Conditions seeming very poor on HF again today. The K up at 5 won't help.
Made a handful of QSOs in the CQMM contest around lunchtime; EK/DL2JRM was about the only signal I could hear (barely) on 15m at one point.
The latest in the '145 Alive' series took place around lunchtime. I worked MW7ABS/P on Foel Cwmcerwyn not far away. Could hear a couple of stations further north in Wales - around Pwllheli but didn't get involved in calling. I did later work a club station in Holyhead, mostly by aircraft scatter as I could hear the flutter.
Every now and again, the dash paddle won't send on the FTDX-10. Until this morning, I assumed it was something to do with the paddle - a bit of dirt got in the contacts or something. It happened mid QSO this morning leaving me sounding like I couldn't send! Played around a bit and couldn't see any dirt in the contacts. But it was odd, it felt like I was getting a bit of a dash and then it was stopping. Decided to switch off the radio and switch it on and - sure enough, back to normal. So it seems like a software glitch. I can see some reference to similar issues on the web.
There's a similar issue on the receiver of the FTDX-10. Once in a while, signals on the receiver suddenly sound all raspy. When it first happened, I thought oh no, what's happened. Turned the radio off and back on again and it was fine. Subsequently, I've found that all you have to do is to go to transmit and back again and signals will sound normal again.
I'm still very fond of the FTDX-10 - these issues only happen once every few weeks and as soon as you recognise them, it's easy to deal with.
Conditions didn't seem great today. Really enjoyed a 17m CW QSO with Cap W0CCA in southwestern Colorado. It seems we share an interest in the old Kenwood hybrids such as the TS-530 and TS-830. Cap's also interested in SOTA operating and I have worked him on a couple of European trips that he's made.
Just after 2000z I could hear Steve N6TT on 17m CW talking to one of his locals on the west coast. Tried a call after they signed, but no luck, but I did have a nice chat with Bruce N6NT instead - Bruce being in North Carolina.
Nice to see swallows in the yard for the first time this year. We first saw one about a mile away a week ago.
Pleased to find V85NPV on 17m CW this afternoon with a good signal. I've heard him on a few bands recently, but not made any headway in working him! It wasn't the easiest QSO this afternoon, but Didier pulled me out ok and that's a nice new country. I haven't worked Brunei often. I remember working it years ago as G4VXE when Nigel G3TXF went there and I'm sure a QSO or two with others, but that's about it. A few minutes later, an email QSL appeared! I don't really need any confirmation although LOTW is always nice - but in this case, it's quite fun!
My QRZ page says that I don't really do QSL cards which I don't. I get the odd card which I'm happy to reply to with a local postcard or something. One arrived today from F8IJV for a QSO on 10m FM about 3 years ago! Lovely note inside saying I was his only GW, so will sort that out in due course.
Arrived on 17m CW just in time to sneak a QSO with Pete V47EM as he was saying 'QSY to SSB'....noooo!
Conditions must have been a little better this morning as when I called Graeme VK5GG on 20m CW he could hear me. Not well, but well enough to swap reports and say a quick hello. Tuned down the band a bit and could hear ZL1HJ again, in conversation with a French station. ZL1HJ, interestingly, seemed a little weaker than yesterday, I heard him say he was beaming over the North Pole.
Had a bit of a play in the 13z CWT. It was fairly poor towards the east coast of North America and I stayed on 20m - 15m was devoid of any activity as far as I could tell. It was nice to work Jim K6AR, who I'm guessing was coming through long path. Also interesting to work Alex RU0LL who's over on the Pacific Coast of Russia.
A short sked with Roger GW5NF today. Initially he was struggling to hear me, but I think that was down to static crashes and noise at his end. There was a thunderstorm over Devon and heading towards south eastern Wales at the time. We chatted for a few minutes until the flashes got brighter at Roger's end....
Saw that Darrel AA7FV had been on 17m in the late afternoon here and tried a CQ call where he'd been and was delighted to hook up with him. It was our first QSO since he'd joined FOC, but it was just nice to catch up and swap news. It's been a while since I heard him with decent signals with the conditions as they've been.
The 19z CWT was a bit of a surprise! Conditions on 15m were considerably better than I was expecting! The band was decent into Arizona and California and HD8R from Galapagos was totally unexpected.
I must have been catching the band just right in the morning to hear the ZLs. This morning, just before we had to head out for our Welsh lesson, I heard ZL1HJ. I did try to give him a quick call around 0825z but perhaps fortunately, because we needed to go out, he didn't hear me.
By the afternoon, conditions certainly didn't seem that great, but as ever, it was nice to work Joe AI0Y from North Dakota on 17m. Things are bad if Joe's on 17! I often work him on 10 or 15m. V47EM was coming through on 15m, but decidedly weaker than yesterday.
Pleased to work 3X3A on both 20m and 17m FT8 around 1930z. PSK Reporter showed me reaching KL7 and west coast USA on 17m when calling 3X3A, so decent propagation at that time.
It started off feeling like one of those mornings when no-one can hear you. I called Graeme VK5GG on 20m CW who didn't seem to be able to hear me at all today and then a couple of distant Russians who couldn't either. The morning was 'saved' by Drew VK3XU who was just down the band on 20 CW. We had a nice chat and I reminded him of his rhombic on 40m and the QSOs we used to have fairly soon after I was licensed.
Out and about for much of the day. but enjoyed a QSO with V47EM on 15m in the afternoon and ZF2OO on 20m in the evening. Tried to call W1AW/7 around 2130, but no luck.
Bit of a busy day! First thing we collected some bees and got those set up into their new hive behind the barn. After that it was PW VHF column morning - so nice to get that written and off to Don. We went to Lower Town for a walk in the afternoon, so it's 1530z and I haven't made a contact yet! A few minutes before I have to go out again.
From what I can see, HF conditions are poor again, with 10m all but silent - there's the odd weak PY about. This morning there seemed to be a little Es on 6m, with a few stations from France and Switzerland coming through.
Picked up a new country, 3X3A from Guinea on 15m FT8 this evening which was nice. Followed that a little later by a enjoyable 17m CW QSO with Wes AC5K and then some POTA portables around the US.
Well, you know conditions aren't great when you tune across 15m at the weekend, with a contest going on and there's only one or two stations audible!
Back on 20m, there was more going on. Curiously, stations from E7 were very loud as were UA9s - and fairly little in between!
15 and 10m opened up barely, as the sun intersected the path between here and Brazil. Worked a PY on both bands. This is like sunspot minimum!
Pete MM9SQL was doing the RSGB FT4 contest so I popped onto 40m to work him - nice too to find Jef ON8NT, one of my regular PW contributors there as well.
10m seemed to improve a little around sunset. Some FT8 appeared on the SDR/Loop from South America and I was pleased to have a simple CW QSO with Pedro PY4PDW, a young man who appears to be running a simple station of around 45W to a delta loop. Really great to be able to make QSOs like that. I remember starting off as G4VXE and being delighted to work into South America. Well, I still am - but it was very special at that time.
Solar flux at 98! That feels like it's the first time it's been under 100 in a long while. Maybe I'm wrong as until recently, I hadn't noted it each day - but it hasn't happened often.
Perhaps that will augur well for the Sporadic E season this year. Last year, in Practical Wireless, I explored the 'Old Wives' Tale' as Dave G4ASR called it, that high sunspot years were poor for Es. Yet, it felt to me that it was so. I thought back to, I think 1989, when we went to Porto Santo for 50MHz and 144MHz and operated as G4VXE/CT3 and it was a really tough Es year and it was around the peak of cycle 22. Since then, I've gently noticed a correlation. Last year, I asked Jim G3YLA about it and he felt that there was perhaps a 'loose correlation' on the basis that if there is a lot of solar disturbance, then Es struggles to form. Jim suggested that any day when the K was over 3 then the Es would struggle to form.
HF conditions certainly lived up to the numbers. It seemed to get better in the evening though (Summer conditions?). Worked a few in the Slow Speed Contest on 20m around 2030. N2GG in New Mexico was the best DX. Heard a trace from Steve WG0AT who was out SOTAing, but too weak to do anything with this evening. Hopefully another time. I always remember Steve very fondly from his Peanut and Rooster videos.
HF conditions haven't seen great today and also the bands have been noisy with strong winds affecting the overhead power lines.
Had a nice chat with Roger GW5NF on 80m. He reminded me that there is a CE0 expedition on at the moment. I ought to try and track them down. It's not a bad path from here. I remember my first QSO with Easter Island as G4VXE on 10m CW using an ex-CB aerial back in around 1983/1984.
Just had a quick look on DXWorld for details of the CE0 expedition. I can only see SSB spots, so I won't be worrying about that. No complaints - there are enough expeditions that spend little time on SSB in favour of either CW or FT8!
Not everyone feels the same way. I saw a comment under a post about an FT8 operation yesterday, 'Is he on SSB?', with a bit of a tone that he should be! The DX station in question was running low power at a fair distance on VHF, some 700km away. Well good luck with working that on 2m SSB in flat conditions. If you really want to work someone, surely you'd use the most appropriate mode available....rather than trying to persuade a DX station to waste their time on a mode that isn't suited to the propagation. Rant over!
A couple of nice CW QSOs in the late afternoon; K2JVB doing POTA from NY state and Ben EA8/G4WDZ/P running 5W from the Canaries. He was peaking up nicely at times.
By 2000z W1AW code practice was just audible on 17m, but nothing really doing on CW on the band, so dropped down to 20m and had a nice chat with PP5WX and worked a couple of POTA portables in Florida.
