Author Archives: dh8bqa

STEW PERRY TBDC 2015

After being at the station anyway I decided to take some time to also install my RRC-Micro again which was just laying around after some initial tests and a review in FUNKAMATEUR magazine a few years ago. I really do … Continue reading

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Fixing issues: Remote Ops VDSL internet connection

As you know my station at home is remote controllable. I’ve been doing remote ops for 7 years now and the station’s (remote) capabilities have been constantly expanded throughout all the time. One major change I did was installing a … Continue reading

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Santa’s early Christmas present: ufb Aurora again

Oh boy, what a great VHF DX day today! Already late morning there were spots on the DX cluster reporting Aurora QSOs some 2.500 to 3.500 km east from here, i.e. between UA4 and UA9. It did not look like we … Continue reading

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Meteors & Northern Lights …

Besides handing out a few QSOs in the ARRL-10M contest last weekend I also spent some time on VHF as the Geminids meteor shower was around. It almost always coincides with the 10 m contest so one can share time … Continue reading

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ARRL-10M 2015

Condx not very good so did not plan to put in a full effort and had some other weekend duties, too. Spent some time Saturday morning but except a few UA9’s there was nothing to be worked on the north-eastern … Continue reading

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ARRL-160M & 10M-RTTY

Not much time recently but managed to do a few QSOs in these two single band contests on the opposite ends of the HF (contest) spectrum this weekend. Seems condx were quite nice Saturday morning during ARRL-160M judging from cluster spots … Continue reading

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CQ WW CW 2015

Condx sucked, especially on Saturday. Worked just 35 JAs in the morning and barely half a dozen zone 3 stations in the afternoon, to name results for the two most difficult path’. A bit better on Sunday with 100 JAs and … Continue reading

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WAE-RTTY 2015

Part time participation when-ever I had a few minutes time. Condx could have been better but QTCs sure were fun! 😎 More serious entry during CQWW CW planned … WAE DX Contest, RTTY Call: DH8BQA Class: Single Op HP QTH: … Continue reading

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Marconi Memorial Contest … and QRV on 2 m again

Just seeing I didn’t report on this blog that my 2 m PA used for remote ops had failed. 🙁 It happened right after the early October tropo. Returning from taking a nap on 4 October when switching on the amp … Continue reading

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New QSL design

Needed to order some new QSLs so invested a bit of time to do a new design, too. QSO details are printed directly onto the card (up to 5 QSOs per card as currently configured) using DF3CB’s BV7, alternatively I … Continue reading

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CQWW SSB 2015

After condx went up dramatically during the last few days my decision to do the contest on 10 m was quite clear. Of course I did not expect to do as many QSOs as during the last few years but … Continue reading

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Surprising tropo again!

Well, neither the weather nor the Tropo forecast (see picture) did look like we would get a big lift but Friday early afternoon it really happend – EA1MX appeared on 2 m here in Northeastern Germany! Would not have thought … Continue reading

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Upcoming WWDX-SSB and choice of bands …

As you know Uwe, DL3BQA, and myself share the station during the bigger HF contests doing single band entries (two guys is just not enough for a serious multi op entry). As written in my WAG report below we wanted … Continue reading

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WAG as DKØWRTC

I took the chance to activate the DKØWRTC special call during the Worked All Germany contest last weekend. Focus was on maximizing QSO count thus not paying any attention to multipliers. Certainly not the right strategy to win a contest but … Continue reading

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Fantastic tropo, few QSOs

Already on Wednesday when looking at the weather forecast I had the gut feeling there was something to come. The F5LEN Tropo Forecast said so, too, so I was eager to see how VHF condx would evolve. Unfortunately Uwe, DL3BQA, … Continue reading

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CQ WW RTTY 2015

Wow, this was kinda addictive! After I didn’t like it much last year it was indeed great fun to operate the CQ WW RTTY this year. By tradition the contest is reserved for Uwe, DL3BQA. As condx were rather poor … Continue reading

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A few QSOs in this weekend’s SAC-CW

First time switching on my own equipment after some 3 weeks. Spent 2 hours last night on 80 m working the Scandinavian Activity Contest on CW. For Non-Scandinavian stations it’s pretty much a Search & Pounce contest only. Thank god for skimmers! … Continue reading

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CQ WW 160 SSB winning certificate received

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DLØWRTC IARU-VHF 2015

This time no portable ops! The usual DFØFA suspects had no time so we ran short of operators and decided to stay at the club station and activate DLØWRTC a bit to promote WRTC 2018 in Germany and handing out the special DOK … Continue reading

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SCC-RTTY

After I had some fun participating part time in last year’s SCC RTTY Championship and even won a PDF certificate 😉 I put a marker in the contest calendar for this year. Unfortunately condx were really bad and I did not have … Continue reading

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