Two more countries on 20m - Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia!

Just worked another new country on 20 metres - Kazakhstan! I got a 57 report from UN7MMM and he was a very healthy 59 with me. His name is Valery and he is located, I think he said, near Oral? I will QSL with him via EA7FTR. It only took me three attempts to get through and the pile-up is building. I worked him on 100 watts with my Antron 99 on 14.215 USB.

Thanks Valery and Happy Christmas.

This was followed by another new one - Saudi Arabia. I worked 7Z1TT Hamdi in Jeddah on 14.270 USB. He was calling CQ and nobody was answering so I was very lucky. He had trouble hearing me. It took five attempts for him to get the full callsign, but I was delighted. Thank you Hamdi. 73.

Spaceweather alert - Incoming, incoming!!

OK, now I'm really tempting fate. Sunspot group 1035 has grown beyond expectation and is now seven times the size of Earth. Not only that, but Spaceweather is reporting a C4 class solar flare associated with this sunspot group at 0120UT this morning. Here is the Spaceweather report:

INCOMING CME: This morning at 0120 UT, an eruption of magnetic fields around sunspot 1035 produced a long-duration C4-class solar flare and hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) in the general direction of Earth. High-latitude sky watchers should prepare for auroras when the CME arrives on or about Dec. 18th. STEREO movies: solar flare, CME.

Hopefully this might bring a lift in conditions on the bands. We'll let you know!

I don't want to tempt fate, but look what's happening on the sun

OK, last time I wrote about this the sunspots fizzled away and there was another month without a single sunspot. So, it is with some trepidation that I raise the subject of sunspots again. Take a look at this animation from www.spaceweather.com and have a look at sunspot 1035 as it grows rapidly. Let's hope it keeps growing and that there is lots more such activity in coming weeks and months.

By the way, 20 metres was open again last night and I hopped down to Thos EI2JD's shack from where I worked Uruguay CX with his 3-element SteppIR. Thanks Thos. I heard some ZS (South Africa) stations from my home QTH but none of them were workable unfortunately. That was around 8 or 9pm last night. The Uruguay contact was made at around 10.30pm. Great to hear 20m still open in the evenings.

It's 8pm and 20m is still open!

It's just 8pm on the button and 20 metres is still open. I am listening to a SV9 station from Crete booming in on 14.254 USB. 10 metres was open until about 7pm, with earlier openings into South America, although I was home too late to work them. I did however work Spain, Portugal and France on 10m. It was the first opening on 10m that I have worked in ages.

The Crete station is SV9CVY and he's working stateside. He is 57 on my vertical and the same on my half-size G5RV. It's nice to hear any action at all on 20m at night, especially so deep into the winter. Let's hope there are more great openings in the coming days and weeks.

20:48: Update. He's still there on 14.254, still booming in at 5 and 9, working Stateside.

20:53: Worked him!! He called "QRZ anyone anywhere" and I shouted in. Said I was only 20 over!!! Thanks Mike.

Just worked a new country - San Marino

I had only just arrived home for the afternoon and 20m was sounding pretty dead. I scanned the band and heard nothing. I scanned again and heard something a bit faint on 14.188.9. It was T70A in San Marino. I heard him call QRZ and jumped in and he worked me first time. Gave me 59. When I say the rest of the band is dead, I mean precisely that. He is the last workable station on the band this evening.

Anyway, that's another new one for me. Great stuff.

Spoke to EI8GGB last night for the first time. He's the one that got the callsign immediately preceding my one. His name is Andy and he lives in Skibbereen in Co. Cork. Thanks for the nice QSO Andy on Echolink.

A good night on 40m - three new countries worked

I did a bit of chasing on 40m last night and picked up three new countries for myself in the effort. They are:

Armenia - EK3SA
Monaco - 3A2MG
US Virgin Islands - K2V

The K2V is a special event station for Christmas and I worked Sharon K7WZB on Saint Croix last night. Here is some information about the event from QRZ.com:

DX announcement

IOTA NA-106------ K2V Virgin Islands
Special Event Christmas Festival Month of December
—From Saint Croix Island

Sharon K7WZB and Garry K9WZB will be operating from Saint Croix Island December 2-14 , 2009 as K2V..

Operating all bands 160-6 meters. Will be monitoring 6 meters most of the time for opening to US and Europe. Operating SSB, RTTY, CW and PSK 31 all bands.

QSL INFORMATION

--QSL direct only via K9WZB *SASE *---No Buro ***SAE Outside USA With $$ or 2 Euros...Please no IRC's
A special QSL will be available after our return. Log updates daily
Saint Croix Certificate for Special Event
For those that might be interested we will have special certificated for contacts made on Request.
Please send 4.50 to cover printing and return postage from USA please add additional 1.50 6.00 outside USA.
Log Search to see if you are in the LOG-- http://www.clublog.org/logsearch/K2V

A fantastic night on 80 metres!

I worked from the station of EI2JD (Thos) last night on 80 metres and had a fantastic time. I had only just started calling CQ when a pile-up started building fairly quickly. Conditions were good. The band was quiet (much quieter than the last time) and there was good short skip conditions with lots of UK and Europe. I even managed to pull in a couple of stateside also. Thanks to everyone who persevered through the pile-up, and apologies to those who I didn't work. The night finished with a GHB suffix! Here is the full log:

1 2009-12-06 21:46:55 80 3780.0 SSB EA3EVL 59 59
2 2009-12-06 21:47:19 80 3780.0 SSB GW3LDC 59 59
3 2009-12-06 21:48:33 80 3780.0 SSB DO5SL 59 59
4 2009-12-06 21:49:30 80 3780.0 SSB F1FPL 59 59
5 2009-12-06 21:51:09 80 3780.0 SSB 2E0ZXW 59 59
6 2009-12-06 21:53:14 80 3780.0 SSB EI9DZ 59 59
7 2009-12-06 21:56:24 80 3780.0 SSB OK2PJT 59 59
8 2009-12-06 21:57:42 80 3780.0 SSB DC2CT 59 59
9 2009-12-06 21:58:20 80 3780.0 SSB OK1DHP 59 59
10 2009-12-06 21:59:26 80 3780.0 SSB 2E0MBT 59 59
11 2009-12-06 22:00:58 80 3780.0 SSB EA7/G1WUU 59 59
12 2009-12-06 22:02:03 80 3780.0 SSB RA3ZN 59 59
13 2009-12-06 22:02:31 80 3780.0 SSB RA3RIU 59 59
14 2009-12-06 22:04:15 80 3780.0 SSB 2W0XTP 59 59
15 2009-12-06 22:05:29 80 3780.0 SSB GI0HWO 59 59
16 2009-12-06 22:06:49 80 3780.0 SSB MI0SDR 59 59
17 2009-12-06 22:07:16 80 3780.0 SSB OK1ARE 59 59
18 2009-12-06 22:08:05 80 3780.0 SSB EI9JU 59 59
19 2009-12-06 22:09:33 80 3780.0 SSB LA1ISA 59 59
20 2009-12-06 22:11:24 80 3780.0 SSB EI4IU 59 59
21 2009-12-06 22:11:53 80 3780.0 SSB M0CSI 59 59
22 2009-12-06 22:13:06 80 3780.0 SSB DL1ECK 59 59
23 2009-12-06 22:14:03 80 3780.0 SSB DD1JD 59 59
24 2009-12-06 22:15:08 80 3780.0 SSB RA6CR 59 59
25 2009-12-06 22:16:32 80 3780.0 SSB G0IET 59 59
26 2009-12-06 22:18:18 80 3780.0 SSB EI4GXB 59 59
27 2009-12-06 22:19:02 80 3780.0 SSB M3YFL 59 59
28 2009-12-06 22:20:01 80 3780.0 SSB ON3AJ 59 59
29 2009-12-06 22:21:30 80 3780.0 SSB YU7AS 59 59
30 2009-12-06 22:23:18 80 3780.0 SSB DH0PAZ 59 59
31 2009-12-06 22:24:39 80 3780.0 SSB LA2HPA 59 59
32 2009-12-06 22:25:20 80 3780.0 SSB LA5VNA 59 59
33 2009-12-06 22:25:52 80 3780.0 SSB LA8FNA 59 59
34 2009-12-06 22:27:09 80 3780.0 SSB 9A2NP 59 59
35 2009-12-06 22:28:03 80 3780.0 SSB MW3HUU/QRP 59 59
36 2009-12-06 22:28:44 80 3780.0 SSB PE1CZG 59 59
37 2009-12-06 22:29:02 80 3780.0 SSB G7SSE 59 59
38 2009-12-06 22:30:41 80 3780.0 SSB 2E0BIB 59 59
39 2009-12-06 22:31:36 80 3780.0 SSB RA4CVT 59 59
40 2009-12-06 22:32:21 80 3780.0 SSB DL4YEH 59 59
41 2009-12-06 22:33:06 80 3780.0 SSB CT1BXT 59 59
42 2009-12-06 22:33:38 80 3780.0 SSB G0WFK 59 59
43 2009-12-06 22:34:59 80 3780.0 SSB IW2NRT 59 59
44 2009-12-06 22:35:50 80 3780.0 SSB DL1DBO 59 59
45 2009-12-06 22:36:49 80 3780.0 SSB SP6EF 59 59
46 2009-12-06 22:37:42 80 3780.0 SSB EA5FEJ 59 59
47 2009-12-06 22:39:22 80 3780.0 SSB TA1DX 59 59
48 2009-12-06 22:39:53 80 3780.0 SSB OK1XQ 59 59
49 2009-12-06 22:40:24 80 3780.0 SSB G0TIW 59 59
50 2009-12-06 22:40:57 80 3780.0 SSB DK6AR 59 59
51 2009-12-06 22:41:44 80 3780.0 SSB G6XSL 59 59
52 2009-12-06 22:42:31 80 3780.0 SSB EA8AMQ 59 59
53 2009-12-06 22:43:18 80 3780.0 SSB SP7SZN 59 59
54 2009-12-06 22:43:55 80 3780.0 SSB F5VIM 59 59
55 2009-12-06 22:44:29 80 3780.0 SSB SM6WQR 59 59
56 2009-12-06 22:45:19 80 3780.0 SSB G4YKQ 59 59
57 2009-12-06 22:45:59 80 3780.0 SSB F6ARL 59 59
58 2009-12-06 22:47:01 80 3780.0 SSB G0OWU 59 59
59 2009-12-06 22:48:07 80 3780.0 SSB DO4JS 59 59
60 2009-12-06 22:48:55 80 3780.0 SSB DL2VSF 59 59
61 2009-12-06 22:50:04 80 3780.0 SSB DO7DU 59 59
62 2009-12-06 22:50:45 80 3780.0 SSB F1NZC 59 59
63 2009-12-06 22:51:10 80 3780.0 SSB DJ5AV 59 59
64 2009-12-06 22:52:57 80 3780.0 SSB MW3WZZ 59 59
65 2009-12-06 22:53:24 80 3780.0 SSB M3NOW 59 59
66 2009-12-06 22:54:12 80 3780.0 SSB M3NOY 59 59
67 2009-12-06 22:55:09 80 3780.0 SSB OZ4CP 59 59
68 2009-12-06 22:56:11 80 3780.0 SSB EI9JF 59 59
69 2009-12-06 22:57:10 80 3780.0 SSB EI5GUB 59 59
70 2009-12-06 22:59:41 80 3780.0 SSB 2E0IXC 59 59
71 2009-12-06 23:00:33 80 3780.0 SSB RX3XA 59 59
72 2009-12-06 23:02:01 80 3780.0 SSB DO5SKA 59 59
73 2009-12-06 23:02:45 80 3780.0 SSB DH1PS 59 59
74 2009-12-06 23:03:31 80 3780.0 SSB G0SIF 59 59
75 2009-12-06 23:04:02 80 3780.0 SSB G7NLP 59 59
76 2009-12-06 23:04:45 80 3780.0 SSB G3CCX 59 59
77 2009-12-06 23:05:37 80 3780.0 SSB SQ9HZM 59 59
78 2009-12-06 23:06:06 80 3780.0 SSB OK1KV 59 59
79 2009-12-06 23:07:06 80 3780.0 SSB RX4CH 59 59
80 2009-12-06 23:07:57 80 3780.0 SSB SQ1BHH 59 59
81 2009-12-06 23:09:00 80 3780.0 SSB M1REC 59 59
82 2009-12-06 23:09:54 80 3780.0 SSB M3OGH 59 59
83 2009-12-06 23:11:25 80 3780.0 SSB CT1DOF 59 59
84 2009-12-06 23:12:19 80 3780.0 SSB OZ7XJ 59 59
85 2009-12-06 23:14:17 80 3780.0 SSB IZ1MHL 59 59
86 2009-12-06 23:14:58 80 3780.0 SSB SQ7OEI 59 59
87 2009-12-06 23:15:45 80 3780.0 SSB 2E0TAQ 59 59
88 2009-12-06 23:16:28 80 3780.0 SSB 9A4ZZ 59 59
89 2009-12-06 23:16:53 80 3780.0 SSB EI6GKB 59 59
90 2009-12-06 23:18:24 80 3780.0 SSB SM7RYO 59 59
91 2009-12-06 23:20:09 80 3780.0 SSB EI4DIB 59 59
92 2009-12-06 23:21:08 80 3780.0 SSB DO7OS 59 59
93 2009-12-06 23:22:19 80 3780.0 SSB DH3JZ 59 59
94 2009-12-06 23:23:42 80 3780.0 SSB OE2WNL 59 59
95 2009-12-06 23:24:57 80 3780.0 SSB DD4BY 59 59
96 2009-12-06 23:26:38 80 3780.0 SSB M0OTT 59 59
97 2009-12-06 23:27:18 80 3780.0 SSB EI5GJB 59 59
98 2009-12-06 23:28:04 80 3780.0 SSB DL1GRT 59 59
99 2009-12-06 23:29:09 80 3780.0 SSB PA2KW 59 59
100 2009-12-06 23:30:59 80 3780.0 SSB WB3HUZ 59 59
101 2009-12-06 23:32:40 80 3780.0 SSB SV1ENX 59 59
102 2009-12-06 23:36:04 80 3780.0 SSB N1SDH 59 59
103 2009-12-06 23:36:55 80 3780.0 SSB 2E0HTS 59 59
104 2009-12-06 23:38:00 80 3780.0 SSB G4VLL/QRP 59 59
105 2009-12-06 23:39:14 80 3780.0 SSB EI6AX 59 59
106 2009-12-06 23:41:32 80 3780.0 SSB CT4GO 59 59
107 2009-12-06 23:42:33 80 3780.0 SSB DO5DW 59 59
108 2009-12-06 23:44:09 80 3780.0 SSB EI6AH 59 59
109 2009-12-06 23:45:11 80 3780.0 SSB 2E0CNJ 59 59
110 2009-12-06 23:45:59 80 3780.0 SSB DJ8GE 59 59
111 2009-12-06 23:46:54 80 3780.0 SSB G4ARP 59 59
112 2009-12-06 23:48:00 80 3780.0 SSB RA1QCB 59 59
113 2009-12-06 23:49:17 80 3780.0 SSB LY2UA 59 59
114 2009-12-06 23:50:14 80 3780.0 SSB CT1COU 59 59
115 2009-12-06 23:52:41 80 3780.0 SSB G4UFN 59 59
116 2009-12-06 23:53:31 80 3780.0 SSB UA6YGN 59 59
117 2009-12-06 23:54:24 80 3780.0 SSB PA3DGH 59 59
118 2009-12-06 23:55:03 80 3780.0 SSB M6JAS 59 59
119 2009-12-06 23:56:17 80 3780.0 SSB ES4JY 59 59
120 2009-12-06 23:57:09 80 3780.0 SSB G0KHM 59 59
121 2009-12-06 23:58:17 80 3780.0 SSB DO4YU 59 59
122 2009-12-06 23:58:33 80 3780.0 SSB EI9HW 59 59
123 2009-12-07 00:01:07 80 3780.0 SSB SA5AHI 59 59
124 2009-12-07 00:03:04 80 3780.0 SSB RA1QCB 59 59
125 2009-12-07 00:03:31 80 3780.0 SSB DM5TS 59 59
126 2009-12-07 00:04:50 80 3780.0 SSB UT6IK 59 59
127 2009-12-07 00:05:48 80 3780.0 SSB EA5/DL2YFT 59 59
128 2009-12-07 00:06:50 80 3780.0 SSB DO1CP 59 59
129 2009-12-07 00:10:55 80 3780.0 SSB IK0GHB 59 59