CQ WW CW . . . anyone for morse?

I didn't have much time for the bands today until it was getting dark. I collected my new (second hand actually but new for me) Acom 1000 linear today and needless to say it has been put to good use in the CQWW CW contest which is on this weekend.

Just dipping in and out on 20m and 40m I have worked 75 countries and 29 zones with just 120 QSOs. I nabbed at least six new ones on 40m so from that point of view it has been a great night. The highlight perhaps was EL2A, Liberia, but others included 8P, PJ4 and ZF.

With increased power limits in certain contests, EI ops are now allowed to run 1.5 kW in the CQWW contests. I was able to push the Acom to 1250 watts on 40m into the inverted V but only very briefly as I do not want to be working it to the max. Generally QSOs are being made at anywhere between 400 watts and 1 kilowatt.

As someone who has always used a maximum of 100 watts at this station I have to say the extra power has been a revelation. It certainly is easier to break the piles. I worked a number of VKs on 20m in the late afternoon. Most were easy to work. I can see the Acom coming in useful . . .

One day's work gives a good snapshot of conditions

Right, before I start, I have to give you a health warning. This blog may contain traces of HF DX!!! There you have it. Conditions have been nothing short of fantastic this past few months, as you might have gathered from reading my enthusiastic musings on this site.

The 9N7MD Nepal team - worked a few times, thanks!

Today might, as a snapshot, give you some idea of just how good things are. This morning at 8.13am I worked 9N7MD (Nepal) on 10m CW for a new band slot, having worked them on 17m CW yesterday as a new band and 10m SSB as a new one. That was followed by BA5HAM in China on 10m CW at 8.21am. It's great how early ten metres is open in the mornings. I have worked DX at 7.30am, before sunrise!!

V31QS in Belize was a new country on 12m when I worked him at 5.41pm on that band. I used 400 watts from the Acom 1000 linear which I have a loan of currently and it didn't take long to break the pile.

E51MAN (Bill N7UO) on Manihiki, North Cook Islands, was put into the EI2KC log for the second time, this time on 12m CW. I had to give him 400 watts and it took a while, and he was very light on the MA5B which is a rotary trap dipole on 12m, but I made it through. He had both Europeans and North Americans calling him. Yesterday evening I worked him on 10m CW at 17.58 with 150 watts. It was a brand new DXCC for me yesterday and now I have him on two bands.

This was followed shortly afterwards by E51CG on South Cook Islands on 10 metres SSB. This time I was running just 90 watts. I heard him working MI6CWC and figured he must be hearing Ireland so gave him a call and I was next in the log. South Cook Islands was a new one for me last month (Oct 23rd) when I worked Bill N7OU who was at that stage E51NOU on Raratonga. A month ago I had never worked E51-S. Now I have South Cook on four band slots.

PZ5T in Suriname was a new country on 12m when I worked him at 19.18 this evening with 300 watts.

VP2MWT in Montserrat was worked on 15m CW with just 100 watts as a new band slot at 19.50.

VP8LP, Bob in the Falklands, was a new DXCC on 20m when I nabbed him with 220 watts at 20.13.

And this was followed by XW3DT in Laos on 30m CW at 20.24, using 400 watts.  A week ago I worked XW3DT on 20m CW as a brand new DXCC so two band slots is nice.

It's November, but it feels like summer on the bands!

You might be puzzled as to the heading above, but let me be clear. This time last year there was no action to be had on 10 metres or 12 metres. 15 would close at sunset, and 17m might just stay open a while longer. Guys like me would arrive home from work - after dark - and find everything from 20m up closed.  Not so this year!

10 metres has been open as early as 8am. One morning this week I worked China on 10m CW at 8am. Nice. But the liveliness of the bands, and the wealth of DX available, shows just how much conditions have changed in recent months. This weekend has been no exception, with great openings around the world on 10 and 12.

This morning I called CQ DX on 10m SSB using 200 watts. I got a couple of VKs coming back, solid 5 and 9, like European stations. Then I ran a pile on 12m for the afternoon, mostly into the States, but also snagging a couple of new DXCC, like V51B in Namibia and 3A2MG in Monaco. The USA was bombing in on 12m SSB, where, with the help of a borrowed Acom 1000 linear amp, I was able to run 400 watts for the afternoon. There were many states worked during the session, including: WA, CA, UT, NH, SC, LA, PA, MO, MN, ID, CT, TX, WV, IL, NC, OH, FL, NM, GA, VA, AZ, AR, WI, NY, ME, MT, CO, NE . . . the list goes on and on.

To top it all off, I nabbed E51NOU, South Cook Islands, on 15m CW, a new one on that band, followed by ZK2V (Nieu) as an all-time new DXCC on 10m. I worked him with 75 watts on 10 m, and about 40 minutes later I got him on 15m CW with just 100 watts.

Now this is one I am very proud of!

I just received Logbook of the World QSL confirmation of a QSO I made on September 15th this year with VK9OL, Lord Howe Island. Celebrating his 75th birthday (and 60th year in ham radio) Merv N6NO was active from Lord Howe island as VK9OL between September 10-18, 2011. I was absolutely thrilled to get him into the log on September 15th on 30m CW. What particularly impressed me was that there wasn't a huge pile calling him, which gave me a better chance with my 100 watts and homebrew inverted V. I have also sent a direct QSL card to Merv and am looking forward to getting his card in return for this rare one. That brings to 183 my total number of DXCC confirmed via LoTW.

UPDATE: I just received a paper QSL from VK9OL with a note attached, saying that, out of 882 QSOs with Europe during his operation on Lord Howe Island, only two EIs made it into the log, and I was one of them!! Chuffed . . .

Just made my 10,000th QSO, and I'm licenced two years today

The FT-1000MP on the frequency where I worked VK6DXI

I just made my 10,000th QSO on the bands, and to make that milestone more significant, I am two years licenced today. I received my licence on October 30th, 2009.

What a tremendously exciting two years it's been. I have thoroughly enjoyed the hobby, and despite having limited space and small antennas, I have managed to work the world.

The 10,000th QSO was with VK6DXI on 10m SSB, something that simply wouldn't have been impossible a few months ago. Conditions are wonderful right now. QSO 9,999 was ZD8O, also on 10m SSB, a new country on that band.

Here are my current standings:

160m  63 worked  39 confirmed
80m    87 worked 57 confirmed
40m   146 worked 95 confirmed
30m   150 worked 93 confirmed
20m   194 worked 122 confirmed
17m   170 worked 92 confirmed
15m   154 worked 80 confirmed
12m   146 worked 82 confirmed
10m   131 worked 60 confirmed
6m     55 worked 34 confirmed

Overall: 233 worked 180 confirmed

Butternut back in action, and resonant on 80, 40 and 30

The new ground-mounted configuration

Following another recent wind storm in which the Butternut HFV6 was snapped again, I decided that I would reinstall it, but this time mounted in the ground. Because the short evenings have returned, the weekend is the only time this work can really be done now, so I tackled it today.

I found a piece of galvanise pipe which just happened to fit snugly into the bottom "mounting pole" of the Butternut, so I hammered this into the ground at the bottom of the garden using a lump hammer. If course this flattened the top of the pipe a bit so after a small amount of sanding I was able to slide the Butternut mounting pole down over it as far as ground level. Then the somewhat shortened Butternut (only about 3cm) was positioned onto the insulator and the Q Base Matching Coil was attached. I also ran one 25ft radial attached to the bottom connector of the Q coil. I know ideally I should have a decent ground system, but a small garden, coupled with the fact the Butternut is in a corner, coupled with the fact I have young kids, means that having wires running all around the garden is simply not practical.

Anyway, I did a small amount of guying work with 50kg fishing tackle, but will look at something more durable down the line. I made a couple of contacts on 80m and 40m after tuning with the FT-1000MP's internal ATU. But then I took it upon myself to do something I have not done properly before - to try to get the Butternut resonant on some of the bands!!

First I tackled 80m by adjusting the large 80m coil assembly to see if I could get a lower SWR somewhere in the middle of the band. As I use both CW and SSB it was not practical to flatten it at one end of the band or the other. I also compressed the Q Base Matching Coil significantly and this brought VSWR to about 1.6:1 on 3.690. Then I decided to try 40m and a small adjustment of the 40m coil gave me a VSWR of about 1.7:1 between 7.100 and 7.200. The SWR rises below this, to a 2:1 at 7.050 and 2.5:1 on 7.005. Not too bad, and nothing the tuner won't handle!!

Then it was onto 30m, where analysis found the Butternut was resonant on about 9.9Mhz. A quick read of the manual revealed that to raise the resonant frequency, the wing nut on the 30m coil assembly should be loosened and the coil stretched. This was done, although there was only a few centimetres available. I came back to the shack to find the antenna resonant without a tuner on the whole band (admittedly 30m is a narrow band). The VSWR reads about 1.3:1 over most of the band, but 1.4:1 at 10.100.

I later checked 20 metres only to find, to my delight, that the Butternut is resonant over the ENTIRE 20m band!!It is also quite flat on much of 15m, although it's 1.9:1 on 21.001 and 1.2:1 on 21.350.

Anyway, I am thrilled to have the Butternut back in action. Admittedly it has not had much use lately since the installation of the MA5B, and the Antron 99 is better on 12m and 10m where conditions have been great. But I have had nothing on 80m recently and missed a chance to work MU/PA9M on that band over the past few nights. So maybe I will nab some new ones on 80m again this winter. I currently have 87 DXCC worked. I would be thrilled to get over the 100 mark this winter.

In the meantime, I will let you know of any interesting contacts I make on the lower bands with the Butternut, which has seen over 20 years of action at various QTHs and is now on its third resurrection at this station!!

PS: Just ran a test with the Reverse Beacon Network on 30m. On the Butternut I was being received by TF3Y at 29dB snr and by KM3T at 9db. On the resonant inverted V I was 31dB with TF3Y and 12dB with KM3T. It's very marginal.

PPS: Worked Japan on 30m CW with the Butternut.

Video: Shack tour, IRTS QSL bureau, propagation