Archive - March 2009

9M8Z 21st to 29th March 2009

19 March 2009

Steve, 9M6DXX, will operate as 9M8Z from Sarawak, East Malaysia IOTA OC-088 from 21 to 29 March 2009, including a Single-Operator Unassisted All-Band High-Power entry in the CQ WPX SSB contest on 28 / 29 March. Outside the contest, look for Steve on 40m SSB, Steve will be using a 3-element Yagi.

QSL via M0URX, Direct, Bureau or LoTW.

LoTW uploaded up to 30/03/09
Update 30th March: Well, the contest is over for another year. 2375 QSOs after dupes and 6.4 Million points, but that’s nearly 1000 QSOs down on last year, and nearly 2 million points less. Conditions were not good this year on 15m, which explains the lower score.

Update 24th March: “I am currently in Sarawak, 9M8, and operating ‘holiday style’ using an Optibeam OB-17-4 at 75ft. This antenna has 3 elements on 40m (coil loaded), 4 full size monoband elements on 20m, 4 on 15, and 6 on 10m, and by all accounts I have a big signal in Europe. 10m opened up as far west as Cyprus on Sunday though I doubt I’ll be working into the UK on that band.

I was on 20m last evening and it was good to work a number of CDXC members, plus a few UK calls I did not recognise.

I had planned to be more active from here on 40m but had not taken into account the fact that sunset is now around 1800z in UK – that’s 2.00am here, and for various reasons it has not been possible to be on yet at times when the band is likely to be open to Western Europe.

I will try to be on 40m tonight (Tuesday), Wednesday and Thursday, from about 1630z onwards. My preferred freqs are 7088 or 7078, but I may have to go elsewhere if those are busy of course.

I should be on 20m before 1630 but will QSY to 40m at 1630.”

Update 19th March Steve writes: I was planning to travel to Sarawak for the CQ WPX SSB contest next weekend, but there has been a slight change of plan. I have been asked to give a presentation on DXpeditioning at an ‘Amateur Radio Roadshow’

being held by MCMC, the Malaysian licensing authority, this Saturday, so I will be travelling early on Saturday morning instead. I’ll probably give a short talk and show an excerpt from the 3B7C DVD.

I should therefore be active on the bands as 9M8Z most evenings (afternoons, GMT) and I look forward to working you all from Sarawak.

Look for me on 20m SSB early afternoons, then 40m SSB later on.

VP8KF John talks to the world!

16 March 2009

I feel that I must comment on a really interesting evening on 20m tonight, I started listeing to John VP8KF (CDXC member) in the Falkland Islands at about 6pm. Excellent operating by John managing to keep the pile up from Europe under excellent control and passing some good conversation along the way. By 9pm when i decided to call in, the pile up from G was getting quite large. One thing that I did notice was how many UK stations were all commenting saying that they had erected a Hex Beam just recently and were testing out the performance. One of those was MW0JRX Oliver my dear friend and IT Technician. Well done Oliver on the 4 new ones in 2 days! Thanks John for some good entertainment on 20m tonight!
VP8KF QSL Via G3VPW

CQ WPX SSB Contest

15 March 2009

Members of the Strumble Head DX and Contest Group will be on the air from their headquarters at the Farm in Wales for a period before during and after the CQ WPX SSB contest. They will be using the club calls MC0SHL before the contest, with some activity on 30M RTTY around 10148.0. During the contest we will be using both MW9W and MC0SHL – depending on the number of operators there may be more calls on air. Please QSL via the clubs manager M0URX. All details and photographs will be on the clubs website http://www.mc0shl.com and we may even have a live webcam for the contest too.

Chris Colclough G1VDP http://www.g1vdp.com

More informationon the Strumblehead DX & Contest Group at: http://www.mc0shl.com

MW0JRX QSL Card

8 March 2009

For me, a QSL card is more than just a confirmation of a 2 way radio communication. It can tell someone a lot about you and your station and your interests in the hobby.

So what do you put on your QSL card? Think about the design you want, it will be only as good as your imagination allows. How about a photo of you in the radio shack, or at the helm of the newly furbished club station or a photo of you in pursuit of another hobby? Or a photo of that tower and the SteppIR at the top of your garden!

Remember that your QSL card may be used by others to claim awards so you should always remember to put on all relevant information. For IOTA claimants the IOTA number and the Island name MUST be printed on the QSL card. NOT hand written. I may live in land locked Central England but we are IOTA Reference EU-005 Great Britain Mainland and this MUST be on my QSL card to be valid for an award claim. Your IARU Locator number, WAB square, Longitude and Latitude, CQ Zone, ITU Zone, Station Equipment are all as useful and as important as the QSO report panel box, your callsign and name on the QSL card.

On the left is the new QSL design for Oliver Bross MWØJRX, Oliver is a keen photographer and with the help of Max ON5UR, Oliver has one of the most excellent QSL cards i have seen.

QSL Via MWØJRX

If you need any help with design and printing your QSL card please drop either myself or ON5UR Max an email and we will gladly help you.

IRC’s for sale UK only

5 March 2009

If you are in the UK I have about 250 International Reply Coupons for sale at 60p each + P&P depending on quantity please email me for more information using “Contact M0URX” in menu.

QSL’ing issues!

3 March 2009

Recently I have noticed some problems regarding incoming QSL cards.

Russia – I am receiving DAILY QSL cards from Russia with no postal contribution. I will no longer pay for your countries refusal to send $ or IRCs. In future ALL QSL cards without postal contribution will be sent Via Bureau. The main problem is some Russian QSL Managers. Incredibly today I received 6 letters from Russia and not one with any postal contribution. Ask yourself how am I supposed to pay for the postage?
Just incase the money has been stolen please seal the envelope on all 4 sides with sticky tape. I will open carefully here.

U.S.A. I am receiving a lot of letters from U.S.A. with insufficient postage stamps covering up to 10g only. Many letters are 11g or 12g and are subject to higher postal rates. Also when you send a Self Addressed Envelope please remember you MUST write United States of America on the envelope or it will be returned back to me insufficient address.
Thanks for your attention!