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Author Archives: dh8bqa
Tropo shifting
The high pressure system is moving to the North-East. So just one QSO to Scotland still in the morning and nothing during the day but I also had to concentrate on QRL again. 😉 In the evening it was Scandinavia … Continue reading
Posted in Propagation, Tropo, VHF
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Tropo still
Still pretty stable signals from Northern U.K. today. GI4SNA was pounding in all day long, amazing. Early evening EI2GLB popped up but was in & out only on FT8 but I finally caught him and thus crossing the 1.400 km … Continue reading
Posted in Propagation, Tropo, VHF
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Tropo continues
Tropo condx continued today. There were some long distance contacts reported to the East in the morning, too, but only UR4WWT heard and worked over here which is pretty much normal tropo range (worked him several times on CW in … Continue reading
Posted in Propagation, Tropo, VHF
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Tropo
Finally with a stable high pressure system across the North Sea and nice autumn weather (one month later we would call it a Golden October, hi) we got a little tropo, too. Not well suited here in JO73, it’s much … Continue reading
Posted in Propagation, Tropo, VHF
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WPX-CW ’19 World Win Plaque
Nice surprise when getting back home today. The plaque for winning the world on 10 m in WPX-CW last year [1][2][3] (a once in a lifetime event from here) was finally received. 😎 Doug, K1DG, managing the plaque program of … Continue reading
Posted in Awards, Contesting
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Perseids final
My final day being active in this year’s Perseids. Seems there was a second peak (or THE peak?) of meteor activity this morning. My gut feeling is the shower is still not on par with recent years. There were very … Continue reading
Posted in Meteor Scatter, Propagation, VHF
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More new ones thanks to the meteors
Did we see the Perseids maximum already? Predictions suggested it would be early morning 12 August. The screenshot right (click to enlarge) seems to confirm it. If the maximum is over already it has indeed been the worst Perseids I … Continue reading
Posted in Meteor Scatter, Propagation, VHF
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MS condx slowly improving
Besides playing with the satellites MS conditions improved a bit, too. Still way below usual for Perseids but at least three QSOs above 2.000 km already and three new squares with LO31, LN19 and IM79. 😎 Tried a little on … Continue reading
Posted in Meteor Scatter, Propagation, VHF
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Working the birds …
Started playing with the satellite function of our IC-9700 during the last few days to escape the boredom of too few MS reflections. 😉 I made my first satellite QSOs back in 1992 not much later than getting my first … Continue reading
Posted in Audio recordings, Satellite, UHF, VHF
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Quite a slow start
Not many reflections yet. A few long and strong ones as I produced at RQ3P (see screenshot) but still much less than we’re used to from earlier years. Usually spending most of my time on MS beaming East. Activity by … Continue reading
Posted in Meteor Scatter, Propagation, VHF
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Perseids have started
It was quite quiet on the blog here during the last few days and weeks. Not much time to play radio but as one of the most intense Meteor Showers of the year is approaching I decided to take a … Continue reading
Posted in Meteor Scatter, Propagation, VHF
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DARC July VHF Contest ’20
Oh boy. Seems this is the third year in a row to complain. 😀 Indeed conditions have been even worse than during the last few years. Saturday had such bad condx I could not even hear the big guns from … Continue reading
Posted in Contesting, VHF
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A band-pass filter for 144 MHz
To cure our severe RFI issue described in one of my recent blog posts I decided to order an 144 MHz BPF. Found it on Ebay first but finally ordered from the seller’s Italian web shop directly and saved another … Continue reading
Posted in Equipment, Stubs & filters, VHF
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Rare 2 m ES to the Northeast
Arrived early afternoon at the station today. Wanted to prepare a few things for the VHF contest this weekend and was monitoring the bands, of course. Thus no surprise I caught another short 2 m ES opening, this time to … Continue reading
Posted in Propagation, Sporadic E, VHF
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New squares on 4 m
A few single QSOs during the last few days only. A little longer opening to the Balkans today on 70 MHz providing two new squares with JN85 and KN06! 😎 Both are well under 1.000 km so needing a higher … Continue reading
Posted in Propagation, Sporadic E, VHF
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Sporadic-E on 2 m again
Not very active during the last 2 weeks. Either no condx or me being too busy with QRL stuff. Just caught two smaller 4 m openings last Sunday (June 14) to Finland in the morning and Greece in the afternoon … Continue reading
Posted in Propagation, Sporadic E, VHF
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A new square on 6 m & some thoughts
Only one QSO today: TA7OM from KN80 providing square #690 on 50 MHz. Despite this I haven’t done much on 6 m this season yet. Seems I somehow lost interest in the band as almost all activity has shifted to … Continue reading
Posted in Propagation, Sporadic E, VHF
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Finland on 4 m
A short opening to Finland this morning, doesn’t happen too often. KP13 for a new square, now #206. All references for OH8JGG show KP24AE as his locator but he was clearly sending KP23 himself so will probably have to wait … Continue reading
Posted in Propagation, Sporadic E, VHF
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Chasing down our RFI issue – success!
Spent some time with Heiko, DG1BHA, and Uwe, DL3BQA, chasing down our RFI issue this afternoon that I had reported about in my WPX-SSB blog post. Some systematic testing revealed that it’s worse with a modified TS-590 transmitting on 15 … Continue reading
Posted in Equipment, Stubs & filters
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OY – Faröer Islands #45 on 70 MHz
Another new country in the log on 4 m and square #205! 😎 Glad to catch him this morning, had heard him a few days ago already but no luck back then. This time skip fitted perfectly so easy going. … Continue reading
Posted in Propagation, Sporadic E, VHF
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