In London in 1852, the first men’s flushing toilet was opened on Fleet Street. Apparently.
Dean Totally random history
Well that’s it - January 2010 is no more. Over, done, finished! Blink and you would have missed it. It’s now February the 1st and before you know it winter will recede and give way to spring.
So, what did January 2010 give us? Not a lot to be fair. I was QRT for the whole of the month and my only forays onto the bands were occasional listens to 20m and 40m where I heard little of interest. I really do need something to re-enthuse me. I keep thinking I should get back to working more PSK31 on 20m but so far I haven’t even got round to doing that. I’ll hope to address that during February.
January 2010 will likely be most remembered for the cold snap and the accompanying snow and ice that brought the UK to a near standstill. That is now thankfully passed and not to be repeated anytime soon with a bit of luck. Roll on warmer weather, longer days and improving HF conditions as cycle 24 starts to gather momentum.
Dean Amateur Radio, Blog, Life..., Totally random 2010, antenna, January, QRT, Solar Cycle 24
Rain, a lot of rain. Non stop all night in fact. It is still raining this morning.
But at least it is warmer. A whopping 3 degrees this morning with a forecast high of 6 degrees. Break out the sunscreen!
Dean Blog, Life..., Totally random ice, rain, snow, weather
I like to confirm as many of my amateur radio contacts as possible by traditional paper QSL cards. It’s always good to receive them back direct from another amateur radio operator but the card that arrived today (seen below) from Andy, KB1KYN on Nantucket Island, was a particularly nice surprise.
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This QSL card confirms a contact mentioned earlier in this blog back in September 2009 when operating portable from Barr Beacon. The location is seen in this picture taken on the day of the contact in question. Running about 80w SSB on 17m into a vertical dipole antenna from a battery powered Yaesu FT-857.
This is the view to the south overlooking Oldbury and West Bromwich. These picnic tables make for ideal operating positions and there is lots of space for erecting antennas. While I tend to operate HF from this location other operators enjoy working VHF, UHF and microwave bands from this lofty position.
On a nice sunny summers day this is a very enjoyable way of getting on the bands with a modest radio and a simple wire antenna and seeing what DX can be worked while you enjoy the view.
I’d like to thank Andy for the card and for the contact back in September last year.
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G0RIF/p setup
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Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures antenna, dipole, KB1KYN, portable, QSL, vertical
A review of outstanding QSL requests early in 2010 shows that I still need cards to confirm the following DXCC entities :-
Antarctica, Bhutan, British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Colombia, Honduras, Indonesia, Iraq, Monaco, Montserrat, Namibia, Nigeria, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka and UAE.
Some of these have been outstanding for some years now (Monaco since 1992!) so hopes of cards being received for all of these contacts are fading over time. However, I remain optimistic (dare I suggest confident) that I will receive cards from most of them, in particular Antarctica, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Honduras, Indonesia, Montserrat, Namibia, Nigeria, Philippines and UAE. Time will tell.
Dean Amateur Radio DXCC, QSL
NASA satellite image
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That’s right, there is no let up to the snow & cold icy conditions in the UK. The extent of the recent snowfall can be seen in this NASA image taken by the TERRA satellite on January 7th 2010. This shows the entire British mainland and the Isle of Man under a blanket of snow and ice.
Apparently this prolonged cold snap is in part attributed to climate changes in so far as the warmer air from the northern Atlantic ocean (which would normally afford us slightly warmer temperatures at this time of year) is being deflected to the south of the UK by a plunge of cold arctic air from north eastern Europe.
A larger version of this image is available on the BBC website for as long as they continue to host it - you can click here to view that image.
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Dean Blog, Pictures, Totally random January 2010, NASA, snow, weather
A very Happy New Year one and all. Here’s to a happy and prosperous 2010.
Dean Totally random 2010
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Here we have a few interesting cards received this week for contacts in the CQWW CW contest in November (6Y1V) and the CQWW WPX CW contest back in May (KL7RA). Both of these are in response to direct QSL requests.
Alaska (KL7RA) was an all time new one for me at the time so it’s nice to get that confirmed for number 153 (of 170) confirmed by paper QSL.
6Y1V (on 40m) was a highlight on the recent CQWW contest and I had a pretty quick response via the QSL manager in Finland (Kari, OH3RB) which was nice. The card also confirms a 20m and a 40m contact from the WPX CW contest in May.
In other news, SpaceWeather.com reports that sunspot 1035, having burst onto the scene 3 days ago, continues to grow and is crackling with C-class solar flares with a chance of M-class flares.
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the KL7RA and 6Y1V QSL cards
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Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures 6Y1V, CW, KL7RA, QSL, sunspot
eQSL from YW4D, Venezuela, 40m CW
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I’ll begin by saying first of all that not all amateurs look on the eQSL concept favourably. Many see it as open to abuse and as a consequence many awards bodies do not accept an eQSL (or ‘electronic QSL’) as confirmation of a contact. OK, that’s that out of the way.
Having said that, many amateurs do use them. They’re cheap (free in their most basic form) and they’re quick. This eQSL I have on display here for instance is for a contact made only 2 days ago in the CQWW CW contest.
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I like to save the eQSL images and show them here on my blog (on my eQSL page) but I also use them as a screensaver on my PC (mixed in with scans of my paper QSL cards). Even though they’re not admissible for awards, I know they represent contacts I made and as such they’re as much a reminder of a contact as any paper QSL.
Given it’s a free service (unless you choose to contribute) I think it’s a really worthwhile service for those hams who have neither the time nor funds to QSL by other means. Check them out at eQSL.cc.
Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures eQSL, QSL, YW4D
I wrote back in June that I was making good progress toward working 100 countries since moving to Lichfield in September of 2008. Well I can now report that coming out of the CQWW CW contest this past weekend I have now reached that milestone - 100 countries worked from this location.
The details are 100 countries worked with 74 on CW, 66 on RTTY and 60 on SSB. This includes 8 all time new ones in the form of Anguilla, Desecheo Island, St. Maarten & St. Eustatius, Bermuda, United Arab Emirates, Alaska, Montserrat and the British Virgin Isles.
This brings the overall numbers to 170 worked with 119 on CW, 122 on data modes (RTTY & PSK31) and 111 on SSB. Here’s to the big push towards 200!
Dean Amateur Radio, Blog CW, DXCC, G0RIF, Lichfield, RTTY, SSB
