Sunday, June 28, 2015

Field Day 2015

Band   Mode  QSOs     Pts
     7  CW      145    290
    14  CW     110.    220
    14 RTTY     1      2
    21  CW.     13     26
    28  CW      1     2
Total  Both   270   540
Score: 1080
To me Field Day is about setting up a radio infrastructure where there is none.  Our Field Day setup is at a beach house on Holden Beach NC.
We had three antennas - a portable hex beam mounted to the hitch of my truck, an end fed random wire, and a CrankIR.  Our call was K4J.  We worked 4 SC station, N4AW, W4IT, N4EE, and K4NAB.  We worked Mexico, Croatia and PR.  One lesson learned was on the proximity of the antennas to each other because of the small lot causing RFI.  The only way out of our dilemma was to either work S&P or work multi single.  We did both.  We will likely need isolation filters for next time or take shifts.
We had very strong winds sometimes gusting to 40 to 50 mph.  The guys on the CrankIR took a beating and we had to monitor the tension.  The EFHW was on top of a shortened Spiderbeam pole at 30 feet on one end and at the 3rd story deck on the other.  The hexbeam survived the wind but only because the mast was lowered.  The ops were NY4G and WM4AA.
We had fun as always and had a good nights sleep despite despite a broken AC.

WM4AA (Matt Collier) station


NY4G station


Overlooking the InterCoastal.  The CrankIR had 3 guys and performed well hearing west coast stations.


The ocean is 500 feet away in the foreground


Spiderbeam pole - unguyed but clamped to the ground with bungees





Saturday, June 20, 2015

The Quest for #275

There is nothing magical about #275.  But you do get another sticker from the ARRL at this milestone.  After 275 it is a long slog.  The ARRL recognizes this and issues stickers after 300 every 5 DXCC entities.  Even 5 DXCC can take years to get at this stage.I consider myself fortunate to having line of sight to 275 after 5 years of DX Chasing

#266 XW1IC Laos confirmed in LOTW
#267 YB4IR/9 Indonesia 30m Confirmed in LOTW
#268 TI9/3Z9DX Cococ Island  QSL card received
#269 ST2NH Sudan QSL Sent
#270 E6ZS Niue Card Received
#271 JG8NQJ/JD1 Minami Torishima QSL Card Received


The only other new ones will come from

T31LP Central Kiribati June 2015 (offshore no good for DXCC)
JA0JHQ/VK9C Cocos Keeling September 19-25, 2015
RI1FJ Franz Josef Land - more details soon
TX3X Chesterfield Islands in  October 2015
3W3MD Vietnam October 2015
VK9WA Willis Island November 2015
T2GC Tuvalu September 2015
Z21MG Zimbabwe September 2015
3C7GIA Equatorial Guinea October 2015
3Y0F Bouvet Island December 2015

2016 Brings a whole bunch to the fore

KH5/p Palmyra Islands in January 2016
VP8SGI South Georgia Islands also in January
P5 North Korea (a long shot for me as this is a single person SSB only)
VP8STI South Sandwich
FT/j Juan de Nova in March 2016
VK0EK Heard Island in March of 2016
VK9C Cocos Keeling in March 2016
CY9 Saint Paul Island July 2016

Discounting P5, I can be at 284 by spring 2016.  Hopefully I can get lucky with Mount Athos and Nepal  along the way


FP/NY4G QSL Card Design



Wednesday, June 10, 2015

DXCC Status As Of 6/10/2015

DXCC
Award
New LoTW QSLsLoTW QSLs in ProcessDXCC Credits AwardedTotal
(All)
Total
(Current)
Mixed *00265265265
CW *00254254254
Phone *00121121121
Digital00545454
160M00333333
80M *00111111111
40M *00150150150
30M *00115115115
20M *00187187187
17M *00120120120
15M *00136136136
12M *00104104104
10M *00129129129
2M00111
Challenge *001085---1085
5-Band *---------------
5-Band 17M *---------------
5-Band 30M *---------------
5-Band 12M *---------------
* = Award has been issued

Sunday, June 7, 2015

ATNO #271 Minami Torishima

Take, a Japanese ham operating under JG8NQJ/JD1 was QRV while away from his meteorological duties on Marcus Island.  He was spotted and I could hear him faintly at my SC station.  He was being worked by station after station.  I booted up my remote station in San Joaquin, CA and there he was loud perhaps S7 on the SteppIR Tribander.  I worked him at 100 watts.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

E-mail from K9OT

  • Message 

  • Gm Ariel, good luck with the trip to FP. You will find that it is a very unique place. Take time to look around the island, and visit some of the shops. It looks like you are going to stay in St.Pierre. We have always gone to Miquelon and stayed at the motel, but I think that it is closed right now for renovation. There is a very good hardware store in St. Pierre if you need anything that you did not anticipate. I will try to make a QSO with you while you are there. 73 Paul K9OT FP/K9OT

Monday, June 1, 2015

FP DXpedition Update - Planned Operating Frequencies


Operations will be SPLIT at all times.  Listen for where I am listening or any directions I will provide.  My planned operating frequencies are the following +/- QRM : 


BAND

CW

SSB

RTTY

40 m

  7'016 kHz

  7'146 kHz

  7'046 kHz

30 m

10'126 kHz

      - - -

10'142 kHz

20 m    

14'026 kHz

14'276 kHz

14'082 kHz

17 m

18'086 kHz

18'146 kHz

18'106 kHz

15 m

21'026 kHz

21'276 kHz

21'082 kHz

12 m

24'906 kHz

24'946 kHz

24'926 kHz

10 m

28'026 kHz

28'546 kHz

28'086 kHz

This has also been posted in the FP/NY4G website at the following link

www.fp-ny4g2015.com

This blog will be a mirror site to the website above.  It will be likely that updates appear here before they appear on the website.

I have secured a Microsoft Surface as the main DXpedition computer.  I have configured it to run N1MM and have tested its operation during the CQ WW WPX Contest during which it ran 7 hours straight on the internal batteries.

The WPX was also good practice.