Monday, September 30, 2013

A totally unexpected arrival by post

Look what just arrived in the post! Apparently I won a section of the CQWW WPX contest. As far as I can recall, I hardly put two hours into that contest and my very limited participation was just for a bit of fun on CW.

It just demonstrates how easy it is to win a section of a contest in Ireland. There are few dedicated contesters in this country, so the chances are that if you enter a low power single band category you will win it. My score was hardly phenomenal. I see I was only 20th in Europe in that section, which puts a bit of perspective on it.

A pleasant surprise, but this one will be going in the draw with the rest!!

Saturday, September 28, 2013

QSL cards from Antarctica via the bureau

These two cards from the Japanese research expedition in Antarctica arrived at the shack of EI2KC with the latest delivery via the IRTS bureau. They confirm QSOs made on 17m and 20m CW during 2011.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Two milestones reached on Logbook of the World

I have reached two milestones this week on ARRL's Logbook of the World. I have just hit the magic 200 countries confirmed on Phone, and 250 confirmed on CW. My 250th CW confirmation was from H44G, Solomon Islands. My 200th confirmation on Phone was EP3PK in Iran, for a QSO on 20m SSB. That remains my one and only QSO with Iran.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Latest confirmation on eQSL - Tokelau Island

Delighted to see this eQSL card dropping into my inbox. This confirms my one and only slot with Tokelau Island - 20m CW. I already had confirmation via LoTW thankfully.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Latest eQSL arrival - Galapagos Islands!

Delighted to get my latest country confirmed on eQSL - Galapagos Islands. Although not a new DXCC for me, this is a new eQSL confirmation and brings my total number of countries confirmed to 177. I worked him on 17m SSB and also on 15m SSB. Geoffrey is usually QRV at night, between 2100 and 0500 GMT.

Lunchtime portable chat on Three Rock

I went for a nice walk at lunchtime here in Dublin and enjoyed a good QSO with Mike EI2DJ. He said I was a nice strong signal into the EI7TRR Three Rock Repeater from the Naas Road. The Waccom UV5RE Plus is a great little radio, especially considering it cost me less than 40 euro, including delivery. And yes, that's a new price, not second hand. I did buy the larger 3,800mah battery which cost extra, but it was well worth the spend. I have been quite active over the summer, despite the lack of blogging. I have written a novella in that time and am currently editing it for release as an eBook, hopefully in the next month or so. I am also busy clearing a large backlog of QSL cards for the bureau. I sent 400 cards to the outgoing manager on Friday and have since filled out another 100. With about 150 cards still to be processed in the shack, and another delivery on the way, I will be busy with that for a while. All going well, I might get the chance to chase C2 Nauru and XZ1Z Myanmar this week, which will be two new DXCCs for me if I can make a QSO with them.