Well it came and went and I dipped my toes in the furious contest waters but nothing new or exciting for me this time. Over a total of about 2 hours operating in 4 sessions I worked some 40 stations in 21 different countries - Armenia, Canada, Croatia, Czech Rep, Denmark, Estonia, European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Morocco, Serbia, Slovak Rep, Slovenia, Ukraine and USA.
What I did notice was that conditions on both 20m and 40m were much improved over my recent excursions to those bands - most stations were worked after just one call, although I was selective in just which stations I worked.
Sadly the few expected rare ones either weren’t active over the weekend or were just not heard at my location. That said I enjoyed getting back on the bands and I’m happy with my little haul and even more so with the improved band conditions.
Dean Amateur Radio 20m, 40m, contest, propagation, RTTY
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…was won by Lewis Hamilton after a flawless drive from pole position. Congratulations to both Lewis and the McLaren team for an great effort.
But what of Jenson Button and Brawn GP? Well it seems my earlier blog entry was made just a little bit too soon in the day!
Despite topping the time charts after first practise, Jenson fared less well in second practise and had a bit of a nightmare qualification, failing to get into Q3 and ending up 12th on the grid.
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Jenson Button - Brawn GP
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Despite his lowly starting grid position (eventually promoted to 11th following an irregularity with the weight of Nick Heidfelds BMW car) Jenson drove a great race to finish in 5th place, one place ahead of his closest championship rival, team mate Rubens Barrichello.
The net result of this is that Jenson is now 15 points ahead of Rubens with 3 races to go. What this also means, if you care to to a few sums, is that Jenson could…just possibly clinch the drivers title if he gains 5 or more points more than Rubens at Suzuka in Japan next weekend. We shall see…
Dean Pictures, Totally random Brawn GP, Formula 1, Grand Prix, Jenson Button, Singapore
Another sunny Saturday afternoon found me (G0RIF), Richard (M0SNR) and Luke (M3VVB) at Barr Beacon for what might have been our last portable operation from there this year. I was working a bit of HF (20m and 17m) while Richard and Luke worked VHF (2m) and UHF (70cm) with a SOTA beam on an 8m pole.
I set-up on 20m with my FT-857 (80w SSB) and one of the Par Electronics EndFedz in a vertical configuration. I found 20m to be quite busy and the band seemed to be in decent shape. Unfortunately the Scandinavian activity contest started at 13:00 local time after which the band was very busy. In a little over an hour on 20m I worked stations in Ukraine (EM0WFF), Switzerland (HB9VELO), Hungary (HA6NW), Belarus (EV6DX), Finland (several including Greg, OH2FFY/m with a full size 20m vertical), Sweden (several) and Japan (JA7NVF). Greg has posted a video he made during our 20m QSO which you can see here.
Eventually, due to the number of contest stations, 20m got a bit too wall-to-wall with big signals so I switched to 17m, again with an end fed vertical dipole (another of the Par EndFedz). Conditions on 17m were pretty good and I worked stations in Cyprus (5B8AP), USA (long chats with Andy, KB1KYN on Nantucket Island and Frank, K0FPL in Kansas City), Madeira Island (CT9/SP9CTT) and the Canary Islands (EC8AVA) before the DX catch of the day. Calling CQ at about 13:40 UTC I heard a good solid 58/59 signal come back to me in the form of Des (ZS1ZY) over 6000 miles away near Cape Town! We had a nice chat before QRM at his end overwhelmed my reported 33 signal. I think this demonstrates what can be achieved with a modest portable station and I was very pleased to work down into South Africa with my simple vertical dipole antenna and 80 watts of single sideband transmitted signal.
All in all we had a good afternoon in the sun. My little bit of HF DX was supplemented with some nice continental catches for Richard and Luke on 2m (Germany and The Netherlands). We’re all now waiting and wondering when we might next get out…and wondering whether or not conditions will be as favourable next time. I sure hope they are.
Dean Amateur Radio antenna, dipole, DX, EndFedz, FT-857, Par Electronics, portable, propagation
C37NL QSL card
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This is the card that arrived today from Andorran amateur radio station C37NL for an SSB contact back in early July of this year - this is a new confirmed country for me.
The C37NL call was granted to Jose (EA7KW) who was invited by the Andorran Amateur Radio League to operate from a brand new shack on a hilltop near La Rabassa, located in the ‘Naturlandia’ amusement park, home to the 5.3km world record length helter-skelter ‘Turbotronc’.
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Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures Andorra, C37NL, QSL, SSB, Turbotronc
Race day is now fast approaching (Sunday September 27th) and they’re currently involved in first practise with the Brawns, McLarens and Red Bull cars all looking good.
I’m personally hoping that Jenson Button can win this weekend and then go on to secure the world drivers championship but with rain a distinct possibility over the next few days, including race day, it should be an interesting weekend. Come on Jenson!
Dean Totally random Brawn GP, Formula 1, Grand Prix, Jenson Button, Singapore
Yes folks, it’s coming soon, on the weekend of the 26th and 27th of September 2009, the CQ WW DX RTTY contest - one of the biggest RTTY events in the amateur radio calendar.
As usual there are plenty of dxpeditions or dedicated contest operations to coincide with this event. Of note for me are 3A/HA3JB in Monaco (I still need a QSL card from Monaco even though I worked it many years ago) and ZF2SX on the Cayman Islands, which would be a new one for me.
Add to this the usual crop of less common countries that can be heard during a major contest and it could be an interesting weekend…if I get on the air. I’ll hope for a few hours here and there even if only to try and snag those mentioned above. Fingers crossed the bands are in good shape for this one!
Dean Amateur Radio contest, propagation, RTTY
September the 14th, 2009* - Muse release their fifth studio album, ‘The Resistance’.
It doesn’t seem like three years have passed since the release of their ‘Black Holes and Revelations’ album back in 2006 but it’s certainly been time well spent by the band because the latest offering is a very impressive collection of music, songs and lyrics.
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Not for nothing do I list music, songs and lyrics separately because each of those elements really deserves a mention in its own right.
The progression from their early works (’Showbiz’ and ‘Origin of Symmetry’) through ‘Absolution’ and ‘Black Holes and Revelations’ is now complete with ‘The Resistance’.
Musically this is an incredible album full of multi-layered guitars, synth, piano, orchestral and vocal elements combining to create a sonic soundscape of immense proportions.
The lyrics cover such diverse topics as politics, conspiracy theory and love, all contributing to some epic songs.
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Muse - ‘The Resistance’
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Ah, the songs! This is for me where this album really shines. Sure the music and lyrics are important but if they don’t gel to produce some really great songs then what’s the point? Matt, Dom & Chris don’t miss the point though and on ‘The Resistance’ they have delivered some wonderful new songs. Highlights for me are ‘Uprising’, ‘Resistance’, ‘Unnatural Selection’ and ‘MK Ultra’ - you may lean toward the Queen-esque pomp rock of ‘United States of Eurasia’ or the haunting piano of ‘I Belong to You’.
Saving the best until last? The album closes with a 15 minute epic entitled ‘Exogenesis: Symphony Pts. 1-3′ - the end result of something that Matt is quoted as saying that he has been “…working on sporadically for many years.” I have listened to this several times now and I think it is a masterpiece. It’s not rock by any stretch of the imagination - in fact it is more classical in nature, but just listen to the textures and multi-layered instruments, particularly the guitar in ‘Part 1 (Overture)’ - it is a magnificent piece of work.
Muse dare to be different and they succeed where others would only look silly. In ‘The Resistance’, in all it’s variety and grandeur, they have demonstrated to the world what we fans already knew - that they are a GREAT band. Buy it, play it loud and enjoy it!
* Release dates - 11/9 Australia, Benelux, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Ireland. 14/9 Europe and New Zealand. 15/9 USA and Canada. 16/9 Japan. 17/9 Brazil.
Dean Music, Pictures Muse, The Resistance
Emirates Airbus A380 A6-EDE
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Emirates Airbus A380 A6-EDE visited Birmingham Intl. Airport (BHX) on the 9th of September 2009 for the official opening of the new International Pier and to help celebrate the Airport’s 70th birthday.
I took the day off work to go and see this marvel of engineering in the flesh. It was well worth the effort! This is one seriously BIG aircraft. I wasn’t prepared for just how big it is compared the the next biggest, the Boeing 747. You just have to see it to believe it - it’s spectacular!
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You can see my pictures from the day in the album linked from the Pictures menu above.
Dean Pictures, Totally random A380, Airbus, BHX, EK39, photography
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From SpaceWeather.com…[2009-09-01]
“SUNSPOT 1025: A new sunspot emerged yesterday and interrupted a 51-day string of blank suns. It wasn’t much of an interruption. Sunspot 1025 is small and may already be fading away.”
That might explain the CQ fatigue I’ve been reporting!
A massive 51 days without any hint of a sunspot - that’s quite a stretch. It goes a long way towards explaining why conditions have been so poor recently on HF.
Indications are that this could be just another false dawn for cycle 24 but let’s hope that it does perk up soon!
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some actual sunspots *
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* Just to clarify, this image does not show sunspot 1025. Sunspot 1025 was much smaller than the sunspots shown here.
Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures propagation, Solar Cycle 24, sunspot