E30FB - Fine Business Eritrea!

Thanks Zorro JH1AJT and his Team for fast response for my query in log entry. My 20M QSO is not there, was not completed and is not counted ..... Lucky 15M QSO was there but with busted call .... now fixed. Did my OQRS via Clublog and received my LoTW QSL already. Welcome Eritrea as NEW DXCC confirmed in my log. Great service and perfect example how to manage such a impossible mission in Most Wanted DXCC. Thanks Zorro. Hats off.

C21GC Nauru

Approach Nauru island

Stan LZ1GC is active now from Nauru as C21GC. And I am happy to log QSO with him on 20M CW as new DXCC in that mode. Numer 302 for me.

Stan is great operator, had pleasure to work him last year from Fiji as 3D2GC.

Nauru is located in "hard" area to work from EI but I have hope for new band too.

Good Luck Stan and CU AGN!

Milestone reached on 40M (LoTW)

200 DXCC

Confirmed on LoTW on 40M. Thanks to Alexey HC2AO from Ecuador!

Yesterday QSO and instant LoTW appreciated.

He also gave me QSL on 80M. My first QSO with Ecuador on 80M - HC2AC still not confirmed but I`m not counting for it. Had bad experience with his QSL manager unfortunately.

To be honest HC2AO Alexey gave me 

6 LoTW credits already. Many thanks!

My call-sign was mentioned on his blog recently:

http://hc2ao.livejournal.com/23874.html

Benin once more

TY1AA Italian Dx-Pedition Team is QRT now. Great joy during last 2 weeks. 

And big surprise in my log!

One morning when I was chasing Nigel ZD9XF on 40M and also Benin TY1AA

on 40 and 30 ... little signal was discovered on 80M. Well maybe not discovered because

when they are starting operation on new band there is always kind of self spot on their

frequency. It is bad idea in my opinion , SPOT = QRM ... anyway ....

maybe this time it helps ... Italian Team are not strong on low bands when they are operating from several location in Africa so I wasn`t dreaming to hear and work them on low bands.

Maybe 30 ... and maybe 40 ...

40M SSB managed from EI0PL location with 2el Moxon designated for this bands.

80M ? No hope .... 

But this time Benin on 80M was logged :) !

HF Happenings ....

SP7IDX-Hexbeam

Autumn is here and condition is on the bands improved.

1) E30FB - Eritrea - Log is online now and my QSO on 15M is fixed ..... no QSO on 20M ...

2) VK9NT - Norfolk Island - on LoTW already and great to see two new bands 12/30!

3) VK9AN - Christams Island - 40/30/17 new bands QSOs! Still trying RTTY

4) VK6IR - Steve - New DXCC on RTTY (LoTW)

5) T6T - Afghanistan Vyacheslav- New DXCC on RTTY (LoTW)

6) V31MA - Belize - Marc - New DXCC on 80 (LoTW)

7) XU7TZG - Wim - New on 20 and on Phone (LoTW)

8) 3D2AG/P - Antonine - Rotuma Island - new on 17M

And few more .... TY1AA - Italian Job from Benin is QRT tomorrow ... great achievement this time! Will be extra post here on the blog tomorrow.

Tristan da Cunha on 80!

Tristan Da Cunha ... long way from
anywhere photo by Adrian Turner

This is similar story to .... this one here ... when I was chasing Nigel (G3TXF) as ZD7XF on 80M 3 years ago ...

This time:

same Operator

same band

same Ocean

similar call-sign ....

Just logged Nigel ZD9XF on 80! Tristan da Cunha ...

Nigel is QRV on 80M last few days. Decent signal SWL`ed but had no time to wait long enough for good moment. And at around 20:00 UTC, when he is active on 80M there is SR in JA! Japan stations have only few moments to work him at that time .... This is like to work New Zealand on low bands here in EI. EU QRX simply as that. We can work him all night long ...
The worst things are .... DX Cluster spots .... after that almost always QRM begins  .... W3LPL robot spotter is not helping at all! DX Spot = QRM
When I started my radio hobby many years ago ... good friend of mine told me : "Listen , Listen , Listen and again L I S T E N" this is good old school of DXing. This time was perfect example. Nigel was QRV on 17M bands. Then he said .... QSY to 80 .... easy .... as he has little pile-up on 17M .... I was waiting for it .... I`ve noticed his previous QRG on 3.501 , everything ready to go , my new rig is doing surprises for me and sometimes split is not set , this time I was sure .... split ON... the only "problem" can be when he will call CQ JA ... but he didn`t. Good strong signal appears on 3.501 CQ CQ CQ de ZD9XF ZD9XF ZD9XF UP 1 ....and one more time. Just one Reverse Beacon Station noticed that .. EI6IZ .. no doubt ... one of best receivers in Ireland! EI has good patch to Atlantic Ocean ... so this time this is our advantage. I wasn`t alone on his frequency. Some Italian station was waiting for him too :) He went first , then EI9KC 5NN! Lovely signal from Tristan da Cunha on 80! 579 on my horizontal 79m long dipole ... This is 5`th band QSO with ZD9XF .... 40M QSO managed early in the morning ... I don`t know if Nigel will operate on "metric bands" .....10/15/20 will be nice. Last night I had QSO on 20M with ZD9ZS Paul who is with Nigel on Tristan. I was trying on 10M today but without luck .... no worries .... Next year Italian DX-Pedition Team will activate Tristan da Cunha again!

SPDX Contest 2014 - Results published

and EI0PL is a Winner in MOAB Mixed Category!

New EU record and 2`nd place in World.

Call: EI0PL

Operator(s): EI3KG EI5JQ EI7KD EI9KC

Station: EI0PL

Here is my blog entry about SPDX 2014 Contest

EI0PL - all time record MO AB Mixed - SPDX Contest 2014

Eritrea - hard nut to crack

Ham radio legend Zorro JH1AJT is now active from Eritrea in Africa. Nr 17 on Clublog Most Wanted 2014 list. This is no proper DX-Pedition but activation during his "spare" time. His call-sign is E30FB. Tiny signal SWL`ed few times on 15 and 20M. And I don`t know 100% if I am in his log. On 15M maybe with busted call ... will try to fix later when online log will be published , on 20M .... he heard me and called me back but strong QSB caused 2-way QSO to be not completed .... Anyway ... there is a hope for DX-Pedition from Eritrea soon or later like we had from Myanmar last year. Finger crossed!

ZL7AAA Chatham Island CFM by QSL card

ZL7AAA QSL Card

Long awaited QSL card ZL7AAA Chatham Island DX-Pedition arrived this morning!

6 bands! Two emissions .... TNX!

QSL card ordered direct via QSL Manager Sandro VE7NY - didn`t use CubLog OQRS

as one of my QSO (30M CW) was busted .... I was logged as I9KC ....

tiny "E" over more than 18K km can be lost ;)

"DX always hears better ..."

Norfolk Island on the map

One Best EI DX`er, member of few international DX-Peditions, great operator , good contester and friend of mine Dave EI9FBB told me once ... "DX always hears better ...." And I had great example of his words yesterday when Norfolk Island was logged in my log as VK9NT on 30M.

It was too late for EU on 30M for Norfolk , but EI always switching lights off in Europe. Tiny signal was discovered on 10.102Mhz CW .... this frequency can be very noisy by digital QRM ... yesterday was not that bad with noises but signal from Norfolk was very weak. I was able to read them ... not full call-sign but few letters. Decided to try .... After few attempts .... got reply fully clear EI9KC 599 ....! 

30M ....my favourite band with just inverted V hanging on the tree fixed to work Oceania did great job once again. I remember similar situation with Wake Island last year. This time used different rig. Maybe crystal filters helped this time ... who knows? Anyway ... great ears on the other side there on Norfolk too! VK3QB Chris was at the key ,experienced operator no doubt. Great QSO to remeber! New DXCC on 30M too ....

TY1AA - Italian job from Benin

Italian DX-Pedition Team is making great pile-up on the bands , this time from Benin as TY1AA. Experienced operators , pleasure to work. I need Benin on few bands. Last night SWL`d them with good signal on 30M so there is a chance for new one on 10Mhz. Worked them already on 28Mhz CW as New One in CW (301) and on 20M RTTY as new DXCC on 14Mhz.

Tristan da Cunha on 30M

This is Nigel (G3TXF) as ZD9XF with great signal on 30M CW tonight. S-Meter was peaking up to 579 ... on my inverted V ... wide split ... up 1-8 ... managed my QSO shortly after his return from short break. Today I was study history of this remote island. Wish to go there some day ...

ZD9XF - Tristan da Cunha

The most remote inhabited archipelago in the world .... Tristan da Cunha is in my log! As New DXCC !!! Great DX ... long time waited for. Missed ZD9UW 2 years ago. Maybe not missed ... no luck to get into their log ... Today HAM Radio Community got great chance to work Tristan da Cunha again .... G3TXF Nigel is there as ZD9XF and also Paul ZS1S as ZS9ZS for THREE weeks! And my first QSO with this remote place was on 17M CW ... this was also my 300 DXCC worked on CW!

EI9KC 3 bands WAS

Latest QSO with W1AW/7 from Arizona on 20M CW and today`s QSL confirmation on LoTW gave me 50 USA States confirmed on LoTW on 20M.

All States complited already on 10M and 15M so this is my third bands with all USA States

worked and confirmed on LoTW.

Just one State missing on 17M which is IDAHO

and 6 missing on 12M

Montana , New Mexico , Oregon , South Dakota , Rhode Island , Wyoming 

Minami Torishima QSL

This is my collection of Minami Torishima (Marcus Island) QSL Cards. 

JG8NQJ/JD1 op Daisuke "Take" Kanno

3 QSO , 3 bands , 3 different cards.

JG8NQJ/JD1 - 17M CW

JG8NQJ/JD1 - 15M CW

 

JG8NQJ/JD1 - 20M CW