Tony Dixon G4CJC

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Tony's 10 Metre Band Report
13 November, 2008

Chalk and cheese this week. Hardly anything during the week, but a deluge on Saturday and Sunday.

IW8RSB/2/QRP was up there during the week, but the weekend was taken by V51AS (Namibia), VK6RO (Western Australia), JH6RTQ (Fukushima) and VK7XX (Tasmania).

JH6RTQ's antenna array. The lucky blighter!

That is some tidy set of antennas for JH6RTQ. He says it’s a 10m 6ele yagi x 2 22mh ,17mh 15m 6ele yagi 20mh. No wonder the guy can work a lot of QRP!!

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Monday: VU4RG, 5U5U, UA9CS, IW8RSB/2/QRP, I0KNQ, F6EWB, KD4ESV, UA3BS, UA3AGW, RU3EG, IV3ZIZ, F5DQK.

Tuesday: 5U5U, IW8RSB/2/QRP, VK2RSY, EA7ICN, VK7.

Wednesday: IW8RSB/2/QRP, 9W2LLK, F2IL, I0KNQ, 5U5U, EA7UU, LU6EDC, F6EWB, F6IRG.

Thursday: SA6A, IW8RSB/2/QRP, SM0Y, SM5INC, OH0JFP, A43DLH, SM6X, 8S4S, OH1JO, PY2MTV, SA6AIN, SM0EPO, SM1TDE, SM6CTQ.

Friday: IW8RSB/2/QRP, KC9MOT, HZ1PS, N8RT/B, 9W2RZL, PY2MAJ, PY2TVI, PY2XC, VK7ZE, WB7BBI.

Saturday: V51AS, VK6RO, PY2XC, UT7IL, ZU6M, EA8OM, HP6RCP/B, JH6CDI, KE4IAP/B, LW5EE, VK6ARA, 5U5U, 7Q7BP, AH0BT, IZ8HUJ, K5AB/B, SV3AQR/B, TI8II, TM6VG, VK5MRD, VK7XX, ZS4JAN, 7X0RY, EA4Q/B, IT9BLB, LU5FB/B, N4HLF/B, PY2CX, SK0CT/B, ZX2B, XE1FAS, 9W2RZL, 9W2VVH, DL1RPG, DL4RCK, F5DQK, G7RAU, JH6WHN, KC0TPP, KD4ESV, LW3EX, N8RT, PY2KC, S51MA, SV1CQN, VE2XK, VE3FGU, VK4NEF, W2RJO, W4QN, WB7BBI, WN4VCH, XE1SAR, YL7X, ZS6MGM.

Sunday: JH7RTQ, VK7XX, K6FRC, I0KNQ, LU6EDC, DA0BCC, LW3EX, PY2XC, WB7BBI, KD4ESV, PY3UEB, UA4HBW, 9A6ZT, JA2DLM, UT7IL, VK4NEF, EA7HFI, JL3RDC, LZ8A, M0ITY, PU5AAD, RN9AA, UA3QJJ, BU2AI, EA8EU, F6EGV, JA1QGT, JA2KTA, PU2BFG, PY3SB, VE3FGU, BX4AQ, DL5ANT, I2SVA, IT9GRR, PY2IQ, PY2NY, RW9UX, VK3LDR, W2RJO, 9K2HN, AH0BT, DL4RCK, DP9A, EM9F, JH4UTP, JH4UYB, JH6CDI, K5AB/B, KG6DX, KH2F, LU1FBK, LU5FB/B, LY2IJ, NC4SW/B, OK2BPU, PU3CAL, PU7MAN, RW0A, S53EO, SV1DPP, SV3AQR/B, UA0AGI, UT5EPP, UU7J, UW8I, V51AS, VK5MRD, VR2ZQZ/P, WA6APQ/B, WH2D, WI6J/B, YB0NFL, YQ6A, Z37M, ZL1BYZ, ZX2B.

Dave VK5MRD is as persistent as ever, managing to work/hear something most days.

Wednesday 05/11/2008. “Stations heard were:- KH6AP/b, VK2RSY/b, VK4RTL/b, VK6RWA/b and the VK4RKC 10m repeater on 29.660MHz. Stations worked were:- VK4KY, VK4DOW, VK2OT and VK6HDM in Kalgoorlie. I have been looking for Europe and Asia but at this stage I have not been able to get into those areas for a few days.”

Thursday 06/11/2008. “Stations heard were:- VK4RTL/b, VK6RWA/b and JA2IGY/b. No stations worked today as yet!”

Friday 07/11/2008. “Stations heard were:- VK2RSY/b, VK4RTL/b, VK4RKC 10m rpt, VK6RWA/b VK8VF/b, JA2IGY/b, VR2B/b, VK2DAG, VK7HAY, VK7ZE, HZ1PS. Stations worked were:- VK4ALH, VK4KST, VK4AHS at this stage.”

Saturday 08/11/2008. “Stations heard were:- VK2RSY/b, VK4RTL/b, VK4RKC 10m rpt, VK6RWA/b, VK8VF/b, JA2IGY/b, VR2B/b, VK2DAG, VK7XX, BU2AQ, AH0BT, 6K5BUI. Stations worked were:- VK2OT, VK4YZ, VK6FELD, JH6CDI, JH1OCC, JH1XUP, JA1LNZ, JM7OLW, JD1BIA, JA2DLM, JA9LJS, JH6DIJ, JH4UYB, JG2SON, JA1BVI, JA1KNU, JA6DIJ, JF6WTY, BU2AO, BG4CZX, 9W2DRL, 9W2FAI, 9W2VVH, 9W2RZL, 9W6SUE, UA4HBW, RA3EG and RA4CNW. Most of these were worked after 07:00 UTC. As I am typing this now I can hear a 9W calling me but I just can’t pull him out. Not a bad day considering I have been at work all day.”

Sunday 09/11/2008. “I missed all of the openings today as I was at a family function, then I had to catch some sleep ready for work tonight. At least when I woke up I could work some DX. Stations heard were:- VK2RSY/b, VK4RTL/b, VK4RKC 10m rpt, VK6RWA/b, VK8VF/b, JA2IGY/b, VR2B/b. Stations worked were:- VK4LS, VK4CQ and YB0NFL. Looking at the cluster spots I see that IZ8NVV could hear me on his Dipole, I wish I could have pulled him out of the QRN.”

Monday 10/11/2008. “Stations heard were:- VK2RSY/b, VK4RTL/b, VK4RKC 10m rpt, VK8VF/b, JA2IGY/b, VR2B/b. Stations worked were:- VK4LS, YB1UUN and RW6HP. Looking at the cluster spots I see that UA4HBW and A71EM could also hear me but I again had QRN.”

Still quite a haul for shift worker. Dave, you must be existing with a minimum of sleep or less!! What does the /b signify for several of the stations you’ve worked?

Rudy, PD5SS was pleased to work V51AS on Sunday at 5/6

Paul, K6FRC, in California, heard: K8NDB/B, WA6MHZ/B, WI6J/B VE7MTY/B, LU5FB/B, N8RT/B, KG4YUV/B, ND4Z/B, K4FUM/B, W6PC/4, W3HH/B, N4HLF/B, PY3PSI/B, LU4AA/B, KH6WO/B, K6FRC/B, K6FRC/B1, K6FRC/B2, K6FRC/B3, W6WX/B.
“Great opening late Saturday night into Sunday morning! I fell asleep at the rig Saturday night and awoke Sunday to the radio scanning and still hearing beacons. Had to leave the radio and come back to it, and still copied beacons until about 1 PM local time.”

Contests: Saturday 2100 - Monday 0300 the ARRL Sweepstakes, which is essentially Americans/Canadians contacting other Americans/Canadians. So they are keeping that one to themselves. There is the INORC CW contest which is a Navy stations contest open to all from Saturday 1200 - Sunday 1200. Of course there are a few other odd sprint contests.

Sun: In this magnetic map of the sun, shades of grey denote magnetic polarity. Black is negative (S), white is positive (N). The N-S orientation of sunspot 1008 identifies it as a member of new Solar Cycle 24. (SOHO/MDI).

Space shuttle Endeavour is on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center, scheduled for liftoff on Friday, Nov. 14th, at 7:55 pm EST.

Weather forecasters offer a 60% chance that the spectacular night launch will proceed as planned. After launch, Endeavour will rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS); the shuttle's 32,000-lb load of cargo for the ISS includes a toilet, new sleeping quarters, a waste recycling system and other items needed to expand the station's crew from 3 to 6 in the spring of 2009.

Personally speaking I’m waiting for the repair mission to the Hubble Telescope now not scheduled till 2009!

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