Field Day Contest (SSB) and WWF PAFF-038

Sunday the 4th of September,i was active in the Field Day Contest as PD7BZ/p

I was active just with a small setup and 25 Watts.

The place i was active in,Boswachterij Grolloo,also counts as WFF PAFF-038.

As we know,it was the first activation on HF from this WFF area.

Setup was a Yaesu FT857 (25W) with Heil Headset.

Antenna was the HF6V from Butternut,with 12 wire radials connected.

Powersupply was the Diamond GSV3000
Generator was a small one Güde GSE950 (220v 650-950Watts)

This small setup got me 112 QSO's in the log.

Most were at the 40M band.
It was nice to be also on the other side in the contest.

For some years i work from th home QTH...and for us in the Netherlands,

in the Field Day Contest we should only work /p , /m and /mm.

The rules for other countries are different as they are for us.

See the photo's from the small activation....


Empty field....

Gear was setup :)

The Radioroom :)

Antenna and Generator

10 Meter propagation

In the past days,the 10M band is very wide open.

Some weeks ago we had also one day with openings,but the day after it was gone.

Most of the propagation we have on 10M is to Africa or South America.

But in the past 2 weeks the openings changed...

On the 23th of March i managed to work my first station from NA on CW on thje 10M band.

It was N4BP..he was the only one i could hear from NA as well.

During the CQ WW WPX contest i did manage to work also ZS,PY,LU,D4,CE in SSB.

Thoose are the usual DXCC's we get with the 10M openings.

But during the contest i could also work OD,JY and VK6.

At the 29th of March i saw that NH7O (Hawaii) was working EU via Long Path on 10M.

I did put my beam towards 170 degrees and i could hear him very well.

After calling him several times and repeating my callsign,the QSO was made!!!!

My first QSO on ther 10M band with Hawaii was done.What a good propagation...

The same day and the days after i also could get in the log:

BD1EFO (CW) , S21YZ (SSB) , VU2DK (SSB) , VP5/W1CW (CW) , YI9NS (CW) ,

5M2TT (SSB+CW) , 9N&AN (SSB) , ZL1BYZ (CW) , KH2/N2NL (CW) ,

EL2GB (SSB) , P4/W1HEO (CW) , SU1SK (CW) .

Today i got another big new one worked on the 10M...XV1X Vietnam on CW.

I was very happy that Eddy,the op of XV1X,took the time to get me and my callsign correct.

Two days ago i worked also Nand,VU2NKS,with only 5 Watts output on RTTY on the 10M.

For me this good propagation gives me alot of new DXCC's on the band.

Also in the different modes...as i try to work as many DXCC's in as many modes possible for me.

One week ago i also had WSPR running on the 10M band.

I was seen also in NA with only 2 watts.Also i was seen in VQ9...

Propagation is very good and i hope it stays like this and even will get better.

I like the 10M band very much....it's a band that sometimes you hear nothing....

Few minutes later it's wide open.....

CQ WW WPX (SSB)

The past weekend was again the CQ WW WPX in SSB.

A 48 hour during Contest only in phone.The CQ Contests are always very busy...also again this

one.The propagation was before the contest sometimes very good...

I started at 5:15 UTC.I didn't start earlier because we as Novice have only a little space at the 40M band to operate on and the 10 and 20M bands are closed during the night.

The 20M band was already open when i started.Did work 14 stations within the 20 minutes.After that i went to the 40M band,worked the stations i could and back to the 20M.

Around 6:55 i did hear a AH6 station very low....pointed my beam towards the Nordpole and there she was...AH6NF.After calling a few minutes i could write her in my log.

Putting the beam back to the East i could hear VK4WIP very clear.One call and also he's logged.

Few minutes later i could also log VK4KW.At my side,the strongest from the VK's,as i could hear him the whole weekend and also in the evening.

Sometimes i also went over the 10M band,to look if the band showed some openings...at 8:22 i could log the first.That was OT5A from belgium followed by OR0A.Few minutes later i could log HZ1FS who really was 5/9 at that moment.He was for that time the last one i did hear on the 10M band....Back to the 20M again.

Around 12:30 i listened again at the 10M band and now it was wide open.Many stations calling from SA and AF.Couldn't work them all,but still 33 stations logged.Strange was that i could work s someone over 11.000Km...when a station at 8.000Km couldn't hear me.

Sunday morning i managed to work also VK6NC on 10M.Also i got A61ZX in my log on 10 and 20M.He was very strong both times.

Here's an eQSL card from one of the SA stations i could work.LU5FF,Javi.

Also Dov was active in the contest.Managed to work him after calling several minutes.If Dov is on....everyone wants to work 4Z4DX....he told us that he will be in Nepal within 3 weeks.

My Goal is always to try to beat my own score of the year before.

Last year i logged 432 Qso's with 325 Multies....total of 296.075 Points.

For me,as just a small station with 3 bands and 25 Watts limited...not easy.

But...you never find out if you don't try,hi.

Sunday at 22:38 i logged QSO number 450...

Total Multies are.. 357...

Total of 320.229 Points....

Goal succeed :)

For my results is SH5 analyser:http://www.pd7bz.nl/2011%20CQ-WPX-SSB%20PD7BZ/

My last QSO's where on the 40M band.After that i put the TRX back on the 20M band and was very surprised that it was still wide open to NA.Some signals were still 5/9....

Hope this means that the propagation will stay and we will/can enjoy the DX again the whole day...

BARTG RTTY and Russian DX

The last weekend was again one with two contest i wanted to join in.

The BARTG HF RTTY started at 02:00 UTC Saturday morning and is a 48 hours contest.

The Russian DX started at 12:00 UTC Saturday and is a 24 hours contest.

First i started in the BARTG RTTY.Looked around 4:00 UTC at 40M...but only got around 15 qso's logged in one hour time.Just went to sleep for 2 hours and did have a look again.I was suprised that the 20M band was open already so i started there.As a Novice HAM we are just allowed to use three bands on HF.The 10 , 20 and 40M band.During the contest i look so now and then on the other bands for Multies.Also on 10M....as we never know if it's opens up again.

I'm happy with the DX i could work and also was happy to work all the 6 continents,as that means extra points as well.Nice one was also when i saw 3A2MW coming back after my CQ call.

Got 314 QSO's and 152604 points.

Results by SH5 analyzer: http://www.pd7bz.nl/2011%20BARTG-RTTY/

See here some eQSL's i got right after the Contest

Saturday at 12:30 UTC i joined in the Russian DX Contest as well.I did SSB and CW.It's good to have both,because this way i worked more different Oblasts.I worked some in CW that i didn't hear in SSB at all.Worked total of 259 QSO's in mixed mode.Totally of 180744 points.

This is much more then i had in 2010...so very happy.

Results by SH5 analyzer: http://www.pd7bz.nl/2011%20RDXC/

So the weekend was very well for me.Total of the contest brought me to 573 QSO's in two days time.Worked all continents in RTTY and some very nice DXCC's as well.Very nice to see also alot of the same OM's joining in every week.Also very strange propagation...working ON,G,OZ and DL on 20M....and they where really strong signals.

10 Meter openings

The 10 Meter band was this year already open a few times.I was able to work some nice DXCC's in several modes.Some of them are also new for me on this band.

Today i managed to work Agus,YB1ALL,on PKS63.A few weeks before i also coult get him in CW already.

Two days ago,on the 15th,i was able to work Bob,VP8LP,for the first time this year on 10M SSB again.The rst i got was just 4/4....but still 100% QSO.

Bob was here real 5/7 with QSB.I stayed a little at his frequenty listening to him and about 30 minutes later he was gone.I coult hear Bob saying that he had the whole morning good propagation to Europe.

After that i was looking over the band and did hear a signal on PSK31...That was VU2SWS Miss Sarla.She was strong here and i also managed to work her.New DXCC on 10M in PSK31 as well for me.

Between the 7th and 11th of March,t

he band was wide open.I managed to work:

* in SSB: VU2DSI , VK6XC , VK6ANC , CX2DK , PY2OE , D2AM , VK8NSB , YB3OX , 9M2IDJ ,

TJ3AY , BD8ASG , UK8OM , VP8LP and HZ1DG

* in CW: 4X/K2LS , LU7HN , 7Z1HL , YB1ALL , 3B8FQ , MD0CCE , E21EJC , BA8AG , BA8BA ,

4K9W , 6W2SC , D2SG , 9J2BO , 4Z5RT , A45XR , 5N7M

During the ARRL DX SSB i was also able to work one NA station,that was W4SVO from Florida.

Propagation was very good,but i also had much QRM on the band.It was mostly S8-9.

So you can see how good the prop was to NA...W4SVO was real 5/9 that time.

The 10 Meter band is a very nice band for DXing.Many HAM's don't like it.....

I think it's because it's not always easy to get a QSO on 10M.

For me the 10M band is the nicest...when there are openings ofcourse.

This morning there where spots of KH7Y,Hawai.I coult hear him very low...too low to try.

One week ago KH2 (Guam) was also strong on 10M in CW.Would be 559 here,but too big pileup.

I really hope that the propagation increases and that the 10M band will be open more and more.

Also during the contest in the weekends....

This weekend is the BARTG RTTY Contest and also the Russian DX (CW+SSB).

Hoping that the Propagation Gods are also good for us this weekend :-)

PACC 2011

The Dutch PACC Contest is already 2 weeks over now.

This time i wasn't contesting from my own home,but was in a Holidayhouse we are taking care of.

This house is more in the open field,as my own place is surrounded with alot of houses..so also alot of QRN/QRM as well on my radio.My 3elm Tribander at my home is just 5 1/2 meters above the ground...so you can imagine that it will get alot of signals that i don't want to hear.

Friday morning at 11:00 local time,hte guests that where in the house for a week holiday,went out.

That was for me the time to go there with my gear and setup all the antenna's i wanted to use.

My antenne's where:

HF6V vertical

GPA30 vertical

3elm Tribander (Swan...32 years old :) )

2x 10 meters Dipole as Inverted V

FD3 wire dipole

This was what i wanted to put there and use....but.....

The most i did use the HF6V vertical from Butternut.I made myself radials from 2mm steelwire.

made 10 of them,then my spool of 100 meter wire was gone,hi.But also had still some copper wires who i first used at home for trying the antenna out.So also this ones where connected.

The best thing with the HF6V is that you don't have to switch antenna's when you want to use another band.This was for me also the first time i really did try the antenna and i can say...i am very pleased to have it and able to use it !!

My 3elm Swan Tribander also worked ok....but.....we couldn't get it higher then 4 meters above the ground.I used an old Militair tower what you have to pull up with your hands and then it should click when the whole section is out.Because the 3elm was too heavy,we only managed to get one section out.Also i didn't want the small tower to get broken....

Another problem was,that when you are not at home....and you don't see the sun shining...to find the North.I thought i knew it...but sunday after the PACC contest i found out it was totally wrong.Good to have from now one a compas in my radio gear,hi.

I was around 90 degrees wrong.....found it out after i saw the TV Dish at the neightbours house.That looks almost to the South...little East of it, 19,2 degrees to the ASTRA Satellite.

I did work some nice stations during the PACC on it....but after i changed it,it worked much better.Because after the PACC i went into the CQ WW WPX RTTY contest a

gain.

Worked some nice DX with it in RTTY...

Here you can see my radio and computer setup for the PACC and CQ WW WPC Contest.

I used just one radio,but had the other standby for when my first gave problems.

Here you see two photo's of my antenna's.One of them you see the foot of the HF6V with the radials attached.On the other you see on the forground the Swan Tribander and left from it the GPA30.At the right the HF6V and more right in the back of the garden the 2x 10 meters inverted V.

More photo's can be found at: http://www.pd7bz.nl/PACC2011

More info about my PACC Score via SH5 : http://www.pd7bz.nl/PACC

My QSO's results where like in 2010...but this year i got more Multies.

We have to wait till June to see the results.

Contests in 2011

I did join in a few Contest already again this year.

From now on i will try to write some every week again.

SARTG RTTY New-Year Contest : 50 QSO's logged.

AGCW Happy New-Year Contest (CW) : 14 QSO's logged.

ARRL RTTY Round Up : 236 QSO's logged.

HA DX Contest (CW and SSB) : 93 QSO's logged.

UK DX RTTY : 154 QSO's logged.

UBA DX SSB : 124 QSO's logged.

EPC WW DX PSK (PSK63) : 219 QSO's logged.

Black Sea Cup Inter. (CW and SSB) : 44 QSO's logged.

Mexican International RTTY : 100 QSO's logged.

CQ WW WPX RTTY : 338 QSO's logged.

Dutch PACC Contest (CW and SSB) : 329 QSO's logged.

Russian PSK Contest : 103 QSO's logged.

ARRL International Contest (CW) : 110 QSO's logged.

About the Dutch PACC...more in my next message....

First message 2011...

Sorry for the late start of my Blog this year..

2010 didn't ended very well for me.

On the 10th of December i had to put one of my Husky's to sleep.Something that took alot of pain for me to do.He had that day from 18:00 local time many epeliptic attacks...

The time the Animal Doctor came,around 22:50,i think he had around 40 attacks...small ones and also very heavy ones.

You could say that he had one big one,because he never came out..

I know that he didn't feel anything from this all,but for me it was HELL!!

The Doctor said me that the best thing to do is to put him in sleep....We did this at 23:30...he went asleep in my arms....

In his mememberance i designed a special QSL card...

Hope he's now somewhere without pain and is playing with his old friends...