A great thrill to work Ian VK3MO in Melbourne again after almost 13 years

A recent spell of poor conditions on the higher HF bands (20m and above) seemed to come to an end yesterday. Last night, after a busy day at work, I was tuning around on the phone portion of the 20 metre (14Mhz) band. I saw some strong signals, which was interesting as it was after 11pm. 

CE3QY in Chile was booming in on 14.190Mhz, and his signal was 59+ even though I only have an inverted V dipole on that band. I gave him a couple of calls and was soon in his log. I also worked CE4UFC Jorge on 14.210Mhz, but his signal was a 5 by 5.

From there, I tuned downwards, and could see a big signal on the waterfall below. As I tuned in that signal – on 14.165Mhz – a familiar voice could be heard! It was the unmistakeable voice of Ian, VK3MO, near Melbourne, Australia. Ian needs no introduction to radio amateurs. He is quite famous in the ham world. Over the years, many European hams have worked Ian on 20 metres SSB and had the joy of a conversation with him. Ian does not do "59 thanks" reports, but rather engages in dialogue and sometimes spends 10 minutes or even more ragchewing.

As far as I know, Ian only operates in and around 14.160Mhz, and that's because he runs a stack of monoband beams which are obviously resonant on that frequency. The stack consists of four five-element 20m beams on a rotating tower. It's a hugely impressive setup, which yields hugely impressive results.

I listened for about 10 minutes while Ian chatted with M0JWK in England. He mentioned that he would soon have to go to work. As he signed with the mike zero, I decided to give him a quick call. I said something like "Ian, you are 59 plus on my dipole in Ireland, from echo india two kilo charlie".

To my delight, he came back to me. I made a video of our short QSO.

Ian and I made our first QSO in May of 2010, and had further QSOs in August 2011 and September 2012, but we had not spoken since then – a period of almost 13 years!

I was thrilled that he took the time for a very quick chat before heading to work, for which he said he was running late.

I'm not sure how up-to-date his QRZ.com page is, but you can see a photo of his tower/stack on there. It's a world-beating setup, and explains why his signal has often been heard at 59 and 59+ in Europe at nighttime (his morning).

Working Australia is always a pleasure for me, but VK3MO stands out because of his fantastic signal, and his very friendly and chatty nature. Thanks Ian for the quick QSO. You put a smile on this ham's face!