Author Archives: dh8bqa

ARRL-DX-CW 2018

Posted on February 20, 2018 by dh8bqa

Another contest in the books. 😉 Enjoyed operating the ARRL CW contest once more. Condx were not too good, i.e. 15 m only opened marginally and very spotty … Started about 4 hours into the contest but found even low … Continue reading →

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CQ WPX RTTY 2018

Posted on February 12, 2018 by dh8bqa

Just playing around a bit with the remote setup. Uwe, DL3BQA, was using our station on-site for a serious SOSB40 effort so I could only use 40 m when he was not QRV. Prior to the contest Heiko & Uwe … Continue reading →

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CQ WW 160 CW 2018

Posted on January 29, 2018 by dh8bqa

Time’s flying by that fast it’s incredible! Already end of January again and time for another CQ160 on CW. Participated in this one remotely again, about 600 W from my KPA500 into a 160 m “lazy loop” much too low … Continue reading →

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2017 summary & HNY

Posted on January 1, 2018 by dh8bqa

I haven’t been very active last year most of the time. I usually spend more time on the radio during summer to catch some Sporadic-E on the VHF bands, my favourite playground. Besides this it was mostly contesting but also … Continue reading →

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PJ4 QSL designs

Posted on December 14, 2017 by dh8bqa

As usual I do have some difficulties choosing the “right” QSL front side! 😀 I spent a few hours last evening designing them (and the back sides with small scene explanations, too). So now decided to order batches of 100 … Continue reading →

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ARRL-10M 2017

Posted on December 11, 2017 by dh8bqa

Another interesting contest in the books! Although (of course!) not comparable to results of past years during sunspot maximum it was way more fun than last year. 😎 Due to other commitments I had a late start on Saturday, first … Continue reading →

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Time to say good bye …

Posted on November 30, 2017 by dh8bqa

Well, time’s flying by so fast it’s amazing! We’ve dismantled both stations this morning and took down all of our (additional) antennas yesterday, too. Our two weeks trip (for Paul & Tom even three weeks!) is over already, what a … Continue reading →

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More “weird” feelings … ;-)

Posted on November 28, 2017 by dh8bqa

Well, actually I like that X-Mas decoration a lot! But it just does not feel right at 32°C! 😀

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After contest dinner tonight

Posted on November 27, 2017 by dh8bqa

Met with all the locals (PJ4DX, PJ4KY, PJ4NX) as well as the American guys being active from the PJ4G station (AD4ES, KU8E, K9ES) this evening to swap notes on our contest experiences and enjoy a nice dinner at Cuba Compagnie – … Continue reading →

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PJ4Y in CQ WWDX CW ’17

Posted on November 26, 2017 by dh8bqa

Lots of fun! Thanks to Peter, PJ4NX, for joining us as the 4th operator to make M/2 possible. Thanks to Scott, W4PA, and Steve, PJ4DX, for leaving up the Hexbeam as a second high band antenna after WWDX SSB a month ago. … Continue reading →

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Half-time on Bonaire

Posted on November 23, 2017 by dh8bqa

Being on the island for a week now I thought it might be nice to give a short update. We’re really enjoying ourselves. Usually doing a few contacts every morning (so far 3.000 QSOs in the log myself) then exploring … Continue reading →

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PJ4/DH8BQA on the air :-)

Posted on November 16, 2017 by dh8bqa

Indeed worked both Paul as well as Tom last weekend before I left! 😎 Now arrived safely on Bonaire. Great weather, great people, great food … already like it lot! Also did the first QSOs, feels good to be on … Continue reading →

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Active from PJ4 soon! :-)

Posted on November 8, 2017 by dh8bqa

This year we decided to visit Bonaire, PJ4, in the Dutch Caribbean for some holiday style DXpedition as well as participating in CQ WWDX CW at the end of the month. Paul, DL5CW, and Tom, DL5LYM, will travel to Bonaire … Continue reading →

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CQ WWDX SSB 2017

Posted on October 30, 2017 by dh8bqa

Well, this one was a real mixed experience! Got to the station Friday evening. Peter, DM5DX, was already there having some fun chasing all the different DXpeditions. After I had installed all of my stuff I turned on my K3 … Continue reading →

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WAG 2017

Posted on October 22, 2017 by dh8bqa

Handing out a few points taking it rather leisurely. Like last year CW-only as I still haven’t managed to cobble some voicekeyer solution together for the remote end. And that being the designer of the FA-SM and BX-184 voicekeyer kits, … Continue reading →

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ARRL 10M 2016 certificate surprise :-)

Posted on October 14, 2017 by dh8bqa

Unexpected letter from ARRL in the mail box today! 😎 I have to admit I didn’t look for the results of last year’s ARRL 10 m contest on the ARRL contest website during the past month’, I had simply forgotten … Continue reading →

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No luck after SCC RTTY log check :-(

Posted on October 10, 2017 by dh8bqa

Checking the SCC website today for updates on the results of August’s SCC RTTY Championship. It seems I made a few more errors in logging than LY5W as he’s now on 1st place while I was it when the claimed … Continue reading →

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CQ WW RTTY 2017

Posted on September 24, 2017 by dh8bqa

Uwe, DL3BQA, was going to attack the German SOSB20 record once more. So no other choice than doing 15 m for me, 80 & 40 m are still producing some QRM to 20 m, although the bandpass filters take quite … Continue reading →

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Major X9 solar flare – Aurora all around!

Posted on September 8, 2017 by dh8bqa

Wednesday saw a massive sun eruption not expected (especially that strong) being so far down the solar cycle already. In fact it has been the strongest solar flare in Cycle 24! spaceweatherlive.com has an interesting article about it. After hearing … Continue reading →

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SCC-RTTY 2017

Posted on August 27, 2017 by dh8bqa

After a very busy week of QRL in the Netherlands and (for a change) no other plans this weekend (summer weekends are usually quite crammed with activities) I decided to give the SCC-RTTY organized by the Slovenian Contest Club a … Continue reading →

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