In the log this week
* Contest Spotlight: The Worked All Europe DX Contest
* MVARC In The Park: KU8V and KN4XW Activate POTA in DC
* Contest Spotlight: The Maryland-DC QSO Party
* MVARC Nets on the Air
* What's happening with DX?
* Solar Activity Update
* Upcoming Contests
* Interesting Online Radio Content
Contest Spotlight: The Worked All Europe DX Contest
Image Courtesy DARC
This weekend brings the Worked All Europe (WAE) DX Contest on CW. Only intercontinental DX counts, so the European DX will be eagerly answering your calls. The fun starts at 0000 UTC on August 9th (so 8 PM EDT tonight) until 2359 UTC on August 10 (7:59 PM EDT Sunday) on CW on the 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meter bands. Operating classes include Single Op who are limited to 36 hours of total operation and Multi-Ops who can work all 48 hours. The exchange is RST + Serial Number and stations can be worked once per band. This can be a great way to get DX from Europe in the log.
There is an interesting twist in this contest you should know about: QTC Traffic. QTCs are a way to get additional points by sending additional information back to a European station. The QTC must include a time, call sign, and a serial number of the reported QSO. In the rules they give an example QTC as "1307 DA1AA 431" which would mean that DA1AA was worked at 1307 UTC and sent serial number 431. Each QSO can only be recorded once (and not back to the original station) and when correctly transferred gives one point to the sender and one point to the receiver. Up to 10 QTCs can be sent maximum and it can be done via several contacts. They can be sent via a series so if you were going to send 5 and were on your 3rd one, you would send "3/5" for the QTC. This is somewhat unique in contests, and if someone asks you to send a QTC and you don't want to, you can just say no, but it is a challenging way to get some extra points in the mix.
Multipliers in the contest are the number of countries defined in the WAE Country List (see the rules for that) worked per band. For European stations every non-European DXCC entity is a multiplier with some exceptions laid out in the rules. There is also a multiplier bonus for a "band weighting": 80 meter countries get multiplied by 4, 40 meter countries get multiplied by 3, and 20/15/and 10 meter bands get multiplied by 2.
Final scoring is the total number of QSOs plus QTCs on all bands multiplied by the sum of all multipliers weighted by the band factor. There is a lot going on in this contest, so definitely peruse the DARC site for rules and additional details https://www.darc.de/der-club/referate/conteste/wae-dx-contest/en/.
Have fun and good luck!
MVARC In The Park: KU8V and KN4XW Activate POTA in DC
On Thursday, August 7, 2025 MVARC members Larry KN4XW and David KU8V activated parks for POTA in Washington DC. They worked on several bands on SSB as a dual operator activation on an absolutely beautiful day. Your author swung by on the way home from work to see them in action and they were fielding a steady pileup on 40 meters on an absolutely gorgeous evening. If you have fun activities you'd like to share with Amateur Radio News and Notes, drop me a line and I may include it in a future edition.
Contest Spotlight: The Maryland-DC QSO Party
Image Courtesy W3VPR.org
This weekend brings the 2025 edition of the Maryland-DC QSO Party. The action starts at 1400 UTC August 9 (10 AM EDT Saturday) and goes until 0400 UTC August 10 (Midnight EDT Saturday). Bands in play are 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters on CW and Phone with 5 classes (Club, Rover, Portable, Mobile, and Fixed) and 3 power classes High Power (>100 Watts), Low Power (100 Watts), and QRP (5 Watts). The exchange is County and City for Maryland and DC stations and State/Province/Country for everyone else. Points are 3 per CW QSO, 1 per Phone QSO, 50 bonus points for working W3VPR, 200 Points for working 13 of the 25 MDC jurisdictions, and 500 points if you work all 25 jurisdictions. The multipliers for MDC participants are each MD county, DC, and Baltimore City once only, and each state (except MD), province, and country once only. For non MDC participants the multipliers are each MD county, DC, and Baltimore City once only. Total score is (QSO Points x Power Multiplier x Category Multiplier x County/State/Province/Country Multiplier) + bonus points, so things can escalate quickly. Full rules and details can be found at https://www.w3vpr.org/Maryland-DC_QSO_Party. Good luck!
MVARC Nets on the Air
* 2 Meter FM Net: Tuesdays at 7 PM [146.655/- MHz (141.3 Hz PL Tone) ]
* 2 Meter Digital Net: Immediately Follows 2 Meter FM Net [146.655/- MHz C4FM]
* MVARC Slow Speed CW Roundtable: Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 AM [3.565 MHz CW]
* MVARC Cherry Tree Net: Saturday and Sunday at 8:30 AM [3.920 MHz LSB]
What's Happening with DX
There will be a good amount of DX on the bands this week including Bermuda (K9GY/VP9), Saint Kitts Island (V47JA), Mayotte (TO3K), South Sudan (Z81D), Tarawa Kiribati (T30TTT), Kuwait (9K2HN), and Antarctica (DP0GVN).
A calendar of DXpeditions can be found at https://dxnews.com/calendar/
Solar Activity Update
As we go to press the Solar Flux Index (SFI) was 152 and the estimated sunspot number was 140 with 9 numbered sunspot regions visible from Earth. Over the last week the SFI has stayed about the same. Solar activity has been at moderate levels recently. The geomagnetic field was at quiet levels and the Kp index reached 1 yesterday. The solar wind peaked at 476 km/s. There were R1 radio blackouts recently with the largest being on the 7th at 1131 UTC. Solar activity is predicted to be at moderate levels levels today and Saturday. Geomagnetic fields are expected to be enhanced today and tomorrow with the arrival of a coronal mass ejection at Earth and a co-rotating interacting region ahead of a coronal hole high speed stream. The chance of solar radiation storms at the S1 or greater level is low at 15% today and 5% over the weekend. R1 to R2 radio blackouts are likely in the near term with a predicted probability of 55%. R3 or greater blackouts are less likely with a 10% chance predicted. There is a chance of 6 meter propagation so keep an eye on the band and spotting clusters to be ready for the next time the magic band does its thing. HF conditions have been favorable overall. It remains a fantastic time for amateurs to get on the air and work the world.
Good sources of real-time solar information include https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/ and https://solarham.com/. A good overview of conditions can be found at https://dx.qsl.net/propagation/. To see D-layer absorption data and associated radio blackouts, visit https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/d-region-absorption-predictions-d-rap. To see real-time Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF) and Critical Frequency (foF2) information from radiosonde data, visit https://prop.kc2g.com/.
Upcoming Contests
On the contest calendar this weekend we will see the WAE DX Contest on CW, the FISTS Saturday Sprint, the SKCC Weekend Sprintathon, the YB Bekasi Merdeka Contest, the Maryland-DC QSO Party, Kentucky State Parks on the Air, the 50 MHZ Fall Sprint, the NCCC 55th Anniversary Fiesta, the SARL HF Digital Contest, and the 4 States QRP Second Sunday Sprint. As always the K1USN SSTs, MSTs, and CWTs will also be on the air.
The full contest calendar with events and exchanges can be found at https://www.contestcalendar.com/weeklycont.php
Interesting Online Radio Content
Josh KI6NAZ shows new firmware for the VGC and BTech Radios to work satellites -
Veritasium explores the history and electrochemistry of Lithium-ion battery technology -
Hayden VK7HH talks about difficulties finding Alinco radios -
Mike K8MRD takes a look at a compact and inexpensive 100 Ah LiFePO4 battery -
Matt M0DQW takes a look at the Discovery Dish for Satellite reception -
Chuck KK7USY makes a DIY mobile antenna mount for his truck -
Ramon EA5IW takes us along for some beach portable CW -
Calum M0MCX and Dave G0OES talk about 40 meter antennas -
Kevin W1DED talks to Tim K3LR about the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation -
Walt K4OGO talks about his favorite antenna experiment -
Kevin W1DED talks to Tom 8P5A/W2SC about station design and contesting in the Caribbean -
Matt M0DQW takes a look at version 2 of the KV4P HT for Android phones -
Colin MM0OPX talks about improving reception with SDRs -
Kevin W1DED talks to Frank W3LPL and Rol K3RA about the best and worst radios for Field Day -
Elle-Marie KJ5LXP experiments with cross-band repeating on VHF/UHF -
Ciprian YO6DXE builds a simple FM receiver from minimal parts in 2 videos -
and
Craig KM6LYW builds an off grid packet radio digipeater complete with AX.25 and Winlink -
Kevin KB9RLW reviews a new portable USB powered soldering iron -
Matt M0DQW reviews the RF Power Nanny web enabled HF Power Meter -
George VK2AOE amplifies his Hermes Lite 2 with a homebrewed amplifier -
Hayden VK7HH builds a battery box for portable operations -
Matt M0DQW takes a look at the ATS Decoder Mega SDR -
Dugbo KD7DUG shows how to get CW and SSB on a Quansheng HT -
Brian NR7Y shows some mods to use a Quansheng HT without an adapter cable -
Ciprian YO6DXE looks at the new Tidradio TD-H3 Plus HT -
George VK2AOE builds his "QRP Playground" -
Great Scott Gadgets announces the HackRF Pro SDR -
Mike K8MRD uses a ladder as an antenna for POTA -
That's it for this week.
Best 73,
Ed
N2EC
