It's 23:41 and LU7MAL is booming in on 14.195 USB. He's working a GI station (Ivan) in Belfast and he's hammering in here 57 to 59. Amazing stuff at this hour to hear Argentina so loud on 20m. He's running 1kw into a monoband yagi beam I believe he said. Unfortunately, this was the GI station's frequency, and the LU station said the contact had been the highlight of his day and that he was going QRT so I did not get the chance to work him.
23:56 I'm now hearing what sounds to be an American accent on 14.181 USB.
UPDATE: Wednesday 08:50am: I was hearing JT1CO in Mongolia this morning on 20m. I have to admit I was hearing him slightly better on my half-size G5RV than on the Butternut HF vertical. The vertical was being lashed around by a very strong wind it has to be said. I tried calling him for about ten minutes but there were other, bigger, more powerful European stations calling him and getting through. He went QRT abruptly and thus ended my chance to work Mongolia. Ah well, you know me, I will try again!!
Tony EI4DIB was up again today to help me with my latest antenna installation. This time it's a HF vertical covering six bands from 80 down to 10 metres. We had quite a lot of work to do in the cold, but we got there eventually. Here is a photo of the Butternut on right.
I got into California on 20 metres just before the band closed this afternoon. It was my first west coast contact on HF. NN6R Wayne in San Diego gave me 44 which wasnt bad considering he was only 55 working from a 4 element monobeam. Then I worked VO1DGP Dean in Newfoundland and got 55 from him too. Not bad for a new, erm, I mean, second hand (and quite old!) vertical. I had worked Dean before about a month back and hear him regularly calling in on 20m in the afternoons. I was delighted to get VA2PW Pierre in Canada because I had tried him on previous evenings without success but he heard me this time. He was 59 and gave me 59 also. Happy New Year Pierre!
I worked W1AW, the ARRL headquarters, on 14.252.4 USB. We exchanged 59 reports.
The highlight of the evening was a new country - Iceland. He was working a huge pile-up. In fact, Jon remarked at least twice that, "It's like I'm in North Korea or something". Those of you who are not familiar with Ham Radio might not know that there are so few radio operators in North Korea, and they are heard so rarely, that North Korea is the single most wanted country on ham radio. At times the pile-up for Reykjavik was so huge that nothing could be heard. I managed to squeeze in during a wee gap and he called in Echo India 8 so at least I know I'm getting out on 80m at last. It took a few attempts to get the callsign over to him because people kept calling in over me. But he got it after two or three attempts and we exchanged 59 reports. I gave the customary "good luck with the pile-up" after wishing him a Happy New Year.
Interestingly, there was a late opening to the States on 20 metres. I worked K3LP (David in Maryland) for the second time in 24 hours at 20:50 and we exchanged 59s. There was some other stateside activity on 14.158 USB but they were in QSO so I left them alone.
If all that wasn't exciting enough, I then worked the US on 80 metres, just to absolutely prove the Butternut is getting out well. I worked W0EK - Bob in Minnesota - thanks to OE7USB who was asking if anyone in Europe wanted to work him. Bob was 59 and he gave me 57. Great stuff.
UPDATE: Tuesday, December 29th: I heard Taiwan on 20 metres this morning before going to work. BX2AAL was weak with QSB but because the vertical is so much quieter than the wire antenna, I could hear him a good bit of the time. Lots of Europeans were calling him. I tried a couple of times but had to give up to go to work.
Another good day of action on HF. Considering my modest station, I'm making some good contacts. Of course, it helps that it's Christmas time and I am not working and have a bit of time to work the radio. My favourite band is 20 metres and I'm taking a significant liking to 17 metres.
At 11.21am I worked 3V8SS, a club callsign in Tunisia on 17m. Then at nearly 1pm I worked my first Israel contact on 20m. 4Z4DX Dov gave me 5 and 9 and he was 59 also. The contact that excited me most today was at 15:50 on 20 metres. I had seen TR8CA spotted on the cluster and heard him faintly but he gradually seemed to be coming up. He worked a Spanish station and must have beamed in that direction because he said "any other Echo Alpha?" and I called in "Echo India?" and he called me in. He gave me 5 and 5 and I gave him 59. A lovely contact into Gabon, which is on the west of Africa beneath Cameroon.
I worked Brazil for the first time this morning. There was an Italian station (IV3GKE - Roberto) working from Rio de Janeiro on 17 metres (18.140) and I got him first time. He was surprisingly strong. I gave him 55 and got 57 in return. I worked him with 100 watts on the vertical. Conditions must have been just right at the time. I was delighted.
Then an hour or so later I worked Lebanon for the first time. OD5NH was booming in at 59 and he picked me up first time so I was thrilled. His name is Puzant and he lives in Beirut. He would be very familiar on the bands - I have seen him spotted many times but he was not usually so loud from here! This is his photo. He went QRT immediately after working me so I was very lucky. Thanks again Puzant!
At 14:10 I worked Argentina for the very first time - on 15 metres. LU1YY was spotted on the cluster a couple of times and I was surprised to hear him when I tuned up. I gave a call through a bit of a pile-up and he called "station with Hotel" so I came back "Echo India 8 Golf Hotel Bravo". He initially thought I was just Italy 8 Golf Hotel Bravo, but eventually picked up the echo. Nice to work Argentina for the first time. It was a club station, operator name Hellmut. 7,350 miles from my QTH, so very nice indeed, especially with just 100 watts through an Antron 99 !
At 14:21 I worked Malta for the first time. I heard 9H1ET calling CQ on 18.130 so I shouted back and he gave me 56! Thanks John for being my first contact into Malta.
Just worked another new country on 20 metres - Kazakhstan! I got a 57 report from UN7MMM and he was a very healthy 59 with me. His name is Valery and he is located, I think he said, near Oral? I will QSL with him via EA7FTR. It only took me three attempts to get through and the pile-up is building. I worked him on 100 watts with my Antron 99 on 14.215 USB.
Thanks Valery and Happy Christmas.
This was followed by another new one - Saudi Arabia. I worked 7Z1TT Hamdi in Jeddah on 14.270 USB. He was calling CQ and nobody was answering so I was very lucky. He had trouble hearing me. It took five attempts for him to get the full callsign, but I was delighted. Thank you Hamdi. 73.
OK, now I'm really tempting fate. Sunspot group 1035 has grown beyond expectation and is now seven times the size of Earth. Not only that, but Spaceweather is reporting a C4 class solar flare associated with this sunspot group at 0120UT this morning. Here is the Spaceweather report:
INCOMING CME: This morning at 0120 UT, an eruption of magnetic fields around sunspot 1035 produced a long-duration C4-class solar flare and hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) in the general direction of Earth. High-latitude sky watchers should prepare for auroras when the CME arrives on or about Dec. 18th. STEREO movies: solar flare, CME.
Hopefully this might bring a lift in conditions on the bands. We'll let you know!
OK, last time I wrote about this the sunspots fizzled away and there was another month without a single sunspot. So, it is with some trepidation that I raise the subject of sunspots again. Take a look at this animation from www.spaceweather.com and have a look at sunspot 1035 as it grows rapidly. Let's hope it keeps growing and that there is lots more such activity in coming weeks and months.
By the way, 20 metres was open again last night and I hopped down to Thos EI2JD's shack from where I worked Uruguay CX with his 3-element SteppIR. Thanks Thos. I heard some ZS (South Africa) stations from my home QTH but none of them were workable unfortunately. That was around 8 or 9pm last night. The Uruguay contact was made at around 10.30pm. Great to hear 20m still open in the evenings.
It's just 8pm on the button and 20 metres is still open. I am listening to a SV9 station from Crete booming in on 14.254 USB. 10 metres was open until about 7pm, with earlier openings into South America, although I was home too late to work them. I did however work Spain, Portugal and France on 10m. It was the first opening on 10m that I have worked in ages.
The Crete station is SV9CVY and he's working stateside. He is 57 on my vertical and the same on my half-size G5RV. It's nice to hear any action at all on 20m at night, especially so deep into the winter. Let's hope there are more great openings in the coming days and weeks.
20:48: Update. He's still there on 14.254, still booming in at 5 and 9, working Stateside.
20:53: Worked him!! He called "QRZ anyone anywhere" and I shouted in. Said I was only 20 over!!! Thanks Mike.
I had only just arrived home for the afternoon and 20m was sounding pretty dead. I scanned the band and heard nothing. I scanned again and heard something a bit faint on 14.188.9. It was T70A in San Marino. I heard him call QRZ and jumped in and he worked me first time. Gave me 59. When I say the rest of the band is dead, I mean precisely that. He is the last workable station on the band this evening.
Anyway, that's another new one for me. Great stuff.
Spoke to EI8GGB last night for the first time. He's the one that got the callsign immediately preceding my one. His name is Andy and he lives in Skibbereen in Co. Cork. Thanks for the nice QSO Andy on Echolink.
I did a bit of chasing on 40m last night and picked up three new countries for myself in the effort. They are: Armenia - EK3SA Monaco - 3A2MG US Virgin Islands - K2V
The K2V is a special event station for Christmas and I worked Sharon K7WZB on Saint Croix last night. Here is some information about the event from QRZ.com:
DX announcement
IOTA NA-106------ K2V Virgin Islands Special Event Christmas Festival Month of December —From Saint Croix Island
Sharon K7WZB and Garry K9WZB will be operating from Saint Croix Island December 2-14 , 2009 as K2V..
Operating all bands 160-6 meters. Will be monitoring 6 meters most of the time for opening to US and Europe. Operating SSB, RTTY, CW and PSK 31 all bands.
QSL INFORMATION
--QSL direct only via K9WZB *SASE *---No Buro ***SAE Outside USA With $$ or 2 Euros...Please no IRC's A special QSL will be available after our return. Log updates daily Saint Croix Certificate for Special Event For those that might be interested we will have special certificated for contacts made on Request. Please send 4.50 to cover printing and return postage from USA please add additional 1.50 6.00 outside USA. Log Search to see if you are in the LOG-- http://www.clublog.org/logsearch/K2V
I worked from the station of EI2JD (Thos) last night on 80 metres and had a fantastic time. I had only just started calling CQ when a pile-up started building fairly quickly. Conditions were good. The band was quiet (much quieter than the last time) and there was good short skip conditions with lots of UK and Europe. I even managed to pull in a couple of stateside also. Thanks to everyone who persevered through the pile-up, and apologies to those who I didn't work. The night finished with a GHB suffix! Here is the full log:
Just worked OY1OF on 40m. Olavur came back to my call first time and gave me 59. He was 57 with some QSB. I had been listening a half an hour ago and he was very low but he has come up since so I was delighted to work him. Olavur is based in Torshavn. Thanks for the QSO Olavur - and I will exchange QSL no problem. 73.
There's an Antarctica station on 40m also right now, but of course I can't hear him. OR4TN is QRV on 7.078.10 LSB and there's a lot of interest in him with a bit of a pile-up developing. Anyhow I will keep my ears open in case he comes up in EI.
I had some measure of success with my improvised Delta Loop for 80 metres last night, although only after a significant modification. I had a brainwave yesterday while reading a webpage about unusual items used as antennas. Someone had, apparently successfully, used the bed springs from a mattress to radiate RF on the HF bands. Someone else mentioned that using a chicken wire fence or a large metallic object as a ground plane can be quite effective.
Bing! - the light came on in my head.
Up to now my triangular-shaped delta loop consists of a total of about 50 metres of wire, strung around the garden not as far enough off the ground as I'd like. One end of the antenna is connected to the coax inner, while the other end is connected to the braid. There is a coil at the far end made of about 50 turns around 2" uPVC piping.
So I figured I would earth the "far end" of the loop, and run a separate wire from the braid of the coax onto the roof of my garden shed, which is made of metal. I was delighted to find it tuned up on 80m, right up to the top and right down to the bottom of the band. I was unable to test it until very late last night because I was at the Dundalk club meeting.
After midnight I worked two Echo India stations, one in Laois and the other in Cork, and both gave me good reports. They were both 59 with me. Later I got a contact in Germany, although with QSB he was having trouble hearing me at times.
Then this morning I was delighted to work Lima Alpha, a station inside the Arctic Circle in Norway. I'm delighted to be up and running on 80m, although without the proper height off the ground that I really need I can't expect to be doing too much DX. However, it is good to be up and running on 80m because the action on 40m has been quite limited in the past week or so. And 20m is only active while I am at work!!
I will post one or two photos of my Delta Loop when I get the chance.
Yesterday I also carried out an experiment using an abandoned clothes horse from the house. Yes, you read it right. I'm talking about those things you put clothes on to try. This one is made of aluminium and coated in plastic. I stripped back some of the plastic, and connected the coax inner to it, and the braid to the shed roof. I was able to tune on 80m and radiate RF. Tony EI4DIB gave me 59+20, but that was no true test of the "Clothes Horse Antenna" because he only lives a mile from me. I might do further testing in coming nights!!
It's 23:41 and LU7MAL is booming in on 14.195 USB. He's working a GI station (Ivan) in Belfast and he's hammering in here 57 to 59. Amazing stuff at this hour to hear Argentina so loud on 20m. He's running 1kw into a monoband yagi beam I believe he said. Unfortunately, this was the GI station's frequency, and the LU station said the contact had been the highlight of his day and that he was going QRT so I did not get the chance to work him.
