A day in the life of EI2KC on the bands

As many of you will know, I was made redundant from my job as a newspaper editor over two months ago. In that time, I have been looking for a new job. While looking for a new job, I have also been trying to complete my next book, 'Newgrange - Monument to Immortality', which is being published next month.

The new hexbeam attached to the back wall of the shack. Also visible
are my Butternut vertical and the inverted Vs.

For a while I was relatively inactive on the bands, but have recently found, especially with the kids back at school, a bit of time for radio. Since the hexbeam went up here almost two weeks ago my hit rate with the DX has gone up dramatically.

To give you an idea what sort of DX I am working, I thought I would give you a run-down of the complete log for today, September 18th, 2012. I will exclude the three non-DX or non valuable QSOs in the log. Times are local

5W0QQ - Samoa - 20m SSB 08:26
AH0KY - Saipan/Northern Marianas - 15m SSB 10:56
JG8NQJ/JD1 - Minami Torishima - 17m CW - brand new DXCC! 11:25
AH0KY - Saipan/Northern Marianas - 17m SSB 12:57
KP2/K5WE - Virgin Islands - 20m CW 13:01
Z60K - Kosovo (but not a new entity yet) - 15m SSB, 15m CW, 20m CW, 17m CW 13:08-13:24
BH4IGO - China - 20m CW 15:18
P49T - Aruba - 15m SSB 15:44
JW9HH - Svalbard - 17m SSB 16:03
YB9/DJ7XJ - Indonesia - 20m CW 17:33
VK2DX - Australia - 40m CW 21:08
A92IO - Bahrain - 40m CW 21:11 - new band slot, thanks to EI3IO Dave!
VK7RF - Tasmania - 20m CW 21:25
JH3EUJ - Japan - 20m CW 21:40
JA6BJV - Japan - 20m CW 21:44
PY6AM - Brazil - 20m CW 21:46 (on the long path!)
VU2JOS - India - 20m CW 21:49
JA2IU - Japan - 20m CW 21:51
JA9BFM - Japan - 20m CW 21:55
VK7BO - Tasmania - 20m CW 21:58
T8XX - Belau - 30m CW 22:40 - new country on 30m!

Not bad for a day dipping in and out of the radio spectrum! I am particularly impressed with how the hexbeam is helping me to hear the weak Pacific stations that I might have found more difficult with the MA5B minibeam. I have worked four new DXCC in a week, all of them in the Pacific - VK9XS Christmas Island, V73NS Marshall Islands, JD1 Minami Torishima and 5W0XT/5W0QQ Samoa.