The YI9PSE QSL card
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Here we have the very nice YI9PSE QSL card confirming my two QSO’s, 20m and 40m CW. It was a challenge getting them in the log. It’s sometimes more of a challenge to get the confirmation afterwards.
Fortunately some of the larger Dxpeditions do all they can to make it easy to get their card, as was the case here.
Thanks to all of the YI9PSE team for giving me this chance at a new one and thanks for the contacts!
The large version of the YI9PSE QSL card can be seen in the DXpedition QSL gallery linked from the menu above.
This now makes it 178 DXCC entities worked with 162 of them confirmed by card. I have 125 LoTW confirmations and 164 in total (by either card or LoTW). |
Dean Amateur Radio CW, G0RIF, QSL, YI9PSE
Finally got them. Peaking S7 with me and still working a big pile up I tried a few spots between 2 and 4 up from his frequency of 7.004MHz but eventually got him 4.5 up in a relative quiet spot.
Update (14:30 on the 9th): I’m in their online log which has been updated this morning.
Update (18:13 on the 11th): Just got them on 20m CW too! 
* CW and about 90 watts of RF into my wet bit of string!
Dean Amateur Radio CW, dxpedition, YI9PSE
Sorry folks but this is yet another YI9PSE post. But, unless I work them before they leave Iraq, this will be the last YI9PSE post. Honest.
I’m writing this blog entry in response to a number of discussion threads I’m seeing, DX cluster comments, and my own experiences around the YI9PSE DXpedition, still active from Iraq and scheduled to be on the bands from Kurdistan in the north of the country until the 12th of April.
I think many people are surprised by how difficult it’s proving to be getting a QSO with YI9PSE. Their website may have led many (me included) to assume that they’d be loud on many bands to most parts of the amateur radio world (the website says that they have ‘amplifiers’ and ‘gain antennas’). This isn’t the case (based on my own experience and that of many others). It seems that they have been subjected to circumstances in Iraq they weren’t expecting and poor band conditions (partly due to the recent solar storm we’ve all been subjected to). This has led to widespread frustration with many bemoaning the lack of those anticipated big signals from YI9PSE.
Read more…
Dean Amateur Radio, Life..., Totally random dxpedition, Journey (The band), K5M, VP6DX, YI9PSE
Listening in to 20m a lot today and 17m at times hoping to hear a good signal from Iraq. Checked CW, RTTY and SSB on all the spotted frequencies - nothing.
Conditions were a bit grim yesterday but seem worse today. I’m seeing many others reporting nil heard with them so not just me.
Maybe 40m tonight…maybe…
Dean Amateur Radio CW, RTTY, SSB, YI9PSE
You may or many not know that YI9PSE are now active from northern Iraq. Well, I mentioned this DXpedition in an earlier post back in February and today was the first chance I’ve had to try and work them. Suffice to say the pile-ups were huge and it was hard work!
Suriname in South America
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I have heard YI9PSE today on 20m SSB at anything from strength 1 to strength 9, on 17m SSB between strength 1 and strength 7, 30m CW between strength 1 and strength 9 and 30m RTTY (all too briefly) at a consistent strength 7 to 9.
Despite all of this I have been unable to crack the pile-ups to get a contact. There are MANY stations calling YI9PSE and they are reporting EU stations at 30dB over 9 with them! One UK station had been trying for several hours and he was told by YI9PSE that he was 10dB over 9 and was still hard to hear under the EU wall of signals. I suspect my puny signal will only get through once the pile-ups thin out after a few more days of operations.
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But, there was some consolation in the form of another all time new one worked in the form of PZ5RA (Ramon) in Suriname on 17m RTTY. I’d been trying to work YI9PSE on 30m RTTY but he’d gone off air before I could snag him so I QSY’d to 17m where PZ5RA was good solid copy with me. Working simplex he was getting through a steady stream of EU stations but he wasn’t hearing me. Luckily he soon moved to working split and within 10 minutes of that I was in the log for country number 176. Now…let’s see if I can log YI9PSE before they’re all done.
Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures PZ5RA, RTTY, Suriname, YI9PSE
The IRAQ 2010 DXpedition has been issued the call sign of YI9PSE by the Iraqi Ministry of Telecom and is planning a multi-national operation to Northern Iraq (Kurdistan) in April of 2010.
Plans are for an impressive 5 stations on air concurrently (CW x2, SSB x2 and digimodes (RTTY) x1) from 10 to 160 meters (include WARC bands).
From the YI9PSE website - “The YI9PSE team has received the approval and blessing of the Kurdistan Regional Government to conduct the first DXpedition from Kurdistan. The YI9PSE team has been invited to demonstrate amateur radio to the Kurdistan Regional Government Ministry of Interior officials, who will visit and observe the YI9PSE DXpedition team in action.”
For full details and regular updates visit their website at http://www.yi9pse.com/index.html.
Dean Amateur Radio dxpedition, Iraq, YI9PSE