ON5ZO - OQ5M

Long time no blog. Long time no QSO. Long time bad WX. I’ve been QRT for over two weeks now. I was on a roll with nice DX and the antenna works on schedule. Then the weather changed and I had to lower the tower. Next thing was the weather getting worse and I even took down the swinging wires. My hope was to set up and test last weekend in the LZ DX contest. Always fun the week before CQ WW. But the WX was VERY bad. Strong continuous wind with severe gusts on top. And the occasional thunder and lightning. It has been like that for almost 10 days now with more strong winds, almost stormy weather even. So here I find myself, the day before CQ WW CW. The rain is pouring down and the wind is still a major show stopper to put up wires. The predicted winds for tomorrow are even stronger. So there is no way I want to crank up the tower. That’s one, and maybe the only one, drawback of my low profile field day setup. It’s just not sane or safe to crank up an unguyed telescopic tower and load it with about 100m of wire. I’ve seen it swinging once with 5Bft winds, and now it’s even 6Bft.

Today the news reports that November 2009 has been the month with the strongest average wind since they started measuring in 1879. No shit? I follow the long term predictions on a German WX site (ON4CT’s hint) and I must say that even 10 days in advance, they generally are spot on. So I had seen it coming. With the isobars so close to each other right over Belgium… No CQ WW CW for me this year. You won’t catch me using a sports metaphor very often but here’s one for you. I feel like Tommeke Boonen not going to the Tour De France (parallel here). Only, I can’t blame myself or anyone else but the WX. On Monday I had enough information about the weather forecast for this weekend to call off my contest plans. So for the first time I decided to join a serious M/x effort. But where do you go from here? DR1A maybe? I don’t really know anyone there, or at least not very well. But I remembered that Fab DJ1YFK was going there this weekend. He’s a regular at the WWYC chat so I talked to him and –lucky me!– he told me he had to bail out and that his seat was open. After some hesitation I sent a mail to the DR1A ‘chief operator’ and right away I got the answer that they were already overbooked for the weekend. Unlucky me! The PJ2-feeling jumped up on me again. Remember that? Oh well… Today it hit me: the guys at OT2A might be doing a M/x again after their CQ WW SSB effort. I called ON4IA but for various reasons they had to cancel for this weekend too. It just doesn’t work out.

And then there is one of Europe’s biggest M/M stations only 90km away from here that will be sitting idle for another 4 months until it’s CB mode time again. I wanted to title this entry ‘There just is no contest culture in Belgium’. Or just a plain ‘Fuck you’. But I guess you can’t help it either.

I have been VERY busy working on a project lately. Very intense work. Something that suddenly popped up. The intensity even got disapproved by the XYL who told me that I spent too much time on the laptop last weekend. She is very right. I stopped reading blogs or emails, every minute is spent on the project. I spend my lunch breaks writing things and taking notes on pieces of paper. I’m not talking about it publicly for now. It has to do with ham radio, but it’s not a personal project. Well, it is ‘my’ project but not to keep for myself. There is a chance that it’ll never get out and I don’t want to burn myself on this. Neither do I want it to exploded in my face. Very cryptic no? Time will tell what turns the project takes…

Not much radio time was consumed last week. The WX was bad too so the XYL and I spent our holiday by going to indoor places. I lowered the tower last Sunday because the wind became a bit too strong and I knew the days after I wouldn’t be active. Yesterday I cranked it back up although I didn’t get on the air anymore. This morning I hung out on 80m. Currently there is no 160m or 40m antenna in the air so 80 is the place to be. I hear a loud XR0Y. But loud is bad. Yes, loud is bad. When a real DX is loud, even the guys with bad antennas hear the DX and join the pile up. I have a mediocre antenna, so when the DX is weak and I can just copy it , the guys with lesser antennas are not in the pile up. And there are not really a lot of stations with BIG antennas around. So this time the DX was loud and it drew a crowd. There was not a real mess on the DX frequency like we witnessed lately. The occasional simplex caller followed by the DX cops’ serenade and the mandatory carriers now and then. The QSX was big and soon I couldn’t be bothered anymore. Off to call CQ myself.

I worked a couple of Texans, a K3, a K9, and a real K6 from California. Before my sunrise there was as weak ‘…L1…’ calling me. Weak with an L? ZL1? Let me turn the beam away from USA to ZL… oh wait: no yagi on 80m. ZL1AIH is worked with 549 report. He was louder last weekend so conditions aren’t as bright as that morning. But today was before my sunrise and ZL peaks just after my SR. Anyway ZL on 80m becomes too easy HI. Just kidding, it always amazes me. Then W7HPW calls in with an S7 signal. Quite loud from W7 is rare so I ask for his QTH. Turns out he’s in Utah. I guessed it was a new WAS on 80m but I wasn’t sure. I did check my LotW account later and sure enough: Utah is a new state on 80m. I also miss UT on 40m… To close the series of DX another ZL1 called me. Ten minutes after my sunrise, with an S8 signal. But there was a sudden and short local QRM so I had a hard time completing the call. Soon enough the QRM vanished and I could copy the ZL1 just fine. Nice harvest again on 80m.

I went to listen to XR0Y again. He was even louder now but was working a lot of USA. I heard those in the pile up and they were loud too. Since there were a lot of NA-EU spots on 160m, I realized I need to start building the permanent version of the test setup I build (read it here). So QRT I went and off to work on the antenna. The 'suspension assembly’ is finished and the ‘feedpoint assembly’ is almost ready. But it started raining so putting it up and trying to get the wires to resonate will be done later. Other than that, there are some other things that I was wondering about or that caught my attention.

Given the bad weather this week, I uploaded all pending logs to eQSL and LotW and processed a dozen ‘QSL direct’ cards. There was a card that came in from Arizona on November 3 for a contact made October 29 on 17m. The operator put his card in the mail that same day. That should be the fasters turnaround DX-ON5ZO-DX for a direct QSL ever.

Scott W4PA announced his resurrection on the CQ Contest reflector. He’s going to WRTC next July. He quit contesting a year ago (read the story here) and suspended his blog. I liked his blog. It was about hardcore contesting and he had some interesting things to tell. I thought he would have returned sooner but apparently his disgust was rooted deeply. We all go through those periods but it seems the stronger you are involved, the harder you need to get away from it all if that day comes. Speaking of his blog, I clearly remember his posting the day he decided to take his entire QSL card collection to the dumpster. He said that many people consider this blasphemy, and it is indeed a drastic measure. I’m not up to the point yet where I would throw all my cards into the paper shredder but now I can relate.

I got a request in the email to help a local ham to make his Signalink USB interface work with N1MMLogger. I don’t know the guy, I don’t know his setup, I don’t know the device. A request for help on the N1MM-reflector yielded no results. Zero replies. So I did some Googling myself. I answered the ham that I conclude that it should be possible if he has the right cable to connect the interface to his rig. I must say the manufacturer’s website offers poor support and almost no practical information. Maybe I’m just spoiled by the fast, extensive and to the point support for the microHAM products?

The bad weather made for some wondering and thinking. I’d like to go to the Friedrichshafen ham fair again. ON4CCP offered to go this year but we couldn’t match the agendas on such a short notice. Both our jobs got in the way. I was there in 2005 and 2006. But it’s a long drive and I hate driving a car especially that far and that long. So that got me thinking. Could I gather enough people to fill up a touring car (coach) for a hit and run visit? Leave overnight on Friday, visit FH fair on Saturday, maybe attend the BCC banquet on Saturday night and leave overnight to return on Sunday morning. I sent the proposal to a Belgian ham reflector and a few individuals. So far replies have been scarce. I need to be sure I can get 20-30 people on the bus, preferably 40. Then I can address travel companies to see of it is possible at all. We’ll see what gives.

K5ZD’s recent survey about CQ WPX and more precise Survey Results #4 - Operating Time Limits once again triggered a discussion CQ-Contest. Some people believe that adding new categories with less operating time, like 30 out of 48 hours in CQ WW, might bring more people into contesting. I beg to differ. Furthermore I don’t see why many some of the posters there always try to mould the rules to their likings. So I wrote a rather long reply that I decided not to post in the end. But since this is my personal soap box, I’ll just put it here so that the time spent isn’t completely wasted.

> If we want to know whether shorter time categories would lure more
> people into contesting, or make them more seriously active, we need to
> particularly ask that group of people.

> Dave   AB7E

It has been established here that the vast majority of contacts comes from hams active on HF that do not consider themselves ‘contesters’. Their motivation to make contacts in contests is irrelevant to us, as long as they keep doing it.

They like to be active on the air, they like HF, they like DX. I assume they don’t care about scores. Most of the time they don’t even submit a log to the sponsor. They only care about the contact for DXCC credit and a nice DX QSL card.

It is my believe that those people do not want to be hassled with polls and questions. They don’t care about how long a contest lasts or how long they can operate according to the rules. Their ‘on time’ is dictated by their daily life and how much fun they have on the bands.

The way I see it is that ‘we the contesters’ should offer ‘them casual operators’ a timeframe as big as possible to work as many of us as possible. If we reduce the operating time, activity in certain periods of the contests may / will diminish which in turn may cause casual ops to bail out and never to return again in that particular contest, because they get the impression that there is little activity that weekend. In stead of making more QSO, we make less. CQ WW is the biggest contest, with a huge number of callsigns appearing. Yet there is only one category: 48 or bust. I don’t think anyone who doesn’t turn his rig on that weekend will do so if there is a category 24/48 or 30/48.

This is the way I see it, because it is the way I ‘changed camps’ from a newbie HF DXer who worked a few DX stations off and on during the weekend, to a ‘contester’ who likes to make the most of the weekend. First I was on for a few hours on the daylight bands, then I discovered at night there was DX on 40/80 even with limited means. Soon I tried to operate the whole contest FOR THE CONTEST.

We have a nice set of contests, each with its own particular properties. I don’t think we need to mess with the rules by adding new classes or cut operating time. If you are in the game for a win, and you get beaten by the guy who does manage to stay awake longer than you, he is the better operator and deserves to win.

Furthermore, I can imagine that contest sponsors have a lot on their mind, like enforcing the existing rules and dealing with complaints and cheating. We should applaud their work by participating and not giving them more work by demanding new rules.

As long as the hardcore contesters operate as much as they can by being present on the bands, the casual operators will join us on those bands adding to everyone’s pleasure.

Most of us are not in the contesting game to win. Most of us know we can’t win for various reasons. Maybe we’re after a personal victory like beat your previous score? Or kick that fellow club member’s butt? But I think all of us are in this for the fun. And when it’s fun, it should last as long as possible, no?

Bottom line: Maximize your time on the bands, massive activity will lead to more activity. In the end, this might keep more casual operators busy for longer periods. Then we all benefit.

Sorry for the ‘them’ versus ‘us’ terminology when referring to contesters and casual operators. But that division was part of the issue. Sometimes this contester casually strolls around on the bands in a contest, like ARRL DX SSB, or RTTY contests.

73 de Franki ON5ZO = OQ5M

This ‘bloggy’ is becoming more of a Twitter with something rolling out almost daily. This morning I woke up at about 06.45 local time. The plan was to check 80m but I got distracted by some household chores that took longer than expected. One hour later I fired up the shack and got me some DX spots to fill the bandmaps. On the target band 80m I saw a spot for 8R1PY. Definitely a new DXCC. And with the S-meter showing S7. Some callers but not a huge pile up. He sent his call and ‘UP 3’. I quickly set the QSX and sent my call. He returned with “OK5?”. There aren’t many active OK5 prefixes and most of the time they mess up OQ5 to OK5 so I sent my call twice and there you go. New DXCC on 80m. Sweet! And most of all: easy! Not new but always nice to work was TF/DL2JRM/P. Also easy but quite weak. Maybe it’s the /P setup.

I started CQ’ing and soon I got called by a quite loud ZL4PW. Sweet! Then K5NTT called me from Arkansas. Then ZL3NB, regular guest W6OAR and ZL4AS in a row. That’s 3 ZL’s on a Sunday morning. Then K9OT called me followed by ZL1AIH. ZL #4! And California. And we’re only calling 10 minutes so far. Fifteen minutes later a weak and noisy signal messes with the noise floor. Must be a ZL, what else HI HI. The ZL3 part was easy but it’s way past my SR and after his SS so the path is dying. Finally I manage to log ZL3JT and gave him 549. ZL #5. Thunder from Down Under!

Around 09.30 UTC I work ZL/AI5P on 30m. Not quite as thrilling as working antipodes on 80m but given the time of the day (pretty late) it was a surprise to hear ZL. But my plan was to work 12m and once there I log 9J2FM with 2 calls. I tried yesterday but I didn’t persevere then. I call CQ and I’m pleasantly surprised to hear Z21BB call me. I’m not sure but I think that’s a new one on 12m. In between a batch of UA I copy 9J2BO coming back me. Call CQ and the DX will come! I work some more on 12m but it’s only UA and similar.

Then I drop to 17m. TF/DL2JRM/P is loud so I work him. I work a lot of EU on 18072, and some UA9. Then a PY calls me followed by PZ5RA and to close the series another PY. A Sunday morning full of DX, with the ZL’s on 80m totally unexpected with the vertical only suspended as an inverted L. Working DX on the low bands once again proves to be more a matter of timing and propagation than hardware.

Not just one. A dozen plans are screaming for my brain’s attention!

• During last week’s CW WW SSB contest, I was rather pleased with the single K9AY RX loop aimed to USA. I should look for a permanent solution.
• I went shopping for hardware to finish the final 80/160m setup. I need to address that too.
• Replace rope on one of the pulleys to get wires up the height of the tower. One is too short and its end is out of reach when the tower is all the way up. It doesn’t matter since it normally carries a 40m vertical dipole but last week it was ‘unloaded’ and I couldn’t get hold of it anymore since it was too high. I tried climbing the tower to snatch it but the wind would blow it away and out of reach.
• And yet more CQ WW SSB fallout: why not try SB15 in WW CW? My usual SOAB(A) adventure seems a bit hard to pull off with the busy schedule before and after so I might limit the operating time and get some sleep. This plan does not require work does it? Yes it does! I’d like to assemble a second antenna. Heck, I even went to buy parts for that yesterday!
• Either try to fix the TS-850 myself (nasty fault but harmless and not always present) or send it off to a Kenwood repair centre. Then try to sell it to gain more budget for yet more crazy plans!
• The pile of direct QSL is growing. Time to write the cards and go to the post office. Low priority plan – but still a plan!

That’s only the ham plans, there are many more in ‘civilian life’. But I am definitely over any dip in the hobby that might have occurred over the last 18 months! I climb out of bed early to see what the bands have to offer. I hurry back home from wherever I am to check out the bands. And I have several pots boiling on the stove. No I’m not talking food here, it’s a metaphor HI. In fact some of those civilian chores are even put on hold in favor of ham radio. She’s a cruel mistress, that hobby of mine…

I was shocked (surprised rather) to read that ON7RU calls me “Belgians most active contester” (here). Is that true? I don’t know. I might be the Belgian contester with the biggest QSO volume. But most active? It is a fact that I don’t encounter many ON stations in the contests. Except in CQ WW SSB where they are a massive contribution to my score of course. Really: the most ON I work is in CQ WW SSB where they are a pathetic ZERO points. I’m always happy to work one for the DXCC mult but… anyway that’s another story. Now there might be something to it, especially in CW. Last Thursday I hurried home from work to sample the propagation on 15m with the recent rise in SFI. First caller was a W8. He asked if I was “QRV IN CQ WW CW TEST?”. You bet! I found it pretty weird that he asked that more than four weeks before the contest. The conversation must have been picked up by an XE who also seemed glad to learn I would be on in CQ WW CW. Maybe they start to fear missing out on the ON CTY mult. That would be something: being the only ON in CQ WW CW. I would get almost the same advantage as the contest DXpeditions. Apart from the benefit of a better location of course. All kidding aside: I don’t feel the most active contester… but maybe I am? Not that it matters.

SFI dropped a few points again. But it seems we’re all awake now and trying the higher bands. I wonder how this will evolve the coming months. Was this an occasional sunspot or will more of those return? Let’s hope they will. If not I will multiply the values for my new 15m antenna by 2 and play on 30m, still my favorite band.

SFI over 80. How long is that been? I'm psyched! That explains the JA and Asia I worked on 15m last week. And the rush on 15m USA last Sunday. And the VK4 I worked like a breeze five minutes ago. Let's call CQ and see what falls out of the DX tree.

I had to interrupt writing this because my CQ'ing got more answers. I just worked 6x JA, 1x ZL4, one BD and went off to work BY8AC to close the deal. All on 15m, and good signals. No more digging in the noise on 15m. Let's hope it really gets better. If this is just a one off teaser I'm sure we will all be disappointed. I've got a DXCC to get on 12m!

One thing I forgot in all my negativity about SB80 in CQ WW SSB. On my Saturday morning sunrise I got called by a ZM4 and a ZL1. Working ZL on 80m is a treat for me. It is even more special in SSB (and a first in this mode!). But the real surprise was copying them through the QRM. I'm sure I could have worked more DX without the horrendous QRM that comes with major contests in SSB. I'd set my hope on working one JA in SSB on 80m too but it wasn't meant to be. Maybe this winter on a good evening, without all the QRM.

While uploading the contest logs yesterday, I saw that both my FT5GA QSO's were already confirmed. That is a nice gesture. Maybe I judged them too hard. Plain hard would have been enough in stead of too hard. Especially with the extra information now coming through that they were more soldiers than operators serving under the French army's conditions.

As you read in my previous posting, I settled for SB80. No more SB20 after four years in a row. So you probably expect me to report on my 80m findings. The tragic of this contest is that the fun was no where to be found on 80m. I put in all my chips on the wrong band. 15m All In would have been the real deal.

I was on a break Sunday afternoon. There is nothing to work on 80m (75m) except EU during the day. I was reading my mails and process some papers when Wim OQ4B reported me his temporary summary and I was impressed by his 15m score. It seemed that the band was open so I aborted my break and went upstairs. Sure enough: 15m was jam packed with loud DX stations. For almost two years, working outside EU had been virtually impossible. In some occasions it was a treat to work a single UA3 for a multiplier. Ground wave ON/PA/DL/F was all I could do then. But what I heard now was… magic! The whole band full of loud DX signals. Just for fun I launched a new log for ON5ZO and fired away. I went ‘assisted’ since my goal was maximize fun as long as it lasted. I set the yagi at 300° for USA and started CQ’ing.

Then crazy things happened. I worked 3 point USA stations by the dozen. Being called by HI and CO back to back was cool. I mean the DXCC HI and CO, not the WAS. At one point I worked California and other zone 3 on 21 MHz, in SSB, and with ease. Yipeekayee! West Coast on 15. How long has it been? Over three years or so? I worked what I believe was my fastest hour EVER in SSB: 150 QSO, with ID’ing after every QSO. In the beginning it was hard to sign with ‘ON5ZO’ after using ‘OQ5M’ for over 3.5 years. Then it was time to go for the promised walk with the dog. After that I had dinner and went up again. USA was virtually gone but I could work Caribbean multipliers and achieve WAPY*. The YS mult drew a local crowd. Me and some other ON stations called him and I consolidated the pecking order by logging him first. FY5 and V4 were already out of reach at that time. If I had known all this in advance I might have done SB15. Coulda woulda shoulda… I spent less than 3 hours on 15m yet built a score comparable to what 20 hours on 80m brought me. With a lot of fun and adrenaline rush to boot. I really hope it’s a sign of things to come and not just an occasional lucky shot.
* Worked All PY, a lot of Brazilians on 15m. HI.

Now about my 80m contest. This weekend’s core business. Run this contest again with these conditions and the same setup but in CW and you get a whole different story. The problem is this simple equation: Overcrowded band + strong signals + splatter + general QRM = a thick layer of mashed potatoes.

The S-meter got pinned at S9+20dB or worse all the time. Suppose that DX calls in at an S7 signal. How could I ever copy them? In CW you can squeeze the filtering really tight and pull the signals out of the noise and QRM. No way in SSB. Without any directivity and F/B on RX to rule out QRM, it’s impossible. So I quickly became disappointed. In retrospect I should have known this. But it’s a lesson learned the hard way. Stay away from the low bands in SSB. I have never taken so many notes in any contest. So here’s what I had to endure.

• 03.40: Saturday morning, 9A7A comes playing 3 kHz away from me. His wide modulation wipes out my reception. We’ll be ‘hearing’ from him again.
• 04.46: PJ2Tcalls me! Yes!
• 06.16: K1TTT announces on 3817 that he’s listening on 3636. There is a German talking out of band on 3817 over K1TTT to jam him and announcing a corrupt QSX frequency. I say ‘German’ because his English had the distinctive German accent. First German obtrusion, but not the last.
• 06.40: I try to run on 3781.8 where I am suddenly greeted by some nice SSTV signals.
• 06.50: 3780 seems to be the place where some English chaps meet regularly. They talk away and away, since the band closes I monitor the conversation. No calls, silly topic.
• 06.55: KP2M calls me! Yes!
• 15.10: Let’s see what the band gives. I find a place to start after asking three (3!) times if the frequency was clear. No reply. But then some Tommies (plural!) come out to eat me alive. I tell them that I asked three times in a row if there was someone on the frequency and that no one replied. “Well, we’re telling you now”, he says. It’s not the first time this happens. See my “He doesn't care because he's an idiot” part last year. I’ll let them wank away and move off to a new QRG. On 3781 those bloody Germans are still firing away first class bullshit without ID’ing. They seem to bash contesting. It helps if you understand 4 languages.
• 16.30: The Germans are still at it. Blahblahblah, no callsigns, only to express their hatred towards contesting. In the DX window, mind you! They are unbelievable loud here. Well it’s another way to spend the weekend and enjoy ‘amateur radio’. And cheaper than getting wasted in the pub. The quality of the conversation is similar though.
• 17.20: LZ9W shows up 1.2 kHz away. I need to move since he wastes a big chunk of spectrum.
• 17.45: LZ7J now fires away 600Hz below me. I don’t know why, but he moves.
• 18.00: LZ7J enters the scene again almost on top of me. But he does not consider my kind remarks so I see no other solution than fight fire with fire and ‘adjust’ my TX frequency accordingly.
• 18.40: UW5U lands 1.6 kHz away and leaves a trace of devastating splatter. He would come and go, and as a result, so would my rate.
• 19.25: Newcomer DP9I 1.8kHz away, and thus S9+60dB QRM on me. No typo. With UW5U still in position on the other side, it’s time for a break. These two loud and wide signals will make sure no one occupies my running frequency. No one will ever find that frequency anyway between these two.
• 21.30: I return after the break and am lucky to find a ‘clear’ spot. Clear is only S9+20dB QRM. I checked and sure enough, it was clear. Then I CQ a couple of times when angry OL4A appears. Appearing means: CQ CQ CQ. I tell him the frequency is in use. He must agree but has a different opinion about by whom. So he continues to call CQ but I do too, but I wait until his TX is done so that he won’t hear a thing but me. Then he starts insulting me. A couple of times. That I’m an idiot. Now that may be true, hence I hit F1 some more. That makes him even angrier. His defense is that he was running, just took a sip of water, and while he was drinking I just came up. That must have been some ‘long drink’. The way I see it: he went away to catch a multiplier but it took him too long. Without even saying one word in this situation, I move away. OL4A, the drinker. If he would have been polite and calm, explaining the situation, I would have moved right away. I may be an idiot, but one with common sense.
• 21.50: It’s wipe out time again! 9A7A – remember him? Comes 1.5 kHz next to me, nothing but his garbling to be heard.
• 22.53: I S&P and find M3TGC on 3967. He CQ’s but is not in the contest. He specifically insists on that. Fine.
• 22.55: 3743: another batch of contest hating Germans. Topic: food or something. Spaghetti Bolognese is what I hear and move away. Time for me to catch some sleep. The fun has long been gone. I am NOT tired, I’m really fresh. But what is there to work in this mess under a thick cover of splatter and QRM?
• 04.50: Back again. TA2DS calls me. Yes!
• 05.19: I run and UT3SA settles less than 1 kHz away. Needless to say my business ends there. So I move and find a spot. A good run, finally. I even work split, with the second receiver on 3817. I work USA! Not much later F8EMH comes only 800Hz away. I had a good run. Bye bye run. He persists, although I tell him. No go. Once again I adjust my TX frequency and fight fire with fire. He tells me the frequency is in use but is very polite. In the end he goes away but so did my Americans. A few moments later, F8EMH reappears on the edge of the RX passband. #{@|#{@|#{|@#[|@{#[{  But I notice he gently comes closer after each CQ. That means his rig is drifting, or he is just playing me. I address him in my best French. I tell him that his rig probably is broken since it is the third time he comes on to my frequency. He friendly thanks me for the information and goes away. Attaboy!
• 06.31: The German pub is open again on 3678! Topic: those stupid contests with the idiot contesters!
• 07.12: Band closed as is my business. I settle on OT5A’s frequency. I notice I can hear a bunch of stations calling them that they just don’t hear or copy very hard.
• 19.00: My fun of hunting DX on 15 is at an end and I want to close the 80m log with 800 QSO. It’s hard to find stations that are not in the log yet. Running is useless and I don’t feel like doing that. The last but one is RW2F for a multiplier! Then I find QSO #800 and close the shack.

Thoughts:

• Maybe my signal is too clean and narrow? People can come too close to me without being bothered by my wide sidebands.
• The German contest bashers on 80. They seem to group together especially for the occasion.
• 68 US stations on 80 SSB. I only worked 26 K’s on 80m SSB ever!
• SB80 in SSB? Never again!

I am not really know as a ‘SSB lover’. To say the least. But I do enjoy a good contest. So that’s why I limit myself to a single band (SB) effort in CQ WW SSB. For four years in a row, I did a SB20 effort. I want to try something different this year. Tired of 14 MHz. So I set my mind on SB40. I know… and people didn’t stop telling me either. In WW SSB, 40m is hell. In fact I hate it. But what are the options when you want to avoid SB20? Last year 15m was hot. I was on the wrong band then. But who could have seen that coming? And will it be like that again this year? Better stay way from 15/10m for a while to do SB in major contests. SB80? That would have been my second option. I’ll leave 160m to the specialists.

I was bullshitting away on the WWYC chat yesterday. A couple of days ago I announced my SB40m effort while kidding about western EU splatter. Since 15m shows life lately and CT1ILT reporting ‘big signals’ on 15m late at night, I was leaning toward SB15. Zoli HA1AG summed it up like this: I would do equally ‘good’ on SB40 (with western EU splatter, where he quoted myself) and SB15 (where I would be listening to CT1ILT working DX while I won’t hear a thing). Zoli meant: stay away from 40 (since I have no big antennas) and 15 (since ON is not a good location).

At that time I was also having an MSN conversation with K7GK. For the second day this week, he tried talking me into SB80. For reasons already stated. After reflecting HA1AG’s words, and K7GK’s opinion, I settled for SB80. I already considered that myself but K7GK convinced me. All I needed to do was adjust the 80m antenna to make it resonant on 75m (SSB part of 80m). This afternoon, it took me half an hour to remove the 80/160m antenna, pull up a resonant (3750 kHz) antenna and bypass the MFJ tuner. That was easy. Then I added a single K9AY loop but without switchable direction. It’s aimed to the USA ‘short path’. I set up the K3 for diversity reception to listen to the TX vertical and the RX loop at the same time. I still need to thank Theo ON4ATW for the low band hardware he kindly sent to me last winter. I tried some stuff I had in stock last year but couldn’t hear a thing. The ferrite core and terminator resistor Theo donated to this Low Bander In Need seem to work just nice. It took me about one hour to assemble all hardware and put the K9AY loop in the air.

Then I ran USA on 20m for about one hour. Some good signals but in my memory it was better the previous years. Unless everyone was on 15m HI. My annual CQ WW SSB warm up on Friday afternoon. The only time I try SSB outside of a contest. The band seemed to die around 16.00 UTC after a period with severe QSB. Now some TV, some rest and maybe some sleep and then: SB80. No goals, no targets (maybe some target but I won’t disclose that), no stress. Only fun allowed. CU on 3750!

I just spent my sunrise on 80/160. Only some EU on 160m and K5 / Oklahoma on 80m. Also a W2 on 80m but I had trouble copying his callsign. It seemed that every time he sent it, he had another callsign. A quick try on 15m yielded a bunch of UA9 but nothing more (and EU Russia too of course). I just took the 80/160m antenna down (see last week). I’ll now try to make things more permanent. Of course all this will have to wait until after this weekend’s CQ WW SSB.

Last weekend I tried the new antenna in the Stew Perry Warm Up. There was very little activity. The SP contest itself is little known outside of the “Top Band Fan Club”. It’s a CW only contest where points are calculated depending on the distance between two stations. The exchange is the 4 digit grid locator. A fun concept and a fun contest if you have an antenna for 160m. I first tried it last winter and it was fun. They held a ‘warm up’ contest this past weekend but like I said: not much going on. I only made 25 contacts of which only 3 DX (K1, K4, K9). Now that I checked: I made 139 QSO in the real SP last December of which only 9 Americans. Now there’s something to work on this year!

Last Friday I even tried some 20m SSB and worked about 30 American stations. Lots of unsolicited and unanimously positive comments on my audio. Good to know for CQ WW. Saturday I had a modest JA run on 17m. I listened for K4M (Midway) on 30m. The operator worked stations in a steady pace and K4M had a fair signal. And for once, not a real mess on the QRG. If only he would have sent his callsign. I listened for over 10 minutes (!) without him signing once. It was only a matter of time before the situation got out of control. People started sending ‘?’ or ‘DX? DX?’ resulting in the usual ‘UP’, ‘QSY’, ‘LID’ etc. Yet another once-in-a-decade DXpedition that I didn’t work. I don’t even mind. Now my focus is on CQ WW CW (long term) and CQ WW SSB (short term). And I’m also looking forward to more fun on the low bands this winter.

Last Friday the missing RIT control knob for the K3 arrived. Contrary to my nature I was relaxed about the missing part and had all confidence in the Elecraft after sales department. A simple mail and a couple of days later, the knob is on the front panel. Now only to get rid of the remaining TS-850…

UPDATE @ 09.00 UTC: I tried CQ’ing on 15m again and got called by a dozen Japanese stations, two Chinese and a BV. That’s over 9000 km. The JA’s were between S5 and S7, the BV was S5. Is this a sign of better things to come or just a lucky shot? That said, my 2.4GHz new wireless mouse and keyboard (remember?) work great anywhere from 1.8MHz to 21MHz. I went looking for that last Friday. The store carried several from different brands but no set clearly stated ‘2.4GHz’ on the box. Except the expensive MS (won’t mention the brand unless they pay me HI) set. I didn’t want to ask because I’m sure the store clerks are not the sharpest knives in the drawer. I guess it’s safe to say they wouldn’t know what I’m talking about. So I gambled and spent over 100 Euro to buy the combo that operates on 2.4 gig for sure. All is working fine so far and I took away the old mouse and keyboard with its ferrite, aluminum foil and copper shielding.

On December 21, 2008 I thought I fixed the 80/160m antenna. Hence my Finally fixed (but knock on wood) posting that day. And yes it got fixed. And yes it worked. But as you know it didn’t work anymore when reinstalling after the Great Summer Takedown. With 160m and contest season almost here, it was time for affirmative action. I did some nightly thinking, reading and surfing that resulted in a posting on the Top Band reflector (link). A lot of good answers. Coils, relays, loading and traps. Everything that involved loading the 80m antenna to work on 160m, also requires switching the loading in (160m) and out (80m) of the circuit. So that means additional relays, boxes, control cables and interfacing from the shack. So I tried my luck with a trap. I need to make a trap but it ends there. No more relays etc. Because I had visions of burned RG58 or RG59 traps when applying my 900W, I tried to make a trap with some leftover H100 stiff coax wrapped around a piece of PVC tube with 125mm diameter. I put the trap on the inverted L and pulled it up with the rope and pulley. I didn’t even get out the antenna analyzer. This thing is way too heavy and the L wire had too much sag. Note to self: stiff solid dielectric coax is not made to wrap around tubes.

There had been a little flame burning in the back of my head. So I unleashed the carburetor and injected some fuel into the antenna brain. There is another solution. A second antenna. Worth a shot. Luckily I have a big pile (a/k/a the junkyard a/k/a garage) of scrap bits and pieces and leftovers from previous projects. Here’s what I came up with. I took some pieces of 16mm PVC electrical conduit about 30-40cm long. I drilled holes through those and used them as spreaders. That created two parallel wires sharing a common antenna feed point. They go up the tower (with pulley and rope) and up the tower they split ways. The 160m L goes to the left and the 80m L goes to the right. For testing purposes the tower is only 2/3 up. For contesting both tower sections will be cranked up so the 80m vertical will be full size and the 160m L wire will be approximately 50/50 vertical/horizontal.

Sure enough the antenna analyzer showed two nice dips. In the shack I found that the MFJ tuner accepted the impedances and took 900W on both bands. That’s the good news. Now the better news: with some pruning I think I can get both bands to work WITHOUT the MFJ-998. That would be super. However I now have a working concept. A simple concept. No coils, no traps to burn, no relays to arc. And most of all no big stack of ferrite cores to heat up. The only ferrite is a big long custom made DX-Wire coax choke balun with 80 beads. All that I need to do now is make some temporary things more permanent. Then add some more radials.

To test the antenna last night I worked a new one on 160m first call right through the pile up. The DX was OY3AA. Hey, new DX is new DX! As it turned out later I already worked an OY in 2004 but never received a QSL for that 160m QSO. I know that OY3AA uploads to LotW pretty fast so there you go. DXCC counter on 160m +1. This morning I heard a K9 about S5 strong with some QSB but he didn’t hear me. Rather: he heard me but didn’t copy. Then I heard a loud GI3 work KH7C. But no trace of Hawaii on my antenna. The contrary would have surprised me.

The plan was there. Lots of good intentions. Like finally showing up for EU Sprint CW again on Saturday. Or work VK/ZL on 40 and 80m in the Oceania DX CW contest. My local sunrise on Sunday would be ideal as proven last year. But when I got home on Friday, I was met by an unexpected bureaucratic setback needing immediate attention. So no radio, only taking care of the urgent domestic situation. Yeah I float on the surface by not disclosing what I had to do in stead of playing on the radio. I always try to keep it radio-related here. What goes on in my life besides ham radio is either irrelevant or simply none of your business. And to a lesser extent: Feind hört mit! But let me give you a hint or two: a) Red Tape and b) read the last sentence of the previous post.

Last week I ordered some stuff from an online German ham dealer. A new switched mode power supply, some plugs and most of all the cable to connect my second K3 rig to the MK2R+ SO2R controller. No bad word about the German firm. As usual shit hits the fan as soon as the box crosses the border into Kafkanistan (counts as ON for DXCC). Here’s technological progress for you: follow the parcel online. Actually there’s nothing new or shocking about this. But it can be fun to watch when you need to get interactive with the parcel service.

Here’s what the box IS doing:

Here’s what the box SHOULD BE doing: > box intercepted by ON5ZO > box should be stored until 09/10/2009 > box should be on the road > box should be on the road > box back in warehouse

The box took a weekend break and got finally scanned on Monday for delivery on Tuesday. So far things go as predicted. Predicted because this past Tuesday there would be no one at home to collect. Murphy! I get home and call GLS (toll number, no free lunch here). A friendly lady tells me the box is reloaded and scheduled for delivery on Wednesday between 09.00 and 10.00 AM. Great, I’m at home all day so I can accept the box. With still no box after 16.00 and the tracking website telling me the box is ‘Stored’, I call GLS (toll number, no free lunch here). Yes they told me it should be delivered but no it didn’t work out due to a crash in the processing system the night before. The kind lady is willing to reschedule the box for delivery on Friday because I’m here. Not on Thursday but Friday October 9th. I hear her typing and clicking so I assume the new date was entered into the GLS data system.

This morning I get up and anxiously consult the GSL tracking system. Yeah right: “Out for delivery on GLS vehicle”. Perfect miscommunication. The box should be ‘stored’ until tomorrow but in fact is underway as I’m having breakfast. At 10.30 local time I leave for work so once again I’ll find a note in the mailbox later today. About 1 km from my doorstep I spot a GLS van with a GLS dude delivering a parcel. I pull over, step out and address the guy. In French, of course, since all delivery guys only speak a low level form of French. While Belgium is supposed to be bilingual. I tell him he’ll probably be bringing a box to my doorstep later on and tell him my name and address. Sure enough, I’m his next stop on the list and my box is sitting on top of the pile ready to be delivered. So I sign for acceptance and load the box into my car and proceed.

“Stories only happen to those who can tell them”, so here’s my story for today. It cost me two calls with my cell phone, to a company that charges their customers for some service, and then it turns out these calls were made in vain because the arrangements just aren’t lived up to. That seems to be a constant when dealing with big companies. Their attitude is: ‘Screw them!’ because they know we can’t do without utility companies and telcos. And don’t get me started on the government!