Sunday, September 16, 2012

Delighted with NH8S Swains dxpedition results

The NH8S Swains Island dxpedition has gone QRT about three days earlier than expected. However, I am very happy with my results, having worked them on a total of nine band slots.
The 'league table' showing the top EIs in the NH8S log.

The last of those slots was on 15 metres SSB last night, but this morning I see my callsign is busted and I am listed as EI3KC. The result of this is that I appear to be in joint second place among the EIs who have worked NH8S, but in actual fact I should be joint first. I am not complaining though! I am extremely satisfied to have worked this rare and distant dx entity on so many slots.
My call was busted on 15 metres SSB.

The new hexbeam has certainly helped with that, and I managed two slots using the RTTY mode, one on 20m and one on 15m. I did not hear them on 40 metres at any stage, nor did I hear them on 12 metres, but only a couple of EI ops seem to have nabbed them on those bands so I am happy enough.

Below is a video showing how strong NH8S was on 20m SSB on my hexbeam a couple of mornings ago.

7 comments:

  1. Well done Anthony great to see the Hex is working for you, do you find it much of an improvement over the MA5B ???

    Looking forward to 3D2C and ZD9 in the next few weeks lets hope the prop will get better and make 12 and 10 come alive like last year.

    NH8S was a real struggle on 12m here he was really weak same with 40m.

    I'm finding the RTTY pile ups the hardest to bust these days its amazing how popular the mode is now,

    73
    Trevor
    Ei2GLB

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    Replies
    1. Trevor,

      Big improvement alright. Definitely better on 20m, without a doubt. Some of the QSOs were quick enough, less than three minutes calling. Some were tougher. Got two RTTY QSOs which I was delighted with.

      I noticed today high SWR on the bands and I see a couple of the telescopic spreader arms have retracted slightly. What do you use to keep them held tight so that they don't slip back in??

      Congrats on all the slots. Very nice and well done Trevor.

      Delete
    2. Anthony

      Mine is made from 3 different sizes of fibreglass tubing, there is a collar on the end that stops the smaller tube once it is in the larger one the correct length. So the can not slip into one another more than the should. Is yours made like a telescopic fishing pole ??

      have a look here it shows what I mean, as I am terrible at explaining stuff.

      http://i.ytimg.com/vi/jbi19uadtdE/0.jpg

      Trevor
      EI2GLB

      Delete
    3. Yes it's like telescopic plastic/fishing pole. There is no collar on them. They just slide out and can only come so far.

      Delete
    4. I have a spiderbeam pole and use small hose clips to hold the sections extended.

      Another option would be to use some cable ties on the smaller section it would stop them sliding down and be neater than the clips,

      Delete
  2. Great work Anthony, now and then I had a copy of NH8S but that was a far as it went out this way. No contact was made but I do have trouble making it into that area for some reason. Great work!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mike, that's a pity, but I guess it's difficult for you. This is what drives me in ham radio - getting new and rare DX. It's the most enjoyable aspect of the hobby for me. The Acom 1000 definitely helps though!

      Delete

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