ES7A Hit by Lightning, WAE Fallout & CQ WW Pivot: Contest Crew EU

Braco Memic E77DX hosts this special edition of Q5 Worldwide Ham Radio, stepping in after Kevin W1DED encountered technical issues. Contest Crew Europe gathers to unpack the 2025 Worked All Europe SSB contest, recent IARU VHF, and plans for the upcoming CQ Worldwide SSB contest.

Kris Kass ES7A opens with a cautionary tale: a lightning strike took out his station, frying everything from rotators to computers. With WAE off the table and the station out of commission for CQ Worldwide SSB, he's pivoted to a multi-op plan at ES5TV with an international team—including youth. Sven Lovric DJ4MX describes wrestling with remote station glitches while operating as 9A5MX, but still posting over 400,000 points.

Dave Kucelin 9A1UN joins late but brings the heat: his team operated from an ex-military mountaintop site at 1,600 meters, battling fog, humidity, and 80 km/h winds. The result? Over 1,100 QSOs and the second-best VHF score south of the Alps. The crew closes with insights on WAE propagation, the flood of QTCs from Brazilian stations, and yes—AI-generated voices now flawlessly handing out QTCs.

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