A wasted weekend.....

There was a bit of SSB operating going on around here this weekend. The bands were not very good from my QTH. Noise levels were just high enough to be very frustrating and I never did manage to work any stations other than on 20 and 17 meters. Twenty was the best band of the day.

Sunday, I worked 20 and 30 … but PSK31 this time. There was a good mix of stations on, but primarily from the east coast and midwest. I worked them until the band petered out and then I just shut it all down, no use getting frustrated.

All in all, it was a good weekend, and it was a lot of fun. There are times it’s nice to have an indoor hobby, since this weekend was wet and even more wet.  But, it was better than the couple of feet of snow we had a couple of weeks ago! Oh, well … summer is just around the corner they tell me…..

New Island Activations....

It looks like this years crop of Canadian Island Activations may end up being a rather good one. Every one on the list so far, will be a first time activation.

Here's a link to the Canadian Island Activators page (HERE), that shows what's been put on the table so far......and I haven't even submitted my list yet!!

These are not IOTA islands, these have their own unique Canadian number.  The link to the main page is HERE, it's well worth going over and seeing what has, and has not been, activated in your local area.  Many a warm summers day has been spent on one of the local islands answering a large pileup of operators all calling for you......there's been a few cold, wet, fall days as well!

London 22 March 2017

Normally I don't do politics....BUT......

CQ WW WPX Contest

Coming up on March 25th & 26th, the CQ WW WPX Contest.   Always good for putting ton on DX in your logbook.   I'm hope to put a few more in my log after my disappointing time on the ARRL International DX Contest this year.

Hopefully the SFI will improve for that weekend and we have better conditions than the last contest.

Rules can be found HERE.

See you on the bands!!

ARRL International DX Contest

Excellent day on the HF bands today as the ARRL International DX Contest got under way.  The propagation numbers didn't look too good, but to be honest the issued numbers didn't match the band performance.  There was a good amount of atmospheric noise, but no QSB on any of the bands.

15m which shows as being "poor", was actually the wide open and I managed to work half of Europe on it.  Over all I made 85 contacts...so far...and of them 38 were on 15m.

20m had great propagation into the Caribbean and South America.  I actually worked Bolivia and Peru today...two brand new ones for me out of the 39 countries I put into today's log.

I even managed to work Aruba and Bonaire on 10m this afternoon.  Both stations were pounding into this QTH at about 20 over 9.

The only band that didn't seem to be performing as advertised was 40m.  Both evenings it has not produced any real good DX, and I've managed only 8 QSO's on the band.

We will have to see what tomorrow brings and see how many more countries I can get in the log.

Family Stuff

The Dwyer girls.

Rest in Peace Aunty Pat......you're all together again now.

God saw you getting tired and a cure was not to be.  So He put His arms around you and whispered “come to me.”  With tearful eyes we watched you, and saw you pass away. Although we loved you dearly, we could not make you stay.  A golden heart stopped beating, hard working hands at rest.  God broke our hearts to prove to us, He only takes the best.

And......more good WSPR

How about this for a good evenings WSPRing on 30m?   This was last night at 2300 UTC on February 21.  Australia and South Africa....not too shabby for 500 Mw in the inverted L long wire.

Amazing contacts....

Just back from our weekly ham radio breakfast and decided to put WSPR on for an hour or two, and the map below show's my first half hour on 30m.  It's not often I get into Africa and Australia in the same hour.

I am surprised at the lack of trans-Atlantic traffic though.  Normally Europe is booming in here at this time of day.

These contacts were made on my 148' inverted L long wire antenna up at 60', and using 500 mW.

30m, 1520 UTC on 19 February 2017.

And, here's the propagation for this hour: