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2026 NAQP contest

January 11th, 2026 |

Author: Mike VE9KK

The January NAQP is always a contest I look forward to. It starts at 2:00 PM local time, and my plan was to operate for about eight hours of the ten-hour event. This contest is always well attended, and with the maximum power limited to 100 watts, everyone is on a level playing field.

As always, I reviewed the previous year’s results, the bands I used and when, and my balance between running and search-and-pounce. Last year, 10 through 40 meters were all open and I made good use of those bands. This year was quite different — 10 meters was poor and I spent only a short time there. The best band turned out to be 20 meters, followed by 15 meters and then 40 meters. I knew going in that solar conditions were not going to be as favorable as last year.

The contest started off a bit slow, and I initially wondered if many operators had seen the predicted solar conditions and decided to sit this one out. Like last year, I spent about 95% of the contest running, and things did begin to pick up later in the afternoon. My highest hourly rate was 115 contacts, and three hours in, it was time for dinner. I was very pleased to have logged 300 contacts by that point.

After dinner, however, that’s when things really went downhill. Before the break, the Kp index had been holding steady at 3 and the Bz index was around −6 to −8. After dinner, the Kp jumped to 6 and the Bz index dropped as low as −19. I was wrapping up my time on 20 meters and transitioning to 40 meters as evening set in, but under these new solar conditions my hourly rate dropped from around 100 contacts to barely 25.

The deteriorating band conditions brought severe QSB stations would be there one moment and completely gone the next. The combination of high Kp and strongly negative Bz also made CW signals sound as though they were gurgling underwater. Given these conditions, I decided to pull the plug at 8:00 PM local time and call it a day.

The rear view mirror and then looking ahead

December 31st, 2025 |

Author: Mike VE9KK

Looking back on 2025, my total contacts were down fewer than in the past two years. As always, they were 100% CW, and my DXCC count for the year was the lowest since 2022 at 91 (2022 had 90).

Challenges Faced

Limited time in the radio chair played a big role, as 2025 filled up with home renovations: replacing all wood flooring except the bedrooms (that's 2026's summer project), a complete bathroom redo, and new kitchen cupboards. I enjoy my weekly CWTs and MSTs, but missed 41 due to renovations; high winds and freezing rain forced me to skip three major contests while taking down my Hustler 4-BTV antenna. Purchases were minimal—a Raspberry Pi4B, the Icom RC-28, and some dabbling in Python scripting.

Looking to 2026

I'm saving money now for a spring purchase: the Butternut HF6V antenna, which adds 80m to my contesting and stands up to our windstorms (rated to 80 mph), so no more take-downs. Large home projects remain, but I'll mix in more radio by better managing mornings—I'm up early and after radio blogs are read I often waste time online reading the news; instead, I'll fit in code practice and pileup work instead of surfing the days news. Python scripting continues too, with cool programs already running—more on that in 2026.

Final Thoughts

I get a kick out of rereading past New Year's posts, comparing plans to reality. As a good friend used to say, "Mikey dreams for free." Here's to at least some 2026 dreams coming true.

Getting comfortable

December 27th, 2025 |

Author: Mike VE9KK

As much as it is hard for me to believe, this past year I officially became a senior citizen in Canada—that’s 65 years old. Do I feel older? Not really at all, but one thing I have noticed is that my long periods of contesting have required me to make some adjustments. It may not have anything to do with me getting older, but deep down, I know it’s a factor. Being a fan of radio sport, I sit for long periods of time in front of the PC and the radio. Below are some of the adjustments this senior citizen has made to make radio sport easier.

To begin with, all who are involved in radio sport sit for long periods of time. For that reason, I have an office chair with above-average support: adjustable lumbar support, head and neck support, height adjustment, rollers for easy movement, and, finally, height-adjustable armrests—more on that later.

All my monitors are on adjustable arms, and I have them all adjusted to eye level. There is no looking up or down. In the past, I have found that continued looking up or down can get aggravating on my neck and shoulders. I have also moved the monitors in close so they are easy to see, reducing eye strain from small print. I have the programs I need for radio sport spread out over two screens. This way, information is not cramped, and nothing is hidden in the taskbar. Finally, I have a monitor connected to my Icom 7610. This stops me from looking down at the radio display. All the information is at eye level,and large and easy to see. Having said all the above there is one monitor connected to my Raspberry Pi4B that I use for Hamclock. The monitor for this sits on the top shelf of my desk. I have no room for another eye level monitor. I only check this monitor from time to time to view VOACAP propagation.

During contesting, there are times I use the VFO for tuning while searching and pouncing (S&P). For this reason, I have moved the radio closer to me on the desk. It allows me easy reach to the radio with no leaning forward and overstretching.

One piece of hardware I use all the time is the keyboard. In my case, I use a full-size keyboard, the Lenovo Professional. In the past, I have tried the small keyboards, but I just find them to be a cramped workspace. I have a wrist support that is the full length of the keyboard. I found it was too low, and my wrists were still at an angle, so I added just the right amount of 3x5 cards under the support to get the right height. The keyboard itself is on an adjustable tray for both height and closeness to me. Once the keyboard is at the right level and closeness, I have adjusted the armrests on my chair so my arms are level with the keyboard.

Now, a computer would not be complete without a mouse. My mouse is off to the right and also has a wrist support. Right beside the mouse is my Icom VFO B RC-28, sharing the same wrist support. On the left side of the keyboard, I have another smaller keyboard tray that extends from the side of the large keyboard tray. I have a mouse connected to my Icom 7610. This mouse allows me to click on band spots that are shown on the waterfall display on the large monitor at eye level. This allows me to slide my left hand off the keyboard, click on a spot, and return to the keyboard without even looking down.

Alongside N1MM+ logging software, I also use the Win4icom suite. This allows me to change bands, and each band macro is set up to adjust filter, noise reduction on or off, noise blanker on or off, RF gain per band setting, and filter settings if needed. I can have all this done with one mouse click on the Win4icom software.

I am able to use my hearing aids along with my headphones. My hearing aids have fine adjustments I can make to allow me to hear weaker signals and adjust tone and sound for maximum benefit and less fatigue. All this can be saved to my iPhone and called up when I need it. My setting name is “Contesting.” All I do is swipe the iPhone hearing aid app to Contesting, and it sets everything up automatically.

The final thing is a portable heater set up at my keyboard level and set to low heat. In the winter, even if my radio room is warm, I find that over time my fingers get very cold. When this happens, the heater is turned on, and warm air blows across the keyboard. In no time, my fingers are nice and warm.

In the station setup picture the mouse on the right is my main PC mouse along with the RC-28 external vfo. On the left side the mouse on the blue mouse pad controls the Pi4b Hamclock screen. Its a bit hard to see but under the tray that holds the Pi4b mouse and Begali key is the tray that holds the mouse for the Icom 7610 in which I can click on waterfall signals.

These setup ideas I use may not only be for us seniors but for anyone. I just find that as I get a bit older that these help greatly. If you have any suggestions of your own, do drop them in the comments.

RAC Winter contest was a bust!!

December 20th, 2025 |

Author: Mike VE9KK

I was very disappointed, but I wanted to err on the side of caution. This weekend was the running of the RAC Winter contest, which is very well attended. I get a lot of practice running in this contest, and it is a great help in my contesting journey. Unfortunately, the weather forecast put a damper on the weekend contest. For our area, high winds were forecast up to 100 km/h along with rain that could turn into freezing rain. My antenna, the Hustler 4BTV, according to DX Engineering, is rated for winds up to 88 km/h. At the best of times, I don’t like to venture even close to that number with my antenna. This weekend it “could” reach 100 km/h, and then add to that the possibility of freezing rain. This weather event was to start on Friday and run until Saturday evening.

I have the ability to tilt the antenna down and secure it, which is what I did. Being retired now and on a fixed income, to replace the antenna would be about $600.00 with tax and shipping. I am not in a position to drop that kind of money because I decided to leave the antenna up and see what happens. Eventually, I would like to get the Butternut HF6V, as it can withstand winds up to 130 km/h. For the most part, other than a hurricane, I could leave it up without worry. At this point in time, that antenna is way out of our budget for a hobby.

The antenna will go back vertical on Sunday, and it lives for another day on the air, pushing out CW. It did give me more time on the weekend to spend working on my python coding projects for ham radio.

As a side note my participation in the contest would not had been as heavy as like in days gone by. We found out 2 weeks ago that my wife Julie has cancer. Things worked out great in that all with in a 2 week period she was able to see a specialist and then see a cancer surgeon and then have surgery as well. She had her operation on Wednesday and is now at home. We shall now see what the next steps are, but for now we are just enjoying Christmas.

RAC Winter contest was a bust!!

December 20th, 2025 |

Author: Mike VE9KK

I was very disappointed, but I wanted to err on the side of caution. This weekend was the running of the RAC Winter contest, which is very well attended. I get a lot of practice running in this contest, and it is a great help in my contesting journey. Unfortunately, the weather forecast put a damper on the weekend contest. For our area, high winds were forecast up to 100 km/h along with rain that could turn into freezing rain. My antenna, the Hustler 4BTV, according to DX Engineering, is rated for winds up to 88 km/h. At the best of times, I don’t like to venture even close to that number with my antenna. This weekend it “could” reach 100 km/h, and then add to that the possibility of freezing rain. This weather event was to start on Friday and run until Saturday evening.

I have the ability to tilt the antenna down and secure it, which is what I did. Being retired now and on a fixed income, to replace the antenna would be about $600.00 with tax and shipping. I am not in a position to drop that kind of money because I decided to leave the antenna up and see what happens. Eventually, I would like to get the Butternut HF6V, as it can withstand winds up to 130 km/h. For the most part, other than a hurricane, I could leave it up without worry. At this point in time, that antenna is way out of our budget for a hobby.

The antenna will go back vertical on Sunday, and it lives for another day on the air, pushing out CW. It did give me more time on the weekend to spend working on my python coding projects for ham radio.

As a side note my participation in the contest would not had been as heavy as like in days gone by. We found out 2 weeks ago that my wife Julie has cancer. Things worked out great in that all with in a 2 week period she was able to see a specialist and then see a cancer surgeon and then have surgery as well. She had her operation on Wednesday and is now at home. We shall now see what the next steps are, but for now we are just enjoying Christmas.

ARRL 10m contest 2025

December 15th, 2025 |

Author: Mike VE9KK

Final score

Another ARRL 10m contest is in the books, and once again, I was surprised by how well 10m performed. The solar numbers were good—not great, but good. This meant there was fading in and out of signals. At one point, when I was calling CQ contest and a station came back to me, you had one chance to complete the contact, or they were gone for good.

Saturday was a great day with many long runs and high hourly contact rates. I just figured that Sunday would be a lot of the same… NOT. I found Sunday to be slower, with the average hourly run between 50 to 70 contacts. Toward Sunday late afternoon, it seemed I was calling CQ contest to empty space, and it was at this time I found my rate was better just searching and pouncing my way along the band.

It was nice again to contact fellow blogger Bas. He was just at the noise floor, but was readable and in the log. Oh, and thanks, Bas, for spotting me on the cluster—once I completed our contact, things started to get very busy for me. When this happens, I find narrowing my filter to 200Hz and turning up my CW speed from 32 to 36wpm has a way of thinning things out. Not as much in this contest, though, as my exchange is my Canadian Province, and it, in most cases, self-populates for most contacts. Once things slow down a bit, the filter goes back to 300Hz and the speed to 32wpm again.

From my location, I found 10m open at 8am to Europe, and I could hear them answering U.S. and Canadian calls, but I heard none of those stations until noon. At noon, it then turned into a mix of North America and Europe until early afternoon, when most of Europe faded away. Late afternoon it was still North America but now with some Central America and South America mixed in. Around 4pm local time, most, if not all, stations were gone, or the fading was so bad it was very frustrating to make a contact.

I know I’ve hit my limit, and it’s time for a break when I start to make silly mistakes. Case in point: I had a call from a fellow CWop, K4RUM, he is from NY, so my logging program prefilled that—BUT he sent FL. Not a problem; he’s enjoying some warm sunshine. Very simple to hit a few keys and change the state—I do it all the time. Well, not if you’re getting tired like me. I sent K4RUMNY as his call. Then I sent K4RUMFL as his call. I am now pounding foolish keyboard keys such as

“?” my province “NB” and well finally I sent K4RUM FL TU. He gave me two “dits” from his key with what I would imagine was a smile on his face.

I am now gearing up for the next big contest out this way: the RAC Winter contest on December 20. See you all there.

CQ world wide DX CW contest 2025

December 1st, 2025 |

Author: Mike VE9KK

Nice to see this type of action on 10m.

Once again, the CQ WW CW contest has come to an end. Although the conditions were not as favorable as last year, it was still a fantastic event. Some highlights included contacting fellow blogger Bas, who was using his new contest call PA6G on 20m, as well as reaching ZD7VJ on St. Helena Island and VP8NO on the Falkland Islands.

I was pleasantly surprised to connect with many South American stations on 10m on Sunday afternoon. I’m pleased to report there were no station issues at all—everything ran very smoothly.