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 then but no big distances from here. Still nice to work all the guys in Sweden and Norway and even two times Finland. Also heard ES8AJM/KO18 but he was in & out only and busy working others.
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TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB
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07:11 MMØOBT IO86CC +01 +08 2 m. FT8 TR 1198
17:50 OH7XM KP2ØEC -10 -05 2 m. FT8 TR 986
17:54 SMØWW JO99KO -18 -13 2 m. FT8 TR 768
18:10 SM4ONW JP7ØQN -20 +10 2 m. FT8 TR 823
18:33 SMØBSO JO99BG -16 -07 2 m. FT8 TR 718
18:45 LA5AKA JO49UC -16 +04 2 m. FT8 TR 714
18:48 LA1KUA JP5ØTW -20 -11 2 m. FT8 TR 875
18:56 LA3BO JO59CD +16 +14 2 m. FT8 TR 707
19:29 SM3LBN JP8ØIO -09 -03 2 m. FT8 TR 838
19:47 SAØCCA JO89XG -08 -11 2 m. FT8 TR 715
20:28 SM5FGQ JO88BK -11 +01 2 m. FT8 TR 596
20:36 SMØMDG JO99AH -01 +09 2 m. FT8 TR 721
20:38 SMØMLZ JO99FM -11 -11 2 m. FT8 TR 751
20:40 LA3QAA JO59IK -19 -11 2 m. FT8 TR 727
21:03 SMØMDG JO99AH +00 +11 2 m. FT8 TR 721
21:04 LY2R KO15KQ -24 -13 2 m. FT8 TR 625
21:41 OH1ND KPØØXL -10 +04 2 m. FT8 TR 936
21:46 SA5ACR JO88FR -17 -11 2 m. FT8 TR 632
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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 mark.
But the most enjoyable QSO was made with EI4IR in SSB being even further away! 😎 I always check when I see signals popping up in the SSB portion of the band and wouldn’t believe it when Patrick called CQ on .300 with a rather stable and loud enough signal. He was only running 80 watts which made it even more cool. 😎 A pity I was not set up to record audio from the FLEX setup.
My ODX in this tropo session was then even further extended when catching EI8KN (this time FT8 again) later this evening … 1.441 km isn’t too shabby. 🙂
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TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB
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11:44 MIØXZZ IO74CU -09 +02 2 m. FT8 TR 1315
12:49 G4JIX IO94FQ -16 -15 2 m. FT8 TR 1042
12:56 2MØETJ IO85JA -10 -15 2 m. FT8 TR 1150
13:10 MØCVX IO93XB -15 -15 2 m. FT8 TR 949
13:50 G3YDY JOØ1FQ -13 -14 2 m. FT8 TR 945
13:52 GØGQT JOØ1GJ -19 -15 2 m. FT8 TR 949
14:07 GI4SNA IO64XM +09 +04 2 m. FT4 TR 1331
16:10 G4BNM IO93EV -14 -02 2 m. FT8 TR 1047
16:18 EI2GLB IO63MD -16 +00 2 m. FT8 TR 1405
16:41 GIØRWO IO74AO -16 -01 2 m. FT8 TR 1326
16:46 GWØUDJ IO83JG -19 -04 2 m. FT8 TR 1156
16:51 G3NSM IO91IS +02 -18 2 m. FT8 TR 1059
17:22 GD6ICR IO74PF -17 -10 2 m. FT8 TR 1246
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18:26 G4PIQ JOØ2OD 52 55 2 m. SSB TR 883
18:40 EI4IR IO63HN 55 57 2 m. SSB TR 1426
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18:51 G4CCZ IO91RI -11 -16 2 m. FT8 TR 1022
19:00 MØWBK JOØ1JM -03 -12 2 m. FT8 TR 928
19:07 LA1BNA JO49UC -06 +11 2 m. FT8 TR 714
19:40 EI8KN IO62JF -17 -06 2 m. FT8 TR 1441
19:44 MMØGPZ IO75WS -14 +00 2 m. FT8 TR 1214
19:46 GØGMB IO92NB -13 -10 2 m. FT8 TR 1023
19:58 GIØOTC IO65QE -12 -13 2 m. FT8 TR 1368
20:16 G4OBK IO94OF -16 +07 2 m. FT8 TR 992
20:27 G4IHZ IO93GN -11 -01 2 m. FT8 TR 1038
20:31 G4LPP JOØ2SS +02 +02 2 m. FT8 TR 848
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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 the July contests before), else it was westwards only again.It all concentrated on the northern part of England plus Scotland, Isle of Man and Northern Ireland. Most of the IO74/75 and IO85/86 guys were in more or less continually while all the others were rather in & out so you had to be quick (there were a number of non-completed contacts, too).
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TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB
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08:08 UR4WWT KO2ØDC -15 -10 2 m. FT8 TR 774
15:57 2MØETJ IO85JA -02 -07 2 m. FT8 TR 1150
16:07 MØSLY IO93VS -09 -08 2 m. FT8 TR 954
16:24 MØCTP IO93QV -06 -06 2 m. FT8 TR 981
16:33 MØXVF IO94EQ -11 -10 2 m. FT8 TR 1047
17:29 GD3YEO IO74RD -14 -18 2 m. FT8 TR 1236
17:34 G4KUX IO94BP -13 -04 2 m. FT8 TR 1063
17:35 G4PIQ JOØ2OD -24 -16 2 m. FT8 TR 883
17:41 MMØCEZ IO75XU -18 -13 2 m. FT8 TR 1210
18:04 MMØZBH IO86IB -20 +04 2 m. FT8 TR 1167
18:07 G4VCJ IO94JQ -13 -05 2 m. FT8 TR 1020
18:39 GI4FUE IO74CR -16 -20 2 m. FT8 TR 1315
18:57 G4UGB IO84OD -19 -11 2 m. FT8 TR 1122
19:00 G4IJM IO94IM -14 -07 2 m. FT8 TR 1025
19:03 G4HGI IO83PL -03 -05 2 m. FT8 TR 1121
20:32 G4BEE IO83RQ -15 -17 2 m. FT8 TR 1108
20:53 G1MHU IO93GO -16 -08 2 m. FT8 TR 1037
21:04 MDØMAN IO74RE -11 +09 2 m. FT8 TR 1236
21:33 MIØXZZ IO74CU -23 -04 2 m. FT8 TR 1315
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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 better 100 km north in JO64 and even better in JO43/53 with quite some SSB contacts made there, too (where I can only hear the German guys but not the DX). So FT8 needs to do the job and it indeed delivers. Completed the following QSOs today:
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TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB
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20:52 GM3SEK IO74SR -09 -01 2 m. FT8 TR 1229
21:02 G8EKG IO92ET -19 -21 2 m. FT8 TR 1058
21:02 GI4SNA IO64XM -12 -10 2 m. FT8 TR 1331
21:15 MIØXZZ IO74CU -20 -10 2 m. FT8 TR 1315
21:17 GM4FVM IO85WU -13 -07 2 m. FT8 TR 1092
21:33 GØJCC IO82MA -21 -20 2 m. FT8 TR 1163
21:33 GI6ATZ IO74AJ -17 -15 2 m. FT8 TR 1326
21:43 MMØOBT IO86CC -03 -05 2 m. FT8 TR 1198
21:47 GØSYP IO83TK -15 -11 2 m. FT8 TR 1099
21:52 GM4GUF IO85EP -15 -03 2 m. FT8 TR 1182
21:54 GM4JIB IO85AQ -19 -05 2 m. FT8 TR 1203
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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 the CQ WW WPX Contest, had already sent one in February but it never arrived over here. 🙁 After a few month’ we finally declared it lost and Doug was kind enough to make a new one and send it over. This one now arrived within 3 weeks as expected. Many thanks Doug, appreciate your efforts!
Posted inAwards, Contesting|Comments Off on WPX-CW ’19 World Win Plaque
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 few reflections today (better in the morning with a sharp decline around noon) but the ones that were there were all very long, typical for after the maximum.
Did work UA3TCF/LO26 for another new square making it 7 in total. Wow, would not have expected that many! Maybe 2 or 3 but definitely not more than half a dozen. Great. 😎
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TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB
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06:28 UR7IMM KN88TR +01 +00 2 m. MSK144 MS 1704
06:52 RA1AW KO59DU +17 +09 2 m. MSK144 MS 1228
07:00 F4VPC IN87VV +04 +07 2 m. MSK144 MS 1296
07:11 F5DYD/P JNØ3KG +17 +08 2 m. MSK144 MS 1475
07:28 GØHVQ IO81UX +14 +12 2 m. MSK144 MS 1120
07:52 EB5EEO IM98PG +03 +00 2 m. MSK144 MS 2013
08:06 GØSYP IO83TK +06 +07 2 m. MSK144 MS 1099
08:30 EA2BFM IN83MG +04 +01 2 m. MSK144 MS 1675
09:52 UA3QC KO91PR +18 +16 2 m. MSK144 MS 1698
10:07 UA3TCF LO26IU +05 +11 2 m. MSK144 MS 1968
11:59 UT7EW KN78MM +11 +11 2 m. MSK144 MS 1545
12:42 RG4D LO31AM +09 +00 2 m. MSK144 MS 2151
13:45 RM5P KO84VH +19 +01 2 m. MSK144 MS 1548
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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 every experienced …
Better luck on the “low bands” (of the VHF ones at least, hi) today. After several attempts I finally finished with LA7QIA/JO29 for a new locator on 4 m. 🙂 Four also opened shortly via Sporadic-E into the Mediterranean. Worked GW8ASA during that time, too, but due to the nature of the QSO, i.e. no constant signal compared to the EA’s, I think it was rather Meteor Scatter with some good bursts. Also made a short appearance on 6 m to grab SM3LBN/JP62 as a new one. 🙂
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TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB
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07:03 LA7QIA JO29TA +06 -01 4 m. MSK144 MS 837
11:43 EA4T IN7ØXK +06 -11 4 m. FT8 ES 1973
11:45 EA6SA JM19LO +05 +03 4 m. FT8 ES 1734
11:55 GW8ASA IO81AP -12 -16 4 m. FT8 MS 1240
14:50 MMØCEZ IO75XU +06 +04 4 m. MSK144 MS 1210
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12:45 EA4T IN7ØXK +01 -08 6 m. MSK144 MS 1973
12:45 SM3LBN/P JP62XA +04 +00 6 m. MSK144 MS 982
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A bunch of nice QSOs were made on 2 m, too. UA3LAZ/KO65 provided another new square. 😎 I was wondering why people who had worked UA6LQZ yesterday (as I did, too) were calling him again today. It did not take long to recognize from his CQs that he moved on from LN19 to LN18 so I quickly QSO’d him for another new square, too. Was using the smaller remote setup (Flex-6600, ME2HT-PRO transverter by HA1YA, 800 W SSPA + 9 ele G0KSC LFA-Yagi @12 m) to catch him as I was busy with the main local rig (IC-9700, GS35 + 10 ele DK7ZB Yagi @21 m) in parallel working RU4NG/LO48 for another new square. 😎 RU4NG heard me on MSK144 over 2.250 km while I was beaming 40° off! We switched to FSK441 (which has a gain advantage of about 2-3 dB over MSK144 and also decodes smaller pings up to 200 ms) and started a dedicated sked away from the crowd. Patience was needed, it took 1:15 hours to complete but it was certainly worth it. 😉 Luckily it is common standard to use 30 seconds periods for both, FSK441 and MSK144, on 2 m in Europe else I would not have been able to run two rigs in parallel without QRM’ing myself. 🙂
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TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB
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06:41 IV3MUR/P JN65VP 26 26 2 m. FSK441 MS 839
07:26 RA1AEP KP40RE +11 +14 2 m. MSK144 MS 1209
07:38 LZ5GM KN32RM +12 -01 2 m. MSK144 MS 1539
07:59 OH5ELO KP41CA +19 +10 2 m. MSK144 MS 1209
10:24 ES4RM KO49AL +11 +10 2 m. MSK144 MS 1099
11:26 RW3TJ LO16XG +07 +06 2 m. MSK144 MS 1924
11:33 UT8AL KO61WP +07 +17 2 m. MSK144 MS 1340
11:38 UA3XAC KO85HC +21 +11 2 m. MSK144 MS 1468
12:15 R3MW LOØ7DL +13 +08 2 m. MSK144 MS 1705
12:30 UA3LAZ KO65OC +15 +03 2 m. MSK144 MS 1251
13:11 SM2A KPØ4NP +09 +07 2 m. MSK144 MS 1332
13:23 TK5JJ JN42QF +08 -02 2 m. MSK144 MS 1270
14:05 UR7HLL KN69LX +15 +24 2 m. MSK144 MS 1339
14:12 R6CS KN95BW +18 +00 2 m. MSK144 MS 1891
14:33 UR3VKC KN68NT +03 +04 2 m. MSK144 MS 1405
14:48 UR4LSK KO8ØCA +00 +07 2 m. MSK144 MS 1552
18:23 ER1AN KN46KX +11 +06 2 m. MSK144 MS 1250
18:42 RD3B LOØ1NV +14 +06 2 m. MSK144 MS 1815
19:00 LZ1JH KN12PQ +05 +07 2 m. MSK144 MS 1347
19:54 UA6LQZ LN18BW +10 +04 2 m. MSK144 MS 1993
20:44 RU4NG LO48RR 26 26 2 m. FSK441 MS 2249
21:04 UR5HVR KN69TA +06 +01 2 m. MSK144 MS 1427
21:11 UA3QIN KO91IN +12 +11 2 m. MSK144 MS 1664
21:37 YU7MS KNØ5FG +17 +05 2 m. MSK144 MS 989
22:38 9A5RJ JN86EL +17 -02 2 m. MSK144 TR 762
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Kept the 4 m antenna pointing towards east tonight. Quite interesting meteor reflections visualization on the spectrum display with all the strong OIRT broadcast stations from Russia …
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 4 m, too, but except GW6TEO no QSOs completed. Seems my QRP setup (20 watts + 5 ele Yagi) struggles much more on MS than ever before. 🙁
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TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB
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06:17 UA1AJY KO49VV +11 +04 2 m. MSK144 MS 1207
06:30 UA6LJV KN97LE +21 +12 2 m. MSK144 MS 1872
06:45 RK3AF KO75WO +08 +11 2 m. MSK144 MS 1422
07:17 OH6UW KP22WI +06 +16 2 m. MSK144 MS 1227
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07:26 GW6TEO IO71LP -02 +02 4 m. MSK144 MS 1312
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07:30 YL2IV KOØ6OL +03 +17 2 m. MSK144 TR 578
08:28 UA1MC KP4ØQJ +12 +20 2 m. MSK144 MS 1217
08:35 RC3UE LOØ7NG +03 +04 2 m. MSK144 MS 1753
11:35 RQ7R KN64SO +08 -02 2 m. MSK144 MS 1696
11:49 R7BN LNØ5BU +13 +05 2 m. MSK144 MS 2026
12:16 UR7IMM KN88TR +09 -04 2 m. MSK144 MS 1704
12:40 RG4D LO31AM +04 +08 2 m. MSK144 MS 2151
12:49 R3QN LOØØBK +13 +10 2 m. MSK144 MS 1797
13:18 UA6LQZ LN19AN +13 +06 2 m. MSK144 MS 1960
13:29 RJ7M KN97KE +03 +04 2 m. MSK144 MS 1867
14:22 YO5LD KN17WW +19 +02 2 m. MSK144 MS 897
19:35 R2PA KO84TF +14 +07 2 m. MSK144 MS 1538
20:21 RA3LBK KO64PW -01 +08 2 m. MSK144 MS 1256
20:38 US8AR KO6ØRR +02 +12 2 m. MSK144 MS 1342
20:46 RA3LJ KO64AS +09 +00 2 m. MSK144 MS 1176
23:18 EG4MS IM79HL 28 26 2 m. FSK441 MS 2127
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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 VHF license. Back then it meant the world to me being able to work biiig distances with my small equipment. My favourite sat was the Russian RS-10/11 which was very sensitive so 20 watts into a half-wave vertical on the 2 m uplink produced a loud and clear signal on the 10 m downlink with just a simple wire antenna. Due to it’s height in orbit QSOs could easily be made up to about 4.000 km. 😎 A few portable activities a few years later gave access to AO-13 with it’s “world-wide” foot print and much more DX, too. Was active until about 1997 then starting QRL and being hundreds of kilometers away from home with no own station I was not very active anymore and when I had a chance to operate I rather concentrated on contesting on HF and VHF. 😉
Nowadays there’s quite a number of Amateur Radio LEO (Low Earth Orbiting) Satellites in space that allow communication without too much effort. A few FM-only birds (AO-91, AO-92, PO-101) but also a number of sats with linear transponders (XW-2A, XW-2B, XW-2C, CAS-4A, CAS-4B, RS-44). Unfortunately it seems activity on the linear sats has vanished over the years, too. Most of the time I was the only guy on the transponder, quite a pity. Activity there seems to concentrate on the weekends or evening hours.
DH8BQA, IK1ZOZ/8 & OH5LK on CAS-4A:
The contrary on the FM birds, always much activity and people QRM’ing each other more often than needed. Of course this happens, it’s a single channel only, no different to terestrial repeaters. The linear sats would offer much more space for everybody …
I was using the ‘9700 barefoot with a horizontal 10 ele DK7ZB Yagi on 2 m and just a 6 x 5/8 lambda vertical on 70 cm. Not the best setup as both antennas work best at low elevations due to their vertical patterns and both linear polarized. So I had difficulties at times hearing the birds or accessing them but after all still made about 70 QSOs during the last few days with the most enjoyable probably being W2RDJ/FN32 in SSB with over 6.200 km distance through the good old and still sometimes working AO-7. Other good DX included R9LR/MO27 at 3.200 km and EA8/EA4NF from IL39 at 3.400 km on the FM birds.
R9LR on AO-92:
Unfortunately CN8JQ and OX3AH, which would have been new satellite DXCCs for me, could only be heard …
OX3AH on AO-92 just when ‘loosing’ the satellite here:
More information about Amateur Radio Satellites can be found on the websites of AMSAT, AMSAT-UK, AMSAT-DL and many others (Google’s your friend). Here are a few more sound snippets if all this is new to you. Stereo audio, left channel is satellite RX, right channel local audio.
AO-92/Fox-1D ID’ing itself (whenever it crosses from light into darkness?):
Quite a good pass of AO-91/Fox-1C:
UT5EDU worked on PO-101 (a rather difficult bird):
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 the friends in Russia has been rising constantly during the last few years so chances are much higher to work new stations or even new squares from that direction. And it’s possible to work higher distances i.e. better DX to the East, too. It’s difficult to the West as there’s only water (Atlantic Ocean) “behind” G/EI as seen from here in JO73 wich limits distances to about 1.500 km max. (if there’s no maritime mobile activities, hi). Same to the South, not much to work in the Mediterranean. So only 3 QSOs on MS today:
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TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB
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08:02 RT3G KO92UP +06 +13 2 m. MSK144 MS 1701
08:19 RQ3P KO84UF +17 +00 2 m. MSK144 MS 1543
09:51 SM/DG5CST JP73JB +15 +06 2 m. MSK144 MS 1098
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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 week off QRL and spend the time at the contest QTH. Arrived today, set up the station and did the first MS QSOs already …
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TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB
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13:36 UA3MBJ KO87QV +14 +08 2 m. MSK144 MS 1539
20:44 R6CS KN95BW +09 -04 2 m. MSK144 MS 1891
20:57 UA6LJV KN97LE +05 +14 2 m. MSK144 MS 1872
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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 Slovenia which are 700+ kilometers away and usually S5-7 at least. Nothing, nada, zilch, … no copy! 🙁 No Croatia and no Hungary either! Even signals on the shorter path’, i.e. like 250 km, went from S5 or sometimes even S9 down into the noise unreadible within seconds! Was it the bad condx or just bad participation, too? I really struggled to make QSOs on Saturday, no fun!
It only got better late in the evening with condx stabilizing a bit and at least a few of the big ones from Slovenia and Hungary finally popping out of the noise. Still lots of QSB but rising activity from the OK/OM guys on CW helped a bit (although QSO totals with them still way below what we were used to a few years ago). “Luckily” everybody else I talked to complained as well so I was sure it really was the condx, not the equipment. 😀 Interestingly the contacts to the east, i.e. Poland & Lithuania, were much less QSB affected.
Slept about 3 hours. Sunday morning was much better, conditions as well as my mood. Seems they are linearly linked to each other! 😀 Activity was higher now and more DX could be worked, too (although much less than usual). While I still struggled with some of the big distances Croatians the QSO with YT4B over 1.074 km was an easy one and worked right away! 😎 Always amazing, the guys must use a really great location and equipment!
In the end I still made over 350 QSOs, on par with the last two years. But the kilometer average was way down this year thus missing about 10-15k points compared to last and second-last year …
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 10%. 😉 What sold me on this one is the 3 cell helical design promising excellent attenuation data. It arrived within 4 days, ufb service!
The JG-BPF2M atop of my FA-NWT ready to be swept
Before installing it in the station today I made a few measurements with my FA-NWT network analyzer (an improved version FA-NWT2 is for sale by BOX73 if you ever need one). It does not quite meet the promised -100 dB @ 98 MHz but still is very good. It surpresses all of the amateur radio HF bands by at least 65 dB (at some frequencies even more than 80 dB).
Full sweep from 0 to 200 MHz
Zoomed into the HF spectrum only – at least -65 dB on all amateur bands 😎
Flat passband across the whole 2 m band
The measured insertion loss is still acceptable although it could certainly be further optimized as the filter’s low of 0,2 dB loss is just below the 2 m amateur band
Integration into the station went smooth. Nothing to take care of, it works both ways. 😀 It’s now connected between my trusty HA1YA transverter and the 2 m amplifier. Extensive structured testing confimed that all RFI from high power on the HF bands is gone now. 😎
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 the Northeast which is very rare, ES on 144 MHz usually to the South (plus East/West) only from here. RX1AS was very weak (about a 51 report) calling on 144.300 MHz SSB but unfortunately I could not raise him with just 100 watts (knowing his ‘working conditions’ I don’t wonder why, hi). Until the amp had warmed he was down to 31/41 at best so even with high power no QSO possible, pity. This time no signals on FT8, imagine that! 😀 Seems the opening was much better further west (and with longer distances).
We also had quite an intense opening on 4 m to the Balkans again in the afternoon but just a few QSOs, there are simply not enough stations QRV. But at least LZ3AD was a new callsign in the log. 😎
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TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB
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11:37 RX1AS KO59XW 51 HRD 2 m. SSB ES 1315
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12:14 YO3DAC KN34CK -14 -16 4 m. FT8 ES 1307
12:27 YO9IE KN34AW +14 -04 4 m. FT8 ES 1255
13:15 YO7LGI KN14XO -12 +04 4 m. FT8 ES 1189
13:28 YO9HP KN35BA +07 -05 4 m. FT8 ES 1252
13:30 LZ2WO KN23AL -03 -02 4 m. FT8 ES 1298
13:49 LZ3AD KN32EQ -09 -06 4 m. FT8 ES 1473
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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 MUF to work (at the same time there was a short 2 m ES opening between PA and YO utilizing the same clouds).
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TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB
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13:52 9A3TN JN85UH -07 -14 4 m. FT8 ES 911
14:21 HG2DX KNØ6CQ -16 -10 4 m. FT8 ES 840
14:24 LZ2HM KN12QP +12 +03 4 m. FT8 ES 1354
14:29 SV2AEL KN1ØLM -05 -13 4 m. FT8 ES 1555
14:31 YO7BSN KN15PB +00 +09 4 m. FT8 ES 1117
14:46 YO9HP KN35BA -07 -03 4 m. FT8 ES 1252
14:48 YO9IE KN34AW +05 -03 4 m. FT8 ES 1255
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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 but didn’t bother to report separately. 😉
More luck today! 2 m opened to UA4 in the morning. All in & out, not well positioned here but good enough to make a few QSOs. 😎 Later on it suddenly opened to Greece, too! Imagine how surprised I was when SV2HNH called me while still beaming to Russia. 😀 Propagation to SV was not stable either but good to catch two openings in a row. A few QSOs on 4 m afterwards, but it all remained quite patchy …
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TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB
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09:45 UA4AQL LO2ØQB -09 +04 2 m. FT8 ES 2161
09:56 RG4A LO2ØOD -14 -09 2 m. FT8 ES 2146
10:11 UA3QHF KO91PQ -06 +19 2 m. FT8 ES 1699
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10:34 SV2HNH KN1ØLP -07 -18 2 m. FT8 ES 1542
10:48 SV1ELI KM17XX -05 +07 2 m. FT8 ES 1849
10:51 SV1CNS KM18WA -10 -13 2 m. FT8 ES 1842
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11:23 SV2JAO KN1ØDN +08 +04 4 m. FT8 ES 1530
11:27 EA6VQ JM19MP +12 +00 4 m. FT8 ES 1727
11:48 SV8RV KMØ7KS -07 -14 4 m. FT8 ES 1789
12:11 EA5FQS IM99TL +02 -09 4 m. FT8 ES 1883
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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 FT8 only. While I use FT8 myself and see it’s advantages for weak signals it doesn’t make much sense when signals are strong. And for working the real DX (despite JO73 being a 6 m blackhole or me just always being impeded when there are condx) my 400 watts and 6 or 8 ele Yagi usually don’t cut it on FT8, there are simply too many stations calling in limited space (and QRMing each other). How much easier is it all on CW where you can make up for less signal strength by good operating practice? Best example has been 7Z1SJ a few days ago: while I called him endlessly on FT8 without success he was an easy catch on CW when he changed mode …
No, I’m not going to buy a bigger PA … at least not for that reason. 😉 I’m rather thinking of taking down the dualband yagi and putting up a (bigger) dedicated 4 m only beam instead. I can still use our 8 ele long-boom yagi for 6 m then but parallel operation (i.e. Uwe on the 8L and me on the 6L from the duo yagi) wouldn’t work anymore. Guess I can live with that …
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 for his QSL card to be sure (didn’t find an email address either).
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TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB
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10:09 OH8MGK KP23PQ +08 +00 4 m. FT8 ES 1329
10:13 OH6GKW KP13NT +06 +09 4 m. FT8 ES 1287
10:16 OH8JGG KP23 +12 +01 4 m. FT8 ES 1330
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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 m than with an unmodified 590. But the difference was only about 7-8 dB, still no explaination for s9 QRM from unrelated frequencies! And it did not make any difference if transmitting with or without PA!
Started with bonding almost everything in our two shacks: transceivers, PAs, bandpass filters, network switches, computers, a.s.o. Something long overdue! Unfortunately it didn’t help anything! 🙁 But of course it does not hurt either and might prevent other issues. Than started to dismantle everything possible from the FLEX-6600 I’m using and suddenly there was silence, no interference anymore! I couldn’t believe it but afterwards it all makes sense. 😉
The culprit was/is my HA1YA 2 m transverter! It’s a great transverter with lots of gain, very sensitive, a.s.o. But, when the 15 m beam is pointing to the shack and Uwe’s transmitting with high power it’s coupling into the 2 m antenna (which is located on the roof above the shack) connected to the transverter and due to it’s overall gain it’s somehow overdriving the 10 m RX in the Flex. Obviously the transverter ports in the Flex are not disconnected when not using a transverter band and, probably even more important, the transverter signal is coupled into the RX behind the 7th order preselector on 10 m. We confirmed that the interference is gone switching in a 2 m (receive-only) bandpass filter before the transverter, it can then stay connected and be switched on all the time (switching it off cured the problem, too). So it’s about time to order a transmit-capable 2 m BPF and the problem is history. 😎
We still have some minor RFI issues that need to be solved but with curing this one nothing that will prevent us from doing parallel operations again. So for now quite happy!
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. A few additional patchy openings during the day, in the afternoon concentrating on chasing down our RFI issues …
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TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB
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09:31 OY1OF IP62OA -07 -06 4 m. FT8 ES 1578
09:33 GM7PKT IO76JR +07 +15 4 m. FT8 ES 1295
10:37 EA3IAA JNØ1XK +10 +01 4 m. FT8 ES 1595
10:47 EA3HUI JNØ1MM -06 -09 4 m. FT8 ES 1627
11:01 OH6DX KP32EQ -02 +17 4 m. FT8 ES 1272
11:04 OH1LT KPØØXO -16 +02 4 m. FT8 ES 948
11:05 OH1IU KPØ1XK -17 -01 4 m. FT8 ES 1027
11:07 OH1KH KPØ1TN -06 +00 4 m. FT8 ES 1030
11:11 OH1MLZ KP23CL +07 -08 4 m. FT8 ES 1281
11:19 EA1DA IN82SK -12 -04 4 m. FT8 ES 1717
12:08 GW8ASA IO81EM +10 +14 4 m. FT8 ES 1222
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