CQ Worldwide SSB Contest 2026 – Back to Madeira

A big thanks to the Team CR3W that I can use the station once again!

Here we go again. It is October 2026, and I’m on the way to Madeira for the CQ
Worldwide SSB Contest.

One of the biggest contests of the year is just around the corner, and once
again, I’m heading to one of my favourite places for a weekend of radio,
antennas, propagation, and hopefully plenty of contacts. I’ve been to Madeira
countless times, but somehow, the journey never gets old. There is always
something new to consider, something to improve, and, of course, the big
question: which band will deliver the best results this time?

Tuesday – The Journey Begins

The trip started on Tuesday with my flight to Madeira. The journey was relatively
straightforward, although the TAP flight from Frankfurt to Lisbon was slightly
delayed. Fortunately, the connecting flight to Funchal waited for us, so we
managed to reach Madeira with only a minor delay.

Even a small delay can make a difference when you’re travelling for a contest.
Since I arrived later in the evening than I normally would, there wasn’t much
time left to get things set up.

I connected the station, got everything running, and spent a little time
operating FT8. It was a good opportunity to make sure the equipment was working
as expected and to get a first impression of the bands. But with the late
arrival, that was pretty much all I could accomplish on Tuesday evening.

The real work would have to wait until the following day.

Wednesday – Antennas, Decisions, and Band Conditions

Wednesday was dedicated to setting up the station. And, as it turned out, one
question would occupy my mind for much of the preparation: 10 metres or 15
metres?

Last year, 10 metres had been in excellent shape and was a very attractive choice
for the contest. However, propagation conditions had deteriorated considerably
since then. With the solar conditions no longer looking quite as promising,
choosing 10 metres was becoming something of a gamble.

If the band opened up properly, it could deliver some fantastic rates and plenty
of DX contacts. But if conditions were too poor, the entire contest could turn
into a frustrating experience, with only a handful of contacts to show for the
effort.

Fifteen metres, on the other hand, was in good shape. It looked like a much safer
option and offered a reliable alternative if 10 metres failed to deliver.

Rather than making the decision too early, I decided to keep both options open.
Over the following days, I repeatedly tested 10 metres, making contacts whenever
possible to get a better feeling for the band’s actual performance. The idea was
simple: I wanted to find out whether 10 metres still had enough life in it to
justify committing to it for the contest.

Meanwhile, the antenna setup was designed to give me maximum flexibility.

I installed both monoband Yagi beams, one for 10 metres and one for 15 metres.
Combined with the Spiderbeam, which is permanently installed on the tall mast at
the station, this gave me two antennas available for whichever band I eventually
chose. 10m to the left, Spiderbeam ind the middle and 15m to the right.

That flexibility was important. In a contest like CQ Worldwide, band conditions
can make or break your weekend, and having the right antennas ready means you can
react when propagation surprises you.

With the antennas in place and the station gradually taking shape, the
preparations continued. The equipment was ready to go. The only remaining
question was which band would prove to be the right choice for CQ Worldwide SSB
2026.

And the answer, as always, would ultimately come from the bands themselves.

Saturday – Taking the Risk on 10 Metres

Saturday morning was decision time. With 10 metres expected to open around 09:00
UTC, I had to decide which band would be the right choice for the contest. I
opted for the more adventurous approach and went all in on 10 metres.

The most fun in CQ WW are RATES!!!

I hit 7 QSO’s per minute 7 times, 6 QSO’s per minute 36 times and 5 QSOs per minute 112 times. Never hit a perfect hour. Best one hour rate was 272.

Looking back, it was probably the right decision.

Day one turned out to be really, really good. I managed to put more than 2,000
QSOs into the log, with contacts covering around 100 DXCC countries. That was an
excellent start and gave me plenty of reason to be optimistic about the final
result.

For a while, it looked as though the gamble on 10 metres was paying off
perfectly. The band was delivering, the rate was good, and the station was busy.
The target of finishing the contest with well over 3,000 QSOs suddenly seemed
very realistic.

But, as we all know, propagation has a mind of its own.

Sunday – A Completely Different Story

The second day was a very different experience.

Conditions had deteriorated, and I found myself calling CQ for long periods
without a single station coming back to me. One moment, the band would suddenly
come alive for a few minutes, with contacts coming in at a decent rate. Then,
just as quickly, everything would fall silent again.

It was a constant up and down. The band could be really good one moment and
practically dead the next. These rapidly changing conditions made it difficult to
maintain a decent rate and took a serious toll on the final QSO count.

The ambition to finish with significantly more than 3,000 contacts was fading
fast.

Still, I wanted to reach that 3,000-QSO milestone. As the band approached its
complete closure at 20:00 UTC, I even managed to scrape together another 25
contacts from the band map. Every QSO counted, and I wanted to make sure that the
final result would show at least those 3,000 contacts.

In the end, the two days could hardly have been more different. On the first day,
the Solar Flux Index (SFI) was around 100. On the second day, it had dropped to
somewhere in the low 90s. That might not sound like a dramatic change on paper,
but the difference on the air was significant.

Of course, Sunday is often a little weaker anyway. Many of the stations you can
work on Saturday have already been logged, so the pool of new contacts naturally
becomes smaller. Nevertheless, the deterioration in propagation was impossible to
ignore. The band simply did not offer the same opportunities as it had the day
before.

Despite all that, I was quite happy with the final result. Honestly, I am not
sure what else I could have done to squeeze more out of the weekend. I had made
the decision, committed to 10 metres, and worked the band as hard as the
conditions allowed.

Sometimes, that is simply how contesting goes.

Madeira – A Growing Contesting Hotspot

Over the years, I have seen quite a change in the contesting scene on Madeira.

In the past, I was often one of the very few stations active in the contest from
the island. Sometimes there would be just one other competing station, operated
by local amateurs.

Those days are long gone.

Madeira has increasingly become a real contesting hub, with several local
stations and additional contest operations run by teams travelling in from
abroad. This has created a much more competitive environment, especially on a
band like 10 metres.

At times, there can be as many as five stations operating on 10 metres
simultaneously. For callers looking for the rare Madeira multiplier, that means
there is a choice of stations to work. The pile-ups are spread across the
different operations, and everyone gets a share of the action.

Our little station in Santana is not exactly a monster station when it comes to
antennas. We have a capable setup, but we cannot quite compete with the antenna
farms at some of the bigger contest locations.

As a result, we are often a little quieter on the band than our neighbours at
CR3A or CQ9A, just a few kilometres away. When several Madeira stations are
active at the same time, every advantage counts, and a bigger antenna system can
certainly make a difference.

But that is the way it is. We work with what we have, make the most of the
conditions, and enjoy the contest.

And that, ultimately, is what matters.

Another Madeira Contest in the Log

Once again, the CQ Worldwide SSB Contest brought a weekend full of excitement,
challenges, and plenty of time spent in front of the radio.

The conditions were unpredictable, the two contest days were worlds apart, and my
decision to focus on 10 metres turned out to be both a gamble and, in the end, a
reasonable choice. Day one delivered an outstanding result, while day two
reminded me just how quickly propagation can change the picture.

At least, I reached the 3,000-QSO mark. And looking back at the weekend, I really
cannot complain. I gave it everything I could, and I do not think there was much
more to squeeze out of the available conditions from our station in Santana.

As always, it was great fun to be back on Madeira for the biggest contest of the
year.

Now, we will have to wait and see what those 3,000 QSOs will be worth in the
final score.

QSO MAP 10m

Until next time — Madeira, I’ll be back!

Monday – Teardown, Recovery, and a Little More Radio

Monday is traditionally teardown day.

The extra antennas come down, the cables we installed for the contest are
removed, the shack gets a bit of a cleanup, and everything is returned to its
original state. After all the preparation and the intensity of the contest
weekend, it is time to put things back the way they were before we started.

There is still some time to relax, though. I can catch up on the football match
from Sunday night by watching the replay, and, of course, there is always time
for a few more FT8 contacts.

In fact, over the course of the entire week, I managed to log more than 4,000 FT8
QSOs, reaching stations all around the world.

Madeira is generally easy to reach on the bands, and a quick look at the DX
cluster or at the many local stations active on FT8 makes that pretty obvious.
Nevertheless, I am always surprised by how consistently you can run stations when
operating FT8 from Madeira with just 100 watts.

Even with a relatively modest setup, the combination of Madeira’s location and
digital-mode propagation can be remarkably effective. It is a great reminder that
you do not always need a huge station to make contacts around the world.

Tuesday – Heading Home

Tuesday was departure day.

The return journey was completely uneventful, which is exactly how you want it
after a busy week on the island. The only thing worth mentioning was my arrival
in Frankfurt at 22:30 local time, making me one of the last flights allowed to
land before the airport’s night-time flight restrictions came into effect.

By midnight, I was finally back home. Tired, of course, but with more than 7,000
QSOs in the log from the week on Madeira.

Not a bad result at all!

Chill out time with Ibiza Vibes and Chimney. 🙂

QSL Information

As always, QSL cards for both contest callsigns are available through the online
QSL system at Club Log. Both direct QSL requests and cards via the bureau are no
problem.

CQ3W:

CT9/DF7EE:

However, there is no need to send me QSL cards for CQ3W or CT9/DF7EE. I do not
collect cards for these callsigns. I mainly collect QSL cards for my own home
callsign.

Thanks to everyone who made contact during the contest and throughout the week.
It was great to put Madeira on the air again, work so many stations around the
world, and enjoy another memorable CQ Worldwide SSB Contest.

Until next time — Here we go again!

Thanks

73

Helmut DF7EE aka CQ3W

Are you interested in contesting? JOIN THE RRDXA!

www.rrdxa.org

WW DIGI 2025: Pushing the Limits with LX7I Superstation (Flashback)

FT4, FT8, 24 hours of nonstop action, and a new European record.

Here we go again — WW DIGI 2025! The annual FT4 and FT8 contest was another opportunity to push the limits of digital contesting, and once again, I had the pleasure of operating from the outstanding LX7I Superstation, thanks to Philippe for generously making his station available to me.

Everything worked flawlessly, and I was highly motivated to make the most of this opportunity. I spent quite some time preparing the setup, fine-tuning the operating position, and getting everything ready for 24 hours of serious digital contesting.

The Operating Setup

A comfortable and efficient operating position makes a real difference during a long contest. This time, I arranged the monitors as follows, from left to right:

• Notebook: Administration PC running N1MM Logger+
• Surface screen: LX7I FlexRadio 2
• 27-inch monitor: Operating position for Radio 1
• 27-inch monitor: Operating position for Radio 2
• 27-inch monitor: LX7I FlexRadio 2
• Wall-mounted flat screen: Real-time PSK Reporter activity

I also moved the WSJT-X screen on the right next to the other WSJT-X screen. A small change, but a worthwhile improvement in ergonomics when spending an entire day in front of the screens.

With the station ready and everything in place, it was time to get on the air!

The Challenge: Competing from Europe

Congratulations to Holger, ZL3IO, for his fantastic score and for setting such a high benchmark!

Looking at the previous year’s results, I quickly realized what it might take to compete at the top level: around 1,500 QSOs and 900,000 points — or even more.

But how do you achieve that from Europe, where distance-based scoring puts us at a disadvantage compared with stations in other parts of the world?

My strategy was clear: focus heavily on FT4 to maximize the QSO rate.

FT4, FT8, and the Perfect Flow

With my call sign being somewhat uncommon in FT4 and FT8, the station attracted a steady stream of callers. Throughout the entire 24-hour contest, there wasn’t a single minute without someone calling!

I was genuinely amazed by the propagation, the number of callers, and the QSO rates. For much of the contest, everything seemed to fall into place. Contacts kept coming, the rate remained high, and I experienced what I can only describe as the perfect flow.

Before the contest, I wasn’t entirely convinced that approaching 2,000 QSOs in 24 hours was realistic. Once the rate started building, however, that target no longer seemed so far-fetched.

One important lesson stood out above everything else:

Only click callsigns that include a locator!

It sounds simple, but when the rate is high and callers are coming in continuously, it’s easy to waste precious time on incomplete calls. Every second counts when you’re trying to maximize the final score.

The Final Hours

As the contest entered its final hours, concentration became increasingly difficult. I decided to spend more time on FT8 rather than continuing with FT4.

The slower pace was easier to manage when fatigue started to set in, although it wasn’t the best choice for maximizing the final score.

After 24 hours of intensive operating, the mental and physical effort was definitely noticeable. Still, the experience was fantastic, and the station had performed exceptionally well.

Final Results — December 23, 2025

The final scores were published on December 23, 2025.

Unfortunately, even almost doubling the number of QSOs isn’t enough to overcome Europe’s disadvantage in a distance-based scoring system.

Nevertheless, I’m delighted with the outcome. The contest brought me a new European record and a mention in the official results article — a very satisfying reward for all the preparation and effort!

Would I Do It Again?

If you’d asked me within 24 hours of finishing the contest, my answer would have been an emphatic:

NO!

I was absolutely exhausted. 😄

But that’s the nature of a 24-hour contest at this intensity. You push yourself, learn a lot, enjoy some incredible runs, and finish wondering how you managed to keep going for so long.

A big thank you to Philippe for letting me use the LX7I Superstation again, and thanks to everyone who called me during the contest. I’m sorry to those I couldn’t work — especially anyone who called without a locator!

And, of course, congratulations again to Holger, ZL3IO, and all the other competitors who made WW DIGI 2025 such a great challenge.

The map below shows the geographical spread of the contacts.

73 and see you in the next contest!

Helmut, DF7EE