Europe’s Top Ops Battle Brutal Conditions in CQ WPX SSB

The Contest Crew Europe returns to break down a CQ WPX SSB contest that promised records but delivered something messier. Filipe CT1ILT pivoted midweek from a planned multi-two to a single op effort—and still topped Europe. For a day and a half, 10 meters was electric; North America poured in until late evening. Then Sunday hit like a switch flipped. Signals vanished, beams pointed the “wrong” way, and what felt like a record run dissolved. It’s a reminder that even at the highest level, contesting is still at the mercy of propagation. Around him, the stories stack up.

Emir “Braco” Memic E77DX battled literal ice—antennas frozen, noise surging—yet stayed in the fight, glued to live scores in a transatlantic duel. Kris Kass ES7A fielded a youth-powered multi-multi, where a high school operator stole the show by relentlessly QSY’ing stations like a seasoned closer. Meanwhile, Dave Kucelin 9A1UN and crew clawed back from a brutal start to nearly overtake ES9C in one of the tightest finishes of the contest—fractions of a percent separating them.

And then there’s the undercurrent: something is changing. AI voices are creeping into SSB in ways that feel both inevitable and unsettling. Is this evolution—or erosion? Even among elites, there’s no consensus yet.

The episode closes far from Europe, with Sven Lovric DJ4MX recounting a grueling Bangladesh DXpedition: 24-hour travel legs, improvised generators, relentless noise hunting, and fleeting propagation windows. The payoff? Tens of thousands of QSOs, rare all-time new ones for many, and a reminder that the spirit of amateur radio still thrives far beyond the contest scoreboard.

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