lot of new opportunities on the 10 m band. All countries except one are CW (morse) contacts with a 100 W Elecraft K3. Antennas are a 75 m long horizontal loop for the lower bands up to and including 21 MHz, and a 5 m half wave wire vertical for 24 and 28 MHz. The length of the wire loop exceeds that for the Formula Class, so I had to submit my score in the Unlimited Class.

Now I am only looking for a software tool which can analyze my ADIF-file for US states and Russian oblasts, but so far I haven't been able to find any.