Tony Dixon G4CJC

Tony's 10 Metre Band Report
11 December, 2008

One look at the list below will tell you that it has not been a great week for anyone on ten.

TO3R (Reunion Is) popped in Monday and Tuesday not to re-appear the rest of the week. Notable was the return of VR2CB who must be glad he’s back with his family and his rig.

A few ZLs and VKs about (relative to Gs) so the band is not completely dead, just in-waiting for the next contest.

Most popular DX
(three or more contacts, any mode)

Monday: TO3R, VK4CQ, I0KNQ, F6EWB, VK2FDXR, I0KNQ, WB7BBI, RU6YY.

Tuesday: TO3R, LU6FGH, VK2FAD, 9W2LLK, VK5MRD.

Wednesday: 9W2LLK, 8Q7DV, RN6HZ, RX3AGD, IZ8GBQ, F6EWB, 9W2VVH.

Thursday: LY3W, SM6X, SM5INC, RX3AGD, SA2Z, SK2AT, SM1TDE, SM3EAE, VE3FGU.

Friday: S21RC, VK5MRD, IW8RSB/2/QRP, I0KNQ, PY2XC, WB7BBI.

Saturday: BD4CZX, ZL1BDY, FK8DD, IW8RSB/2/QRP, OE7AJT, PY2XC, 9W6SUE, BU2AQ, IW8RRL, K5AB/B, K6FRC/B, LU5EGY/B, LW6HAR, ZL3NB, 9A5ST, 9W2VVH, G7RAU, JG2TKH, LW3EX, MW0CND, VK2XZ, VK4CQ, VK5MRD, WB7BBI, YC6NE, ZL2FT, ZL4DH, ZL4PW.

Sunday: EA1ALE, VK5MRD, VR2CB, AM7CE, JR3JFZ, PY3MM, YV5IAL, 9A5ST, 9W2DRL, 9W2VVH, DJ7KG, EI2IP, EI7GL, F6EWB, JH7RTQ, VK2HV, WN4VCH, ZL4DH.

Here’s Dave, VK5MRD's set of reports for the week:

“Thursday 04/12/2008. Stations heard were:- VK2MBD, VK2JKB, VK4RTL/b and the VK4RKC 10m repeater. Also heard VK5NJ at Mount Gambia some 372km away on scatter. Stations worked were:- All VK stations. VK2KTT, VK2ARA, VK2DAG, VK2IPK, VK2FAJA, VK2EMA, VK2APC, VK4FIL, VK4TJF and VK4TBW.Thursday part 2: heard VK2RSY/b, VK4CQ, VK6RWA/b, VK6RBP/b, and VK8VF/b.Stations worked were:- ZL2OK, ZL2WR, VK1DI, VK1JST, VK1AMG, VK1HW, VK2XZ, VK2HGK, VK2FIAN, VK2FDXR, VK2NEO, VK3KXJ, VK3AG, VK3YUN, VK3MAP, VK3LDR, VK3TKB, VK3MJ, VK3VIN, VK3HJA, VK3HLZ, VK3HBG and VK6RO.

Friday 05/12/2008: Stations heard were:- ZL1BDY, JA2IGY/b, ZL6B/b, VR2HK/b, S21RC, VK1XP, VK2XZ, VK5UK/2, VK2RSY/b, VK6RWA/b, VK6RBP/b, VK6RWA/b and VK8VF/b. Also heard a very weak Italian station too but I could not pull him out of the QRN. Stations worked were:- ZL1IW, JA1OJJ (QRP), 9W2MZY, 9W2RZL, 9W6SUE, BD4CZX, VK4AHS, VK6HDM, VK6GU, VK6JR, VK6RO, VK6IM, VK6FELD, VK6TY, VK6LG, VK6ZDZ. Also worked VK6RO on AM and on SSB we turned the power right down to under one watt and still had a 5/7dB signal – That’s sporadic E for you! Not a bad considering!

Saturday 06/12/2008; Stations heard were:- ZL6B/b, ZL2MHF/b, ZL3TEN/b, VR2B/b, JA2IGY/b, VK2RSY/b, VK4RTL/b, VK6RWA/b, VK6RBP/b, VK8VF/b, 9W2FRD, 9W2VVH, BU2AQ and VK2PRF.Stations worked were:- ZL1AA, ZL1BDY, ZL3NB, JJ6VAR, VK2NJP, VK2ZMT, VK2SF, VK2HV, VK2CZ, VK4CQ and VK6ARA

Sunday 07/12/2008: Stations heard were:- ZL6B/b, ZL2MHF/b, ZL3TEN/b, VR2B/b, JA2IGY/b, VK2RSY/b, VK4RTL/b, VK6RWA/b, VK6RBP/b, VK8VF/b, VK2KWX and VK3JOA. Stations worked were:- ZL2IK, ZL2MAT, ZL1KP, ZL2HB, JH7RTQ, JA7LZG, JM1TWR, JH6EGU,

JA4GXX, JR3JFZ, JA5CTW, JH1XUP, VR2CB, 9W6SUE, 9W2DRL, 9W2NTO, 9W2VVH, VK2FLTJ, VK2AU, VK2GKA, VK2NA, VK2SF, VK2NEO, VK2ZMT, VK2APG, VK3TKQ, VK3FKJC, VK3LPG, VK3ZJ, VK3YUN, VK3XOR, VK3MIR, VK3HGN, VK3HJA, VK3UT, VK3ZSJ, VK3FSGC, VK3LDR, VK6TQ, VK6ARA, VK7HDX and VK7XX. I have also had a good sleep today to be ready for work tonight. Not a bad day on 10m!

Monday 08/12/2008: Stations heard were:- ZL6B/b, ZL2MHF/b, ZL3TEN/b, VR2B/b, JA2IGY/b, VK2RSY/b, VK4RTL/b, VK6RWA/b, VK6RBP/b, VK8VF/b and VK1HW. Stations worked were:-ZL1BDW, ZL1BDY, ZL1KP, ZL1HR, ZL2MP, ZL2APU, ZL2KJ, ZL2FAR, ZL2APF, VK2ETA, VK2SF, VK2TM, VK2XZ, VK2ARO, VK5UK/2, VK4ZJ, VK4MCD, VK4CQ and VK6ARA.Not bad seeing I have been asleep all day!

Tuesday 09/12/2008: Stations heard were:- VK2RSY/b, VK4RTL/b, VK6RWA/b, VK6RBP/b and VK8VF/b Stations worked were:- VK2VFV, VK2FMTP, VK2JKB, VK4TBW, VK4FIL, VK6HDM and VK6TY.Just for something different I had a listen to the Australian 27MHz marine band and I could hear recreational small coastal boat operators on Sydney harbour (VK2) on 27.880MHz AM. These radios are your typical 4 watt type.

Wednesday 10/12/2008: Stations heard were:- ZL2MHF/b, ZL3TEN/b, ZL1BDB, 9W2RZL, VK2RSY/b, VK4RTL/b, VK6RWA/b, VK6RBP/b, VK8VF/b. On the VK5RSC 10m FM repeater stations heard were VK2JKB and VK6RO.Stations worked were:- ZL1BDW, ZL2CS, VK1XP and VK2DD.”

Paul, K6FRC sent in an interesting report.
“We had a nice E layer opening into California late Monday night.
I heard beacons from the south, and close. N6UN/B, WA6APQ/B, WA6MHZ/B and XE2ES/B. Very unusual. Also copied a brand new one that does not even appear on WJ5O's list- XE2ES/B. The beacon was on 28.282.2 MHz. with a VERY chirpy signal repeatedly sending the beacon string "BAJA DE XE2ES/B". All signals were S-2 to S-4 with little or no QSB. K6FRC beacons all received signal reports from various spotters as well. FYI, there are now a total of 5 K6FRC beacons on the air. I think that may be enough.” Well maybe Paul but folk do find them useful for indicating band conditions.

Bob, WK5X, drew my attention to what seemed a possible pirating of his call as he hadn’t heard Europeans on 10m for ages. He appeared in one of my lists 3 weeks or so back. So I investigated and sure enough there he was. However when I got back to him and told him who he had worked (allegedly) he was really apologetic. Here is the tale in his own words.

"It had taken more than two years to enter the 9000 QSOs from the 1980s into my electronic log. I thought I was finished with this nightmare in early October of 2008; however, about a month later, I discovered a handful of loggings that I had somehow overlooked. I hastily typed in the pertinent data of these contacts into my electronic logbook, hoping for at least one or two hits when I uploaded my newly-discovered QSOs to ARRL's Logbook of The World. After finishing the task in short order, I quickly uploaded the QSOs to LoTW. "Bummer. No hits". At that moment, my eye caught the DX spotting window of my N3FJP logging program. Someone here in Virginia had just spotted a UZ1 on 10 Meters. I was immediately suspicious. We all know that the new Maunder Minimum began in mid-2007; we won't work another station in St.Petersburg/Leningrad/Putingrad again until the year 2078. "What idiot here in the Commonwealth of Virginia is posting these false reports?", I wondered. I looked a little closer.

"It's....uh....it's me!" I muttered to myself as I immediately began trying to think of a way to reclaim my integrity within the DX Brotherhood. I had accidentally left open the automatic spotting feature of my logging program, allowing my data entries to go out onto the spotting networks. I made my best attempt, using the six words allowed on the spotting networks, to explain what had happened. My apologies to all those who, after seeing these erroneous spots, rushed to their hamshacks, QSYed to 28.030 MHz, set their beam heading to 45 degrees, and started calling CQ DX."

So a salutary tale for all who use automatic spotting.

Contests: The obvious big one this weekend is the ARRL 10m contest for Phone and CW Saturday 00:00 to Sunday 24:00, so all tastes are catered for. There are one or two other contests on but for readers of this article that is the only one. Don't forget to listen for Carl, VR2CB, this weekend in the ARRL 10m contest.

Sun: NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft is monitoring two new-cycle active regions in the sun's southern hemisphere. The visible hot spot is emerging sunspot 1009. The other one, however, has no sunspot number; it is invisible from Earth. STEREO-A can see it because the spacecraft is stationed above the sun's western limb with a view over the horizon. The high southern latitude of these active regions identifies them as members of new Solar Cycle 24.

Stoke are keeping going, Fulham at home this weekend. England’s cricketers started the 1st test against India quite well but faltered to 229 for 5 at close of play. And the Editor it is rumoured has been given an award. Bet it’s not for activity on the Ten Metre band!

Eldest daughter and grandson arrive early Friday morning. More pictures next week.

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