Direct QSL turnaround

T30PY Western Kiribati 

VP5CW Turks & Caicos Islands

V73AX Marshall Islands

HF Happenings

Another few moments spent to improve my new 30m antenna. Looks like now is in her final location ... Enjoying working now on 30m .... Some nice DX worked recently on 10Mhz :

• VP2MRV - Montserrat
• HT9H - Nicaragua
• S79NEN - Seychelles (NEW DXCC on 30m)
• DU1IST - Philllipines
• JA6GIJ - Japan

Plus several EU countries .... it is a pleasure to work CW for me. I am trying to practice my CW skills almost every day on PC (Morse Runner) but real QSO is REAL QSO ... Mistakes can happen but practice is a key! 

Looking for H40FN on 80m! SWL his signal last evening on 3.5Mhz when grey line was on both sides! Big thing it was for me to SWL Temotu Province on 80m band!

And on final nice surprise on eQSL ... 5T0SP Mauritania DX-Pedition 2012 ... Many thanks!

First New One on 30m worked with new dipole!

V5/DL3DXX Dietmar is currently acvtive from Namibia in Africa and I am happy to log QSO with him on 30m as New DXCC on this band! Worked with my new dipole antenna designated to 10Mhz only! Great signal in my location he had. Logged shortly after 2:30 AM ... It was hard on the begging to break NA wall but after his QRX it was much easier ....

Testing my 30m dipole ....

Time for the radio here only at late evening as Christmas are on the way. But enjoying few moments to test my new dipole designated for 30m band only. RX is slightly better on new antenna than on wimdom dipole but difference is not big. TX ... 1.0 SWR at whole band helps a lot to get most of it. Wimdom dipole on 30m with high reflected power did not play his best. Now when I am CQing on 10Mhz my SWR needle is not moving! Last night I had a pleasure to log VP8ROT Mike from Adelaide Island on Antarctica. 449 my  RST but I happy with that result as my dipole is not facing his direction. I had to adjust dipole for 30m this morning because was slightly off after last night stormy condition. 100km/h wind reported in my area last night! A lot of fun I have with my new antenna. My first home brew dipole :) Enjoying every single QSO on it!

Working on 30m antenna ...

My multiband dipole for some reason is "weakest" on 30m. I do not complain ... just know that I can do a bit better on this band. Best DX worked / heard on this band! So far 185 DXCC logged on 10Mhz. Missed a lot as well .... especially from Africa. Biggest disappointment was when VK0TH was calling me on RTTY and I could not reach him to confirm 599! Last few days played with my new dipole designated to 30m band only. Reached great SWR, good location and hight. I`ve got spare balun 1:1 from my slopper antenna now used for 30m dipole. This is my first home brew antenna and I am glad to see it working! Bit better RX than my multiband dipole but now is too early to say more. I will test it next few days. So far 2 NEW DXCC worked on this bands .... Kuwait and ... Latvia :) Best QSO ... 9M2MRS with Richard in West Malyasia. Looking for to improve my statistics into Africa on this band!

Oman on Top Band!

Great DX worked tonight on Top Band! Not much time for the radio these days but just few moments on the end of the day to turn on my radio and see what is the condition on the low bands as high bands are closed during the darkness here. Last year I was happy to work Chris A45XR on 80m and tonight last band with Oman completed! I had a pleasure to work Chris on every band and every mode and here you are on 160m! Wonderful signal in my location tonight! Pleasure to make QSO. I was trying to reach him last few days but no luck as the signal was weak and I have very strong noise level on TB 8dB. Was playing with new antenna for 160/80 called slopper but no success and I`ve found my 79m long dipole working much better than tested slopper.

Pacific QSL turnaround.

Three QSL cards from Pacific area received. 

A31KJ - Kingdom of Tonga - New DXCC on 17m

FO4BM - French Polynesia - SSB

NH8S - Swains Island - Three bands confirmed.

Two new countries on TB!

Great two contacts on TB here .... yesterday OX3KQ Jesper from Greenland , worked SSB , very hard it was I had to wait few days to signal from Top of The World be readable here ... and It was worth it! As Jesper is active now on TB almost every day. Greenland on 160m logged! And today 2`nd New One! OY3JE Jan from Torshavn on Faroe Islands ... worked JT65 :)) I am not big fun of digi modes, much more prefer fundamental of HAM radio ... CW ... but sometimes has to be done if no other way left. I was trying to call him when he was calling CQ ... but time on my computer was not synchronized. This is very important setting when using JT65, every second has to be bang on at both ends. So I had to synchronize my clock and here we go :) Top Band will be challenge for me now. Let see what else I can work on this band this winter season .....

Brieff 2012 summary ...

This is a list of all my NEW ONES worked in 2012:

HK0NA - Malpelo

VP6T - Pitcairn

TN2T - Republic of Congo

FW0NAR - Walis and Futuna

3B9/OE4AAC - Rodrigues

EP3PK - Iran

3C6A - Equatorial Guinea

3C0E - Annobon Island

7P8GF  -Lesotho

A35YZ - Tonga

JG8NQJ/JD1 - Minami Torishima

V63AAZ - Micronesia

5W7A - Samoa

9M0L - Spratly Island

V73NS - Marshall Islands

7O6T - Yemen

E40VB - Palestine

EZ8BP - Turkmenistan

CY9M - St Paul Island

D64K - Comoros

NH8S - Swains Island

3D2C - Conway Reef

5U6E - Niger

VK9XM - Christmas Island

T30PY - Western Kiribati

PT0S - St Peter & St Paul Rocks

VK9/OH3X - Lord Howe Island

ZL9HR - Auckland, Campbell Islands

28 DXCC entities.

69 days left to another New One ....

If no surprise activity on the bands I have to wait 69 days to catch new DXCC country on HF! Currently worked 283 countries on HAM bands. Latest NEW ONE - Auckland, Campbell Islands  ZL9HR. Here is a list of upcoming DX Operations. First "wanted position" is H44KW Solomon Islands - CW only DX-pedition by G3SWH and G3RTE. And shortly afterwards XT1T from Burkina Faso by Italian DX-Pedition Team. Their latest trip to Chad TT8TT confirmed today by QSL card. I will be active on the radio from time to time chasing new countries on several bands and will try to improve my low bands antenna system.

ZL9HR -Team

Last words about ZL9HR! I did not expect to work Campbell Island on 5 bands! This is big surprise for me and I am very happy with that results. Spend a lot of time waiting for you Guys on your operating frequencies but is was worth it! It is a pity that you did not start earlier and could not stay on the Islands few more days .... but anyway thank you for you BIG EFFORT! It was pleasure to work you 20km away! Waiting now for OQRS to be on on your website and I will donate your DX-Pedition with a pleasure. Have 3 videos in my collection of your activity there from Campbell. A videos to remember how ZL9HR sounds on the air. Thanks again!

Mauritania QRT and Mauritania QSL

5T0SP Dx-Pedition by Polish Team went QRT today in the afternoon. Great performance from Mauritania for several days. As usual .... 5T0SP will be missed on DX-Cluster. More than 80k QSOs in the log and this is unofficial record made by Polish Team (SP DX-Peditions). Congratulations to all Team Members. I had a pleasure to have QSO with all of them: SP2EBG, SP3CYY, SP3GEM, SP6EQZ, SP6FXY, SP6IXF, 5T0JL. 8 bands, 3 emissions. And SWL on 160m! Many thanks! .... and today received nice QSL card from JA1PBV - Sadao .... to confirm his latest activity from .... Mauritania as 5T5BV :) 7 bands CW and 1 RTTY sorted :)

Good QSL turnaround on 80m.

LoTW is working slow at the moment but is working.

Noticed some new QSL on 80m last few days here:

VP2V/AA7V - Brirtish Virgin Islands

EY8MM - Tajikistan

EX2B - Kyrgyzstan
D4C - Cape Verde
EL2A - Liberia

So far this is my most difficult band to operate and every QSO/QSL with new DXCC is appreciated.

Same story with TB but for 160m I am not prepared like it should be.

My signal on 40m again reached Antipodes!

This is video recored just few minutes after my QSO with ZL9HR on 40mCW! Showing here how strong Campbell Island DX-Pedition was on 7Mhz with great antenna! Signal peaks 589 at its best on my dipole. Can you imagine what will be on 2 ele Yagi ? +++ I was waiting for them this morning on 40mCW .... 7.030 was their operation frequency but this time they strikes on 7032. and I was there to give them a call! Great thrill to work such a station located 20.000 km away with dipole antenna on the tree :)

UFF UFF UFF Antipodes on 40m with dipole !!!!

What a day! ZL9HR logged on 40m! SSB! Managed QSO with my dipole hanging on the tree! Yes this is what I said already ... my dipole likes to work Pacific area when needed and when only can hear signals. Yesterday ZL9HR operation on 7Mhz CW was very strong here but I did not manage it. Today wake up early in the morning to wait again for Antipodes on 40m. For some reason it was my target with current operation from Campbell Island.
Around 6:00 UTC they were active on 21MhzSSB. F5UKW was asking them to QRV on 40m for EU. When VK station spotted ZL9HR on 21MhzSSB F5UKW asked him on the cluster to give they a call that EU is waiting on 40mSSB for Campbell ..... and VK station passed message to them and .... for big surprise they QSYed to 7.185 for EU! Big mess on the frequency as their signal was massive. For some time there was "by numbers" operation. It was not easy. The trick was to listen what operator on the other side is saying. It was the hint how to work them! They make my day! Had no luck yesterday on 2 ele Yagi ... did it today with my dipole :))) Here is a video of very powerful antenna there on Campbell Island. 2 elements 40 moxon! Great performance! Many thanks!

Greenland on 80m

Nice, short QSO I had last night with OX3XR Peter from Nuuk in Greenland. It was my 2`nd QSO with OX on 80m, first in CW. It was last missing band with Peter. I have QSOs with him on 40m to 10m. All CW. Peter is fine LoTW and eQSL user. Many thanks.

Chasing antipodes on the bands.

ZL9HR is still QRV ... two more days left ... and EI9KC is chasing them on the bands. Early in the morning today visited EI3KG/EI5JQ shack to give a try on 40m but they were not active there. Got them on 20mSSB and 15mCW instead. Went home shortly afterwards and got them on 17mSSB/CW. In the mean time they started to be active on 40m! Looks like permission to stay overnight on the Campbell Island is still valid and they were active all night (their night) on 40mCW! Great signals here in my QTH on dipole. But no luck. Happy enough with 2 new bands and new emission as well. More is less .... I should say. Windy condition in my QTH all day, weather outside was disaster and I was bit risky to stretch fully my mast to send my signal over the building to reach ZL9HR via L/P 243 degrees. I am very surprised with strong signals from ZL9! Did not expect to work them on 4 bands .... and to be honest on 40/30/20/17 they are workable here all day (our day)!

Vatican City confirmed by QSL card.

After last QSOs with HV0A on 15mSSB and 30mCW I`ve decided to send direct QSL to get paper QSL from Vatican City. Today received QSL confirmation. 4  bands in total confirmed on one QSL card. I hope to get LoTW QSL some day as HV0A is using this system and last upload was more than a year ago.

Phenomenal antipodes worked again!

Great stuff! Another FB QSO with ZL9HR this time on 20mCW! The whole team have been given permission to stay overnight on the island so they were active on the bands. Fair enough signal spotted here on 30m all day long. No so strong on my dipole but workable must say. At about 17:00 local time here found them on 20mCW with MASSIVE signal from their location. I did not expect hear them whatsoever tonight (last night almost no signals) but they show-up like nice surprise. First of all I pointed my antenna via L/P and then via S/P just to see how is like. To be honest better signal had via S/P (200km less) it means signal went through Asia and Australia this time and then I had to figure out how and where DX is listening and here we go! EI9KC 599 on the other side of the Globe!


Campbell Island's antipode (the point on the Earth's surface diametrically opposite to its location) is not far off the south-west coast of Ireland!

Signal from the end of the World

This is signal recorded from ZL9HR Campbell Island DX-Pedition on 30mCW in the morning few minutes when grey line just passed Ireland. Campbell Island is located 20000 km from Ireland. One way or the other  :)

Last minute NEWS (DX World) - The whole team have been given permission to stay overnight on the island. So far unknown if this will be a regular occurence.

I`ve send signal to Campbell Island and I`ve got reply!

ZL9HR Campbell Island should be on the air from last Wednesday but because of rough sea condition Team landed on the Island yesterday in the evening local time here and it was Saturday morning on Campbell. All Team did a great job to assembly a camp to be able to send first signal as ZL9HR before sunset there! Why It was so important ? Because they cannot stay on the island during the night! It means time when we can reach them in West EU will be limited.

Campbell island is the New Zealand's southernmost subantarctic territory and has a unique ecosystem, hosting more species than any other subantarctic island, except Crozet. There are six species of Albatross, the rare Hookerii sea lion, yellow eyed penguins and an unique flora.

I was thinking how to reach them on the bands. As distance from Ireland via S/P is .... 19714 km !!! and via L/P 20289 km so there is no difference which way signal will go is far enough from EI.

ZL9HR started operations shortly before 05:00UTC on 20 & 40 SSB. I was on the radio at about 8:00AM. Massive signal on 40mSSB but I don`t like big pile-up on SSB. Much more feel CW to give it try.

Signal was big on 20mSSB as well. But no luck. Thanks God they started also CW operation on 30/17/15m. No signals here on 17/15 but on 30mCW signal was quite good! About 559 in peaks here. 

Heavy pile-up , and a lot of QRM on DX frequency. They were calling EU ONLY! Wide split and EI9KC was trying to rech them. QRX on the frequency for about 5 minutes and back in action. After few calls EI9KC 599! I was about 7up! 599 TU! Cambell Island in my log! As NEW DXCC !

My dipole on 30m is the weakest but for some reason likes Pacific Area to show its best! And this time he did great job again! 

20 minutes later ZL9HR went QRT as night falls on Cambell Island and Team had to leave the Island!

Signals this morning were massive here on 40/30/20 Will try in the evening to listen them as night is short down there at this time of the year.

Good Luck to ALL!

The Gambia - QSL

QSL from C5A and C50C received today. This is Radio Syd Contest Group Dx-Pedition QTH for major DX-Coontest on HF bands. QSL covered my QSOs from 160m to 10m! Just one missing band with The Gambia here - 30m. Very happy with Top Band QSO/QSL and 80m as well. It was easier to work them on low bands than few EU countries.

Here is C5A 160m four square antenna system!

More interesting pictures from The Gambia here

Many thanks to Brani OM2FY for rapid QSL!

HF Happenings

• XX9THX - Macau - Direct QSL Received - New DXCC on CW (247 confirmed)
• PT0S - All worked bands confirmed on LoTW already
• Latest Niger activity on LoTW
• KH6LC - Hawaii - worked during CQWW CW on 40m confirmed LoTW! new40!
• 5T0SP - 7 bands worked - looking for 40m now - SWL them on 160!!!!
• EX2B - Kyrgyzstan - new country on 80m
• Azores 9 Islands Hunt certificate recieived
• EY8MM - Tajikistan - new DXCC on 160m!

Last Minute INFO: 5T0SP logged on 40mCW :) 6 bands today (80/20/17/15/12/10/40)

Mauritania on 80m!

Polish DX-Pedition in Mauritania now making HF busy and I needed this entity for Phone and on 80m. And maybe ..... maybe .... on 160m if things goes well. Latest New One on TB was The Gambia! But .... 80m first. I was thinking it will be tough ... but it was not! One call to be honest! I was waiting for them on their frequency on 3515. Few minutes earlier member of the Team posted info to DX Cluster that they are on 3.525 and listen up2. It was mistake because he was calling on 3.515! And I was there ..... signal very weak but good ears on the other side! I had to repeat my call three times to be sure they will reply to me EI9KC. And they did it! Great! Mauritania on phone sorted yesterday on 21Mhz and 80mCW today .... I will try to get some more slots with my Polish friends in Mauritania. One of them I had pleasure to meet when I was passing my HAM radio licence many years ago. SP3GEM Jurek - every DX-Man in SP-land knows him and his QTH and his antennas of course! One of his best designed antenna is in Ireland now at EI3KG/EI5JQ QTH. Good Luck in Mauritania! Enjoy the pile-up!

CQWW CW 2012

CQWW CW 2012 Contest still running on the bands! Heavy pile-up on all metric bands CW sections. Digital parts are destroyed by Morse Code and a lot of people have fun. Quiet on SSB sections and WARC  bands. But they are good when some people do not like contesting or CW.
And I had my "5 minutes" during this contest. Decide to run all bands assisted category to chase some new DXCC on some bands and as my previous post main focus was pointed onto Lord Howe Island for NEW Country on HF. Had fun this time as usual during contesting. No much time spend to call CQ , Most of the time I was calling other stations. More statistics are here.

Some QSOs to remember:

7P8D - Lesotho DX-Pedition just started 10/15 logged.

C5A - The Gambia - worked on 5 bands - on 160m as NEW ONE!

D4C - on 4 bands - on 80m as NEW ONE!

EL2A - new 40/80m!

VP5CW - new on 80m!

YN2CC - new on 80m!

KH6LC - Hawaii ! - new on 40m

VK9/OH3X - Lord Howe Is. - NEW DXCC

New country in the log while CQWW CW Contesting!

Easy and real pleasure contesting here on all bands during CQWW CW 2012. Not for result in the contest here but usual chasing some new DXCC on contest bands. Main focus was pointed into Lord Howe Island! As two operators from Finland OH1VR and OH3JR are active from VK9-L as VK9/OH1VR and VK9/OH3JR - they also participated in CQWW Contest with their contest call-sign. Last friday signal on 17mCW was great here but for some reason operator went QRX and did not came back. I was trying on Saturday to reach them on 15m but signal was not readable here. Henri OH3JR was active as VK9/OH3X and I was only able to read last part of his call-sign dah-di-di-dah. I new it he was there as I was monitoring his frequency a lot of time and spots on the clusters as well. No luck on Saturday. Sunday was much better! Few minutes before 9:00 AM here Lord Howe Island logged here! Did via S/P but when turned antenna for L/P signal was much stronger. It was hard. I had to repeat my call few times! Thanks God I had no pile-up with me.

Micronesia on eQSL

QSO made in April this year with V63AAZ (Jonas SA0AAZ) is now confirmed on eQSL. Nice surprise!

Job has to be done!

A lot of antenna work today at EI3KG / EI5JQ QTH.

Michal EI3KG will participate in CQWW CW Contest 2012 this year and we had to do some work at his QTH. Old rotator broke down during last strong winds in Ireland and we had to replace it for a new one. Stronger one for sure! 

2 element 40m Yagi antenna

We had to do also some adjustments for 2 elements Yagi designated for 40m band. This is the beauty who let me log PT0S last week on 40m at their first day! Look at the size of it! My garden is twice that small! You can really see how big is Yagi for 40m when antenna is down on the ground. On the tower it doesn`t look so big!

Assembling three bander (20/15/10) for CQWW CQ 2012

40m 2 element Yagi on top of it!

Antennas work in progress.

Last adjustments before the CQWW CW Contest 2012

Job done! Enjoy the view. View towards Central America and Caribbean.

Uff! All day work behind us. We had to be quick as day is short this time of the year and all job has to be done before sunset. We did it! All antennas sorted for CQWW CW 2012 for Michal EI3KG! Good Luck in the Contest!

After dusk I had a pleasure to test 40m 2 element Yagi how it is working as Michal had to get a nap before Contest. To be honest this is Real Big Thing antenna! Can you imagine to get 17dB snr at Reverse Beacons in New Zealand on 7MhzCW ? 49 short QSOs managed on 40m this evening! 

Best DX worked as a big surprise there:

V63DX Micronesia on 40m! This is real Thing! Spotted signal in Japan from Micronesia - decided try to listen here in Ireland , why not ? 559 on 40m 2 element Yagi real raport! One call! Uff this is real pleasure DXing! Looking forward to see ZL9HR next few days as this will be challenge here in Ireland! 

DU / JA / VK / 9M stations logged today on 40m as well.

3D2C Conway Reef 2012 confirmed by QSL card.

Great QSL received direct today. 3D2C Conway Reef Dx-Pedition 2012. New country on HF!

Nice double QSL card. Many thanks.

Monaco - 100 DXCC confirmed on LoTW on 80m.

Latest New DXCC worked on 80m 3A/ON5UR Max and rapid QSL on LoTW is my 100 entity confirmed on LoTW. Many thanks! 

PT0S - on LoTW

First logs from PT0S reached LoTW! At last ;) Logbook of the World is not so fast like it was but is working .... And here is my first QSO with PT0S - Saint Peter And Saint Paul Rocks already confirmed on LoTW! Many thanks.

Brunei on 10m!

Uff! Just logged V84SMD on 28MhzCW! Signal not so strong. Hard to beat EU pile-up. Spots from Europe shows FB signal .... here vy weak ....but did it! Managed QSO via L/P as my previous on 12m few days ago! Good stuff New DXCC on 28Mhz and hope for QSL at last from Brunei!

St. Peter and St. Paul Rocks (IOTA SA-014) Mission completed!

(picture credit to http://www.50mhz.com/site/?p=189)

PT0S

Job done! 8 bands QSOs sorted! 2 days waiting for good opening and operation on 12m and now sorted. They started here on CW and pile-up was up 15! Massive signal 599 real here. Then operator was asking for SA only. It means South America only .... no one willing to listen .... he went QRT .... because  other bands are busy with LZ Contesting I`ve decided to stay on their SSB frequency on 24.940 Mhz and it was good idea! Fred PY2XB was at the microphone and he started calling CQ ... on 24.940. First two contact he did in simplex then he asked up and I was first station calling him up5! It was before any spot on DX-Cluster. Nice easy QSO last missing band completed! 8 in total! Great thrill. I was asking few other friends from SP - land how they are doing with PT0S and to be honest a lot of them cannot make ONE QSO! Signals are weak and you need to be really BIG Gun to manage it plus a bit of luck as well. Here in EI this was easy! Nice change to have advantage over the usual EU countries with a rare one!

PT0S Rock On!

Well well well .... managed two missing bands today .... 30mCW in the morning when signal was very weak but I did it! And at the sunset here 17mCW with massive signal real 599 in my location. ....12m needed now and Rocks will be sorted ... and looks like I need to repeat QSO on 80m. Second on-line log update and I cannot find my 80mCW QSO .... few other stations are missing too. I will try to reach them again on 3.5 ...

Uff early in the morning here log update ..... 80mCW bang on! Trying now SSB ):))

Papua New Guinea - 4 new Islands in my log

Great IOTA DX-Pedition finished last few days ago. More about the Team and activated islands on their website here.

Happy here to work Papua New Guinea on 30mCW as new DXCC on this band! And on top of it 4 new Oceania Islands in my log :

OC-103 Emirau Island

OC-099 Tabar Island

OC-135 Solomon Island 

OC-025 Admiralty Island

Great fun!

Missed IOTAs : OC-69 Lihir Island / OC-240 Loloata - no condition.