46 and counting…

Well, where to start? I’d hoped that I might be able to work a few new ones over the weekend as the bands were alive with CW stations taking part in the CQ WPX contest. I’d also hoped I might be able to work a few stations from those countries identified in an earlier post for which I need LoTW confirmations towards my CW DXCC (there are of course many more but I consider these to be potentially easier to work).

In addition to all of the CW activity there was also the small matter of the E4X operation from Palestine which I hoped to work for a new one. The CW pile-ups earlier in the week and been huge but as luck would have it they seemed to focus on SSB and RTTY over the weekend and I managed to snag them on 20m RTTY on Saturday evening as the pile-up thinned out. I also worked TL0A in Central Africa on Sunday evening (also 20m RTTY) for another all time new one (number 178).

The WPX CW contests didn’t offer up any new ones but I was pleased to work a few of those countries mentioned in that earlier post. I also worked a few CW new ones. Conditions weren’t great but they did seem to improve from Saturday to Sunday (with the sunspot number up to 45 on Sunday).

Highlights of the weekend were:-

• Working E4X on 20m RTTY for new one #177.
• Working TL0A on 20m RTTY for new one #178.
• Working Colombia and Bonaire for new ones on CW.
• Argentina, Belgium and Slovakia CW now confirmed at LoTW.

So not a bad weekend. Two all time new ones, 2 new ones on CW, 3 more CW countries confirmed at LoTW (and hopeful of a few more), 136 contacts in the WPX contest spread over 54 countries. And all of this on my bit of wet string!

Dean Amateur Radio CW, DXCC, E4X, RTTY, TL0A, WPX

This weekends WPX CW contests is fast approaching. As usual I’ll be hoping that there are a few new ones to work. This year though I also have another objective in mind.

I have been reviewing my Logbook of The World (LoTW) confirmations and in so doing I have drawn up a shortlist of 20 of those countries I have worked but where I still need a LoTW QSL. Many of these are countries I should have no trouble working and none of them are particularly rare.

Algeria, Argentina, Azores, Belgium, Ceuta & Melilla, Crete, Gibraltar, Greenland, Ireland, Japan, Jersey, Macedonia, Malta, Northern Ireland, Senegal, Slovakia, Svalbard, Tunisia, Turkey, Wales

Some of these would usually be overlooked as I tune the bands looking for more exotic DX. Not so this time - if I can snag 15 of those 20 I will have the required 100 LoTW confirmations to submit my CW DXCC application.

The trick now of course is to work as many stations as possible from each of those countries in the hope that at least one from each country uses LoTW.

Dean Amateur Radio contest, CW, DXCC, LoTW, WPX

As mentioned back in February, when I wrote about the WPX RTTY contest, my 40m RTTY contact with PJ4R was the very first contact I made in 2010. It was a great start to what has been a pretty good year so far despite being QRT for the first 43 days. As ever it’s always nice when you get the card for ‘a new one’ so it was good to receive this card from PJ4R this morning. Of the 124 countries worked on RTTY this is the 100th confirmed by card.

PJ4R QSL card

Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures PJ4R, QSL, RTTY, WPX

According to Spaceweather.com a ’sunspot is emerging’ although it has not yet been officially numbered. This looks like it might break the recent 12 day spotless streak. The sunspot number is currently 12.

If this is the start of a significant sunspot (and it doesn’t subside and amount to nothing) then I’m hoping it is the start of a little solar activity just in time for the CQ WW WPX Contest next weekend (29-30th May).

A little help from the sun would be nice and might just lead to some new ones being logged!

Dean Amateur Radio contest, CW, propagation, sunspots, WPX

I have just found a really great article on the effect of radials on a vertical antenna! I won’t duplicate what Steve Katz (WB2WIK) has written because he says it far better than I ever could. If you have a vertical antenna or are thinking of putting one up you should read his article entitled Radials - They make verticals really work.

I read an awful lot about antennas and antenna theory but this article explains a few simple practical tests that you can conduct to demonstrate how well (or otherwise) your vertical antenna is working, and how much better it can be made to work with an appropriate radial setup (either elevated or ground level/buried).

Take a look and have a good read - you might be surprised at what your vertical antenna can do with the addition of some radials!

Dean Amateur Radio antenna, radials, vertical

Spaceweather.com is a site worth checking out. The site provides lots of really useful information about sunspot numbers, auroral sightings, atmospheric phenomena and of course ’space weather’.

The list of topics covered is not limited to those listed in the preceding paragraph - in fact if you’re interested in science at all you’ll likely find something of interest and you’ll very probably learn something that you previously didn’t know. Check it out - it’s well worth a look!

Dean Totally random SpaceWeather, sunspots

The eagle eyed reader might notice a few discrepancies in the total number of countries (DXCC entities) I have worked - I had previously claimed 177 countries but I have recently revised that downwards by removing Kosovo from the list. My total is now accurately stated as 176 countries worked.

Last year (2009) a number of stations operated from Kosovo with YU8 prefixes as speculation grew as to some form of Kosovan breakaway from Serbia. There was some discussion at the time as to the validity of these callsigns and the likelihood that Kosovo would eventually be recognised by either or both of the ARRL (who run the DXCC program) and the international community. Mindful of the ‘work them now, worry about it later’ maxim I logged any YU8 stations I worked at the time as Kosovo, just in case.

However, things didn’t happen in line with the speculation and in the course of tidying up my log I have recently amended all of those contacts to be Serbia. Just in case anyone was wondering how or why I’d ‘lost’ a country.

Dean Amateur Radio, Totally random DXCC

As of today I have 127 countries worked on CW. That’s about 127 more than I expected back when first licensed in 1991! Back then it was SSB all the way even though the 12 word per minute Morse test was still a requirement for access to the shortwave bands.

I do have a few Morse contacts in the log from those early days but they really were few and far between. The ease with which I could make contacts on 10m and 15m SSB meant that there was little incentive for me to knuckle down and spend time perfecting the fine art of CW and achieving CW DXCC seemed nigh on impossible.

Fast forward to June 2007 when, having been back on the bands for the best part of two years, I decided to dust off the cobwebs and get back on the bands with a bit of the old Morse code. I used a cheap old Chinese straight key for a while but then moved on to using the keyer in an Icom IC-703 working CW contests with about 8 watts output into my 20m dipole. I subsequently moved on to a K8RA iambic paddle (a beautifully engineered bit of kit which I am still trying to really become proficient with) and higher power levels (although always well under 100 watts). I also adopted computer keying for contests and DXpeditions where the exchanges are short and sharp.

The net result of all of this is that since June 2007 I have worked those 127 countries on CW. In the same time period I have worked 121 countries on RTTY and only worked 96 countries using SSB (where the overall country total is now at 112). A reflection of the relative levels of activity on the respective modes where, as you can see, SSB is currently my least used mode. How things have changed since those early days!

Dean Amateur Radio CW, DXCC, morse code, SSB

In case you have ever wondered, as I have, just how long it takes for sunspots to affect shortwave conditions here on earth, this is currently the subject of a discussion thread in the DXing forum over at eHam.net. Interesting!

Dean Amateur Radio, Totally random DX, propagation, sunspots

A blog entry by Ed (N4EMG) reminded me that it was about time I did another review of my outstanding QSL position.

Back in January I wrote about countries I had worked but was still waiting for a QSL card. Well since that time I have received cards for two of the countries listed then, Monaco and Namibia, but I have worked a few new ones and those QSL requests are still outstanding.

The current position is that I have 159 of 176 countries worked confirmed by QSL card. The countries for which I am awaiting cards are:-

Antarctica, Bhutan, Bonaire/Curacao, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Honduras, Iraq, Mauritius, Montserrat, New Zealand, Nigeria, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Suriname, United Arab Emirates.

Of those Nigeria is the most worked with 4 contacts, Anarctica, Colombia and Iraq weight in at 3 each, 2 with the Caymand Islands and the rest are all singletons.

I expect the YI9PSE card soon so that takes care of Iraq. Montserrat, New Zealand, Antarctica, Nigeria, Suriname, UAE and Bonaire should be no problem as they all have well defined (reliable) QSL routes. That rest might be a bit more difficult. I’ll report back with another update later in the year.

Dean Amateur Radio QSL