Worked All Zones

A fitting end to an otherwise productive month of July

1) Participation in 13 colonies as K2L - 917 CW QSO's - outcome 1st Place for SC
2) NY4G/VY2 IARU HF Championship - #33 World #11 #5 Canada - 1755 QSO's
3) FP/NY4G Solo DXpedition 2024 QSOs

Total QSO's month of July is 4799
Confirmation Rate on FP/NY4G 51%
52 DXCC for NY4G/VY2 and 44 DXCC for FP/NY4G

All Time New One - ET3AA Ethiopia and Rare Zone 1 Contact with VY0M

New ones are hard to come by these days as the DXCC confirmed count approaches 275.  This will be #271 once confirmed.  The station was working split on 30m when I found him and was rather loud and working a steady tempo of callers up around 1.2 kC from his transmit frequency.

On the same evening VY0M was working split on 20m CW.   VY0 is in a rare zone - Zone 1 - shared with AK.  There are not many hams (if any) in that part of Canada.   He in is the border with Zone 2. I actually thought he was in Zone 2 initially until AB9CN kindly corrected me.  (Thank you Jim). Careful examination of the CQ Zone map indicates this to be so.  This is also an IOTA NA-248 Melville Island.   It is an island in the middle of nowhere.  George Dewar VY2GF alerted me that this was going to take place.

Comments from Folks Who Worked FP/NY4G

Heartwarming to say the least ....... Most are from cards.  Some are from emails.   As I get them I will keep adding to the list.

TU Ariel for the new country - Good DX!  Great Job ! FB DXpedition 73 Ron
VE3FXX

Thank you for the contact 73 Mike W5SIY

Looks like you have been practicing RufZ.  Great Job! 73 Tucker KK4UNZ

Hi Ariel, many thanks for this 40m QSO with FP 73 Fred DL4DZL

73 Ariel, Tnx New Mode / FP /17m! Ralph K4MIJ

Ariel, Tnx for the QSO from NA-032. God Bless and Vy 73 Bill WA1LJC

73's and Thank You Rick N2ENM

Thank you for my first QSO with St. Pierre and Miquelon 73 Randy KK4BNC

Dr. OM For the QSL Card in advance many thanks.  I have my license since 1973 and my age is 80 years.  For me UR QSL

from Saint Pierre and Miquelon is very important! All the Best EA3YY

You are 1st FP station GL 73 Tnx FB QSO JH1SOD

Ariel:  Great expedition! I enjoyed the QSO, also your video on your blog site.  You are a good radio operator and hope to CUAGN 73 Chuck NI0C

Tnx Ariel for QSO on 40m.  Great signal looking to work you on other bands, Good DX Bill WN8QGV

Thank you so very much for the "fine business" QSO on 20m from St. Pierre and Miquelon Islands.  You are my first contact there.  I am working on my second DXCC-CW endorsement and you have helped.  We previously QSO'd when you were on Prince Edward Island...hi hi.  I am retired orchestra teacher who loves to fish.  God bless, AL KD8DEU

Thanks for new one! Best 73 and Good DX! Matt W1MRH

Many thanks to you for my first QSO to Saint Pierre and Miquelon  - Matti OH1LAR

Thanks for eyeball and French 73 Jean Pierre FP5CJ

Today I received your QSL-card.  Many thanks for all.   All the best to you and your family, with best regards   Gerd   DJ9JD

ARIEL - GOT YOUR CARD TODAY - ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!! Thanks for the  confirmation.  Bill N4IQ

Wow! Great video on your expeditions. I hope to hear more when the Swamp Foxes meet next month. 73, Gil - KS4YX

You did a fine job Ariel. Have been listening out for you yesterday. Saw you spot yourself on 10 and 17m. But nothing heard. Later on 20m saw on the cluster that you did work europe but still nothing here. Hopefully I'm lucky next time someone in St.Pierre&Miquelon does a DXpedition. 73, Bas PE4BAS

Nice to work you on 40 tonight. Vy bad QRN here but copied you fine. Congrats on the 2K plus. Bill N4IQ

Great job Ariel, when I saw on clublog you were at 1800 I figured you might try and break 2000 on your last day.......that's awesome!   I say that's a successful trip for sure.  Matt KU4XO

Thanks Ariel for the 15m QSO today. Your signal is stronger than usual for FP to Maine, so either you are using QRO and excellent antennas or we are lucky with condx! By the way, what is your location on St. Pierre?    Again, thanks  very much for enabling an FP 15m QSO in 2015.   Perhaps I should revisit and operate again from St Pierre again?  Vy 73, John W3NA

Hi Ariel   TNX QSO on 15m cw  2015/07/19   13:15 Z  on 21026  you were  very strong  as 599  Many JAs worked JAs,  Will looking for you on the band.   73  Hiro JA4DND

Hi Ariel,  it was really nice catching you on 7mhz CW. Signal was not stable with poor  propagation but was strong almost S5 in my S meter. I am sure that you enjoy  super FP-land with great community. I was there in 1992 with my wife SP5XAB  for almost three month. We visiting our friend Ron VE1KM who was FP4KM on  that time. Our radio which we taking with us from Europe is still on the  island Saint Pierre in FP5CJ home(Icom IC751A) hihihi Our callsign's was FP/SP5SS and FP/SP5XAB include FP9SPM for a while. I hope we can meet someday on the air to discuse experience form the  islands.  Greetings from Poland!   73 Andy SO5S ex SP5SS

Hello Ariel,  Nice photo's of your trip.  Glad you have had a good time as DX.  73s Roger GY3BO
Hi Ariel, NY4G  Thank you for nice QSO 20m CW/RTTY  We will try for other slots later or tomorrow.   Please CQ 14026 for JAs. I will spot you.    CUL de Kan, JJ2RCJ

You made 2 guys happy in Taylors tonight -- thanks for coming up.  Ken was on the wrong antenna when he tried to work you earlier.  Paul W4FC

Hi. Ariel.  From what I have heard and seen, you are doing a great job, and keep up the good work.  Appreciate the 30m QSO this PM....dunno if you plan any 10/12/17M work but those are my open sppots for FP.  That would complete my quest for FP 160 thru 10M.  Have you been at 10 at all, or is the band prop nix there?  Anxious to hear your comments and see photos... 73 de George W4BUW

I hope you have recovered from your voyages!!  Sounds like you have a great trip and lots of QSOs.  Thank you for your FP card!  Very nice and I am sending you a return card plus my FP card from our March QSO.  As you now know, FP is a very special place.  The people are very kind and the islands are beautiful.  I have had nine trips there and always am looking forward to my next trip.  Of course the WX can be a bit challenging in February/March!!  But the propagation made up for it.  Eric Williams KV1J

Ariel, I received you QSL from FP this week.  A new DXCC country for me!
Thank you, 73 an I hope to meet you soon.
Sebastian dl1axx

Thank you very much for your QSL I received yesterday, and a new Country work CW and QRP.
I've been looking on YouTube for our contact but nothing, and perhaps you could send me the link. It would be very helpful.   I hope other contacts from other exotic places wherever you are.
All the best.

Thomas EA8YV

Right now I found the link to the video of his DXexpedicion in your blog. Thank you very much for recording me. Really my little KX3 sounded great in thepileup hi hi 

Thanks again and 73's of EA8YV

Links to NY4G/VY2 and FP/NY4G DXpeditions

This one is not narrated and is 21 minutes long

VY2AJ

Jeff Briggs - VY2ZM- just emailed me.  I went into the Industry Canada website and did a lookup under my expected call sign.  It appears - Industry Canada has processed my application and I am now a holder of a Canadian Call Sign.  This entitles me to all bands on HF with a 200 watt power limit.  I would have to pass the Advanced Qualification to get the full Canadian legal limit power of 1000 watts

South Carolina Takes Top State in 13 Colonies

FP/NY4G Log Uploaded to LOTW

The first batch of direct cards have been mailed.    The first batch of Buro cards will be mailed this week.  638 confirmations were downloaded through LOTW.

Also a video slideshow about the recent travels to VY2 and FP  has been uploaded to YouTube

Many thanks to all who have supported team NY4G/VY2 and FP/NY4G

OQRS Direct Is Now Active for FP/NY4G

I actually prefer direct - though I neglected to turn on that option in Clublog

Update from Saint Pierre - Day 9 - Now QRT

The last upload has been made to Clublog and i am now enroute to Halifax

There were a total of 2024 QSO's.  The first contact was WK9U on 13Jul2015 at 22:41 UTC and the last was DL6AH on 22 July 2015 at 01:03 UTC.

If you cannot find our QSO in Clublog please send me an email.  Perhaps it is just a recording error on my part.  The signals are very light copy and sometimes I hear the wrong prefix or suffix.

Thanks for the QSO's.  I am very pleased with how the French treated me in Saint Pierre.

Special Thanks:

(1) a Madame Josette Dodeman parce que elle est tres gentil avec moi que je puis mettre une antenne exteriure de maison tous les jour.

(2) Un nouveau ami Jean Pierre Carrere FP5CJ que il a m'aidez avec un "power supply" que marche and beaucoup des autre chose.

(3) To Bill, Tom, Matt, Paul  and Bob for the great moral support and for helping me find times to work difficult paths to JA and VK


Jusqua le prochaine fois - au revoir Saint Pierre et Miquelon

Update from Saint Pierre - Day 8

In the log are 1803 including the late additions of W4HKZ and N4MMW.  Today I plan to break 2000 QSOs.  Today is my last full day on the island.

Band/Mode breakdown

Band	PH	CW	RTTY	Total	Total %
40	1	216	0	217	12.0%
30	0	457	0	457	25.3%
20	3	816	9	828	45.8%
17	11	238	1	250	13.8%
15	0	57	0	57	3.2%
Totals	15	1784	10	1809

DXCC by Band/Mode breakdown

	PH	CW	RTTY	Total
40	1	23	0	24
30	0	45	0	45
20	1	49	2	49
17	6	32	1	32
15	0	17	0	17
Totals	7	60	2	60

Daily QSOs (last 30 active) [Clickable]

Date	Total QSOs	Uniques	Uniques %
21-07-2015	51	29	56.9
20-07-2015	276	189	68.5
19-07-2015	289	184	63.7
18-07-2015	145	117	80.7
17-07-2015	139	102	73.4
16-07-2015	306	258	84.3
15-07-2015	288	249	86.5
14-07-2015	262	236	90.1
13-07-2015	53	50	94.3
Totals	1809	1414	78.2

Continent By Band

Band	40	30	20	17	15	Total	Total %
AF	0	5	5	2	0	12	0.7%
AN	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0%
AS	0	4	8	48	1	61	3.4%
EU	56	295	346	137	43	877	48.5%
NA	155	151	466	62	13	847	46.8%
OC	2	0	0	0	0	2	0.1%
SA	4	2	3	1	0	10	0.6%
Totals	217	457	828	250	57	1809

Europe has overtaken North America

Jean Pierre Carrere FP5CJ to the Rescue

From my previous post you have learned that my Gamma Research power supply main board bit the dust.  No resettable fuse.  At least, the guys at Gamma Research promised to repair it for free when I return.  The little power supply at least did a yeoman's job of getting 1700 QOs in the log.

I did not have many options but to call Jean Pierre on the telephone.  He was having lunch at the time.  He answered "Ariel - how are you? in English".  I said "Jean Pierre- I have a problem - mon power supply n'est marche pas.  Can you lend me a power supply till the end?"  He said "I will bring a power supply after lunch.  About 2:00 PM, he promptly showed up and lent me his brand new Alinco DM-330MV.  The same that I have at home which has given me good service.

I stripped the power poles from one end and in 5 minutes I was back in business.  However, the moisture from the salt air and moisture was wreaking havoc with power line noise and there was a steady high pitched 1000 Hz hum that was S3.  I decided to get a late lunch in town to see if the wind can dry off the power lines a little later.

That came to fruition as 30m had dead quiet background noise.  I called CQ on 30m and there was a non stop pileup for 2 hours.  That afternoon and evening I was able to make 330 or so contacts between 30m and 40m bands

Later that evening, I just got in bed about 11:30 and I got a text from Paul W4FC.  W4FC said, "Ken W4HKZ and Jimmy N4MMW are QRV on 20m phone at 14277.  Their noise floor has dropped to S3.  Are you willing to give it a try" I texted back and said "Yes, I will go out into the wet and windy night, retune the antenna from 40m to 20m and will be QRV in 10 minutes."  So I put my goin outside clothes on and retuned the radiator and counterpoise for 20m.  Murphy always chooses the best moments to try to foil me.  The counterpoise wires got tangled in the reels.  I said to myself, don't panic and slow down.  Surely, I was able to untangle the counterpoise wire went back inside and turned the VFO to 14277 USB.  "CQ Whiskey Four Hotel Kilo Fox from Fox Papa Stroke November Yankee Four Golf - are you there?  I heard , "yes Ariel, you are about 5 and 5 hear in South Carolina, this is Jimmy N4MMW".  I said "Jimmy you are also 5 by 5 here - where is Ken?"  It turned out Ken was on the wrong antenna.  Then I heard "This is Ken, you are 5x5 here Ariel".  I answered back - "good Ken - you are also 5x5"  I also said "When the weather is good here in the summer in Saint Pierre, it is like late spring in South Carolina.  When the weather is bad here, it like winter in South Carolina about 40 Fahrenheit, windy and wet.  Tonight is one of theose nights.  I am going back to bed 73"

Later I got a note from Paul that I have a couple of happy hams from Taylors SC.  That surely made my day as well.

Four Strikes For Murphy

Strike 1:  The battery charger does not work.  Fortunately I had a full charge on the batteries allowing me to have QSOs at Langlade.

Strike 2:  The connector for the solar panel went MIA.  Looked in the bag - nope not there.  Where could it be.  I found it lying in the grass next to the picnic table after cleaning and taking everything down.  Too late - the boat will be arriving in a half hour.  It won't be enough time to charge the batteries anyway.

Strike 3:  Missing RCA cord for my keyer.  I left it at Prince Edward Island.  Actually Bill mistakenly thought it belonged to Ken.  I should have checked but did not.  450 QSOs were done the old fashioned way - by hand using a paddle.  I did find an RCA cord with 3.5 mm stereo plug on one end at the only electronics shop in the island.

Strike 4:  Something blew in my power supply while transmitting RTTY to Jan JJ2RCJ.  I heard a loud pop.  The radio appears to be working OK.  The powergate kicked in with the residual power from the batteries. On the bright side - he got the QSO.  On the dark side - I am dead in the water unless Jean Pierre FP5CJ can loan me a suitable power supply.  I have enough power to run QRP fr about 6 hours but that won't be much fun.  The propagation right now is terrible on 20m.

Hopefully Murphy is finished with me.

Update from Saint Pierre - Day 7

No great photos to share this time.  I was so tired from my trip to Langlade that I slept for 9 hours.  I always look forward to breakfast.  Josette always has a big basket of bread and croissants, a few cups of coffee and a small shot gas of orange juice waiting for me in the morning.

The day was spent mostly in front of the radio.  It was a rainy day.  I still got in about 6 thousand steps of walking trying to find some lunch.  Today is Sunday and everything is closed.  Sandwich shops open in the evening at 6 pm. Y'a t'il un sandwich shop pres de la maison s;appelle Frangals.  It is a small family run shop where they actually have cold sodas.  The general store has a huge rack of sodas but it is not refrigerated.

The one thing that stands out about the life in Saint Pierre by the locals is that revolves around the family.  You see them on Sunday riding their bikes with their children or taking a walk on the mountain despite the foul weather.

I took advantage of an opening on 15 meters and logged about 50 or so contacts.

30m was especially good today during which I had a good run of over 100 QSOs in a pileup

Hopefully I can muster generating pileups in my last two days

I managed to make a few QSO's on 17m phone and Bob ND7J also tried to make contact but was unsuccesful.  Bob did manage to make a QSO on 20m via a SKED before posting myself on the cluster.

I tried to do some 80m but the band noise was S3 even in Saint Pierre.  WM4AA said the band noise in the Carolinas was S4.  With my puny signal buried in the noise, no chance.  I had not really planned to do 80m and I published as such on my website in the operating plan but 80m is so rare for Saint Pierre that I had to at least try.  Matt WM4AA listened for me but could not hear my signal.  Bruce WA8IQF, listened and heard a couple of W1s trying to call me but I could not hear them.  I got an email from some Japanese hams requesting 80m.

The ideal DXpedition to Saint Pierre and Miquelon is to have a team erect some tall verticals near the ocean for the low bands in the fall and it would have to be in Miquelon.  An 80m inverted L and a 40m 4-square would be ideal.  The high bands can suffice with either CrankIRs or dedicated monoband SVDAs.   The Auberge de L'ile in Miquelon is a promising location.  Bill Rodgers K3HZP is staying there for the weekend and will ask the owner to host a future DXpedition team.  Bill and I shared some time together at the Dodeman B&B.  He brought along his PFR QRP rig and a random wire.  I even saw him posted on the cluster (even with his 5 watts) - so I know L'Auberge in Miquelon is a good site for propagation.  An operation in Langlade will have to be a tent and generator operation.  The only way to do the above is by car.  Drive all the equipment to Sydney, Nova Scotia and take the 8 hour ferry boat ride from Sydney to Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland and then drive all the equipment to Fortune, Newfoundland and then take the ferry from Fortune to Miquelon with all the gear.  This would only be possible with the help of the local hams like Jean Pierre Carrere and one would have to recruit them as part of the team.  It has not been since 2004 for the last major DXpedition (by VE7SV and team) to Saint Pierre and Miquelon when they generated over 59000 QSOs.

Band/Mode breakdown

Band	PH	CW	RTTY	Total	Total %
40	1	146	0	147	9.6%
30	0	326	0	326	21.3%
20	1	749	9	759	49.6%
17	11	232	0	243	15.9%
15	0	56	0	56	3.7%
Totals	13	1509	9	1531

Continent By Band

Band	40	30	20	17	15	Total	Total %
AF	0	3	5	2	0	10	0.7%
AN	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0%
AS	0	3	7	46	1	57	3.7%
EU	30	175	310	135	42	692	45.2%
NA	112	143	434	59	13	761	49.7%
OC	2	0	0	0	0	2	0.1%
SA	3	2	3	1	0	9	0.6%
Totals	147	326	759	243	56	1531