CQ DX Marathon

2018 DX Marathon: Comments

PY2ADR: Nice to be in the DX Marathon again. TNX all OM who gave me the pleasure of a QSO.

ZL2IFB: A tough year for me - too much time churning through regular FT8 QSOs instead of DXing!

VK3GA: All 2018 DX Marathon QSO’s completed using my personal remote site in VK3, not accessible to other hams.

W4AG: All worked using 80M and 40M four squares.

NU8Z: And I thought conditions were bad in 2017!   Even worse in 2018, but fun as always!!

K4EPC: First time entrant.

ZL1BBW: First time entrant - an interesting year.

AC7P: FT8 to the rescue.

CX3AL: It is my first entry to the DX Marathon. My congratulations to the organization for giving a NO-CONTEST station as mine the opportunity to participate in a Contest.

ZS6AI: My second time, last year was all mode this year an all Digital entry.

N9TF: Not a bad DX total for a small low power station at the bottom of the sunspot cycle. Most all antennas occupy an area of about 4,875 square feet in my backyard. Only the 40/80 meter dipole extends beyond that with one leg just extending to a tree

K6YK: Not bad for bottom of the cycle!  NO FT-8 QSOs, all digital are RTTY.

I4EAT: Once again single band 6 meters, I hope to see more participation on this band.

DP1POL: QTH for all QSOs is the German Research Station "Neumayer III" in Antarctica, IB59UH. I regularly work there in the Antarctic summer. This is surely not a competitive score, but it is good fun to hand out another Antarctic QSO to the deserving.

K2JL: Returned to ham radio in late 2017, hooked on the DX Marathon for 2018 and beyond! 100w and wires are a real challenge!

W4HY: Second year of participation.

WC3W: Second Year submittal. Bummer this year—no remote—and stinky propagation—hopefully we find a home for the remote station this year!

TF3DC: Thank you for the CQ DX Marathon.

VK4CC: Thanks for running the Marathon again. Always lots of fun.

JA0DAI: The conditions on the higher bands were not good enough to add more entities.

WB5WAJ: This made operating in 2018 a little more fun.

W4QN: This was not a good year - my worst since pursuing CQ Marathon.  Poor conditions was a major factor, however I think the FT-8 craze reduced normal CW activity of many DX stations and I was only chasing on CW.

EA8KC: This year I have not been able to do as much radio as last year and as I would have liked, still having more power and better means.

K9MM: Used FT8 almost exclusively. Great new mode!

HC5VF: Very happy in the DX Marathon. All the best.

WA4JQS: Was a little tougher this year in Kentucky with lots of storms and being deployed twice to KH6 land. Could not catch Zones 29 and 34 at all this year but had a great time.

TF3JB: What an excellent event. My SteppIR SmallIR vertical broke down in March 2018. Consequently, no QSO's for several months until I discovered the Omniangle OA-50 antenna from Par Electronics for 50 MHz for 6 meters.

IK5FKF: Year 2018 characterized by absence of sunspots and the new digital mode FT8 that Big Stations and DXPeditions have used a lot. I could not compete with them. Result: after 10 years I will not be in the TOP 5. Good luck in 2019.

VE9VIC: It’s my first year, next year I will try to improve my antenna, during the summer I work 70 hours a week but in winter I have fun.

HA0 0001: Marathon is always a good contest! Know SWLs are not participate (yet?) but a big pleasure to see my scores at the listings.  At 2018 heard 7 new entities and two are confirmed with paper card: KH1/KH7Z at 20m and 3B7A on 6 bands with 2 modes.  And heard Montana the last missing state for complete heard all states after over 5 years SWLing.

VE4HAZ: Thanks for what you do with the DX Marathon.

SP3BGD: It was nice to see friends on the air.  I am sending everyone 73. HNY 2019

PY2CP: CQ DX Marathon is growing and will even more....Count on me!

W4CU: This past year my good friend and Elmer, N4RI, became an SK.  As you know, he regularly placed in the top five or ten in the Formula Class running 100 watts to dipoles for each band.  What you probably do not know is that his dipoles were all contained in a small condo attic.  His antennas His 40 and 30 meter antennas were bent in various directions to fit in the attic, and he worked long and hard to minimize the interactions of 7 dipoles in that confined space.  He made up for his working conditions through skill and determination.  In addition to his love for DX, Scotty was a regular at the CW table for field day, and participated with the St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club (SPARC) in CW and RTTY contests.

WA4JQS: Thank you for all you do for us with the Marathon each year. 

IZ5CML: Quite happy about my score, just "traditional" mode in the year of FT8 explosion and deep solar minimum, I started to pay attention of country in my log just after the CQWW SSB end October and follow actively the DX Marathon, lost at least 15 Countries, so not too bad activity during the year! 

WX6V: Competing in the Marathon every year is what "floats my boat" as a DXer and has been doing so for some time now.

N4ANV: I would like to tell you that I really love the DX Marathon, and still will operate next year, even though I am 79, and have a real problem of memory, and some medical issues.

K4IQJ: I worked hard on my 160M Marathon this past year, probably my best score.  I checked the website today to get the forms only to find out the deadline is past.  There is no way I can ever meet the 5 day deadline since we typically spend several days away from home over New Years, and it typically takes a few days to produce a correct log among all the rest of the stuff that needs to be done to start the year.  There is no reason to participate any more. 

K7ACZ: I do not have a great score, I just wanted to support the contest, so you can make me a late log.

N4KC: This is my first year to participate in the Marathon, and with the grid chase and a couple of pretty good contest efforts, I thought I might have a middlin’ score.