Gabon new DXCC for me

In the afternoon I noticed some activity on 10 meter (www.dxmaps.com) so I tuned to the PSK part of the band and heard TR8CA with PSK63. I called him and we made a qso. Alain from Libreville, Gabon. A new DXCC for me. He was the only station I heard on the band.

I also worked Wally PA3BTT on 2 meter, via the Heerhugowaard repeater. He does have an 2 elements antenna on the attic. Normally he works QRP on 20 meter only.

On 20 meter I worked yesterday 7V50I from Algeria, a special station, with CW.

Old license

I just worked K8CZC Glen from Mantua, Ohio with JT65 on 40 meter. On qrz.com I saw his old (I think his first) license from 1961. I like that kind of old documents. Most of the time I lost all that kind of stuff over the years. I also worked K9HDE from Illinois. Other contacts see below.

Antipodal location

I was calling CQ this morning on 40 m (7076 KHz USB) with JT65 and 20 watts. And ZL3ADW came back fore me. Andrew White from Christchurch, New Zealand, an antipodal location fore me, 18671 km. Report for me -16 dB. That means that he could hear me with 2 watts also (see diagram below)

For JT65 is 20 watts enough to work the other side of the world. No need for more power. Higher power gives splatter on the small JT65 bandwidth. So 20 watts or less is enough. 5 watts should be the standard power to begin with. Most of the time it will be sufficient.

EA7GDC was eager to work Andrew also and interfered my qso and was calling him while Andrew was transmitting the last part of the qso to me. After all he was not successful. I have sent him an email about it. Update: he did send me an email back with apologies

It's good to see that I am in the log. Hi. What was propagation like?

Well, good, Solarflux 112. It's good to know.

1 watt QRP

20 meter was very quiet today. In the late afternoon there was more activity on 40 meter. I called CQ with 1 watt CW on 40 meter. G4ICP Dick (see photo) from Braintree Essex came back for me. He was running 5 watt from a FT101 and uses also a end fed wire. We had a nice qso.

On 6 meter WSPR I received only PA3EGO. Between our QTH's is Schiphol airport. I think this was a airplane scatter.

Yesterday I had 2 qso's on 40 meter SSB with 5 watts. I spoke OZ/PA4HM Henri from Jutland. And DK0EP Christiaan.

New transceiver from ICOM the IC-7100. A HF/ VHF/ UHF transceiver with touch screen and D-Star and 4 meter also. The looks: I don't know. It's something else. More info.

5 continents with 5 watts

Yesterday I was running WSPR on 20 meter for a long time. Yes, 5 continents with 5 watts, isn’t that great. That’s why I love WSPR so much. Last night I realized that I was heard almost over the whole globe with QRP. Best DX was Australia for me. I made only one qso with RV9DD with 5 watts JT65. That’s 3523 km.

I said goodbye to Firefox. Too slow, too many troubles. I used it for many years, but now is the time to leave. Now I use Chrome as my standard browser. Easy and quick.

What about that. Not something to take easily outdoors... Oh, and I think it will take a lot of money to buy this rig. Nevertheless, nice to look at.

Argentina

I am happy that my JT65 software is working again on my computer. Tonight I worked LU8EX Jose from Matheu, Argentina on 20 meter with 25 watts. That's 11.455 km, not bad. Band conditions were called fair.

The warm weather since a few weeks comes to an end now. They forecast is a lot of rain this weekend.

JT65 software stopped working

When I click the JT65 icon on my desktop I get this message. JT65 will not start. I removed the software from my computer and tried to reinstall the JT65 software, but still it will not work. Every time I get this message. Does someone know a solution for this problem?

My humble shack

My humble shack, as it is for 4 years now. The FT817 is still my favourite and I use it for VHF/UHF and QRP and QRPp on HF. The FT450 is for low power JT65A and other digi modes or WSPR with 5 watts. Do I need other or better equipment? Yes and no. Yes, I will have a better receiver but I don't sell anything else because the price is too high. I am satisfied with my shack as it is. The antenna stays as it is: an end fed wire for 40-20 and 10 meter. I made a RF choke and now I can run QRO (100 watts) without RF feedback now. Not that I will go QRO, but when I need a little bit more... I will never say never.

The good old ETM 2b electronic keyer from the seventies. It still works fine. My CW buddy for more than 30 years.

Perseid Meteor Shower

August 12, time for watching the Perseid Meteor shower. It was very clear, no clouds and I sat down in the garden together with my youngest son (12) at 3 o'clock this morning. We saw several nice meteors. After a half hour we got cold so we went inside. I turned on 6 meter and tuned for 50.230 MHz JT6M for meteor scatter. I received G1KAW/P (see picture) I did send a signal, but for meteor scatter you need a directional antenna and more output power. I do have only a 5/8 vertical. But it was nice to catch his signal by a meteor trail

On 40 meter in the early hours I worked NX8G with JT65. For the winter time en decreasing sun activity in a few years, 40 meter will my favourite spot. I worked some contest stations on 40 meter CW: KB1EFS, VE3NE, W9RE and N3RD. Good signals from over the pond.

While I was biking on vacation I saw this antenna. It looks like a radio telescope. At home I looked up in QRZ.com for more info. It was PA3CSG VHF, UHF, SHF and EME station. When I am with holidays I search and look always for antennas. I think you will do the same.

Yesterday I saw this wonderful picture of a sun rise on Mars. Wow. Have a nice Sunday.

Back from holidays

We are back from holidays; we had a great time, I read 3 books (one of them: Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon), a lot of sun and nice weather. But... no internet, no radio, so I am glad to be back in the ‘normal’ world. Today I started with Opera and installed the new version 1.4.2 Activity is still low on 20 meter. I was reported by OH3FZQ (+6 db) K4RKM (-20 db) and RX3DHR (-22 db) after 1 hour I switched to WSPR on 20 meter with 5 watts. Conditions seem to be excellent above 10 MHz. Best DX so far VK6WS (-24 db 14287 km) This weekend a lot of things to do, but when I have spare time I will read the blogs of my fellow blog friends. New state with WSPR: WA2YUN from Wake Island, Hawaii.