VK0EK Heard Island logged - ATNO and DXCC #319!!

A short time ago I finally made it into the log of VK0EK, the Heard Island dxpedition. I have had poor receive on them since the dxpedition began the other day, and was beginning to wonder if I'd get a QSO at all. They were very weak on 30 metres CW on my home-made inverted v dipole, but I called them 2 Khz down and got into the log at around 23:35 local time (22:35 UTC). This is DXCC number 319 for me, and is of course an All-Time New One (ATNO).

Obviously getting the ATNO in the log is of paramount importance. I will try to chase more QSOs, but now that I have them logged (and confirmed in the log via their wonderful "live" online log service) I can relax a bit.

TX5K Clipperton update - seven slots now

From having just one lowly slot early Monday morning, I finished Monday with a total of seven. Having worked TX5K on 40m CW yesterday morning, I came home from work yesterday evening and got busy! I spent an hour trying on 15m CW without success. I had to go and do some shopping around 8.45pm. I came back a short time later and worked them on 17m SSB with two calls! Then I went back to 15m CW and they were stronger than before! I worked them after a few calls.

This is the DXA online log for TX5K. Looks pretty cool! Here's my seven slots.

The big surprise of the night was to hear them strong on 12m CW at 9.30pm local time. To my astonishment, I worked them with my first call. Soon after that I had bagged them on 20m CW too, plus I managed a QSO on 30m, where I worked them just one KC up from their frequency.

This morning, I didn't get to the radio until about 8.40am and although TX5K was audible on 80m CW, it was perhaps a little too late for trying. Hopefully they will be on that slot again in the coming days and I will try to get them earlier.

Hats off to John EI7BA who has no fewer than SIXTEEN slots so far! Wow!

PS: Today is the third anniversary of my callsign EI2KC. Delighted that I've hit 285 DXCC.... now the drive towards 300 begins!!