JX2US Jan Mayen Island logged for my 200th country on 80 metres!

I just worked my 200th country on the 80 metre band. JX2US Erik is on Jan Mayen Island in the Arctic Circle, almost 2,000 kilometres north of Ireland. He is there until March 2021 and will be operating on the HF bands, primarily the low bands, during his spare time.

He was on 3.501 Mhz (CW/morse code) at 9.46pm local time and working a hefty (mostly EU) pile-up that was spread out between 1 and 4.5 Khz up from his transmit QRG.

Declan EI6FR and Don EI6IL had both logged him a short time before. Declan told me his operating pattern was to slowly move up in frequency from QSO to QSO, and then at a certain point he would sweep gradually back down. 

I got lucky.

I found the QRG of the previous QSO quickly, and turned the VFO to decrement or lower the frequency very slightly and called him with 400 watts through my homebrew inverted V dipole.

He came back quickly (through QRM on his TX QRG) with "EI2KC 5NN" and I replied with "RR DE EI2KC UR 5NN 5NN TU". He came back with the familiar "TU" (thank you) and that was the job done! I was in the log!

Jan Mayen Island is 1,919 kilometres (1,193 miles) north of Ireland.

I didn't know it until after I had logged him and used the 'recalculate statistics' feature of my logging software, Logger32, but he was my 200th country worked on 80 metres.

That is a very pleasurable number for me, because I have a small garden with extremely limited space for antennas. In fact, the 80m dipole is dog-legged and only 9m (about 30ft) at the apex. 

But it works, and is resonant. It might not radiate ideally, but it has done a sterling job here.

Enjoying some European contacts using JT65 on 80 metres

I had a little bit of fun on 80 metres tonight using the low power JT65 mode. Having chased some of the special event IARU and YOTA call signs during the day, I found the bands a bit dead this evening and decided to see if anyone was on JT65. To my surprise, 3.576 was quite busy with signals. So I gave it a go.

The above video was made while making a QSO into England during a good run of contacts. I had eight QSOs tonight - which might not sound like much - but every QSO on JT65 takes at least four minutes, so it's not bad. I had contacts into England, The Netherlands, Germany and Austria. All QSOs were made with 14 watts from my transceiver, transmitted into my home brew 80 metre inverted v dipole.

All of the stations that heard my signal on JT65, reported on pskreporter.info.

My small signal was heard all over Europe and even in the United States, as you can see from the above map. One of the great joys of using JT65 is because it's a slow-paced, relaxing mode, you can do something else while making contacts. In this case, I was making a YouTube video! The "live" recording caught me unawares towards the end!

A portion of my log today, showing a lot of IARU and YOTA SES contacts.

UKEICC 80m contest was great fun

I took part in my first UKEICC contest last night, on 80 metres CW. This was a one-hour contest and was great fun. There was lots of activity and after starting late at around 20:10 UTC (I had to drop kids to music!) I immediately got callers after a quick CQ.

Many of you will know I am not a hardened contester. I am simply unable to devote 24 or 48 hours of my weekends to contesting due to family and other commitments. And that's what makes the UKEICC contests so attractive. They are one-hour contests on a week night.

Above is a quick video I made during the contest. The time zipped around very quickly. After an initial flurry of callers, my CQs went unanswered, so I went hunting. Contest activity is allowed from 3.510 up to 3.560 and there were plenty of stations on air. The furthest I worked was UT2II in Ukraine.

One of the brilliant aspects of this contest is that you have to upload your log within an hour of the end of the contest - and the results are made available within two hours of the contest finishing.

The results show me in 16th place out of 32 entries in the low power section. Not bad. I'm happy with that. The contest is scored by distance, and the exchange is your four letter maidenhead locator square - in my case IO63. There's no need to send 5NN. For results, see this page:

http://www.ukeicc.com/which-contest/ukeicc-contest-results

Nice QSO with DK1IS on 80 metres with hacksaw paddle Mark II

Above is a video of me CQing on 80 metres CW using my new EI2KC home-brew hacksaw blade key Mark II. I had a nice QSO with DK1IS. This is the whole QSO. I am thoroughly enjoying this home-brew key, which was made with parts that were donated, found lying around the shack, and purchased. It cost me about 10 euro to make. And it's really quite genuinely nice to use. I will be writing an article about the construction of this, and the Mark I key, for a future issue of Echo Ireland magazine. I made some improvements from the Mark I version, although in fairness apart from a cosmetic difference, there is no noticeable difference in their use. They are both very nice to the touch and responsive. I may not revert to using my Kent dual lever paddle again!!

The Mark II key (left) beside its less refined predecessor.

The Mark II key.

DXing on the edge . . . longest QSO attempt in history!

Most of you have normal lives, and normal hobbies, like football and fishing. Me, I do ham radio, euphonium playing and other geeky stuff like taking photos of stones in the middle of the night. Here's how I spend some of my nights. This is an example of how difficult it can be to log that "new one" on a band. In this case, PW0F on Fernando de Noronha, on 80 metres, the only HF band I hadn't worked this rare one on. He kept busting my call. It took me several minutes to make him get it right. In all fairness, he stuck with me, despite my exclamations of despair. This is cutting edge ham radio - working DX from a small garden. Quote of the video - "this will be the QSO of the decade if it happens".

By the way, you have to go to 3:23 in the video to hear the "start" of the QSO. From there, it gets interesting and my exasperated expressions get more colourful!!

K1N Navassa logged as All-Time New One (DXCC #310)

I know I haven't blogged at all so far in 2015. There is a very good reason for this, which I will explain at the end of this post. But I have to tell you that I logged K1N Navassa as an All-Time New One (ATNO) this week, DXCC #310 in my log. Furthermore, as of this morning I have four slots, including 40m CW, and to my great delight, 80m CW. Below is a video made just after my QSO on 80 metres this morning:

The pile-ups have been huge, which is not surprising because it is the second-most wanted DXCC (the most-wanted according to some sources!). I didn't have much time to try them early in the week but now that I have more time I am being rewarded. I have made CW QSOs so far - on 20m, 17m, 40m and 80m. My 40m QSO was at 00:27 this morning and only took me two minutes! The 80m QSO at 07:38 this morning was the same!! I heard my friend Declan EI6FR going through and went about 1Khz above where he called and in no time at all I was in the log. Several Irish stations made it through this morning - EI8H, EI9FBB, EI6FR, EI2KC, EI6IL and EI8FH. As always, they peaked on the grey line and this was the best chance to log them. They are DXCC #167 on 80 metres for me. I'm really delighted with that.

The next challenge is TI9, Cocos Island, which begins this month also. In the meantime, I will try to log Navassa on the high bands.

LACK OF BLOGGING

A while ago, I made a decision about this blog which I didn't publicise. Life is busy on this side - hectically busy at times. I found that I was not getting any time to write about the things that I most love to write about - Irish mythology, monuments, astronomy etc. I was putting time and effort into this radio blog that could be put into writing other things. In August 2014, I started writing a novel. I tried to write every day, even though some days that was only for five minutes! The novel is now finished, but I am still writing other projects related to Mythical Ireland. I have also been taking a lot more photos. I found going out into the landscape was very conducive to writing good material. And all that has been very rewarding for me, and Mythical Ireland is the subject closest to my heart. (No - believe it or not, amateur radio is not my main hobby/interest!!!!) I have continued to indulge in radio, and DXing, but naturally with 310 countries logged I have less interest in repeating DXCC bands and slots, so generally I tend only to chase new countries and new slots. I hope and intend to continue in the hobby of DXing, and I am rarely in the car without having 2m and 70cm switched on. However, I have found that this re-prioritising of my life has worked very well in terms of my writing, which has flourished. I am now trying to find a publisher for my new novel. And I am trying to put together another non-fiction book about Irish mythology. So although you will still hear me in the pile-ups and I will continue to enjoy amateur radio as much as possible, blogging about it has to take second preference to my duties as an author. I'm sure (and I hope) that you'll all understand.

Doing a little bit of JT65 over the weekend

When there's no big dxpeditions on and no particularly rare DX to be worked, sometimes it's nice to unwind with a bit of digital mode action. I personally like to do some PSK and occasionally some JT65 on such occasions. I find digi modes relaxing. I don't need the linear on and I can work at a fairly relaxed pace. Last night, I made a couple of QSOs on 80 metres using JT65 running just 15 watts. I was surprised at how quiet the band was. There was no DX on, but I didn't mind. Today, I was decoding JT65 on 20 metres and even made a QSO into Greece using the WSJT-X software. Here is a screen shot:

Earlier, I made a couple of ragchew QSOs on 10 metres CW, using 100 watts and my Antron 99 vertical. I had a chat with VE1DX, Paul in Halifax, and WA2DTW, Steve in Pennsylvania. I find that I can now ragchew on CW, and although I still miss words, I am much more comfortable than even a year ago.

Three new countries on 80 metres in 24 hours

I'm delighted to see that winter propagation is good on 80 metres. I've worked three new countries on that band in the space of 24 hours.

Yesterday morning I worked VP2EIM Anguilla on 80 cw.
Last night, to my great delight and with not much effort, I worked VU4KV Nicobar, also on 80 cw, battling against an EU pile.
And just now, this morning, I worked HC2AO/8 on 80 metres cw. You can see his signal strength in the video below. He was struggling to hear EU because of QRN and as soon as I stopped making this video he disappeared from the QRG. Lucky me!!

DX chasing is not a pursuit that has regular hours!

DX chasers are a rare breed.  I mean the really serious ones. When all the rest of the world - hams and non hams - are tucked up in their beds nice and warm and snug, we are in the shack, at the rig, bleary-eyed and unkempt, chasing a slot with the latest "rare" one. And that's how it has become for me. I used to be able to hunt new ones and band slots during the day, but with 307 DXCC logged, the slots and bands and All-Time New Ones become rarer and rarer, and one has to migrate to the lower bands in order to nab these slots.

Nigel G3TXF in Cape Town bound for Tristan Da Cunha.

Here in Ireland, there are approximately 1,500 licenced radio amateurs. Of those, there are probably about 200 hams who operate on HF to any degree, whether it be every day or twice a year. Of that 200 (and that's only my own very rough estimate), there are only about 30 dedicated DX hunters. That's 30 Irish people out of four million who dedicate themselves to this unique pursuit. And I am one of them. Does that make me special? It certainly makes me weird, especially in the eyes of all my non-ham friends! The non-DXing hams, while not spending hours in pile-ups, at least understand what DX chasing is, and are forgiving towards the HF nuts. But the rest of the world is oblivious to our unique hobby.

Having got up at 6am yesterday morning to hunt DX, I was exhausted by the time 11pm came around. My duty for the weekend is to watch out for Nigel ZD9XF on CW on the low bands (40m and 80m) and to try to work him there. I didn't think I had much hope of getting up during the night if he did pop up. Nevertheless, I set up DXwatch to send me emails if he appeared on 80 or 40. And I left my phone volume up full so I might hear the alerts if they came. And come they did.

At around 01:27 local time I received email alerts to say he was on 80 metres, on 3.501. I managed to get up out of bed and come down to the shack. I switched on the equipment. I could hear nothing. I looked on the Reverse Beacon Network and could see that he had quickly gone back to 30 metres, where he had been for a while. Damn. 80m missed. I went back to bed.

At around 2am or so there were alerts for 40 metres. He was on 7.001. Back down to the shack in the darkness, exhausted, barely able to keep my eyes open. I could hear him! I listened to the split. There were people calling him 1 Khz up, and 2 Khz up, and even 3 Khz up. Damn. Big pile-up. I tried to find out where he was listening but it was too spread out. I called him 2 up and then 2.5 up. He was working north and south America mostly, although there were still plenty of other Europeans suffering from insomnia like me..... After a short while calling, and not being able to figure out any discernible pattern to his movements, I realised that the pile-up had become so big that there were people calling him 8 Khz up, on 7.009, and at that moment I was struck by a revelation:

"Murphy, what the hell are you doing here, at 2.30am, trying to work a country that you have worked already (albeit on other bands) when you could be in bed like all the normal people?" So I switched everything off and went to bed. It just wasn't worth the effort. I would be exhausted for the rest of the weekend.

At exactly 7am, I received a phone call from Declan EI6FR. "Nigel is on 40 metres, I just worked him 3 up. He's on 7.001."

"Has he got a big pile?" I asked.

"No," was the reply.

"Right, thanks," I said, and the call ended.

Down to the shack again!

Sure enough, I could hear "ZD9XF Up" on 7.001 and decided I would try 7.003 as my transmit frequency. Within two minutes I could hear the magic code in the noise.... "EI2?"

I gave my call twice.

He came back "EI2KC 5NN".

I gave "RR EI2KC 5NN 5NN TU".

And, just like that, I was in his log. It seems that my decision to go back to bed in the middle of the night was well justified!!!

PS: As I write this, it's nearly 11am now and already my 40m QSO is in Nigel's online log:

Winter is coming and it's time for 80 metres!

Birds on a wire . . . Starlings sitting on the apex of my
inverted V system. The 30/40/80 legs are perpendicular to
each other. I trimmed the 80 v for resonance at 3.510.

I know it's still only September. And yes, the weather has been largely very good here in Ireland. We are getting an Indian summer. However, the days are getting shorter rapidly. It's past the equinox now, and as the days contract in length, it's time to start thinking about winter and the lower bands. Yesterday evening, having analysed my nest of V dipoles, I could see that my 80m inverted V was resonant at 3.4 Mhz. Too low. It needed to be shortened. So I trimmed some wire off each end and got it beautifully resonant on 3.510 Mhz. Nice! Time for some winter time DXing on 80 metres.

Yesterday morning, I managed a QSO with YV8AD on the upper part of the band using 100 watts. Hopefully I will be able to work some DX on SSB in future as I now find that even on the upper part of the band the antenna has an SWR of around 4:1. I know this is technically too high, but it means it can be tuned fairly easily, and I might get a few hundred watts out with the linear.

I took this screenshot immediately after working HC2AO on 80 metres.
As you can see, I was almost exactly on the greyline.

I got up at 6am today in the hope that Nigel ZD9XF would be on either 40 or 80 metres from Tristan Da Cunha. Unfortunately he was QRT. So I decided instead to see what DX was "on offer" HI HI. I worked PJ5/OL8R with 100 watts on 80 cw. That was a handy contact. Then 8R1AE popped up from Guyana on 40m CW as a potential new one so I started chasing him. That turned into a mammoth affair as I battled with all the German, French, Czech and other European stations. It was tough going. He is a slow op on the CW key, but had a steady rate and managed the pile-up without too much fuss. At around 7.15am local time, I saw on the Reverse Beacon Network that HC2AO was CQing on 3.504 Mhz. I went straight down there like a shot, but could hear nothing. Damn. Had I missed him again, for a second morning in a row? Then the RBN spotted him again, this time on 3.508. Up I went and sure enough, there he was. He tried to work a SM station several times but eventually had to give up. We were approaching greyline. I knew this was the perfect moment. I pounced with "EI2KC". Immediately he came back with "EI2KC 5NN BK". I gave him the usual five nine nine and I was in the log. Another new one on 80 metres, and it's not even winter yet! That's country #147 on 80.

I went back to 40m to chase the 8R1. It took a long while, but eventually at 7.50am I managed to get him in the log. I think one new one on 80 and one new one on 40 is a very good result for an early morning. I can see myself going to bed early and setting the alarm for 6am more often during the coming winter. It can be very rewarding.

YV8AD Venezuela makes it #146 on 80 metres!

I woke up at 6.30am to see if Nigel ZD9XF was on the low bands. Unfortunately, he was QRT since about 01.30z. I could hear HC2AO weak on 80 CW and he would be a new country, but unfortunately he went QRT as soon as I started calling. So I had to do something now that I was awake and the grey line was approaching!

I could hear YV8AD on 3.750 on my Icom IC-756PRO

I saw YV8AD spotted on 3.750 SSB and decided to have a listen. The band was not too noisy, and I could hear him at a 5 and 5. I went down a few KCs and tuned my inverted V with the 756PRO's internal ATU. The V is resonant right down at the bottom of the band, so it was a barefoot effort only. I called, and straight away he came back "Echo India Two Kilo Charlie, good morning Tony, you are five and six, five and six roger". I was delighted that he could hear me at all. I gave him 5 and 5 and just like that, country number 146 on 80 metres was in the log. It's not too often that I am able to work DX on SSB on 80 metres. Thankfully, I was close to my greyline, and he wasn't busy. Plus, there's not much between here and Venezuela except salt water, which helps.

Thankfully, I also managed a QSO with TY1AA on 30m CW. I need TY on 30, 40 and 80 (and of course 160!) so I was glad to get at least one low band QSO seeing as how they are QRT tomorrow.

Reunion Island on 80m SSB with 100 watts!!!

Ham radio, and DXing in particular, never ceases to throw up surprises. I've just worked Cyril FR4NT in Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean on 80 metres SSB with my severely dog-legged inverted v with its apex at just 25 feet high!! I had been listening on his frequency (3.792) for some time, and he never had more than a few European stations calling him at any time. But then he went quiet and I thought he was gone.

Reunion Island, worked tonight on 80 metres SSB.

All of a sudden I heard him again and an LA2 station was rag chewing with him. I was able to get my 80m inverted v tuned on the top end of the band (not on his QRG of course!), which is quite surprising because it is only resonant at the very bottom of the band.

So, with who knows how much of my rig's 100 watts actually radiating from the antenna, I called him just as the LA2 said good night to him. Immediately he came back and said "who is the kilo charlie?" I couldn't believe it. It wasn't easy to get into his log, because I was in his noise, but he persisted with the attempt which I was very glad about. After a number of times trying, I could eventually here "I think it's echo india two kilo charlie, is that right", to which I gave "roger roger roger, you are five and five, five and five, QSL".

He said "you are five and seven in my noise level, roger" and soon the QSO was complete. Cyril gave me country #144 worked on 80 metres. I never would have made it through with any sort of a pile-up, but it goes to show what a combination of good conditions and a lack of QRM can do when you have low power and a seriously compromised antenna!

I look forward to trying to get a few more new countries into the log on 80 metres over the winter time.

This picture will speak for itself, I hope!!

TX6G, Austral Islands, worked on 80 metres CW just a few short days ago, and now confirmed on ARRL's Logbook of the World. Need I say any more? Worked at half six in the morning with a compromise 80m dipole wrapped around my 30ft-long garden. Delighted is the first word that springs to mind!

A brief moment in the sun with J88HL dxpedition

I just noticed that I am top of the EIs in the Clublog league table for the J88HL St. Vincent dxpedition! It's quite unexpected as I have some tough competition. And I realise that it will be very short lived. However, it's nice to be on top for once!!

I got up early this morning (6.15am) to try to work J88HL on 80 metres, as I failed to even hear them yesterday morning. Declan EI6FR told me he felt they were stronger earlier in the morning yesterday. He had worked them at 6.55am local time. Sure enough, after a bit of comet Ison spotting with my binoculars, I returned to the shack at around 6.45am to find them just on the limits of audibility on both the Butternut and the dipole. I had to wait until 6.54am for their signal to come up sufficiently. I called them and heard 5NN but was completely unsure of the QSO. So I called them again at 6.56am and this time I was a little bit happier. Right now at 7.15am they are covered by noise here and impossible to hear. Hopefully that's slot #10!

You know the saying - 'The early bird catches the worm'! It's so true.

Two new countries on 80 metres today

It was a good weekend on the bands, but today was rather special. Most of the weekend's contacts were made on the higher bands, which is somewhat unsurprising given the very high sunspot numbers. (Today the sunspot number is 282!). But today's two very special contacts were on 80 metres, which is a difficult band for me. I use either my Butternut HF6V vertical or a severely dog-legged 80m inverted v dipole with a maximum height of 30 feet at the apex.

I got up early to see if I could work the J88HL dxpedition in St. Vincent on 80m CW as a new country on that band. I could see they were active on 3.525 on the Reverse Beacon Network, but when I got to the radio I could hear nothing. I sat for a while listening on frequency while doing other things on the computer. Nothing. Not one bip.

A short time later, around 7.20am, I decided against all odds to try to listen to XR0ZR in Juan Fernandez on the same band, same mode. I thought I could hear him very weakly on my dipole, but I had a lot of QRN here and I didn't rate my chances of hearing him properly, never mind work him. But for some reason I sat on the QRG and went about doing a few bits and pieces on the computer.

My four slots in XR0ZR's log, including 80m CW!!!

Around 7.45am, I could hear him with a lot of QSB and flutter, and some of the time I could hear his full call "XR0ZR UP". A few EU stations, mostly G and DL, were calling him exactly 2 Khz up. So I decided to put on the Acom 1000 linear and call on that frequency.

After only a couple of minutes, I thought I could hear "KC 5NN" but nothing else. I called again. This time, I listened on the sub receiver and there was nobody else calling him on 2Khz up. I thought I heard "KC 5NN" again, so I gave "RR EI2KC EI2KC 5NN 5NN TU". Unsure as to whether it was a good QSO or not, I decided to log it as a precaution, and to try to work them again.

At the local time got nearer to 8am, XR0ZR came up in strength, but faded out about five minutes past and went into the noise. At that stage, with all Europe in daylight, I must have been the last one hearing him!

This afternoon I decided to check their online log, and, much to my surprise and delight, my 80m CW QSO is in their log! That was DXCC #133 on 80 metres.

But it didn't end there! Tonight, having waited for several nights for the chance, I finally worked Z81X in South Sudan on 80m CW. He has had huge pile-ups for the past few nights on 80 CW, but tonight his pile-up seemed to die down after an hour or so. I finally nabbed my chance. I could hear that he was listening about 1.5 Khz up so called him there. It took several tries to get him. He sent "EI2?" and I gave my call several times. I heard nothing. I gave my call twice again. I thought I heard "2KC 5NN". So I gave the call again and 5NN. And eventually I heard "EI2KC 5NN". This time I gave several RRRs and several 5NNs and TU.

Two new countries on 80 metres in one day. Not bad for a very severely dog-legged antenna that's not up high enough!!

Here are some highlights from the weekend:

J88HL St. Vincent - Eight slots, including 40m SSB.
PY0FF Fernando de Noronha - 10m SSB - new country on 10m
T33A Banaba - 20m SSB and 17m CW before they went QRT
KH8/WD5COV American Samoa - 20m CW for a brand new DXCC, #301!
TG9NX Guatemala - 12m CW, new one on 12.
XZ1J Myanmar - 15m CW - only my second ever QSO with this rare DXCC.
3DA0ET Swaziland - 10m and 12m CW.
FR/DK9PY Reunion Island - 17m CW and a new one on 17 metres.
XR0ZR Juan Fernandez - 15m SSB and 80m CW
Z81X South Sudan - 80m CW - new DXCC on 80m, #134!

Video of strange pulsating interference on 80m

I recorded this QRM on 80 metres last night. Anybody got any idea what it might be?

Reverse Beacon Network reports for my 80m inverted v

Last night I decided to see how my signal was getting out on my new 80m dog-legged inverted v antenna. I put out a CQ on 3.150 Mhz and waited to see what the reports were like on the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN), which is a network of automated skimmer stations automatically spotting what they hear on the bands on the CW mode. 

I was quite impressed with the results. I was being heard in different parts of Europe, including Germany, Norway, Sweden, Hungary and Slovenia. Indeed I have worked a couple of stations in the USA using just 100 watts. The inverted v is definitely hearing better than my Butternut HF6V, but I am in a housing estate and the band is still quite noisy. I have made a few contacts on 160m (top band), although due to the low apex height of about 9 metres or so (30ft), I suspect that I won't be making many contacts on top band, where the nested v system (80m/40m/30m) has a 3:1 SWR at the bottom end of 160m. However, I will hope to enjoy a nice bit of activity on 80m CW during the winter months. I still have the Butternut in place, and it is currently tuned to the top end of 80m, so I can try to enjoy the best of both worlds!!

H7H Nicaragua worked on 80 metres SSB

With the inverted v up in the air for 80m, I have been getting up early this past few mornings to try to nab any DX that might be floating around. Imagine my surprise when I saw H7H spotted on 3.790, on the top end of 80m, on SSB! My "vee" will only tune on the CW end of the band, so I was unable to use it. However, thanks to the large coil at the bottom of my Butternut vertical, I am able to tune that antenna to any part of the 80m band. I went out, spanner in hand, and opened the nut that keeps the clasp closed and stretched the coil downwards to get resonance on the top end of the band.

Soon enough, I was calling H7H with the linear on, giving it 400 watts. He was about a 5 and 5, and was obviously struggling with high noise because it was taking him ages to hear anyone. My friend Seamus EI3KE was calling him and when H7H said "EI3 again" it took ages for Seamus to make the QSO. But he made it. My immediate thought was: "I have some hope!" H7H then worked a couple of G stations. Again, it took him quite a while to copy each call correctly.

I began calling again 5 Khz down, and within a short time I heard the magic words: "Who is the Echo India Two?" Again, it took a bit of perseverance to get through. There were several overs before the call was copied correctly. But I made it! A rare contact on 80m SSB. Most of my DX contacts on that band are on CW. To make the QSO on the Butternut was a nice treat.

It was a bit ironic that, only three days after putting up the inverted v, here I was working DX on the Butternut! Ah well, it's nice to have the option. And it's good to be working DX from this small garden!

The challenges of 80 metre operation from a small garden

Regular readers of this blog will already know that I operate from a small garden. You will all know that this hasn't prevented or deterred me from working DXCC on every band from 80 metres through 10 metres. My lowly Butternut HF6V, which is 26 feet tall, and ground mounted in a corner of the garden near the wall, has enabled me to operate in a limited capacity on 80m. Through last winter, especially as a result of my participation in the CQWW CW contest in late November, I was able to finally get 100 countries confirmed on that band on LoTW.

But I have never been able to enjoy good operation on 80m because the Butternut is too short and therefore limited in what it can hear. It gets out reasonably well for the DX stations, and the low angle of radiation definitely helps.

A photograph of my nested inverted vees, with labels.

Just this week, I decided to put back up the 80m inverted V, off the same feedpoint as the Vees on 30m and 40m. From previous experience, I knew this would involve some serious dog-legging. (For non amateurs, this means making the wire antenna "turn a corner", so to speak, because there isn't enough room for a straight run of wire that's 66 feet long on each leg. One leg - the "reflector" - is able to get a run down along the side of the house, as far as the gate pillar at the front, although about three feet of it still needs to be dog legged.

The other leg - the "transmit" leg - runs down above the back wall of the garden, and then dog-legs up the side wall of the garden to a point at the back wall of the house under the eave. From there, it is dog-legged again by about three feet and tied off. And the mast (insert word "pole" here!) is only 30 feet at the apex.

It's far from ideal, I know. I bet some of you are trying to picture this all in your head and wondering how I've managed to defy the laws of physics, and indeed the laws of effective radiation of RF fields. So how's it working?

The reflector leg of the 80m inverted v dipole runs down
between the houses and is tied off (dog-legged) at a gate pillar.

Here's a summary of the contacts made last night on CW using just 100 watts: PI4EME, US8UX, EI3HMB, HA5OV, IK6DIN, YU9CF, EI6IL, F5TVG/P, HB9FBA, EI7BA, S51FZ, GM3ZLC, EI2EO, UT8MM, G4LEM, PA1MUC and HB30OK. So it's getting out, as far as Ukraine. Hardly a comprehensive test of its abilities, but the reports coming back were generally 579 or 599 or 599 plus! The previous morning, I had worked N8NA on 100w on CW, so that wasn't bad either, but it's likely that he's got bigger antennas than me.

Time will tell if it's up to the job of making more distant contacts. I will run 400 watts when conditions improve and the band quietens a bit - the QRN here can be s9 at times.

Interestingly, the 80/40/30m nested V system also has some resonance on the lower portion of the 160m band. When I say "some", I mean about 3:1 at best, maybe 3.5:1. It might allow me a limited amount of operation on that band over the next couple of months. I may figure out a way to tune it better for 160m. We will see.

In the meantime, I will keep you posted as to the performance of this compromise antenna system.

A nice surprise in the post from CQ editors!

Many of you will know that although I enjoy DXing and HF activities, I am not a huge fan of contesting. I rarely participate in contests, maybe three times a year. Most of the time I do that because I want to use the opportunity to work DX that might I not otherwise get the chance to. Last winter, with my DXCC confirmed tally on 80 metres sitting at 89, I decided to enter the CQWW CW contest on that band alone, to see if I could get my total up. I had a great weekend, making something like 560 QSOs with my lowly Butternut HF6V vertical antenna! As the Logbook of the World confirmations rolled in, I eventually made it to 100 confirmed - DXCC on 80m - thanks solely to that contest.

Yesterday, a nice certificate from the editors of CQ magazine arrived in the post, confirming that I won first place in Ireland for 80m high power assisted. Of course, I cannot boast about this too loudly, as I don't think there were any other entries in the section. However, I am still impressed at what can be done with a 26-foot vertical antenna, and am happy to have won the certificate in any case.

Hopefully many more of you will also have received certificates this week. For me, contesting is not about huge antennas and massive power, running for 48 hours non-stop. I could never do that. Money, space and time do not allow it. I have a young family and am unable to contest for long periods. But dipping in and out of contests for a few hours at a time, as I do, can bring its rewards.