First 6 meter contact this year

There was a nice Sporadic E opening into Finland this afternoon on 6 meter. The first 6 meter contacts this year for me. I worked the following stations with SSB: OH2DP, OH2LBS, OH3ET, OH3MF and OH2LIY.

Onenigheid op de repeater

90% van de tijd is het stil op 2 meter en 70 cm. Een daverende, ruisende stilte. Toch is er onenigheid ontstaan op een forum van een bekende voice repeater. De overige 10% wordt hoofdzakelijk gebruikt door altijd dezelfde roeptoeterende mobiele stations die het alleenrecht opeisen van het gebruik van een repeater. Vaste stations horen op de simplex kanalen thuis, is de mening van sommige mobiele stations. Terecht? Ja en nee. Natuurlijk kunnen vaste stations die binnen een straal van 20 km wonen met elkaar direct op een simplex kanaal werken. Ik ben zelf ook een vast station en werk nooit mobiel. Wel werk ik wel eens portabel met mijn handheld. Ik heb maar 5 watt op 2 meter en 70 cm en een kleine verticale antenne op 6 meter hoogte. Mijn actieradius zonder repeater is daardoor klein. Maar wat een kinderachtigheid om vaste stations te weren van repeaters. Ik vind dat iedereen mag werken over een repeater. Als je maar wel een kier laat voor inmeldende stations en geen minuten lang monologen houdt. Macht en dominantie doen ook nu zijn intrede. Jammer want het kan ook veel gezelliger. Nu na een rondje 2 meter, buiten de mobiele primetime uren om, is er een daverende stilte op VHF en UHF op de repeaters. Ik vraag me alleen af waarom sommige zendamateurs het alleenrecht opeisen van een repeater. Ze beschouwen de repeater als hun eigen speeltje die vooral niet mag worden afgepakt. Jammer, het zou toch allemaal veel gezelliger kunnen. Als er geen squelch bestond hoor ik een groot deel van de dag alleen maar ruis. Is dat wat ze willen?

JT65A window

I worked N1IPA with JT65 this morning on 20 meter. There was a guy with a very broad and distorted signal (see screen shot) my JT65-HF software couldn't decode his signal. Maybe a combination between high power and wrong ALC adjustment. Because of the popularity of JT65A the 2 KHz window becomes too small. Sometimes I can't find space for calling CQ. Later this afternoon I worked EX2B. I found this on his QRZ page:

Special notice for "digimodes" fans:

1. Please, try to be brief - I really do not need a plenty data about your age, HAM Clubs membership, equipment, antennas etc. - just RST, Name, QTH and QTH-locator.

2. Please, try to use codes, for example, I expect to receive just "TNX" instead of wasting time to get wholly spelled phrases.

3. I strongly believe that "73!" means everything like "good health", "good luck" and other things like that.

4. If you are receiving just a report (RST) from me, PLEASE send me just your report - NOTHING more! I am not very often on the air, so I am trying to use my free time to have as many QSOs as possible. Thought, sometimes I am prepared to have a more longer QSO.

It makes me think. In a way I can understand his point of view. That means I do respect someone when he gives only a report and a 73, I will do so in return. But sometimes it is confusing, when I gave a short second return I feel guilty especially with PSK. Shouldn't I behave more friendly and give more information? I don't always know what someone expect of me. It's really confusing sometimes.

The power supply is replaced

Nice photo of Moscow, I did work RD3ALV with PSK31 on 30 meter. Now the power supply of my PC is replaced, I worked a few stations with digimodes. I never used a interface for the digi modes. I use two cheap USB sound cards for separate in / out. And of course VOX. (A small speaker and my microphone) and that works fine for me. I never managed to get my FT450 CAT controlled with my Windows 7 (64 bit) I don't know why, but even with XP my system crashes. So I do it the simple way.

Computer crash

Yesterday my computer crashed, I think the power supply is defect. Now I use a my sons small notebook for checking my mail and do some blog updates. No digimodes for the time being. Only CW and SSB.

Titanic remembrance

There are a lot of special stations qrv because of the sinking of the Titanic 100 years ago. I worked yesterday PC100T with SSB on 40 meter and OR100MGY. Another special call was LZ1437MGS which I worked on 20 meter SSB. With PSK31 I worked last night RW3YS on 40 meter en this morning IK7RVY on 20 meter. With CW I worked RA3AOS Oleg from Moscow on 20 meter.

VK and poor condx

Though conditions were poor, I was spotted in VK with 5 watt WSPR on 20 meter this morning, distance 14087 km.

WSPR

When I haven't got time for active radio, I like to run WSPR instead. It still amazes me. this morning I spotted EA6FG (see photo) with 50 milliwatt on 40 meter. I was spotted outside Europe by KE7A, K9AN and W8AC 0n 40 meter with 5 watts.

Reverse Beacon Network

I removed the Opera page on my blog. It was a nice experiment, but too little activity there. So I publish my Reverse beacon Network activities, that will be mainly the QRP frequency 14060 KHz or 7030 KHz. I will monitor the band when I am not QRV myself, so I can do something in return. I was surprised what I did hear in one hour time. Even the USA this time a day. I am not sure if N2G is a correct call. I can't find it in QRZ.com maybe a wrong decode of Skimmer. I checked only verified calls. But if that is sufficient, I don't know.

The Solar Flux is below 100.

Another video

A video I made while I was walking the countryside of my village. The bulb are nice again this year.
I had a nice QRP contact (5W CW) with Jean F3MB from Bordeaux, France. A few minutes later I worked HA1ST Karl from Mihalyi, Hungary. On 10 meter I heard a few VK (VK6SD and VK5HD) but my neighbour came to visit me, so the chance to work was gone.

India

Tonight I worked India VU2PHD on 20 meter with CW. There was a big pile up, but I was working off zero beat (sometimes necessary) so he picked me up. I do not work al lot stations from India. So I was very happy with it. With QRP I worked UR3VZ Nick on 14.060 MHz. He was also running 5 watt. Other stations today in my log: OF150M, SG3U and DJ7TZ (last one on 40 meter)

Since 2 years I am only sending QSL cards via eQSL.cc Today I checked how many DXCC is coming in at eQSL. Here is the score: All mixed: 62 DXCC, JT65: 35, CW: 32, PSK31: 45, RTTY: 13, SSB: 31. There are 107 DXCC in my log so 58% confirmed. Not bad at all.

Scary height

This man must be crazy. I got dizzy when I watch the video. You need someone like this man for putting up your VHF/UHF antenna, he’s your man.

On 10 meter I worked 4Z5NX Victor from Beer Sheva, Israel with CW. On 15 meter CT8/DL5AXX from the Azores, 4JSØNG from Azerbaijan on 20 meter (a special call for Eurovision song contest Baku 2012)

Update about my XYL: Followers of my blog do know that my wife suffers from breast cancer. She was operated last November, and since December she got chemotherapy. Yesterday was the last chemotherapy! The prognosis is propitious, said the oncologist. This week will be hard for her, but it is for the last time. We will look forward this summer, her hair will come back again and she will slowly recover. Thanks for all kind comments and support he last months.

Not only QRP

I am not only working QRP. I like the thrill of being heard with 5 watts or less, but sometimes is a little more power convenient. As you can see that from 5 watts to 50 watts is a fine leap. That means 10 db more! The difference between 50 and 100 watts is only 3 db gain. So 50 watts is a nice turning point if you want to use some more power. More is not really necessary. To have the same gain (10 db) from the turning point of 50 watts you need 500 watts.

This map shows the Es activity in Europe yesterday late afternoon on 6 meter. TEP is also taking place almost every day but only for south Europe. But this Es is promising. Hopefully in a few weeks also in North Europe.

Back to CW

I am back to CW, Why? It is a kind of magic. To hear weak CW in the noise, to pick them up, that special DXCC, especially on 10 and 6 meter. I don’t have that feeling with PSK or JT65. Maybe I am old fashion or old school. Grown up with CW, because we got that licence only when you done CW exam. In my early days I worked mainly CW. In those days you could choose CW or SSB that was it. Some did packed radio on 2 meter that was all. RF interference with SSB in neighbors equipment made me do more CW.

But not everybody was happy with CW. I know a guy who did CW exam for the 13th time before he passes the exam. Now he dropped CW forever. While I am writing this post I listen on 10 meter to 9J2BO straight key. Not a strong signal but I can copy most of it. On the video you see W5CYF starting with CW with slow speed, as we all did in the beginning. Never mind, just choose the speed you can handle, a good operator will come back with the same speed as you.

The best way to learn CW: just do it. Listen a lot to CW. It’s a matter of time when you can make something out of it. Don’t give up too soon. Once you learned the code, you will never forget.