I am pleased to report that I participated in the WW DX Contest from October 29 to October 3, 2022.. I had expected that it would be difficult to participate this weekend due to my jobs, but I casually participated for a total of 22 hours, althoee only about half of that time was spent participating fully. The total number of QSOs was 607 QSOs. For my part, I was able to get many more contacts than I would have liked, so I will update the contest report after a long absence in this blog.
The time rates of the QSOs are as follows

The number of QSOs on operational frequencies, by each continent, is as follows

It was an excellent fall condtion (SFI=131 SSN=68 A=12 K=2, 10/31 morning), and although SSN was a little low, the K index was small, i.e., there were no magnetic storms or other factors affecting communication, so I think we enjoyed a stable communication.
On the first day, I moved from 21MHz to 14MHz, then to 7MHz in the evening, and occasionally peeked at 3.8MHz. I call the EU direction. Sunrise is at 6:10, which is about an hour late. Obviously, it is too late, but in the WW contest, contest stations and private stations equipped with large antennas will point at us. So, they manage to get us. However, the interference in the EU seems to be considerable, and having heard a 5-elec. full-size station being completely useless during a contest before, I am aware that it is impossible with my inadequate equipment. So, I call them with a bit of relief? So, I called in with a little relief.
This time, I decided to participate in the contest as an all-band contestant (although I have no intention of winning any prizes), so I also made QRV in the 28 MHz just in case. This antenna is also well tuned to 28MHz. From the trapping behavior, it may be tuned to 4 times of 7MHz (though it is voltage fed), but it also seems to get a decent front back and gain. However, since it is in bad shape antenna-wise, I excluded from the 1kW change inspection, so the license limit is 100W (it was 200W during the previous TS-480HX, but now it is 100W for the IC-7610). So the conditions are not good, but it still flies from the goodness of 28MHz. If this is the case, I regret a little that I should have officially bought a multibeam that can also use 28MHz. Next time, if I do buy one, it will still be a tape measure beam.
Sunday service, after returning from it on Sunday, I QRV'd on 21 MHz from 13:00 JST. Asia and South America came in strongly. 15:00 JST, I QSY'd on 14 MHz, which was my focus this time. The reason why I was paying attention to 14MHz is that until now, to conntact with the EU area on 14MHz has been very strict in this contest, and almost no one has taken it. This has been the case even after the 1kW licenced. However, this time, on the first day of the contest, I directed the beam in the long-path direction by a strange chance. I had noticed since the beginning of this October that the signal was stronger on the long-path route at 14 MHz in the evening. In fact, when I checked the 330-degree (short-path) and 150-degree (long-path) directions, the long-path was completely and significantly superior. From the long-path direction, we could hear various EU signals and could see how bad the QRM was in the region. In addition, I could hear the Russian Asian stations. This is a signal that has come in from around the globe. Furthermore, South America is also coming in strongly from this direction. Naturally, we can also hear Oceania and Africa. What's more, North America can also be heard. In other words, 14MHz in the afternoon has opened to the world wide. It seems that there are any Japanese station that know this, and their signals come in on S9. On the other hand, there are some Japanese stations that do not know this and stick to the short path (why don't you know? Oh,excuse me!) On the other hand, the stations that did not seem to know this and insisted on short-path signals seemed to be having a very hard time.
On the second day, the objective was to do CQ running a long pass on 14MHz at around 15:00 JST to the EU. On the previous day, the congestion in the EU was still so bad that even if we called them at full power, they did not take our calls. Especially at the end of the pass, it seemed to be a no-go, so it was better to act early.
In fact, when I found a certain frequency in non-use and started to do CQ running, at first I only received calls from Oceania stations, but then I started receiving piles up from the EU. I think it was because I was able to contact with EU stations with which I normally cannot communicate. This should definitely work in the CW division of WWDX contest.
On the second night, I was planning to call a Caribbean stations on 7 MHz that I could not get the day before, but the condition was lower than the day before and it seemed to be impossible with my working conditon. This is one of the reasons why I prefer more CW on 7MHz. I had no choice but to think about how to increase the number of communicating stations, so I pointed the antenna to the south-southwest and doing CQ running. I decided to concentrate on contacting with Indonesian stations. In recent years, the activity of Indonesian stations has been very high, and sometimes there seem to be contests within Indonesia; although not so much heard on CW, on SSB, even on a normal day in October, there is a lot of interference from Indonesian stations at night. Now, the sun is directly above the horizon in Indonesia, and it is midsummer condition. I think that is why we can enjoy domestic communication on 7MHz until late at night. However, it is very good to communicate with Indonesia, where there are so many stations that prefer 7MHz SSB. Indonesia has high points because it belongs to Oceania. In other words, it is possible to earn the same points as communicating with North America. In fact, The CQ running for the Indonesian stations was successful and many stations called me. Because of the high activity, the operational manner and smoothness are moderate and enjoyable. For me, the targets for the third day were the 7 MHz EU in the early morning and North America just before the end of the day.
On the third day, thanks to an early bedtime the day before? I woke up at 5:30 JST. and immediately started listening to 7MHz. As I expected, I could hear very well.
I prefer CW, but this time, I decided to focus on SSB.
I have been interested in DX on 7 MHz since before the station reopened. Previously, Japanese licence could only operate up to 7.100MHz, but even so, at night I could hear EU stations around 7.080MHz. I was operating with 500W licence and a 7 MHz rotary DP on the roof top. I think it was strong there domestically, but the EU area was very difficult, and I remember calling desperately around 3:00 a.m., but they wouldn't take it (actually, I didn't know at the time that the best time to call was around sunrise in the morning). The CQ publication's antenna handbook had an introduction to the GP with capacitance hat, and it said that the DXCC100 was an antenna that could do CW and 100W at 7MHz. After the reopening of the station, when we built the antenna, we decided that we definitely wanted a beam at 7 MHz, so we first considered CY403, then Nagara's 30/40 meter 2-element, and finally settled on the current NB42X. This antenna is inefficient, but it makes you aware that it is a beam in its own way. The front-to-back ratio is about 10 dB, which is normal for a two-element antenna, and the wide bandwidth allows me to cover a bandwidth of 200 kHz with an SWR of less than 2. I have a little bit of an attachment to it. So, contacting with the EU area on 7MHz is a very attractive matter for me.
I started at 5:30 JST and called all the CQing EU stations from one end to the other. On the way, I saw a JA superstation quickly snatch up a call, and while saying "don't worry, don't worry," I was satisfied that there were some stations that were picking a reasonable amount of my call. I was satisfied that there were some stations that were able to get a good reception. I guessed that there was interference in the EU and that there were other stations calling people I couldn't hear. Even in such a situation, I am happy that they turn to me. However, strangely enough, I can hardly hear the signals of competing stations calling within the EU area. However, I think that any station seems since the other station is waving S9 or more to enter the system, why can't they take it? If it is so strong, why can't they take it? This is not the case at all. I understand the gap between the two, but I don't think I'm the only one who prefers CW, where you can communicate with barefoot + DP without feeling it. It's that harsh. The amps are set upto 1100 watts, which is a lot of power. But what I get back is not a full copy of the call sign. I actually found out the reason for this later.
Then, after breakfast, I decided to make a last ditch effort on either 14 or 21 MHz. In the past, when I participated in contests with my college club station, I think it was at the height of conditions, I participated in the WWDX contest with 500W and 5 elec(?) I remember the last hour of the contest on 28MHz SSB with 500W and 5 elec. I remember that I could call in and a lot of stations would call in. The 14MHz North American condition (number of stations?) was not so good, whereas the 28MHz SSB condition was not so good. I found a clear spot in the frequency above 21.350MHz and started CQ running after 8:00 JST. I started CQing, and after a while, several stations started calling at the same time. Most of them called me with real 59, regardless of whether they were on the West Coast, Central, or East Coast. Then, a little impatiently, I had no choice but to take a part of their call sign. Full taking is a once in 10 times. While concentrating, I try to grab even the tails of the stations that call me in QRM, and from there, I try to get them to communicate with me. The more you communicate, the more stations call you and the more nimble you become. The operator technology of the North American stations is very high. Thanks to their technology, we are also able to fly more nimbly. However, when the Asian stations was called me in the middle of it, the speed of the call was interrupted as if it stops. When they lose their nimbleness, they instantly stop being called. They, too, were searching for uncommunicated stations in this last short time. Although I was a bit of a lousy operator, I was able to contact with about 100 stations in 30 minutes. This was the most enjoyable time of this contest.
Reflection:
I think a stand microphone is not good enough for SSB contests. I would like to use a headset.
I should have prepared a recording function of my rig because my voice would not be able to keep up.
I felt the power of the attenuator at the contest. This is good to use. It is good to use the attenuator to make it easier to listen, instead of always using the highest sensitivity.
I think it might be better to use a continuously variable RF gain attenuator as opposed to a step-by-step switching attenuator.
As the frequency accuracy of radios increases, it is tempting to set them to a tight .00 or .50. But that may reduce the other party's understanding.
I've thought about this for a while, but even when the signal is weak, stations with unique sound quality are picked up. This may be an issue to be studied.
Let's think of an effective way to balance housework (reduce domestic interfair).
Maybe I shouldn't think I'm weak (I'm really reaching stronger).