A busy time . . . but still making some QSOs

I have to apologise for my apparent lack of activity lately. I've been very busy. Some of you might know that I play solo euphonium with the Drogheda Brass Band. We won our National Championships last weekend after a hectic schedule of rehearsals that forced my radio activity to take a back seat. We beat three other top bands to reclaim the title which we had lost last year. You can listen to our performance of the testpiece, 'Variations on Laudate Dominum' here:



We will represent the Republic of Ireland at the European Championships in Perth, Scotland, on May 3rd, so I still have a busy schedule of practices for the next couple of weeks.

I have been making some contacts, but only one or two per day. I worked three QSOs into A3 Tonga, a couple into KH8 American Samoa, and also a couple with Vlad UA4WHX, who is currently portable on Easter Island, signing as CE0Y/UA4WHX. Just now, I made a QSO with 3B9FR in Rodriguez Island on 17m SSB, a new band slot. Here is a video shot immediately after my contact:

And finally, I would like to say 'get well soon' to my very good friend and antenna rigger, Tony Allen EI4DIB, who is currently in hospital. All your ham friends in Drogheda and the wider world wish you a speedy recovery Tony. We hope you get back home soon and that you are on the road to better health.

Two new DXCC in 24 hours

The higher your DXCC count, the harder it is to work new ones. At 285, I imagine things are going to get a lot more difficult at the shack of EI2KC from now on. However, the past 24 hours has bucked the trend, because I worked not one, but two new DXCCs in that period.

Yesterday morning, while unsuccessfully trying to bag H40T on 30m CW, I QSYed down the band to find XR0YG (Easter Island) and could hear them so I decided to give it a go. A short time later, I heard that beautiful music wafting through the ether "EI2KC 5NN". That was DXCC #286 for me.

A screen shot showing my XR0YG and T2GM confirmations on LoTW

This morning, I got a text message from another ham friend at 6.45am saying "H40T on 7015, up 2, gud sig".  So I got straight out of bed and headed down to the shack, putting the equipment on (and the kettle) while still getting dressed!! Sure enough, I could hear H40T on that QRG, and could hear that he was working around two to three KCs up.

With the linear warmed up, I hit the ground running. At 7.06am, I heard "KC 5NN" but did not respond in case it wasn't me. A second later I heard "EI2KC 5NN" so I have him "RR EI2KC 5NN TU" and I had DXCC #287 in the log. What a great pleasure!! I was the last one in the log before they went QRX/QRT. They disappeared off 30m CW a few minutes later shortly after I started trying them there.

I am both astonished and delighted to see that XR0YG has already confirmed our QSO yesterday on ARRL's Logbook of the World (LoTW). Really impressed with that. I also have confirmation of my first QSO with T2GM Tuvalu on 30m CW, and am awaiting two further confirmations for 20m and 17m.

Anyway, two new ones in 24 hours is a rare achievement these days. I will try the XR0YG dxpedition on other bands if I get the chance but I have a busy weekend ahead and may not get anywhere near the radios...