My First QRP DX

Some time ago I worked my first DX contact with a long distance station. I forgot to reduce power from 15 Watts to 5 Watts, so it didn’t count as true QRP, defined as 5 Watts. On Sunday I had some time to work the CQ WW WPX DX CW contest. In this special event you can score points for making Morse Code contacts, with bonus points for long distance stations. I thought I would go on 20 meters in the last few hours, closest to twilight. I previously had good luck working the gray line. The contest ended at 08:00 PM local time.

I worked a few stations in Canada, but mostly worked America. I tried a few DX stations. I heard their calls and would circle around between them, trying to get through with my little QRP signal. I landed on DL6FBL for the second or third time. His call’s prefix of DL6 told me that he came from Germany. I decided to call.

He responded! I always get a little rush when I hear my call come back to me, and this time I could hardly believe it. We completed the exchange of information and I logged it. It took me a few minutes to fully experience the realization of what I had done. The QRZ app shows the distance as 3803 miles, a new personal best. Not bad for 5 watts into a magnetic loop!