I spoke Bill GØNGE/M from Leyland, just before he stopped working. I gave him a 57 report. After him I worked Peter DJØPS from Berlin, radioclub Spandau. Both stations on 40 m SSB.

Cabrillo

On photo YO6DBL, Ionel from Sfantu Gheorghe, Romania. I worked him on 20 meter with BPSK31, also worked UR3UH and UY5UV. With SSB I worked RK3DXW, Andy from nr. Moscow, Russia. I heard a lot of USA stations, but couldn't work them. This morning I heard 5V7BR from Togo. This afternoon I studied the rules for the coming PACC contest Februari 14th. I must deliver the result in Cabrillo format. It sounds like a washing powder. Paper logs will be discouraged. But I don't understand nothing about the software. I'm getting old... the available freeware is based on DOS. I downloaded a program, but nopes. It must be easy, they said. But not for me. BTW, I am not really a contest man. So I let it pass.

Solar cycle 23 is now 12 years and 10 months long. There seems to be no end to cycle 23. And still were are waiting for spots, so we can work more DX. Normally a cycle took 11 years. But now... OK we'll wait...

On 40 m I worked EA4BV, Carlos from Madrid, Spain with SSB. I got a 44 report, but I'm not dissatisfied with my qrp signal.

Conditions were poor on the 40 and 20 meter band. I didn't took much time today to work on HF. I had one qso this afternoon with SN9ØHUO, Artur from CZERNIEJEWO, Poland with BPSK31 on 40 meter. A special callsign for The 90th anniversary of the successful Wielkopolska Rising. This rising by Wielkopolska’s people in 1918-1919 liberated, ancient lands which were the cradle of Polish nationhood from Prussian (German) annexation. The Rising began on 27 th December 1918 when Jan Ignacy PADEREWSKI, politician and well known composer, arrived in Poznań. The Chief Commanders were Gen. Stanisław TACZAK and Gen. Józef DOWBOR MUŚNICKI. So, now you know. That's all for today.

Number 50

On photo SV2JAO, Andreas from Makrochori, Veria, Greece. I worked him on 20 meter with SSB. And I reach number 50 DXCC QRP!! Thanks to T77M Lino Conti from San Marino. I worked him on 20 meter with SSB. I am very happy with this score, because I do not have a big boom beam on my roof, but a simple set up. Also worked EF7ABV, Tony from Cadiz on 20 m SSB.

With PSK31: RK6CK, Victor from Temryuk, Russia on 20 m. And OM1ZL, Laco from Bratislava. Slovak Republic on 40 m.

Today I worked CT1JOP, Nelson from Estarreja, Portugal. I heard him before, but I wasn't able to work him. Now I was successful on 20 meter with SSB. He had a very strong signal 59++. He gave me also a 59+ report. On photo his shack. I also worked with PSK31 HG1RM, Gergeley from Tofej, Hungary on 40 meter. With SSB on 40 meter: SP9HFW, Eugene from Olesno, Poland. LA5SAA, Mike from near Stavanger, OE8HWK, Walter from St. Veit, Austria. On 20 meter with SSB: YO9OW, Adi from Suceava, Romania and UW1GR, Anatole from Kherson, Ukraine. With CW on 20 meter: UR7QU, Vasily from Primorsk, Ukraine. That's for today, CU tomorrow.

Robert Burns

Today I met GB25ØRB, Graham from Kilmarock, Scotland on 40 m SSB. A special station because of Celebrating Robert Burns: 250 Years of the Bard Robert Burns (January 25, 1759 – July 21, 1796) Also worked: HE8AFI/P Kurt on 40 m ssb. Yesterday: MMØDRI, Alan from Canisbay, Scotland and IW2HAJ, Claudio on 40 m ssb.

Today is everybody contesting, so I put on the rig tomorrow again. Hi.

E-QSL

Dit zijn de awards van IK8NIJ, Renato uit Monteforte Irpino. Verkregen via E-QSL zo te zien. Zover ben ik nog lang niet. Ik werkte Renato op 40 meter met PSK31. Ik zie dat er veel amateurs zijn die E-QSL gebruiken, maar er zijn er ook die het absoluut niet willen. Ik heb al eens op de site gekeken van E-QSL. Op zich is het geen gek idee. Geen gedonderjaag met QSL managers en het wegbrengen van de papieren QSL kaart. Mijn QSL manager wil alles op volgorde aangeleverd krijgen. Er ligt inmiddels al een behoorlijke stapel die eigenlijk weg moet. De 23e nog met HG5BAKO (PSK31)en DRØ9ANT (SSB) gewerkt op 40 meter, speciale callsigns. Nadat de antenne weer gemaakt was heb ik gisteren ook nog HGØNPJ gewerkt met PSK31 op 40 meter. Verder heb ik een logboek gemaakt in Excel. Lekker makkelijk en goed op te slaan op een USB stickje. Want die backup's van Ham Radio Deluxe zijn geen succes. Al twee keer is mijn computer sinds vorig augustus gecrasht en de backup's zijn niet compleet van HRD. Hoe dat komt weet ik niet maar wel ergelijk. Dus vandaar gewoon een spreadsheet met filters etc gemaakt. Werkt prima en overzichtelijk.

Crash

Wat kan gebeuren gebeurt dan ook een keer. Nadat ik een bestelling via internet wilde doen, liep mijn computer vast. Hij startte ook niet meer op. Fatal error. Er zat niets anders op dan de boel opnieuw te installeren. Ik had natuurlijk weer te lang gewacht met het maken van een backup dus was ik een groot deel kwijt van mijn logboek in HamRadioDeluxe. Na de installatie heb ik dat weer handmatig moeten invoeren. Na 12 uur van aan klooien is de boel weer in orde. Vanmiddag heb ik op 40 meter OK2PKY Jiri uit Brno gewerkt en op 20 meter SV7CUD/2 (Zie foto) Panagiotis uit Thessaloniki. En toen zei mijn dochter, die vandaag ziek thuis was, je antenne is kapot. En jawel, door de storm is mijn wire gebroken. Morgen mogelijk windkracht 9 dus ik wacht eerst wel even af totdat de wind wat gaat liggen.

This shack belongs to S5ØAL, Andi from TRBOVLJE with BPSK31 on 40 m. Other stations: YO5OAW, Cris from Oradea and OK1HL, Jaroslav from Sedlcany. On 20 meter: IW9FRB, Filippo from Catania. Thanks for the nice QSO.

Egypt

Tonight I worked on 40 m with BPSK31 SU1KM, Mohamed from Cairo, Egypt and I was very happy to work his station. Because all stations outside Europe is special for me. He is my 49th DXCC QRP. I also worked on 40 m UR5WDI, Eugene from L'viv, Ukraine.

Mallorca

I do not have the guts to climb into such a tower. Too high for me. This is the antennas of EA6ADM, Xisco from Pina, Mallorca. He is also a QRP and PSK31 freak. I worked him on 40 meter in the early morning. Today I was making up my blog and I came across the blog of G3XBM. Blogging is new in amateur world. It would be nice if we link to each other. There are more ways to make a connection. This afternoon I had a QSO with I5PGG, Pier Georgio from Capezoano. He wrote me that it was our second QSO, but I couldn't find it in my log. For me its the first time. Hi.

11 Sunspots

Those guys were active from Crete on 20 meter with SSB. I worked them, callsign: SY9CVD on 14.240 KHz. 40 meter does a great job. Conditions were quite good. I worked with BPSK31 because it's my favorite mode at the moment. I work a lot more stations with QRP with BPSK31 than CW and SSB. The following stations are down in my log: EC5BCR; YO3HFY; EA3EOM; IK1BXZ; OE2VDL; G6YEK; IZ2OAR; G3YJQ; S52R; DH2HAW, It was his second BPSK31 QSO. Welcome to the club! and my last QSO for the day was SP9CV.

AZ won!

After the game of my favorite soccer team AZ, and they won, I turned on my radio for a few BPSK31 qso's on 40 meter. There was a lot of Telex on the air, sometimes difficult to catch a PSK31 signal. I also found a interesting article about the FT817 on the website of G4ILO. I agree his point of view, certainly about the receiver of the FT817. It's not a good receiver. But after all I worked IV3NBD, Rino from Canzian, he worked also with 5 watt QRP. And OK1UA, Vlasta from Bestvina; SP5NVX, Tom from Warsaw and 9A2ØØ9ST, Ivan from Split.

Tonight on 40 meter: IZ8JJM, Claudio from Torre Del Grecobut the second part failed because of strong RTTY signal on the PSK31 frequency. Another time better. Hope to meet you again.

Weekend

The weekend is for the family. But the XYL and daughter are busy with their horses, so I can make a few qso's. On photo OK1HAI, Alois from Lisov. We worked for the second time with BPSK31 on 40 meter. Also worked on 40 m BPSK31: EA/PE1LCE Bert who is on vacation in Spain. A good choice cos' it's raining and windy in the Netherlands. G6BIT, Nigel from Bury, I lost him in the second part of our QSO. He asked me about his signal on the waterfall: well, its was clean and nice! SP7NJR, Pawel from Wielun. He also was QRP 5 watt. How nice it is to work each other with such a low power. I2CZQ, Pietro from Brechia; and OE6JFG Franz from Steiermark. I wish you all a fine Saturday.

DXCC number 48

I was playing around with BPSK31 on 40 meter. And I worked UN1L, Gennadiy from Rudny, Kazakhstan. (3818 km) 20 meter was not good, conditions were very poor. Other QSO's with BPSK31 on 40 meter: IV3PTU Franco from RONCHI DEI LEGIONARI; SM3AF, Sten from SUNDSVALL; OE3FPA, Franz from HEIDENREICHSTEIN; SM6JWU, Uwe from HALMSTAD. OE5VLL, Erwin from DIETACH and MWØLES, Les from Neath. He was 84 years old! Respectable age and still enjoy ham radio.

Just before I go to sleep: there was RK3ANL, Nick from Moscow and Z31MM, Momo from Stip on 40 meter BPSK31.

BPSK31

No sunspots today. You could say: I don't put the radio on. But I always do. Just in case. You never know. And there was my 47th DXCC country: EA6BH, Teo from Palma de Mallorca with SSB. And that's nice. This afternoon I tried BPSK31 again. So far I was not successful on my barefoot MW. Now I attached a wire to it so it was time to try again. And yes, for the first time two Russian stations came back to me on 20 meter, but because of QSB the QSO's didn't come to an end. So I went to 40 meter. Well, well, I worked a few stations. That's really fun. Thank you gentlemen. The stations are: OK1HAI, Alois from Lisov; OK1AYN, Vladislav from Trebon; HA1WQ, Laci (lost the QTH) and I1FLC, Luigi from Genova.
Tonight on 40 meter worked: 9A2AVW, UA3IFH, IKØGLP and YT1DL.

46 DXCC countries with the MW

Well, today I was lucky. I catch 9K2MU, Murtada from Safat, Kuwait on 20 meter SSB. He is my 46th DXCC country QRP. I also worked: 9A2ØØ9PO on 40 meter, on 20 meter EW6GF Andrei for the 5th time, IV9ZWA Mike from Favignana, Italy.

You know I have a Miracle Whip with a outside wire, hanging out of the window and a counterpoise connected to the FT817. That's the antenna condition here. I know some MW owners complain about the antenna. But what can one expect? It's a holiday antenna. Nice for vacation and so on. But it is for me the challenge what I can do with this set up. How can you be successful with a small antenna?

1. Listen carefully on the band. Search up and down for a CQ call.
2. When the CQ calling station is about S8 to S9 or more call him. A station below S5 will not be successful to catch.
   
3. Do not call CQ yourself. You will have a sour throat after a while.
4. The difference between 5 watt and 100 watt is 2 S-points. If the CQ calling station works 100 watt and peaks to S9 on your S-meter, you will be probably S5 to S6 on his S-meter.
5. If the CQ calling station works 1 KW with a 4 el. Yagi search for another station because he will not hear you.
6. Be patience...
7. One QSO a day keeps the docter away. There are more things to do in life what makes life wonderful.
8. Enjoy low power, and every contact is blissful and 1000 km or more is DX for us.
9. And avoid QRO pile ups. You seldom come through.
   

Veel QRM

Er was vandaag veel QRM en QSB op de HF banden. Weinig condities ook. De meeste stations die ik hoorde riepen alleen maar om DX. Even een QSO met iemand dichterbij was er vandaag niet bij. Ik snap het wel, als je eenmaal 100 Italianen of Bulgaren heb gewerkt is de sjeu er een beetje af. Dan wil je dat ene, verre land of bijzondere prefix. En maar roepen met z'n allen. Ja, ik ben wel blij met elke verbinding. Dat is het voordeel van QRP. Dan is Italië soms ook DX voor mij. Hi. Vandaag twee Italianen gesproken te weten: IN3LQB (Foto) Paolo from ROVERETO en IV3SUS, Savino from VILLA OPICINA. Beiden op 40 meter. Morgen weer een dag.

On photo Pedro EA5NI from Cartagena, Spain. We worked on 20 meter with CW. On 40 meter with CW F6EAZ, Chris from Dijon, France and LZ1PJ, Ivan from Sofia. Although the sunspot number was 20 today, conditions were poor above 10 Mhz. On 40 conditions were very good. I heard tonight TS7C with a big pile up and 4Z4DX. And there is something strange, something I don't understand, why is someone tuning on the same frequency of rare DX. Whistling, put a carrier on the frequency, or calling: "Ooolla, ooolla...' please tell me why? Why can't they go 3 or 4 kilohertz down or up and tuning?

While everybody is skating...

Was I searching for QSO's. CW was going bad today. I made a lot of mistakes with the electronic keyer. On photo the QSL card of I1YRL, Luc from ALPIGNANO, he joined the Royal Navy. Luc, ex Naval operator and CW operator since 1965, has worked 400,000 QSO CW only! Sorry Luc for my sloppy CW. My father and my eldest son joined both the Dutch Royal Navy. So I like to see Marine Frigates. I worked Luc on 20 meter. I also worked with CW: UX7UA on 20 meter and YL1ZO from Penkule. On 40 meter LZØ9BR from Karlovo with CW and 9a2ØØ9ZD with SSB. And OK7FL on 40 meter with CW.

Only one

30 years ago was the FT101 one of my transceivers. What a pity I sell them all.
Today I was with my family in law, to prepare the anniversary of the XYL's parents (50 years married) so we were quite busy. I had only one cw QSO today with G4RQI, Dave from Castleford, England on 40 meters.

PAØPSY

I did a request for changing my callsign into the 'old' PAØPSY again. Why? Because I can't get rid of the old callsign out of my head. Especially when I work with CW. I'm so stuck to it. Every time I keyed my old callsign, hi. So that must be over. Nothing else to do but change. My both callsigns are in QRZ.com.

I was pleased to work TA3AX, Ahmet from Cardak, Turkey. I heard him also with CW but got him with SSB on 20 meter. He's my 45 DXCC country with QRP. With CW I worked: 9A2009OS on 20 meter en on 40 meter S5ØIPY.

Learning CW again

On photo you see LZ2PT, Mitko from Silistra, Bulgaria. We had a nice CW QSO on 20 meter. CW is pretty tough, after 25 years of QRT, but it is good doing it. And it's remarkable how fast I pick up the key again. Sometimes a dot too much, so forgive me, but it will be better in a few months or so. I also worked: OM3LL, Ivan from Nitra, Slovak Republic on 40 meter, my 44th DXCC country QRP. On 20 meter: UA9SH, Ivanov from Mednogorsk, Asiatic Russia, 3543 km. EA1FGN, Luis from Lugo, YU8A, Milan from Pozarevac, wow, with 35 words/minute, Pfff, I did it. Thanks for your patients. Today I worked only with CW.

Tonight were conditions become poor on 40 meter. The only station I could here was Z309KNV special call from Macedonia, working states side. After a few calls he picked me up. 599 report.

Mix

On photo E73E, Igor from Pale, Serbia which I worked with ssb on 20 meter. Also worked RW9JZ, Leo from North West Siberia with phone. With CW I worked: Z35M, Vladimir from Skopje, Macedonia and EW7BW, Sergei from Krichev, Belarus. The QSO's were quite difficult because of QSB and bad skills from my side. Sorry. I will improve my CW skills.

Eerste CW QSO

Het was wel weer even wennen hoor, om die Electronische Keyer weer goed te bedienen. Ik heb een oudere versie dan op de foto. Ik heb de ETM-2b met 1 peddel. Al gauw geef ik teveel punten of strepen, het is nog best lastig. Het vereist weer enige oefening. Mijn hand Junker seinsleutel kan ik niet meer vinden. Waarschijnlijk toch ooit verkocht. Mijn eerste CW QSO was met LZØ9BR op 40 meter. Vanavond zakte de condities wat in. Vanmorgen nog wel 9A2009OS gewerkt met SSB op 20 meter. Evenals LZ2LP voor de tweede keer.

ON6ØARSG

Er viel voor mij niet zoveel te beleven vandaag op de HF banden. Op de 20 meter band waren in 3 pile ups alle stations bij een te roepen. Verder was de band stil. Alle amateurs probeerde LZ/SV2KSB, Victoria (ICOM shack) te werken. Als vrouw krijg je toch een pile up voor elkaar. Hi. Ik werkte wel op 40 meter ON6ØARSG, Chris uit Saint Georges sur Meuse, Belgium met een speciale call vanwege het 60 jarig bestaan van de school aldaar. (zie foto)

What's up today?

On photo LZ2KV, Miro from Targovishte, Bulgaria, what a nice picture. I worked him on 20 meter today. Other worked stations on 20 meter are: UE3DDX/P3, Pavel from Pushkino; YU2MMA/M, Milos from near Topola, Serbia; YO/DL4IAL, Uwe from Sibiu, Romania; EW6GF, Andrei from Vitsyebsk, Belarus; and RA1CW, Yuri from Leningrad, Russia. Thanks for the QSO folks!

Busy

It was expected. There were a lot of stations working on the amateur bands. Today I worked LZ1ARDF special call for 17th IARU Region 1 ARDF Championships 16-21 September 2009 Obzor, Bulgaria on 20 meter and TM5WRC on 40 meter for the second time. Also a special event callsign.

First contact 80 meter

Today is a very special day for me because I made my first 80 meter QSO since I've been licensed in 1976. I never had a antenna suitable for 80 meters. Now I put up a wire a little bit higher than before, and yes, I made my first contact. I heard DH3JZ Gero from Lathen calling CQ on 80, and I tried to call him. And yes, he heard me. My antenna at the moment is still not really good for 80, too short, 10 meter long, though he could read me. Also OZ8CTH Peter from Aarhus could hear me. I was astonished. The new year starts good for me. On 40 meter I worked YU2MMA Milos from Banja, Serbia for the second time with a very nice signal. That's enough for today. Tomorrow will be busy on the amateur bands cos almost everybody is having holidays.

Happy new year

This is Bou-Saada, Algeria; the QTH of BOU-SAADA RADIO CLUB 7X5VRK which I worked yesterday on 20 meter, after I put up a new long wire antenna. On 40 I worked S52V, Branko from Volicina, Slovenia. I wish all the hams a good radio year with a lot of fun and intercontinental friendship.