Working in the ARRL 10m Contest With 5W and Solar Power.

 In the past week end I tried to extend the challenge again.

I worked all CW in an easy going search and pounce operation. With 5W and a 1/2 wave vertical that is a slow process, and I stayed on for some hours each day, with breaks for doing other stuff.

The end result was 41 QSOs in the contest, and I am quite happy with that result.

The battery had had the opportunity to get a bit more charge, as it had been used very little, so there was more than sufficient charge to work the contest as much as I wanted. At this time of the year the days are very short at 55 deg. North. But the system charged a little bit, even when the shy was clouded. This has been the case most days for a few weeks now.

Now for my challenge for this year.

When I received my IC-705 in January I set out to work at least 365 QSOs this year, and that is what I achieved in the CQWW CW contest. 

I then extended the challenge: Doing the 365 on all solar power (and maybe 500 in total with 5W). This is a bit of an estimate, as I worked with mains power in the beginning, but soon I got to do solar in full. 

The result after the ARRL 10m contest is above 500QSOs, and I do expect to do a few more before New Year.

With 500 QSOs on total I estimate that 365 of those have been made on solar power, so my challenge is a success.

Now I should think of a challenge for next year.

I have a few things I would like to do:

- expand the solar power system, so I can feed more of the radio station on solar power

- get to operate two-way on some microwave bands

- build some low powered system for more propagation monitoring

I do have some material for expanding the solar power system, but working in freezing temperatures outdoors does not work fro me. From spring time that work will resume.

For the microwave band working from home the same goes. No outdoor antenna work. I am in the process of locating a 23cm module and a TCXO for my IC-910, I have it somewhere, so in the process of tidying I should find those and get the 910 upgraded. First microwave band is possible in the spring when antennas can be installed.

I already talked about using some simple kits for some of the monitoring receivers, and/or extend their use with converters. 

We shall see what I choose for next year