QRP Operator Logs One Contact per Day for Nearly 30 Years
From August 5, 1994, through December 20, 2021 — a span of nearly 10,000 days — ARRL member John Shannon, K3WWP, of Kittanning, Pennsylvania, made at least one CW contact while running 5 W or less to simple wire antennas. That includes one that’s in his attic.
Over the course of said 10,000 days, Shannon made 72,190 contacts with 20,098 unique stations. For at least 2,099 of his contacts, his signal traveled 1,000 or more miles per W, while another 24,098 were DX (non-W/VE) contacts made in 224 DXCC entities. He contacted all 
50 states “many times over” — he made 3,819 contacts with stations in Pennsylvania and 63 contacts with stations in Wyoming.
Shannon reports that the DX country he contacted most often was Germany, with 1,934 contacts. By continent, his contact totals ranged from 52,639 with stations in North America to 325 with stations in Oceania, plus 18 with stations in Antarctica. The number of contacts he made on each band used includes 19,279 on 40 meters; 15,459 on 20 meters; 28 on 60 meters, and 39 on 6 meters.
Within his first UTC hour of operation each day, Shannon logged nearly 73% of his daily contacts.
He also experienced a DX streak from March 1, 2013 through August 1, 2018, which was a total of 1,980 days. During this time, he contacted at least one DX station per day.
Shannon said that the greatest satisfaction he’s derived from his operating streak is that other hams express that he inspired their interest in, and enjoyment of, CW and/or QRP operating. Shannon said that his greatest satisfaction derived from his lengthy operating streak was having other hams express that he inspired their interest in operating CW and/or QRP, and that they really enjoyed it.
In the early 2000s, he wrote for the “QRP with John Shannon, K3WWP” column in The Key Note, the FISTS CW Club’s newsletter. Additionally, his article, “The Streak: 23 Years of Daily Contacts,” was published in the August 2017 issue of QST.
Shannon said his streak is not over. He intends to continue making daily contacts for 11,000 or 12,000 days. View his website for more information.
