This was the fifth year that G3TXF has entered CQWW-CW as OE5TXF : previous entries were in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Last year (2024) G3TXF was part of the team at E2A.
This year it was an All-Band entry using various fixed wire dipoles. The main difference to the All-Band entries in previous years (2021 and 2022) was the addition of an Expert 1.5KA amplifier which made hopping between bands to work Multipliers so much easier. In previous years a manually tuned linear was used. Manually tuned linears are not conducive to rapid band changes!
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| 40m antenna in sun and snow. | 10m dipole strapped to a Spiderpole. | WinKeyer helps to improve the CW. |
The simple antennas (no towers, no beams!) used in CQWW-CW 2025 at OE5TXF were :
160m : low wire dipole : about 15m high in a tree at one end and virtually at ground level at other end.
80m and 20m : two wire dipoles on a common feeder
40m : vertical wire dipole strapped to Spiderpole
20m and 80m : two wire dipoles on a common feeder
15m : force-feeding the 40m vertical
10m : vertical wire dipole
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| OE5TXF operating from a newly rebuilt shack. Plenty of space for gear and more comfortable than the previous shack. The ICOM-7851 is still the main station radio, even though the screen faded away some years ago! | G3TXF has been operating from Austria as OE5TXF for just over five years and that now includes five CQWW CW Contests. Many other contests have been entered. The OE5TXF QSO total is now over 215,000. |
The clickable Mults table within N1MM makes it very easy to work new Country Mults. Needed Countries are shown in Red and needed double Mults (Z+C) are shown in Green. Once worked the Mult is shown in Blue. Provided that this is used in conjunction with an auto-tuned amplifier it's a great way of working new Multipliers. In total 549 Country Mults were worked.
The Zones table within N1MM makes it very easy to work new Zones. Needed Zones are shown in Red. Once worked the Zone is shown in Blue. In total 150 Zone Mults were worked, including the usually elusive Zone 34 thanks to RA0LQ/mm. Totally missing Zones were 01, 10 and 31.
OE5TXF claimed score summary table:
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Based on CQ's "60 minute minimum time-off", N1MM suggested that I was QRV for 38 hours, but using a more precise measure of time-off (mostly for short meals etc) the actual operating time was closer to 33 hours.
CQWW CW has always been the “greatest contest in the year”. And so it remains......