Approaching 75,000 QSO’s in their log and less than 12 hours before they go QRT. The E4X operation will soon be a thing of the past.
Pushing 80 watts into my bit of wet string I managed to snag them twice - 20m RTTY and 30m CW on two separate evenings. The RTTY contact was plain sailing but the CW contact was a bit hairy.
Conditions were never really great and there was some fading (QSB) on 30m on the night of my QSO. I’d been calling in the pile for a while before operator Bernard (F9IE) came back to me with ‘RIF?” to which I replied ‘G0RIF”, hoping he’d confirm my call, give me my report and I’d just send the usual ‘599 tu‘ and log him. As luck would have it though the fading coincided with his confirming my call and although I thought he’d got it right I wasn’t 100% sure of the last character. Had I heard an F‘…or a U‘, an R…or something else?
I erred on the side of caution, just in case he still didn’t have the call entirely correct, and sent ‘de G0RIF 599 tu‘ only to hear the back end of his ‘tu‘ call as my TX dropped out. Did he have my call correct or not? A slightly nervy wait to see if I was in the log but it was all okay in the end.
The E4X ops seem to have done a good job of working band/mode combinations. I see that some stations have as many as 23 band/mode contacts logged, quite an achievement!
I’m pleased with my 2 contacts though, so much so I didn’t even bother chasing a 20m CW contact when they were loud with me on Saturday, having worked them on 20m previously for my RTTY contact and with CW in the bag by virtue of my 30m contact.
Dean Amateur Radio CW, dxpedition, E4X, RTTY
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
Operating as E4X the Palestine 2010 DXpedition (by the Tifariti Gang) should be on the air from May 28th to June 6th.
They plan to be active from 6 to 160 meters (include WARC bands) on CW, SSB and RTTY modes with at least 3 stations on the air at any time on different bands and modes.
For full details and regular updates on plans and progress visit their website at http://www.dxfriends.com/e4x/plans.php
Dean Amateur Radio dxpedition, E4X, Palestine