DH8BQA

(No) Perseids this year …

Posted on August 15, 2021 by dh8bqa

Only made two QSOs on August 9, 2021. Worked R2OA/KO91 and special event station ES9ØFA/KO49, both on MSK144 mode. Just not enough time to play with the meteors this year …

Posted in Meteor Scatter, Propagation, VHF | Comments Off

Wow! Almost 100 QSOs in one-and-a-half-days on 2m outside of contests must mean there was something special. And indeed it was, we had some nice tropo across the North Sea again, this time on a more northerly path so the typical mid-summer “water tropo” (as long as meteorological conditions fit) could play out it’s full potential. 🙂

It all started yesterday in the evening. After last weeks small tropo lift I kept checking the F5LEN forecast more regularly and predictions looked promising. So called CQ every now and then and finally GM4SJB/IO88 heard me and we could easily work. Later on old friend Jim, GM4FVM/IO85, made it into the log, too. 😎

------------------------------------------------------------------
TIME   CALLSIGN      LOCATOR   TX    RX    BAND  MODE   PROP.  QRB
------------------------------------------------------------------
21:12  GM4SJB        IO88BA   -11   -06    2 m.  FT8    TR    1251
21:19  G4BAO         JOØ2CG   -10   -19    2 m.  FT8    TR     946
21:36  GM4FVM        IO85WU   -15   -06    2 m.  FT8    TR    1092
22:02  G4GFI         IO91VH   -16   -08    2 m.  FT8    TR    1001
------------------------------------------------------------------

Today was even better. Besides Scotland the lift shifted a bit southwards, too, allowing a lot of contacts into England as well as western and northern France (surprise, surprise). But the icing on the cake certainly was working Northern Ireland as the ODX.

------------------------------------------------------------------
TIME   CALLSIGN      LOCATOR   TX    RX    BAND  MODE   PROP.  QRB
------------------------------------------------------------------
07:21  F5DRD         JO1ØGA   -06   -05    2 m.  FT8    TR     878
07:46  F1NQP         JN19GL   -16   -06    2 m.  FT8    TR     908
07:56  F6EAS         IN98LV   -18   -11    2 m.  FT8    TR    1165
07:59  F1NDO         JN19FM   -20   -10    2 m.  FT8    TR     910
12:50  GMØHQG        IO88JW   -02   -01    2 m.  FT8    TR    1250
15:01  GØSYP         IO83TK   -13   -12    2 m.  FT8    TR    1099
15:16  G4DHF         IO92UU   -07   -16    2 m.  FT8    TR     969
15:19  MØCVX         IO93XB   -13   -19    2 m.  FT8    TR     949
16:21  GM6VXB        IO97AQ   -16   -04    2 m.  FT8    TR    1132
16:28  G4KUX         IO94BP   +06   +04    2 m.  FT8    TR    1063
16:33  G4PLZ         JOØ2PT   -09   +01    2 m.  FT8    TR     864
17:00  MØCVX         IO93XB   -16   -07    2 m.  FT8    TR     949
18:28  G4EZT         IO92CE   -12   +08    2 m.  FT8    TR    1082
18:46  G4AEP         IO91MB   -18   -11    2 m.  FT8    TR    1059
18:50  F4EMG         JOØØWU   -23   -10    2 m.  FT8    TR     881
18:53  F4FWT         JOØØXU   -10   -01    2 m.  FT8    TR     876
19:00  G3YDY         JOØ1FQ   -16   -20    2 m.  FT8    TR     945
19:04  GØJCC         IO82MA   -10   -04    2 m.  FT8    TR    1163
19:05  G3NSM         IO91IS   -04   -08    2 m.  FT8    TR    1059
19:14  G8JLY         IO82WG   -12   -08    2 m.  FT8    TR    1102
19:14  GØBNR         IO92WL   -17   -09    2 m.  FT8    TR     964
19:18  F5APQ         JOØØVW   -11   -05    2 m.  FT8    TR     883
19:19  G4TRA         IO81WN   -18   -16    2 m.  FT8    TR    1120
19:32  GM4SJB        IO88BA   -12   -04    2 m.  FT8    TR    1251
19:49  G4YHF         IO92XW   -19   -02    2 m.  FT8    TR     951
19:52  GW7SMV        IO81LN   -21   -12    2 m.  FT8    TR    1181
19:54  GØXDI         IO91RQ   -16   -19    2 m.  FT8    TR    1011
19:57  MØIOY         IO93QO   -20   -22    2 m.  FT8    TR     983
20:12  G3YKI         IO82QL   -17   -19    2 m.  FT8    TR    1131
20:39  G8TTI         IO81WM   -13   -10    2 m.  FT8    TR    1122
20:41  MØPNN         IO82TS   -17   -13    2 m.  FT8    TR    1108
20:45  G8REM         IO93TP   -18   -14    2 m.  FT8    TR     966
20:48  G3PWJ         IO82WK   -13   +09    2 m.  FT8    TR    1098
21:01  MØBUL         IO82NG   -22   -10    2 m.  FT8    TR    1152
21:04  GI4SNA        IO64XM   -07   -04    2 m.  FT8    TR    1331
21:19  GØJJG         JOØ2ME   -22   -13    2 m.  FT8    TR     893
21:28  MØKKM         JOØ2EO   -16   -10    2 m.  FT8    TR     928
21:33  GØCUZ         IO82WM   -16   -19    2 m.  FT8    TR    1096
21:51  M7REV         IO82SP   -15   -11    2 m.  FT8    TR    1116
21:53  MØNPT         IO92KX   -12   -04    2 m.  FT8    TR    1022
21:58  GI6ATZ        IO74AJ   -15   -08    2 m.  FT8    TR    1326
22:07  G8GXP         IO93FQ   -09   -16    2 m.  FT8    TR    1042
22:15  MØSLY         IO93VS   -12   -10    2 m.  FT8    TR     954
22:20  GX3WSC        IO91VC   -13   -18    2 m.  FT8    TR    1008
22:25  G8GXP         IO93FQ   -02   -08    2 m.  FT8    TR    1042
22:45  GM1BAN        IO88GO   -14   -07    2 m.  FT8    TR    1250
------------------------------------------------------------------

In total 96 QSOs were made on 2 m, 50 of them being over 800 km! The following map shows all QSOs worked during the two day tropo opening (including the odd ones):

Tropo QSOs made July 22-23, 2021

Posted in Propagation, Tropo, VHF | Comments Off

Some tropo for a change ;-)

Posted on July 16, 2021 by dh8bqa

After all these great Sporadic-E openings we had a small Tropo lift to the UK this morning. Predictions showed some enhancements across the North Sea that probably helped although most of the path from JO73 to the UK is over land. Besides a number of Dutch and Belgian stations these UK fellows were worked:

------------------------------------------------------------------
TIME   CALLSIGN      LOCATOR   TX    RX    BAND  MODE   PROP.  QRB
------------------------------------------------------------------
07:20  G4NBS         JOØ2AF   -03   -04    2 m.  FT8    TR     958
07:24  GØXDI         IO91RQ   -05   -11    2 m.  FT8    TR    1011
07:52  G4PLZ         JOØ2PT   -06   -05    2 m.  FT8    TR     864
08:16  GØPQO         IO92UA   -15   -16    2 m.  FT8    TR     986
09:48  G4SWX         JOØ2RF   +13   +14    2 m.  FT8    TR     864
11:48  M1BTR         JOØ3BI   -17   -07    2 m.  FT8    TR     935
------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted in Propagation, Tropo, VHF | Comments Off

Another massive 2 m opening (just too close)

Posted on July 11, 2021 by dh8bqa

Another massive 2 m ES opening this afternoon! But as you can see from the MUF map I’ve been too close to it. Nevertheless managed a few QSOs during a short 15 minutes opening when the MUF was high enough, i.e. well above 170 MHz, to allow contacts on shorter distances around 1.300 km. Even made one QSO just above 1.000 km which is really rare! 😎

------------------------------------------------------------------
TIME   CALLSIGN      LOCATOR   TX    RX    BAND  MODE   PROP.  QRB
------------------------------------------------------------------
16:19  F5JJA         JNØ8GM   -13   +16    2 m.  FT8    ES    1088
16:22  GU6EFB        IN89RK   -01   +10    2 m.  FT8    ES    1233
16:24  F6DBI         IN88IJ   +17   +05    2 m.  FT8    ES    1336
16:27  F4EUG         IN88GH   -06   +00    2 m.  FT8    ES    1351
16:34  F6EGD         IN88IT   -19   -04    2 m.  FT8    ES    1313
------------------------------------------------------------------

Enjoyed a really great half-hour SSB pile-up of UK callers on 4 m afterwards. I do love these openings! 😎

Posted in Propagation, Sporadic E, VHF | Comments Off

ES on 144 MHz & DXCC #50 on 70 MHz

Posted on July 8, 2021 by dh8bqa

Early morning opening on 2 m to the west! 😎 More UK on 4 m afterwards. Worked 4X1TI/KM71 at 8:25z who provided DXCC #50 on 70 MHz. 😎 W4IMD/EM84 on 6 m at noon. More 4 m to EA/EA6 in the afternoon. MUF moving up to 2 m for a half-hour opening, taking a break for half an hour, then opening again for another half an hour, this time to south-west France and north-east Spain:

------------------------------------------------------------------
TIME   CALLSIGN      LOCATOR   TX    RX    BAND  MODE   PROP.  QRB
------------------------------------------------------------------
07:17  EI3KD         IO51VW   +23   +01    2 m.  FT8    ES    1515
07:32  GW1JFV        IO71LT   +02   +32    2 m.  FT8    ES    1308
------------------------------------------------------------------
14:45  EA6SA         JM19LO   -14   +01    2 m.  FT8    ES    1734
14:59  EA6XQ         JM19LH   -10   -16    2 m.  FT8    ES    1763
15:11  EA3BT         JNØ1UF   +21   -07    2 m.  FT8    ES    1625
------------------------------------------------------------------
15:46  F6EXG         JN33OR   +01   +03    2 m.  FT8    ES    1170
15:51  F1NSR         JN33JK   +07   +04    2 m.  FT8    ES    1213
16:02  F6ISI         JN13EM   -15   -09    2 m.  FT8    ES    1381
16:05  EA3BR         JNØ1NI   -09   -03    2 m.  FT8    ES    1639
16:12  EA3NJ         JNØ1UF   -02   +02    2 m.  FT8    ES    1625
------------------------------------------------------------------

EA6AOB provided the very rare square JN10 on 4 m. TF1EIN and TF3LB, both from HP94, were nice catches, too. With 2.340 and 2.370 km respectively it’s quite the maximum a single ES hop will allow so everything has to fit perfectly to make it work with QRP setup. 😎

Posted in Propagation, Sporadic E, VHF | Comments Off

Japan, Caribbean & Svalbard on 6 m

Posted on July 7, 2021 by dh8bqa

Good JA opening this morning. But despite 400 W and an 8 ele LY my ERP still seems too low, really had trouble getting through. So just 5 QSOs made with PM51/53/74/86 squares. A small opening to the Caribbean late afternoon with the usual suspects from Puerto Rico and Florida. JW4PUA/JQ78 was a nice catch, too. While I had already worked JW7QIA/JQ68 in 2019 for a new country glad to catch the second square on the island as well now. It’s a difficult path at around 2.800 km …

Posted in DX, Propagation, Sporadic E | Comments Off

Small US opening on 50 MHz

Posted on July 6, 2021 by dh8bqa

Same as yesterday, not positioned well enough to gain a lot from the multi-hop openings. Just caught UN7LZ & UN9L from MO13 in the morning. W8TN, KA8SYV & WB8CQV all from EM98, W4WT/EM74, WA4CQG/EM72, K4PI/EM73 and KA9UVY/EM58 in the afternoon.

Posted in DX, Propagation, Sporadic E, VHF | Comments Off

More patchy 6 m openings

Posted on July 5, 2021 by dh8bqa

Propagation not too good today. Well, probably it was, but just not here. Really had difficulties getting into it. So just a handful of QSOs including JA8KSF/QN03 early morning and VP2V/K3TRM in FK78 (another new one), 7Z1SJ/LL25 and A92EE/LL56 in the afternoon.

Posted in DX, Propagation, Sporadic E, VHF | Comments Off

XE – Mexico on 6 m

Posted on July 4, 2021 by dh8bqa

Besides handing out a few more points in the 2 m contest this morning I was monitoring Six & Four all day long. While there was nothing on 4 m except a single EA1/IN52 there were some patchy openings on 6 m. I was never well situated to make it into the propagation path’ but could grab a few QSOs every now and then. Spent a lot of time to finally make contact with XE2X/EL06 who provided a new country. 😎

7Z1IS/LL34, KB4MRX/EL96, K5RK/EL29, UN3G/MN83, N2NL/EM50 were additional good DX during the afternoon. J35X/FK92 and 9Y4D/FK90 were nice surprises late evening.

Posted in DX, Propagation, Sporadic E, VHF | Comments Off

Spain again on 144 MHz / USA on 50 MHz

Posted on July 3, 2021 by dh8bqa

After a few days of silence we had another short Sporadic-E opening on 2 m into Spain this morning:

------------------------------------------------------------------
TIME   CALLSIGN      LOCATOR   TX    RX    BAND  MODE   PROP.  QRB
------------------------------------------------------------------
08:17  EA1MX         IN73XK   -12   -05    2 m.  FT8    ES    1722
08:21  EA1HRR        IN83JJ   +02   +16    2 m.  FT8    ES    1679
08:35  EA2BFM        IN83FD   -01   -07    2 m.  FT8    ES    1717
08:37  EA1U          IN83GJ   -13   +06    2 m.  FT8    ES    1692
------------------------------------------------------------------

Four was rather quiet but Six had a small opening around 13z of about 20 min duration into Texas from here providing 4 QSOs into EM10/12/13 squares (8.300 to 8.600 km distance). TF8SM/HP84 was a nice catch around 20z on 4 m, one of the rare late night openings to the north (most going unrecognized due to low activity up there). Handed out a few points in the 2 m contest, too.

Posted in DX, Propagation, Sporadic E, VHF | Comments Off

Short QRB 4 m opening

Posted on June 30, 2021 by dh8bqa

Today some good 2 m Sporadic-E elswhere in Europe, we were too close to the clouds. But just far enough to gain from it on 4 m enabling short distance contacts! It’s not too often you can work within Germany via ES on 4 m. 😎

So besides a bunch of EAs & G/GW/EI I could work DD3KF/JO30, DK3RV/JO31 & DL1KDA/JO30 all just between 500 and 600 km away. OS8A & ON4GG from JO20 as well as OP7B & ON7GB from JO21 were good short QRB catches, too.

Posted in Propagation, Sporadic E, VHF | Comments Off

Six, Four & Two into Spain

Posted on June 25, 2021 by dh8bqa

Sporadic-E was quite localized today. While 6 m was open into different directions (worked A7/LL55, 5T/IL10 and EA8/IL17 on double hops) it was basically Spain only on 4 m starting to open early evening only and one hour later 2 m opened, too:

------------------------------------------------------------------
TIME   CALLSIGN      LOCATOR   TX    RX    BAND  MODE   PROP.  QRB
------------------------------------------------------------------
18:16  EA5IK         IM98PG   -06   -04    2 m.  FT8    ES    2013
18:37  EA5IDZ        IM97JW   -11   +03    2 m.  FT8    ES    2067
18:40  EA5FKT        IM98OM   +01   -14    2 m.  FT8    ES    1993
------------------------------------------------------------------

There was a bit of traditional mode activity (CW & SSB) this time on 4 m, too:

DL3BQA working EA6SA on 4 m (sri bad quality):

Uwe, DL3BQA, is QRV on 4 m since a few weeks from home using his newly aquired IC-7300 into his shortwave antenna. Making comparisons to my station 4 km away we found on most signals signal strength not to differ too much. Of course the 6 ele Yagi performs better but after all there were not that many stations he could not work with his setup. And he certainly made up a bit having 3-4 dB more TX power compared to my transverter solution …

So that makes us 4 DLs QRV from JO73 on 4 m now plus a few SP1s.

Posted in Audio recordings, Propagation, Sporadic E, VHF | Comments Off

2 m ES & three new ones on 6 m

Posted on June 19, 2021 by dh8bqa

Nothing too special yesterday. 4 m was open every now and then, worked G, GW, YO, SV, EA8, 9H and OH. All very patchy and spread across the day.

Some more luck on 6 m this morning! Worked BX4AG/PL04 & BV6KO/PL03 in Taiwan as well as BA4SI/PM01 in China for two new countries. 😎 I’ve been chasing both for several years, glad to finally have made it. UN7BY/MO51 and UNØLK/MO13 were also nice catches.

Two opened to the east later, too:

------------------------------------------------------------------
TIME   CALLSIGN      LOCATOR   TX    RX    BAND  MODE   PROP.  QRB
------------------------------------------------------------------
10:09  UA4ALU        LN29LA   +03   -15    2 m.  FT8    ES    2178
10:21  R3KK          KO9ØRX   -10   -09    2 m.  FT8    ES    1733
------------------------------------------------------------------

Six opened to North America around noon enabling QSOs with WA2BOT/FN64, WX1S/FN43, N1SV/FN42, VE9GJ/FN77, W1FKF/FN43 & N3XX/EM73. Could catch good friend Rene as TA2/DL2JRM on 6 m CW from KN41, too. 🙂

Four was open to G, GM, EA and SV late afternoon. But the highlight certainly was Six to open again late evening, this time into South America with PV8DX/FJ92 and P43A/FK52 worked, the latter providing the 3rd new country today. 😎

Posted in DX, Propagation, Sporadic E, VHF | Comments Off

Gimme more VHF DX …

Posted on June 17, 2021 by dh8bqa

The Sporadic-E season continues to be strong. 😎 Four was open to G, GW, EI & EA in the morning already. At 10z WW1L/FN54 made it into the log on 6 m but should be the only one. 4 m was open to Croatia and Slovenia early afternoon but just two QSOs made, running out of (new) stations to work down there.

2 m opened to the south at the same time:

------------------------------------------------------------------
TIME   CALLSIGN      LOCATOR   TX    RX    BAND  MODE   PROP.  QRB
------------------------------------------------------------------
13:31  IT9GSF        JM67ST   -10   +10    2 m.  FT8     ES   1710
13:48  9H1TX         JM75FU   +02   +01    2 m.  FT8     ES   1927
13:52  IT9SWH        JM77NM   +06   +01    2 m.  FT8     ES   1743
13:59  IT9BDM        JM77NE    51    55    2 m.  SSB     ES   1780
14:43  IZ8JFA        JM89CH   -05   -14    2 m.  FT8     ES   1550
------------------------------------------------------------------

At 14:20z W9DR/EM78 was caught on 6 m but the band never really opened over here. Four opened again to the west later in the evening and also enabled me to do a few nice SSB contacts in the UK Activity Contest:

------------------------------------------------------------------
TIME   CALLSIGN      LOCATOR   TX    RX    BAND  MODE   PROP.  QRB
------------------------------------------------------------------
19:24  GI4SNA        IO64XM    59    59    4 m.  SSB     ES   1331
19:28  EI2FG         IO61AX    59    59    4 m.  SSB     ES   1497
19:30  EI7HBB        IO53SQ    59    59    4 m.  SSB     ES   1496
19:34  MØGHZ         IO81VK    59    55    4 m.  SSB     ES   1130
19:43  GDØAMD/P      IO74QD    59    57    4 m.  SSB     ES   1241
19:47  2EØVCC/P      IO7ØSP    59    57    4 m.  SSB     ES   1307
------------------------------------------------------------------

The evening was rounded off with double hop to CU1EZ/HM76 in SSB on 6 m and EA8JF/IL38 on 4 m. 😎

Posted in DX, Propagation, Sporadic E, VHF | Comments Off

Another great ES day on the VHF bands!

Posted on June 16, 2021 by dh8bqa

What a great DX day today! Made 70 QSOs across Four & Two. Both bands started to open simultanously overhere at 8 UTC. While it started to the west with G/GW for the first 20 minutes it soon shifted to EA/F and stayed open for 2 hours with some short breaks every now and then. Nice to see some SSB activity, too. 😎

Propoagation shifted to the south in the afternoon but only provided one 2 m QSO while 4 m was open on the shorter distances to 9A and S5 enabling QSOs with the usual suspects. In the evening the cloud cluster to Spain became active again enabling 2 m contacts once again and some more on 4 m, too. Here are the catches on 2m:

------------------------------------------------------------------
TIME   CALLSIGN      LOCATOR   TX    RX    BAND  MODE   PROP.  QRB
------------------------------------------------------------------
07:59  G4DCV         IO91OF   -12   -13    2 m.  FT8     ES   1043
08:01  G4RRA         IO8ØBS   -10   -06    2 m.  FT8     ES   1263
08:05  G8JLY         IO82WG   -15   -12    2 m.  FT8     ES   1102
08:05  G4TRA         IO81WN   -15   -14    2 m.  FT8     ES   1120
------------------------------------------------------------------
08:20  EB1FNS        IN73DM   +02   +13    2 m.  FT8     ES   1812
08:23  EA1YV         IN52OC   -09   -07    2 m.  FT8     ES   2102
08:28  EA5GJ         IM97JW   +13   -16    2 m.  FT8     ES   2067
08:30  EB3JT         JNØ1UI   -02   -02    2 m.  FT8     ES   1613
08:32  EA5U          IM98SR   +17   +20    2 m.  FT8     ES   1958
08:36  EA5ZJ         IM98TV    59    59    2 m.  SSB     ES   1939
08:40  EA4K          IN8ØDE   -13   +12    2 m.  FT8     ES   1978
09:03  EA1SI         IN73dm   +17   -06    2 m.  FT8     ES   1812
09:06  F4HAB         JNØ3RO   -09   -02    2 m.  FT8     ES   1417
09:13  F6DRO         JNØ3TJ   +00   -21    2 m.  FT8     ES   1428
09:18  EA1M          IN53TI   +07   +20    2 m.  FT8     ES   1983
09:30  EA1IZT        IN83BK   +10   -04    2 m.  FT8     ES   1713
09:41  EA4HJL        IN8ØDK   +08   +16    2 m.  FT8     ES   1956
09:49  EA6SX         JM19IK   +02   -08    2 m.  FT8     ES   1760
10:10  EA6AAU        JM19JK    59    59    2 m.  SSB     ES   1757
10:12  EA6ACW        JM19HO    59    59    2 m.  SSB     ES   1747
10:13  EA6SA         JM19LO    59    59    2 m.  SSB     ES   1734
10:15  EA4CZV        IN8ØDM    59    59    2 m.  SSB     ES   1948
10:16  EA4T          IN7ØXK   +17   +12    2 m.  FT8     ES   1973
10:33  EA4K          IN8ØDE   -01   -16    2 m.  FT8     ES   1978
11:02  EA2FBG        IN93CI   -03   +02    4 m.  FT8     ES   1605
------------------------------------------------------------------
15:21  IZ7QVD        JN81FC   -12   -01    2 m.  FT8     ES   1354
------------------------------------------------------------------
17:16  EB1B          IN73DM   -13   -05    2 m.  FT8     ES   1812
17:22  EA1NL         IN52PJ   +13   +09    2 m.  FT8     ES   2075
17:51  EA7GPW        IM77CO   -11   -16    2 m.  FT8     ES   2316
17:57  EA1CH         IN62FJ   +15   -05    2 m.  FT8     ES   2006
------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted in Propagation, Sporadic E, VHF | Comments Off

Multiple multi hop openings

Posted on June 15, 2021 by dh8bqa

Six has been in great shape lately. The band was open to the Middle East on June 14 almost all day long. Noteworthy QSOs were made with UK7AL/MN41, UN7NII/MN42, 9K2YM/LL48, A65BR/LL75, A71AE/LL55, A62A/LL75, 7Z1SJ/LL25, HZ1SK/KL91, A65IN/LL74, A92GE/LL56 as well as a bunch of TAs. It also opened to the West around noon allowing QSOs with J69DS/FK94, KP4DGW/FK68, WP4G/FK68, NP2J/FK77, HI8T/FK58. Heard a few more but tried to avoid working stations already logged before. Lucky to finally catch St. Lucia for a new one. 😎 There was a short double hop opening to the Azores, too, enabling QSOs with CU2AP on 6m and CU2GI on 4 m, both in HM77. Quite a busy day … 🙂

June 15 brought another Middle East opening on 6 m again with 9K2NO/LL39 and 9K2YD/LL49 making it into the log. OJ0C/JP90 and OD5SX/KM74 were nice catches, too. Propagation dried down quite fast after noon.

Posted in DX, Propagation, Sporadic E, VHF | Comments Off

ES openings early June ’21

Posted on June 11, 2021 by dh8bqa

The good thing being forced by the doctors to stay at home is you can monitor the bands almost continously even besides doing some QRL work. 😉

June 5 brought a nice one hour 4 m opening to the Balkans and even a few short distance QSOs to HA (around 700 km only).

June 7 saw a great opening on Four to Spain and doublehop to EA8 again (EA8DBM, of course, Alex has a superb station and location often opening the bands and being the only one). Two opened shortly only but at least enabling one QSO:

------------------------------------------------------------------
TIME   CALLSIGN      LOCATOR   TX    RX    BAND  MODE   PROP.  QRB
------------------------------------------------------------------
12:52  EA5IDZ        IM97JW   +17   -02    2 m.  FT8     ES   2067
------------------------------------------------------------------

June 9 saw a good 6 m opening to the Middle East early morning providing QSOs with A41CK/LL93, A65BR & A61ZX, both in LL75, and A71AM/LL55.

9H1FL/JM75 was the only station worked on 4 m. There was double hop on 4m to the Middle East, too!

I was heard with my tiny QRP signal by A92HK, wow! But unfortunately no QSO was made, it would have been a new country on 4 m … 🙁

June 10 had a short 2 m ES to Sicilly:

------------------------------------------------------------------
TIME   CALLSIGN      LOCATOR   TX    RX    BAND  MODE   PROP.  QRB
------------------------------------------------------------------
15:27  IW9ABZ        JM68QD   -05   -05    2 m.  FT8     ES   1673
------------------------------------------------------------------

Four opened very late (after 20z) via double hop again, this time EA8DBM/IL18, EA8/DF4UE in IL38 and CT3HF/IM12 made it into the log. 😎

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WPX-CW ’21 ending in hospital

Posted on June 4, 2021 by dh8bqa

Good ES condx on Saturday last weekend, worked about 700 QSOs on day 1. A lot worse on Sunday, needed 6+ hours for another 100 QSOs. Then around 12z I went QRT as I suddenly had severe chest pain feeling like a heart attack. Thought it might be better to visit a doctor immediately (next hospital 20 km away). Emergency department didn’t recognize any coronary symptoms on the ECG and also a first blood analysis didn’t show any abnormalities. Well, the second blood analysis another 3 hours later suddenly had all the measurements that usually point to a cardiac infarction deep in the red. 🙁 Moved into the hospital immediately Sunday afternoon while the contest was still running. Further tests on Monday morning luckily didn’t confirm a heart attack. But it was kinda cool to follow one’s own heart catherization live on the screen. 😎 Not so cool was they needed another 4 days to find the root cause of my heart attack symptoms: I’m suffering from a myocarditis that started destroying heart tissue already (which led to the coronary symptoms). 🙁 That means getting different medication now that shall relieve some load from the heart (i.e. blood thinner) so the heart has a chance to repair itself (there’s no medication for the disease itself). At least I’m out of hospital again a week later now and can drive back home to Hamburg and be back with the family …

                    CQWW WPX Contest, CW - 2021

Call: DH8BQA

Class: SO(A)SB10 HP
QTH: JO73ce
Operating Time (hrs): 22

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
------------
  10:   822
------------
Total:  822  Prefixes = 459  Total Score = 447,98

Club: Bavarian Contest Club

Comments:
Flexradio FLEX-6600, PA + 6 ele G0KSC OWA-Yagi @60ft.

Posted in Contesting, General stuff | Comments Off

Great ES condx

Posted on May 25, 2021 by dh8bqa

Great openings today! Four was hot all day long, made about 60 QSOs in total including several low distance ES contacts around 500 km to Southern Germany enabled by high MUF ES clouds (which at the same time allowed 2 m contacts over bigger distances) as well as double-hop ES contacts to EA8 again (3.700+ km) as well as catching 9K2YM/LL48 at 3.900 km on another double-hop for a new country on 4 m. 😎 Two opened up several times over here as well, providing some nice DX contacts, too:

------------------------------------------------------------------
TIME   CALLSIGN      LOCATOR   TX    RX    BAND  MODE   PROP.  QRB
------------------------------------------------------------------
07:30  TA1BM         KN4ØLX   +03   -03    2 m.  FT8     ES   1750
------------------------------------------------------------------
11:00  EA6SX         JM19IK   -10   -11    2 m.  FT8     ES   1760
11:00  EA6XQ         JM19LH   +12   -08    2 m.  FT8     ES   1763
11:08  EA6VQ         JM19MP   -08   -23    2 m.  FT8     ES   1727
11:10  EA6FB         JMØ8PW   -13   -10    2 m.  FT8     ES   1865
11:17  EA6AAU        JM19JK    59    59    2 m.  SSB     ES   1757
11:17  EA6SX         JM19IK    59    59    2 m.  SSB     ES   1760
11:28  EA3BTZ        JN11BI    59    59    2 m.  SSB     ES   1596
11:39  EA5ZJ         IM98TU    59    59    2 m.  SSB     ES   1943
11:47  EA5IEA        IM97JV   -12   +06    2 m.  FT8     ES   2071
11:53  EC5WR         IM99VP   -01   -03    2 m.  FT8     ES   1860
12:36  EA5AQB        IM98MK   -03   +10    2 m.  FT8     ES   2008
12:46  EA5WU         IM99WU   -13   -08    2 m.  FT8     ES   1836
------------------------------------------------------------------
17:19  UD3T          LO15GK   +14   -16    2 m.  FT8     ES   1841
------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted in Propagation, Sporadic E, VHF | Comments Off

Chasing down 2 m QRM

Posted on May 24, 2021 by dh8bqa

Heiko, DG1BHA, ready for QRM hunting. 😉

Occasionally we have some annoying QRM on 2 m over here making working to the south quite hard. 🙁 Tick, tick, tick. Ticks about a second apart, sometimes just s2, sometimes as loud as s7. It’s driving the transceiver’s AGC nuts and our ears, too! As it is not there permanently we didn’t have a chance so far to really track it down. It’s nothing on our own property, that was checked already. As it’s been there today again and Heiko, DG1BHA, and me were at the QTH anyway, we quickly grabbed half of an old yagi and started walking through the village. Must have been an interesting sight. 😀 But, we were successful, found the culprit! 😎

Trying to repair the faulty pasture fence.

It turned out to be a pasture fence about 300 m (!) away with a rotten installation. Owners were very cooperative and let us onto their property to check and try to repair it, too. Our attempts did cure a bit of it but it seemed it would need a lot more work. As it should be a temporary installation only (the owner wants to build a real lattice fence) we agreed he will just turn it off whenever we are going to do serious activities on the 2 m band (i.e. contesting) and we will live with the temporary QRM on “normal” days until he’s done with the lattice fence. So keeping fingers crossed it will not take too long. 😉

These cute alpacas are kept …

… in control by the pasture fence.

Posted in Equipment, VHF | Comments Off

(No) Perseids this year …

More (and bigger) Tropo!

Some tropo for a change ;-)

Another massive 2 m opening (just too close)

ES on 144 MHz & DXCC #50 on 70 MHz

Japan, Caribbean & Svalbard on 6 m

Small US opening on 50 MHz

More patchy 6 m openings

XE – Mexico on 6 m

Spain again on 144 MHz / USA on 50 MHz

Short QRB 4 m opening

Six, Four & Two into Spain

2 m ES & three new ones on 6 m

Gimme more VHF DX …

Another great ES day on the VHF bands!

Multiple multi hop openings

ES openings early June ’21

WPX-CW ’21 ending in hospital

Great ES condx

Chasing down 2 m QRM

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