Showing posts with label Newgrange. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Newgrange. Show all posts

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Busy with the book but grabbing new ones on 6m

It's been a very busy period for me with the deadline for my new book approaching, so there has been much less time for radio. However, that hasn't stopped me from grabbing some new DXCCs on 6 metres, where there has been a decent bit of action in recent weeks.

This is my VHF antenna system. On top is the 8-el XY 2m
 beam and underneath is the 3-element 6m beam.
I have now worked 11 new entities in the 2012 E season, having only worked two new ones in 2011. The main reason for that is because I now have a rotatable three-element beam on 6 metres, whereas last year I was using a fixed dipole. The new countries worked are:

4O Montenegro
C3 Andorra
CN Morocco
CT3 Madeira
CU Azores
EA9 Ceuta & Melilla
GI Northern Ireland
JX Jan Mayen
OY Faroe Islands
SV5 Dodacanese
FM Martinique

FM5WD in Martinique, worked yesterday on CW, was my first Caribbean contact since 2010, so I was chuffed with that one. I will be listening more often for Caribbean DX entities in the next few weeks if time allows.

In the meantime, the priority lies with my book 'Newgrange - Monument to Immortality', which is due to be presented to the publisher next month for publishing in October. But perhaps if I can listen to the Icom IC-746 while writing the book, I might catch a few more DXCC on 6m !! And improve on my current tally of 67 . . . .