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No sleep and no DX!

May 23rd, 2009

YS1G are now QRT and despite listening in (on CW) for lengthy periods last night on several bands I didn’t hear a peep out of them. Early this morning they were working 40m SSB into Europe (by numbers) and again, I was not able to hear them.

For now I can only hope for better propagation as cycle 24 picks up over the next few years because on this occasion, given my limited setup this end, it seems I was probably being somewhat over optimistic.

Dean Amateur Radio ,

  1. Michael G7VJR
    | #1
    Reply | Quote

    Hi Dean,

    Thanks for trying your hand contacting YS1G. It is quite a distance and the only way to get through would be to pick a peak time, and use an efficient antenna such as a vertical with a good low angle of radiation. The problem with low power or other antennas would be that the competition, eg. southern Europe, might be 30dB louder by using beams and amplifiers. Having said that, some people (with huge amounts of spare time?) were successful with G5RV/100W stations! Most of our pile ups to EU had busy times and quiet times so some luck would have cracked it.

    I wish you success! Good DX Dean,
    73 - Michael G7VJR / YS1G

  2. Dean
    | #2
    Reply | Quote

    Hi Michael,

    Thanks for taking the time out to comment on the YS1G posts on my blog! I bet you & Bob must be done-in after a long week working the pile-ups and then getting back home over the weekend.

    I agree entirely with your comment, problem was every time I set about an all-nighter I was nodding off in the chair by midnight after a 6am start and a long day at work. I reckon 30m through the early morning (0200-0400 UTC) might have been my best bet had I been able to commit the time and get a sleep pattern to suit.

    I’d be interested to hear what setup you had in El Salvador. I did snag K5D on 30m but I suspect they had more power/antenna than you guys…?

    Cheers,
    Dean - G0RIF

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