JARC Members Score In 2022 ARRL International DX Phone Contest

In the slow circular sweep, the JARC clubhouse clock’s minute hand steadily arched towards ’12’ and it’s hour hand earnestly edged downward toward ‘6’. Club members had already configured and tested the transceiver, antenna, antenna rotator controls, computer, and logging software.

An operator had carefully selected and claimed a spot on the 20m band and shooed interloping operators near and far were away from the claimed frequency. Then finally, at the appointed time of April 1, 6:00pm (Saturday, UTC 0000hrs) JARC members kicked into gear to compete in the ARRL 2022 International DX Phone Contest.

Thousands of U.S. and foreign operators on every continent around the globe competed in the two-day event. The goal: U.S. operators make contact with as many foreign operators (DX contacts). Foreign operators make contacts with as many U.S. operators.

Exceptional band conditions, compared to the past five years, set the stage for the contest. The Solar Flux index (SFI) ranged between 111 and113. The K index ranged between 3 and 4. Those numbers contributed to jammed packed bands on 15m, 20, and 40m on both days . The 10m band had moderate activity on Saturday and then became almost as crowded as the other bands on Sunday.

For JARC, the event primarily became a search and pounce affair as the number of U.S. operators, comparatively speaking, seemed to out number their DX counterparts. JARC operators scored QSOs with far flung locations such as Russia, China, Japan, St. Helena Island, New Zealand, South Africa, and the tip of South America (Tierra Del Fuego)

Operating Equipment and Software

Club operators utilized the following equipment and software for the event

– ICOM7300

– Alpha 87 Linear Amplifier – to 1,500 watts (PEP)

– StepperIR antenna – 6m – 40m

– Antenna rotator for the SteppIR

– N1MM+ logging software

JARC Operating Team

Ryan – KI5NMJ	KG5OBD – Claiborne
Marcus – W0YND	KD5BPR – Henry
Carl – W8WZ	Lane – KD2TVW
Seth – K2DIW	Mike – WA5CFT
Chuck – NO5W	Greg – K5DEU
Ira – N5OGW