Thursday – Another day of poor conditions K5D bearly readable on any band as I write todays blog. My mate Russell G5XW is currently backpacking in Morocco, I caught up with him on 14.245 MHz this afternoon, 100 miles west of Marrakech in the Atlas Mountains at 11,000 feet ASL. He is using an Alinco DX70 transceiver 100 watts into a 20m dipole supported by a fishing pole. He reports of poor conditions and dreams of some Pacific calling in. Russell will be active for a couple more days before heading back to England.
QSL for CN2XW is Russell G5XW.
Updated 22/02/09: Russell finally made 563 Qs inro 6 continents.

Also reporting poor conditions is John 9M6XRO in Kota Kinabalu, East Malaysia. Although John did make a CW QSO with K5D this week on 40m. a very difficult path from 9M6. After his low band activity last week he arrived home to find that the PSU for the Quadra Amp had developed a fault, heres what he reports today:

“Pleased to say I got my power supply back today and it is working 100% again. The technician told me he was not able to check the 48v DC output without having the Quadra there so I took the amp over to him this afternoon. It then turned out that it gave a “protection fault” warning when there was no transceiver connected to it so he was still unable to verify if the 48v DC output was OK as the protective circuit disabled the 48v DC line. Rather than have me go back home and bring the 1000MP he said he would trust me and suggested I take the Quadra and PSU and test it in my shack. Once I got it hooked up the whole lot worked perfectly so I gave him a ring and all I have to do now is go over there and settle the bill. He told me it would be around 80 Ringgit which is less than 16 quid!
That’s a relief then John!”

I have to say congratulations to Oliver Bross MW0JRX, he has just received his new callsign from his home country Slovak Republic. Oliver I look forward to putting OM0ARX in my log the next time you visit your family!

Working K5D has been a challenge this week, still only 3 band slots here 17m, 20m and 40m SSB I will try again tomorrow for 15m but unfortunately conditions to Desecheo Island have not been running kindly!
Pictured right is Jerry WB9Z running a huge SSB pileup.
You can see more images from Desecheo Island 2009 on their website: http://www.kp5.us/ 

Two new ones in two days, TL0A Central African Republic is the latest call sign to be added into my logbook. Chris Arroman formerly active from Niger as 5U5U, has been very active with his new call sign in C.A.R. and the chance is on to put this country in my log with some new band slots soon. Today I logged TL0A on 18.150 MHz. I have not heard C.A.R. on air before in my short time as a Radio Amateur. 5 bands worked now 10m – 20m.
QSL is Via TL0A address in France
Christian Saint Arroman, Chemin de Mouteguy 64990 Urcuit, FRANCE   –      Below is the TL0A QSL card

Well done to my buddy and IT man Oliver MW0JRX, he worked K5D today on 15m 17m and 20m! Good going Oli!

Welcome if you are visiting this Blog from Google search of TL0A, as the weeks have gone by Chris has been working on many bands to give everyone the chance to put TL in the log.
While you are vising my blog, feel free to take a tour round my site and enjoy your stay. 73 Tim M0URX

PLEASE DO NOT SEND YOUR QSL TO ME!!! THIS IS A BLOG

“For avoidance of doubt and the hard of reading, I am not the QSL manager of TL0A”

My strategy for Desecheo has paid off so far. I have a long weekend and decided to set the alarm for 3am to try on 40m this morning. K5D was on 7.175 listening 185 – 195 for Europe and Asia and the pile up quite fierce, as you would expect. At 4am they took a 5 minute break and then when they came back on the pile up seemed to thin out. I was logged at 4:15am! DXCC number 273 Worked. I called on 7.1925 MHz and I also heard M1WDK in a few minutes before me.

At this point they do not realise that not all Europe can TX above 7100.0. I am only using a 40m wire loop from gutter to fence. So NO big gun station here! More like a water pistol.
Now Monday 16th! 1100z K5D started in the last hour on 20m .. pointless trying to follow the last QSO frequency always S20 so I looked for a gap using 2^nd VFO 14.209.5 S meter was only S7 so I called and he got me first time!!!!! Wooohooo 20m in the bag…. Sitting on 17m now awaiting a signal on there.

Good luck everyone!
For the website go to: http://www.kp5.us/ They need sponsors too! Very expensive expedition.
I also received the VK9DWX QSL card today from the 2008 Willis Island DXpedition. More information at their website http://www.vk9dwx.de/index.php 

DXCC number 267 Confirmed! Still a long way to go but enjoying the chase.

RSGB QSL Sub Bureau QSL cards

G4Dxx 900 cards ready to send 14/02/09
G4Rxx 450 cards ready to send 14/02/09
M0URX managed calls 600 cards will be replied to soon.

G4Dxx and G4Rxx i have over 1,000 QSL cards unclaimed awaiting envelopes.

I’m back home now (late Monday morning local time) after 2 nights at an Inn on the coast, where John, 9M6XRO, and I put up an inverted-L for 160m and a Butternut HF6 for 80 – 10m. John has been operating almost exclusively 160m CW while I was on 80, 40 and 20m SSB. John is staying at the QTH for another 2 nights and will also be doing some
80m CW and possibly 30m, as well as 160m.

There is a massive tidal range at this QTH and the feedpoint of the 160m inverted-L was inches above the sea at high tide. The HF6 feedpoint was literally underwater the first night (and it has probably ruined the HF6 20m coax matching stub!) but we moved the antenna to a more elevated position for the 2nd night of operating.

Unfortunately, 80m in particular was very disappinting due to local noise at that site. The noise is S9 or over on the FT-1000MP S-meter and the two noise blankers do absolutely nothing to reduce it. At times I knew I had many stations calling on 80m, but I just could not copy them through the crud.

John, on the other hand, had a great time on topband and made 300 QSOs at his first sitting, mainly JA and Europe, and another 300 last night, mainly EU.

We discovered by accident this morning that the 160m inverted-L was a much quieter receive antenna on 80m than the HF6. John is rigging up a way of using the 160m inverted-L as an RX-only antenna on 80m for this evening, so he may have a lot more success than me.

GL to anyone needing 9M6 on the low bands. 73, Steve, 9M6DXX

John, 9M6XRO, and Steve, 9M6DXX, will operate using vertical antennas at an ocean-front location in Sabah (IOTA OC-088) between 7 and 10 February, as follows:

9M6XRO will operate on 10 – 160m mainly CW from 7 to 10 February, concentrating on 80m and 160m CW; 9M6DXX will operate 10 – 80m SSB only on 7 and 8 February, concentrating on 40 and 80m SSB.

They will use one station with full legal power (400W) to a Butternut HF6V vertical very close to the ocean on 10 – 80m, and a 17m-high inverted-L on 160m, again within a few metres of the ocean.

QSL both 9M6XRO and 9M6DXX via QSL Manager Tim, M0URX.

Sunset in 9M6 is at 1027 UTC, sunrise at 2233 UTC.

9M6DXX Steve is chasing DXCC all band status, QSLs welcome.

9M6XRO John, If you need a Bureau QSL please request Via email no need to send yours. For all other QSL information click “Direct & Bureau Instructions” in the menu.
                                                                  

This week has been a busy time head down at the computer processing logs for LoTW. I am pleased to report that 145,000 log entries have been uploaded for 3DA0OK, 9M6DXX, 9M6/G3OOK, 9M6XRO, 9M8Z, A25OOK, C91XO, G3OOK, V8FEO, V8FRO, XU7DXX, XU7XRO, ZS6/GM3OOK this has resulted in matching 32,000 Qs so there should be some there for you.

Steve 9M6DXX reminds you that if you work him he wants your paper QSL!

Thanks in advance and hope to work you this weekend for the 9M6 low band DX Party!
Ed- Tim M0URX

I decided to tune through the bands this morning to see if I could find any DX. Usually i am so busy with filing QSL cards that quite a lot of the time I end up being a “cluster tart” and not looking myself. I stopped on 18.150 MHz as I had come across a signal, time to turn the beam until it was S9.. Excellent here we go, wait a moment until I hear his callsign…. there it is, UK9AA Uzbekistan, I glanced at my band sheet and realised that this was a new band slot for me. Great… he has finished his QSO time to call. He comes straight back to me.. “M0URX you are 59 my name is Fedor in Tashkent“ The buzz working a new slot is great! It wasn’t until after the QSO that I checked my log and saw that my last contact with Uzbekistan was in April 2006 so almost 3 years ago. Let’s see what else I can find on the bands…..

 By Steve Telenius-Lowe, 9M6DXX

If you have ever thought of taking your radio on holiday or organising a DXpedition, the World Licensing and Operating Directory is the guide for you. Written by well known DXer Steve Telenius-Lowe, 9M6DXX who has visited 83 DXCC entities and operated from 37 of them, this book has been meticulously researched and has input from nearly 100 contributors. There is all the information you need to get on the air from over 200 countries and territories around the globe.

The World Licensing and Operating Directory is lavishly illustrated throughout with over 230 photographs and maps. There is information on how to obtain an amateur radio licence in almost every country in the world – but this is only part of the story. There is information on organising a DXpedition and “All you wanted to know about licensing (but were afraid to ask)”. There is also a major section of the book that provides full details of how to rent more than 75 amateur radio stations around the globe – from Europe to the Pacific and from the Arctic to the Equator! There is a 32-page full-colour section with spectacular photographs of rental stations, including some of the most impressive antenna set-ups in the world.

This unique book will appeal equally to hardened contesters or DXers looking for a competitive station to rent and to those who simply want to complement their family holiday with some amateur radio operation from an unusual location.

Available from RSGB Book Shop: http://www.rsgbshop.org/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_What_s_New_26.html
For RSGB home page go to: http://www.rsgb.org

If you need 9M6 on topband, John, 9M6XRO and Steve 9M6DXX are planning a weekend low-band operation from a coastal site in East Malaysia before the end of February. Steve will do 80m SSB (and probably higher bands during the day) while John will do CW, including 160m. I’ll put an anonuncement on the “Blog” when we have a date fixed.
(This will be from mainland Borneo, IOTA OC-088, not Labuan OC-133.) 73 Steve 9M6DXX

I received an email today (January 21st) from John 9M6XRO he reports
“Well we have just had a BIG thunderstorm here and I think the apartment building was probably hit. I had been operating on 40m though a torrential downpour with thunder and lightning in the vicinity. I decided to tell the pile-up ‘thunderstorm’ and went QRT. The lightning moved closer and the lights went out. I had just walked out of the shack into the lounge and suddenly the walls seemed to be crackling and I had a buzzing noise in my ears then “Kerash” lighning bolt and thunder simultaneously, and car alarms going off all round. I thought there was no way my front ends could survive that – all the ants were connected to the Quadra because I never unplug them. We just now got the power back and incredibly everything seems to be working OK according to the SWR on the HF2 and the Quad!

The tower on the roof has a very heavy earth strap running all the way down the side of the building then underground and all I can think of is that it might have taken the strike. I will take a good look round in the morning in daylight and see if there is any evidence of just what was hit!”

Ed – Pheww glad you got through that one safely John!