Author Archives: dh8bqa

Small Aurora opening

Posted on August 27, 2015 by dh8bqa

Caught a small Aurora opening when returning home from QRL. Sorrily nil on 4 m agn … —————————————————————— TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB —————————————————————— 17:52 SM4IVE JO79SD 59A 55A 2 m. CW AUR 667 17:54 LA3BO … Continue reading →

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The Late Night Show on 4 m

Posted on August 16, 2015 by dh8bqa

Surprisingly 4 m opened late at night last night! Probably not many expecting such a late time opening that late in the Sporadic-E season thus activity was rather low and not many QSOs done. But good to catch IO94 for … Continue reading →

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Worst Perseids ever?

Posted on August 14, 2015 by dh8bqa

Well, I’ve been doing Meteor Scatter on & off for the last 20 years and observed quite a few Perseids meteor showers. My feeling is this year was the worst shower ever! In fact the usual slow rise in meteor … Continue reading →

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QSL of the month? QSL of the year! ;-)

Posted on August 12, 2015 by dh8bqa

Nice surprise opening the post box this morning: EA8 on 2m terrestrial confirmed. 😎   

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Late season Sporadic-E on 2 m

Posted on August 9, 2015 by dh8bqa

Playing around on 6, 4 & 2 m this weekend but Perseids meteor shower not picking up yet. There was a big ES cloud Sunday morning with MUF up to 144 MHz above Eastern Europe but too far away to … Continue reading →

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IOTA ’15

Posted on July 26, 2015 by dh8bqa

Rather bad condx! Neither had time nor motivation to do much more so basically just handing out a few QSOs and points every now and then. Need to plan to go on an island myself next year maybe, certainly much … Continue reading →

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W1AW WAS plaque received

Posted on July 18, 2015 by dh8bqa

Nice surprise in the post box today. So the last award I had applied for from the ARRL Centennial celebration activities finally arrived here, too. It already got a prominent place on the shack wall. 😉 Still have fond memories, … Continue reading →

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IARU HF World Championship ’15

Posted on July 12, 2015 by dh8bqa

Just handing out a few points, no time and – to be honest – no pleasure this time, don’t ask me why. Maybe the summer doldrums or just being in VHF mood currently. 😉 Also recognized our 80 m dipole has a problem, … Continue reading →

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HBØ – Liechtenstein #137 on 6 m … and 2 m ES again

Posted on July 8, 2015 by dh8bqa

Got a phone call by Sandro’s (DD3SP) wife Yvonne around 15z passing his best regards and telling me to “move my butt out of the office, hurry home and join the Sporadic E fun on 4 & 2 m”. 😉 Luckily I … Continue reading →

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July VHF contest 2015

Posted on July 5, 2015 by dh8bqa

Not been much active lately … QRL, QRL, QRL. So it was good to get out of all the business stuff for a few hours this weekend and free up my mind. 😎 Condx were rather average, didn’t recognize any of … Continue reading →

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Missed all the fun … had different fun! ;-)

Posted on June 28, 2015 by dh8bqa

Just back from Friedrichshafen visiting the HAMRADIO fair. Seems I missed all the fun on 6, 4 & 2 m. All three bands have been wide open 3 days in a row and Sandro, DD3SP, reported working lots of QSOs … Continue reading →

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More 4 m and a nice one hour Sporadic-E opening on 2 m

Posted on June 22, 2015 by dh8bqa

Arriving from QRL seemed to be just in time this evening! Switching on the radio I heard Geoff, EA5/G3XGS, on 4 m and grabbed him easily for a new square. Looking at LiveMUF by Dave, G7RAU, it seemed to be … Continue reading →

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Great fun on four, frustration on 6 m today

Posted on June 21, 2015 by dh8bqa

Six had been wide open all over Europe the whole morning. Except a weak D4C via double-hop ES who provided a new square (had wkd D4 in HK86 before but HK76 was new) there was nothing interesting at all. So … Continue reading →

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EA8 – Canary Islands #65 on 2 m – 3.700 km terrestrial!

Posted on June 16, 2015 by dh8bqa

During the great 4 m opening tonight I saw the MUF rising slowly. Later first QSOs were reported on 2 m between G/GW/EI and the Mediterranean and when I saw ES geometry should be right I switched over to 2 m. … Continue reading →

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Fantastic 4 m opening tonight!

Posted on June 16, 2015 by dh8bqa

Was a bit late out of QRL again today (19 o’clock) but the first thing to do when arriving home during the summer is to switch on the rig and check for ES conditions. 😉 Seems the 4 m band … Continue reading →

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FW – Wallis & Futuna Islands #305

Posted on June 13, 2015 by dh8bqa

Well, I finally defeated my “nemesis”! 😀 I have been chasing Jean-Jaques, FW5JJ, for a few month’ now. Whenever he was QRV we either had no propagation (it’s a difficult path almost directly over the Northpole) or if he was … Continue reading →

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OJ0 – Market Reef #64 on 2 m

Posted on June 10, 2015 by dh8bqa

Not very active after returning from holidays, QRL taking its toll. Besides this 6 and 4 m haven’t been very active, too. There were a few openings but if I was there in the evenings I was either too close … Continue reading →

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W1AW portable WAS correct now :-)

Posted on June 6, 2015 by dh8bqa

Holidays are over. 🙁 But opening the mailbox today I found a letter from ARRL HQ containing a small envelope with the missing endorsement stickers. 😎 So my “W1AW WAS Award” is finally correct and reflects all the hard work … Continue reading →

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More 70 MHz Sporadic-E

Posted on June 4, 2015 by dh8bqa

“Four” opened up again this afternoon and evening. Seemed very patchy most of the time although Malta, 9H, proved to be the ES hotspot again, the guys were in & out for several hours! Just wished activity would be a … Continue reading →

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Double hop Sporadic-E into EA8 on 4 m

Posted on June 3, 2015 by dh8bqa

Wow, what a great day! It didn’t look too promising during the morning. There was a nice ES cloud with MUFs up into the 80-90 MHz but too close, i.e. just 250 km east above SP2. Nevertheless I went to … Continue reading →

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