It was always going to be tough trying to get VK9MT Mellish Reef into my log, today of all days. Why? Because today is Mother's Day, when traditionally mothers aren't supposed to do any household chores, and my XYL, being a mother, had a day off. I was on duty today for breakfast making and also for dinner, and myself and the XYL and family had to visit her mother and my mother, as well as a visit to my sister who just had a baby this week. So radio had to take a back seat.
However, sometimes luck is on your side when chasing DX (of course, sometimes it's not!) I had been trying VK9MT this evening, after dinner, for a short while on 20 metres, but his signal faded way down. So I gave up. Some time later, I got a message from Declan EI6FR saying their signal was good on 20 CW and that he had just worked them. He told me the split, and that the op seemed to be listening progressively up, so I went up a bit from where Declan had worked them and heard someone else giving them 5NN. So I went up a little bit more, and after just a couple of calls I was in the log!
That's DXCC #306 in my log, and I'm delighted. It takes the pressure off, especially as I will be working during the day in the coming week and will be unable to work them when their signal is good on the higher bands. VK9/M is 22nd on
Clublog's Most Wanted DXCC list for March 2014.
I also managed a couple more QSOs with TX6G Austral Islands. I nabbed them on 17m CW late last night (23:25) and also early this morning on 17m SSB (09:27) and the total number of slots with TX6G is now 12. Previous to this dxpedition, I only had Austral Islands on two slots. It really is a top-class operation. Below are my confirmed slots with TX6G so far on Clublog:
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| I have 12 slots in total with TX6G. |
UPDATE!!!!! I just worked VK9MT again on 15 metres CW at 10:17pm local time.
Hello Anthony, postings on your blog are faster then I can read ;-) It's incredible you can find the time to work all those DXpeditions. I heard TX6G yesterday with 57 on 17m but the south europe "wall" was to big to get through. I tried for 20 minutes but wanted to get on with the WPX to find other ATNO DXCC. And yes I did...you'll find my story later on my blog. 73, Bas
ReplyDeleteBas, I can't wait to read about your new DXCC. I have to admit that DX chasing can be time consuming. It just so happens that a lot of my interests involve me sitting at the desk/computer/shack so the radio is always on when I am at home - even if I'm floating around the kitchen making breakfast/dinner for the XYL !! HI HI. It did not take me long to work VK9MT on either slot - less than five minutes in each case. I guess luck, a decent antenna and some power also help. However, I did spend about an hour and a half one evening last week trying to work TX6G on 10m SSB without success. That was draining and frustrating. But I did eventually work them on that slot with little or no effort, so it's a case that you win some, you lose some. I think when you love something as much as I love DXing, and you have a lifelong passion for writing, as I do, then writing about DXing comes easy!!!!
DeleteThanks for the comment. 73 de EI2KC