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.
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.
