Author Archives: dh8bqa

Caught the first 4 m ES today

Posted on May 20, 2017 by dh8bqa

Have caught the first 4m Sporadic E today since our special permit. Big signals but very spotty … Also made a few tropo contacts … feels good to be back on the band. 😎 —————————————————————— TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX … Continue reading →

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4 m allowed again in DL :-)

Posted on May 16, 2017 by dh8bqa

As of today we do have a special permit again to use 4 m in Germany! 😎 Same conditions as in 2015 apply, i.e. only 70.150 to 70.180 MHz, limited until 31.08. this year, a.s.o. Looking forward to a lot … Continue reading →

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More antenna work – 12/17 m dualband beam repaired

Posted on May 9, 2017 by dh8bqa

Picture showing Heiko, DG1BHA, remounting our 12/17 m dualband beam above the 4 ele 20 m Yagi. We took it down during the VHF contest, too, to remount the 12 m reflector which had fallen down. Also recalibrated it as … Continue reading →

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May VHF Contest – no surprises

Posted on May 7, 2017 by dh8bqa

Met with the guys in JO73. As we were only a few people and not much time upfront we decided to stay “home”, i.e. at the club station, instead of setting up on the local hilltop. So a quite relaxed … Continue reading →

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Surprising Aurora opening

Posted on March 27, 2017 by dh8bqa

Being back from the WPX-SSB tour to JO73 I checked QRL emails Monday afternoon to make sure it would not be too much when returning into the office on Tuesday. Being done I just had a quick look at the … Continue reading →

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Some antenna work this weekend, too

Posted on March 26, 2017 by dh8bqa

While doing the WPX-SSB Heiko, DG1BHA, was also there to do some antenna work. Weather was fine and he had already done a bit of work the days before, i.e. mounting a cable tray along the big chimney so we … Continue reading →

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CQ WPX SSB 2017

Posted on March 26, 2017 by dh8bqa

Yet another contest done. Wanted to go for a serious 15 m single band entry as 20 m is just too crowded during low sunspot times (no chance to hold a frequency with legal limit and a 4 ele Yagi!) … Continue reading →

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ARRLDX-CW 2017

Posted on February 20, 2017 by dh8bqa

Another contest in the books. Condx were quite okay but I had the feeling activity was way down compared to previous years. Might as well have been the condx, had the impression they didn’t allow for more than tier 1 and … Continue reading →

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CQ WPX RTTY 2017

Posted on February 13, 2017 by dh8bqa

Spent a little time in WPX-RTTY last weekend. Uwe, DL3BQA, was going for a serious effort on 20 m thus I could only do 15 m during the day as the 40 m antenna is too close and giving interference … Continue reading →

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CQ WW 160 CW 2017

Posted on January 31, 2017 by dh8bqa

Second contest of the year. I really start liking the 160 m CW contests, lots of activity. 😎 It’s probably about time to plan some serious entries and especially good low band antennas! While our full-size Lazy Loop works great … Continue reading →

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SARTG-HNY-RTTY 2017

Posted on January 2, 2017 by dh8bqa

First of all Happy New Year to all of my blog readers! Hope you had an enjoyable holiday, we certainly did. 😎 Wishing all of you all the best for 2017, lots of QSOs and DX and might the propagation … Continue reading →

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Year-end tropo

Posted on December 30, 2016 by dh8bqa

Coming back from a Christmas trip to JO73 yesterday, December 29, driving westwards to Cologne (JO30) we enjoyed a very nice sunset. Sky was crystal blue, sun was shining and turning everything into dark when setting with a slight flicker … Continue reading →

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ARRL 10 Meter Contest 2016

Posted on December 13, 2016 by dh8bqa

ARRL10M – one of my favourite contests! Nothing big to be expected during sunspot minimum, of course, nevertheless always fun and a nice opportunity for some propagation studies. 😎 Time I could spend last weekend was limited to a few … Continue reading →

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Small tropo opening …

Posted on November 29, 2016 by dh8bqa

Speaking of last weekend being in the middle of a rather boring CQWW CW contest I couldn’t resist switching to 2 m Saturday morning after seeing some DX spots on the cluster showing tropo between the UK and Northern Franconia as … Continue reading →

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CQ WWDX CW ’16

Posted on November 29, 2016 by dh8bqa

I had planned to drive the 700 km to the station for CQWW CW last weekend but QRL thwarted my plans and I had to sacrifice Friday/Monday which were planned for travelling. Therefor only played SOSB15 remotely … CONDX sucked! … Continue reading →

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CQ WWDX SSB ’16

Posted on October 31, 2016 by dh8bqa

As mentioned in my WAG blog post I was not sure what to do in CQ WW SSB. We usually do 2-3 Single Band entries in the big SSB contests altering year by year who has the first band choice. … Continue reading →

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WAG ’16

Posted on October 16, 2016 by dh8bqa

Due to private and work committments I didn’t have a chance to go the 700 km to the station this time therefor only handed out some points remotely. Nothing set up for voice contesting on the remote thus a CW only entry. Took … Continue reading →

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CQ WWDX RTTY 2016

Posted on September 26, 2016 by dh8bqa

Time for another contest entry! Due to rather bad condx Uwe, DL3BQA, was going to take part as SOSB20. I wanted to do a pseudo SOAB again, i.e. all bands except 20 m, but some interference between 40 and 20 … Continue reading →

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P4ØFA – WPX RTTY 15 m World Win Plaque received :-)

Posted on September 3, 2016 by dh8bqa

Nice surprise in the postbox yesterday: Finally my first contest plaque! 😎 Many thanks to Steve, K4FJ, for his sponsorship as well as Ed, WØYK, who manages the contest and took care of mailing it. It will definitely find a … Continue reading →

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ARRL Centennial Points Challenge Award … again

Posted on August 26, 2016 by dh8bqa

Very astonished to receive a letter from ARRL today. It had another ARRL Centennial Points Challenge Award inside looking a tad differently than the one I had applied for and received over a year ago. Seems ARRL sent out awards … Continue reading →

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