[Add Soapbox Entry]

Click on a year below to view a list of soapbox entries.

2023  2022  2021  2020  2019  2018  

Soapbox for 2022
Note: If you are concerned about a Soapbox comment, please contact the ARRL Contest Manager.

AG6EE   [photo/doc]  
(no comments)
 
CE3VRT   [photo/doc]  
Due to lack of time my EME station was inactive for a long time. I checked my equipment just a few
days before the contest and everything was working fine! I also installed a new LNA, which improved
my RX ability a bit.

Conditions were good the first weekend despite the relatively high degradation. The moonrise was
very late at night here in Chile, so I was already sleepy at the moonrise. I managed to make 48 QSOs
in the first weekend, not too shabby for a small 1.8 meter dish station like mine.

The second weekend the moonrise was a little earlier and I managed to make 14 more QSOs.
Unfortunately the last night my AZ motor refused to start and my tracking failed, but with 62 QSOs
in total I am very happy.
 
DK0TE  
We need a QRP class < 100 Kw EiRP
 
G0LBK   [photo/doc]  
I missed the first moon window because I was building the station. I managed to just get going for
the Saturday moonrise. Great activity and great people. As a "new" station I really enjoyed it.
Anyone who previously worked me before 2022 can claim a new initial because I'm in a new grid.
 
HG5BMU   [photo/doc]  
8X23ELEMENT YAGI HOR.
SSB Electronic preamp
300W (4x80W) SSPA
FT817
more dB background city noise
 
IK1FJI   [photo/doc]  
Hello
I had fun during the contest, I was qrv for about total of 12 hours, in second leg I had some wind
so cannot move the dish for some times.
My new 3.8 meters Dish work great, I was QRV only in CW mode and I could work so many stations.
As I said I would prefer one leg for CW and the other for digital mode !!
The moon was near apogee but the signals were very strong.
Thanks for organized the contest !
Regards
73
Valter IK1FJI
 
IK2DDR  
Many thanks for the fun on this great contest. It's my 2nd year on 1296 MHZ. I have spent all my
free time, right to improve my previous result of 2021. I found beautiful conditions on 2nd Moonpas
of 2nd leg. I suggest to try to permit to work 2 times the same station. One time on CW and one on
DIGI. In this way the cw partecipant could find more activity on their section. Greetings and see
you next year. 73' de IK2DDR,Francesco
 
JA1DYB  
We took part in the contest as a MULTI-OP station.
JI1VHV is a high school student, and this was the first EME QSO of him.
Maybe, the only participant under forty from JAPAN.
JJ0WLM (also 7K4OWM) was a member of 8J1AXA, EME special station ten yers ago.
This was a EME QSO after a long time.
JI1VHV is a member of JJ1YAF Meikei High school science club, JJ0WLM and JA1DYB are OBs of JJ1YAF.
 
JH0WJF  
Thank you for holding the contest. This time, I had the most QSOs with W so far, and I had a QSO
with Europe in W's window.
 
JM2FCJ   [photo/doc]  
2 x 14 el c-pol antennas and 50 W output power were used.
 
K0PRT   [photo/doc]  
This is our third year participating in this contest. This year we tried 432 MHz for the first time,
on the last day.
 
K1WHS   [photo/doc]  
It has been a long time since I entered an EME contest. I really do not have any EME antenna system
but just use my tropo antennas on 222 and 432 MHz. Both are 4 x yagis on 100 ft towers. The 222 MHz
antenna has elevation. 432 is limited to the horizon only. With the lack of 222 activity, I managed
to work an equal number of contacts on each band!
 
KB2SA   [photo/doc]  
I'm in San Diego, CA with a 1.9m dish. I was QRV for all 4 contest days from around 9 PM local to
early morning. They were long nights for sure! I operated the first two nights remotely from a
hotel. Many thanks to the XYL!!!

I'm happy to "estimate" 100 unique digital QSOs and one SSB QSO with DG5CST. Hopefully most of these
folks were in the contest. (-:

My final QSO was 6 degrees off the moon at the Az house limit. It was JS6UJS. We used fast Q65-30B
to very quickly and easily complete the QSO. (-:

And MANY thanks to K8ZR for activating Ohio during the final hours! Lots of new folks I'm still
finding. Some that quickly come to mind are N9XO, W6TCP, JS6UJS, K8ZR, OH7OPT, LA9NEA, SV1CAL,
PI9CAM, WR8AA, WA3GFZ, VA7MM, SM6PGP, PA3CSG, OZ7KY, OK2ULQ, G4EZP, and G0LBK. Sorry if I missed a
few more inits!

Finally, many thanks to N9JIM (1.5m),  DK0TE (70-el yagi), and several other yagis and small dishes
I still need to identify. (-:
 
KJ9I   [photo/doc]  
Soapbox 6m KJ9I:
Exceptional meaning returned from special efforts 6m EMErs delivered for ARRL EME 2022.  ZL1RS
completed a 6m EME QSO with just a dipole (and a 3-element yagi before that) while pressing limits
of the ‘how low can we go’ space (QSOs I will remember forever)!  Iowa friends K0DAS, NR0X,
AC0RA, and KC0SKM braved sub 30°F temperatures in an unheated trailer to activate ‘cornfield
EME.’   

4O6AH repaired his weather-damaged rotor to return to 6m EME CQing all night.   Numerous portable
operators including AG6EE did a fantastic job from remote/field locations using 1 x yagi!     K5QE
team erected a 2 x 5 array for this event.   

Nearly 100  6m EME friends came on during disruptive or sleeping hours to give it a try in the face
of 6dB degradation/adversity.  Many participants used 1 x yagis horizon-only where ground gain could
be leveraged.   First EME QSOs were JA1QJI, W5WP, N9BX, and W8TN (first 6m EME). I am truly grateful
for all who showed up to try and also for those who squeezed 6m EME into their already full
family/life schedules (sometimes Mother Nature compounded the intervention).    

Near-misses included: PA7MM (one-way propagation), VE1SKY with 1 x 5 elements horizon-only and N5DG
with whom we tried during final hours of 2nd weekend.  W0GJ and most Iowa stations were too close
(and too closely aligned with moon azimuth) such that terrestrial signals completely masked EME
signals.   One-way propagation and deep fading (-17 through -35 SNR/blackout in 2 to 10 minute
cycles) typified 6m EME conditions across both weekends.   

It brings great pleasure to deliver every QSO vacuumed from the moon (dislodging the CQs from
sticking in the rounded moon craters) so we could hear them back on earth.  

Table I.  system capability range of 6m stations worked during ARRL EME 2022 
Callsign	Antenna detail	Antenna gain (dBd)
ZL1RS	             Dipole	               0.0
OH2BC	           8 x 7 LFA X-pol	      20.0
Difference	55 (same plane) elements.     20.0


David J. Schmocker, KJ9I     4 x 10 LFA array with full Azimuth and Elevation rotation
Software used: WSJT-X v2.5.4 (for Mac): Q65-60A. dual receive paths: Rx path 1) SSB Electronic LT6S
transverter behind Elecraft K3S (to Mac computer) and Rx path 2) AirSpy R2 with SDR-Console v3.1.
 
LU8ENU   [photo/doc]  
LU8ENU team was active during the ARRL EME contest in 200 70 and 23cm.
 
LZ2US  
Very goood activity as usually. Nice contest.  But ....  All writing the Contest Cabrillo  Log  plus
correcting errors plus Conrad PA5Y's help took almost as much time as my on-air activity. I was
using Conrad's help already second or third time...The dubus Contest report has never been so time
consuming, and as for the ari contest where the special program makes things extremely easy...I'm
starting to wonder if I should give up on submitting an arrl eme contest report  for the future.
 
N1BUG  
I WANTED TO SEE WHAT I COULD HEAR WITH MY SINGLE HOME BUILT K1FO-40 YAGI ON THE HORIZON. I NEVER
EXPECTED TO WORK ANYONE WITH JUST 25 WATTS.
 
N9JIM   [photo/doc]  
Great Fun with only a 1.5m dish!
500W helped a lot too!
 
NX9O   [photo/doc]  
I spent less than 2 months assembling a portable 23cm EME station. I was only RX for the October
weekend, but decoded more than 30 stations. I had trouble the first night in November, but got it
together the second night. I was only able to be on a short time as I misrouted a coax line that
later got snapped. I had a blast while I was on! I'll be back! Roving to start soon!
 
OK1DFC   [photo/doc]  
Probably the best ARRL EME contest I have attended in my time. Managed to make 184 valid contacts to
37 DXCC countries, 21 WAS countries and 5 Canadian provinces. My total score comes out to 1,159,200
points. During the contest I used the new 8m offset parabolic antenna, a picture of which was
published on the front page of the May QST. I used 1kW power and VLNA design G4DDK. Thank you all
for the nice contacts and a wonderful two weekends on EME. 73!
 
OK1DIX  
Due to a problem with the PA I was able to participate only in the part of the first leg. The
activity seemed lower as in the previous ARRL EME Contests. The  condition below-average might have
impacted it, though.
 
OK1TEH  
Tnx for points in contest, it was my first ever contest with Q65 mode on 70cm and I have some mixed
feeling about it while with single 23el yagi it isn't so much friendly mode for signals around -30dB
to find them among of birdies and dig them out from the waterfall as WSJTX's waterfall is showing
much weaker traces than good old WSJT 10. I would also appreciate some possible additional category
for QRP stations to support the activity for beginners and perhaps some extra points for CW contacts
in mixed category. On the other hand I'm glad that number of W/VE stations is growing, well done. 73
& hope to meet you next year once again.
 
OK2AQ   [photo/doc]  
The 1st weekend just took place on the August 27th-28th and the participation was, at least in the 3
cm band, very decent. Around forty stations from five continents participated.In own contest on
Saturday and Sunday I made a total of 34 QSOs with 23 multipliers.The second part of the MW ARRL EME
contest was marked by very bad weather for me. Unusually low temperatures for this time were
accompanied by rain with occasional breaks, see photo. Sun noise was up to 2 dB lower compared to
clear weather values at comparable solar flux. However VK7ZBX allowed us to do WAC during one
contest. In total, I made 38 valid QSOs with 25 multipliers in both MW weekends on the 10 GHz band,
which represents 95,000 points.
 
OK2PE   [photo/doc]  
Great race, as always. I have a problem with living in a valley so my options are limited. It´s not
 an excuse, it´s a fact. When I grow up, I might move. I wish everyone good health and success in
our hobby. 73 Karel, OK2PE.
 
ON5TA  
Nice activity on 10G and a lot of fun! Made 22 QSO with just 13W at the feed of a 1.8m dish. 73 de
ON5TA
 
PA5Y  
N1MM+ was used as a logger and it counted NH6Y as a DXCC, of course he is in Hawaii. The activity in
the 2nd leg was much better. I was on as much as my body could take! Great fun, tnx QSOs.
73
Conrad PA5Y
 
UA9HO   [photo/doc]  
(no comments)
 
VE4MA  
I really appreciate having the second Microwave EME contest weekend this year, but unfortunately the
September weekend coincided with the terrestrial ARRL 10GHz+ contest weekend Which took priority for
me due to long planned arrangements.
VE4SA is less than 1km from me and so I operated on 70 cm instead of 23 cm. I had unknown RX
problems the first night so barely only worked DL7APV.  The second night was more successful. I was
using a 10 ft dish and 500W but with polarity switching. I was pleased to work KU4XO a 4 yagi
station
 
VE6TA   [photo/doc]  
It was great to have a second microwave weekend this year.  No feed changes in the dark...
Lots of activity present on most bands and I was able to work QSO's on 7 EME bands this year. 
Perhaps next year we will see activity on 902 as well.  
222 was a lot of fun and my first contest experience there.  Thanks to WA4NJP for getting folks to
get active there.  Grant VE6TA DO33gs
 
VK3VJP  
Thanks to everyone who worked me down here in VK3 - My first EME contest!

Only a short window for the US and EU, and combined with some high wind that ment going QRT for some
of the US window I had.
 
W6TCP   [photo/doc]  
I was only able to operate the last weekend. I had just fixed the 144 AZ and got the 3m dish working
the day before. The dish was not optimized but I managed to work 22 stations which was something.
Hopefully I will be better prepared in 2023.
 
YO6XK   [photo/doc]  
Hello, nice competition ... Murphy was present at every stage ... broken cables and plugs ... I was
QRPP with 250w ... but I'm satisfied with what I worked ..... Maybe at the next competition accept
the file directly Adif .... it's much simpler ....