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.
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.
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!
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!
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 :)
