Propagation and DXCC's

We would be going into Cycle 24...but still we are hanging inbetween.Propagation in 2009 is one from ups and downs.Still some very nice openings on long distance are possible.
Also we are in the start of the sporadic E season,so also bands like 20M stays open longer.Also the effect of the longer hours of daylight causes this.
Now we hope that the 10M will open up as well.For me,as a Novice HAM,this would mean 1 extra band to work at,as we are just allowed on 10 , 20 and 40M.

Still with this low sunspots...or better moslty no spots at all,i am able to work some nice DX and also new DXCC's as well.Worked in the weekend AH0BT (Mariana Islands OC-086) and yesterday TL0A (Central Africa).This brings my worked DXCC's now at 253 in all modes.
I am actice in phone,but also digimodes.Also i try to work CW via my computer.Can't make a QSO then,but workes ok for quick reports and also for contesting.

Every year i try to work again all DXCC's.This year the counter stands already on 169 DXCC's in all modes.On modes and bands is it:
10m - 7 DXCC's all modes
20M - 162 DXCC's all modes
40M - 64 DXCC's all modes
SSB - 115 DXCC's
CW - 77 DXCC's
Digi - 114 DXCC's (RTTY,PSK,HELL,etc)

Still looking out for VK9LA (Lord Howe Isl.),but till now i only had a small signal from them on RTTY,almost one week ago.I think that they are having a bad path to Western Europe,from the place where they are.If i think back at VP9DWX (Willes Isl.),i could hear them every day and also managed to work them.But still few days to go for VK9LA,so we keep our eyes and ears open :)
Also VK9GMW (Mellish Reef) started,after some delay due bad weather.

CW WW WPX Contest

In the past weekend was again the CQ WW WPX contest.A very well used contest with many nice prefixes active.

It started at 0:00 UTC on friday night and ended at 0:00 sunday night,so it's a 48 hours contest.

Only SSB mode is allowed during this contest and no WARC bands.

Last year i also joined this contest and got 2nd for the Netherlands in the Low Power Single Operator All Band class.For me,only 25 watts is allowed.

Got last year a total score of 102.820.....the points that came out after cross checking the logs.

My goal was to beat that score...but would the propagation permit this.

The days before the contest,the propagation wasn't very stable as well.Sometimes nice openings,but followed by low signals as well short after.

I started saterday morning,logged my first station on 20M at 07:42 UTC.Last logged on saterday was at 23:11 on 40M.The 40M band was open,but very strong stations with alot of QRM as well.For me as Novice,only the freq. 7050-7100 is allowed.

Sunday morning i started again at 08:03 UTC on 20M and last logged was at 22:03 UTC.

In the Netherlands we did change into the Summertime again,so the difference between local and UTC is now 2 hours again.So i did stop at 0:03 local time.

I did made on saterday 168 and on sunday 121 QSO's.total came to 289 QSO's.

Most on 20 and 40M band.I was lucky to have 2 stations in the Netherlands that where calling on 10M.The 10M was besides them,very quiet.Saw some spots from other EU Country's,but here i couldn't hear a thing.Shame,as the 10M is a very nice band for DXing....but also difficult.

Came together to 137.475 points.Till now i got my goal...as this is the raw score.Have to wait till the cross checking of the logs is done,how much i keep.

Wouldn't be the first time they got my callsign as PT7BZ....not much difference in callsign...but alot in Temperature for sure :)

It was a very nice contest and i did enjoy it alot.

Got all Continents worked again as well.

Got one new DXCC worked as well,so always happy then ofcourse.

See the pictures for other results.

Some exotic callsigns in my log:

6W1RW,JJ5GMJ,P40A,E21EIC,V8AQM,9M8Z,OY9JD,HK3JJH,D4C,A73A,AH0BT,VP59V,

4V4JR,PJ2T,ZF1A,4M5IR

BARTG RTTY and RDXC

The past weekend was again one with many Contests.
I was active in 2 of them,but due not too much time,didn't get many in my log.

I started with the BARTG RTTY Contest.
This is a 48's hours event,started at 02:00 UTC on Saterday the 21th.I was active mostly on 20 meters and worked a few on 40 meters as well.There wasn't much RTTY above 7050,because of the RDXC Contest.
Still got to work some very nice DXCC's again in this mode.
Got in my log: JA6ZPR,J5UAP,YV5AAX,LT0H,JH7XGN,E21YDP,ZS2EZ,J88DR,YB4IR,9M6XRO and PR7AR.
These are the more exotic callsigns...some you don't get every days i mean :)
Nice to see that the propagation is getting longer,20 meters is longer open as for 1 month ago.
Maybe this is a sign of the Sporadic E season to begin.

In the RDXC i did work 125 stations.For me,digital modes and CW work better,just working with 25 watts.Worked in the RDXC in mixed mode,most in CW.
Nice DXCC's worked are:
JA7DLE,YW4D,6W1SJ,YE1ZAT,VQ9JC and V47NT.

Hope the propagation will be good the next weekend as well,while the CQ WW WPX contest will be taken.Hope to work then as much as last year.

Propagation 16 March

The past weeks the propagation isn't very well.

Sometimes even very bad.But i was very nice suprised to have the big signals yesterday from Asia.I did work Kazu (JH3NGD) , Nobu (JQ2QHQ) and Youn (HL4CBX) and they did have real 5/9+ signals with me.

I also got 5/9+ back from Kasu and just working here with 25watts and 3elm Tribander.

Kasu and Nobu did work both with 1KW and very big monoband antenne's.

Ofcourse this is also some of the reason i had such a big signal.

Also i could work D44TXI (SSB) and D44TXR (RTTY) from the German DX Pedition in Sal Island,Cape Verde (AF-086).

I did work D44TXS already in CW as well,few days ago.

We are all still waiting till Cycle 24 will start and give us some better and longer openings.Now,when there are nice openings on DX,it's mostly for just a short time.

PS0F via LoTW

Today i saw that i got PS0F,Fernando de Noronha SA-003,confirmed via LoTW.

Many thanks for this fast reply on LoTW and the new DXCC for me.

Thanks to W9VA and K9PPY for the activation.

Paper QSL is via W9VA himself.

Propagation Difference

You all know that Holland is just a very small and flat Country.

But still we have alot of differences in the Propagation inside this small area.

Years ago we had this already on 11M.In the South part of Holland they could work Country's we didn't even hear here in the North part.The distance between myself and the other stations is just 150-200KM.

In 2006 i did pass my Novice Licence...

Thought that this difference was maybe only on the 11M band.

But now i notice that this is also on other bands.

I did notice this also on the 20M band.Some stations in the South part of Holland,did work a DX expedition...i couldn't even hear a sound from them here.

It seems that the propagation goes from South to North.

The stations in the South first hear the station and if the band is open long enought,we can hear them here in the North part as well.

We also see this with other Country's.For example Italy has mostly better propagation to all corners as we here in Western Europe.

My antenne setup in Schoonoord JO32IU

For me is also the country's to the North difficult.

So did i hear JD1BMM just one day with sometimes 4/3....but that was it.

Also from ZL7T i didn't hear a thing.I was lucky to have worked and confirmed ZL7/DL2AH.That time i was at my old QTH with better sight to the North.

Antenne setup in my old QTH, JO32KX

Also my antenne setup here isn't very well yet.The FB33 tribander is too low,not even hight enought to look over the roof here.Later this year,we will change this.The beam will be around 10 meters hight from the ground then.Also will change the FB33 from Fritzel and put there then my old Swan TB-3HA.This is also a tribander (10-15-20) and has the elements much longer.Also i think that the F/B is better from this one.

Also i will put first my PKW 40M rotary dipole in the tower.

For now i have the FD3 from Fritzel and a 2x 10M home made wire dipole for the 40M.

The PKW rotary dipole is much better.Did work VP6DX with it on my old QTH.

In time,the rotary dipole from PKW will be changed into a two elm.

PKW MHF1e40 40M Rotary Dipole

PKW MHF2e40ss 2elm 40M

ARRL and Open Ukraine RTTY Contest

In the weekend from 7 and 8 March i was again active in a few Contest.

In the "ARRL International DX Contest" and the "Open Ukraine RTTY Championship".

The propagation wasn't very well in my eyes.

During the ARRL International DX Contest in SSB,i made 61 QSO's.It was not easy to get the QSO's.Just with 25 watts of power.....and then between all thoose OM's using 100W-1KW.

I was also active in the ARRL DX CW Contest,a few weeks ago.CW is for low power as i use,easier.The tones from the CW are much harder then my voice and much more clear as well i think.

The result was 61 QSO's with 24 multies (states+provinces) comes to 4392 Points.

During the Open Ukriane RTTY Contest,i was only active on the 20M band.

Made just 50 QSO's in this periode of the contest,between 08:00 - 11:59 UTC.

Got 8 DXCC's in my log and 28 domains.Total of points 378.

Links:

www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2009/intldx.html

www.uarl.com.ua/openrtty

Contest weekend

In the past weekend,i was again active in a few Contest.

It started friday evening with the Russian PSK Contest.In this contest you could use three kinds of PSK modes,or better to say,three different speeds.PSK31,PSK63 and PSK125.
The last one,PSK125,is very fast,even faster then in RTTY mode.
You could work all stations in all modes,but not direct.There must be 10 minutes betwen the contact before you could change mode with the same station.
Result was 113 QSO,with some nice ones as:
E21YDP and 9M6XRO.

Saterday was the UBA CW contest,but i was till around 18:00 UTC busy collecting PSK QSO's.After that,there was not much active anymore in the contest.Made 7 QSO's and started again on sunday morning.I stopped with 100 QSO's.All made on 20M.
Also not one Belgium station in my log,because i live to far from them for that and too close for the propagation we have in daytime.

After the Russian PSK contest on saterday,i did hear alot of signals on RTTY.
I did look and saw alot of stations from NA.They where active in the NAQP Contest.
It was a very big suprise to see and work NA stations this late in the evening.
Last made on 20M was at 21:16 UTC,22:16 Local time.
Most of the days the 20M band is closed at this time.
Worked 31 Stations in that Contest,23 on 20M and 8 later on 40M.
Here you see the log from this:

Start date UTC TX kHz Mode Call RST S RST R Exch S Exch R Dxcc
-------------------- -------- ---- ------ ----- ----- ------- --------- ----
28-Feb-2009 18:32:46 14078.5 RTTY N4IQ 599 599 Bernard Bill SC K
28-Feb-2009 18:49:35 14087.3 RTTY W4GKM 599 599 Bernard NICK TN K
28-Feb-2009 19:36:53 14089.9 RTTY K4TD 599 599 Bernard RICK AL K
28-Feb-2009 19:37:42 14090.5 RTTY WX4TM 599 599 Bernard TOM AL K
28-Feb-2009 19:38:35 14088.5 RTTY K2MK 599 599 Bernard MIKE NJ K
28-Feb-2009 19:46:29 14102.9 RTTY KE4KWE 599 599 Bernard TOM AL K
28-Feb-2009 19:49:37 14114.3 RTTY N4IG 599 599 Bernard DAVE FL K
28-Feb-2009 19:53:36 14114.9 RTTY AF4OX 599 599 Bernard BOB SC K
28-Feb-2009 19:57:00 14097.4 RTTY VE2SB 599 599 Bernard DANIEL QC VE
28-Feb-2009 19:58:57 14094.0 RTTY VA2UP 599 599 Bernard FABI QC VE
28-Feb-2009 20:00:42 14082.9 RTTY KE4UNA 599 599 Bernard JEFF AL K
28-Feb-2009 20:05:56 14080.3 RTTY K1ZZI 599 599 Bernard RALPH GA K
28-Feb-2009 20:08:59 14074.5 RTTY KK5OQ 599 599 Bernard JR MS K
28-Feb-2009 20:13:11 14083.6 RTTY NA5Q 599 599 Bernard ROLAND LA K
28-Feb-2009 20:15:29 14082.4 RTTY AA3B 599 599 Bernard BUD PA K
28-Feb-2009 20:17:51 14088.0 RTTY W1UE 599 599 Bernard DENNIS MA K
28-Feb-2009 20:20:30 14111.8 RTTY AE1T 599 599 Bernard PETER NH K
28-Feb-2009 20:30:28 14082.7 RTTY K4REB 599 599 Bernard JOE NC K
28-Feb-2009 20:44:11 14092.9 RTTY K1SFA 599 599 Bernard SUNNY MA K
28-Feb-2009 20:46:32 14127.5 RTTY K4FCC 599 599 Bernard DOUG FL K
28-Feb-2009 20:59:17 14093.7 RTTY VE1MC 599 599 Bernard BRIAN NC VE
28-Feb-2009 21:00:06 14093.2 RTTY N1SV 599 599 Bernard LES MA K
28-Feb-2009 21:16:42 14095.6 RTTY KS1J 599 599 Bernard ERNIE RI K
28-Feb-2009 21:46:55 7084.7 RTTY K2PAL 599 599 Bernard ALEX NY K
28-Feb-2009 21:48:31 7085.2 RTTY AA3B 599 599 Bernard BUD PA K
28-Feb-2009 22:11:10 7092.7 RTTY W4UEF 599 599 Bernard RICK NC K
28-Feb-2009 22:13:55 7092.3 RTTY AF4OX 599 599 Bernard BOB SC K
28-Feb-2009 22:17:08 7081.1 RTTY K1ZZI 599 599 Bernard RALPH GA K
28-Feb-2009 22:25:03 7081.4 RTTY N4IQ 599 599 Bernard BILL SC K
28-Feb-2009 22:28:08 7075.9 RTTY WW4LL 599 599 Bernard FRED GA K
28-Feb-2009 23:02:20 7080.8 RTTY W4GKM 599 599 Bernard NICK TN K

Links:
http://www.ncjweb.com/naqprules.php
http://mixw-contest.narod.ru/Files/RusWW.htm
http://www.uba.be/hf_contests/rules/ubatest_dx.pdf