Digital WAS complete!

Last night I finally found someone in WY on digital (JT65 in this case).  Big thanks to Robert, K7EMR, for being my last contact to finish off WAS, and also for confirming so fast in LoTW.  I was just commenting to the wife the other night how in the last hour I had found someone from every state touching Wyoming, but no actual WY stations.  I was starting to think there really were not any.  Now to start focusing on individual bands/modes, and the remaining 50ish countries for DXCC.  With the new antenna up and running I've been able to add a number of new countries lately, though it really seems to be a direct line to Russia from what I've seen so far (not that I'm complaining).  Until next time, hope to see you on the air.  73 de N0QBX sk

Sunday Radio Fun

Sunday (23/9/2012) was a FANTASTIC day on the radio. I used my limed time while the XYL was out to sit on 15m psk.  I got to work russia (one of my favorite DX), Ukraine, Netherlands, Bosnia,  Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Spain, Portugal, England, Germany, and the random Oklahoma.  I also missed both Iceland(eve online ftw) and Egypt(!), and had a really nice qso with a german station using olivia way later than I normally can work Europe.  It was a fantastic afternoon playing radio.  73 all, uploading to LoTW and eQSL.cc as always, send direct if you need paper QSL...   73, gud DX in 2012!  de N0QBX  sk

New Antenna is Almost Ready!

We've been working on adding a s9v18 here.  A HUGE thank you to the XYL for helping me with running radials.  I finally received the LMR-400 feedline on Friday, right before I had to head up north for a fantastic fishing weekend for a buddies bachelor party.  Today I was finally able to put that feedline into the ground/house and try out the antenna...with only 20 of the planned 32 radials into the ground, none of which headed east, I was able work Germany, Netherlands, California, Belgium, Canary Islands, and France... and the night is still really young.  My wife had to listen to me switch between the vertical and the fan dipole at least five times ( with all the relays in the LDG at-200 rattling away each time) before I was REALLY happy with the noise level on the new vertical.  As a side note it's a huge improvement on noise on 14.230/SSTV.  Now I just need to lay the last 12 radials and it should be even better.  Anyway, hoping to meet you on the air.... especially if your on digital in WY since that is the last state I need for digital WAS.... 73, de N0QBX

VHF QSO and General Propagation

Well, the VHF QSO party is over and it was a blast!  Also, you can sure tell it's summer with propagation getting better every day.

During the VHF QSO party I worked 6m from home into the dipole and made a ton of contacts.  Sunday morning was especially fun.  Honestly, during the peaks on both days I couldn't find a spot that didn't have 2-3 people on it already.  It was amazing just how many people were out, and a good test of all those fancy DSP things on the radio to try and single people out among the masses.  Thanks to everyone who was working the contest!  

Also, I'm starting to see a real noticeable uptick in DX in general.  Last night I couldn't quite get the attention of a Slovenia station on 17m but ended up moving up the dial to grab a Northern Ireland.  After that I hopped over to 20m and worked a couple Brits, along with Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, and a few US stations.  I'm really hoping 10m will start going crazy like last year where it's contest DX all day long.    Glancing over at the station computer I'm seeing Spain, Italy, England, and Hungary so I think it's time to get off the internet and into the ionosphere.... until next time, 73 de N0QBX

VHF QSO Party...day 1

Started a little late today, then sat on 50.125 waiting to hear someone... turns out everyone was everywhere else.  Once I started scanning the band I found a ton of activity!  Pretty sure I worked every last ham in the state of CT.  Finally as the band was starting to close it opened to somewhere other than the east coast, getting in a NM station before it shut down.  Can't wait until tomorrow to see if there is any more excitement on day 2 but I can honestly say this was more activity then the last couple HF digital contests I've worked.  Keep an ear out for me on 6m SSB from EN35 tomorrow, I'd love to work some new grids... 73 de N0QBX!

VHF QSO Party this weekend!

Got home from work tonight and 6m JT65 was awesome!  Worked my first non-US station (VE) plus made a couple handfuls of US QSOs... All leading up to the VHF QSO party this weekend.   I'm excited, if it stays this active it's going to be a fun weekend.... better than the 10 10 psk contest last weekend (sorry, love 10m and psk31, but that was slow).  Only have the dipole up for 6 still, but I have high hopes for the contest, honestly don't know why I like 6m so much compared to hf, but the extra challenge is neat.... I could work these same stations on 20 or 40 any night of the week but on 6 it's exciting.  Anyway, enough for this go around, can't wait to see you this weekend!  73 de N0QBX sk.

6m JT65 Fun

    After discovering the fun of 6m I promptly worked at finding the jt65 frequency.  There was a bit of conflicting information on the web so I pulled up hamspots.net and watched 6m until it was clear that 50.276 looks to be the happening place for jt65.  It sounds like a lot of DX may use JT6M instead but for now I was sticking to what I knew.  Over a couple of days I've made a number of contacts including the one shown above.  As you can see, after the quick exchange with AE7KL in Utah he let me know I was his first 6m contact.  That was exciting, especially since it's my first week on 6 as well!  It's been fun so far, and the VUCC is adding another award to chase.  Now I can't wait until next weekend for the VHF QSO Party.  Wonder if I have time to build a Moxon or Hentenna to improve on the old dipole before the weekend....  Hope to catch you all on the magic band in the near future!  73 de N0QBX