My first QSO with Japan on 6 metres

Well it finally happened. After weeks of waiting, I managed to log two JA stations on 6 metres this morning. I got a message from Doug EI2CN saying he was decoding and working Japan. Now Doug has a much more substantial station than me, at a much higher elevation, just a few miles from here. He regularly sees and works stations that I cannot see/hear.

However, after waiting a little while I started to see decodes from Japan on FT8. I put out a CQ JA, and after a few minutes I was called by JG2BRI. He was at -15 and gave me a -18, but with heavy QSB on the band other EIs were reporting that they were having difficulty completing QSOs. 

I grabbed my smartphone and made a quick video. I hope you can forgive my excitement, but this was the moment of my first ever Japan QSO on 6m - one I have waited 11 years for. I think the "yeeehaa" was justified!

A few moments later, I was also called by JH4UYB and managed to complete with him too, with signal reports of -16 each way. After that the band closed up pretty quickly here, but I did not mind as I had finally achieved a QSO that I have been anticipating for years.

Needless to say I also worked two new squares with these JA QSOs - PM84 and PM86. Also, Japan becomes my 110th DXCC worked on 50 Mhz.

A screenshot of my first QSO with Japan on 6 metres.

A screenshot from PSKreporter.info showing some of my decodes in Japan.

Some nice DX action on 12 metres using just my Antron-99 and 100 watts

I caught some nice action on 12 metres when there was a morning opening into Japan. In this video I was running just 100 watts into an Antron-99 vertical. It was a great opening. Hope you enjoy.

A couple of videos showing activity in the EJ7NET Gola shack

E3 Eritrea, last country on African continent I need, is in my log!

I had the most wonderful night on amateur radio last night. It reminded me of all the best things about our hobby. I pointed the hexbeam at North America at around 11pm on 17 metres SSB and started calling CQ. I worked a lot of stations, including one or two from South America. The furthest west I worked was into Wyoming, which was nice. A lot of the stations I worked were also using a hexbeam. This very capable little wire-beam antenna is becoming very popular. And who could blame a ham who is short of either cash or real estate (or both) from choosing it, given its great performance?

Zorro JH1AJT is in Eritrea as E30FB.

Anyway, after a while I could see that Zorro E30FB in Eritrea was active on 20 metres SSB, and knowing that it would be an all-time new one (ATNO) if I could get him, I had to leave 17 metres and turn the beam to 120 degrees and set the QRG to 14.245. I had guessed that he might be working North America only, and was disappointed to hear that that was the case.

Zorro is in Eritrea as part of a Japanese delegation and has something like 30 meetings scheduled for his short stay, which is to last less than a week. He is squeezing in his ham radio operations between this hectic schedule. He had been on 15 metres SSB on Wednesday afternoon and 20m SSB on Wednesday evening, working, respectively, EU and then NA. The same pattern was evident yesterday, Thursday, when he had worked a huge EU pile on 15 in the afternoon before calling for NA on 20m in the evening.

And so it was that I found myself sitting at the radio, listening to this rare DX working Stateside station after Stateside station. In a way, it was pleasurable. It was great to hear this very rare DXCC being activated. But it was frustrating having to sit by and watch, knowing that a QSO would be possible if only he was working Europe too. Unfortunately, he was being QRMed by music for a short time, as you can see in this video, which was shot about 15 minutes before I made my QSO:

I knew I would have a chance of a QSO if he allowed it. I nearly made it Wednesday night, but he thought I was AI2KC and when he heard me say "Echo India", he said he was working North America only. And this is one of the great questions about operating etiquette - do you call when he is generally working NA, or not at all? More specifically, if he does not say "North America" at the end of every CQ, do you call from Europe?

Having heard him work a HB9 station, I felt that it was worthwhile giving it a shot. When he said "North America", I would not call. When he said just "QRZ?", I would call. And that was my pattern. It was easy to hear the split because the American operators are far more disciplined than many of their European counterparts. There was still plenty of indiscipline, but it was much less predominant than in an EU pile-up.

I followed his QSX up and down. He would spend a few minutes on one QRG before it got too hectic and then move to another "quiet spot". Before too long, I heard him say just "QRZ?" and called him on the split where he had worked his last US contact. Then, the magic words came through:

"Kilo charlie, kilo charlie?"

"Echo India Two Kilo Charlie."

"Echo India Two Kilo Charlie, you are five nine."

"Thank you Zorro. You are also five nine in Ireland. Thank you so much for taking me in! 73!"

And he thanked me and I was in his log and suddenly, at 00:56 local time, I was in the log of E30FB and the last country I needed on the African continent was in my log. This all-time new one is DXCC #307 worked from this station. To say that I went to bed with a big smile on my face is an understatement! My fellow DX friend Mark EI6JK got a QSO immediately afterwards, and as soon as was he logged, Zorro started calling for North America only !!!

As they say, that's the way the cookie crumbles! This time, it crumbled in my favour . . .

Dabbling in a bit of JT65 - 10w heard in Japan

Right now, I'm dabbling in a bit of low-power JT65. I was putting out a CQ using JT65-HF (version 1.0.9.3) on 20 metres and, as you can see from PSKreporter.info above, my puny signal was heard in Japan!! Right now, I'm in QSO with W2ZEN (Locator FN30) and he gave me a SNR report of -21. I don't do JT65 very often. In fact, I've only used it a few times, but it is absolutely fascinating. Hopefully I'll get some nice DX tonight. I can't imagine I will make too many contacts though - it takes a full six minutes to complete a QSO properly with this mode!!!

All the stations that heard my 10w JT65 signal,

Video: CW QSO into Japan with 100 watts

Above is a short video showing a QSO I made with JA1VLK on 20 metres CW with 100 watts and my hexbeam. 

My first mobile HF contact into Japan!

EI2KC pictured chatting with JH0JDV on 17m
SSB on the Icom IC-746 from the car.

I decided to do a bit of mobile HF operation today, taking advantage of the fine day that it was, and giving the kids an opportunity to have a run around the place! I went to Bellewstown, a hill about five miles south of my home town of Drogheda. I brought the Icom IC-746 which has an internal ATU, and used just the Watson Multi-Ranger whip as the antenna.

Running 100 watts only, I was able to pick up some strong European stations, and then a couple a little further afield, in Russia. I was calling CQ on 18.153 USB. Suddenly I could hear a strong Japanese station calling me. He was JH0JDV, Ely San in Ojiya city. He was a decent 59 signal, sounding strong, with very little in the way of QSB.

We had a chat for a few minutes, and he was able to copy everything I said. I had thought perhaps the conditions weren't great, but this contact proved me wrong. Of course, Ely has a big station with nice antennas, so his signal would be good anyway!

It was an enjoyable hour. I brought the CW key but didn't do any morse. I wanted to see how well I would get out on phone, and was happy enough with my first mobile (phone/SSB) contact into Japan. Note: I had previously worked JA on 17m CW from the car!!

This is me on Bellewstown Hill. Note the Watson whip on the roof.

eQSL confirmation of our QSO !

New cards in: Ogasawara and Minami Torishima

I am delighted to have received these two QSL cards recently. The one on the left is from JD1 Minami Torishima for our QSO on 17m CW, a brand new country for me when I worked him. On right is a card from JD1BMH in Ogasawara, another new DXCC when worked. These are both islands in the Pacific which are controlled by Japan, but count as separate DXCC.