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This must rank as one of the worst weeks since I started writing this column. Even the weekend was really bad. ZD8LP was the only recurring call. An interesting one is ZU6M. That’s Mitchel in South Africa and he’s just 11 years old. Welcome to Ten Metres!!
Most popular DX
(All modes 3 or more contacts)
Monday: ZD8LP, KC2ITH, IW9FRB, I0QM, I2TAO, WB7BBI.
Tuesday: LA4TEN/B, UT7IL, IW4BET.
Wednesday: ZD8LP, KK6D, F6EWB, RA4FOC, EA5NZ.
Thursday: ZD8LP, OH1LWZ.
Friday: ZD8LP, AO2CND, EA5ADT, MW0CND, AN5KB, EB1CTA, SP8MI, DL0IGI/B, F5FCH, F5SIH/P, IW2OHY, DO1YWF, F5UKL, F6EWB, F8CRS, G6LUG, GI4NKB, HL4CBX, KE4WBO, ON4AXU, PA0DX.
Saturday: DC2VE, DJ1AA, DK2YL, ZU6M, 9W2RZL, DL0EW, KE4WBO.
Sunday: W3RJ, BT1OY, HP1RCP/B, W6PC/4, WP4WV, 9W2RZL, KE4WBO, LW3EX.
I have to admit to rushing the last report (pick wife and daughter up from the airport) and accidentally missing out some reports that were sent. So apologies to everyone who sent one out and it didn’t appear, so here they are now
Last Monday Martin, 2E0UKL worked OE5HWN 5/5 rx 5/5 tx and F1GHX simplex, then QSY onto the Savigny-le-Temple repeater (again using a vertical half-wave antenna).
Another Martin, MW0CND, on Wednesday worked F4GJZ/mobile 5/8, SP6KEP 5/8, F5KSE 5/9, OE5HWN 5/9, EA5KA 5/9+10, IW3EKH 5/8, EA3BFK 5/9+20, IZ4NTB 5/4, DH2SE 5/5, DL2VSF 5/5. He comments, ”Band conditions not too good today all stations worked between 12:32 thru to 22:08 pm BST (my station used was a Yaesu FT450, 100 watts into a home made 3 element mono band Yagi at 20 feet!)”
Previous week, VK5MRD, Dave, says, “Having worked all night last night (Saturday) I slept all day today so I am not sure what happened on 10m today (Sunday) but I was around yesterday for a while but unfortunately I did not catch too many stations :o(
Stations heard were:- ZL2MH bcn, VK2RSY bcn, VK4RTL bcn, VK2XML and VK2AAG. There were a few others hidden under QRN and I could not pull the callsigns out.”
Dave also spotted this “I was having a look around on the net today and I found a new rig from Icom for HF/6m. I have put two links below for you to look at. Looks like this one might be the successor to the much loved 756PROIII.”
http://www.rigpix.com/icom/ic7600.htm
http://www.ab4oj.com/icom/ic7600/main.html
Much as I’d like one (who wouldn’t) I can’t justify a new rig. A beam antenna must come first.
More up to date now, Paul, K6FRC agrees with my list saying,
“10m has been dead here in California. Literally, dead. Except for the local beacons, nothing heard, not even any ground wave.”
Contests: This weekend is the RSGB and IARU Region 1 SSB Field Day contest AND the All Asian DX Contest (SSB) All of them 00:00 to 24:00 Saturday through Sunday!! Great. I used to get out with the Lichfield Club but “not no more”. It was always an enjoyable weekend. Shame but that’s life.
Sun: I don’t know why I bother, it’s blank again. But, a solar wind stream is buffeting Earth's magnetic field and causing auroras around the Arctic Circle. The coronal hole on the sun responsible for this activity is a broad one, which means the solar wind could blow unabated for days. NOAA forecasters estimate a 10% chance of geomagnetic storms during the next 24 hours. High-latitude sky watchers should watch out for auroras.
We just lost to Middlesboro’ last weekend, but we also bought more quality players. Week off for all Premiership Clubs because of Internationals. Next match is Everton at home, piece of cake!
Last word. I have finally found a USB to RS232 connection that works. Well ‘TUT found it and you never know it may encourage him to put out some RF).
Maplin are selling them for £12.99. I’ve had 3 others from various sources ranging from £3 to £9 which did not work. But this one does, so now I can programme my TH-F7 from my computer, which like all modern ones, does not have an RS232 port.
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