Rag Chewing on 40 meter

I did some rag chewing on 40 meter with some Dutch stations on 40 meter. I met PA2SSL Simon from Duiven and PDØMP Florian from Spijkenisse. And PA5CA Frans from Zutphen, PA4RJ Richard from Amsterdam, PA3JVC John from Groningen and PB1ATA Theo from Hilversum. I did a little test with my Sand Piper MV-5+3 antenna vs the End Fed. The End Fed performed a little better than the Sand Piper, almost no difference. If you keep different polarisation in mind, so I am satisfied about the Sand Piper. Today I also worked RD3AMP with MFSK16 on 15 meter. I do not hear a lot of MFSK16 on the bands, but when I hear one I switched the mode.

I was calling CQ with JT65A on 15 meter, 40 watts and my Sand Piper antenna. No takers, but enough spots at Hamspot.net the stations who spotted me: UT3IB, KF1Z, UA3ARC, KN3A, W1KF, K9OHI, W6CQZ/4, KF4ZPN, WBØPGZ, K3DCW, N4RP, AB1NJ and DC2RK. I was calling CQ only for 5 minutes!

Results on 10 meter WSPR with 5 watt.

Quality versus Quantity

“Quality and Ham spirit is better than Quantity” wrote Rudy HB9CCL on his QRZ.com page. “No Contests!” said Rudy. I am no contester either. In the weekends I spent more time with the family and I do other social activities. One or two qso’s daily is fine for me. We had a nice qso on 30 meter with CW. I was running 5 watts. My Sand Piper MV-5+3 antenna works very well on 30 meter. With WSPR this morning I was spotted in Australia and USA. Yesterday I worked OM7OM from Slovak Republic with PSK31 on 20 meter.

Did you see Google today? Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (February 22, 1857 – January 1, 1894) was a German physicist who clarified and expanded the electromagnetic theory of light that had been put forth by Maxwell. He was the first to conclusively prove the existence of electromagnetic waves by engineering instruments to transmit and receive radio pulses using experimental procedures that ruled out all other known wireless phenomena.

Carnaval weekend

No, I don't participate the Carnival weekend in the Netherlands. But my daughter will... only 13 years old, oh my... she will spend the weekend with a girlfriend from school. The XYL and me stay in a hotel in Brabant. But no radio this weekend, no Russian PSK contest and no ARRL CW DX contest. Most of last week QSO's are Russians and stations from Kazakhstan.

I do have the impression that the interest for Opera is waning. Yesterday I didn't receive any report with Opera on 20 and 30 meter in the late afternoon. But when I switched to WSPR with the same power and antenna I was spotted by several VK stations on 30 meter. (VKFRG, VK6ZRY and VK6ZT) I wish you all a very nice weekend.

WSPR on 30 m

On 20 meter I worked UN9M (Kazakhstan) with JT65. Tonight I let WSPR run with 5 watt on 30 meter. Before Opera and I was spotted in new Zealand. 30 meter was also OK. I received DU1MGA (Philippines) after 1 minute.

HZ1PS

I did hear signals on 15 meter, a few moments later I heard HZ1PS calling, it was a nice chap, Peter from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. On 20 meter I worked II6LN a special station, and on 40 meter this afternoon OK2BIO and G4AJE all with SSB. With PSK63 on 40 meter I worked DG2PHE.

Nice card via eQSL from UN8FE

The sun is waking up

The sun let us down Saturday (PACC contest) but today conditions were better. Sunspots are coming back (see photo) I made some QSO’s with SSB on 40-20-15 meter. 15 meter was open today. So I gave some points in the PACC contest. Best DX was NU1O Chris from Longmeadow, MA, USA with 5653 km. Other DX was RV9YP – Asiatic Russia with 5142 km. I couldn’t do the whole contest because friends were visiting us and my eldest son took me out for a concert Saturday evening.

I was spotted by VK6XT on 10 m WSPR - 14424 km today.

Stats

I was looking back to 2011. I made 773 QSO’s that’s an average of 2 QSO a day. It is not very much, but enough for me. One QSO per day is my saying. The graphic shows which mode I use the most, and which band. 40 meter and PSK31 are the winners.

Again no reports with Opera on 20 m, while there was enough activity, so I switched to WSPR and see for yourself, Australia in the first round.

Some CW qso's

I was running WSPR on 80 meter this morning but I was spotted only by one station in England. Hum... so I decided to do Opera, but nothing. Now the novelty is gone I see less participants with Opera. I went to 40 meter with the good old CW (5 watts and End Fed Wire). I called CQ and G4ZIB Tony came back for me on 7030 KHz. In the beginning his signal was strong but after a while strong QRN came up. Below you can see where I was spotted with my CQ call on 40 meter, thanks to Reverse Beacon Network.

This afternoon I had a nice qso with ON4ADI Paul from near Brugge, a very nice Belgium Town, on 40 meter and it was a 2 way qrp qso. His antenna was a magnetic loop indoors. A few minutes later I heard DK4AN Wang, he was running 100 mW and was 549 here. We made a nice qso but there was some qsb on his signal.

Also worked C51CL with 5 watt Cw on 20 meter and DJ1ZH met 5 watt CW on 40 meter. It was a good training with CW for the PACC contest this weekend.

Tajikistan

For the second time I worked EY8MM Nodir from Dushanbe, Tajikistan, now on 12 meter with CW and he was very loud here 599. Last qso was on October 30, 2011 with SSB on 15 meter.

Reminder

As a reminder: the nonsense and relativity of QRO.

I couldn't belief my eyes this morning. Wow, minus 21 C, that's a very long time ago we had temperatures like this. Now at noon it is minus 10 C. The kids are skating, and I checked 30 meter. I had a CW qso with SP9YFF/P.

Why do I blog

W4AC this morning with WSPR on 40m

What was my intention for blogging this way? Not to mention difficult technical essays here. A lot of other blogs are doing this perfectly. No, it is just to tell others how I experience ham radio, the qso’s I make, and how special it is, to put a ham in the spotlight. Sharing my activities with ham radio. Today I was spotted by W4AC with WSPR on 40 meter this morning. My signal was heard in Florida. Just 5 watts and my end fed wire. Though it is not a real qso, but it is still magic that my signal was decoded over the pond. I don’t need qsl cards which are going straight in a box, and I never looked at it for a second time again. No, that special moment this morning when the call sign appear on my screen. That’s enough for me.

CW on 30 meter

I had a nice CW qso with LY2EC Jan from Liepaja, Latvia on 10117 KHz. I was using 5 watt and my MV 5+3 antenna, my report 579. Jan was running 200 watts, he was 599 here.

Later today I worked EM80UU with CW on 20 meter. Conditions were poor.