From QRZ.com VY0/VE1RUS is operating from Eureka, Nunavut at the PEARL Ridge Lab.
PEARL is the Canadian Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory in the Arctic.
Author: Carl
DARC Worked All Europe RTTY 2021
POST CONTEST REPORT
Conditions
As at 14 November 2021 2200 GMT – SFI:78 SN:24 A:4 K:0
No geomagnetic storm reported.
Conditions on the higher bands were not great with 10m particularly poor. I did take a listen on 10m at regular intervals but only hear one station all contest (EA), even 20m was a bit of a slog. 80m productive although the majority were <1000 Km QSO into DL (perhaps unsurprising given that this was a DARC event). Other commitments precluded a full-duration entry this weekend so I’m happy with the 700 or so QSO.
Using QTC for the first time
This was my first time using QTC for receive and transmit and I found them fairly straightforward in Mixw (my RTTY contest software of choice) once I had a set of macros setup correctly although I could do with a bit more practice. I followed the guides here:
http://www.digitalrus.ru/Files/Tuning&Result/DARC_WAE_RTTY.htm and http://www.gu0sup.com/wae.html
Antenna
80m/40m – G7FEK did an OK job on 80m although I am not convinced by it on 40m, I think I need a better solution for 40m. With a bit of thought I may be able to rig up an inverted V for 40m on the same 10m fibreglass mast (DX Commander 10m telescopic) that is holding the fan dipole for 15m and 10m aloft.
For 20m I was using the DX Commander 1/4 wave vertical, this performs okay but I am considering adding a third element to the trapped dipole to give 20/15/10.
No half wave end-fed in this contest – I need to rework the balun.
Radio
Just the trusty Icom 7300 at about 90W.
Looks interesting – rotator project?
RSGB 6m UKAC November 2021
Quite happy with my tally considering I was using an HF long wire!
My new contest callsign – G2K
Very pleased to have qualified for my new contest callsign – G2K
CQ WW SSB 2021
Just entered my log, the summary is (from N1MM+):
PJ7P – SPFIH on Sint Maarten Island
15m FT8 Fox and Hounds mode
Where’s St Maarten?
Great QSO Mapping Tool – Log Analyzer 3.2
First in the RSGB October FT4 contest – 10W Section!
Great portable 6m yagi – K6ARK
JARTS 2021
JARTS is the annual Japanese Amateur Radio Teleprinter Society contest: http://jarts.jp/
I wasn’t taking the contest seriously this year, the focus was really to experiment with some new antennas. 10m was surprisingly quiet (noting that there was quite a bit of 10m FT8 activity through much of the contest). 15m was noticeably better than the band has been in contests for some time (although not sure if that is down to better band conditions, improvement in the antenna system here – or a combination of both!). Typically I would expect to do a big session on 20m during JARTS but it didn’t feel like I was on the band much at all.
It’s a struggle with 100W sometimes and was noticed on 20m and 15m in the morning when JA stations could be heard but not worked. Apart from that, pretty much everything which could be heard was worked with VY5 on 40m a got-away despite many attempts.
Some interesting DX lately
Plus J5HKT on 10m FT8, and 3DA0WW on 20m FT8
HV0A – Vatican City – a rare one!
40mins to break the pile-up!
J5HKT – Got there! 30m, 20m, 17m, 10m
Messy, but we got there!
Silvano (I2YSB) in Guinea-Bissau
and equally messy on 30m!
A bit easier on 10m
St Helena – New DXCC on 12m
UPDATE: S9OK – Eventually broke the pile-up!
20+ stations calling S9OK in Sao Tome & Principe on every ‘over’ (and that’s just the one’s I could decode!)
David was using FT4 but on two frequencies (NOT F&H so I assume he was using MSHV to get two transmissions per over.
More information on the S9OK DXpedition is at dxnews here: https://dxnews.com/s9ok/
Checking the log I see that I have actually worked the island twice before (both 2019), the previous QSO were on 20m and 60m.
Interesting article: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/sao-tome-and-principe-africa/index.html
Ten things you didn’t know about Sao Tome and Principe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Bu88Qwx_Rk
UPDATED!
Also worked on 20m, nice to see the QSO in ClubLog Live!
Grey line into JA – 30m FT8
… and into VK and ZL
3DA0RU – updated
Despite some strange conditions on the bands today (including a pretty major geomagnetic storm), I managed to work the DXpedition callasign 3DA0RU (Kingdom of Eswatini – otherwise known as Swaziland) on 3 bands: 10m, 12m and 15m. I hope they are QSLing via ARRL LOTW!
More info here: https://www.dx-world.net/3da0ru-eswatini/
Update
3 bands confirmed on club log:
New Digital modes transceiver from QRPLabs – QDX
Hans Summers has done it again with an amazing new product for kit builders, QRP and digital enthusiasts with the new QDX transceiver. News of the new product release broke last week sending QRP Labs fans into a frenzy on the QRP Labs Google group. An initial batch of 450 units was released on at 1800Z on 11 October with all units sold in 12 minutes! Wow, that’s popular!
The initial batch has been limited in number due to a current global lack of semiconductors although Hans has promised at least one further batch will be available once his supply situation improves. In the meantime, I was pleased to get my order in (despite a number of glitches caused by the online sales portal being overloaded by the sheer number of folks trying to secure their QDX).
All being well the QDX will be here in the UK in a week or so and I will then, as time permits, document the build and operating on here.
Outline details and specs are here:
- Four bands 80, 40, 30 and 20m
- 5W output at 9V supply (can be built for 4-5W at 12-13V supply)
- Single signal transmission (zero unwanted sideband, zero residual carrier, zero intermodulation distortion)
- Solid-state band switching and transmit/receive switching under CAT control
- High performance embedded SDR SSB receiver with 60-70dB of unwanted sideband cancellation
- Built-in 24-bit 48ksps USB sound card
- Built-in USB Virtual COM Serial port for CAT control
- Si5351A Synthesized VFO with 25MHz TCXO as standard
- Easy to build single-board design, Professional quality double-sided, through-hole plated, silk-screen printed PCBs
- All SMD components factory assembled
- Connectors: 2.1mm power barrel connector, USB B (for audio and CAT control), BNC RF input/output
- Built-in test signal generator and testing tools
- Receive current 100mA, Transmit current 1.0-1.1A for 5W output with 9V supply (around 0.7A for 5W with 13V supply).
- QFU firmware update for lifetime free firmware updates, easy installation on any PC without drivers, software or hardware e.g. programmer
- Optional aluminum extruded cut/drilled/laser-etched black anodized enclosure
See Hans’ website for more details: https://qrp-labs.com/qdx.html and the DRAFT manual here: https://qrp-labs.com/images/qdx/manual_1_00.pdf The ordering page is here: http://shop.qrp-labs.com/qdx2?search=qdx
Finally, to whet the appetite, here is a YouTube video outlining the new kit:
13th in Europe in Batavia (Indonesian) contest
Happy with with placing in the Batavia (QSO with Indonesia) contest considering I was only using 80W and wire antennas (and no resonant antenna for 15m at the time!), most QSO on 20m with a handful on 40m. Second in UK.