5J0BV worked just before he was closing down

Dennis, K7BV, was active again this year from San Andres Island as 5J0BV. This is a difficult path and last year (as 5J0M) he was worked in The Netherlands by only 2 or 3 stations. Today was his last day being active from the island. What a sheer luck that it opened to W-Europe. Extremely spotty opening though. I was busy in the house and just happened to walk into the shack to see on the ON4KST chat that Dennis was on and being heard with short burst in my area.
After a while his CW signal came suddenly out of the noise. Apparently nobody else could hear him at that time. He came back to my call,  gave 569 and I could quickly QSL and give him 559 TU => in the log as #202 !! Then he disappeared into the noise and I never heard him again except for a few dots and dashes. Thank god he was in CW. Think about the mess when he would have been in SSB … Thanks Dennis !!

Phew, talking about keeping your nerve together … But that’s 6m DXing alright !

[edit 08-Jul] Just received an e-mail from Dennis stating:

Enno,

Thank you for being one of my last QSOs from the island.  I had to QRT very soon after our contact.  The QSB was very very deep that final morning.

Again, thanks for the QSO!

73

Dennis K7BV

Enno,

Thank you for being one of my last QSOs from the island.  I had to QRT very soon after our contact.  The QSB was very very deep that final morning.

Again, thanks for the QSO!

73

Dennis K7

02 July 2009: another good Es day

Having missed V29JKV on July 1st due to a family BBQ, I was pleased to hear the band being in good shape on July 2nd.

In the early evening I made a more solid QSO with TZ6EI at 17.18utc than the QSO on June 29.

Later that evening it opened up to the Caribbean and the sigs from Antigua where Jimmy, W6JKV, has set up his yearly DXpedition, became audible. The opening was quite wide-spread so the pile-up was kind of chaotic. Many people were banging in their callsigns whereas Jimmy was clearly calling somebody else.

My first QSO with V29JKV was on 18.17utc. Listen for yourself to this recording from my end, and to this recorded by Jaap, PA0O.

Fortunately Jimmy became much stronger a bit later, so I made a second, solid QSO at 18.38utc (I had not Jaap’s recording at my disposal at that time). Although Jimmy initially copied me as PF5K, he quickly corrected that to PF5X as you can hear on this recording. The same QSO was recorded by Peter, PA2V. Listen here.

Some more nice DX on 6m

Here are a few more recordings of multi-hop Eskip contacts made recently.

8R1DB, 22-Jun-2009, 1951z, SSB
8R1TO, 28-Jun-2009, 1801z, CW
JL8GFB, 29-Jun-2009, 0749z, CW
TZ6EI, 29-Jun-2009, 0829z, CW (record starts a bit too late … IW0HEX banging on top of TZ6EI who was working split … Some people never learn to listen)

Huge Eskip openings weekend of 20 & 21st of June; #200 & 201 on 6m

Although still in automutilation mode, this weekend showed some awesome Es openings. Saturday was good for the Caribbean. 8R1DB was worked all over the place. I was lucky to catch him already on the 19th for my 200th DXCC on 6m (!), but Saturday’s opening was much better. I made a “security” QSO just to ensure I am in the log. That QSO was preceeded by YV4DDK in SSB. These QSOs are both on one MP3 track. Before that I was happy to work PJ7/K2GSJ in CW for #201 (no recording). Other goodies included FJ5DX and WP2B.

This morning (Sunday 21st of June) I could work 2 JA4’s. A bit too late out of my bed (Father’s day ceremony first), but still in time to catch JH4IFF and JH4MGU. Listen to the MP3’s below.

Then around late noon a string of East coast USA stations (K1TOL, W1JJ, etc.). First opening from the East coast to hit N-W Europe.

Tonight 8R1DB was heard for several hours again working a large area of Europe. No sign of VP2MRT and J39BS showed up way too late, as usual …

YV4DDK & 8R1DB
JH4IFF
JH4MGU

6m: mental automutilation … ?

Sitting behind the rig, listening with your headphones on to almost eternal white noise. Is this life ? No, it’s called a hobby: chasing new countries on the 6 meter band. Everybody who is involved in this starts with trying to reach the 100 mark. No big deal with all the European countries active. Together with quite a few Asian, Middle-East and North African countries as well as the “easy” North American and Caribbean ones, everyone should be able to make the 100 even without F2 propagation.

But then, the next target is 200, in principle only reachable for those who at least witnessed one solar peak. And if you did not get at 200 during the last peak you now need to collect the last ones with multi-hop Es.

For me this means that this season I need to add 2 of these known active countries: J3, VP2M, VP9, 8R, PJ7, HK0, TN, SV/A, and, if things really go wild, BY, BV, …

So far TN is added for #199, so let there be propagation soon enabling me to add the remaining one for #200.

TN5SN #199 on 6m

TN5SN came through quite good on 6m today. Worked him in SSB at 16.59utc with some difficulty (S3), but later at 17.27utc in CW which was a breeze: 559 both ways. Made 2 recordings after my QSO in which you can hear Nicolas in CW. He peaked S6 at times …

This is my 199th country on 6m so one more to go for the magic milestone of 200 !!

TN5SN, CW @ 17.28utc (15 mins MP3)
TN5SN, CW @ 17.45utc (3.5 mins MP3)

In contrast to the previous post from January, my antenna looks like this again:

Icy antennas in the red morning sun

The Netherlands are enjoying a real winter period like we used to have in the old days. -10 deg C or lower in the nighttime for more than a week now, snow and ice on the lakes and canals.

This morning the sky was completely clear and it was still freezing at -10 C or so. My antennas had a nice layer of ice crystals on them so they looked just beautiful in the red morning sun.

It’s skating time in The Netherlands …

As the sunspots are still refusing to pop up, you’d better visit the local lake for a skate ride … Temperatures have been below 0 deg C for a fair number of days in a row. So there is plenty of natural ice on ponds, lakes, etc. Here is my wife, Marja,  in action on the Hatertse Vennen close to Nijmegen.

Marja ice skating at the Hatertse Vennen (30-dec-2008)

CQWW-cw 2008

The yearly climax of the contest season is the CQWW cw contest on 29 and 30th of  November.

Despite poor conditions on the higher bands, I cranked out 613 QSOs, mostly in S&P mode. I had a few runs on Sunday. On 20m  a short run to the USA and later on 80m a good EU run.

40 and 80m were good in the morning (local sunrise peak), and Saturday evening (USA sunset and Asia/Oceania).

CQ WW CW – 2008-11-29 0000Z to 2008-12-01 0000Z – 613 QSOs
PF5X Max Rates:
2008-11-30 1605Z – 5.0 per minute (1 minute(s)), 300 per hour by PF5X
2008-11-30 1605Z – 3.0 per minute (10 minute(s)), 180 per hour by PF5X
2008-11-30 1806Z – 1.5 per minute (60 minute(s)), 89 per hour by PF5X

Band  QSOs Pts Cty ZN
3.5   188  269  58 14
7     139  382  64 27
14    244  690  58 23
21     41  118  31 15
Total 612 1459 211 79

Score :  423,110

Here are a few sound snippets:
29Nov, 0815z, 40m
29Nov, 0832z, 40m
30Nov, 0714z, 80m
30Nov, 1555z, 20m
30Nov, 1719z, 80m

Equipment:
K3, microKEYER II, SPE 1K-FA (running at 400W)
3 ele SteppIR @ 17m
rotary dipole 30/40m @19m
80m inv.vee apex @ 17m
N1MM logger 8.11.0
mp3DirectCut 2.09 (audio recording/editing)

Low band, daylight propagation

Today I had quite a bit of time to browse the bands. In particular 30 and 40m were in exceptionally good shape and yielded unexpected DX during the daylight hours. Here are a few sound snippets of QSOs with some nice DX stations.

P29NI 40m/CW 1300z

9V1VV 30m/CW 1410z

VU4RG 30m/CW 1445z

Local sunset is at 1607z

VK9DWX – Willis Island

After having fought the usual “Windows” fights with my new PC, I have everything set-up again for serious DX-ing (on-board Realtek soundchip has bad drivers => had to buy a cheap PCI soundcard for correct interfacing with microKEYER software).

From 10 to 27 October a nice DXpedition to Willis Island, VK9DWX, is active. This yields interesting pile-ups to crack. So far 17m to 80m CW are covered …

Here are a few short MP3 sound snippets.

VK9DWX-PF5X 80m CW 14-oct-2008 15:59utc

VK9DWX-PF5X 40m CW 10-oct-2008 16:18utc

VK9DWX-PF5X 30m CW 13-oct-2008 15:55utc
This was recorded using my K3 via the microKEYER and Trust SC-5100, CMI8738, sound card. Audacity is the actual software soundrecorder and post-processor.

New HAM management computer in the shack

My ASUS laptop is getting older now (>5years), and with all the modern (ham) applications running at the same time + virus protection software running in the background, it is freezing up sometimes.

So I decided to buy a new PC which would have a much more modern CPU and plenty of memory. After a lot of research on the Internet, I choose to buy an Acer Veriton M661 system. This system comprises an Intel E8400 (45nm technology) dual core processor running at 3 GHz and 2 GB DDR2 RAM @ 800 MHz. Actually it is a business PC aimed at small and medium businesses. Therefore it comes with a lot of security tools embedded in hardware and remote  control hardware, but more importantly with plenty of connectivity (GBLAN, 10x USB2.0 ports, 1x serial port, 1x parallel printer port). This is a big plus for HAM applications and connected hardware. The graphics is embedded in the chipset (Intel’s GMA3100) but I have upgraded it to a dedicated graphics card (nVidia geForce 8500GT) and a heavier power supply (460W, instead of the supplied 300W).

The other advantage is that it comes with a downgrade option to Windows XP Professional (already installed in the meanwhile). This ensures me that I will not have problems with incompatible drivers and programs.

I am now in the process of transferring all my programs and data to the new PC which will eventually be installed next to my transceivers …

On the air with the Elecraft K3

After about 14 hours of assembly time, my K3/100 + KRX3 (2nd receiver), KXV3 and KAT3 transceiver is now ready and on the air. I had a few issues with output power on 6m, but that has been solved by the K3 Support crew and diagnosed as a bad mixer board. A new mixer board has been received already and will be put in the 2nd RX mixer board (the original KRX3 mixer board is in the main K3 and delivering the needed signal for sufficient output on 6m).

So far, results are excellent. Because this transceiver is DSP based there are many options controlled by firmware and I still need to explore them all.

I have also the beta version of the 6 meter pre-amp, the PR6, which I consider a must for serious weak signal reception on 6 meter.

PF5X's K3 # 1263 in action

Back from USA holidays with the K3 in the luggage !!

Last week I returned from a very nice holiday in the USA, 16 days camper tour in Ca, Ut and Az. We visited 7 National Parks and passed by another 2. Highlights were Bryce Canyon, Arches, Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon.

We then flew to the east coast, Maine. A few hours after arrival at our holiday address the UPS truck stopped by and delivered the box with my K3. Perfect timing !

Over the last weekend I started to assemble the transceiver. Everything was packed very well using a lot of ESD safe bags, bubble wrap and sturdy carton sub-boxes.

Currently the base transceiver is assembled and almost ready for the first calibration procedures. After that stage, which I hopefully will conclude the coming few days, the 100W PA and the second receiver need to be included.

DXCC #198 on 6m: CY0

The 6m band was very small the last few days: 50.108 +/- 200Hz. This is the frequency the CY0X DXpedition to Sable Island is using. The first big opening for them to Europe was on Friday June 27. All around me he was heard and contacted, but my reception remained confined to a few very short bursts.

Saturday morning K1TOL reported hearing the European video carriers. Soon after CY0X was spotted too by EI and CT stations. I kept my transceiver “glued” to 108. Conditions between CY0 and Europe swung over the map like a vacuum cleaner. Finally around 13.10 utc, while being downstairs, I heard a lot of CW activity coming out of the speaker. I quickly went up the stairs to the shack and could almost instantly work CY0X who was 559 at that time. The opening lasted close to 10 minutes for me and I never heard him again afterwards.

2 more to go to hit the 200 mark …

QSL manager Henk, PA0KHS, † 22-jun-2008

Today I was informed about the sad loss of my reliable QSL manager, Henk van Hensbergen, PA0KHS. Henk fought a fight for the last two years which he could not win. Nevertheless, he has been remarkably optimistic over the last couple of months. A few weeks ago, however, his illness worsened aggressively.

I will miss Henk as a very enthusiastic radio amateur, always ready to help and to promote the activities related to our great hobby. He was the motor behind the success of our local radio club in the “Dutch contest club competition”. Our club won many years in a row the trophee (a huge pie).

I wish his wife Ria and his children a lot of strength in this difficult period.

May Henk rest in peace.

Henk, PA0KHS (left), and his wife Ria (middle) at his 50th anniversary as VERON member and 47 years of local QSL manager

DXCC #197 on 6m: HK

In a very “thin” opening which was centered west-south-west of me, I managed to work HK4SAN yesterday evening late around 21.15 utc. A remarkable opening which I did not expect to be possible with sporadic E. I remember hearing HK during the peak of cycle 23 with F2 propagation. I could not break the pile=up then. Now, I heard bits and pieces for about 20 mins. Then his signal improved just a bit to S2-3 and I could snatch him.

Obviously I am very satisfied with my new beam without which I never could have worked this new one.

DXCC #196 on 6m: FJ

With quite a bit of luck (just checking the band between dinner and bringing the kids to bed) I was able to work FJ5DX, St. Barthelemy, for my 196th country on 6 meters. Wow ! That was a long time ago I could add a new one to the log … Heard him for about 10 mins with 55 signals.

Sporadic E season finally started at full steam

After a really slow start, the 2008 sporadic E season took off last week with some nice openings. Also yesterday and today (24/25 May) the band was wide open. Over the last week the following countries made it into the log: SV, E7, LZ, CT, EA, UR, YO, YL, HA, YU, F, OH, SM, SP, ES, GM, G, GW, EA6, EI, UA, 4L, LY and OJ0.

My antenna performs well so we just have to wait for some long haul Carib openings now in order to try and hit the 200 mark (5 to go). With JW, CY0, FJ, V3 and HK0/S expedition by the end of June + maybe VP9 or another Carib new one (J3 or VP2M) it is theoretically possible to do that …

1.2 WL 6m Antenna – part 3: it’s up !

Today (blue sky, record temperature for the day of the year: 28 deg C) I have put the antenna in the mast. Quite a job because the D3040 combi dipole had to be removed first. That antenna will be deployed again in September or so when the 6m season is over.

The boom-to-mast clamp for the 6m beam is a PIA35JXX cast aluminium piece made by I0JXX. However, the casting appeared to be of very bad quality. It broke and the fracture clearly showed an air inclusion in the cast explaining the clamp weakness.

So a quick replacement was made with a piece of stock angle aluminium and a muffler clamp saddle. Probably a lot safer anyway …
(Meanwhile I0JXX confirmed the air bubble issue and promised to send a replacement: good service !).

So there it is, my shiny new 6m yagi …

Now, where is that sporadic E ??