CW vs SSB (WKD)
316 x 305
Band slots (CFM) on Clublog x LoTW
2306 x 2226

Thursday 9 June 2016

Heard Island - QSL

VK0EK - front page QSL

Received today QSL from Heard Island VK0EK DXpedition 2016
Beautiful designed 4 pages card and kiss printed by Max ON5UR

VK0EK - back page QSL

Great QSL Manager service by Tim M0URX - as usual - this is outstanding job.

VK0EK - inside pages

All QSOs confirmed already on LoTW but card is for collection to be kept in special box
for RARE DXpeditions. Nobody knows when we will hear Heard Island again ....

Friday 27 May 2016

Mount Athos by SV2RSG


Warm welcome to new permanent Radio Operator SV2RSG Monk Iakovos from 16`th most wanted DXCC - Mount Athos

Had pleasure to make 2-way QSO with him today on 21Mhz CW. Which is nice surprise for my 2`nd ever QSO in CW with this entity. Location is "easy" from EU so the only thing to avoid big EU pile-up is to wait for best opening from his location and this is what I did today. To be honest Greece is always strong on higher bands and to make QSO is not difficult. 

On DX Cluster his call-sign can look like Greece but is Mount Athos! So keep an eye for SV2RSG.
His CW was slow at about 16 wpm but I hope Monk Iakovos will only get better. It was good to see him operating in split mode when it was necessary. 

Friday 6 May 2016

VP8STI / VP8SGI and post card from South Georgia

Fantastic delivery by An-Post today ...

VP8STI - South Sandwich Islands - QSL card

VP8SGI - South Georgia Island - QSL card

Both DXpeditions to Remember !!!

And nice surprise from GM0HCQ Mike. Mike is working on Royal Research Ship James Clark Ross
and he was visiting South Georgia Island few weeks ago.

The story on Twitter ....

and here we are :)

South Georgia post card from Mike GM0HCQ

Looks like it his ship took a post bag from South Georgia to nearest civilization places :)
Thank you Mike!




Wednesday 27 April 2016

EU-103 Little Saltee Island for IOTA Contest 2016

EU-103 Little Saltee Island

Landing permission obtained ! Papa Lima DX & Contest Group will participate in IOTA Contest 2016 from EU-103 Little Island as EJ1Y. Possible operation as EJ0PL before and after Contest.
I am very happy to be in the Team!
More updates soon.


Kerguelen Island - QSL !

FT4XU - Kerguelen Island

Arrived today! Just one QSO with this rare DX confirmed by QSL now. Many thanks for great QSO Nicolas! New DXCC!

Saturday 16 April 2016

HF happenings


1) Botswana on the AIR! Thanks to A25UK I have two new bands needed from this DXCC - 30 and 12

2) FT4XU - Kergulen Island CFM on LoTW - great surprise , new DXCC , looking forward for paper QSL




3) V31YN - Gerd thank you for log re-search and upload my QSO again. 12M Belize CFM at last...



4) T8XX Ulf (DL5AXX) - thank you for LoTW upload your Palau 2012 DXpedition - 30M band new slot !


5) S0S - Western Sahara arrived on LoTW as new DXCC !
QSO made on 10M SSB during CQWW SSB ....

6) Later today S01WS


Western Sahara again - main log uploaded to LoTW !!! Almost all slots worked CFM by card already now on LoTW. Did not expect this DXCC to see on LoTW. Waiting only for 30M QSO to show-up there made in 2015 .....

6) V73D - Marshall Islands received on LoTW as well. 30M new band and also 20M SSB new on phone! Many thanks.

Thursday 14 April 2016

Juan de Nova - Masterpiece

FT4JA - Juan de Nova 2016

FT4JA went QRT on Sunday 10.04. My last QSO was on 20M CW - few days ago started with 20M RTTY and finished on 20M CW ... on 20M CW operator was Pat F2DX and I`ve received EI9KC 5NN 73. Last year on 3G0ZC Juan Fernandez 2015 I was with Pat in the Team.
F2DX and F6BEE were active from Mayotte before Juan de Nova and Pat gave me new DXCC on 30M! 

FT4JA by Pat F2DX CW 39 WPM 


FT4JA - 15M CW





Juan de Nova 2016 was pleasure to work and I am happy to have them in the log on 8 bands and 3 emissions. Smooth operation from start to finish. Great Team and well organized! Few operators from Juan de Nova in 2014 activated FT4TA. They learnt they lesson I believe. Tromelin was hard to work. I`ve remember how it was to get into their log. Juan de Nova was much , much easier. 
OQRS + donation just done. During OQRS I`ve found two QSO I did not make it 17 SSB and 17CW it must be some mistake or other station incorrectly logged. 

Monday 11 April 2016

Safe home VK0EK Team ! QRT now

VK0EK QSL on LoTW

VK0EK Team is QRT on Heard Island preparing to leave and 2 weeks journey to South Africa.
I did my OQRS yesterday plus did donation to a Team for fantastic DXCC in my log and received this morning fresh LoTW upload with all my VK0EK QSO confirmed.
Thank again! Safe home!

Sunday 10 April 2016

VK0EK - Heard Island almost QRT

VK0EK - Heard Island 2016 camp

Heard Island DXpedition is almost QRT

It was great pleasure to hear and work and wait for hours on some
band for such a remote pleace on the Earth to be activated on HAM Radio bands.

Brief summary per band from my point of view:


160 - No luck to made 2-way QSO but . SWL two or three times. We`ve lost inverted L during winter storms and it we installed inv V on TB for SPDX Contest fixed also EU beverage which was on the same direction as VK0EK / FT4JA - 250M of coax had big loss and signals were not so strong.

80 -  http://ei9kc.blogspot.ie/2016/03/hallelujah-heard-island-logged-on-80.html - few days later SWL their signal on this band , much better signals some times and little pile-ups. It was easier to work Heard Island from our part of EU on low bands than on higher.

40 / 30 - http://ei9kc.blogspot.ie/2016/03/dx-of-dx-vk0ek-heard-island.html - managed also 40M RTTY from monster Moxon at Papa Lima location for new mode.

40M RTTY QSO on DXA


14Mhz VK0EK ????? 

20 - big question mark ? why I didn`t log Heard Island on 14Mhz. Many hours waiting , SWL about 3 or 4 openings three times in the morning via LP and once in the evening but no QSO. There was always something .... JA Wall / QSY to different bands or no QRV at our "best time" I don`t know why but it must be reasons - why VK0EK didn`t QRV at about 16-19 UTC on 14Mhz ..... For example my only QSO with Kergulen FT4XU Nicolas 4 months ago was at around 18:00 on 20M. Nicolas was using single dipole at human height , low power , etc Kergulen Island is "not too far" .... at the moment when I am writing this post FT4JA QRV on 20M (16:37 UTC) and they are real 5NN on my S-meter
FT4JA on 20M - where was Heard Island on 20M ????

This answer know only The VK0EK Team ... 

17 / 15  - quiet signals but workable - only CW for sure 

15 SSB - has to be done from good antenna - managed QSO from Papa Lima location on 3 ele full size 21Mhz antenna. Signal low as a whisper - SWL`ed just 2 times their phone operation.

This recording of VK0EK on SSB is very unique in EI

VK0EK by UT6UD Vaydm on SSB 21Mhz

15M SSB QSO on DXA

12 - hours of waiting for good shape signal .... one week ago when workable on 12M was NA NA only .... then next day ... missed opening - 4 EI worked them on 12 ... had to wait another few days for good chance and I`ve took it! 2 weeks waiting for QSO on 24Mhz finally in the log!

10 - no EI station logged them on this band. Full time Dxers didn`t manage it. Must say it was almost impossible. That day when I`ve worked them on 12M I`ve SWL VK0EK signal on 28034 Mhz for 30 seconds .... yes 30 seconds ....

DXA website was great tool. Probably most viewed site by DX hunters last 2 weeks. Had it on always beside my DX-Cluster :) I wish to see DXA working again in the future from some of Most Wanted DXCC. Great joy!

So well , Heard Island in my log on 6 bands and three modes. Not too bad and I am happy with that. 
Thanks for good thrill and looking forward QSL card managed by top QSL Manager these days Tim M0URX!



Saturday 9 April 2016

55 Years In Space Award




55 Years in Space Awards obtained by EI9KC
while waiting for DX to come :)


Thursday 7 April 2016

SPDX Contest 2016 by EI0PL

2016

EI0PL - SPDX 2014 trophy

EI0PL scored EU record in SPDX Contest in 2014 so it is our pleasure to participate in this contest every year.

EI0PL EU Continent Record SPDX Contest

This time our team was:

EI5JQ / EI7KD / EI8GXB / EI9KC / SQ9DDD

We know how to work our friends in Poland and every time we are getting better.
160M inv V installed for this competition did good job.
Best band was 20M
High bands were affected by solar storm and 10M was closed 
15M wasn`t any better but at the end of the contest on Sunday afternoon we
had short opening to SP land.

1047 QSOs made by EI0PL this year,
I think it is great result.

EI0PL - SPDX 2016 QSOs


UKEI SSB - April 6`th

UKEI Contest

Last night I`ve participated in SSB part of UKEI 80M sprint. This time from EI0PL Club Station as I was there to chase some DX on low bands :)
80M was noisy and recently fixed EU beverage helps a lot!

66 QSOs - 1 busted call. Best QSO with SQ9ZBC Marcin 1982 km. I did some propaganda about this sprint on polish message board and it is nice to see few SP station in this competition.

Last night contacts

I was using EI0PL call but my log for some reasons was for EI9KC and was sent with mistake.
When raw scores were published last night I had last place with 42 errors !!!
No doubt!
All QSOs were checked with EI9KC and not EI0PL ..... my fault.

Early in the morning I`ve got message from Chris GM3WOJ  Contest Adjudicator what has happend
and EI0PL will be count as checklog. But looks my log was fixed and when official scores were published EI0PL acheived 1`st place in High power section!
Nice one! My first ever 1`st in this competition.



Thursday 31 March 2016

Juan de SUPER Nova !

Juan de Nova Island

Just started! FT4JA Juan de Nova DXpedition ....
Ranked Nr 4 Most Wanted DXCC

FT4JA

And I am happy with my first QSO with them on 20M RTTY !

EI9KC QSO on 20M RTTY

Not always starting with RTTY but this time I was lucky to get that sorted.
Time for more bands now!
Good Luck for all!
Signals much stronger than VK0EK




Monday 28 March 2016

CQ WPX SSB 2016

CQ WPX SSB 2016

76 QSOs / 75 WPX by EI9KC on 20M SSB low power in first time ever participation in WPX Contest .... probably I was the only EI9 prefix active in this competition so I am feeling like a rare one :) hihi and congratulations to all 76 lucky stations who have EI9KC in their logs :)

Sunday 27 March 2016

Hallelujah! Heard Island logged on 80 !!!!

Penguins on Heard Island 
photo by  Gavin, VK2BAX

Very tricky QSO made just 3 minutes after midnight on Easter Sunday !
Great Easter bunny present :)

80M QSO - Heard Island - EI9KC

I was on their 80M QRG few hours. Signal zero or even worst. Many DQRM didn`t help at all. This weekend is CQ WPX SSB contest so traffic is smaller plus Easter Holidays traffic smaller again.
First option was how to hear them. I knew it if I can hear them I can work them.
On my 80M antenna - noise lever at S:5 to S:7 , tough ... no RX antenna , no beverages.
But I remember some trick I did recently at Papa Lima QTH where all beverages are not working at present and to hear DX on 80M I was using 30M GP vertical.
Decided try to receive VK0EK on my 30M/40M nested dipoles ... and that was it!
Signal not better but much quiet . Noise level at ZERO ... and little signal from Herad Island went trough ....CQ VK0EK VK0EK DN 1 ....
3516 - 516 is my lucky number (I had unit 516 on 11m band :)
Gave my call few times and received very very weak ... EI9KC EI9KC EI9KC 
5NN
No more to say ... R5NN TU ! I think Operator on the other side was NG2H Kenneth.
Thank you ! Great QSO very happy with that.

Thursday 24 March 2016

DX of DX - VK0EK - Heard Island !

VK0EK - Heard Island

One of the Most Wanted DXCC after 19 years of silence QRV again !!!

HEARD ISLAND ... One of the most remote places on the Earth

Location of Heard Island on the map

And , and I am happy to be in the log already ! TWICE !!!! Two bands 40/30 CW !!!


Thanks to DXA - The real-time online radio log server - Whole
World can see almost live stations logged.


This is my second experience with DXA


40M QSO

Very weak signal on 40M and not many stations calling , people quite confused 
where DX is listening ??? The trick was ... DN ... It means down. 
Heard Island DXpedition next week will have to share bands with another
Most Wanted DXCC - Juan de Nova FT4JA and both teams agreed how to QRV
and do not mess with callers. Plan is Heard will listen down and Juan de Nova up ....
Will see how it works soon!
Straight after my QSO Adam EI5JQ sent his 5NN to Heard Island and we started to
celebrate. Hard work to fix antennas @ Papa Lima pays off !

30M QSO

On 30M similar situation like on 40M and after few calls got reply F9KC 5NN. Had to repeat just once. EI9KC ... EI9KC 5NN ... Happy days!
QSO managed with simply GP antenna!

Pressure is off now. Will try few more bands soon. VK0EK will QRV for three weeks!
I hope it will be enough time for us.
GL !

Monday 21 March 2016

3C7A - Equatorial Guinea one Man show!

3C7A by LA7GIA Kenneth

4 years ago to get into the log of 3C6A took me 3 days !!!


LA7GIA Kenneth was active from Equatorial Guinea as 3C7A
and it was big pleasure to work him on few bands!

One Man show! Great CW pile-up operator and biggest challenge was at the beginning when
his split was wide like Navassa style ;) 

I had 10M 12M and 17M confirmed already by 3C6A



This time I had hope for few new slots and : 
  • First QSO with 3C7A logged on 15M CW - when his station wasn`t spotted on DX Cluster ... - NEW BAND! - DXCC - 306
  • 20M CW was good fun to manage 25kHz wide split :) NEW BAND! DXCC - 310
  • 30M CW - it was great surprise to find Kenneth calling endless CQ on quiet band that moment! - NEW BAND! DXCC - 282
  • 15M RTTY - similar to 30M - CQ CQ 3C7A 3C7A UP - no takers. QSO managed with 100W - NEW MODE!
  • 10M CW - had 28Mhz already confirmed but when I heard 3C7A calling CQ for 5 minutes without takers decided to give him a call ....
There is a few great DX-peditioners who can go to Most Wanted DXCC and do similar (or even better ) job than some "DX-peditions" Kenneth LA7GIA is One of Them !

Takk skal du ha.

Sunday 20 March 2016

Russian DX Contest 2016

Russian DX Contest

Must say - I like it! 24h you can work whole World and whole World can work you. great fun and many participants.

100W from my side as usual during contesting from home QTH 50% on Run , 50% on S/P
Low power , all bands , CW only
Missed a lot far Asiatic stations - simply they didn`t hear me.
Spotted strong QSB during some QSOs - very fast and deep from 599 to 339 

 Band     QSOs     Pts  DXC   OBL
   3.5      64     264   24    8
     7      12      52    9    2
    14     196    1107   34   38
    21      50     381   14   22
 Total     322    1804   81   70
Score: 272,404

322 QSOs in just few hours , not too bad. It was my first Russian DX Contest as far I remember.

QSO to remember : WH7AA from Hawaii Island gave my a call on my CQ!

Almost all my QSOs during Russian DX 2016 Contest

Friday 18 March 2016

St Patrick Day Award


St Patrick Day Award

Yesterday 17`th March I was St Patrick Day station calling CQ for St Patrick Day Award
Good bit of fun on quiet bands. K index was very high.
So I`ve made about 150 QSOs. Mostly on 40M. Few contacts made early in the morning
and more in the evening.
It was my pleasure to log some DX !
Many thanks for all stations for QSO and especially:

N9MT - MArtin from Indiana in USA
ZL1ALA - John - New Zealand
C5YK - Andre from Gambia
UA0ZC - Valery from Kamchatka Peninsula
VK3JEF - Jeff from Australia
YB2TJV - Dani from Indonesia

Thanks also to 5 stations from Japan logged last night.

QSO map

I hope you will enjoy St Patrick Day Award in your collection,

Saturday 12 March 2016

Antennas work @ EI0PL

Winter storms did a few damages @ EI0PL / EI1Y Conest station and antennas needs some attention. SPDX Contest is coming and also two big DX-pedition are on the way. Heard Island and Juan de Nova. It was busy day but a lot was done:

Replacing 12/17M antenna coax 
and fixing beam positions for both.

View from right tower towards Africa

New 12/17 coax is placed

80M vertical needs work as well

Uff is high

30M vertical fixed

What is wrong with 80M - coax or antenna ?

Checked SWR at the bottom of the 80M vertical.
Coax needs to be replaced!

New spring arrivals!