Here's the deal in detail:

The 15m QSO's were: ON7LX, ON4BHQ, ZS2I who was CQing and Ron "Always there" VE3AT. He called me on 20m and I asked him to QSY. He told me I was S7 in Canada. TNX for the multiplier!

I tried moving a couple of Americans from 20m to 15m but that didn't work. I wonder when 15m will support intercontinental propagation again. Can we expect a couple of hours NA-EU propagation by the end of 2008?

What else? I applied for LotW CW WAS and upgraded my DXCC to #200 CFM via LotW. No more paper! There's something fishy about the WAS standings now. It seems I only asked for 1 state. I should keep an eye on that.

And GlobalQSL announced that they'll raise the price of their service March 1. Could that be part of the business model? Get people on board with cheap rates and then -bang- adjust the price setting. I picked up a box of incoming QSL last Friday. Two month's harvest is a shoe box full of cards to process and reply. I' m not going back to sticking labels, that's for sure. The GlobalQSL folks probably know that too.

In brief: poor -ations...

Poor motivation

Not in a contesting mood - lots of things on my mind, a lot of work to be done etc etc. I knew it wasn't going to be fun but I won last year (12h HP category) and I'd like to make 'm back to back. This frame of mind does not enhance the fun level.

Poor preparation

I planned to set up on Friday but I couldn't find the energy nor the drive to make it happen. There was a pretty strong wind blowing so I decided to wait. I couldn't get last year's results to set a goal because the UBA web site had been down for a couple of days. I didn't want to risk putting up my flimsy "field day" 80m vertical with the wind and having to take it down mid-contest so I made a 80m inverted V dipole in a hurry on Saturday morning. Bottom line: I was ready setting up at 13.30 local, needed to take a shower and have lunch before 14.00 when the contest started.

Poor propagation

• 10m: 1 QSO with local ON4BHQ for the multiplier. The band was dead of course.
• 15m: Not too many contacts (5?) and 3 multipliers. I think - don't have the log at hand. You can always hope for DX or a local opening but it wasn't meant to be. Bummer!
• 20m: Very boring to end up there time after time. Plenty USA worked, 1 JA, HS, 2 YB and 2 ZL. That's it. Lots of 3 point (non-EU) QSO though.
• 40m: I hate that band in SSB. Period. Very low score there, no real DX. Splatter or QRM anyone?
• 80m: Man that dipole sucks compared to my elevated GP vertical. Period.

Poor participation

CQ 160 CW, REF CW and BARTG RTTY. If I wasn't ON and felling obliged to participate I'd skipped this one too and play in CW. Normally participation is better in UBA CW when there are more SSB contests that weekend. It was hard to get contacts. I think I made about 420 QSO or so, where it was 618 last year. 83 mults compared to 103 last year. On the other hand ON participation seemed quite OK for such a small country with no real contesting tradition and I heard and worked a lot of club stations.

Bottom line-ification

If someone tops my 12h score I think she/he deserved to win because I feel this lousy score is all I could squeeze out of it.

Yes! I just checked my LotW account and there is it... 50/50 states confirmed in CW on LotW. Thank you K7GQ for uploading your logs and confirming our 3 QSO's. It took a while to get Nevada confirmed via the ARRL LotW system but there you go. They say that good things come to those who wait and that patience is a virtue.

No more plowing through tons of paper QSL cards to get those 50 cards. My WAS CW award is just a few mouse clicks away now. But the chase is more thrilling than the catch so it could take a while before I'll actually apply  ;o)

Coming weekend is the UBA DX contest SSB and guess what: I am NOT looking forward to that. Nothing to do with that CW-SSB thing, we've left that behind. I am just so darn busy that my mind is not set to contesting. Imagine that... Add to that the WX we've been having for three weeks and some wind is predicted for the weekend to come, the fact that I need to set everything up on Saturday and that I need to retune my 80m vertical which is set for CW...

We'll see. Now off to rejoice my LotW WAS achievement.

PS Hat off to those who can tell me from which nineties TV series I adapted the title of this blog entry  ;o)

Yesterday (Tuesday) was another very stressful day for those with antennas. It was a storm with 90-100 km/h gusts and a continuous strong wind. Not my favorite WX. It seems that everything survived but I was wondering: if the antennas don't come down by the wind, how long will it take before they just wiggle apart? Another problem is that the bedroom is right under the roof and the howling wind keeps me awake. I guess it was the third night out of 5 or so that I almost didn't sleep.

A storm with 100 km/h wind or less might seem peanuts to some but to Belgian standards it's a genuine storm. Furthermore my QTH is situated in the clear and the wind can pick up speed from all directions before hitting the house and the tower. That is most definitely an advantage when it comes to radiating RF on the ham bands but it's a drawback when the wind blows. And blowing it does. When there is a gentle breeze it feels like wind already here. When there's wind elsewhere, there are minor gusts here etc. Or could that be my impression? When the tower got installed late 2004, I remember getting out of bed at night to check if all was fine when there was wind. It's a "crank up tilt over" designed for +100 km/h when fully extended so the math says all should be fine when it's down like right now. My conscious begs to differ. At first I tilted it over often but I soon realized that with the Belgian weather it would lie down on the lawn all too often and I gave up bothering. The good thing is that if it survives 100 km/h winds, I can sleep in confidence when the wind speed is less. sleep - apart from the noise that is!

Now all this seems like a repeat of 2007 where we had a storm exactly this very week too. It started with strong winds migrating into a storm and this WX lasted about 2-3 weeks. Just long enough to wreck my planned 24h effort in the UBA DX SSB Contest. The wind settled in the early afternoon on Saturday so I started 3 hours late late because I had to set up the low band antennas and raise the tower. I settled for the 12h category and won  ;o)     My fear now is a repeat of this scenario. Not that I mind winning but I'd like to prepare on Friday afternoon for which the WX should be calm over the whole weekend. I have started putting myself at ease with the idea of skipping the SSB part if the UBA DX Contest. Only to make life easy on myself and the XYL when the WX once again blows (pun not intended) my contesting fun.

Other than that a small communication appeared on the UBA website:

• The access on 160m for ON is extended from 1975 kHz to 2000 kHz with a 10W limit in that window.
• The LowFer range 501 - 504 kHz has been opened up for ON with a 5W ERP limit and CW only.

Magritte's famous painting "Ceci n'est pas une Pipe" pictured a pipe but Magritte stated that is was only an image of a pipe and not a real pipe.  Well, today's writing will mostly be an image of a blog - or better: several blogs. I don't have anything to say myself (what's new pussycat woho hoho) but I read some stuff left and right that I have thought over. My ham activities are at an absolute low now. I don't feel like going into the shack either because I was there all too often in December. There are about ten different threads in my head's software that each in turn trigger an interrupt and ham radio is NOT one of them. The jargon in that last sentence is a clue about what I'm doing. Lots of work to prepare my classes so I'm counting down to the UBA SSB contest - if only the WX won't poop the party. Pardon my French.

A new blog has emerged from ON land. Frank ON7RU decided to share his HAMventures with us. He also picked the Microsoft Live Spaces environment. It's an honor to read that my modest blog here is one of his favorites. The link is http://on7ru.spaces.live.com. Are there any other Belgian ham blogs out there?

John K3WWP talked about the influence of the solar cycle on the 10 MHz (30m) propagation. The question was wether there actually IS any influence. I personally don't think so after been there 7 years and neither does John who has been through a couple of cycles. That band (30m) really is my favorite DX band. Always open to somewhere and lots of nice DX there. I think out of any major DXpedition to a rare one I worked 'm first on 30m ànd always pretty fast. Only a rotary dipole and 600W or less. I guess competition isn't as strong antenna-wise on that band than on the other bands.

But that 10 MHz thing got me thinking about 40m. Flash back to August 2002, peak of Cycle 23, Worked All Europe CW. I was living at my parent's place and only had a low inverted V dipole for 20m. So I put up a delta loop for that contest, making it as high and wide as I could fit in the garden. I guess the circumference was about 30m and I fed it in the lower corner with an SGC SG-230 SmartTuner. On Sunday morning when the sun came up I worked ZL6QH barefoot on first call. The S-meter said: S9+20dB. A bit later some more DX like VK came though with very loud signals and I worked USA with ease and they were loud too. This particular morning has always been the benchmark afterwards only I haven't heard ZL6QH or any ZL for that matter that loud again though now I have a better QTH and a better 40m antenna. Same with USA: quite loud but never that loud again. Was it a sort of once-in-a-decade experience or was it just the solar conditions at the top of cycle 23? I could work W6 that morning on 20m too with 100W and an inverted V cut for 14 MHz. Now running a kW into a 3el yagi but no go.

I should note that it was my first real activity on 40m because I didn't have an antenna before and after that it took almost a year and a half to arrive here in our own house and put up a 40m antenna. Then in April 2003 I only had an antenna for 40m for half a year and I worked many, many DX on that band but NEVER again that loud. I always thought that since 40m is considered 'low band' it would have been better later on in the declining phase of the sunspot cycle. So now it's my turn to wonder: will 40m get better or not when Cycle 24 goes berserk?

I also read that Jeff KE9V has bought a copy of CQ Magazine. What's the big deal, you ask? Well, it's not that he buys it, it's WHERE Jeff buys it: "...on occasion I’ll pick up a newsstand copy. When I do that I’m generally in a big-box bookstore like...". Buy a ham radio magazine in a bookstore? What a concept! To my knowledge there is NO bookstore here in Belgium that sells ham literature. They don't stock or carry it since no one will buy it. Until 3 years ago there was a chain of stores in Brussels that had a magazine called 'CQ Radioamateur' - in French. It had the official CQ logo on the cover and was (is?) a French magazine but I can't Google any details on it and I gave the issues away. It was light reading and not way as thick as QST to which I get as an ARRL member. Occasionally I picked up that French mag when I took the train and needed to wait on the platform but it's been quite a while since I last saw one. That magazine, not a train. I'd just like to pick up a CQ Magazine too when I walk into a book store!

All this is quite a lot for someone who hasn't got a thing to say, no? Now I'm walking out. Take care!

I'm not really an active DXCC hunter but I like to grab a new one when it comes along. I've written about the burden of QSLing when you make a lot of contacts like I do. So May 2006 I was happy to enroll in ARRL's LotW program. That way I planned to reduce paper QSLing and work towards the awards electronically. It only counts for DXCC and WAS right now. Too bad since opening this system for other (non-ARRL) awards might boost the popularity.

LotW versus Paper QSL

   QSO's made  = 80397      Confirmed on paper = 13667         Ratio = 16,99%

   QSO on LotW = 78420      Confirmed on LotW  = 14393         Ratio = 18,35%

So that's about the same ratio. Even better on LotW. However I think less than 20% is a very low confirmation ratio. I started late 2000 so let's count from 2001 to 2007, that is a 7 year span. That should be long enough for a "buro QSL" to get here. Of course I should get more accurate numbers if there would be a way to filter out unique contacts. I worked K1TTT and K3LR etc numerous times yet only sent / received QSL for the first band/mode slot. Most of the contacts are contest QSO's. That might explain a bit since many calls return. But all this money and time spent for 20%? I must admit that when I started until 2005, I was eager to send and receive QSL cards. But that changed when I made over 15k QSO a year. And working USA or JA on 20m is a thrill at first but that changes when you work 500 of them in a weekend. OK, 1000 USA in a weekend and 50 JA  ;o)

WAS

Right now I have worked all 50 states in CW and have 50 paper QSL cards to show for it. According to my logging software that is, because it would take ages to find those 50 cards in over 10 000 cards. So I'd rather walk the LotW road to WAS. My LotW pages show I have confirmed 49 out of 50 states. The only missing state is Nevada. DX4WIN tells me I have 15 contacts with Nevada. Probably more since I only have the state info either from ARRL contests or for confirmed contacts.

Now out of these 15 Nevada contacts 10 are in CW. Of those 10 contacts I have 3 paper QSL cards. It took ages to get a paper QSL from Nebraska and both Dakotas. Via the "buro" because I don't QSL direct. These states were easy to get in LotW. But no Nevada. As soon as a Nevada confirmation rolls in on LotW, I'll apply for WAS CW. But I'm patient, it'll come.

DXCC

Here are my current DXCC standings as calculated by DX4WIN. This is CW only and not taken LotW confirmations into account. Take a closer look at my WARC band standings (12m, 17m and 30m). DX4WIN shows 154 CFM DXCC while LotW counts 153. The ARRL DXCC staff didn't count my valid VP5-card. Well, the ON Field Checker did his job well but that one didn't make it from his paper list into the computer @ ARRL.

And here's my LotW DXCC score. It's quite obvious that LotW is mainly a contester's business since I seem to have far less WARC-band confirmations. I have a batch of paper QSL'ed New Ones that I should submit but I can't get myself going to look through all those boxes with QSL cards. Furthermore I should import my LotW confirmations into DX4WIN but I've come to hate that program and I REFUSE to buy a so called "upgrade". Roundup: if you're a Nevada ham and have a QSO with me, please enroll in the LotW program   ;o)

Just like The Boomtown Rats song. Especially after an extended period of holidays. Coffee might help? But I don't drink coffee... Apple, cinnamon and raisin tea is good too though I'll probably won't get a boost out of this. Anyway last weekend was ARRL RTTY RoundUp. I managed to squeeze out ZERO QSO. I wasn't active at all. Last QSO was December 31, 2007. In stead I worked for school on Saturday. Just like Thursday and Friday - they cal it holidays DUH! And we had to go on a family visit yesterday.

I just checked LotW. Great to see quite a few new users and regulars who have uploaded a bunch of new logs. Even my 20m and 30m QSO with N8S were there. YT1AD brings us many new DXCC and goes on DX contest expedition but I have a poor QSL return rate from his operations. I must admit that I don't bother to send a card direct and use the 'QSL buro' in stead. So I'm not throwing stones here to YT1AD. Glad to see he's using LotW now too!

There was a 'minor' email problem last weekend. Somehow someone initiated a mass mailing with my @on5zo.be domain name. I got a total of over 700 emails like 'Undeliverable', 'Could not be delivered' etc. I had the 'catch all' canceled. The situation has settled now.

There were a handful of messages on the DX4WIN reflector. It seems that there are more people malcontent. I've overcome its flaws as experienced by me for the moment. I refuse to pay for an upgrade. V6.03 will keep serving me until I start using something else. I played with DXLab a while ago but I think it's too complex. Too complex for me right now as I don't have the time to get to know yet another program let alone a whole suite of programs. I was impressed though by the power and features of the program. And it's freeware. All my operating is done with N1MMLogger so I only need a program to keep track of my log, award standings and interface with LotW.

If I might close this one by recommending this link: http://www.wv7u.com/  Hank's site features two very nice homebrew amps but I keep going back for his biweekly quiz. I was too late for the last issue since I needed my trusty TI-68 calculator which was out of reach for the holidays and I was too lazy to go get it. I thought this quiz was running some longer but it didn't. Bummer since it was a piece of cake and only a matter of calculating. Anyway: give it a shot!

Take care, 73!

Today I got a comment on yesterday's entry. It was made by my fellow countryman Frank ON7RU. Here's what he writes:

Congrats with your great blog, I'm a daily visitor and I like your style and ideas.
Just wanted to comment on your, well it's hard to translate in English but I call it a pointing finger (belerend vingertje) to non CW guys. It's recurrent in all your topics and I wonder why.
What do you think of this statement? Only guys who activate rare DX & IOTA are real hams?
Of course this isn't right, we have to be flexible, understandable, respectful ...
Remind one thing, every radio has a big knob, if you don't like what you hear, use that big knob.

He's right. Point taken. But I can't help it. Or maybe I don't want to help it? I catch myself that it always comes down to me jumping up the barricades for CW. Even if I don't intend to. I feel the need to convince people to try CW. Maybe it's a subconscious survival reflex? Trying to keep some CW ops preserved for the day they'll label me an old timer?

Isn't it the most beautiful mode there is? CW goes back to the roots of our hobby. It's an art, a skill. You have to learn it. You have to practice to become better. You have to use it to keep the skills. The best DX comes in CW. The weakest signals can be copied. Every... - ok, I quit. I do SSB. I do RTTY. I could have said that RTTY is too hard to learn. Or that SSB is obsolete with new strong digital modes to communicate. I tried it to see what it is and how it works. There is so much to do in our hobby. HF, Low bands, VHF, microwave, EME. I stick to HF because right now it pleases me. A lot. Same with CW. So what I'm trying to say is: try CW and see if you like it.

OK - to quote myself: "To me CW is the only real HAM mode". By that I mean that I personally think that ham radio IS CW. Something else doesn't please me that much and I get bored pretty soon. But to each his own. I'm not putting someone else down.  Not deliberately, not intentionally. PA3GIO travels the world with a microphone and no key. I work him to support him. But I can. G3TXF and G3SXW go to places only armed with a key and no microphone. The reverse isn't true.

Frank goes on:

If you have 10 minutes listen to Riley Hollingsworth (K4ZDH) 2007 speach @ dayton. It's great, funny and contains lots of interesting stuff. To save your valuable time the interesting part is from 12m00s --> 31m00s
http://www.archive.org/download/GeorgeBowen_W2XBSThisWeekinAmateurRadio_738_0/twiar738.mp3
or read the article here: http://www.eham.net/articles/16744

I've read the article when it was published half a year ago. And that man has got a point too. His bottom line is:

"We all need to try NEW things and always work towards keeping Amateur radio dynamic. Know the issues: participate in it. But most of all ENJOY it!!!

Enjoying is what I will, I hope we'll work (again) soon...

KNØWCW is the FISTS USA club call with a deeper meaning   ;o)

Another blog I read on a daily basis is Jeff KE9V's blog. Recently there was this short item about the result of dropping the Morse Code test in the USA as a requirement to get an HF license. Or better: the lack of result. It seems that after almost a year there has been no massive inrush of new operators on HF. That was however what the protagonists of the abolishment of the mandatory CW test had hoped for. In vain as it turns out. That got me thinking about the situation here in Belgium.

Situation Pre-2003

1999 is as far as my HAM-memory goes. That year I had a close encounter with ham radio and I got my ON1 call. There were 3 levels of Belgian licenses. You needed to study basic electricity, electronic circuits, RF and antenna theory and the rules and regulations. Depending on your score you obtained an ON2 call (lowest test score, only entitled to 144MHz VHF) or an ON1 call (good test score giving 50 MHz, VHF, UHF and up but NO HF ACCESS).

Then you needed to pass the CW test at 13 WPM before you could get an ON4-5-6-7-8 call and get on HF. I was in the last series (October 2000) to test CW at 13 WPM and went from ON1DRS to ON4CLN. Then they dropped the test speed to 5 WPM. Note that ON3 calls were never issued and ON9 was reserved for foreigners applying for a Belgian call.

Situation from half 2003

The UBA came up with the idea to convince the Belgian telecoms regulator to adopt the Foundation Licence just like in the UK. The philosophy was twofold: a) that people don't need to be NASA rocket scientists to get a ham radio license and b) once they got their feet wet they'd study to upgrade their license. Part A has been proven correct. Part B is where it goes wrong. I think over 90% of the ON3 dudes and dudettes remain ON3.

After months of hard work in 2003 by the UBA volunteers who prepared the case and the course textbook, the idea was adopted by the Belgian PTT (BIPT-IBPT) and the licensing was restructured to a two level system. Foundation licensees have to follow official courses and pass an easy test and then they get an ON3 call with limited privileges: 10W out max, only commercial QRP rigs and at first no access to 10m / 28MHz. Though that band limitation has been lifted. So now you now why all those ON3 guys pop up in PSK and are so weak on phone.

The second level is the 'full option' HAREC license which is internationally regulated and giving an ON4-5-etc call without any limits regarding bands, modes etc. In April 2006 the vanity call program opened up all those 2x1 calls à la OQ5M, OT1A, OP4A, OR2T, OS0S etc.

Massive inrush?

Somewhere half 2003 the Belgian PTT (BIPT-IBPT) dropped the Morse Code test. That way, a huge number of sleeping ON1 licensees could now upgrade without further testing. A lot of them had lost all interest in the hobby, since VHF isn't that much fun and CW was an obstacle they didn't want to overcome. Now their interest was resuscitated and a few hundred (a guess, I don't have exact numbers) of ON1 became ON4 and had a ball on HF ever since. They passed the same test on electronics and RF theory as me. The only difference is that they never had to learn CW and now that it's no longer needed - why would they? To me CW is the only real HAM mode but to tell the truth: if they had given me my HF ticket without the morse code test, I would never have learned it. I have never opposed dropping the CW test to get on HF though I am glad I have learned it and earned my HF ticket "the hard way". How I got on HF is another story but I wanted it so badly I just downloaded a CW training program and practiced 15 minutes every day for less than 3 months and I copied at 20 WPM.

But I digress. So first there was the inrush of revived VHF-licensees. Then somewhere in 2004 there was a big boom in ON3 foundation licensees. Some clubs gave 2 sessions of foundation classes in a year. But that slowed down too from 2005. I don't have any exact numbers of the effect of this two changes (dropping CW test and the ON3 license) but I have the impression that it has been a status quo at best between 'natural loss' and influx of 'surplus ops'.

Midlife crisis - the future of ham radio?

Another issue is the average age. It is no different here than in most countries. I'm in my early 30ies and always the youngest of the pack. It is often asked why youth has no interest in amateur radio. I deal with 15-18 year old adolescents every day and I don't have the answer but trust me: they just don't give a rat's end about our hobby. They don't know it to start with and they don't care and quite frankly I wouldn't have cared either when I was that age. There is a ham radio op living on the corner of the street where my parents live and where I grew up. He has a 15 meter high tower and a tribander. Yet he was referred to as the "CB guy" because everyone knows CB but no one knows ham radio.

I was 24 when I got my license and almost 25 when starting on HF. I would never have shown interest when I was 16 or 18. Maybe recruitment programs should focus on 40-50 year olds? I stead of buying Porches or Harleys, why not put up a tower and buy a rig? In stead of messing around with that tall blonde from the office, pack your bags and activate a rare DXCC? They are settled and have some more budget compared to a teenager. I don't worry too much though. Quality over quantity and ham radio will never be a hobby for the masses. Imagine the QRM when every street has a couple of contesters!

To round up just these numbers. Currently there are about 5500-6000 regular calls issued in Belgium. I guess half of that number is member of the UBA thus active or still interested in some way. Just over 200 vanity 2x1 calls are issued so let's file those under 'very active' as you don't pay a double fee for a call you never use.

Enjoy the weekend, 73 ES QRT.

In yesterday's blog entry I said that "it might take quite some time until the next one". Einstein would agree that time is relative so here I am less than 24h later. I've been with my head into a programmer's textbook trying to learn the basics of database programming. That's what "holidays at home" are to me: preparing stuff for work (I'm a teacher). After six hours with only a short lunch break, it was time do flush the memory stack - no better way than some ham related reading.  Which in turn inspires me to do some ham related writing.

One of the blogs I read almost daily is John K3WWP's. I discovered John's web site a looooong time ago (2001?) when I just started as a freshman HF operator. The word 'blog' wasn't even invented yet and the Internet wasn't way as common or accepted in ham radio as it is today. BTW I am an autodidact when it comes to ham radio and John's site taught me a lot about CW and contesting, among other sites and reflectors. I profoundly respect K3WWP's way of operating: 100% CW, QRP, modest and small stealthy antennas. I wouldn't trade my setup for his and that's exactly why I respect his accomplishments. I'm far too impatient and restless for QRP. You should MOST DEFINITELY read all about his QRP CW streak which I have followed all these years. John, if you read this: PSE DON'T STOP AT #5000. I imagine it can be a burden because you must be QRV every day but you've come this far! I'm sure you'll regret on day 5002 that there is a blank line on day 5001.

Anyway today's issue was about the joy of CW contesting and why the bands are empty on weekdays. There are a few reasons for that - but this is my personal opinion. First off: with the hectic schedule most people have to deal with on weekdays (work, study, family, chores around the house etc) it is simply impossible to spend much time in the shack. During the day people are at work so they can't be QRV. And if I want to work JA or USA at night, that's the time that I'm preparing work or spend time with the XYL or just go to sleep. So I focus my operating on the weekends. I know that in a contest I'm sure to make plenty contacts, meet friends and work DX or a new one for DXCC.

Second: I read and hear that contesters are a minority in ham radio. I have no view and I plea guilty on being biased but what else is there? If it weren't for contesting I wouldn't be in this hobby anymore. Contesters are the most active ham radio folks around. If you look at this or this or my own +23k QSO in 2007. If I look at my fellow club members who almost never operate in a contest... well they hardly operate at all! Nuff said?

And finally: contesting is so much fun. I've never understood why you could be against it. I admit: the bands are crowded and it's not the time to elaborate on your shoe size or the cat's name, and I admit that things get rough but that's part of the game. Granted: if you despise contesting you won't refer to it as a game. Another issue is that contesting is just '59' or '5NN' business. Not so, you always give at least some extra information (serial number, state, province, age, name etc). People who use this point to bash contesting are usually the ones messing around in a DX pile up to give a true '59 / 5NN' - period. What's the use of that? And the most controversial of my opinions: contest operators are just better operators. I'm not defining a contester as a kW + stacked beam aim-and-shoot guy. Quite the contrary. I mean that Small Pistol guys running barefoot with wire antennas but with lots of experience in contests are just better operators compared to the guys who discuss shoe sizes and pet names.

Now back to work - QRU / 73.

This is the first item that I launch into the blogosphere in 2008 and it might take quite some time until the next one. I've spent countless hours in the shack of the past 3 to 4 weeks and now it's time to trade the operating desk for the working area again. That's how it goes here: almost a binary operating schedule. Either plenty of shack time or nothing. So now it's back to work with only some contests scheduled during the weekdays. Next major ON5ZO QSO Party will be end of March when it's Easter break. In between: UBA SSB, UBA CW, ARRL DX both modes and RDXC (the link points to the UBA contest calendar). Maybe something else but that'll be a last minute decision.

2007 was a calm year in ham radio. I quit all official hobby related duties and positions January 1st to have more time to myself in stead of working with / for other hams. I only visited the local club a couple of times for those very same reasons. In stead of traveling 40 km one way and spending my Friday evening trying to get some radio talk, I'd rather make a dozen contacts on 30m. And if it weren't for the in/outgoing QSL...

I didn't buy any new tools in 2007 either. Some small bits and pieces but no big toys. The plan was to buy a TenTec Omni VII by summer but in April Elecraft announced the K3. It was cheaper and seemed to be better. The K3 is a bigger hype than the Omni VII by all means. Unfortunately Elecraft had major delays in finishing the first production batch and now has a major backorder list. So I guess it'll probably be the new power toy for 2008. Probably, maybe.

2007 was supposed to be a quiet year. I planned a "sabbatical" but somewhere halfway the RRDXA announced the Most Active Operator of the Year program. Suddenly I found myself on top of the rankings without a special effort. So I tried to maintain that position and this link points to the actual standings. Let's hope things don't change the coming fortnight.

Looking back to 2007 I could say that it was a year of constantly pushing the limits of my station. I think I've discovered them.

Making more QSO's is only possible either by spending more time in the chair or expanding the station. Neither seems plausible right now. I need to spend a lot of time to do my work, there's a family to be run and the garden has its boundaries too.

Maybe Cycle 24 can boost the upper HF score? I could never have dreamed 5 years ago that I'd be making more than 2000 contacts in a 24h contest, let alone making +23k QSO a year.

For the record: let it be clear that I am a CW kinda guy and all other modes (personal opinion coming up!) only serve me to remind that there's no mode than Morse code - should it ever be necessary to be reminded of that! My 2008 NY resolution is to stop preaching the joy of CW. Those who know don't need my preaching, those who don't...

I started blogging because I didn't have much time to update my website. And because I like to tell meaningless things of course HI. It turns out I spend more time here than updating my site. So maybe it's time to do something about that? All for now, 73.