First QSO on 80 metres!

Well not actually my first QSO on 80 of course but the first 80 metre contact on the Pro-whip vertical at the YL's home. The Pro-Whip works reasonably well on 20 metres and above for what it is- 6 metres of wire with an unun at the bottom and a single radial wire. On 40 metres it is less effective and of course I have to battle the high noise level here. 80 metres is less noisy but the whip is very inefficient on such a low frequency. I was surprised then to get a reply from special event station ON1418HRT on psk 31.

Just an update

During the summer months my radio activity has been less than usual with so many other things to be done! As winter approaches I hope to be a little more active on the bands. I have however been having some fun on 10 metres. Over the past week or so my 25 Watts of PSK31 has resulted in contacts with the U.S, Canada, Chile, Argentina and today, South Africa. On ten I have been using the Antron 99 vertical which generally appears to be (slightly) superior to my horizontal doublet on 28 Mhz.

Today's contact with ZS4GB, Gert, resulted in me receiving this QSL card by Email moments later!

Fishing for DX

My "fishing pole" antenna (Pro Whip) at the alternative QTH works reasonably well for what it is. After all its just 6 metres of wire with a 9:1 balun at the end and a wire counterpoise. Its not as good as a wire doublet or dipole which would be difficult to put up at the same location but it does seem a lot more efficient than the little "Buddistick" vertical I have used in the past.

Anyway today I had a short period of operation on 10 metres. 7X3WPL gave me a 59 on SSB and I bagged PU2OAJ with 25 watts of PSK31. Not bad for my temporary set up. I have a copper earth rod which I intend to put at the base of the pro whip plus I intend to run some extra radials which can be hidden and left semi permanently which will also speed up the erection of the antenna in future.

Surprise DX!

At home a little earlier than usual this afternoon I decided to take an hour out in the shack. 15 metres seemed quite active so I set up the FT1000MP on PSK31 and worked UR4UM  which confirmed everything was working OK since i changed soundcards on this machine.
I left the rig monitoring the bands whilst I pottered about in the shack. Nothing unusual on the screen, mainly European stations with the occasional Stateside signal to be seen. Then I noticed HI8CSS calling CQ from Dominican Republic. I called him, not expecting a reply as surely there would be a pile up and I was running 20 watts into my doublet. He came back to me instantly with a 599 report and I had 100% copy on him. So a new country for me and quite a shock too!

Latest Addition

Latest addition to the shack is an "Isoterm Multicon USB" soundcard interface for PSK/DATA etc wired for my FT1000MP. Whilst I dont find the FT1000MP ideal for data modes it does allow me to clear a bit of space on the desk as the Kenwood FT450 I was using as a dedicated Data modes rig can now become a backup rig.
I am very Impressed with the construction of the unit and once I had downloaded the right driver for it all was quickly up and running. Trying a bit of PSK on 10 metres, running around 20 watts  resulted in QSOs with VE3FGU and LU3CM.

Radio Active

I have managed to get a fair bit of time on the radio over the weekend. Yesterday I found 15 metres to be quite active and worked several stations including SV7BAY just running 10 watts into my 40/80metre dipole.
This morning I left the rig running 1 watt on WSPR on 10 metres but the I was heard and could only hear one station, in Norway. I had some success on 17 and 15 metres on pSK31 and rounded the afternoon off with a PSK31 QSO with HB9MZI, (pictured above) the only signal I could hear on the band!
Tonight I will try for a CW QSO, probably on 80 metres to continue with my CW practice!

Latest Activity

Most of my recent radio activity has been confined to SWLing and a few local chats on 2 metres.
However today I did a little HF operation and worked 3Z1BLH on 20m PSK. This rather exotic sounding callsign is in fact on Chelminek Island in Poland. Its hard to keep up with callsign allocations sometimes and I wonder why this station didn't have an SP prefix? However I guess the UK allocation with its G's M's and 2's must be confusing too!

A new one on 10!

Had a quick tune around 10 metres this evening at around 1730GMT. Didn't hear anything on SSB but I did hear some signals on PSK and I managed to work OX1XC. Looking at my log I think this is my first PSK31 QSO on 10 metres!

Old Versus New

I had a break from the shack this morning as I went along to a classic car show which is held annually in the village. Luckily we were blessed with fine weather, in fact for the three years that I have attended this event the sun has shone.
Looking at the cars from the 1930's up to the 1990s it is clear just how much the technology of the car has evolved. In terms of efficiency, safety and reliability I think it is fair to say that a car from the 1970s would not be able match its modern counterpart.
I don't think we could say the same for our radio transceivers. A Local amateur who I was chatting to over the weekend told me how he had recently purchased a Yaesu FT101ZD from the 1980's. The rig had been advertised as faulty but after getting it home and cleaning it up it seems to be operating well. I popped onto HF to give him a report and I can honestly say that the transmitted signal is as good as any modern gear. Whilst receiver technology has advanced, particularly with the development of SDR rigs it seems that as far as transmitted signals are concerned the old gear can still hold its own!

On the radio front this afternoon heard some EA stations on 10 metres although they were rather weak. It does look though as if the sporadic E season has arrived and it will be worth takinga regular tune around on 10 and 6. Operating on 10 metres does mean switching off the shack computers however as one of then generates around S4 of noise on 10. Thats going to make operating PSK31 on 10 a bit of a challenge!

A Little extra

I was not at work today so after some chores I had a little time for Radio :)

I worked DM8JH, Juergen on 30 metres PSK. After the usual exchange of Macros, Juergen went on to tell me about some of his other interests. He then made a very good point by saying wouldn't PSK be more interesting if everyone didn't just say "Hello" and then "Goodbye"? Of course I had to rise to the challenge and send an over typed "live" at my keyboard. Now that's not easy for me (Even though I once held the title of the fastest one-finger typist in the office!) but with a few typos I did manage a more natural QSO then just sending Macros.
Maybe this means as well as relearning my CW skills I now need keyboard skills as well......

A New one for me!

Last night on 30 metres PSK31, amongst all the European callsigns I saw an unusual one- VR2LXN, in Hong Kong. I got a 579 report from Clive and he was a genuine 599 here. 30 metres is a very unpredictable band. Normally Stateside stations begin to come through on 30metres at around 2000 if the band is open at all. but this is the first time I have seen the Far East. VR2LXN is not listed on QRZ.com so I just hope its a genuine call!

Slightly Underwhelmed!!

I saw a CQ call on 20 metres PSK this evening from an unusual callsign- LZ10ARDF.
I went back to his CQ, hoping to find out a little about the station, thinking that perhaps it was a special event callsign. Sadly all I got was my callsign back with a 599 report and then he began to call CQ. Classic "contest style" operating- but for a special event why do this? It would have been nice to hear about the reason for the special call. With operating PSK it would have been easy to set up a short macro that would give the basic details.
Some years back when I lived in Cardiff I was a member of quite an active radio club and was involved in helping with a number of "special event" stations. We always tried to give our contacts some idea of what the special event was about, who was running it, where we were and so on. If this is not done, what is the point?
Anyway a search on the "QRZ" website revealed that the station was run by the "Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs-ARDF club" I guess they wanted to work as many stations as possible, but they didn't seem to be getting many takers and I left 20 metres slightly underwhelmed by this particular contact!

Special Event

Since I have been trying out the new Wellbrook loop antenna I have been doing a lot of listening and hardly any transmitting, so when I heard a special event station on 80 metres early this afternoon I thought I'd give a call. I worked Paul (GW0JTY) operating GB0NG, a station commemorating the famous Nos Galan Races held annually on New Year’s Eve which take place in  honour of the  Welsh runner Guto Nyth Bran and his legendary athletic prowess. Legend has it it that he once ran to Pontypridd and back - about seven miles - before the kettle boiled- pretty fast! Anyway the station is run by Aberdare Amateur Radio club and you can hear the callsign on air up to New Year's Eve- one to look out for!

Inspired by fellow Blogger Adam, M6RDP I have downloaded the "Ultimate EPC"  software to see if, as an EPC member I was entitled to any of their awards. The process of applying for these awards is totally automated. All you have to do is download the software, load in your log file( I use the log built into the Digipan program)  and the rest is done for you.This year i have been fairly active on HF, particularly on PSK31 but I was surprised to see I qualified for a number of awards including AUPA,CZPA and EPCDL, I have applied for these three to begin with. Thanks for the info-Adam!

PSK on 30 Metres

Despite being licenced for quite a number of years, in the past, I had never used the 30 metre (10mhz) band.I'm not sure why, in my early years on the HF bands I used to use CW, later on I was keen on data modes, I just never used that particular band. This summer, after a break of many years I set up again on data, mainly, for now at least PSK 31 using the Digipan software.I also decided to concentrate on the 10Mhz band. Since August this year I have had a few hundred qso's using my inverted L and power of between 20 and 50 Watts. My contacts have admittedly been mainly into Europe but I've been having a lot of fun and found it to be a fascinating band. Tonight however my PSK signal made it "across the pond" to the station of K1NOX. It just makes me wonder how much better I could do with an antenna resonant on 30metres. I'm just not sure whether or not I can get away with another antenna in the garden!