The recent WPX RTTY contest resulted not only in an all time new DXCC entity worked but also in a new US state being worked in the form of in KR7X in Washington county, Oregon.
This brings to 41 the number of states worked towards the ARRL WAS (Worked All States) award. Of the 41 states already logged the current QSL position is that I have 37 of them confirmed (see map below).
WAS position as at February 2010 - 41 states logged with 37 confirmed
The states still needed for WAS are: Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures Oregon, QSL, RTTY, WAS
It’s always a nice surprise when a batch of cards arrive from the bureau, as much as anything because there doesn’t seem to be any particular kind of schedule that’s adhered to. They just arrive unannounced 2 or 3 times a year, about 70 or 80 cards a batch spread over three envelopes in my case.
This collage shows a selection of the cards received. Of particular note are those confirming new ones for me, V51XG (Namibia) and 3A/DL3OCH (Monaco). This brings to 159 the number of DXCC entities now confirmed by QSL card (of 171 worked).
some of the QSL cards received from the bureau recently
These and other cards are also shown in the QSL picture pages linked from the menu above.
Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures bureau, DXCC, QSL
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
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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 arrived home from work this evening to find a QSL card arrived from Des, ZS1ZY, in the Cape Province, South Africa.
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This is for a SSB contact back in late September when operating portable from Barr Beacon, just north west of the city of Birmingham (which I wrote about at the time in this blog entry).
I sent my QSL card direct to Des at his home address, about a week or two after the contact, enclosing a return addressed envelope and an international reply coupon (IRC). Receiving a return card so quickly deserves a big thank you so “thanks Des!” and 73 until the next time.
You can see this and other cards from Africa here.
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the colourful ZS1ZY QSL card
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Dean Amateur Radio, Blog, Pictures IRC, portable, QSL
It is always nice to receive QSL cards and the beauty of the bureau system is that you get a lot of cards delivered all at once. It’s great to then look back through the log and remember some of those contacts.
Many contacts can be short & sweet though - this is the case with contest or special event stations who are intent on logging as many contacts as possible as quickly as possible. The cards shown here from OE2008A and HB2008VC are from two such special event stations setup to celebrate the Euro 2008 football tournament co-hosted by Austria and Switzerland. There were many such stations and I received over 30 of their cards in my most recent delivery, a mix of Swiss and Austrian stations for SSB, CW and RTTY contacts.
a selection of the more colourful QSL cards received from the bureau
Here (bottom right) you can also see the card received from Peruvian station OA4WW, this means that of 168 countries logged I now have 151 of them confirmed by paper QSL (rather than some electronic form such as LOTW or eQSL).
Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures bureau, CW, Euro 2008, G0RIF, LoTW, QSL, RTTY, SSB
Three envelopes containing some 80+ cards arrived at the G0RIF QTH over the weekend. It’s always a nice surprise when cards arrive from the bureau because it only happens about twice a year.
I’ll sift and sort and scan a few and upload a few pictures - there look to be some nice cards in this latest batch, including a new one confirmed in the form of OA4WW (40m CW) in Peru!
Dean Amateur Radio bureau, G0RIF, QSL
Recent receipt of a few nice QSL cards got me to looking back through my amateur radio station logbook. It shows that September 2009 was a mostly inactive month so far as amateur radio was concerned. ‘QRT’ is amateur radio terminology for ’shutting down’ or ’station off air’ - hence the title of this post.
My logbook shows that between the 29th of August and the 26th of September I didn’t log a single station! I seem to recall that I was a little bit deflated by what I described ‘CQ fatigue’ prior to that period. Maybe I just needed a bit of a break from amateur radio!
My portable operations from Barr Beacon and a brief foray in the CQWW RTTY contest at the end of September certainly made up for that lack of activity with some good contacts and signs of improved conditions on the shortwave bands.
The results of all of that are that I have a number of outbound QSL cards to complete and send to either the RSGB bureau or to the respective stations direct. I can then look forward to the return cards arriving sometime next year with a bit of luck!
In other news, this little update also represents a minor landmark in my blog - the 100th post.
Dean Amateur Radio, Blog portable, Q-codes, QRT, QSL, RTTY
