2011 ARRL International DX Contest, CW

This weekend (Feb 19 & 20, 2011) has one of the big amateur radio contests of the year, the ARRL International DX Contest, CW. I was on the air making contacts in this contest, and during this time I also kept a log of all the stations I heard, worked or not. I've said this before but I'll repeat it again: if SWLs are looking for a new aspect to the hobby of shortwave radio, they should check out the amateur bands, especially during a major contest. There are a lot of DX targets available on the amateur bands from places that have few, or no, shortwave broadcast stations. Here are some of the highlights of what I heard:

Feb 19: Listening on the 10 metre band from 15:30 to 16:30 and from 19:15 to 20:30 UTC. Stations heard included:

• PJ6A from the island of Saba in the Carribbean.
• PJ4A in Bonaire.
• VP2MMM on the island of Montserratt.
• KP2M from the U.S. Virgin Islands.
• V31RR from Belize.
• CW5W in Uruguay.
• FM5BH, Martinique.
• V48M, St. Kitts & Nevis.
• PY2MT, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
• HK1AA in Colombia.
• CE3/VE7SV in Chile.
• YN3M, Nicaragua.

Feb 20: 40 metre band, 04:30-04:45 and 11:30-11:40 UTC:

• C6AGU, Bahamas.
• C6AGP, Bahamas.
• PJ2T, Bonaire.

Feb 20: 15 metre band, 14:30 - 18:30 UTC:

• CE1/K7CA, Chile.
• EA8NC, Tenerife, Canary Islands.
• PJ2T, Bonaire.
• PV8ADI, Boa Vista, Brazil.
• EF8R, Canary Islands.
• HK1R, Colombia.
• CR2A, Azores.
• ZF2AM, Cayman Islands.
• EA8URL, Canary Islands.
• XE7S, Mexico.
• CR3L, Madiera Island.
• CN3A, Morocco.
• IR4M, Italy.
• CO6LP, Cuba.
• C6AGU, Bahamas.
• CW5W, Uruguay.
• V48M, St. Kitts & Nevis.
• HQ5A, Honduras.
• CS2C, Portugal.
• ED8A, Canary Islands.
• EA5DFV, Spain.
• EA4KD, Spain.
• PY2NDX, Brazil.
• TI5KD, Costa Rica.
• EA4TX, Spain.
• D4C, Cape Verde.
• EA2W, Spain.

Feb. 20: 10 metre band, 20:35 UTC:

• PY2NDX, Brazil.

Feb 20: 20 metre band, 20:50-23:55 UTC:

• EF8S, Canary Islands.
• V48M, St. Kitts & Nevis.
• WP3C, Puerto Rico.
• TI5A, Costa Rica.
• D44AC, Cape Verde.
• PV8DX, Brazil.
• HK1N, Colombia.
• CR3L, Madeira Island.
• PZ5P, Suriname.
• OA4SS, Peru.
• PY2NDX, Brazil.
• C6AGU, Bahamas.
• PJ4A, Bonaire.
• P4OL, Aruba.
• P49V, Aruba.
• XE7S, Mexico.
• PV8ADI, Brazil.

Two Amateur Radio Contests

On the air this weekend making contacts in two amateur radio contests. Feb 12 & 13: CQ WPX RTTY contest. Feb 13: SKCC Weekend Sprintathon. Logged a lot of stations but nothing unusual.

WCXN 1170 kHz Claremont, NC

I logged a new mediumwave station today, Feb. 12, 2011: WCXN, 1170 kHz, in Claremont, NC. I heard a Spanish language station on 1170 under WWVA, so I left the radio on overnight, using the Sony MP3 recorder to record it. The station was present all night, making the time of this logging 0340 to 1000 UTC.

The station was usually under WWVA, but sometimes dominated the frequency. Mexican music format with several “La que buena“ IDs. No callsign heard - not sure the station ever gave one. But “La que buena“ is WCXN’s slogan. Also while WCXN is a daytime only station, it has been reported widely on the DX reflectors as frequently staying on all night. Since there are no other plausible candidates, I concluded this must be WCXN.

There was also a second Spanish station heard with talk under WXCN a few times. But it was very weak with no identifying material heard.

This is the 385th station in my Toronto mediumwave log, and the 964th in the overall log.