Category - Blog

9M8Z 21st to 29th March 2009

qsl-9m8z
Steve, 9M6DXX, will operate as 9M8Z from Sarawak, East Malaysia IOTA OC-088 from 21 to 29 March 2009, including a Single-Operator Unassisted All-Band High-Power entry in the CQ WPX SSB contest on 28 / 29 March. Outside the contest, look for Steve on 40m SSB, Steve will be using a 3-element Yagi.

QSL via M0URX, Direct, Bureau or LoTW.

LoTW uploaded up to 30/03/09
Update 30th March: Well, the contest is over for another year. 2375 QSOs after dupes and 6.4 Million points, but that’s nearly 1000 QSOs down on last year, and nearly 2 million points less. Conditions were not good this year on 15m, which explains the lower score.

Update 24th March“I am currently in Sarawak, 9M8, and operating ‘holiday style’ using an Optibeam OB-17-4 at 75ft. This antenna has 3 elements on 40m (coil loaded), 4 full size monoband elements on 20m, 4 on 15, and 6 on 10m, and by all accounts I have a big signal in Europe. 10m opened up as far west as Cyprus on Sunday though I doubt I’ll be working into the UK on that band.

I was on 20m last evening and it was good to work a number of CDXC members, plus a few UK calls I did not recognise.

I had planned to be more active from here on 40m but had not taken into account the fact that sunset is now around 1800z in UK – that’s 2.00am here, and for various reasons it has not been possible to be on yet at times when the band is likely to be open to Western Europe.

I will try to be on 40m tonight (Tuesday), Wednesday and Thursday, from about 1630z onwards. My preferred freqs are 7088 or 7078, but I may have to go elsewhere if those are busy of course.

I should be on 20m before 1630 but will QSY to 40m at 1630.”

Update 19th March Steve writes: I was planning to travel to Sarawak for the CQ WPX SSB contest next weekend, but there has been a slight change of plan. I have been asked to give a presentation on DXpeditioning at an ‘Amateur Radio Roadshow’

being held by MCMC, the Malaysian licensing authority, this Saturday, so I will be travelling early on Saturday morning instead. I’ll probably give a short talk and show an excerpt from the 3B7C DVD.

I should therefore be active on the bands as 9M8Z most evenings (afternoons, GMT) and I look forward to working you all from Sarawak.

Look for me on 20m SSB early afternoons, then 40m SSB later on.

VP8KF John talks to the world!

VP8KF John in Port Stanley
I feel that I must comment on a really interesting evening on 20m tonight, I started listeing to John VP8KF (CDXC member) in the Falkland Islands at about 6pm. Excellent operating by John managing to keep the pile up from Europe under excellent control and passing some good conversation along the way. By 9pm when i decided to call in, the pile up from G was getting quite large. One thing that I did notice was how many UK stations were all commenting saying that they had erected a Hex Beam just recently and were testing out the performance. One of those was MW0JRX Oliver my dear friend and IT Technician. Well done Oliver on the 4 new ones in 2 days! Thanks John for some good entertainment on 20m tonight!
VP8KF QSL Via G3VPW

CQ WPX SSB Contest

mw9w_cq_contest
Members of the Strumble Head DX and Contest Group will be on the air from their headquarters at the Farm in Wales for a period before during and after the CQ WPX SSB contest. They will be using the club calls MC0SHL before the contest, with some activity on 30M RTTY around 10148.0. During the contest we will be using both MW9W and MC0SHL – depending on the number of operators there may be more calls on air. Please QSL via the clubs manager M0URX. All details and photographs will be on the clubs website http://www.mc0shl.com and we may even have a live webcam for the contest too.

Chris Colclough G1VDP http://www.g1vdp.com


More informationon the Strumblehead DX & Contest Group at:
http://www.mc0shl.com

MW0JRX QSL Card

qsl-mw0jrx

For me, a QSL card is more than just a confirmation of a 2 way radio communication. It can tell someone a lot about you and your station and your interests in the hobby.

So what do you put on your QSL card? Think about the design you want, it will be only as good as your imagination allows. How about a photo of you in the radio shack, or at the helm of the newly furbished club station or a photo of you in pursuit of another hobby? Or a photo of that tower and the SteppIR at the top of your garden!

Remember that your QSL card may be used by others to claim awards so you should always remember to put on all relevant information. For IOTA claimants the IOTA number and the Island qsl-mw0jrx-backname MUST be printed on the QSL card. NOT hand written. I may live in land locked Central England but we are IOTA Reference EU-005 Great Britain Mainland and this MUST be on my QSL card to be valid for an award claim. Your IARU Locator number, WAB square, Longitude and Latitude, CQ Zone, ITU Zone, Station Equipment are all as useful and as important as the QSO report panel box, your callsign and name on the QSL card.

On the left is the new QSL design for Oliver Bross MWØJRX, Oliver is a keen photographer and with the help of Max ON5UR, Oliver has one of the most excellent QSL cards i have seen.

QSL Via MWØJRX

 If you need any help with design and printing your QSL card please drop either myself or ON5UR Max an email and we will gladly help you.

IRC’s for sale UK only

irc-2006_front

If you are in the UK I have about 250 International Reply Coupons for sale at 60p each + P&P depending on quantity please email me for more information using “Contact M0URX” in menu.

QSL’ing issues!

Recently I have noticed some problems regarding incoming QSL cards.

Russia – I am receiving DAILY QSL cards from Russia with no postal contribution. I will no longer pay for your countries refusal to send $ or IRCs. In future ALL QSL cards without postal contribution will be sent Via Bureau. The main problem is some Russian QSL Managers. Incredibly today I received 6 letters from Russia and not one with any postal contribution. Ask yourself how am I supposed to pay for the postage?
Just incase the money has been stolen please seal the envelope on all 4 sides with sticky tape. I will open carefully here.

U.S.A. I am receiving a lot of letters from U.S.A. with insufficient postage stamps covering up to 10g only. Many letters are 11g or 12g and are subject to higher postal rates. Also when you send a Self Addressed Envelope please remember you MUST write United States of America on the envelope or it will be returned back to me insufficient address.
Thanks for your attention!

Back To Africa for 9M6XRO

lesotho

9M6XRO John’s latest email tells us that he is planning once again to be in Southern Africa this year, John explains:

 

I can now confirm my Africa trip dates. I arrive in Johannesburg via Kuala Lumpur and Doha on July 25th, 3 days earlier than planned. I can then help Daniel ZS6JR load up and move all the gear to 7P Lesotho and get the antennas and equipment set-up before the others arrive in Lesotho on the 29th. I hope to put ZS6/GM3OOK on the air for a bit en route possibly from the 25th evening. Daniel has not yet confirmed the date we will drive to Lesotho.

 

Looks like I will also have the option of operating from Swaziland again as 3DA0OK but the duration and dates will depend on the logistics of the whole operation as everyone is due back in Johannesburg on August 13th. I will keep you updated on that part of the itinerary. My flight back to Borneo leaves on August 14th, once again via Doha. QSL Via M0URX

qsl-3da0okqsl-zs6-gm3ook

 

GB1DSG Thinking Day On The Air

James on mic. Callum and Terry looking on

Saturday 21st February – Callum M0MCX had organised a Special Event Station for “Thinking Day on The Air” from the Dorridge scout hut, using the clubs SES callsign GB1DSG for Dorridge Scout Group.
Using the horizontal Delta Loop up at about 30 metres above ground. This antenna is 550 feet long in a triangle formation, and performs extremely well.
From early morning, the station was running all day with pile ups that you wouldn’t believe for a G station!
The station was run by the “M0XXT Pile Up Firm” operated by Callum M0MCX, James M3YOM, Tim M0URX, Terry G4MKP Aidan M6TTT, along with guest operators, Chris G1VDP, Lee G0MTN and Chris G0EYO.

 
Aidans First Pile Up
There was a steady stream of visitors during the day as family and friends popped their heads in to see what was going on. A good pile up on 20m to the West Coast of North America netted dozens of W6 & 7s along with VE5s and 6s. Contacts as well to India, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Japan, Singapore and Australia. As the day drew on, we moved onto 40m with an equally huge pile up,
and even a QSO on 40m with K5D Desecheo Island.

The event was really just an excuse for the lads to get together to put a station on the air and run in “Pile Up Mode” Recently licensed Aidan M6TTT took control of the pile for a short while tutored and mentored by myself to help him in his first experience of serious operating. What did he say when he came off air? “That was AWSOME!” Aidan remember you have a job to do on that bracket!!!! Callum thanks for organising the day, really enjoyed the pile up and great to see some friendly faces popping in!

Quote of the day! while Terry G4MKP was at the mic: “stand-by Europe please, are there any DX stations wishing to call GB1DSG?” and a VK3 comes right back!
Just under 800 Qs were logged.

More images from GB1SDG:
https://www.m0urx.com/gallery.html
Thanks to G1VDP Chris Colclough for the photographs.

Poor band conditions all round!

CN2XW QSL

Thursday – Another day of poor conditions K5D bearly readable on any band as I write todays blog. My mate Russell G5XW is currently backpacking in Morocco, I caught up with him on 14.245 MHz this afternoon, 100 miles west of Marrakech in the Atlas Mountains at 11,000 feet ASL. He is using an Alinco DX70 transceiver 100 watts into a 20m dipole supported by a fishing pole. He reports of poor conditions and dreams of some Pacific calling in. Russell will be active for a couple more days before heading back to England.
QSL for CN2XW is Russell G5XW.
Updated 22/02/09: Russell finally made 563 Qs inro 6 continents.

Also reporting poor conditions is John 9M6XRO in Kota Kinabalu, East Malaysia. Although John did make a CW QSO with K5D this week on 40m. a very difficult path from 9M6. After his low band activity last week he arrived home to find that the PSU for the Quadra Amp had developed a fault, heres what he reports today:

“Pleased to say I got my power supply back today and it is working 100% again. The technician told me he was not able to check the 48v DC output without having the Quadra there so I took the amp over to him this afternoon. It then turned out that it gave a “protection fault” warning when there was no transceiver connected to it so he was still unable to verify if the 48v DC output was OK as the protective circuit disabled the 48v DC line. Rather than have me go back home and bring the 1000MP he said he would trust me and suggested I take the Quadra and PSU and test it in my shack. Once I got it hooked up the whole lot worked perfectly so I gave him a ring and all I have to do now is go over there and settle the bill. He told me it would be around 80 Ringgit which is less than 16 quk5d1id!
That’s a relief then John!”

I have to say congratulations to Oliver Bross MW0JRX, he has just received his new callsign from his home country Slovak Republic. Oliver I look forward to putting OM0ARX in my log the next time you visit your family!

Working K5D has been a challenge this week, still only 3 band slots here 17m, 20m and 40m SSB I will try again tomorrow for 15m but unfortunately conditions to Desecheo Island have not been running kindly!
Pictured right is Jerry WB9Z running a huge SSB pileup.
You can see more images from Desecheo Island 2009 on their website: http://www.kp5.us/ 

TL0A Central African Republic

Central African Republic Map

M0URX Просит сообщить, что он НЕ ЯВЛЯЕТСЯ QSL менеджером TL0A.
QSL для TL0A нужно отправлять только директ на адрес в
www.QRZ.com 73! Игорь RA3CQ


Two new ones in two days, TL0A Central African Republic is the latest call sign to be added into my logbook.
Chris Arroman formerly active from Niger as 5U5U, has been very active with his new call sign in C.A.R. and the chance is on to put this country in my log with some new band slots soon. Today I logged TL0A on 18.150 MHz. I have not heard C.A.R. on air before in my short time as a Radio Amateur. 5 bands worked now 10m – 20m.
QSL is Via TL0A address in France
Christian Saint Arroman, Chemin de Mouteguy 64990 Urcuit, FRANCE   –      Below is the TL0A QSL card
TL0A

Well done to my buddy and IT man Oliver MW0JRX, he worked K5D today on 15m 17m and 20m! Good going Oli!

Welcome if you are visiting this Blog from Google search of TL0A, as the weeks have gone by Chris has been working on many bands to give everyone the chance to put TL in the log.
While you are vising my blog, feel free to take a tour round my site and enjoy your stay. 73 Tim M0URX

PLEASE DO NOT SEND YOUR QSL TO ME!!! THIS IS A BLOG

“For avoidance of doubt and the hard of reading, I am not the QSL manager of TL0A”