A wonderful week of DX in fantastic conditions

It's been a really great week for DX. There aren't many dxpeditions on, but the conditions are such that the world is at your fingertips every time you touch the CW paddle or the microphone button, or indeed the keyboard for the RTTY macros. Here is a summary of the DX worked in the past seven days:

The 9J2T dxpedition to Zambia - worked 6 times so far.

JG8NQJ/JD1 Minami Torishima 17m CW; VP8CMH/MM Falklands 17m CW and 20m CW; KH6/VE7AHA Hawaii 12m CW at 9.10pm local time!; WL7E Alaska 12m CW - new on 12m, at 21:23; VK3TZ Australia 12m CW at 21:32 at night!; FK8DD/M New Caledonia 12m CW; FK8IK New Caledonia 12m SSB - my first ever phone contact with this DXCC; 9J2T Zambia dxpedition - total of six band slots; WL7E 12m SSB at 21:19 at night, a new slot; D44CF Cape Verde 10m CW - new slot; CX3TQ Uruguay 10m SSB - worked on the Antron 99 with 100 watts; 4S7DFG Sri Lanka 20m CW; HK0/UA4WHX Providencia Island - a total of six slots so far!!; ZL4IR New Zealand 20m SSB; CB3N Chile 20m SSB; FK8IK 40m CW - new country on 40 metres!!; ZM90DX New Zealand 20m CW; 4S7LXG Sri Lanka 15m CW - new one on 15; 4S7DFG Sri Lanka 10m CW - new country on 10m!!; ZL1/G0EHQ New Zealand 20 SSB - nice chat on SSB (YouTube video); RI1ANR Antarctica 17m CW; D44CF Cape Verde 12m CW - new slot;  A92AA 20m RTTY - new DXCC on digital modes; 9J2T Zambia 17m RTTY - new DXCC on digi modes; V21ZG 17m RTTY - new one on digital modes; ZL7/OE2SNL 40m CW - brand new country (number #304 worked!); RI1ANC Antarctica 17m SSB; OX3KQ Greenland 12m SSB - new slot, worked with Antron-99 and 100w; 5H2DK Tanzania 17m SSB; JT5DX Mongolia 80m CW - new country on 80m!; 4S7FRG Sri Lanka 12m CW - new on 12; YB4IR/P Indonesia IOTA OC-204 20m SSB; KH6CW Hawaii 12m SSB - new slot; ZD8RY Ascension Island 40m SSB; KH2L Guam 17m CW at 21:45 local time; JW7QIA Svalbard 80m CW.

A good day's hunting for DX . . .

I didn't have a huge amount of time for HF activities today because I was taking part in a first aid course with the AREN North East group (Amateur Radio Emergency Network). However, the time I did allocate to HF was used wisely. I managed to get half an hour in the shack early this morning and nabbed TX5EG in French Polynesia on 20 metres CW with just 100 watts. Conditions seemed to be good to the Pacific at the time because shortly afterwards I worked ZL4PW on 12m CW, also with 100 watts. You can see what Paul's signal was like in the video below, which I made just after I had my QSO with him. The Icom is a new toy in the shack! The video was made with my Nikon D7000, and the audio was connected directly from the radio to the camera:

Shortly after that I worked another New Zealand QSO, this time it was ZL2MY on 17m CW. His name was Mike and he told me he has an Irish callsign, EI7CR. We later exchanged emails. He was very happy to hear EI, and it is a sure sign of improving conditions. New Zealand is one of the furthest places from Ireland and it's always a great pleasure to work the ZLs on HF.

Other highlights of the day include C50C The Gambia on 12m SSB, who had a booming signal, and a hefty pile-up from Europe and indeed further afield. It took me a while to work him but I eventually did. The second video below shows his signal strength just after I worked him. I worked the P29VCX dxpedition to Papua New Guinea on 20 metres side bands and then tonight on CW. I also nabbed 9J2GR in Zambia on 12m CW for a new country on that band, and then the absolute highlight of the day was working the T30PY Western Kiribati dxpedition on a second slot tonight, this time 17m CW.