Chasing Amsterdam on low bands .....

Just few words about chasing FT5ZM Amsterdam Island on low bands .... To be honest I didn`t believed that it will be possible. First week not much attention from my side. I was concentrated to catch them on high bands first ATNO (at new one) ..... SWL`ed them few times on 80m but signal was very low and pile-up massive as usual. One night condition on 80m was great , but they went on Top Band ... just to be back on 3.5 at their sunrise for North America only. That situation happened for me few times. When they had best signal on 80m here .... NA only was called .... Finally managed QSO last Saturday on 80M. But next day when they uploaded log into Clublog .... my call was not there on 80M. I was 99% sure I`ve got 599 back but .... they logged me as EI2KC. I was on the phone with Tony EI2KC and he wasn`t at home that night , and he did not work them on 3.5Mhz ... So will see, maybe they will fix that entry in their log.
Last Sunday for example condition on Top Band was best ever I was SWL`ed them on 160M! Uff ... that was something. Adam EI5JQ managed QSO with them on TB as 2`nd station from EI. Next day I went to his QTH to give a try on inverted L on 160M .... no luck .... no condition .... I have no big experience on low bands, they can be fussy as well as high bands.

American Samoa confirmed.

KH8/WD5COV QSL Card

American Samoa confirmed at last! W8A received on LoTW (still no QSL card) and KH8/WD5COV arrived by post. 299 DXCC now confirmed on HF. 

Just ordered my 300`th one! FT5ZM OQRS is open now. 7USD for QSL card from Amsterdam Island ??? Not too bad for rare location like FT/Z

Already sent them some more for great DX-Pedition!

Look for TO7CC Reunion Island

Reunion Island is not Most Wanted DXCC but for some reasons a lot of band slots has to be worked. I have Reunion Island confirmed only on 10m band. Now will be great opportunity to work some more.
TO7CC is now QRV on the bands. Pleasure to work F6KOP Team as they are doing always fantastic performance on the Air. Two EI stations are members of the Team. EI5GM Jerremy and EI9FBB Dave. Here is recording from 24Mhz SSB operated by EI9FBB Dave. Great QSO and new DXCC on 12M. Looking forward for some more. Good Luck and enjoy!

Radio Arcala Extremes Surprise

Nice surprise received by post from Finland. Ordered only latest South Sudan QSL Card Z81X by Radio Arcala Extremes and received big envelope from Suomi Freinds ....




 Beautiful cards, nice to have them in my collection. Many thanks for your efforts. See you on the bands soon!

Marshall Islands with dipole!

DJ2EH Dieter is now QRV as V73DL from Marshall Islands. Had a pleasure to SWL his signal for first time on 30m today at around 12:00. Bit too late for EU or too soon on 30m but .... my 30M dipole is now fixed after antenna coax been eaten by rat , decided to give a try! My 30M dipole is well located to work Pacific so why not? Pile-up massive. I went in the middle of pile-up and .... soon Marshall Islands on 10Mhz worked as new DXCC on my favourite band! Thanks Dieter!

Damage done not by the storm!

RG8 Mini Coax damaged by rat

Every week Ireland is battered by heavy storm. My dipoles are hanging on the trees and dancing with the trees on the wind. On Monday discovered high SWR on my 30m dipole ..... I was thinking maybe wind did damage. Had a chance yesterday to have a look. Took my antenna down , everything looks fine ... if not the antenna then what ? Balun or coax. Coax is easier to check. 35 meters of RG8 mini .... Found it! Found damage done not my the storm! Done by RAT! ..... I don`t have spare coax at the moment. I had to use ADAPTOR - SO-239 DOUBLE BARREL to fix the damage.

Long awaited Amsterdam on 30M sorted!

Great success on 30M! Sunday night. After several attempts , hours waiting for my time , FT5ZM Amsterdam Island logged on 10Mhz! Great signal was so small , my dipole is weak for that direction , South - East is covered by buildings and hill and nothing better I can do .... but patience is for free .... plus some DX-Hunting skills as well ;) FT5ZM best signal on 30M has always aroung 16:00-17:00 UTC , real 559 in my location. But was almost impossible to break the east and south EU wall. Their Sunset is about 00:00 UTC , SWL` them on 30Mhz at 2:00 AM as well. In the evening amount of people making QRM on their QRG is massive. Is not a hobby any more.
Finally , last Sunday , time to go to bed soon. Work tomorrow. Last things sorted. Radio is on on their operating frequency. W3LPL robot skimmer is NOT SPOTTING FT5ZM on DX Cluster - UFF , half of the World is trying to work them on 14Mhz RTTY and here we go.... small, tiny signal FT5ZM, FT5ZM , FT5ZM .... without CQ without UP. But I knew it where to go to work them. UP 1.8 set and here we go ..... EI9KC EI9KC ..... received KC 599 , I was no sure , one more shot and reply was clear EI9KC EI9KC 599 73 EE! Happy days! Amsterdam on 30m in my log!

That night Ireland was battered by another storm , my dipole on 30M is damaged , must check soon what is wrong. Did great job for me. Has to be fixed!