Had the customary go at 3Y0K on 10m FT8 for 20 minutes before lunch. They actually heard me this time, but sadly on the move to the 'Fox' frequency, they didn't and the QSO was not completed. Shortly after, signals started to fade, so despite some more calls, no luck. That might be the last chance to work them on 10m, as they're dismantling the station over the weekend and we're out and about over the weekend. Not to worry - very happy to have worked them 3 times - 10m would have been a bonus!
Well! It seems I was pessimistic. I did some mowing and trimming this afternoon and came in about 1530. Got up to the shack and after a bit of a tune around, I noticed that 3Y0K were on 10m FT8 again. Not so strong, but working more west Europeans, so I thought I'd give it a go. After about 15 minutes of calling they came back to me. The QSO was a bit touch and go and when the TX jumped down to 435Hz I was sure I'd lost it, but to my enormous surprise, the next period they came back with RR73. So, that's something about Fox and Hounds I didn't know about. It looks like if you can't get through on the nominated frequencies, it tries something else. Clever! So I'm delighted. 40m or 30m would make me very happy - but 4 bands is way more than I expected.
Not sure if it was significant, but on my way back in from the mowing, I put the big DX Commander up. Perhaps that helped!
Couple of nice QSOs in the evening; 3B8XF on 17m and N2KW/VP9 on 20m.
And completely unexpected, just turning around one 40m before turning off, found JX7DFA calling CQ DX (I figured I was just about DX to him!) A bit of a patchy QSO, but a new country nevertheless! QRZ.COM says the last activity was in 2002! I'm sure I read something about some upcoming activity from here, so maybe it's ok.
Another half hour calling 3Y0K on 10m FT8 - still no QSO! They came up well in strength at one point.
ZS6NK and ZS6OB both heard on 6m FT8 around lunchtime.
On 12m CW, it was nice to work Nigel G3TXF operating as 3B8XF. Nigel will be taking part in the Commonwealth Contest this coming weekend.
Allen N2KW is in Bermuda for the Commonwealth Contest and it was nice to work him as N2KW/VP9 on both 12 and 15m this afternoon.
Could hear Nigel on 30m around 2200z but he had a JA pileup and the short vertical doesn't work that well. Wind should be dropping tomorrow, so hopefully will have the big vertical back up. Nice to work VP2MAA on 20m though.
3Y0K were loud on 10m FT8 this morning. Tried them a couple of times for 20 minutes or so without any luck. I didn't see them work any UK stations at all. It was mostly Italians and Eastern Europeans.
I went on for the 13z CWT. 10 and 15m were poor. Nothing on 10m and 15m was marginal into the USA, with only the big guns being workable.
The 'usual' Wednesday 80m SSB sked with Roger GW5NF went well.
A few weak signals from J51A on 6m this afternoon.
19z CWT saw 15m fair to North America - a few west coast US and VE6RST. The Californians were just audible, but not workable with stronger stations calling them. 20m was fair to North America. No sign of VK2GR this week. I've dropped the 40m dipole down a bit as we are expecting strong winds over night, so didn't go on 40/80m.
Just as I'd got to the sitting room after finishing with the CWT, I had a message from Justin G4TSH reminding me about the 80m CC this evening, so popped back up to the shack and worked a handful....
Nice to have an email from Mike AD5A about yesterday's SOTA QSO on 12m;
'I was running my KX2 @ 8 watts to a tuned piece of 29ft. wire on a 6m pole mounted in an inverted L configuration. This was my 641st activation. I haven't been very active the last year but plan to pick up the speed this year'.
Pretty amazing to think that a simple setup like that can communicate over such long distances. In some ways, I think there's more satisfaction for me in a QSO like that than with Bouvet! Not that I want to give away my 3Y0K QSOs.....
A bit windy when we got back from Welsh, so I've taken down the DX Commander Signature 9 and put up my home-brew DX Commander lookalike which is a bit shorter and whips around less alarmingly in the high winds.
Some decent signals from J51A on 50MHz this afternoon, except that unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention and trying to hear a US SOTA station on HF.
Good to catch Red TY5FR again, this time on 15m. Failed to work VP2EAD on 20m CW - he had a good signal but I gave up trying to crack what seemed quite a busy pileup. Some nice QSOs mostly on 14 and 18MHz in the evening, furthest was with Steve KW7Q in Colorado.
I realise I've not seen anything on 6m for a day or so. Slightly unusual not to see a single decode. Roger EI8KN saw a single decode from T8OK yesterday. Anyway - I checked the SWR on the beam and it's normal. A quick CQ and there's a report on PSK Reporter from Terry G4AMT in Sennen, Cornwall and Roger EI8KN across the water, so I guess it's all working - just conditions!
Pleased to find this morning that all 3 of the 3Y0K QSOs made yesterday are safely in their log.
Popped out this morning and came back at lunchtime to a screenful on 6m, so receiver and aerial are fine. A few EAs about and also this
ZS6NK on 6m
Picked up J51A on 12m CW (previously worked on FT8) and 8Q7ZW on 15m FT8 (new band country).
To my surprise, I was able to work Mike AD5A out on a SOTA peak in New Mexico and K2JB on a SOTA in North Carolina both on 12m.I always enjoy working SOTA and POTA stations - it's good fun trying to hear some of the low power portables, especially on the other side of the Atlantic - sometimes they sound surprised to have a call from GW. Other POTA/SOTA portables worked at a distance this afternoon were VE2JCW and WB2FUV on 12 and 10m respectively.
Caught TY5FR (Red DL1BUG) on 28MHz just as it was closing. Red's been quite active from Benin in the last year or so. He's got good ears, so perhaps will catch him on a few different bands on this trip.
Did see a couple of periods from J51A on 6m in the late afternoon. One period was at +6 - but sadly, that was it. Meteor burst from the Med or similar, I guess.
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.
