Spent the morning writing the PW VHF column. It was tempting to get involved with the 3Y0K chase because I could see various people talking about making QSOs.
Got the column finished and looked on 17m where they were pretty weak. Weak-ish too on 12m, but they had 5 streams going, so I guessed things should be better there. Just as I was sending off the VHF column, I saw Don G3XTT work them on 12m. Called for a few minutes without getting anywhere and suddenly all the 5 streams peaked up beautifully and I was SO pleased to complete a QSO. No repeats - done! Hopefully it's not a pirate!
3Y0K in the log!
I was hoping to get a QSO in today, particularly as with the A index climbing, I wondered if we'd see some enhancement today and potentially a crash afterwards. We'll see.
So often I seem to struggle to work an expedition and then several QSOs come in all at once. So it was today - adding 3Y0K on 17m and then 15m. I did try for a while on 40m FT8 but perhaps that was being greedy.
Some nice CW QSOs to round off the evening; ZD7AQH on 40m, 8Q7ZW on 20m (new country on CW) and, just as I was about to switch off, J51A who I'd worked on 20m FT8 but not CW.
Had a 10 minute go at 3Y0K around lunchtime on 10m, but when I saw people like GM3WOJ and CT3KN were in the pileup, I decided not to bother further.
Very happy in the afternoon to see T80K on 20m FT8 and worked him within a couple of minutes - so that convinced me that everything is working as it should.
3Y0K a decent signal on 10m CW around 1000 but we were heading out, so I didn't persist.
Allan messaged later to say that 5N7QBR was on 12m CW. Took a few minutes of calling but I made it which was nice as it was a new country from GW.
Tried 3Y0K on 17m FT8 for 45 minutes around 1600 with no luck. Only saw one UK station work them in that time; M6RTA. Wasted more time on 30m FT8 and didn't seem to get anywhere. Reports on PSK Reporter weren't great, so gave up. Everything's working, I think it's just conditions. Can see some weak aurora visually here.
Had a good go at 3Y0K on 40m and 30m in the evening without any luck. They were decent strength on both bands and felt workable if it weren't for the volume of people calling. 30m seemed to fade somewhat around 2245z - before that they were pretty strong.
J51A was around at good strength on 6m for a couple of periods around 1730z, otherwise they were seen weakly through the afternoon.
Other than that - a couple of 20m QSOs - that was it!
Looking for 3Y0K on 20m I found HD8R calling with 6 streams at good strength. The band faded out quickly around 0930.
Surprise in the 13z CWT was 7Q2T on 10m. Everything else pretty normal. In the 19z CWT, conditions seemed a bit better to the west coast of North America than usual.
Couple of nice Caribbean stations on 12m around teatime; FJ/DK6AS and PJ7/TF1OL both on FT8 and VP2EWE on 10m FT8.
Nice to work ZD7AQH on 40m (new) and FH/UR9ID on 20m both on CW in the evening. All this looking around for 3Y0K has resulted in some nice DX.
Not too much heard from 3Y0K today. Heard them on 20 and 30m CW with the usual DQRM. Saw them briefly on 17m FT8, but they went QRT seemingly seconds after I found them.
Couple of nice QSOs with Armin DK9PY operating as 6Y/DK9PY on 20 and 30m. Armin has had tremendous noise problems at his QTH so it was nice to make it above the noise.
Popped onto 40m FT8 to work Pete MM9SQL. Couple of interesting stations on there - an EY who I couldn't work and the 8Q7 was on too. My various calls made it to VK on the grey line as well as South Africa, Japan and the US.
Listened for 3Y0K who were supposed to be on 18095. They weren't, but I found 3D2USU operating on SFH - had to remember how to use that, but once I did, I worked him first call, for a new one. Lots of tales of pirate 3Y0K operation etc.
J51A in and out all afternoon on 6m but didn't reach a workable strength here and didn't see them work any one from Northern Europe.
Couple of nice QSOs on 10m just before sunset; W6YA (CA) and N7DEY (AZ). 10m still open to the west coast around 1930z.
Lots of pirate '3Y0K' activity during the day - but the real article are apparently building QRO stations. Fingers crossed! Well, they've made it onto 7010 this evening and they're easily readable when the DQRM stops. Definitely workable.
In the course of tuning around on 20m, I spotted FT8 on an unusual frequency. Turned out to be 8Q7ZW who was easily workable for a new country.
Bit of 6m Es to the south of Spain and Portugal this morning. J51A appeared too, but not that strong here, or not at least when I was in the shack. TZ1CE appeared a couple of times too - though not too strong.
3Y0K appeared from Bouvet. Heard them on both 12 and 17m, at least I think I did - there has been some pirate operation too. Assuming it was genuine, the signals were decent enough and given time, hopefully I can make a QSO.
Bodged an adapter to make the 80m dipole into a T with a view to tuning it on top band. It's very noisy, but I managed to work Pete MM9SQL operating as GM5G.
After being heard in Japan on 80m FT8 last night, I thought I'd hang out on 3574. Only heard 2 JAs all evening at tiny strength. Not wasted though, both 4K6SA and TA2NEH were new band countries. Heard DU2W as well, but no luck.
Picked up J51A on 40m FT8 (just missed them on CW) for the last band - except 6m.
A few weak decodes from J51A on 6m this afternoon - we were out! A couple of decodes, also weak, from TZ1CE on 6m around 1700z.
ZD7AQH was a nice one on 18MHz this evening - heard earlier on 24MHz with a big pileup.
Delighted to work J51A on 80m FT8 this evening. Used the Alpha to avoid PTT issues. Interestingly I was heard in JA on the grey line on 80m, so might explore that over the next few evenings to see if there are any new countries to be had. Could hear ZD7AQH on 30m (on short vertical) but he couldn't hear me. Worked him on 20m though.
Nice to work J51A on 10m CW - very loud. in the early afternoon. KP5 audible on 15m late afternoon but already have them there. CA4OMQ worked on 40m in the evening - marginal QSO on the dipole - also heard a PY so guess 40m was decent to South America.
