Gibraltar

Finally, I worked Gibraltar, now I do have Europe complete. I have waited for 4 years to catch a station from there. Now I did, ZQ2EO John which I worked on 17 meter with CW. It's my 109th DXCC.

6 meter opening

I had a nice qso with DL6UNF (see photo) on 17 meter. I didn't expect a answer from Germany on 17 meter, hi. Nevertheless, I was working with 5 watt, and Frank was running 200 watts. On 40 meter a nice two way qrp qso with G0WUV, we had both qsb on the signal, but we could exchange the necessary data. In the late afternoon was a nice Es opening on 6 meter. K4WZ told me via Twitter that he worked EA on 6 meter with this opening. See my log below.

USA on 40 m

Antennas WX3B (photo from qrz.com )

I couldn't believe my ears, a very loud 599 signal from WX3B on 40 meter, he was in qso with a Russian station about the WPX contest this weekend. After this qso he was calling CQ DX, no takers that moment so I called him once with 25 watts, and he replied. Wow, that was a long time ago I worked USA on 40 meter so easily. I took this picture from Google maps (street view) a new sport of mine to locate the antennas. Here you can see the antennas in his backyard.

Ten Tec 509

The Ten Tec 509 transceiver was my first QRP transceiver in the late seventies. Great TX. I regret that I sold this wonderful transceiver. Now my eyes are on the Ten Tec Argonaut VI. Power adjustable from 1 watt to 10 watts. I put it on my wish list. ) Tnx Peter G4NKX.

Copyright

Look out for violating copyrights. This is what can happen. To the point, he claimed his right. But I think the blogger does the same, he violate the man's privacy by filming him on his own property and put the video on line without permission, I guess. I use photograph's from qrz.com on my blog, without problems so far, but... I can imagine they claim copyright. 100 dollar for each photo? There goes my bank account.

Alex Loop with KX3

Nice video using the portable Alex loop and the KX3 in the field. Again today it will be a very hot day, about 29 C. So finally summer here.

SWR

I was QRV on 17 meter but forgot to put on my automatic tuner. After one successful QSO with LZ0M I saw a reading of 1:4 on my S-meter. I was only running 20 watts. Conditions were a little bit better than in the early hours today. EK3GM was a new DXCC with JT65A. Tonight I watch the soccer game between the Dutch national team against Bayern Munchen (German club).

Thoughts about CW

Here you see the signal strength curve of 4X1RF on 10 meter WSPR. Though the MUF (22 MHz Max.) was not high enough there was Es on 10 meter and for 6 meter only South Europa.

On 20 meter I worked UA1OKO (see photo) with CW QRP contact. At first his signal was good, but a few minutes later I couldn't copy him any more. We exchanged the necessary info. Distance 2663 km. I realized that I never worked Australia with CW and QRP. Maximum distance ever was 5978 km. (USA) Compared to WSPR the chance to be heard in Australia (average 15.000 km) is high (almost daily with 5 watts) Why do we like CW so much? I wonder. It's first of all nostalgic. Now aviation and maritime services doesn't use CW any more because it's obsolete. We radio amateurs cling to the old mode. We put so much effort in it to learn CW, and when the CW ticket is in our pocket we cherish this mode. Maybe it gives us a little more status to have the CW licence? I don't know really, I guess so. I know, it is fun to 'speak' another language such as CW. When you practise a lot it's really another language. The dots and dashes are talking. But is it really effective for DX-ing? Many of us think so. At least it's better than phone. But as a QRP-er I prefer digital modes when I want to work DX such as JT65A. I noticed that novice radio amateurs take much more advantage of digital modes because of license restrictions. Maybe we old timers are more conservative than progressive. We like the old game. We don't want to loose it. I don't meant to be critical, every radio amateur should do what he likes to do. After all it is a hobby and should be fun.

64

When I first heard this song in 1967 on the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band of the Beatles, I didn’t realize then that time goes so fast. Now here I am: 64.

6 meter again

I worked a few stations on 6 meter again. Today 4O4A from Montenegro. (see photo) there was more CW activity than SSB. More stations see below:

Yemen

Finally I worked 7O6T on 20 meter. It was very early in the morning 4:42 and I heard them working on 20 meter band. So I gave it a try, and yes, they heard me. It is for me a new DXCC, number 108. I am not a DX chaser really, that's why I didn't work more over the years. I am not going to try for hours to call one station in a pile up. I just call a few times and then I quit.

As you can see conditions were poor this morning, but never mind, just try, you'll never know.

Yes, I am in their log.

Sun burst

Earlier today, amateur astronomer Thomas Ashcraft of New Mexico detected strong shortwave radio bursts at 28 MHz and 21.1 MHz coming from the sunspot. Click to hear the "solar static" that roared out of his loudspeaker. Read more: www.spaceweather.com