Sunday, December 28, 2014

A little bit of fun on top band in Stew Perry

Difficult as it might be to believe, my inverted v system for 80m/40m/30m actually has some resonance on 160 metres. Resonance, as you know, does not automatically equal good performance. If you could see how the 80 metre v is dog-legged around my garden, you might have a greater appreciation of what I mean! Being able to operate on top band does not mean being able to operate well. But in order to put my system to the test I had a go at the Stew Perry contest on 160 metres last night.

I did okay. I worked 45 QSOs. I managed to work as far away as Lithuania, and worked Sweden, Iceland, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Italy, France, Finland and a few QSOs into the UK. I was entering on a non-competitive basis, although I may well submit a log in any case. A few stations had difficulty hearing me and needed either my callsign or locator square repeated. The Italian station had a lot of trouble copying my square and the QSO took a couple of minutes. Aside from that, it was quite enjoyable. I participated for about two to three hours, on and off. My total claimed score (according to my N1MM+ log) is 129 points.

Below is a video taken early in the night and features a QSO being made:



Saturday, December 13, 2014

Having a little bit of fun in the ARRL 10 metres contest


I am dipping in and out of the ARRL 10m contest this weekend. Low power mixed. Running 100 watts into my Antron 99. Did some CW after this video. Conditions have faded a wee bit.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Doing a little bit of JT65 over the weekend

When there's no big dxpeditions on and no particularly rare DX to be worked, sometimes it's nice to unwind with a bit of digital mode action. I personally like to do some PSK and occasionally some JT65 on such occasions. I find digi modes relaxing. I don't need the linear on and I can work at a fairly relaxed pace. Last night, I made a couple of QSOs on 80 metres using JT65 running just 15 watts. I was surprised at how quiet the band was. There was no DX on, but I didn't mind. Today, I was decoding JT65 on 20 metres and even made a QSO into Greece using the WSJT-X software. Here is a screen shot:

Earlier, I made a couple of ragchew QSOs on 10 metres CW, using 100 watts and my Antron 99 vertical. I had a chat with VE1DX, Paul in Halifax, and WA2DTW, Steve in Pennsylvania. I find that I can now ragchew on CW, and although I still miss words, I am much more comfortable than even a year ago.

Friday, December 5, 2014

South Georgia - so near and yet so far

Mike VP8CMH/GM0HCQ
Mike VP8CMH was active briefly from South Georgia Island yesterday evening as VP8SGK. He did, after all, manage to get to the island but his operation was extremely brief and, sadly, he chose 15 metres instead of 17 or 20, so there was no chance for EI. When I arrived home from work, I did briefly hear him. All I heard was "Victor Papa Eight" and then noise. I heard nobody calling him. He was working simplex. Several spots suggested Africa and Middle East were working him, but hardly any EU, and definitely no EI.

I had worked Mike as VP8CMH/MM on 17m CW and 20m CW over the previous evenings, and found him quite workable. Unfortunately when his brief moment on South Georgia finally came, he was on 15m. So that was an opportunity to work an All-Time New One that sadly didn't happen.

I worked him on Tuesday evening when the ship was moored alongside South Georgia. That's the irony of the situation. I know I could have worked him when he was on the island, but by the time he got there, 15 metres was closed to Europe.

Ah well. What can one do? It's another of the 31 remaining DXCC that I need that will have to wait for future activations. In the meantime, there are probably a few dozen people out there who have Mike in their log from VP8/G and are delighted. So well done to those who made it in.

And for those who didn't? Our day will come!

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Galapagos Islands - all bands now worked!

Galapagos Islands.
Last night, I worked HC2AO/8 on 30 metres at a few seconds past midnight. This was the last band that I needed Galapagos Islands on. I first worked this DXCC in May 2013 and now have all HF bands from 10 metres through 80 metres worked. I still need 160 metres and 6 metres, but I have Galapagos on all the HF bands on which I am active.

The current operation from Galapagos is fantastic. HC2AO/8 alone has given me seven band slots. HC2OGT/8 and HC2AWT/8 have both given me a slot apiece. And HC2AO/8 has already confirmed a few of my slots via Logbook of the World. Happy days.

Monday, December 1, 2014

CQWW CW 2014 - a brief summary of DX contacts

I dipped in and out of CQWW CW 2014 over the weekend. I was not active and will not be submitting a log. However, as always, I find this contest fantastic for working new countries on bands and slots and that proved to be the case again. Here is a summary of the contest activity:

Four new DXCC on 80 metres: 9K Kuwait, A7 Qatar, VP9 Bermuda and XE Mexico.

7O2A Yemen (rare one) worked on three bands - 10, 20 and 40. New country on 40 metres!!! The 40 metre QSO was made near the end of the contest through an intense simplex pile-up. Here's a video taken immediately after my QSO when lots of contesters were still trying to work him:


9Y4/VE3EY Trinidad and Tobago, new country on 10 metres.

Three QSOs with VU4KV Andaman and Nicobar - two contest QSOs and one RTTY contact on 17 RTTY. New country on digimodes. They went QRT at the end of the contest!!

HC2AO/8 Galapagos - worked on 10m and 15m.

5K0A Providencia - 10m CW.

A few non-contest QSOs:

TG9AHM Guatemala - 12 metres SSB - new slot.
TG9IIN Guatemala - 10 metres SSB - new slot.
VP8CMH/MM Falklands - 17m CW.

And just to finish, here's a video showing the signal from 9K2HN on 80 metres. I had worked him just after the contest started, at 14 minutes past midnight on Saturday. This was his signal on Sunday: