Author Archives: dh8bqa

CQ WPX CW ’20

Posted on June 1, 2020 by dh8bqa

Well, I felt a bit uneasy before this one. There was a small tipps & tricks section in last week’s BCC newsletter about the upcoming WPX-CW contest and being interviewed I said there’s a 70% chance of good Sporadic-E conditions … Continue reading →

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Another 2 m Sporadic-E …

Posted on May 31, 2020 by dh8bqa

Being active in the WPX-CW contest this weekend (report to follow) I monitored 2 m in parallel and caught another ES opening. 😎 —————————————————————— TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB —————————————————————— 15:25 EA6VQ JM19MP -08 -02 2 … Continue reading →

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Best VHF-DX day ever!

Posted on May 29, 2020 by dh8bqa

I’ve been active on the VHF bands for almost 30 years now and certainly experienced one or another great VHF-DX day. But what we experienced today certainly deserves the definition as “Best VHF-DX day ever”! The 6, 4 & 2 … Continue reading →

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Another 2 m ES opening

Posted on May 27, 2020 by dh8bqa

Another short ES opening this morning! Not positioned favourably, signals very much in & out, but some QSOs made at least: —————————————————————— TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB —————————————————————— 08:49 UA4ALU LN29LA -17 -05 2 m. FT8 … Continue reading →

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First 2 m ES / 4 m to the UK

Posted on May 26, 2020 by dh8bqa

Glad to catch my first 2 m Sporadic-E this year! Marginal opening to UA6 from here, FT8 had to deliver. 😉 LN26 was a new square, #587. Almost missed the opening! Was sitting on the balcony sipping my morning coffee … Continue reading →

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Great VHF day!

Posted on May 25, 2020 by dh8bqa

Great day on VHF today! First QSO was with RD4AN in LN19 on 6 m. A new square, of course, as operation on 50 MHz in Russia is officially not yet allowed as far as I know. There were a … Continue reading →

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Patchy 70 MHz openings today

Posted on May 24, 2020 by dh8bqa

A few patchy openings this morning. Great to see the first double hop ES that early in the season! Looking at the differences between sent and received reports I feel I probably need more power! 😉 —————————————————————— TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR … Continue reading →

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Sporadic-E season hast started

Posted on May 23, 2020 by dh8bqa

Time to dedust the station. 😉 Didn’t do much (not to say nothing) during the last few weeks. But being a VHF addict as you know it’s time to pay more attention to the radio from mid-May for possible Sporadic-E … Continue reading →

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CQ WPX RTTY 2019 Plaque received :-)

Posted on May 12, 2020 by dh8bqa

Another very nice surprise in the post box today! 😎 Many thanks to Sid, NH7C, for the plaque sponsorship!

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CQ WPX SSB ’20

Posted on March 30, 2020 by dh8bqa

Initially I wanted to drive to the station but motivation was rather low so only handed out a few points remotely last weekend. Spent most of Saturday afternoon on 10 m with some Sporadic-E to CT/EA and prolongation of propagation … Continue reading →

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Russian DX Contest ’20

Posted on March 23, 2020 by dh8bqa

Well, it’s been a while since I last participated in Russian DX (must have been 5 or 6 years ago). Motivation was not very high this time, either. Lots of work after a second change of QRL within a few … Continue reading →

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ARRL DX CW ’20

Posted on February 17, 2020 by dh8bqa

After having just received the world winner plaque for my last year’s V37DX entry in ARRL DX CW it was of course a question of honour to take part this year, too. 😉 I probably “wasted” too much time searching … Continue reading →

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CQ WPX RTTY ’20

Posted on February 9, 2020 by dh8bqa

Second contest this year and again RTTY. Hope I’m not getting old. 😉 Motivation was not that high. As our temporary 80 m Groundplane is still up Uwe, DL3BQA, was going for a serious 80 m single band entry from … Continue reading →

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ARRL DX CW 2019 Plaque received :-)

Posted on January 23, 2020 by dh8bqa

Very happy opening the post box today! Brings back very nice memories immediately and looks great on the wall, too. 😎

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Another January Tropo

Posted on January 21, 2020 by dh8bqa

Again some tropo, this time also fitting for JO73. 🙂 Forecast showed some possible condx for yesterday already but nothing over here while the colleagues in JO64 could already work some DX. Today sigs came up over here, too. Signals … Continue reading →

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ARRL RTTY Roundup

Posted on January 5, 2020 by dh8bqa

The ARRL RTTY Roundup is one of the favourite contests of Uwe, DL3BQA. So he’s usually taking part for a serious entry from our station. Unfortunately he couldn’t make it at all this year so I took the chance to … Continue reading →

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VHF condx around the turn of the year

Posted on January 5, 2020 by dh8bqa

There were some great tropo openings between 28th December and 5th January, just not here. 🙁 😉 Besides the usual path between EA and G it also opened between EA and PA/ON + West-DL, then extended up to OZ/SM6 and … Continue reading →

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The NECG X-MAS Event

Posted on December 28, 2019 by dh8bqa

It’s been an over 20 years old tradition now: We meet up with the NECG (North Eastern Contest Gang) members every 27.12. for a small party, recalling the past, meeting friends and their families, making future plans, a.s.o. I did … Continue reading →

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ARRL-10M ’19 … or a Meteor Scatter Contest ;-)

Posted on December 17, 2019 by dh8bqa

One would think it’s total nonsense to struggle through a 48 hours contest for only 250 QSOs. Except, you are a bit crazy and/or a total fan of the 10 m band. Well, I’m probably both! 😀 On the other … Continue reading →

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More youthwork …

Posted on December 8, 2019 by dh8bqa

Time for part 2 today. As I mentioned in my recent blog post I bought two small kits for some more solder fun with Annika. She built up the second one today, a small blinking christmas tree. Meanwhile she’s soldering … Continue reading →

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