Ham Radio Ireland - EI2KC

Some of Ireland's top DXers - and me !

2012-02-13T14:31:00.000-08:00

This is a photo taken at the Coolmine radio rally in Dublin on Sunday. Pictured are some of Ireland's top Dxers . . . and me !! The line-up is as follows: Anthony EI2KC, Ark EI9KC, Don EI6IL (and junior op) and Thos EI2JD. These four bandits have been known to chase rare DX until they are bleary-eyed! In recent times these four callsigns would have been regularly seen in the top 10, and indeed the top 5, in the Dxpedition league tables. It is a great privilege for me to know these guys. Ark is the newest big Dxer in Ireland and in a short time he has amassed a huge number of DXCC entities in his log. He is doing brilliantly, and his callsign can be heard in almost every DX pile-up. Don and Thos have been on the DX circuit for a while longer than the 'Kilo Charlie' gang. Both of these guys are brilliant Dxers, and are often in the top 3 in the league tables. Both have superior stations also. And they are great at giving help and advice. Us novices need mentors after all ! It's just a pity that Dave Deane EI9FBB, who was at the rally, wasn't in this picture. He was the first EI operator to be awarded 10-band DXCC. Thos was the third! So you can see we were in good company.

My latest purchase: new Watson 4-way antenna switch

2012-02-12T13:04:00.000-08:00

I attended the Phoenix Radio Club annual rally in Coolmine, Dublin, this morning. It was great to catch up with so many hams, and to meet some faces whose callsigns were familiar but whom I hadn't met in person before. I went to the rally with the intention of only purchasing items which I required, and decided I wouldn't get tempted by anything fancy. I managed to stick fast to this resolution.

I decided if there was a nice morse paddle I might invest, but there was not. Next on the list was an antenna switch. I have three HF antennas running into the Acom 1000 linear which is in turn connected to the Yaesu FT-1000MP. Up until now, I have only had a two-way antenna switch, so if I needed to use a third antenna I had to disconnect one and connect another.

So I purchased a Watson CX-SW4PL, a four-way switch, for 69 eurp. It is a very nice looking piece of kit (see picture) and there is a bit of weight in it too. It is rated to handle 1.5kW of power on HF, so more than sufficient for my needs.

I also bought 20 metres of RG213 coax, in the hope of installing my 8-element 2 metre beam sometime soon, and some PL259's and a back-to-back. That was it in terms of purchases.

I was glad to meet all the hams, including Ark EI9KC, Don EI6IL and Thos EI2JD who had travelled to Dublin with me. We posed for a photograph - some of Ireland's top DXers were in that little group - and me!!

Also glad to meet Billy MI6ETE who had travelled by train from Coleraine in GI land, and Nick EI7GOB who I had spoken to many times but had never met. Tony EI7JN, another big Dxer, introduced himself, and we had a good chat.

Congratulations to Hugh EI9GZB who sat, and passed, his morse test at Coolmine this morning. Hugh is in the process of setting up a very nice HF station at his home and we look forward to working him on the air, on phone and morse, in the near future. Congratulations Hugh, and well done. I never doubted that you would pass the test. Liking morse code is half the battle and your love of it means it was easier for you to learn. I hope you like your new callsign when you get it!

Six bands confirmed via Logbook of the World

2012-02-11T09:35:00.000-08:00

I now have DXCC confirmed on six bands, having reached the 100 mark on 15 metres this week. I recently passed the 100 DXCC worked mark on 12m, giving me five bands, and now this latest achievement makes it six.

I cannot, however, apply for the ARRL five-band DXCC award, because this award only takes 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m and 10m into account, and I have not yet achieved DXCC on either 80m or 10m. However, this has not dampened my spirits at all. I am very much looking forward to the challenge of notching up more countries on both 10m and 80m, although in the case of the latter the band will be closing with the advent of summer.

It was HS0ZIV, in Thailand, for a QSO on 15m SSB in January of this year, who gave me the 100th QSL on 21 Mhz, and enough to allow me to apply for DXCC on that band. I am now eligible to apply for nine awards: DXCC mixed, DXCC CW, DXCC Phone, DXCC 40m, DXCC 30m, DXCC 20m, DXCC 17m, DXCC 15m and DXCC 12m. It's going to cost me a few bucks, but it will be nice to have a few certificates on the shack wall, especially as this was all achieved exclusively with LoTW, and with no help (so far!) from paper QSL cards.

Random shack photo number 1 - Motorola GM360

2012-02-06T15:45:00.000-08:00

This is my main 70cms (433Mhz) rig in the shack. It is a Motorola GM360 giving 25 watts. I have it connected to my Watson W300 antenna into a duplexer which is shared with the Alinco DR-135 for 2 metres (145Mhz). This is the remote head of the radio - the main body can be kept at some distance thanks to the long connection lead. The functions of the radio are fairly basic but it has good receive and I can get out quite well from my QTH in Drogheda which is located on a high part of the town which is good for VHF/UHF activity. This is the first in a series of photos which I plan called "Random Shack Photo". I hope you enjoy.

Two new toys - cheap but good

2012-02-03T02:41:00.000-08:00

These are my two new toys. The Baofeng UV-200 arrived from China about two months ago and I've enjoyed it so much I decided to get the new UV-3R which is an upgrade of sorts, the main update being a dual display. Both these radios are two watt dualband handhelds. They cost around 50 euro apiece - including postage! - and take about a week to come from China.

I bought a longer dualband whip about 30cm long also which increases the gain massively. With just two watts these are great little performers. With the longer whip I was able to open EI2KPR Kippure Repeater in Dublin from the centre of Dundalk, a distance of approximately 95 kilometres! OK, I was on the top of the little hill in Ice House park, but it was impressive. I can open the Dundalk 70cm repeater EI7LHR from my home in Drogheda even with the shorter antenna.

These radios can also be used to listen to the commercial FM band. But if you leave the radio on a frequency, say 145.400, and then turn on the radio and listen to, for example RTE1, if someone comes up on 145.400 the radio automatically switches over to two metres so you can have a chat. Very nice.

They also come with a little blue LED light which is handy but runs down the battery much quicker.

They are both very easy to program and it took me just a few minutes the other day to program in 12 memories on the UV-3R which would include 70cm and 2m simplex and repeater frequencies.

The Baofeng UV-200 with the LED light on

They are small too, at just 9cm tall. The standard dualband antenna is a further 12cm. They easily fit into the palm of your hand or your pocket. The Baofeng covers 136-173 Mhz on VHF and 400-469 on UHF which includes the licence-free 446 walkie talkie frequencies. The receive is excellent. There are plenty of videos on YouTube showing these radios receiving the International Space Station. The TX range with the longer whip is very good too, although handheld-to-handheld with the standard antenna covers about a mile before degrading, depending on terrain.

These are probably the best handhelds I have owned - and I have owned only a few. They are smaller, lighter and cheaper than my previous handheld transceivers and the addition of the commercial FM band plus the little light makes them that bit more useful.

For the more adventurous ham among you the UV-3R is available in a range of colours to suit your tastes! As well as black, they come in blue, red, yellow and camouflage. I'm not why a licenced amateur would want to be clambering around in the woods for, and I'm puzzled about the military colouring, but everyone's different! Below is a photo showing the different colours available. You can buy the UV-3R and accessories at www.490shop.com

Here are the specifications in brief:

VHF/ UHF DUAL-BAND TWO WAY RADIO

Frequency Range: 136-174 / 400-470MHz
Dual-Band Display, Dual Freq. Display, Dual-Standby
Output Power: 2 Watts
99 Channels + 1 Emergency Channel
50 CTCSS and 104 CDCSS
Built-in VOX Function
1750Hz Brust Tone
FM Radio (87.0MHz-108.0MHz)
LED Flashlight
Large LCD Display
Hight /Low Power Switchable
25KHz/12.5KHz Switchable
Emergency Alert
Low Battery Alert
Battery Saver
Time-out Timer
Keypad Lock
Monitor Channel
Channel Step: 5/6.25/12.5/25KHz

I have a feeling Malpelo will fall down the most wanted list

2012-02-02T03:45:00.000-08:00

It is interesting to note with the current HK0NA Malpelo Island dxpedition that HK0/M Malpelo is the 12th most wanted DXCC entity in DX Magazine's annual survey, and 13th most wanted on www.clublog.org's list. It is nice to get such a rare one on all my active bands, but no doubt after this dxpedition Malpelo will fall down the list next year.

As a matter of interest, Ireland (EI) is the 306th most wanted DXCC entity out of a total of 343 listed on Clublog. So we're not exactly what you call "rare" HI HI !

Great going with HK0NA - all SSB/CW slots filled

2012-01-31T13:14:00.000-08:00

It hasn't taken too long, but there were some tough pile-ups. This evening, about five minutes ago, I have worked HK0NA, the Malpelo Dxpedition, on 20m SSB, thus filling all the SSB and CW slots from 80 metres through 10 metres. Needless to say I am chuffed with this. All I was lacking as of today was 15m CW, which I worked at almost 6pm this evening, and 20m SSB. I had already worked HK0NA on 20m phone but they must have busted my callsign because it is not in the log for that slot.

And this evening was not easy. My MA5B is resonant on 20m CW, about 14.050, but NOT resonant on 14.292, where he was listening. So I improvised! I switched over to my trusty HF6V Butternut vertical, which I was able to tune with the Acom 1000 to give 400 watts and shouted on that while switching back to the MA5B minibeam to listen to him on 14.159. It took quite a few calls. He came back with "Echo India Two again" and then "Echo India Two Kilo Charlie Xray Five Nine QSL" but the Xray had been picked up obviously from "Echo" as I gave my call twice each time. Eventually he gave "Echo India Two Kilo Charlie Five Nine" and I was thrilled to give him a big 59 and thanks.

Now all I have to do is work them on RTTY slots HI HI !!

By the way, I worked VP6T Pitcairn Island on 40m CW this morning for a second slot and already they have confirmed my 80m CW slot on LoTW. Thanks a million guys!

The early bird catches the worm

2012-01-30T14:50:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I have to do some extra work from home. Early on a Monday morning I often find myself at the shack desk around 7.30am. This morning was no exception. It can be a great time to be on the bands too. This morning I worked HU2DX, a new dxpedition to El Salvador, on 80m CW followed by 40m CW, a new country on both of those bands. This was followed by two further QSOs with HK0NA, Malpelo Island, on 80m SSB and 40m SSB for two new slots, bringing my total to 14 band slots so far.

But by far the greatest highlight of the morning was VP6T, Pitcairn Island, on 80m CW. This is a brand new country for me, never worked before, and to get it on 80m was a real pleasure. For a short time he was 579 and it only took me a couple of calls to get into the log. That was around 8.30am, with EI just coming out of the grey line. VP6T's signal faded fairly quickly after that such that I would not have been able to work them 10 minutes after I did. Great job. To make it even better, I am in their online log, so the QSO is solid. Thanks guys.

Five band DXCC worked in less than 23 months

2012-01-22T14:39:00.000-08:00

I have just received a QSL confirmation from OH2TA for a QSO on 30m via ARRL Logbook of the World. This is my 100th QSL on 30 metres, and is a very very special milestone for me. I now have 100 or more countries confirmed on FIVE bands, meaning I qualify for 5-band DXCC, which I will be applying for at the earliest opportunity.

This has been achieved entirely though LoTW - I will not be using any QSL cards to apply for 5-band DXCC. And I have only registered EI2KC with LoTW, meaning that all of the contacts towards the 5-band DXCC have been made since 3rd March 2010. In effect, I've achieved 5-band DXCC in less than 23 months.

I hope this should be encouragement for any small station wishing to work DX. For a long time here I was using just 100 watts and a vertical. The addition of the MA5B minibeam last summer made a big difference and in early Winter I added an Acom 1000 to give me 400 watts when needed.

I will say one thing - CW (morse) has been a big factor in all this. While I love SSB/phone and I also dabble in RTTY and PSK, CW has helped me get my country total way up. I have 191 DXCCs confirmed on CW on LoTW, and 125 on phone. So learn the code - it will help your totals!

Farewell P43JB (Joop), Silent Key

2012-01-22T13:35:00.000-08:00

I am sad to hear of the passing of P43JB, Joop, who is reported Silent Key by OPDX. I worked Joop on four bands, and he gave me the pleasure of a new country on 12m. All the contacts were on CW. Here is the report of Joop's sad demise from OPDX:

SILENT KEY. Carl, AI6V/P49V, reports that Johan (Joop) Box, P43JB, became a Silent Key (SK) at approximately 1700z, Thursday, January 19th. He states, "He had a severely infected kidney. When the doctors tried to remove it, they found the area surrounding it full of infection, so they could not remove the kidney. His wife, Yvonne, and daughter, Barbara, Sue, myself and Lisandro, P43L, were with him when he passed away."
OPDX and its readers would like to send out our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of P43JB.

Some of the latest arrivals in EI2KC's mailbox

2012-01-12T03:30:00.000-08:00

These are just some of the latest QSL cards received via direct mail recently here at the shack. I'm not sure which I am more proud of, the one from Lord Howe Island or the one from Vanuatu. I would probably pick Lord Howe because the operator, Merv N6NO, attached a note saying that out of 882 QSOs with Europe, he only had two EIs in the log, and I was one of them! So that is very nice. I worked him on 30 metres with 100 watts.

YJ0VK has only 13 EI calls in his log. I worked Vanuatu on 20 metres CW with my beam and 100 watts on October 8th last. It was a tough contact but I was delighted with the new country, and to get it confirmed.

The card on the left is from VK6JX, John, in Western Australia, for a QSO we made on 30m in November. Thanks for the lovely contact John!

International Space Station on a small handheld transceiver

2012-01-10T04:12:00.000-08:00

This video is from Edmund (2E0MDO) who picked up the International Space Station on a small handheld 2m transceiver near Worthing in West Sussex, yesterday morning.

One of the best things about ham radio is that it brings friends together

2012-01-03T03:59:00.000-08:00

This photo was taken over the Christmas period by Barry M0DGQ who was visiting relatives in the Drogheda area. Tony EI4DIB decided to take Barry on a tour of various shacks and to meet some of the local hams, myself included. This particular photo was taken by Barry (I will upload one with him in it when I get it!).

I would like to tell you something about this photo. It is a picture of a group of ham friends. Jim EI2HJB is the treasurer of Dundalk Amateur Radio Society and is an all-round great guy. He helps out any ham with any problem. He has been involved in a number of antenna repairs and installations at my QTH, and almost every day of the week he is visiting other hams helping them out. Oleg EI7KD (formerly EI2JK) is a CW only op, and loves contesting. Keep an eye out for some big news about Oleg coming soon! Currently he operates from a city centre apartment complex and is a genius with antennas and electronics. He modifies and builds his own radio equipment and antennas. To the right of me is Pat EI2HX, an avid fan of ATV on the microwave bands. Pat is not too active on HF but can be found most days on 2 metres chatting with us locals, and is one of the most sociable hams you could meet. He has also got me out of trouble a few times by helping out with antenna erections and repairs, and a few PL259s! He is fond of a cup of tea or seven! Tony EI4DIB needs no introduction. He won an award in 2010 from the IRTS for services to amateur radio, and well deserved in my opinion. He has been helping hams for years to get up and running on the bands and this seems to be one of his major driving forces. He derives great pleasure from helping others to get on the bands. I have been on the receiving end of this good will since I started studying for my licence. Thos EI2JD is a major DXer and contester, and runs a big station in Clogherhead, a small fishing village near Drogheda. He is one of only three EI ops to hold 10 band DXCC and runs the contest team EI0W. His love of the hobby is indefatigable and he has boundless enthusiasm, always dispensing advice and help where he can. He has given me lots of advice and support and is always willing to help a friend in need.

So as you can see, amateur radio is a wonderful hobby, and hams are some of the warmest and most helpful people you can meet. It is a great hobby. We are very lucky to be part of it.

Happy New Year to all my ham friends, those I have met, and those I have yet to meet!

100th DXCC worked on 80 metres

2012-01-01T16:07:00.000-08:00

The first day of 2012 brought success on 80 metres, which is a challenging band for me. I nabbed HH2/HB9AMO in Haiti at around 1am, just an hour into the new year. That was DXCC number 99 worked on 80m. Tonight I worked V5/DK1CE in Namibia as DXCC number 100! I only started on 80 this winter on December 4th. At that stage I had just 87 DXCC worked so I have added another 13 in less than a month.

Also I had my 100th confirmed DXCC on 17 metres today by LoTW so that makes four bands on which I have qualified to submit for a DXCC award. A good start to 2012 . . .

HS0ZEE multipath echo on 10m CW

2011-12-26T05:58:00.000-08:00

This is Don, HS0ZEE in Thailand, on 10 metres (28 Mhz) CW. His signal is coming from multiple paths, hence the echo. I had just worked him a few minutes previous to making this video. I had also worked him on 80 metres as a new country overnight.

Two nice presents for Christmas

2011-12-24T03:28:00.000-08:00

I have received a nice Christmas present from the ARRL. Santa has come early. I have achieved confirmation of 100 DXCCs on 40 metres and 101 on 12 metres through Logbook of the World.

That makes a total of three bands (including 20m) on which I have passed or equalled the required 100 countries to claim DXCC. I also have DXCC on mixed, CW and phone. So I am eligible to apply for six awards in total.

Another Christmas present came two mornings ago when I worked ZL3NB on 80 metres. To be honest I never thought I would work ZL on that band from my current QTH. I am using my old Butternut HFV6 and just a 12 metre random wire for listening. We were both on the grey line at the time which helped and exchanged 449 reports either way. The operator, Bill, has since confirmed our QSO via LoTW. He says the following in an email:

"Thanks for the Qso and what a rare occasion to work two Irishmen one after the other on 80 meters...Actually that's rare to do that on any band so now feeling lucky and should buy me a Lotto Ticket. Hi"

Bill had just worked EI7AU before me. So a great thrill for him and indeed a great thrill for me.

Happy Christmas to all amateurs and listeners!!

VIDEO: ARRL introduces new Q codes!

2011-12-20T04:57:00.001-08:00

EI2KC being worked from a field in Ukraine!

2011-12-16T06:39:00.000-08:00

Interesting video showing some Ukranian hams working 10 metres with 5 watts from a field! They worked me also, at around 16:36 in this video. I was running 100 watts into an Antron 99 at the time. Just shows how great conditions on 28Mhz have been.

Chipping away slowly at 80 metres

2011-12-13T11:52:00.000-08:00

The ground-mounted Butternut.

Recently I took it upon myself to have another look at the old Butternut HFV6, which has been a major performer for me here at the shack over the past two years. It had snapped for a second time during a wind storm and this time I had written it off, but something told me I should try to get it back up and running again, especially as it might be helpful to me on 80m.

So I ground-mounted it this time. Previously it had been bolted to a garden wall about 5ft off the ground. I put in a good ground spike and also ran a couple of radials, one of which was approximately one quarter wave on 80m. After a session of RTFM (Reading The Feckin Manual!) I discovered that I was able to tune the Butternut quite flat in the middle of the 80m band. 3.650 is not a great frequency to be resonant on. If there were going to be new countries to be worked, they would either be on the CW portion just above 3.500 or at the DX end of the band near 3.800.

After some experimenting with the 80m coil, plus the Q coil, I found I was able to get a 1.5:1 SWR around 3.515. This was fantastic. I could tune up the Acom 1000 and managed to get 400 watts out. So over the past week or so since I finally got back up and running on 80m, I have increased my tally of countries worked from 87 to 95. Eight new ones in a week!!

Now, tonight, I have discovered the exact right settings for the 80m coil for both the CW end and the DX end. I nabbed SV9IOM just a few moments ago on the top end of the band with 400 watts for a new one. It's not the most practical thing in the world to have to adjust a nut on a coil in the dark every time I want to jump from CW to SSB, but it's a solution nonetheless and allows me 80m action whether I'm in the mood for CW or SSB. All I need is a torch and a small pair of pliers!!

I am thrilled to be back up and running finally on 80m. I hope to work DXCC on that band and maybe get my total number of confirmations up from the current 55, which is quite low. We'll see how it goes. I need some solution for listening though. At just 26ft tall, the Butternut HFV6 is not very sufficient for picking up weak DX on 80 so I will maybe have to put up a long listening wire or make some sort of loop. Suggestions welcome. Bear in mind that my garden is 35ft long x 25ft wide!!

Nice morning time conditions on 10 metres

2011-12-03T15:47:00.000-08:00

After a bit of a lull this week when it seemed like the sun might be just ogoing back to sleep, I hit the radio this morning at around 10am to find that 10 metres was nicely open. There were mornings during the week when hardly anything could be heard, as reported by other EIs. But today there were VKs and other Pacific and Asian calls on the cluster. So I hit 10m sidebands and gave a CQ with 400 watts, asking for "Asia and Pacific",

My DXCC worked and confirmed status

First caller in the log was Max, UK7AL in Uzbekistan, a new band slot for me. He was followed by VK5PAS, Paul, near Adelaide in South Australia, who was 5 and 8 on the S-meter. A65EE Adil in Dubai was bombing in using his Optibeam with a solid 59 signal. UN7QF, Genna in Almaty, Kazakhstan, gave me a new band slot with a 5 and 9 signal report each way. 9K2VO, Mohammed in Kuwait, also gave me a new band slot with a 59 signal each way. VU2HOT, Jag in India, was difficult to pick out, although after a couple of minutes trying and a slight turn of the beam, I got him in the log with a 4 by 3 signal for another new band slot.

BG0ARQ, Lu in the People's Hospital, Kelamayi City, Xinjiang, China, was 5 and 8 and gave me 59. Thanks Lu. HS0ZIN, Paul in Thailand, also gave me a new band slot. He was 5 and 8 here on my FT-1000MP, while I was 5 and 7 with him. He was the last contact on 10m before I went QRT.

A92IO, Dave (also EI3IO), gave me a new country on 15m when I worked him on USB with a 57 exchange. Thanks Dave!

5Z4HW was a brand new DXCC for me, never worked before, when I put him into the log on 40m LSB at 19.30 this evening. I was running 350 watts from the Acom 1000 linear into a homebrew inverted V. And another nice one was 9V1YC on 40m CW. Singapore was a new country for me on 40m. It's been a good while since I gave my DXCC worked and confirmed totals, so here goes.

Total DXCC Worked: 243 Confirmed: 191
160m: Worked 63 Confirmed 39
80m: Worked 87 Confirmed 59
40m: Worked 157 Confirmed 99
30m: Worked 153 Confirmed 98
20m: Worked 203 Confirmed 129
17m: Worked 173 Confirmed 96
15m: Worked 166 Confirmed 87
12m: Worked 162 Confirmed 96
10m: Worked 167 Confirmed 80
6m: Worked 55 Confirmed 35

Interesting that at the turn of 2011 I had only 35 countries worked on 10m and now have 167. That's my third best band now!! No progress yet this winter on 80m but I'm hoping to get a dipole up for that band because my Butternut is sadly out of action - it won't tune on 80m now.

A long-standing RF feedback problem solved

2011-11-29T02:32:00.000-08:00

For a long time now my Yaesu FT-1000MP has been suffering from a problem where the radio does an automatic factory reset when I am on 10 metres (28 Mhz). This doesn't happen every time. Sometimes I can run 100 watts for ages without a problem. At other times, the radio resets once I go above 80 watts.

So I spoke to a couple of ham friends about the problem, determined to fix it. It seemed that some RF was getting back into the radio somehow and that this was causing the CPU to reset. It was only happening on 10 metres. One time I mistakenly called CQ on my Icom 746 through the Antron 99 with the FT-1000MP switched on and the MP reset!! The problem was a puzzle for me, but clearly it was related to RF feedback or a problem we hams know as "RF in the shack".

One ham friend said that as 10 metres was the shortest wavelength, it was highly likely that at least one of the cables running into the radio was of such a length that it was picking up RF from a harmonic of 28Mhz and feeding it back into the radio.

So I set about transmitting on 10 metres with various cables removed, or choked. Obviously the AC cord cannot be disconnected, so I choked it with a couple of ferrite beads. No improvement. I disconnected the coax from the Butternut vertical which feeds into antenna socket B (I was using the MA5B minibeam on socket A to transmit). No improvement. The radio was still resetting.

The I disconnected the earth wire from the back of the radio. I have a station ground, a copper rod, sunk into the ground just outside the shack. Disconnecting the ground wire did not make any difference. The radio was still resetting.

At this stage I decided to try to disconnect leads that were running into the front of the radio. I plugged out the desk mic and keyed up on CW. Radio still reset. I disconnected the lead from my Signalink USB. Still resetting.

There was only one cable running into the radio which I hadn't tried. And that was the cable running from my Kent morse paddle into the CW Key socket on the front of the radio. So I disconnected that and keyed up on 100 watts in FM and . . . . . . no reset!!!

I started to get excited. I powered up the Acom 1000 linear and decided to put more power out to see if the radio would reset. I plugged in a homebrew CW paddle which has a much shorter lead and keyed up in CW. No reset. I put the power up to 400 watts. Still no reset!! Oh boy was I happy.

Given that it was Sunday and the CQWW CW contest was on and Irish hams are now allowed to run 1.5kW in contests I decided to put out even more power. I managed 1 kW without a reset.

The solution, given that the Kent key cable seemed to be causing the issue, was to shorten the cable to the same length as the homebrew paddle. A couple of snips with wire cutters and a bit of soldering later, problem solved!! I was able to run 600 watts on 10 metres Sunday evening without any problem.

Hopefully this might provide some assistance to anyone who may be experiencing a similar problem.

I have to put ferrite beads on the cables running into my laptop. Certain peripheral devices, such as the external keyboard, mouse etc, are malfunctioning because of RF in the shack. I will let you know how that goes when I acquire some ferrites in the coming week.

CQ WW CW . . . anyone for morse?

2011-11-26T18:03:00.000-08:00

I didn't have much time for the bands today until it was getting dark. I collected my new (second hand actually but new for me) Acom 1000 linear today and needless to say it has been put to good use in the CQWW CW contest which is on this weekend.

Just dipping in and out on 20m and 40m I have worked 75 countries and 29 zones with just 120 QSOs. I nabbed at least six new ones on 40m so from that point of view it has been a great night. The highlight perhaps was EL2A, Liberia, but others included 8P, PJ4 and ZF.

With increased power limits in certain contests, EI ops are now allowed to run 1.5 kW in the CQWW contests. I was able to push the Acom to 1250 watts on 40m into the inverted V but only very briefly as I do not want to be working it to the max. Generally QSOs are being made at anywhere between 400 watts and 1 kilowatt.

As someone who has always used a maximum of 100 watts at this station I have to say the extra power has been a revelation. It certainly is easier to break the piles. I worked a number of VKs on 20m in the late afternoon. Most were easy to work. I can see the Acom coming in useful . . .

One day's work gives a good snapshot of conditions

2011-11-22T12:41:00.000-08:00

Right, before I start, I have to give you a health warning. This blog may contain traces of HF DX!!! There you have it. Conditions have been nothing short of fantastic this past few months, as you might have gathered from reading my enthusiastic musings on this site.

The 9N7MD Nepal team - worked a few times, thanks!

Today might, as a snapshot, give you some idea of just how good things are. This morning at 8.13am I worked 9N7MD (Nepal) on 10m CW for a new band slot, having worked them on 17m CW yesterday as a new band and 10m SSB as a new one. That was followed by BA5HAM in China on 10m CW at 8.21am. It's great how early ten metres is open in the mornings. I have worked DX at 7.30am, before sunrise!!

V31QS in Belize was a new country on 12m when I worked him at 5.41pm on that band. I used 400 watts from the Acom 1000 linear which I have a loan of currently and it didn't take long to break the pile.

E51MAN (Bill N7UO) on Manihiki, North Cook Islands, was put into the EI2KC log for the second time, this time on 12m CW. I had to give him 400 watts and it took a while, and he was very light on the MA5B which is a rotary trap dipole on 12m, but I made it through. He had both Europeans and North Americans calling him. Yesterday evening I worked him on 10m CW at 17.58 with 150 watts. It was a brand new DXCC for me yesterday and now I have him on two bands.

This was followed shortly afterwards by E51CG on South Cook Islands on 10 metres SSB. This time I was running just 90 watts. I heard him working MI6CWC and figured he must be hearing Ireland so gave him a call and I was next in the log. South Cook Islands was a new one for me last month (Oct 23rd) when I worked Bill N7OU who was at that stage E51NOU on Raratonga. A month ago I had never worked E51-S. Now I have South Cook on four band slots.

PZ5T in Suriname was a new country on 12m when I worked him at 19.18 this evening with 300 watts.

VP2MWT in Montserrat was worked on 15m CW with just 100 watts as a new band slot at 19.50.

VP8LP, Bob in the Falklands, was a new DXCC on 20m when I nabbed him with 220 watts at 20.13.

And this was followed by XW3DT in Laos on 30m CW at 20.24, using 400 watts. A week ago I worked XW3DT on 20m CW as a brand new DXCC so two band slots is nice.

It's November, but it feels like summer on the bands!

2011-11-13T12:38:00.000-08:00

You might be puzzled as to the heading above, but let me be clear. This time last year there was no action to be had on 10 metres or 12 metres. 15 would close at sunset, and 17m might just stay open a while longer. Guys like me would arrive home from work - after dark - and find everything from 20m up closed. Not so this year!

10 metres has been open as early as 8am. One morning this week I worked China on 10m CW at 8am. Nice. But the liveliness of the bands, and the wealth of DX available, shows just how much conditions have changed in recent months. This weekend has been no exception, with great openings around the world on 10 and 12.

This morning I called CQ DX on 10m SSB using 200 watts. I got a couple of VKs coming back, solid 5 and 9, like European stations. Then I ran a pile on 12m for the afternoon, mostly into the States, but also snagging a couple of new DXCC, like V51B in Namibia and 3A2MG in Monaco. The USA was bombing in on 12m SSB, where, with the help of a borrowed Acom 1000 linear amp, I was able to run 400 watts for the afternoon. There were many states worked during the session, including: WA, CA, UT, NH, SC, LA, PA, MO, MN, ID, CT, TX, WV, IL, NC, OH, FL, NM, GA, VA, AZ, AR, WI, NY, ME, MT, CO, NE . . . the list goes on and on.

To top it all off, I nabbed E51NOU, South Cook Islands, on 15m CW, a new one on that band, followed by ZK2V (Nieu) as an all-time new DXCC on 10m. I worked him with 75 watts on 10 m, and about 40 minutes later I got him on 15m CW with just 100 watts.

Now this is one I am very proud of!

2011-11-03T15:40:00.000-07:00

I just received Logbook of the World QSL confirmation of a QSO I made on September 15th this year with VK9OL, Lord Howe Island. Celebrating his 75th birthday (and 60th year in ham radio) Merv N6NO was active from Lord Howe island as VK9OL between September 10-18, 2011. I was absolutely thrilled to get him into the log on September 15th on 30m CW. What particularly impressed me was that there wasn't a huge pile calling him, which gave me a better chance with my 100 watts and homebrew inverted V. I have also sent a direct QSL card to Merv and am looking forward to getting his card in return for this rare one. That brings to 183 my total number of DXCC confirmed via LoTW.

UPDATE: I just received a paper QSL from VK9OL with a note attached, saying that, out of 882 QSOs with Europe during his operation on Lord Howe Island, only two EIs made it into the log, and I was one of them!! Chuffed . . .

Just made my 10,000th QSO, and I'm licenced two years today

2011-10-30T04:44:00.000-07:00

The FT-1000MP on the frequency where I worked VK6DXI

I just made my 10,000th QSO on the bands, and to make that milestone more significant, I am two years licenced today. I received my licence on October 30th, 2009.

What a tremendously exciting two years it's been. I have thoroughly enjoyed the hobby, and despite having limited space and small antennas, I have managed to work the world.

The 10,000th QSO was with VK6DXI on 10m SSB, something that simply wouldn't have been impossible a few months ago. Conditions are wonderful right now. QSO 9,999 was ZD8O, also on 10m SSB, a new country on that band.

Here are my current standings:

160m 63 worked 39 confirmed
80m    87 worked 57 confirmed
40m   146 worked 95 confirmed
30m   150 worked 93 confirmed
20m   194 worked 122 confirmed
17m   170 worked 92 confirmed
15m   154 worked 80 confirmed
12m   146 worked 82 confirmed
10m 131 worked 60 confirmed
6m 55 worked 34 confirmed

Overall: 233 worked 180 confirmed

Butternut back in action, and resonant on 80, 40 and 30

2011-10-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

The new ground-mounted configuration

Following another recent wind storm in which the Butternut HFV6 was snapped again, I decided that I would reinstall it, but this time mounted in the ground. Because the short evenings have returned, the weekend is the only time this work can really be done now, so I tackled it today.

I found a piece of galvanise pipe which just happened to fit snugly into the bottom "mounting pole" of the Butternut, so I hammered this into the ground at the bottom of the garden using a lump hammer. If course this flattened the top of the pipe a bit so after a small amount of sanding I was able to slide the Butternut mounting pole down over it as far as ground level. Then the somewhat shortened Butternut (only about 3cm) was positioned onto the insulator and the Q Base Matching Coil was attached. I also ran one 25ft radial attached to the bottom connector of the Q coil. I know ideally I should have a decent ground system, but a small garden, coupled with the fact the Butternut is in a corner, coupled with the fact I have young kids, means that having wires running all around the garden is simply not practical.

Anyway, I did a small amount of guying work with 50kg fishing tackle, but will look at something more durable down the line. I made a couple of contacts on 80m and 40m after tuning with the FT-1000MP's internal ATU. But then I took it upon myself to do something I have not done properly before - to try to get the Butternut resonant on some of the bands!!

First I tackled 80m by adjusting the large 80m coil assembly to see if I could get a lower SWR somewhere in the middle of the band. As I use both CW and SSB it was not practical to flatten it at one end of the band or the other. I also compressed the Q Base Matching Coil significantly and this brought VSWR to about 1.6:1 on 3.690. Then I decided to try 40m and a small adjustment of the 40m coil gave me a VSWR of about 1.7:1 between 7.100 and 7.200. The SWR rises below this, to a 2:1 at 7.050 and 2.5:1 on 7.005. Not too bad, and nothing the tuner won't handle!!

Then it was onto 30m, where analysis found the Butternut was resonant on about 9.9Mhz. A quick read of the manual revealed that to raise the resonant frequency, the wing nut on the 30m coil assembly should be loosened and the coil stretched. This was done, although there was only a few centimetres available. I came back to the shack to find the antenna resonant without a tuner on the whole band (admittedly 30m is a narrow band). The VSWR reads about 1.3:1 over most of the band, but 1.4:1 at 10.100.

I later checked 20 metres only to find, to my delight, that the Butternut is resonant over the ENTIRE 20m band!!It is also quite flat on much of 15m, although it's 1.9:1 on 21.001 and 1.2:1 on 21.350.

Anyway, I am thrilled to have the Butternut back in action. Admittedly it has not had much use lately since the installation of the MA5B, and the Antron 99 is better on 12m and 10m where conditions have been great. But I have had nothing on 80m recently and missed a chance to work MU/PA9M on that band over the past few nights. So maybe I will nab some new ones on 80m again this winter. I currently have 87 DXCC worked. I would be thrilled to get over the 100 mark this winter.

In the meantime, I will let you know of any interesting contacts I make on the lower bands with the Butternut, which has seen over 20 years of action at various QTHs and is now on its third resurrection at this station!!

PS: Just ran a test with the Reverse Beacon Network on 30m. On the Butternut I was being received by TF3Y at 29dB snr and by KM3T at 9db. On the resonant inverted V I was 31dB with TF3Y and 12dB with KM3T. It's very marginal.

PPS: Worked Japan on 30m CW with the Butternut.

Video: Shack tour, IRTS QSL bureau, propagation

2011-10-24T15:34:00.001-07:00

EI2KC Anthony featured on The History Channel

2011-10-23T05:55:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of being featured on The History Channel in the USA this week. I have written a book about ancient Ireland called 'Island of the Setting Sun - In Search of Ireland's Ancient Astronomers' and was invited to feature as a Newgrange expert on the popular series 'Ancient Aliens'. I can be seen from 11 minutes onwards in the above clip. Hope you enjoy! I suppose it proves that there's more to life than amateur radio!!

Now they've busted my call on 40m !!!!!

2011-10-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

I worked T32C on 40m CW this morning. They were very weak, just on the very edge of audibility, on 7.001.5 and I worked them up 1 but of course I couldn't be sure I heard my complete call coming back. This evening I find that EI2KC is NOT in the log but EI2CC is for 40m CW. Oh no, is this going to be another long-running saga?

I might have to get up early again tomorrow and try to work them a second time . . .

The long-running saga continues: T32C worked on 10m again

2011-10-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

I worked T32C for the fourth time on 10m CW tonight. So far they have busted my call three times. They have me in the log as EI3KC, EI2KM and EI2CC. I must admit that the QSB and polar flutter on their signal can be something serious. So it is not surprising, and I won't blame it on bad operators, that my call might not have been perfectly clear. Indeed I was not certain at any stage that I heard EI2KC coming back. On the third QSO I heard EI2 ending with C and it turns out they had EI2CC. So tonight I am hoping to finally get that slot in the log properly.

The first three QSOs were at 7.01pm local, 7.23pm local and on the second day 6.31pm local. Tonight was much later, at 7.57pm. They had been very weak, only coming up occasionally out of the noise, but all of a sudden I could hear "T32C UP". So I gave it a blast and got them pretty much first call. But when they gave me the "5NN" and turned it back to me I was careful to slow down my CW and send back "EI2KC, KC, KC, EI2KC 5NN". I am pretty sure they gave me "EI2KC TU" back but I couldn't be 100% sure, so this saga could continue to run for a while yet !!

UPDATE: I am in the log, finally, for 10m CW!!!

Bad news - third time unlucky, they busted it again!

2011-10-15T01:22:00.000-07:00

T32C does not have EI2KC in the log for 10m CW. They do, however, as of this morning, have EI2CC in the log for 10m CW. Looks like I will never get in there on 10m CW. It's so frustrating.

T32C and 10m - third time lucky?

2011-10-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

Christmas Island

It would be ungrateful of me not to thank the propagation gods for significant lifts on 12 and 10 metres in recent weeks. Conditions have been fantastic at times, with lots of new entities making it into the log on those bands. I just recently passed 100 DXCC worked on 10m, standing now at 109. I am at 140 worked on 12m.

T32C, the Dxpedition to Christmas Island, has been a challenge but nevertheless I have them on six band slots and lots of EIs have made it into their log.

When I saw them spotted on 10 metres CW the other evening I couldn't resist a listen. It was grey line time here, just after sunset. They were there alright, fluttery and weak, but there all the same. They were working split. Within a minute of calling I could hear a very flutter EI2KC or something resembling it coming back through the murk. So I gave my call a couple of times and a 599 and heard 599 TU. I punched the air. A new and rare DXCC in the log on 10 metres.

But something was niggling at me. I hadn't heard my full call coming back. I heard EI and something that sounded like 2KC. So I decided to try to work them again just to be sure. About 20 minutes later I heard EI2 coming back again and gave them my call twice and a 599 and punched the air again.

The next morning I checked their online log only to find they had busted my call - TWICE!! I was not in the log for 10m, but rather there were two similar calls, EI3KC and EI2KM. I was gutted.

Just now, a short time ago, with the sun below the horizon here, I worked T32C for the third time on 10 metres CW. As usual he was split, listening up 2. Now I can't be 100% sure that I'm in the log properly this time, except that I know they asked for "EI2?" and when they gave my call and report it ended with "C" so I am keeping the fingers crossed.

Hopefully this is a case of third time lucky and not Murphy's law . . .

Guatemala makes it 100 DXCCs worked on 10 metres!

2011-10-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

It has taken a long time, almost two years in fact, but about five minutes ago I finally broke the 100 "DXCCs worked" target on 10 metres. TG9AGM in Guatemala was the 100th DXCC worked. I had been on 97 for the past week and needed only three more. Another of those was VK4CT in the Oceania contest. Australia was a brand new DXCC for me on 10m. It took me a while to get through but I got there after about 10 minutes trying with about 90 watts into my Cushcraft MA5B. A few minutes after TG9 I worked H77REX in Nicaragua, making it 101 DXCCs worked!

My DXCC worked total on 12 metres, meanwhile, continues to climb. T32C Christmas Island (also Kirimitati in native language) made it 137 countries worked on that band, and I managed to nab them on both phone and CW.

I look forward to getting more DXCCs into the log on 10 metres. Conditions have been fabulous on the higher bands of late, with 12 metres often open to the USA until 10 and 11 at night. So we will continue to try and harvest those conditions.

Two band new DXCC in the log!

2011-10-03T03:43:00.001-07:00

Yesterday proved to be a successful day of hunting on the bands. I worked 3D2R on Sunday morning on 17m CW having spent about half an hour trying. 3D2R is a dxpedition to Rotuma Island in the south Pacific.

This was followed yesterday evening by T32C, Christmas Island, also in the Pacific, and also on 17m CW. They were calling EU and were very, very light, but I managed to get through after just a short time. I was beaming north with my MA5B.

A homebrew longwire antenna launcher!

2011-09-29T06:26:00.000-07:00

I thoroughly enjoyed this video as much for its entertainment value as its practical advice on how to get longwires into trees. The "launcher" is made from a fishing reel and a catapult!

Early morning aurora borealis over Ireland

2011-09-27T05:32:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make. Something to own up to. Something I'm ashamed of. It's difficult for me to open up in front of the whole world (or more like the 50 people who will visit this sad blog today) and tell you my innermost secrets. But here goes . . .

I AM NOT A GOOD MORNING PERSON !!!!!!!

An aurora I photographed from my QTH in 2003

Never have been. Always found it tough getting out of the old scratcher in the mornings. It can take me a good while to wake up too. And in that period between getting out of bed and waking up, there is one warning for all of those around me: "Don't kick the bear!"

So when my phone beeps (loudly) at 4.47am, with me entranced in some wild dream (probably about working a pile-up into Oceania on 10m HI!) I was startled beyond silly. I thought, "who the heck is texting me at this ungodly hour?" Mind you, the auld eyes were not exactly wide open and I had to squint like a geriatric monkey to see the numerals on the clock. Yes, 4:47. I was right, it was that hour between early morning and slightly later early morning. Otherwise known as the "Do Not Disturb" hour.

It turns out that the text message was from a well known insomniac at Astronomy Ireland. He was texting me to let me know that he was standing staring up at an aurora borealis display in Dublin. "Great, sounds lovely," says I to myself before turning over. The bed was nice and cosy and I was fit for a few more hours' sleep. It was about five minutes before the information actually sank in. "There's an aurora," I says to myself before leaping up in the bed.

An aurora means two things for someone like me. (1) There's some nice photos to be got and (2) there might be some skip on 2 metres. It was another ten minutes before I decided to brave the cold and actually get out of the bed. But rather than go to the trouble of getting dressed and going outside, I stumbled to the window, opened the blind, opened up the window and looked out. I could see some stars and some clouds but no aurora. So I closed the window and went over to shack B (yes, the "B"edroom shack) and turned on 2 metres and could hear nothing at all.

So the bed-loving animal in me decided that this whole aurora thing shouldn't disturb me any longer and went back to sleep. Not sure I regret it that much. I was too tired to sit at a radio and too comfortable to be getting dressed and looking for camera equipment to take out into the garden.

But it's a promising sign. It's six years since I last saw an aurora display. The sun was pretty dead in 2008 and 2009, and not much better in 2010. Now, in 2011, it's finally showing signs of awakening from its slumber. Maybe the sun, like me, is a bit fond of the bed . . .

CW with a computer mouse - I love this guy!

2011-09-26T13:55:00.000-07:00

This is PY2MAJ CQing with an, aghem, home-brew CW key, made out of a computer mouse. I've seen all sorts of improvised CW keys and this is one of the novelty keys that I like best. It puts the idea into my head to make another CW key from something unusual. I once saw a video of Brendan EI1429, a short wave listener, who had made a straight CW key from a computer hard drive. Yes, you read right!

I would gladly take ideas from my readers for a suggested CW key home-brew project. Comments below please or drop an email to hamradioireland (at) gmail (dot) com

Timor-Leste, Atauro Island, finally in the log!

2011-09-24T09:24:00.000-07:00

It has been a long and interesting week on the bands, with a high Solar Flux Index meaning the higher bands have been open, sometimes well after dark. 12 metres in particular has been excellent here, with a number of new ones put in the log since that great day last Saturday.

Timor-Leste is located between Malaysia and Papua New Guinea

However, during the past week, for one reason or another, I found myself busy and when I was on the radio I wasn't able to hear the 4W6A most of the time. One or two days I could hear them on 20m CW in the morning time but I wasn't able to spare the time to sit and try to work them.

So it came to today, Saturday, and with the Dxpedition drawing to a close, I was more anxious about working them. I sat for over an hour, perhaps two, trying to work them on 12m CW but just after they worked my friend Thos EI2JD, they said "QSY 20m". So I missed 12m. But in the meantime, they showed up on 15 metres. So I set the radio up with 21.023.5 as the VFO A frequency and started listening on VFO B to see if I could hear where they were listening. As is always the case with big pile-ups, it was wide enough, and he was working stations anything from 1 to 5 kc above his calling frequency. As usual I turned the beam 180 degrees to see which path he was stronger on and sure enough the long path seemed to be better, so that's the path I kept the antenna on.

But my consistent searching for his QSX frequency paid dividends and after about an hour, with his signal getting stronger, I finally heard my call coming through the noise. I gave him a 599 TU and punched the air cheering. After nearly two years on the air, I can say there's still nothing that beats the thrill of putting a new DXCC into the log!

For the record, that brings my total DXCC worked to 228, although five of these have been deleted so I can only claim 223. Of these I have 175 confirmed, mostly through ARRL's Logbook of the World, which is a brilliant ham facility.

By the way, congratulations to all the EIs who have got 4W into their log. It is difficult for EI to work because on the short path we are beaming across Europe and have all of EU to contend with! As of this moment, there are 24 EI callsigns in their log. Not bad at all. I should be the 25th!

Update: 17:38: Just put them into the log on 20m SSB after about 10 minutes calling. Yes!!

A proper photo of the newly refurbished shack!

2011-09-22T15:31:00.000-07:00

Here, as requested, is a better photograph of my refurbished shack. It should be a wee bit clearer than the previous one which was taken on my phone! I've added the old CT 436 Oscilloscope onto the desk as well just for effect.

EI2KC's new look shack in progress

2011-09-19T02:20:00.001-07:00

This is the new-look shack almost finished. I was fed up with the haphazard arrangement of radios so I went to a DIY store on Sunday and picked up some wood to build a shelf to act as a second tier for my computer, monitor, speakers, VHF radios etc. As you can see if is very neat. Compare it with old photos of the shack and you'll see what an improvement it is. It looks so much tidier.

The DIY did not prevent me from working a bit of DX on Sunday. I had very little time in front of the radio, but I did manage to bag T8XX, Palau, a brand new country for me. So I was thrilled.

Here is a quick guide to what's on the desk: Bottom row, from left: 2m amplifier (25w in 160w out) and Uniden Bearcat scanner, Watson 25a PSU, Yaesu FT-1000MP, my main rig, and on right the Icom IC-746 which I use for 6 metres and 10 metres and will soon be attached to an 8-element XY beam for 2 metres. Beyond that on the right are two external hard drives for my laptop.

Top shelf, from left: 4m radio with 2m radio on top and speaker for 4m, then IC-735 for listening on 80m, rotator for MA5B on top and above that speaker for 2m. Beside those is my Signalink USB interface for digimodes for the MP, then my monitor and then my laptop.

Sorry about the quality of the photo. It was taken on my Android phone.

A brief summary of an extraordinary day

2011-09-18T01:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Saturday, with the sunspot number at 173 and the solar flux index at 143, it was always likely to be a good day on the bands. 12 metres opened early in the day and was still open here to South America at 10.30pm local time. 10 metres gave me no less than eight new DXCCs on that band, and I managed to get some new ones on other bands too. Here is a brief summary of my efforts:


YS3CW in El Salvador gave me a brand new country today

New Zealand 20 CW
New Zealand 17m CW
Grenada J3 20m CW
Azerbaijan 10m CW
Kazahkstan 10m CW
Thailand 12m & 10m CW
Hong Kong 10m CW
Bahrain 10m SSB & CW
West Malaysia 10m SSB
Madagascar 10m SSB
West Malaysia 10m CW
Singapore 17m SSB
Trinidad 12m SSB
Brunei 17m CW
Guyana 12m SSB
El Salvador 12m CW
Panama 12m SSB
Isle of Man 10m CW
Guadeloupe 12m CW

Singapore and Guyana were both brand new countries for me. It really was a brilliant day to be on the bands. Lots of other EIs are reporting similar successes with new ones on various bands. Well done to all.

Look at those sunspot numbers - get on 10 metres now!

2011-09-17T01:48:00.000-07:00

I have not seen the sunspot number this high in a long, long time. The sun is literally bursting with activity. Right now the sunspot number is 173, which is the highest I've seen it since I was licenced in 2009. Right now, I am listening to T88TO on Palau island in the Pacific on 10 metres CW. I suggest you QSY to 28 Mhz as soon as possible because there's sure to be some good DX and to be worked with the numbers that high . . .

A rare one indeed - Lord Howe Island VK9L

2011-09-15T14:36:00.000-07:00

Lord Howe Island, from where VK9OL is operatingLord Howe Island VK

Recently Lord Howe Island, located off the east of Australia, was activated by the VK9HR dxpedition. Because of its location, almost exactly opposite Ireland on the far side of the globe, it is a tough one to work from EI. Nevertheless, four EIs made it into their log. An exclusive club you could say! (Read more about the EIs who worked Lord Howe Island in the forthcoming issue of Echo Ireland, due out within the week).

Lord Howe is being activated again this week, this time by N6NO, Merv, who is not only celebrating being 75 years old this year, but he is also marking his 60th year in amateur radio. He is celebrating all this by activating Lord Howe and what a very special way to do it!

Earlier this evening, September 15th, I managed to work Merv, who is using the callsign VK9OL, with my homebrew inverted V for 30m and 100 watts from the Yaesu FT-1000MP. I had been trying for about ten minutes and found it very difficult to hear him in strong QSB and QRN at times. But I heard a strong OH station working him and called him on the same split frequency and within a moment I could hear "EI?" so I gave him my call twice and he came back with EI2KC and my report and I gave him 559 and thanks and 73. I'm thrilled to get this rare one into the log. It is a brand new DXCC for me, never worked before.

She works! - an old oscilloscope kicks into life

2011-09-13T15:40:00.001-07:00

An old CT 436 Oscilloscope by Hartley Electromotives Ltd, recently came into my possession. I had left it in the shack for a few days to make sure it was dry and warm and plugged it in to find it is still working. I believe from reading on the web that these were built for the British Military back in the early 1960s, but maybe earlier. Now all I have to do is figure out how to use it to make measurements! It's a beautiful looking machine in my opinion and perhaps those little "moving lights" on the screen will fascinate the kids. I was able to download a manual on the CT 436 so I will digest that and see how I can use it to make a proper measurement. The above video was shot on my Android phone.

I can tell you that after just a few minutes' use, the casing got quite hot on top. Perhaps that's a good thing. The shack can get quite cold in the winter - the oscilloscope will double as a heater! 73 for now.

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6 metres, solar flare, Rugby World Cup

2011-09-07T03:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't blogged for a while. We had a bereavement. My wife's father, John, passed away last Thursday. He had been sick for quite a long time. We remember him dearly. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilis.

6 Metres (50 Mhz) was open last night. I worked France, Austria, Germany and Italy, just four QSOs but enough to brighten up my evening. In 2010 my last QSO on 6 metres was in August so it was nice to hear it open again in September.

Sunspot 1283 has been crackling with flares and on September 6th sent an M-class and X-class flare in the direction of earth. According to www.spaceweather.com, "The flares produced waves of ionization in Earth's upper atmosphere, briefly altering the propagation of low-frequency radio signals around our planet." Sunspot numbers have been generally high for the past few weeks, with a Solar Flux Index over 100 for most of that time. The SFI currently stands at 112. There has been some interesting propagation on 12 metres in recent weeks, with P29 Papua New Guinea and VK6 West Australia both being worked at my station. Fingers crossed for some good openings on 10 metres before year's end!

Hams should keep an ear out for special callsigns for the Rugby World Cup which kicks off in New Zealand this weekend. ZL4RUGBY and ZL6RWC have both been worked from EI in recent days. Both calls are active until October 31st so keep an eye on the cluster and an ear on the bands.

My latest HF Happenings column has been sent to the Editor of Echo Ireland magazine, so hopefully you will have your copy in the next week or so. Look out for a special report on the handful of EIs who worked the recent VK9HR Lord Howe Dxpedition, and also congrats to Ireland's third 10-band DXCC award winner. Plus lots more.

Don't forget the North Cork Radio Group rally is on this Sunday, September 11th, in Blarney Golf Resort, Tower, Co. Cork. Doors open at 11.30am and admission is 5 euro. See the club's website for more details.

The 172 countries I have confirmed QLSs for through LoTW

2011-08-30T03:08:00.000-07:00

The following is a list of the countries which I have received confirmed QSLs for through ARRL's Logbook of the World. It makes for interesting reading. I have worked a total of 218 entities so to have 172 of those confirmed is a great delight for me.

AFGHANISTAN	T6JC
ALAND ISLAND	OG0Z
ALASKA	KL7J
ALBANIA	ZA3HA
ANDORRA	C37N
ANTARCTICA	RI1ANC
ANTIGUA & BARBUDA	V25WY
ARGENTINA	LU5FF
ARUBA	P49Y
ASCENSION ISLAND	ZD8RH
ASIATIC RUSSIA	UA0BA
AUSTRALIA	VK7ZE
AUSTRIA	OE5FIN
AZERBAIJAN	4K9W
AZORES	CU3/CT1FMX
BAHAMAS	C6AKX
BAHRAIN	A92IO
BALEARIC ISLAND	EA6TS
BANGLADESH	S21YZ
BARBADOS	8P9NX
BELARUS	EV1R
BELGIUM	ON5LGS
BOLIVIA	CP1FF
BONAIRE	PJ4A
BONAIRE,CURACAO (NETH ANTILLES) (DELETED)	PJ4NX
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA	E73XL
BRAZIL	PY2XB
BRITISH VIRGIN ISLAND	VP2V/G3PHO
BULGARIA	LZ1GL
CAMEROON	TJ9PF
CANADA	VX9HF
CANARY ISLAND	EA8OM
CAPE VERDE	D4C
CEUTA & MELILLA	ED9M
CHAGOS ISLAND	VQ9LA
CHILE	CE3DNP
CHINA	VO1AU/BY1RX
COLOMBIA	HK1KYR
CORSICA	TK/F5JSD
CRETE	SV9CVY
CROATIA	9A4WY
CURACAO	PJ2T
CYPRUS	P33W
CZECH REPUBLIC	OK2PAY
DEM. REP. OF THE CONGO	9Q50ON
DENMARK	OZ1HDF
DJIBOUTI	J28AA
DOMINICA	J79M
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	HI3TEJ
EAST MALAYSIA	9M6XRO/P
EGYPT	SU9VB
EL SALVADOR	YS3CW
ENGLAND	G3VAO
ESTONIA	ES2MA
EUROPEAN RUSSIA	RV3QH
FALKLAND ISLANDS	VP8LP
FAROE ISLANDS	OY2J
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY	DL0WFF
FINLAND	OH3LQK
FRANCE	F4FJH
FRENCH GUIANA	FY5LH
GABON	TR8CA
GEORGIA	4L0A
GIBRALTAR	ZB2CN
GREECE	SV1CQN
GREENLAND	OX3XR
GUADELOUPE	FG4NO
GUAM	KH2/N2NL
GUATEMALA	TG9IRP
GUERNSEY	MU0FAL
HAWAII	KH6MB
HONDURAS	HR2/NP3D
HONG KONG	VR2C
HUNGARY	HA3NU
ICELAND	TF3Y
INDIA	VU2NKS
INDONESIA	YB1ALL
IRAQ	YI9PSE
IRELAND	EI7CC
ISLE OF MAN	MD6V
ISRAEL	4Z4DX
ITALY	I4HRH
ITU HQ	4U1ITU
JAN MAYEN	JX5O
JAPAN	JA3AOP
JERSEY	MJ0ASP
KALININGRAD	UA2FR
KAZAKHSTAN	UN7JZ
KERMADEC ISLAND	ZL8X
KUWAIT	9K2HN
LATVIA	YL2EC
LEBANON	OD5PY
LIECHTENSTEIN	HB0/OU4U
LITHUANIA	LY7M
LUXEMBOURG	LX7I
MADEIRA ISLANDS	CT3MD
MALAWI	7Q7BP
MALDIVES	8Q7QX
MARKET REEF	OJ0B
MARTINIQUE	FM5DN
MAURITIUS ISLAND	3B8MM
MEXICO	XE2WWW
MOLDOVA	ER3DX
MONACO	3A2MW
MONGOLIA	JT5DX
MONTENEGRO	4O3A
MONTSERRAT	VP2MDG
MOROCCO	5C5W
NAMIBIA	V55DLH
NEPAL	9N7DX
NETHERLANDS	PD1RO
NEW ZEALAND	ZL4RUGBY
NICARAGUA	YN2EA
NORTHERN IRELAND	GI4SNA
NORWAY	LA5YJ
OMAN	A45XR
PALESTINE	E4X
PANAMA	HP1/IZ6BRN
PARAGUAY	ZP6CW
PERU	OA1F
PHILIPPINES	DU1/JJ5GMJ
POLAND	SQ8LSC
PORTUGAL	CR6K
PUERTO RICO	KP4BD
REPUBLIC OF KOREA	HL5NLQ
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA	ZS1EL
REVILLAGIGEDO	4A4A
ROMANIA	YO2ADQ
RWANDA	9X0TL
SABA & ST EUSTATIUS	PJ5/K1XM
SAINT BARTHELEMY	TO7ZG
SAINT HELENA	ZD7XF
SAINT KITTS & NEVIS	V47NT
SAINT PIERRE & MIQUELON	FP/K9OT
SAN MARINO	T77GO
SAO TOME & PRINCIPE	S9DX
SARDINIA	IM0/IK0FMB
SAUDI ARABIA	7Z1HL
SCOTLAND	GM0OAA
SENEGAL	6W2SC
SERBIA	YU1CC
SINT MAARTEN	PJ7E
SLOVAK REPUBLIC	OM4EX
SLOVENIA	S57TW
SOUTH ORKNEY ISLANDS	VP8ORK
SOV MILITARY ORDER OF MALTA	1A0KM
SPAIN	EA2KC
SUDAN	ST2AR
SURINAME	PZ5RA
SVALBARD	JW8HGA
SWEDEN	SM1IRS
SWITZERLAND	HB9CQL
TAJIKISTAN	EY8MM
TANZANIA	5I3A
THAILAND	HS0ZEE
TOGO	5V7TT
TUNISIA	3V8SS
TURKEY	TC07DX
TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS	VP5/W5SL
U K BASES ON CYPRUS	ZC4VJ
UGANDA	5X1NH
UKRAINE	UY2ZA
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES	A65BP
UNITED NATIONS HQ	4U1UN
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA	WA2C
URUGUAY	CX6VM
US VIRGIN ISLANDS	KP2B
VATICAN CITY	HV0A
VENEZUELA	YV5/N4NX
VIET NAM	3W6C
WALES	MW0ZZK
WEST MALAYSIA	9M2TO
ZIMBABWE	Z21BB

IRTS 2 metres counties contest

2011-08-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

This is the portable 8el beam I will use.

Tomorrow, Sunday August 28th, the IRTS autumn 2 metres counties contest takes place. The contest will run from 2pm to 4pm local time. I will be participating in the contest as EI2KC/P from Bellewstown Hill in County Meath. I plan to use an 8 element beam and my Yaesu FT-897 although I am not yet decided on which section of the contest to enter. Previously, I have entered high power fixed from the home QTH but this will be my first portable effort.

The aim of the contest is to work as many Irish Counties as possible. Stations in GI the rest of the UK can participate also, and indeed their points are very welcome !

For contest rules, visit the IRTS website.

Hopefully as many EIs as possible will be active during the contest, if not to win, at least to give out some points. It is very enjoyable to hear the activity on the band, and to work various counties, so even the non-competitive ops among us can have a bit of fun. I hope to get you into the log sometime tomorrow afternoon. Good luck.

PS: Thanks to Pat EI2HX for a loan of one of his portable antenna tripods.

The little mini beam antenna that works the world . . .

2011-08-22T15:49:00.000-07:00

I am in no doubt now whatsoever that the Cushcraft MA5B minibeam is far outstripping the Butternut HFV6 vertical for working DX on HF. Just perusing the log for the past few days it becomes obvious that the DX is coming in much better and easier than before.

The latest DXCC confirmed on eQSL is South Korea.Total now 122

My very latest QSO as I write this was with Ian VK3MO in Australia. I beamed him long path while he was beaming short path and he picked me up out of the pile. Just before that I had worked KP3A on 15m CW. Here is a list of the nice DX worked in the past few days, all on the MA5B (and all with 100 watts):

S79DO (Seychelles) 20m CW (New one on 20)
YB3JBJ (Indonesia) 20m CW
KH6MB (Hawaii) 17m CW (New one on 17)
D9A (South Korea) 17m CW (New one on 17)
JG1SIS (Japan) 17m CW (I got lots of JA on 17m this week)
HP1/IZ6BRN (Panama) 17m CW
CE2/VE7SV (Chile) 17m CW
VK2GWK (Australia) 17m CW (New one on that band)
9K2HN (Kuwait) 17m CW (New one on 17)
T6MO (Afghanistan) 17m CW (New one on 17)
BD1BYV (China) 17m CW
D9A (Korea) 20m CW
TL0A (Central African Republic) 12m SSB (New DXCC on 12)

And the list goes on . . .

The MA5B is a minibeam, a compromise antenna. Mine is at least ten years old. It had a burnt out trap. It is a bit dirty. It's not up high enough, standing at about 25 feet, not even clearing the rooftops!! And it's not resonant on 15m. But it's doing a great job. If I could say anything to other hams out there with small properties, it's this : "Don't despair - you can work great DX with modest equipment".

Here's wishing you all great DX in the coming weeks. 73 for now.

PS: D9A have me as EA2KC in their log for my 17m QSO. There are only four EIs who have worked them so far. All of us have one QSO each but I should have two.

Combining two loves: stars and radio

2011-08-21T10:44:00.000-07:00

On Friday night it was beautiful outside. For the first time in about three months we are starting to have dark nights, now that the longest days of the year are over and we move towards autumn equinox. It was so beautiful outside in the garden that I brought my camera out to take a few photos. Of course now that I have so many antennas it is difficult to get a photo of the stars without some metal intrusion!!

The above photo is probably the best of those that I took. The bright star behind the MA5B minibeam is Vega in the constellation Lyra. Together with two other stars, Deneb and Altair, Vega forms what we astronomers know as the "Summer Triangle". It's a familiar and beautiful sight at this time of the year, being directly overhead in the summer months. If you look closely at the image, you can see Deneb at the top of the image, just to the left of centre, at the top of the cross-shaped Cygnus (the swan) constellation. Altair is on the extreme left of the photo. It is the bright star of the constellation Aquila, the eagle.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photo. The MA5B is doing a great job for me working the DX. I've had lots of contacts into Japan, China and other parts of Asia with it. It is not resonant on 15m and is a problem on that band, but on 20m, 17m, 12m and 10m it is doing great. Admittedly 10 hasn't been open enough to test it properly. I am surprised and delighted with its performance on 17m, where it has bagged me lots of DX, most recently Afghanistan which is a new one for me on that band. On 17m the MA5B is only a rotary trap dipole - with no parasytics!! Would you even believe it? Maybe not if you could look at my log and see all the great DX I've worked with it. I am very happy so far . . .

DX nets - are they of any use? (Rhetorical question)

2011-08-16T03:16:00.000-07:00

I suppose that not everyone in the ham radio sphere thinks that DX nets are of any constructive use. Perhaps some people like the idea of working DX off their own bat without the assistance of an intermediary. Having worked a few difficult ones in a DX net I am beginning to think that these nets are very very useful.

I am talking specifically about the 40m DX net run by Roger, ON7TQ, almost on a nightly basis. Roger has a beam which gives him direction on 40m, something most of us would give our right arm for. (Well, maybe not. But we'd all like the real estate and the hard cash for such a setup!)

I have made three very nice contacts on 40m recently, two of which were new countries for me on that band, one of which was a new country overall, thanks to Roger's DX net.

The first QSO was with TZ6TR, Tom in Mali, Africa, which was a brand new country for me, never worked before. I was thrilled to get Tom into the log and I'm not sure in a pile-up situation that I would have ever made it through. But with the DX net, each station who wants to work the DX gives the last two letters of their call and when there's about ten callers, the DX net controller invites each one in turn to call the DX station.

In this way, it is possible for smaller stations like mine to work the DX without the obstruction of the heavy QRM one would expect if the DX station was just calling CQ on simplex.

Norman VK7AC at his station

This contact with Mali convinced me of the merits of Roger's DX net. So a week or so later I heard Roger on again, booming as usual, and this time he had VK7AC, Norman in Tasmania, on frequency. I was surprised to see Norman sitting at a signal 7, and with a relatively quiet band (it was sunrise in VK7 and almost sunset in EI) I decided to throw my "Kilo Charlie" into the list. As it happens I had already spoken with Norman on 40m SSB using my Butternut vertical but I wanted to try him on my new inverted V. He gave me a 5 and 7 and while we were chatting he peaked at 5 and 8. He heard me no problem. Another nice QSO.

Just last night I joined in again with Roger's net. This time though conditions were strange. Roger was only 5 and 7 at times instead of his usual 20 over but crucially I could hear the DX station, in this case CE3EEA, Edgar in Chile. So when it came down the line to "Kilo Charlie" I called Edgar and, to my delight, he came back to me with a 5 and 3 report and I gave him 5 and 5. I never worked Chile on 40m before, so it was a new country for me on that band.

So thanks Roger for running your DX net. It has helped me get a couple of new ones into the log. I shall be listening with interest on a regular basis from now on.

Guam, New Zealand, Indonesia, Australia and Tanzania all worked

2011-08-14T07:54:00.000-07:00

Above is a video showing KH2/N2NL on Guam in the Pacific working a pile-up into Europe. Moments before this video was taken, I had worked him, making only my second ever contact with Guam and a new one for me on 15m. I had worked the same station back in April on 10 metres during a brilliant opening, also on CW.

I was surprised at how strong David was coming in. I had been pointing my MA5B minibeam towards the north-northeast but when I beamed south-southwest he came up stronger and it was in that direction that I worked him. It took me about ten minutes of calling but eventually he gave "EI ? EI?" and I gave my call a couple of times and he came back with EI2KC and my progressive number. He was working the WAE Worked All Europe contest. As you can see from the video, he was a 579, quite strong for the pacific on a minibeam which is only up about 25 feet.

The WAE is one of those great contests which gives operators like myself a chance to work some good DX. Yesterday I worked 5H3EE on 20m CW, a new country on that band. I worked two stations in Australia, VK2IM on 20m and VK4CT on 40m. I was particularly proud of the 40m contact. In between those I had worked YB1ALL on 40m CW, a new country on that band. But then I worked ZM1A in New Zealand on 40m, which was the highlight of the weekend so far. I have only ever worked ZL on 20m so to get a ZL on 40 was a great achievement. I'm thrilled. All the 40m contacts were worked with 100 watts and my homebrew inverted V. On the higher bands it was my Cushcraft MA5B and 100 watts that did the trick.

There's still a good few hours of the contest left to run, so I will see if I can pick up any more interesting DX. You should do the same!

Addendum: I also managed to nab T6MO, a new one on 40m (CW), KH7X on 20m CW, a few Japan stations on 20m CW, VE7CC in western Canada (he came back to my CQ!), FM5CD and CE3FZ and also PJ2M.

Photos of the Shanwick receive antennas at Ballygirreen

2011-08-12T08:19:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are some photos of the Shanwick receive antennas at Ballygirreen, County Clare, Ireland. These photos were taken by my XYL Ann and artistically enhanced by me using Adobe Photoshop. I hope you enjoy.

The Shanwick receive antenna array at Ballygirreen, Shannon, Co. Clare, Ireland, not far from the Atlantic.


Antenna at Ballygirreen, Co. Clare, part of the Shanwick receive aerial array.

On a miserable wet Irish day it was hard to know whether to leave the colour in the images or not.

You can have a better look at the Ballygirreen antenna system using Google Maps Street View below:

View Larger Map

You can explore the Ballygirreen antennas on Google Maps at this link.

For those of you who listen to Shanwick radio, you might be interested to learn that there is a plan for increased use of HF, and indeed for the provision of additional HF frequencies in 2011. This is from the Irish Aviation Authority website:

Shanwick Radio keeps in contact with all flights in Oceanic Airspace mainly by means of High Frequency Radio (HF), but also uses VHF (Very High Frequency) and Satellite Phone (SATPHONE). HF can provide global coverage because of its ability to bounce off the ionosphere and can span the globe in a series of skips. VHF coverage, on the other hand, is limited to line-of-sight range. Shanwick Radio uses over 20 HF frequency channels and 2 VHF. At peak times it handles in excess of 1400 aircraft in a 24 hour period. In 2008, the station handled in excess of 1 million messages from 422,086 aircraft. To cater for the growth in HF frequency activity it is planned to introduce additional frequencies during 2011. Read more here.

A visit to the Ballygirreen antenna system

2011-08-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

Today myself and the XYL and the harmonics paid a quick visit to the Ballygirreen antenna system which is used by Shanwick Aeronautical controllers for HF trans-Atlantic air traffic. We had seen them from the M18 a couple of days ago and this afternoon, on our way back from West Clare to Shannon, we came off the M18 to have a quick look.

There were what looked to be some very nice wire antennas although exactly what they were I could not tell. Having a quick read about Ballygirreen on the internet I found that the controllers are using FIVE kilowatts of power to make contact with planes out across the Atlantic. The maximum legal power in Ireland for amateur radio is 400 watts. So that's quite a lot more than we are allowed to use, although amateurs in Ireland will soon be allowed run 1.5kw during certain contests, subject to application. But Ballygirreen it seems is only a receive station. The transmit antennas, according to this document, are located at Urlanmore.

I have long had an interest in the trans-Atlantic HF traffic. I was listening to pilots talking to controllers in Shannon (Shanwick), Gander, Santa Maria, New York and further afield long before I ever took up an interest in listening to the amateur bands. For hours at night I would listen on my IC-R75 receiver with a random l-shaped longwire listening antenna strung out the window and down to the bottom of the garden. It's amazing what you can hear on a random length of wire. I would often have heard the Auckland Volmet (automated weather readout) early in the morning, and indeed the Brisbane Volmet too.

If any of you are interested in monitoring the Shanwick communications, first try to see if you can pick up the Shannon Volmet on 5.505 kHz, upper side band. Needless to say those living in Shannon, near to the Urlanmore antennas, will have the Volmet 60 db over s9 even on a one-foot piece of wire.

Primary frequencies to monitor would be 5.598, 5.649 and 8.879.

My xyl did take photos of the Ballygirreen antennas out of the car but I am unable to hook the camera up to this laptop because I did not bring a cable but I will upload some tomorrow all going well.

Good QSO from Louth to Limerick

2011-08-09T13:21:00.000-07:00

I have occasion to be visiting County Clare today and had the pleasure of some 2m activity from the car on the way down. I have been to Limerick on lots of occasions in the past, but not since the M7 motorway was completed. Basically there is motorway all the way from the home QTH in Drogheda to where I am currently based, in Shannon in Co. Clare. The total journey time on the road, excluding an hour break for food, was two hours and 15 minutes. That's incredible. The last time I visited Limerick for work purposes about a year and a half ago, it took me three and a half hours! The new motorway has slashed over an hour off the journey. Granted, we were travelling during off-peak times, but it really was great to get here so quickly.

I had a chat with Tom EI9CJ and Mike EI2DJ on the Kippure Repeater (Dublin) for a while on my way around Dublin city, and was able to work Tom all the way to Portlaoise, where we stopped for food. I lost Kippure (EI2KPR) the far side of Portlaoise but it wasn't long before I was able to open the Limerick repeater, EI2TAG. Unfortunately, the Ridge of Capard repeater (EI2RCR) in the Slieve Bloom Mountains is off air. It would have provided a nice link between east and west.

To my surprise I suddenly heard Tom EI9CJ calling me through the Limerick repeater. Tom lives in North Louth. Total approximate distance from his QTH to the EI2TAG repeater is 135 miles. So his 10 element beam and 50 watts is going him a great trip. He was quite patchy though and it was a difficult copy but a great contact all the same.

In other news, I worked ZD8D on Ascension Island last night on 30m CW after just a few calls. But, to my disappointment, I find that my call is not in their log today for that band slot. However, EA2KC is, and I have a feeling they busted my call. Me being away from home now, I doubt I will get another chance. But they should give me the QSO if indeed they did get my call wrong.

We took a quick spin from Shannon up to Ennis earlier and passed Ballygireen, which many radio fans will know is the base for the Shanwick HF aeronautical radio controllers. I clapped eyes on some of their antennas. Looked like a bunch of huge inverted Vs from the M18 motorway. Might try to get a closer look in the next few days.

Anyway, I'm in my hotel room here and the XYL and harmonics want to watch a DVD on this laptop, so who am I to argue? LOL

QSY on 40m to VK7AC Norman in Tasmania

2011-08-07T13:26:00.000-07:00

I was sitting listening to ST0R (Southern Sudan) on 40m CW this evening and thought I might give them a try but pretty soon there were a couple of Italians who started CQing on his frequency. I kid you not. They were both CQing at the same time, seemingly oblivious to each other and the DX. I couldn't stand to listen to it, so I QSY'd to 7.156 LSB where Roger ON7TQ was running his regular DX net. Roger is always a pleasure to speak to and handles the traffic very well.

My nested inverted V dipoles for 30m and 40m

I could hear Norman VK7AC on the frequency, speaking from his home in Tasmania, south of Australia, and had him at 5 and 7 on the signal meter. I switched over to the Butternut and he was 5 and 3 at best. Despite having had a QSO with him in June of this year, I decided to give him another shout to see how he was picking me up on the 40m inverted V which Pat EI2HX and myself put up three weeks ago. He gave me a 5 and 7 report and he peaked at 5 and 8 when speaking to me. It was a good QSO. I was really thrilled to have a chat with him. It was less than an hour to sunrise on his side while it was around sunset on this side, so a good grey line contact.

I am delighted with how the inverted V has worked out since it was installed. I have found myself CQing on 40m SSB most nights and having a great chat with my neighbours in G land and Europe. It's amazing what can be done with a simple wire antenna and 100 watts.

TY1KS Benin Dxpedition tbegins

2011-08-06T08:28:00.000-07:00

The Dx Coffee team begins operations from the African country of Benin today, August 6th. They will be QRV from 6th to 15th August, and the first spot shows them on 30m at 15:19z today. This should provide an opportunity for EIs and of course other hams around the world to get TY into their log. A quick check reveals that I have never worked TY and therefore it would be a brand new DXCC for me. I cannot hear them on 30m CW right now but perhaps it's just the wrong time of day.

More information plus an online log can be found on the TY1KS website.

Further ST0R update - five band slots

2011-08-05T04:29:00.000-07:00

Pile-ups for the ST0R South Sudan Dxpedition continue to thin out, but there are strange things going on with signals on the HF bands, no doubt affected by recent flare activity on the sun. ST0R signals into EI are strong at times and non-existent at others.

Since my previous update I have managed to nab them another two times, once on 20 metres SSB and also on 12 metres CW, so I am now up to five QSOs in total.

On right is a nice video shot in Japan showing the strong signals on CW on 40m there. Interesting indeed. One thing that this video demonstrates nicely is how hard you have to work to find out where the DX station is listening! Note the rapid change from VFO A to VFO B and back again.

The ST0R website and online log vanished for about a day but is now back in action. Congrats to the leading EIs, in particular John EI7BA and Doug EI2CN who are way out ahead. John and Dave EI9FBB are among that elite group who have worked ST0R on 6 metres. It will be interesting to see if any EI can nab them on top band!!

There is still a good opportunity for smaller stations like mine to get into the log. Although some of the ST0R operators are going home this weekend, they hope to maintain a good operation throughout the weekend and the whole DXpedition will not be QRT until their sunrise on Wednesday morning next, August 10th.

Good luck to all those trying . . .

VIDEO: ZD8D Ascension Island 20m pile-up on CW

2011-08-03T15:54:00.001-07:00

This is the ZD8D Dxpedition to Ascension Island working a pile-up on 20m CW, as heard from my QTH on Wednesday night at approx 10:30z. I had already worked them on this band slot so it was a pleasure just to sit back and listen to them on my Cushcraft MA5B minibeam pointed in their direction.

Some commentary on ST0R Southern Sudan Dxpedition

2011-08-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

It really is tough going trying to work those guys in Southern Sudan, the ST0R dxpedition. Here I will try to provide some commentary as the last week of their operations gets under way.

Monday August 1st: Thought I had them in the log on 20m CW, but had my doubts because I heard CC instead of KC. I am NOT in the log!!

Tuesday August 2nd 9.40pm: Trying again on 15m CW after doing an hour at tea time. They were strong but then started calling North America. That has happened a number of times. When they are at their strongest they seem to work non-EU. Same on 12m just a short while ago. They were strong but only working NA.

Wednesday August 3rd 00.45: Calling him on 20m SSB. Eventually I heard "who is the Echo India 3". I gave my call a couple of times (because my call is regularly mistaken for EI3KC) but then he worked someone completely different who was not an Echo India. Giving up for the night. Still only one QSO.

Wednesday August 3rd 08.45: Tried briefly on 20m CW but he was weak and I had to go to work.

Wednesday August 3rd 19:19: Yyesss!! Got him on 20m CW after half an hour of trying. The pile-ups are beginning to thin out. He is working between 14.026 and 14.027 and doesn't seem to be drifting outside that QSX area. I worked him on 14.026. QSO number 2!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday August 3rd 20:00: Yyeesss!! Just got him in the log on 17m SSB. Working split listening 10 up on 18.155 USB. QSO number 3.

MA5B work carried out, now resonant on 20m and 10m

2011-07-31T06:22:00.000-07:00


Jim 2I0SBI and Pat EI2HX cleaning the trap assemblies

With a good weather forecast for the first half of Saturday I put a small team together to take down my MA5B minibeam and try to ascertain why it does not seem to want to work on 20m and 15m. Pat EI2HX and Jim 2I0SBI arrived between 10 and 11 am and we got to work.

The first task was to take the mast off the wall brackets and lean it over enough for me to be able to remove the minibeam from atop the extension roof. This only took a few minutes. The MA5B is light enough that I could hand it down to the two lads.

The matching network was in good condition

We decided to concentrate our efforts on looking at the matching network and disassembling the driven element. It turned out that the matching network seemed fine. There were no obvious signs of any water ingress although there was a small amount of surface rusting on the core of the coax in the box itself. This was easily scraped away with a Stanley knife. I resealed the lid on the matching network box and put amalgamating tape around it.

The driven element provided a few surprises. We found that the trap in the "hot" leg of the driven element (labelled MT1) had suffered a drastic melting of the insulator. We are not entirely sure how this might have affected the performance of the antenna because the 2mm-thick aluminium wire wound around the insulator is actually connected to the casing of the trap also.


The burnt trap insulator before cleaning

Nonetheless Pat EI2HX cleaned up the burned and melted section of plastic and then put some tape around a section of wire leading to the trap connection to ensure that it was insulated as it would have been when the trap was brand new. The trap on the cold leg of the driven element was in pristine condition. A decision was quickly made to swap them around, so that the trap in good condition would now become the "hot" trap and the damaged one was transferred to the cold leg.

In addition to the above we found that the connections on the driven element had all suffered from corrosion, which was evident from the amount of white powder we found when disassembling the trap joinings and the element connections. All of these were cleaned up with emery paper and wire brushing. This took quite a bit of time because all the joints had been well sealed with tape and were also clamped with jubilee clips. But having three pairs of hands made light work and in no time at all the driven element had been given a thorough overhaul.

This work even included cleaning the nuts and bolts and washers where the coax joins the two driven element sections. We decided it was best to make a good effort so that the antenna might give a good few years of use if needed. After all it has been at this QTH for a couple of months but only getting very limited use.

Yours truly reattaching the minibeam to its mast

With everything reassembled and all the joins tightened up with clips and sealed over with tape we finally hoisted the antenna back up onto the roof and reattached it to the mast. However, a quick test revealed very high VSWR on 15m and 20m. So I took a decision to measure the distance between the elements just in case this had been interfered with during correction the work. Indeed it was found that the director was a quarter of an inch too close to the centre element. So this was adjusted and another test revealed a flat SWR on 14.040 and a flat SWR on 28.010. Indeed the SWR is only 1.5 on 28.500 so the antenna is resonant throughout a good portion of the 10m band. The bandwith on 20m, however, is very narrow, with the SWR going up to 2:1 on 14.005. Nothing that the tuner in the FT-1000MP won't handle. The VSWR is still very high throughout 15m though, so some further examination of the measurements on the antenna will need to be undertaken.

However, for now some of the problems with the minibeam have been resolved and it is now resonant on 20 metres CW where it had a high SWR before. I will put the beam through its paces in the coming days and will report on progress here.

In the meantime, a big thanks to Pat and Jim for the help.

The sun's kicking into life . . . again

2011-07-28T03:31:00.000-07:00

Click on the image to see a 3-day animation

Radio hams around the world get very excited about sunspots. There's a reason for this. The more sunspots, the better the propagation. After an extended lull in sunspot activity, it really seemed like 2011 would bring the great upswing that all hams waited for. A big leap in sunspot numbers early in the year brought great hope, and a few good lifts in conditions on the bands. And then things died off again. For the past couple of months sunspots have appeared in fits and starts and then fizzled away.

So when space scientists clapped eyes on the above images this week, they started to get excited. And us radio amateurs are perhaps entitled to a wee glimmer of excitement also, as there is a real prospect of good propagation. This would potentially help enormously for those interested in working the various Dxpeditions which are active now. These include ST0R in Southern Sudan, VK9HR in Lord Howe Island, and ZD8D on Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean.

Now I hate to tempt fate, so I'm not going to. Based on solar activity this year so far, the most we can expect is that the new sunspots will just fizzle out and propagation will fall away again . . .

For more on sunspot activity, visit the website www.spaceweather.com

Why I couldn't be bothered with ST0R . . . for now

2011-07-25T11:06:00.000-07:00

Those of you interested in DX will have noticed the ST0R South Sudan Dxpedition, led by N6PSE, began a couple of days ago, activating what is a brand new DXCC entity. Somewhat unsurprisingly, their activity has been greeted with a barrage of QRM, much of it, sadly, coming from EU hams, but not exclusively.

A couple of days ago I decided I would give them a try on 40m CW but within a very short time it was apparent that it was going to be one great waste of time. As usual, a lot of operators kept calling ST0R even after they asked for a specific prefix or suffix. I was listening about 4kc up and could hear lots of people calling him even when he was trying to work one specific call. After a while on CW you get used to that, even if you never can understand it. The more the "lids" keep calling him, the longer it will take everyone to work him. But that just never seems to sink in with a lot of stupid operators out there. I am not fond of derogatory language when it comes to ham radio. We operate in the spirit of friendship, like one giant global fraternity, generally all interested in similar things. But unfortunately one would have to say there are just some people who you would prefer not to have in your band of friends. "Lids" who call incessantly, causing QRM without a thought, would not make it into my circle of friends. None of these guys ever reads the DX Code of Conduct it seems. There are those of us for whom the code of conduct comes naturally, for whom no greater explanation is needed. Do unto others as you would have done to yourselves, as it were.

But worse again than the above, where someone calls on the split frequency, are those who QRM the operating frequency of the DX station. Now I know sometimes this is done inadvertently. I have been guilty of this, as I'm sure many of you have. You dial in VFO A frequency and then VFO frequency B and never hit the "split" button. Doh!! A gentle reminder from a fellow ham comes in the form of dit dit dah, dit dah dah dit, otherwise known as the word "UP". Most sensible hams will figure out fairly quickly that they are causing QRM and will oblige by hitting the "split" button, thereby sorting out the problem. Sometimes a courteous "TU" is given in return, meaning "thank you". Then the QRM disappears.

For some reason though, there are CW operators out there whose knowledge of morse does not extend beyond their own callsign. They can send their callsign, and they can recognise it when someone comes back with it, and they know what "5NN" is, but apparently they cannot recognise these two simple letters - U and P.

They call incessantly, blocking out the DX station which is nearly always much weaker, and repeated "UP" calls from other hams on the simplex frequency do no good. In fact, in some cases, this prompts the QRMer to give his or her call more frequently than before, thinking that they suddenly have competition. The whole thing gets ridiculous. Many a while I have sat there in front of the radio, sighing loudly at just how ignorant and silly people can be. No, I am not some kind of perfect operator. But I believe we were all born with common sense. Some hams just seem to lose it along the way. Maybe it's the RF ??

With all that going on, often I have my finger on the largest button on the front of my Yaesu FT-1000MP. That's the one labelled "POWER". Sometimes I just cannot listen to it. Sometimes I spin the VFO, or change band, but sometimes I just switch off, knowing that the frustration of having to listen to this nonsense will cancel out any joy I might get if I ever get to work the DX station.

But it gets worse. Because then the so-called "frequency police" start their antics. These are hams who take it upon themselves to call the QRMing station (or stations) a "LID", or telling them to "QSY". The reason the frequency police's calls never work is simple -> if the QRMer cannot recognise the letters U and P, how are they supposed to recognise THREE letters in a row?!! In any case, the policemen then cause further QRM on the DX station, in some cases so much so that the original QRMer is doing less damage than the policeman!!

While I have used the word "lid" here, and I believe that some people just aren't born with any brains, I have to point out that I would never use derogatory terms on the air, or cause intentional QRM, and I don't believe that anyone else should either. It's difficult to stop a war, and supposedly condemn violence, when you're lobbing grenades at the alleged aggressor.

The best one can hope for is that the QRM will quickly disappear. This, sadly, hasn't been the case so far with ST0R. Because it's a brand new entity, all hams around the world who are interested in working DX will want to put Southern Sudan into the log at least once. So they are getting bigger pile-ups than any Dxpedition in recent memory. And they can only do their best to try to work everyone under trying conditions.

Imagine being on their side of things? Imagine hearing a gigantic wall of noise on the split frequency? Imagine trying to pick just one out. Maybe you hear an EI2 in there. So you call EI2? Ah, the good old question mark. Once you hear that, you can call at will, right? Well, so it seems. Have a listen if you get the chance. Listen to ST0R call a part call followed by a question mark, and then listen on the split (wherever that is, because it could be anything from 1 to 20 kc up!!) . I guarantee you will hear a lot more than just the EI2 that he is trying to work. It's shocking at times how rude, ignorant and seemingly downright deaf some ops are!

So with something like two weeks to run for ST0R, I think I will leave it for maybe a week or so before I start trying to work them in earnest because I just couldn't sit and listen to that night after night for hours on end. All you have to do is look at the cluster spots and they will give you some idea of the utter carnage on the bands. For example, I will go to my DXScape window now and copy some of them here:

21024.0 EUs tunning on top ...shame
21024.0 NO EU NO EU says...
21024.0 NO EU but Eus still calling
14145.0 no words
14145.0 Ham spirit ? NO - Kindergarden ? YES

Those are just a few examples from the cluster right now as I write this. I forgot to mention the idiots who tune their radio on the DX frequency as well. It just doesn't get any worse than all that.

Right not I am listening to ZD8D on Ascension Island on 20m CW. He is working simplex and things are well behaved at this moment. No mad QRM, no tuning, no policemen. Just an orderly operation, with a number of hams getting ZD8 in their log. I wonder how long it will last before mayhem breaks out . . .

Radio Waves: a short film about Amateur Radio in Ireland

2011-07-20T06:09:00.000-07:00

The above is a short film by Tony Flynn shot a couple of months ago featuring Thos EI2JD and myself.

Minibeam repair postponed, 40m inverted v put up

2011-07-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

My team of helpers was on standby Saturday morning to take down the MA5B minibeam to attempt repairs but alas at 8.50am I looked out to see torrential rain and strong winds, so I took an immediate decision to postpone. I texted Tony, Jim, Don and Pat and said the job was off. However, Pat landed up with some QSL cards and caught me with two lengths of wire which I had cut at just over 33 feet long each. He inquired as to what I was doing and I said I was going to add a 40m inverted V to my 30m inverted V so as to make a nest.

With the weather suddenly improving (rain stopped, sun came out) I asked if he was interested in helping and of course the immediate answer was yes.

So we set about taking the 30m inverted v down by taking the pole off the brackets. I stripped back the two new wires and found a smaller pole which we used to extend the overall height of the existing pole which would allow a higher apex on the Vs. Pat had shelley clamps and we got to work. It didn't take that long to put the whole thing together and after a while (and a bit of sweating!) we had the newly extended pole in the air with four wires dangling from the dipole centre. All that was left to do was try to arrange the separation of the wires so that the SWR was ok. We managed, after much moving about by Pat and much tapping of the morse key by myself at the radio, to get the 30m V down to 1.1:1 but could only manage a low of 1.6:1 on the 40m V, and only at the lower end of the band. While it's not ideal, the tuner will do the rest. There isn't quite enough room in my garden so we had to dog-leg a couple of feet of the 40m V. But it works and that's the main thing. Thanks for the help Pat and hopefully in the next while I will be able to give reports as to how the 40m V compares with the Butternut vertical.

The JX5O Dxpedition wound up prematurely due to approaching bad weather. I managed to finish in joint first place with three other EIs on six band slots, although my 30m RTTY QSO would have put me top with seven if it had been credited. I will contact them and see if that QSO can yet be credited. But I am delighted with six band slots and joint first among the EIs and congrats also to all those who made it into the logbook, which can be checked here.

I'm sorry that I couldn't hear them on 17m, which would have given me another band, but it just wasn't to be. They had poor conditions on 15m, 12m and 10m, and found due to auroral activity at such a high latitude that it was nigh on impossible to hear anything on those bands.

JX5O log upload - four of six band slots credited so far

2011-07-12T05:21:00.000-07:00

It was a good weekend for my efforts to get JX5O Jan Mayen Island into the log. I have them on no fewer than SIX band slots. My QSO on 40m CW was a bit dodgy though, because they appeared to bust my callsign and sent me ES1KC and ES2KC etc so I worked them again last night on 40m CW and this time it was for sure.

There was a log upload yesterday which I have only seen now in which four of my six QSOs were credited. Obviously the 2nd 40m CW QSO came after the upload but I also appear to be missing the 30m RTTY QSO so I may have to work them again on that slot if possible. But we will see what later log uploads will bring.

To be honest I wasn't expecting a log upload because they have limited internet access and said logs would be uploaded after the DXpedition was finished. I have not even heard them once on 17m yet, due to poor propagation conditions, although I see a few EIs have worked them on 17m CW. Congrats in particular to Ark EI9KC who is top of the pile right now with six QSOs credited, and EI6FR Declan, who has been on a few Dxpeditions himself, has five QSOs. My near neighbour Don EI6IL is level with me on four QSOs and he has them on 17m CW too - well done Don.

There is a sudden lift in the sunspot numbers over the past couple of days. Hopefully that will continue and will bring better conditions on 17m and higher bands and fingers crossed I will nab them on a few more bands too. Maybe even on 6m, with a little bit of luck.

Anyhow congratulations to the 24 EIs who have made it through to JX5O so far. May you get as many QSOs as you need !!!

73 for now, de EI2KC

An exceptional little 10m attic dipole

2011-07-09T10:43:00.000-07:00

I had no plans this Saturday morning so instead of lying around in bed I decided to get going early. I was glad of the opportunity to get on the radio firstly, especially as I was able to nab JX5O on a further four band slots, bringing my total to five band slots since yesterday. Great stuff.

My homebrew dipole centre with the dipole legs attached

For a long time now, in fact for at least a decade, I have had some sort of short wave radio at the bedside with a random wire flung up in a very haphazard fashion around the attic. Before I was licenced I used to enjoy listening to HF aeronautical and the amateur bands and at times I heard the Auckland volmet in New Zealand early in the mornings. Just shows what a piece of wire can do!

To take this further I decided to (finally, after months of thinking about it) construct an attic dipole. All I have space for is a 10m dipole, and in fact barely just!! But nevertheless I wanted to have something that I could actually use to TX on from the bedroom shack (shack B as I call it) if needed.

I found a black circular piece of plastic (see photo) which has been lying in the shed for years. I cannot even remember what it belonged to, but I have a tendency to keep apparently useless items lying around the place, as my good XYL will attest to LOL!!!

Anyway I measured out two legs of wire 8 feet and approx 2.5 inches long. That's 2.503 metres for those metric fanatics among you! I am still an imperial man. And I love miles, not kilometres! Anyway, I digress.

I strung the dipole up in extremely cramped and warm conditions. I was sweating buckets. It's a very warm muggy day here in EI land. I then ran coax up from the bedroom into the attic and took some time connecting it to my homebrew dipole centre. After all that was done it was time to connect the antenna to my old Icom IC-735 which I use as a listening rig in Shack B. It seemed to be hearing well. But it does not transmit well for some reason.

So I nabbed the FT-897 from Shack A and also my MFJ 941E manual tuner and brought them upstairs and hooked them up to the "attic dipole". There are other metallic objects in the attic so the SWR doesn't quite sit down on 28.500 Mhz which is where I intended it to be resonant. But, to my delight, with the manual tuner I was able to tune it flat on the SSB portion and the CW portion of 10m. Not only that, but it also tunes quite flat on 12m, 15m, 17m and even 20m! Although how efficient it will be on 20m remains to be seen. It even tuned nicely on 6m. Yes!!

10m and 12m were pretty dead so I decided to try to nab a few contacts on 15m. I didn't have to try very hard. The IARU contest is on and there were some strong stations. Using just 50 watts into my attic dipole, I managed to nab the following in a short space of time: EF8HQ Canary Islands, LS1D Argentina, N4AF North America, VE2EJ Canada and ST2AR Sudan. Most of those took just one or two calls, but I was trying for a while for Sudan. So the antenna is certainly working. And doing well on 15m which it is less efficient on. I will let you know what it's like on 28 Mhz when 10m opens, and also I will give it a run on 6m.

Jan Mayen Island JX5O DXpedition begins

2011-07-07T04:27:00.000-07:00

Jan Mayen Island from where JX5O will operate

For all those DXers and DX chasers out there the good news is that the JX5O Jan Mayen Island Dxpedition has begun. The team of ops is QRV this morning on 14 Mhz CW. Jan Mayen Island is part of Norway but is situated pretty much in the middle of nowhere in the Arctic Circle and lies some 600km northeast of Iceland.

The team plans to be QRV on bands from 40m through to 6m. There will be no activity on 160m or 80m because it is "polar day" up there - in other words, the sun is up 24 hours a day at the moment.

If I can work them it will be a brand new DXCC for me, and it would be very nice to nab them on 6m if at all possible. You can find out more about the DXpedition, plus the team, the proposed operation frequencies and much more information at the official JX5O website: http://janmayen2011.org/

The good news, and the bad news

2011-07-05T15:53:00.000-07:00

After a couple of months sitting doing nothing, my recently acquired Cushcraft MA5B minibeam was finally installed here at the QTH last weekend. Thanks to the diligent assistance of Tony EI4DIB, Don EI6IL and Jim 2I0SBI, it is now up in the air.

The new MA5B in situ at my QTH

That was Saturday, and what a fine day it was. In fact, we had a few gorgeous days here in EI land over the weekend and the EI2KC suntan got developed nicely!

That was the good news. Then came the bad. After testing it was discovered that the antenna wouldn't tune on 20m or 15m, although it was fine on 17m, 12m and 10m. Without using an ATU, the SWR is infinite on 20m and 15m, even on low power. Something is amiss. Now it will have to be taken down again and opened up and examined. And that is another day's work.

I have been able to tune it occasionally on 20m and 15m, but the SWR needle on both my radios (I've tried both, and also an external manual ATU to no avail) has started spiking in the middle of an over. I thought maybe proximity to other dielectrics, namely my Butternut HF-V6, my 30m inverted V and my Antron 99, might be affecting it. So I tested it in a full spin through 360 degrees and the SWR remained infinite throughout. I even went to the trouble of taking my Butternut down (good chance to tighten things up a bit!) and also my inverted V but that didn't change anything.

Sounds like there might be a short or a bad connection somewhere in the MA5B. Not sure if it could be water in the traps or something like that because I don't think the traps are required for 20m, whatever about 15m.

I have made a few nice contacts with the beam though, and having a rotatable antenna at the QTH has been a great novelty! My kids think it's great when it spins around! I worked BY1RX/4 on 17m (it's a rotary dipole on 17/12). I also nabbed JW Svalbard on 20m when I could get it to tune. Whatever is wrong it is not very efficient even when it does tune on 20m. Using the Reverse Beacon Network, I put out a CQ on 20m CW using my Butternut vertical and then the MA5B. The Butternut was being received stronger in North America by W3LPL and WU3A, even though the minibeam was pointing in that direction.

Hopefully whatever is wrong can be rectified quickly, easily and cheaply. But as with all beams, once it's up on a mast, it cannot usually be brought to the ground quickly, unless you have a fold-over beam. Or, indeed, if you own your own crane!!

Anyhow I will try to get the "team" back up at the weekend and see if we can't fix whatever is wrong. In the meantime, I do have other antennas that I can use so I'm not completely stuck. And I can spin the rotator for fun!!

Worked ZD7 St Helena Island for the first time

2011-06-23T08:29:00.000-07:00

Things have been busy lately and I just noticed a lack of updates here so I said I'd better put something up here in case you all thought I'd gone into hibernation.

I worked ZD7XF last night on 17m CW which was an absolute joy for me because ZD7 is a brand new DXCC for me. I was having trouble tuning the rejuvenated and repaired Butternut on 17m so I used my 30m inverted v dipole instead. It took a while as he had a hefty pile-up. He was listening 1-2 kc up. I eventually nabbed him using a slow call. I did a little jig around the shack, what myself and some of the local DXers call the "DX Dance".

Well, I was repeating it a short time later when I worked him on 30m also, again with the inverted v, and again with a speed of about 18-20 wpm. Great stuff.

G3TXF Nigel is operating as ZD7XF from the home of Barrie ZD7MY, the view from which is pictured above looking out over the Atlantic Ocean.

I had a very enjoyable evening on 40m SSB on Monday, working something of the order of 85 QSOs which was great fun. These included some great DX, including two contacts into Brazil, one into Agentina and also one with Norman VK7AC in Tasmania.

Last week I received 126 QSL cards via the IRTS bureau and have filled out all the replies to I will be sending them to the bureau within the week. I got some nice ones, including 4U1ITU for 20m CW, and ironically on the day that I received the bureau card I worked them again on two more bands!! I also got a card from Australia and a couple from EA6 which was nice.

This day fortnight, Thursday, July 7th, a number of candidates who have been attending Dundalk Amateur Radio Society's theory classes will sit the amateur station licence exam in the Comreg offices in Dublin. Myself and Doug EI2CN are hoping to travel up there to lend some support and encouragement to the candidates before they go in.

EI5HW Aidan takes his hot air balloon up over Meath

2011-06-14T13:58:00.000-07:00

In addition to being a licenced radio amateur, Aidan Murphy EI5HW has another very interesting hobby. He has a private pilot's licence and flies a hot air balloon. Living in Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath, Aidan flies over the Royal County whenever conditions allow. He is also licenced for aeronautical mobile and I was very happy to work him recently on 2 metres as EI2HOT/AM. In this video, shot, edited and narrated by yours truly, Aidan takes his balloon from Trim towards Navan.

Video - QSO on 6m into Pennsylvania EI2KC-WA2FGK

2011-06-05T10:16:00.000-07:00

There was a great opening into the United States and Canada from Ireland and Europe on 6 metres on June 4th. A few of us EIs managed to make QSOs into USA and VE land. I was delighted to make a total of four contacts. This one, with WA2FGK in Pennsylvania, was one I managed to catch on camera too. You can hear me saying "yes" when he comes back with my call.

Unfortunately, USA is not a new one on 6 for me - I managed to make a QSO into the States last year. But it was very enjoyable to hear the States on 6 all the same. That might be it until next year, who knows?!

Help me identify this mystery 2m beacon

2011-05-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

I am hearing this "beacon" on 2 metres on 144.481.4. I know morse code but I cannot for the life of me make out what this is transmitting. It sounds like EA but there's a whole string of characters that are so close together it's damn near impossible to make it out. It really does sound like gobbledygook!! I would welcome any information as to where this beacon is located and what it's supposed to be sending. You can email me at hamradioireland AT gmail DOT com. Thanks.

A grey day up at Clermont Cairn

2011-05-27T08:41:00.001-07:00

I did some portable HF from Clermont Cairn near Dundalk today at lunchtime. I went up to the site of the EI2CCR repeater hoping to get some DX on CW but found conditions were not ideal. After putting out a CQ for what seemed like ages on 14 Mhz I had nobody coming back. So I kept going and eventually worked a couple of G stations - hardly great DX but at least I knew the equipment was working!!

It was a grey and windy day up on the mountain although it was clear and I could see a good distance away. To the north I caught a glimpse of Lough Neagh. I made a number of contacts into Europe and one QSO into the United States and at about 1.45pm (12.45 UTC) I decided to head back down the mountain to go back to work.

On returning, I had a nice email from one of the G stations, G4DTD, Ross, who says I am his only EI QSO since he moved to Cornwall in 2001. So I was delighted to hear that. Ross uses old valve radios and an indoor wire antenna. Nice QSO Ross, HPE CUAGN. 73.

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Butternut back up and running

2011-05-25T12:51:00.000-07:00

The Butternut HF-V6, my main HF antenna, is back up and running thanks in no small measure to the kind assistance of my friend and fellow Echo Ireland contributor, Pat Fitzpatrick, EI2HX.

The "break", caused by high winds, might have been somewhat of a blessing in disguise. It gave us an opportunity to open some of the joints and let the water out HI!! And all joints were tightened up and sealed properly and, in two cases, new bolts fitted.

After about two hours of work we had the antenna back in one piece and had decided on Plan B as a means of getting it erected again. Plan A involved replacing the ground/mounting tube with some galvanise steel pipe which had a thicker wall. But it was not a perfect fit for the insulator at the bottom of the Butternut.

So we went for Plan B which involved using the original (broken, therefore foreshortened) piece of ground/mounting tube and so we drilled new holes in it and attached the antenna and slipped the antenna back into its wall brackets.

A quick test with the Yaesu FT-1000MP revealed that it was tuning on all bands. In fact, it had "held" its tune in a number of places and only needed slight adjustment. I made some DX contacts after we retired to the shack just to prove it was working. I worked Martinique, Newfoundland and Asiatic Russia. So I'm happy enough that it's working properly. We also reattached the ground rod and also some radials. All in all, a good night's work.

Picture on right shows yours truly (yes, that's a Superman hoodie!) trying to reattach the coil to the ground tube during the latter stages of the repair. I must say Pat takes a good photo, but it's just a pity about the cheesey grin!

Thank you Pat. If you haven't seen his blog, Pat writes about ATV activities and his excellent blog can be found at thehxfiles.blogspot.com

Main antenna snapped by high winds

2011-05-24T03:20:00.001-07:00

This sorry sight is my Butternut multi band vertical, which was snapped by the wind yesterday. We are well used to strong winds in Ireland, but not usually in May. There were extremely strong gusts at times and by evening time there were tree branches scattered around the place.

Efforts are currently under way to find or make a replacement part and get it working again. I am grateful for the assistance of EI2HX, Pat, in this regard. Within a short time yesterday evening Pat was already trying to source a replacement part. The bit that's broken is a 24 inches long, 1.1-inch (approx) diameter aluminium tube.

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Watching 6m propagation changing over Europe

2011-05-21T14:30:00.000-07:00

Today was a fantastic day on 6 metre (50 Mhz). I switched on the radio at 9.50am and there was already activity on the band and it lasted for the whole of the day, right until the evening time. For a period in the afternoon, the band was wide open, and I managed to get a pile-up going on SSB with just 100 watts on my dipole. I worked 140 QSOs on 6 metres today and put 16 different countries into the log. These were (not in any particular order): Estonia, Sweden, Germany, San Marino, Latvia, Italy, Denmark, Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland, Austria, Spain, Croatia, Czech Republic, France and Lithuania. There were some strong signals on the band too, with some peaking at 40 dB over 9 on my S-meter. I am now using an icom IC-746 for 6m activity and I must say I am enjoying it immensely.

Above is a video showing the progression of the Sporadic E propagation over Europe during the course of the afternoon. You will see EI2KC on the map a number of times! It's interesting to see how the band appeared to be closing and all of a sudden it opened up again.

I have qualified for DXCC Mixed and DXCC CW . . . overnight!

2011-05-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

The other night, out of the blue, an email arrived from the ARRL. It was my Logbook of the World certificate. I had sent away the relevant paperwork to confirm my identity as EI2KC and it took about a week or so for the certificate to be sent.

So I went ahead, there and then, and uploaded my log to the LoTW website. I couldn't wait around - after all, I knew that out of 5,750 QSOs, there had to be a good deal of matches with other LoTW users. And indeed there were. After about half an hour processing my log the ARRL LoTW website confirmed that I had a total of 1,490 QSLs. So with the help of Dave EI9FBB (who I had phoned for 'technical support' HI) I checked my standings.

To my delight, and surprise, I had a total of 157 DXCCs confirmed, which means I instantly qualify for the DXCC Mixed award (although I have to apply for it to actually get it!). I also have 146 DXCCs confirmed on CW. So that means I am also eligible to apply for DXCC CW. Which is absolutely fantastic. I only have 73 DXCCs confirmed by paper QSL so to have 157 confirmed by LOTW is really great. I also have 90 DXCCs confirmed on phone so I need ten more for a DXCC Phone award. Of all the bands, I have the best totals on 20m and 40m, with 83 and 80 DXCCs confirmed respectively.

I also have 70 DXCCs confirmed on 30 metres. I'm beginning to think I should slow down with this hobby. Some friends are telling me I'm going too fast. That I will burn out. That I will lose interest. Well, maybe they're right, but I'm enjoying it now as much as I did in the beginning. Even more in fact. Because in the beginning (October 2009) I didn't know CW and I had no Signalink for digi modes and my antenna and radio system weren't as good as they are now. And with the MA5B minibeam acquired plus a rotator, all I need now is a mast and I will soon have a beam too!

To top it all off, I passed the 100 countries worked mark on 12 metres this week. So now I have 100+ countries worked on 40m, 30m, 20m, 7m, 15m and 12m. With 85 worked on 80m hopefully next winter I will get over the century on that band. I'm at 63 on 10m which is poor enough but if the recent lift in propagation continues hopefully it won't be too long before I'm at the century there too. Six metres is a different challenge. I have 52 confirmed there, and pretty much all of Europe, so unless something spectacular happens this summer (the E season started here on May 1st) then I can't imagine I'll be anywhere near the 100 DXCC mark on that band any time soon. As for 160 metres, I am on 62 DXCCs worked and will need to move QTH to get the hundred on that band!

An extraordinary coincidence

2011-05-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of days ago, I checked my progress on 12 metres, knowing that I was approaching the 100 DXCC mark on that band. I had crept up quickly since the beginning of the year as 12 was open more and more to various parts of the world.

Recently there had been good openings to North and South America in the evening time, even long after dark. This evening I put out a CQ on 12 metres CW, knowing that there was a chance I might bag a couple more. As the evening started I was on 98 DXCCs worked on that band, so I needed just two more to make the century.

I was also testing out a radio which I have acquired for HF but especially 6 metres and 2 metres multimode. It is an Icom IC-746. An older radio, perhaps, but an excellent rig, and the staple diet of many a great shack. So I gave out a CQ on 12 CW with my Antron 99 and 100 watts out of the 746.

To my surprise, Oscar Mike (OM / Slovakia) was a new country for me on 12m, so that made it 99. Then came the coincidence, this time with me calling out on SSB.

HZ1GW called me from Saudi Arabia. I checked my progress window and, sure enough, I needed Saudi Arabia on 12!! I told the operator, Ken, that he had the honour of being my 100th country worked on 12 metres. He came back and said, "let me just check . . . you are also my 100th country worked on 12 metres!"

A really extraordinary coincidence. How often would that sort of thing happen? We exchanged reports and then had a good chin wag. That's one nice QSL and I look forward to exchanging cards with Ken in the near future.

These are the sort of SSB pile-ups that I avoid like the plague

2011-05-07T06:30:00.000-07:00

This is the sort of chaos you hear on the HF bands when a rare country is on. In this case, AH0J (Mariana Islands, Pacific Ocean) is calling cq and half the world is answering. This is only a short clip, but I can assure you that during several minutes' listening it became apparent that a lot of the hams calling him were not listening to him, just calling and calling continuously, causing QRM on the people he was trying to work. Some of these pile-up situations bring out the very worst in bad operators. And the CW pile-ups are even worse. Some operators continue to call when some other country has been called and cause QRM over and over again. All I can say is that I'm glad I have a VFO and a band selector so I can QSY out of there.

T6PSE Afghanistan Dxpedition cancelled

2011-05-03T03:26:00.001-07:00

Press Release #3
By N6PSE, Paul Ewing, The Intrepid-DX Group
__________________________________________________________________

The Intrepid-DX Group has been planning for many months to conduct a large multi-national DXpedition from Kabul, Afghanistan as T6PSE.

We had been receiving advice and assistance from Jim McLaughlin WA2EWE/T6AF, who was killed in Kabul earlier this week.

The Taliban subsequently announced their "Spring Offensive".

Last night, President Obama announced the killing of Osama Bin Laden.

Given these circumstances, and with careful consideration, we have decided to cancel our plans for a DXpedition from Afghanistan. There is just too much uncertainty in the region for us to continue to move forward with our plans.

In the next several weeks, I will refund all donor/sponsor monies that have been given to support our plans.

Thank you,

Paul S. Ewing-N6PSE

Co-Leader T6PSE DXpedition

An update on the DXCCs worked as I am on the mend

2011-04-30T06:20:00.000-07:00

J5UAP Peter with junior op on the beach in Guinea-Bissau

With the awful condition of having a severe ear infection and a perforated ear drum, I have not done any radio for well over a week. So now would seem like a good time to update you on how I've been getting on since the last DXCC and bands update. Also eQSL. So here goes. The last update was on March 12th and the bands have been in excellent condition since then, so let's see how I've been getting on:

Total DXCCs worked: 213 (4 deleted)

160M: 62 DXCCs worked (0 - no change)
80M: 85 (+2) This band is in hibernation for the summer !
40M: 136 (+5)
30M: 129 (+14 a really great band if you like CW :) )
20M: 161 (+16)
17M: 130 (+15)
15M: 128 (+14)
12M: 89 (+17 huge improvement here)
10M: 62 (+19 At last good prop on 10m)
6M: 52 (0 Waiting for the first opening of the season)
2M: 10 (0)

Some of the recent highlights include:
TR8CA Gabon on 12m and 15m MFSK (first time using this mode and it gave me a new country on two bands!)
V44KAI St Kitts and St Nevis, new DXCC on 30m and 10m
CE2/VE7SV Chile - new DXCC on 17m
FY5LH French Guiana - new one on 15m
9M2CNC West Malaysia on RTTY new DXCC on 17m
ZA/LZ1UQ Albania new DXCC on 17m
J5UAP Guinea-Bissau - had never worked this one before and suddenly I had it on 6 bands thanks to this one operator who has been active lately - got him on 30m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m and 10m, all on CW.
6W2SC - new country on 20m

On March 9th I had 102 countries confirmed on eQSL, now that's up to 110.

Looking forward to more good propagation as the sun kicks into life. The peak of this solar cycle is supposed to happen in April 2013 so that gives us two years of decent conditions to look forward, provided everything goes to plan. I wonder, though, if we can expect an even later peak because the last lull was a year longer than expected? We will see.

If you're interested in working DX, you can read HF Happenings in Echo Ireland which is now being written by me. Dave Deane EI9FBB has retired from the post and I have taken over. The latest issue is out now.

Ear damage means less radio

2011-04-24T08:16:00.001-07:00

I have developed a bad ear infection which has perforated my eardrum. I knew it was serious when my ear began to discharge blood. Plus I was in terrible pain.

I went to a doctor Saturday evening and she was quickly able to tell me I had a serious infection which had perforated the eardrum in my left ear.

I have a terrible feeling of having an ear full of water. It's hard to hear anything plus it is very sore. No radio for the time being.

PS: Just realised I can work digimodes without having to listen to anything!! I only have to read what's on the screen. Great!

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Third in Ireland for 5M2TT Dxpedition; now on Twitter

2011-04-14T07:29:00.000-07:00

The 5M2TT Dxpedition to Liberia in Africa is now officially QRT. I made a very respectable 10 band slots, and finish joint third in the list of EIs to work them. Top of the pile is Thos EI2JD who nabbed them on 13 band slots, with Don EI6IL second on 11, and myself and EI0W, Dundalk contest team, in joint third place on 10 band slots. Here is the rest of the top 10:

5 EI8FH 9
6 EI9KC 9
7 EI4CF 8
8 EI6FR 8
9 EI7JN 8
10 EI2CR 7

Well done all. After trawling through their online log, it seems that at least 40 EIs made it through. Well done all.

Hamradioireland is now on Twitter. I've never been a huge fan of Twitter myself, but it is a handy way of keeping people up to date about things in a very concise fashion. Just visit http://twitter.com/hamradioireland and Follow hamradioireland for all the latest updates.

Finally, a great opening on 10 metres

2011-04-03T02:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Saturday April 2nd, I enjoyed my first really good opening on 10 metres. The band was open from early morning. Although initially only open to parts of Europe and Ukraine and Russia, as the day progressed there were more distant openings. At 22 minutes past midday, I worked KH2/N2NL on Guam island in the Pacific, a country I had never worked before on any band. I nabbed a number of new countries on 10m yesterday, including Bulgaria (I know, that's how poor the band has been for the past couple of years!), Turkey, Cyprus (who else other than the inimitable Norman 5B4AIF!) and the United Arab Emirates. Oh, and Liberia (see below). Since my last bands update on March 12th, I have worked 12 new ones on 10 metres. My total DXCCs worked on that band is now 55. I look forward to more great openings.

There was good action on some of the other bands too. I nabbed Vlad 4K9W on 12m, a new one on that band. He was quickly followed by UK8OM in Uzbekistan, another new on 12m.

I was thrilled to get 5M2TT, the new DXpedition to Liberia, into the log on 10m CW. That was a brand new entity for me, never worked before on any band. I nabbed E21EJC in Thailand on 17m CW using only 50w. And late last night I put the 9L5MS DXpedition in Sierra Leone into the log on 30m CW.

Fantastic conditions on the bands last night

2011-03-29T08:27:00.000-07:00

There was significant propagation late into the night last night on some of the higher bands. Having worked a couple of contacts into the United States at around 11.15pm on TWELVE METRES (yes, 12m!!!), I then nabbed Nicaragua on 15m CW, followed quickly by Mexico (XE) on 17m. Couldn't believe how lively the bands were so late into the night. One of the 12m contacts was in Utah, quite a distance I'd say, but even more remarkable given the time of night.

As I write this, the Solar Flux Index is 119 and the Sunspot Number is 103. The sun is absolutely crackling with spots. There are no fewer than SIX groups of sunspots right now (see image), so keep a listening ear, especially on the higher frequencies. 10 metres could open at any time.

At midnight I put out a CQ on 17m CW and got a whole pile of contacts from the USA, including three west coast QSOs, one from Washington State and two from California. It really was a fantastic night's propagation. But I had to retire to the bed because it had been a long day.

If you're around a HF radio, now would be a good time to switch it on!

Great excitement on the bands - lots of new ones to be worked

2011-03-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much time for radio over the past week but I have managed to find a spare half hour or an hour here and there. Things have definitely improved, with late openings into the Caribbean and the USA on 20 metres - I have heard signals on both CW and SSB as late as 10pm and onwards this week.

CX5BW Pedro gave me a new band slot on 20m.

Reviewing the log I see lots of interesting QSOs, including two contacts with 4A4A, Revilla Gegido, which I managed to make before that DXpedition finished. I nabbed them on 15 metres RTTY and CW. They were extremely weak most of the time and EIs found it difficult to get them into the log. Except, that is, for my near neighbour, Doug EI2CN, who worked them on no fewer than 13 band slots. Hats off!!

Some highlights from the past week for me include: ST2AR Sudan on 10 metres CW (a new country on that band), MD0CCE on 15m CW (a new one on that band), V4 St Kitts & St Nevis, a new one on 17m, VP2M on 17m CW, V25OP Antigua & Barbuda, a new country on 30m, VP2V British Virgin Islands, worked on 20m CW, a brand new DXCC for me, FM on 80m CW, a new one on that band, followed by V2, also a new one on 80, and I worked that entity again on 15m CW, another new country on that band.

CX5BW was a new band slot on 20m CW, C6ANM was a new one on 30m, while VU2PTT gave me a new band slot on 30m CW. FG Guadeloupe was a new country on 30m on St. Patrick's Day, followed quickly by J79M Dominica which was a new one on 20m. The same night brought HK4CZE on 30m - Colombia was a new DXCC on that band. I nabbed 9N7AN, the new Nepal DXpedition on Friday on 15m CW.

On Saturday I put 5X1NH in Uganda into the log on 17m CW - a new DXCC on that band. EI1NC/P, the North Cork Radio Group, were active from Cork Gaol over the weekend and were 59 on 40m SSB when I contacted them. Well done and congrats on the special event station.

I worked into Australia for the second weekend running when I nabbed VK6AA on 20m CW in the RU contest. I also spoke to Roin RW3LG Maritime Mobile on 12m SSB, having previously chatted with him on 20m a week or so before. ZS1OIN gave me a new country (South Africa) on Saturday on 15m. YB1ALL in Indonesia made it into the log in the contest also on Saturday. PY Brazil was heard - and worked - on 10m on Saturday evening - in fact I made two contacts into Brazil on that band.

Just a short while ago I made a contact with OA1F (Peru) on 15m CW, giving me a new one on that band.

So as you can see, even in limited time one can make quite a dent in the list of DXCCs worked. I will be keeping an ear out for two further DXpeditions which have started this week - VU4PB Andaman Islands and S21YZ in Bangladesh.

4A4A and CY0 dxpeditions quiet here

2011-03-12T09:49:00.000-08:00

The operations at 4A4A - not being heard well in EI yet

I have yet to work either the CY0 Sable Island DXpedition or the Revilla Gigedo Island 4A4A DXpedition. Unfortunately most of the time I have been able to hear neither. I did hear 4A4A come up strong on 15m CW one of the evenings during the week after dark but couldn't get them in the log. I hope to try to nab both of these rare DXCCs before they finish. I will keep you updated. Congrats to my near neighbour, Doug EI2CN, who has 4A4A on eight band slots and is the leading light of the EI brigade, followed closely by Eoin EI9O in Longford. Well done gents. (Said with not a hint of jealousy, honestly!)

Here's my latest band standings updated since last time (previous update Jan 9th 2011):

Total DXCCs worked: 200 (4 deleted)

160M: 62 DXCCs worked (+32)
80M: 83 (+4)
40M: 131 (+6)
30M: 115 (+20 it's been a good winter on this band)
20M: 145 (+7)
17M: 115 (+7)
15M: 114 (+4)
12M: 72 (+6 the sun is kicking into life)
10M: 43 (+8 - at last, some new ones on 28 Mhz)
6M: 53 (0)
2M: 10 (0)

Confirmation of 102 countries on eQSL - a proud day for me

2011-03-09T11:21:00.000-08:00

Yes!! I've just got over 100 DXCCs on eQSL

2011-03-07T14:41:00.000-08:00

I've just logged in to eQSL and to my surprise and delight I have broken 100 DXCCs! I have 101 countries confirmed. Two of the new countries confirmed are Chagos Island and Zimbabwe. I was logging on to see if there were any eQSLs from the ARRL DX contest and to my surprise I found a lot more. That's the first real milestone achievement - and done in just over one year and four months. I am chuffed, to say the least.

Now I can go to bed with a big smile on my face . . .

10m open to the States for the ARRL DX contest

2011-03-07T11:48:00.000-08:00

As many of you will know, I am mostly a non-competitive contester. Now there's an oxymoron if ever I heard one - non-competitive contesting!! (No, I did not call you a moron). Over the weekend I decided to "dip in and out of" the ARRL DX SSB contest, and it was a thoroughly pleasant experience.

I ended up with a respectable 152 QSOs in my log, which is not bad considering I was away from the shack most of the weekend ! On Sunday afternoon the 10 metre band opened nicely to the States (as predicted by my good self in a recent post (see below!)) and with just 100 watts and my trusty old Antron 99 I was able to work almost everything that I could hear, with only one exception, and most of them heard me on my first call. Canada, believe it or not, was a new country for me on 10 metres, so I was delighted to nab some of the VE's while the band was open. It didn't close on my end until after half past six in the evening, so then I switched to 15 metres where there was action until half past eight. And even then 20 metres was still wide open and my last contact was 21.43 into Pennsylvania. At that stage I had to call it a night because I had an early start in work this morning. I was at the desk in Dundalk at 8.25am, bright as a button. (Yeah right!)

Anyway, I hope you call had a nice time in the ARRL contest. I heard lots and lots of EI stations being worked when I was at the radio, and it was very pleasing to hear such a high level of Echo India participation. So well done to all. By the way, right now the Solar Flux Index is 143 so expect more action on 10 metres tomorrow.

Sable Island DXpedition has begun!!

2011-03-05T15:49:00.000-08:00

It may seem like a minor miracle, but the long-awaited DXpedition to Sable Island has begun. As I write this, I can (faintly) hear N1SNB/CY0 on 30m CW and already he's working a huge pile, as expected. So keep an ear on the bands for that elusive /CY0 and let's hope you land them in the bag on at least a couple of bands!

Here are the frequencies you can expect to hear the trio on:

	CW	SSB	RTTY
160m	1.826	1.841
80m	3.523	3.780	3.589
40m	7.023		7.050
40m	7.023	7.140	7.050
30m	10.106		10.130
20m	14.023	14.170	14.089
17m	18.072	18.120	18.092
15m	21.023	21.275	21.075
12m	24.892	24.960	24.910
10m	28.023	28.450	28.089

More information on the CY0 Dxpedition website.

Keep a listening ear for propagation on 10m and VHF

2011-03-02T12:42:00.000-08:00

The sun is really bursting into life. Right now the Solar Flux Index is 111, the sunspot number is 72 and yesterday there was a geomagnetic storm (aurora borealis / northern lights) which were seen as far south as Northern Ireland.

Unfortunately I am working during the daytime but any of you lucky enough to be in the shack during daylight hours should keep an ear on 10 metres. The the SFI above 100 there is a high chance of some decent propagation.

Also with the K index hopping up and down it would be worth keeping a listening watch on 6 metres, 4 metres and 2 metres. There is a bit of a lift right now on 2 metres with some EI stations working simplex into Wales and beyond. I heard the Belfast repeater GB3NI while mobile in Dundalk this evening. I don't normally hear it because of the mountains between Dundalk and Belfast.

A special guest at Dundalk Amateur Radio Society

2011-02-23T15:02:00.000-08:00

The Dundalk Amateur Radio Society was honoured to have a special guest, W5GN Barry Merrill, speak at their monthly activity night at the EI7DAR headquarters in Castletown Road, Dundalk. In an entertaining talk, Barry spoke about his history in radio, his activity from Ireland, where he lives for a good part of the year, and a bit about contesting too. The above video is the first part of the talk.

Great morning at the Phoenix rally

2011-02-20T09:15:00.000-08:00

Yours truly with Dave EI9FBB and Mark EI6JK in Coolmine.

I had a great morning at the Phoenix Amateur Radio Club annual rally in Coolmine, Dublin. It was a great social occasion even if I didn't buy or sell anything. I traveled with Tony EI4DIB and Brian EI4KC. We arrived at 10.40am and the place was already packed. There were lots of stands and tables with a whole range of amateur radio and some non radio gear for sale. There was everything from antique straight morse keys and valve radios from the 30s and 50s to the latest transceivers and antennas and power supplies and all manner of "bits and bobs" as we refer to small items in Ireland.

The rally is a good opportunity to meet other hams as much as it is an opportunity to sell and buy equipment. I met up with some familiar faces and some not so familiar. One man said "hello Anthony" and I didn't recognise him. So I asked him to keep talking and then I recognised the voice!! It was MI0VKO, Dave, who I speak to regularly on 2 metres but whom I had never met face to face.

I had a good chat with Dave Deane EI9FBB, Ireland's first and only 10 band DXCCer. Needless to say we found ourselves in good company because we both share a fondness for DXing. EI0Z portable group members John EI6GHB and David EI7GEB were there too and we had a bit of a chat. Seamus EI3KE had an eye for a couple of bargains, and he got them, and I was talking to Oleg EI7KD who I hadn't seen in ages. He was singing the praises of his old Icom IC-735 which he uses as his main radio. I have an old 735 which I use purely for listening so I was interested in the conversation from the point of view of maybe restoring it to a transmitter at some stage. Oleg said he had compared the receive on the 735 with two other radios - the Kenwood TS-2000 and the Icom 746 and found it to be superior to both. So maybe the old 735 will find a place in the main shack at some stage!

Ben EI4IN was helping sell some equipment, and had a bargain on some amalgamating tape (1 roll for 1 euro, or 4 rolls for 5 euro!) Pat EI2HX was manning the IRTS stand and Thos EI2JD was wandering about the place with his camera and generally looking busy. No doubt the next issue of Echo Ireland will have lots of photos from the rally in it, HI! I briefly clapped eyes on MI6ETE, Billy from Coleraine, who I hear regularly on the Dundalk repeater, and I also saw Ronnie EI9ED, who runs the Cavan repeater, for the first time. Some other familiar faces around the place were Mike EI2DJ, Tony EI5EM and Sean EI7CD.

The new IRTS news editor Aidan EI7JC was also there and putting in an appearance on behalf of the ATV crowd was Mark EI9FX. I met Mark EI6JK for the first time, although I had spoken to him on the air on numerous occasions.

I congratulated Ark EI9KC on working TJ9PF on 12 band slots, being the fourth highest number of slots for an EI behind EI7BA, EI6IL and EI2JD. He was in great form, as usual. Jim 2I0SBI and Ivan EI1166 were there too, and Tony EI6IK was there also. Of course there were many more, whose names and callsigns are unfamiliar to me. I hope you all had a great morning.

There were a few big boxes spotted leaving under the arms of happy hams and short wave listeners. I know one in particular, Brian EI9GTB, who left with a Kenwood TS-2000 under his arm. Now there's a happy chap! Enjoy it Brian.

Flying up the leaderboard with Tango Juliet Nine

2011-02-19T08:51:00.000-08:00

It's been a hell of a week for me. I hardly touched any radio after Monday. With all that was going on I had no HF time at all. By yesterday morning (Friday), I had a very poor showing on the TJ9PF Dxpedition EI leaderboard on Clublog. I had only worked them on ONE lowly band slot. This just would not do !

In the space of 24 hours I have jumped from being near the bottom of the pile (at this moment 48 EIs have worked them) to being in 9th place with EIGHT band slots. Yes, that means I've worked them on seven band slots in a day! And it feels good! The most dogged contact was on 30m RTTY last night. I started calling them at 11pm and finally got them in the log at one minute past one am. Yes, 1:01am. Then I went to bed, with a smile on my face!

TJ Cameroon was a new country for me on 10 metres when I worked them on phone yesterday. Since then I nabbed them on 20m CW, 30m CW, 20m SSB, 30m RTTY, 12m SSB, 15m RTTY, 17m CW and 15m SSB.

After all these efforts, I am now in 9th place on the EI leaderboard, just behind EI2CN, Doug, who lives a few miles from my QTH. We are both on eight band slots. Leading the way, somewhat unsurprisingly, is John EI7BA, with no less than 20 band slots. What a man. He really is Ireland's supreme DXer. Congrats John. Hats off! Congrats also to my friend Ark EI9KC (a member of the Kilo Charlie fraternity HI!) who is in fourth place with 12 band slots. Nice going Ark. The new antenna is working well!

Watch out for good propagation on 10 metres. The solar flux index has been over 100 for a few days now, and the sunspot number has peaked at 100. I've bagged a few new ones on 10m. More of that later . . .

Some great DX on 160m

2011-02-10T11:06:00.000-08:00

I had a very pleasurable evening yesterday in the very well appointed shack of Doug EI2CN, who has an excellent set-up for the 160 metre band. Doug is well known both here in Ireland and around the world as a top band DXer and he enjoys a lot of CW on that band. At the moment he transmits with an Elecraft K3 through an inverted L and has 720-feet beverages pointed towards Japan, North America and Africa. To say that I am extremely fortunate to have occasional use of his station is an understatement. It is a great pleasure for me, and last night was no exception.

I arrived at the perfect time for some DX into the far east, giving me the opportunity to work some new countries on top band. First among thee was South Korea, HL5IVL. This contact was followed by two QSOs into Japan, another new country. Soon I had HS0ZEE (Thailand, pictured above) in the log, followed by DU1/JJ5GMJ in the Philippines. The last new one was 9M2AX in West Malaysia.

At around 10.30pm I started working into the United States and Canada, and made plenty of contacts into states including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Georgia. I also managed to bag a contact into Asiatic Russia also, hearing him on the beverage for the States initially but switching over to the JA beverage he came up to a 579.

Thanks to all for a wonderful night. Look forward to working you on other bands, and to maybe catching another QSO with you on top band some time.

Pile-up on the Dundalk repeater

2011-02-03T14:19:00.000-08:00

I use the Dundalk Repeater, EI2CCR, most days because I have to commute to work and I like to have a chat up and down the road. A good deal of the time there will be someone around for a quick QSO but this evening while I was coming down the road from Dundalk to Drogheda there was something of a pile-up.

First to answer my "EI2KC Mobile listening through" call was 2I0MMT/M, Mickey, in Newry, soon followed by EI5GLB, Victor, in Portarlington in County Laois, a long way from the Dundalk repeater but just about making it through. We were soon joined by 2I0LRY, Larry, also in Newry, and 2I0MBI/M, Brendan, who was mobile towards Pointzpass. Then we were joined by MI3ZJN, Gary, who was mobile near Armagh City, and finally entering the fray was 2I0WAI, Martin. It was difficult to remember all the callsigns, but I somehow managed.

I later found out there were others listening, and we could have been joined by at least three more but the frequency was busy enough HI HI !!

South Orkney - once, twice . . . three times?

2011-01-31T15:05:00.000-08:00

VP8ORK is the latest DXpedition on the HF bands, working from South Orkney Island, which is (sort of) between Chile and Antarctica way out in the ocean. Whoever said ham radio wasn't good for your geography? The VP8ORK team are mostly American operators, but the group includes a Canadian, a Singaporian (if there is such a word) and even a Tajik operator, Nodir EY8MM.

They have been QRV since January 27th and will be on the air, all going well, until February 8th. I thought I had ended the weekend with VP8ORK (DXCC VP8O) in my log three times, but upon checking their online log today I find that the 30m CW QSO I thought I had with them yesterday evening is not quite there. What do I mean by "not quite there?" I hear you ask, disdainfully?

Well, I checked for EI2KC and found I'm there twice - for QSOs on 15m SSB and 20m CW, but NOT for 30m CW. So then I searched the EI leaderboard on Clublog and in there I found EI2CC, which is possibly/probably my 30m CW QSO. Basically, they busted my callsign! And worse still, I didn't realise they did it! I'll put it down to lack of experience HI!

I tried them again this evening but they were weaker on 30 tonight than last night, so no luck. And 40m CW is just a mess. Here's some of the DX cluster spots which will give you some idea as to what's happening on that band:

VP8ORK

7024.0

31 Jan 22:40

K0DG

Veritable LID Convention

VP8ORK

7024.0

31 Jan 22:44

KE8G

Lids are out tonight!

VP8ORK

7024.0

31 Jan 22:37

NF9V

TNX FOR QRM DURING QSO

Need I say any more?

Quick update: 101 countries worked on 30m, 197 worked overall, 95 AG eQSL

2011-01-29T10:28:00.000-08:00

I am suffering with a chest infection which has inhibited my activities over the past couple of days but I am happy to report that I have broken the 100 DXCCs on the 30 metre band. A RTTY contact into Antarctica about six days back made it 100 countries exactly, and this was followed up by 1A, Sovereign Military Order of Malta, on 30m CW. (I also have 1A0KM on 20m and 17m CW and 40m SSB so far).

That makes 30 metres the fifth band upon which I have worked more than 100 countries. The others are 40m, 20m, 17m and 15m. Doing well. There is no doubt whatsoever that the installation of an inverted V for 30m by Tony EI4DIB has helped me significantly on 30 metres. So thanks again Tony.

Having checked eQSL early in the week I discovered I had an AG eQSL from PY0F, Fernando de Noronha, which I worked on 160 metres last year from Thos's shack in Clogherhead. That makes it 95 DXCCs confirmed by AG eQSL.

My total DXCCs worked is 197, so just three to go to get 200 countries in the log. Not bad at all.

I am off to try and recover from the chest infection. I am taking natural antibiotic in the form of manuka honey rather than those expensive and damaging ones the doctor prescribes. Hopefully the honey will work - it has done so before. Hope to hear you on the bands or see you on the waterfall.

PS: I'm not forgetting to mention CQ 160 which I have a limited involvement in but I will update you about that separately.

PPS: VP8ORK has EI2KC in the log, thanks to a late night QSO on 20 metres CW last night. That was another new country (South Orkney Island - southern Atlantic ocean not far from Antarctica). Keep an ear out for them on the other bands.