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.

2 new DXCC confirmed by QSL card

TY2BP Patrice - Benin in Africa

VK9XM - Pekka (x2) Christmas Island - Indian Ocean

PT0S - Saint Peter And Saint Paul Rocks

PT0S DX - Pedition from Saint Peter And Saint Paul Rocks is making bands busy now! Only 4 operator due to lack of room on the rock are doing great job from this remote location in the middle of Atlantic Ocean! And EI9KC is more than happy now to work them on all metric bands!

40mCW - sorted while visiting EI3KG/EI5JQ shack and 2 ele Yagi for 40m - first day of activations!
15mCW - sorted yesterday - great signals. I had to erect my antenna high as possible to throw my signal over the building standing just beside my mast as bearing is 210 degrees from here. This is of course to get best signal as possible from my side.

80m - for 3 days here alarm clock at 5:16AM. As in the evening East Europe is stronger on 80m ... and after 3 days .... a bit of luck today early in the morning when grey line passed East Europe and EI and PT0S were on the same condition. Saint Peter And Saint Paul Rocks logged here on 80mCW !!! 

Here is their signal shortly after my QSO on 3.5MhzCW

Then in the morning 

20/15m SSB sorted quite easy ....

And on the end 10m just logged SSB!

Great thrill! 

And big respect to the Team on the rocks

(PY2XB / PY5CC / AA7JV / HA7RY)

Very interesting website founded about Past Dx-Peditions from the Rocks

http://www.py2yp.com/spsprocks/

Website of PY2YP Cesar Augusto.

V84SMD - Darussalam Brunei

Great new one on 12m worked this morning! V84SMD Brunei DX Pedition. FB signal they had in my location via L/P. I was trying to work PT0S on 20mSSB (with big success today!) and I did not have to move antenna around to change direction as PT0S are 208 degrees SP here and Brunei 242 LP. I was trying to listem then via S/P as well but signal was very weak. Brunei is still not confirmed here as I had several QSOs with local HAMs but .... no reply to my Direct QSL request yet. Looking forward to catch them on few more bands GL!

Chad confirmed on 6 bands

TT8PK QSL card from Phil recieved today. Now Chad confirmed on 6 bands 10-30m. CW only so far.

3A/ON5UR & 3A/ON8AK – Monaco

Max ON5UR and Marc ON8AK are QRV now form Monaco. On few bands will be nice to work 3A as new DXCC. I need Monaco on 160/80/15/10 ... but they will not operate on TB. Just logged Max ON5UR on 80m as new country on this band. Many thanks.

Marshall Island late night here!

What a great condition late Sunday night here. V73AX worked on 20mSSB at 19:30 local here! As new DXCC on 20m and Phone as well.This station was spotted 30 minutes earlier by EI3GYB Michael from Co.Mayo on  DX Cluster. I was thinking ... well Co.Mayo .... to late for East part of Ireland .... I`ve tuned to his frequency and to be honest hear no signal at all from Marshall Island. Few stations from NA East coast were calling him via L/P. Sometimes heard something from V73 but it was very weak 2/1 at its best! Suddenly V73AX appear 5/1 on my radio! Few calls via S/P and that was it! Logged! Not always Marshall Islands can be spotted in EI! DX to remember!

EI9KC at OK - OM DX Contest 2012

Last year  EI9KC participated in OK-OM DX Contest on 80m LOW Power ... this year again. 50 QSOs logged on 3.5Mhz CW. Last year with 28 contacts ... second last place in Europe ;) Will see what score will be this year ;) Bands were full with OK and OM stations! Thanks for good fun!

When DXing is a pleasure ....

I had a pleasure to join EI0PL Contest Group to operate for few hours during JIDX 2012. It`s mean Japan International DX Contest - SSB edition. Condition was not bad but not great as well. More than 150 contacts with JA logged on 4 bands. Condition here in EI is hard to work JA station as signal is going almost via North Pole. In the mean time I had a pleasure to enjoy DXing from new antennas at EI3KG / EI5JQ QTH (Club location EI0PL) - Brand new 3 bander antenna for 10/15/20 meters by SP3GEM is a top class construction thing. This is GB312 made by SP3GEM. 8m long boom, 12 elements total. 5 elements active on 10m, 4ele on 15m and 3 on 20m band. F/B ratio is amazing! And for first time ever I had a pleasure to work on 40m on 2ele Yagi antenna! Where I am always on dipole this change was great experience! And how is it to work on beam for 40m?

• PT0S in my log on 40mCW early morning here! More about this DX-Pedition soon as this is top notch location St Peter & St Paul Rocks! 

This is some DX here made during visiting Adam EI5JQ at his QTH:

• SV2ASP/A Monk Apollo from MOUNT ATHOS on 20mSSB and 10mRTTY
• VP2MGZ Lot & Babs from Montserrat
• 8J1RL Japanese Antarctica Research Expedition on 15mCW
• 5R8IC Eric from Sainte-Marie Island MADAGASCAR iota AF-090 - 15mCW
• A5A - Bhutan by Zorro JH1AJT - 20mSSB
• LT0X - PENGUIN ISLAND (ISLA PINGUINO) IOTA SA-087 on 10mSSB

I was trying to reach PT0S on 18mSSB but no luck as GB312 antenna is not working on WARC bands .... 

When I went home late afternoon here I was trying to reach PT0S on 24MhzSSB. Fantastic signal but went QSB very quick as daylight over here.

But very lucky QSO on 17m here A31KJ logged on CW as new country on this band!

LoTW is back

LoTW is back after big crash after CQWW SSB Contest. I am still waiting for my last upload to be visible on LoTW. Today great surprise! 3 x QSL from VK9XM Christmas Island confirmed on 10/12/15m! New one on HF! Many thanks.

Ukrainian DX Contest 2012

Not much time I had to participate fully in Ukrainian DX Contest 2012 buy in my spare time I managed 112 QSO. All bands low power. To be honest 75% QSO did it with my antenna just 3m above the ground pointed into NA direction ;) I was active on three bands 10/15/20 for short time on Saturday and Sunday. This is warming-up for me for CQWW CW 2012!

Niger and Lebanon QSL

Two new countries confirmed by QSL today. 

1) Niger - Very fast QSL card from 5U8NK Jan. Just 3 weeks after QSO on 28Mhz!

2) OD5PY Marwan from Lebanon - electronic QSL via LoTW also very fast. He is probably only one station from this country willing to confirm QSO via LoTW. 

Many thanks!

Updated status confirmed countries : 262

Attempting to work as QRP - Jan Mayen - JX9JKA

Here on 40m with my dipole. Great signal from Svein JX9JKA QRV from Jan Mayen Island - one of the Most Wanted DXCC locagted in EU - great signal but I couldn`t reach him QRP on 40m. Decided then on the end use 100W.

2`nd attempt today. This time on 10m. Great signal ... and just few calls! EI9KC/QRP logged JX9JKA in small pile-up. QRP power here around 0.5 W

Mauritania "sorted" on 7 bands

5T5BV Sado ITO is now very active from Mauritania in Africa. Just completed last missing band 10m. I have him in my log from 40m to 10m. Did not see activity on 80m and 160m. No worries!

5T0SP Will be on the AIR in few weeks time! I hope 80m will be reachable from here ... and maybe 160!