Tony Dixon G4CJC

• 10-Metre DX Spots popup

Tony's 10 Metre Band Report
26 November, 2008

Conditions were so poor this week I have dropped the necessary contacts to 2 or more and even then the list is very sparse.

H44TO and H44MY (Solomon Is) did liven things up slightly, most unusual to get two stations on from there in the same week. 9W2RZL (Malaysia) was also a persistent call on Ten Metres this week. A few VKs and a loan G, dismal!! Never mind, we plod on, which is more than you can say for the England One Day cricket team. Lost 4 in a row. Stoke beat West Brom, as we always do, haha!

Most popular DX
(this week special is 2 or more contacts, any mode)

Monday: IW8RSB/2/QRP, KC9GNK, I0KNQ, 9Z4GM, 9Z4GB, 9W2RPM, KE4WBO, K4AAK, F6EWB.

Tuesday: LU7FDP, IZ2DJP, 9W2LLK, K1TO, EI2IP.

Wednesday: 9W2RZL, W1XYZ, 5B8AD, 9W2NTO, F9IE, PU1WMS, VK2HV, YY7MAE, 9W2VVH, N1EU, YV5ESN.

Thursday: RX3AGD, 9W2RZL, I0KNQ, VK2APG, 9M4SEA, KG6YPI, 9A5ST, 9W2VVH, PY2XC, VK6ARA.

Friday: H44TO, VK5MRD, E20WXA, S57S, JA2IGY, G0FWX, 9M4SEA, YL4U, KG6YPI, G7GLT/M, DK8ZJ, IZ5MAO, K7LAZ, PY2XC, PA0HIP, EA4ZK, 9W2RZL.

Saturday: 9W2RZL, S21RC, EA1ALE, G0SXC, IK6WEZ, Z21BC, EC1CT.

Sunday: H44MY, PY1NB, VK6HZ, PY2XC, YV5IAL, VE3NYX, UA3SAQ, PH7Y/P, NK9D, KN3M, K4REB, F4BMY, EA8MQ, DL0IGI, EI2IP, PY2XC, KD0AJB, WB7BBI, G7RAU, JA0RUG, 9W2RZL.

Sunday's map

Gus, K2ARO, said,
“I enjoy reading your report. One thing I would like to see is who is working whom. It would be nice to know what parts of the world are working others. Listing only calls doesn't convey who they worked. Keep up the good work.”
Thanks for the comments, always welcome. I can see your point, however to do what you ask would make the list large and unwieldy especially when conditions are good or there is a contest. I do include maps with lines to show the direction of contacts when things get hectic but I have only so much space available to me and my editor groans if I put maps in all the time for every day (“CJC too much bandwidth” he says).

I have included a map for Sunday as an example. The list is really only to give a flavour of what has happened/is happening on 10m. As a reasonable indicator (by no means perfect) the calls on the list are working each other (yes?). Certainly as listed by each day the calls are in order of popularity (number of contacts) with the rest of the world down to, at the end of a day list, callsigns only hearing other stations. There are other more comprehensive and tedious lists to plough through if you need maximum detail.

VK5MRD in Edwardstown, South Australia (near Adelaide), reports in regularly.
“Thursday 20/11/2008. Stations heard were:- VK2RSY/b, VK2SPR, VK3RMH/b, VK3RHF 10m repeater, VK4RTL/b, VK4RKC 10m repeater, VK5MFW on scatter some 454km away, VK8VF/b, ZL2MHF/b, ZL6B/b, RX3AGD and 9W2RZL. Stations worked were:- VK2ZMT, VK2BJT, VK2EBN, VK2FORX, VK2SF, VK2HJW, VK2ZQ, VK2MBA, VK4HMO, VK4FMVC, VK4CQ, and VK4MJF. The band is still open but I have to dash off to work now :o(

Friday 21/11/2008. Stations heard were:- VK2RSY/b, VK4FNQ, VK4RTL/b, VK4RKC 10m repeater, VK8VF/b and JA2IGY/b. Stations worked were:- VK2HDT, VK4FIL on SSB and also on FM and VK6TEN. VK6TEN-(VK9ZLH) now in Western Australia at the Giles Meteoroligical Station some 750 kilometres west-southwest of Alice Springs (VK8). Doug was very strong 5/9+15dB but had very deep QSB with his signal. It was great to have a nice chat with him today. The JA2IGY beacon was also in but no sign of life was heard from JA today.

Sunday 23/11/2008. Stations heard were:- VK2RSY/b, VK4RTL/b, VK4RKC 10m repeater, VK8VF/b, 9W2RZL and JA2IGY/b. Stations worked were:- Only Matt VK2ZMT who was mobile. Another busy day not near the radio.

Monday 24/11/2008. Stations heard were:- VK2RSY/b, VK4RTL/b, VK4RKC 10m repeater, VK8VF/b, VR2B/b and JA2IGY/b. Stations worked were:- All VK stations on SSB, VK2MBA, VK2VOX, VK2ABW, VK5UK/2, VK4JGH, VK4FIL. Also worked via the VK5RSC 10m repeater VK4JGH, VK4FIL and VK2JKB. You can check out the repeater page on the net at:-http://users.picknowl.com.au/
~wavetel/10m-rptr.htm. I am just about to head off to work but before I do I have a quick update for you. I just heard the ZL3TEN/b and the ZL2MHF/b and a very weak 9W2 station.

Tuesday 25/11/2008. Stations heard were:- VK2RSY/b. Stations worked were:- VK2DAG, VK4FIL, VK7HDX, VK7BBB, VK7KZ also VK7HDX on 29.620MHz fm via the VK5RSC 10m repeater. No sign of life out side VK.

Wednesday 26/11/2008. Stations heard were:- VK2RSY/b, VK4RTL/b, VK8VF/b and JA2IGY/b. No stations worked today however I did hear a very weak ZL1 station but I could not pull him out of the QRN. No ZL beacons were heard either.”

Dave works in the car industry (automobiles for our American readers) and his page on QRZ.com is worth a read. The Holden make is the equivalent of the UK Vauxhall, I think.

Contests: The only one this weekend is the CQ WW DX cw contest 00:00 Saturday to 24:00 Sunday. Not for me I’m afraid, there may be some spin off into the phone section, but maybe not.

Sun: No sun spots but one careless astronaut dropped (”dropped” has no meaning surely, “let go” maybe, but not “dropped”). It’s the biggest item ever to be “lost” by a space walker. Actually it’s not lost, it is being observed from earth by amateur astronomers. I just wonder if they will make her pay for it?

• Tony's live webcam